Wei Zheng's words caused the entire Liangyi Palace to fall into silence.
Several ministers who originally rebuked him also looked shocked at this moment and remained silent.
yes!
There is no money to be made from growing grain, so everyone has gone to grow other cash crops.
If the weather is good and the harvest is good in the coming year, then everything will be fine... But what if there is a drought or a locust plague?
That must be a disaster year that is several times more serious than ordinary disaster years! The number of people who will starve to death will surely multiply!
Who can ensure good weather in the coming year?
Although everyone praised the emperor, saying that the emperor governed the country well and was praised by God, and then the harvest was abundant and the world was peaceful.
But who knows whether God will change his face next year?
Those flattering words are not believed by those who say them, and neither are those who listen...
"What Wei Aiqing said makes sense."
The smile on Li Shimin's face gradually faded, and he said in a deep voice,
"Then in your opinion, what should we do?"
Something worthy of praise turned out to be a hidden danger.
Li Er felt a little uncomfortable.
But the dissatisfaction is gone, and the problem still needs to be solved.
"Your Majesty, as the Grand Master said, the imperial court should come forward to purchase grain."
Wei Zheng said loudly,
"In this way, the price of food can be stabilized at a suitable price, and it will not hurt farmers because it is too cheap, nor hurt the common people because it is too expensive."
"In fact, regulating food prices is a great thing that truly benefits the country and the people. If your Majesty can do this well, even the minister will admit that it is a great achievement."
Li Shimin couldn't help curling his lips when he heard this.
Do you admit it?
Who are you, I need you to admit it?
"Hmph..."
Li Er groaned and said,
"Then it seems that the government has to purchase grain from the private sector?"
"Is there any government office below that is short of food? Fang Aiqing."
As Shangshu Zuopushe, Fang Xuanling was in charge of the government offices all over the world, so he naturally knew the details of each place.
"Return to Your Majesty."
Fang Xuanling came out and said,
"There is no shortage of food in government offices in various places, including the central government. Salaries, grain and rice are distributed according to actual conditions."
"In fact, I have ordered my officials to check the official warehouses of grain and rice in various places. Those with shallow warehouses have already purchased grain."
"Now, it's quite full. If we want to buy more grain, I'm afraid we need to build more granaries all over Tang Dynasty."
Li Shimin couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard this.
"You are smart, you have arranged everything."
He praised,
"good."
"Your Majesty has given you too much praise. Prepare food in good years and use it in bad years. This is an extremely simple truth and it is the duty of the minister." Fang Xuanling said humbly.
Li Shimin raised his forehead.
"I have done my job well, but it has given me more problems."
Li Er smiled helplessly and said,
"The government can buy grain, but it can't just buy it all for no reason and leave it there to moldy and spoil if you don't eat it, right?"
"As for the establishment of additional granaries, I can barely think of a solution...but in the end it is just a temporary measure. After all, the court cannot set up official granaries everywhere without restrictions. If there are too many, it will enrich some people's pockets."
"Is there a long-term solution? Which lover can solve this situation?"
He glanced around, but for a while there was no answer from the minister.
After knocking, his eyes fell on Xu Fenglei.
Hey, this kid is swaying with his head down... Where is he wandering here?
"Master——"
Li Shimin raised his voice a bit and snorted coldly,
"You were the first one to jump out and support Wei Zheng. It seems that you already had an idea!"
"Don't ask me to name you every time before you are willing to speak! As a minister, it is your duty to share my worries. You should take the initiative!"
ha--
Xu Fenglei yawned, stretched his waist lazily, and stretched his muscles.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty..."
He said apologetically,
"I didn't sleep well last night. My mind was so confused that I almost squinted."
"Can you give me a cigarette to cheer me up?"
Ministers: "..."
Li Shimin: "#￥%...&*#￥!!!"
What a solemn place, what a holy place above this court!
Do you want to smoke?
Are you just sitting here fuming? Like what words?
Since the Tang Dynasty cavalry discovered tobacco in the eastern part of Khitan at the end of last year and brought it back, cigarettes have become popular in Chang'an and have become a hot treasure in the hands of dignitaries.
With the growth of demand, cigarette making technology has also advanced by leaps and bounds, and now cigarettes come in many shapes!
Of course, styling is secondary, the key is tobacco. Khitan tobacco is divided into three grades. Only low-grade and medium-grade tobacco are circulated among wealthy merchants and dignitaries. The top-grade tobacco is only available in the imperial palace and is specially provided to the emperor!
What Xu Fenglei wanted was naturally the batch of high-grade cigarettes specially provided to the emperor.
