"Well, let's be cautious first!" Seeing that his two trusted people were in agreement, Li Hong nodded with satisfaction and put the letter aside: "First let Liu Rengui send those Tubo fugitives to Come from Chang'an and let Sanlang inquire carefully?"
"That's very good! Leave it all to me!" Wang Wenzuo nodded. No matter how vast his field of vision was, as long as his butt was in Chang'an, he could not ignore the war in Tubo. The reason was very simple. Tubo's geographical location The threat to the Guanzhong Plain is too great.
"Memorandum from the Ministry of Household Affairs!" Li Hong picked up another memorial: "Both of you, please take a look at it. It's still the same old problem, lack of food! The government only has two months of food in stock. It's okay now that it's summer. Wait until autumn and winter dry up." What should you do when the water freezes and you can’t sail?”
"According to the old man's opinion, we can only advance the time to go to Luoyang for food this year by one month!" Pei Ju said: "There are 20,000 to 30,000 people in the two palaces