"nonsense!"
Li Shimin said displeasedly,
"Above the court, is this the place where you smoke?"
"I don't allow it!"
He himself didn't dare to smoke in the court hall, for fear of ruining his image and rules. He would only smoke a few cigarettes during small meetings in the political hall.
This Xu Fenglei is so out of tune!
"oh--"
Xu Fenglei shook his head and said lazily,
"I can't remember it anymore, my mind is so dizzy, I don't have any ideas at all..."
Li Shimin: "!!!"
It’s hard, the fist is hard!
"If you have no idea, step aside! Don't be an eyesore in front of me!"
Li Er said angrily,
"The civil and military officials in this dynasty are all wise men. Why can't we come up with a countermeasure?"
"No need for you!"
This kid is deliberately trying to be mean!
I won’t show you the picture, just go and cool off!
"According to the order."
Xu Fenglei cupped his hands and stepped aside.
Ministers: "..."
He who dared to reach out to ask for this or that in the court, and who was so disrespectful to the emperor, was the Grand Master Xu Gong.
“Brainstorm!”
Li Shimin said sonorously,
"Find a way to handle the government's purchase of grain for him!"
"Without him, Hu Butcher, would I still be able to eat pigs with hair on them?"
"Come on, any dear friend who has an idea, please tell me. If what you say is reasonable, I will reward you!"
Ministers; "..."
There was silence in Liangyi Hall.
All of them lowered their heads and remained motionless.
Li Shimin's cheeks almost bulged as he looked at this non-static picture, which was like a still picture.
Isn’t there really any useful one?
Isn't it? !
"Fang Aiqing, Wei Aiqing, and the auxiliary machines, what do you think?"
Li Shimin began to roll call,
"Let's talk about it. I won't blame you if it's not good."
The three of them looked at each other after hearing this.
"I am still thinking about it..."
"The same is true for me. It's a matter of food, so I dare not make any false claims."
"The same goes for me..."
They all responded cautiously.
Every conversation in the court was recorded by historians. Even if they had some thoughts in their minds, they would never speak without thinking them through clearly.
Li Shimin suddenly stood up and looked around among the ministers. Seeing that there was no movement from them, he finally could only focus on Xu Fenglei.
"come!"
He said angrily,
"Take a box of my top-quality tobacco and light one for the Grand Master."
"There is no one in my court, I can only count on our resourceful Grand Master!"
There was a thorn in these words, but Xu Fenglei didn't care. Instead, he laughed when he took the cigarette box.
"Thank you for the gift, Your Majesty. I may have been craving this for a long time."
He chuckled and said,
"After receiving the top-grade tobacco from His Majesty, I suddenly felt so overwhelmed with thoughts that I had diarrhea!"
"Here are some suggestions for Your Majesty!"
With that said, Xu Fenglei put a whole box of cigarettes into his arms.
He still has to have the proper sense of propriety. It would be too ridiculous to smoke openly in the Liangyi Hall during this great court meeting.
Asking for cigarettes is the purpose. Wherever you want to smoke is not smoking?
"Tell me what you want!"
Li Shimin's expression softened slightly, but he still said angrily.
"Your Majesty, I believe that the government's purchase of grain should form an interaction and cycle with the people. If it is only consumed internally, it will never be consumed."
Xu Fenglei said seriously,
"After all, the court and government offices only have so many people and a few mouths; but the people have countless mouths."
"So, I have three proposals!"
He held out three fingers.
Li Shimin adjusted his body slightly and sat up straight, and the ministers also listened attentively.
"First, open a charity warehouse in addition to the official warehouse!"
Xu Fenglei said in a deep voice,
"The charity warehouse system was introduced in the Sui Dynasty. Its original intention was good. It raised food from the private sector to prepare for famines, and then distributed it to the victims unconditionally during famine years."
"To set up a charity warehouse, on the one hand, the court does not need to pay for the purchase. You only need to explain the benefits of the charity warehouse to the people, and naturally it can be easily raised. Especially in good years, most people are willing to donate food and will not resent it."
"On the other hand, when a natural disaster strikes, there is no need for the court to buy food for disaster relief. As long as the charity warehouse is opened, it will be enough to provide relief to the victims."
"In terms of system alone, the charity warehouse system is extremely perfect! But often after raising food from the people, the officials will have selfish motives and will occupy the charity warehouse. In the end, it will be taken away by tyrants. When there is a real disaster, a grain of grain will be lost. No rice will be distributed to the victims!"
"In this way, raising food has become a cleverly-named exploitation! We, the Tang Dynasty, cannot follow the old path of the Sui Dynasty!"
Li Shimin raised his eyebrows.
"I know the system of the former Sui Dynasty."
He opened his mouth and said,
"The Sui Dynasty accumulated a lot of grain. When it was the richest, there were too many official warehouses and free warehouses to fit in! But when it came time to provide relief to the victims, no one, from the emperor to the officials, was willing to open warehouses to provide disaster relief! Just like the Luoyang warehouse Well, they are all extremely rich, but the common people cannot enjoy even a drop of this wealth."
"In the end, the rebels had to march all the way into Luoyang to seize the Luoyang warehouse. They used the food in the Luoyang warehouse to recruit troops and quickly became big."
"It's really ironic when you think about it."
Xu Fenglei nodded.
"Exactly."
He said loudly,
"So we, the Tang Dynasty, will never allow such a situation to happen!"
"Otherwise, charity warehouses will only be a means of exploiting people, rather than a benefit to all people!"
Li Shimin nodded.
"I will think it over carefully before establishing a system."
He praised,
"However, your idea is indeed solid. Take it from the people and use it for the people. You can consume a lot of food from the people without using half of the national money."
"Yicang is better than official warehouse!"
"Let's talk about your second strategy!"
With just this idea, the unpleasant feeling of being asked for cigarettes just now disappeared.
This idea is worth a box of top-quality tobacco!
"yes."
Xu Fenglei said again,
“The second is wine making.”
"As we all know, wine is the essence of grain. Every time a jar of wine is brewed, the grain required is consumed several times!"
"If you buy the grain from the private sector at a low price, turn it into wine and then sell it back to the private sector, it will definitely be a highly profitable business!"
"In this way, people who love wine will get good wine, food will be consumed, and the economy will develop. It's a win-win-win situation!"
This set is the inner loop.
"Uh-huh……"
Li Shimin stroked his beard, nodded repeatedly and said,
"Brewing wine is an idea."
"But this can only be done in good years. If it is a disaster year, production must be reduced or even alcohol banned!"
"Otherwise, the food that can survive will become wine, which is really a huge waste!"
Xu Fenglei shrugged.
"Then it depends on how His Majesty will adjust the policy at that time."
He said casually,
"I am only responsible for coming up with ideas. It is up to Your Majesty to use them well or not."
The implication is... I won't take the blame if something goes wrong.
"Just say it, I will think about it myself."
Li Shimin waved his hand.
"The third is to develop animal husbandry."
Xu Fenglei said,
"When there is too much grain, some of the old and impurities can be converted into feed and used to feed livestock."
"Livestock eat feed, we eat livestock."
"Everyone must know that you can only become strong by eating meat! But meat is precious. Ordinary people can't eat a mouthful of meat a year! Even high-ranking officials can't eat a lot of meat."
"This is all because the animal husbandry industry is not developed enough. If the imperial court can purchase some old grains and miscellaneous grains as feed, vigorously develop the animal husbandry industry, and drive down the price of meat, then the physical fitness of the people of the Tang Dynasty will definitely be able to reach a higher level!"
"Even, there can be a greater ideal——"
"It's not enough for everyone to have enough food. We have to let everyone eat meat. That will be the prosperous age!"
By the end, Xu Fenglei himself was a little excited.
Although it is a big cake, as long as the big cake can be made, even if it is just some crumbs, it will be a great blessing for ordinary people!
"Everyone can eat meat..."
Li Shimin murmured,
"If it can be done, it will indeed be a prosperous age when the achievements of the Three Emperors are truly surpassed!"
His heart surged a little.
"I've run out of ideas."
Xu Fenglei said happily,
"Yi warehouse system, wine making, and development of animal husbandry."
"Any of these three items can consume a lot of food. Your Majesty can choose one or all of them."
"In short, the hidden dangers mentioned by Duke Wei can be solved. Your Majesty... Is it not too much for me to get this box of top-quality tobacco?"
Li Shimin rolled his eyes.
"It's not too much, not too much. I'll reward you with two more boxes later."
He responded, turned to look at Wei Zheng, and said with a half-smile,
"Wei Aiqing, is the strategy proposed by Xu Aiqing satisfactory? Can my achievements be counted?"
Wei Zheng bowed his hands.
"The Grand Master is a great talent, and I deeply obey him."
He said seriously,
"With these three strategies, there will be no hidden dangers."
"But Rong Weichen said a word more, warehouses and livestock are both good, but winemaking needs to be done with caution. It is best for the court not to start this thing."
(End of chapter)
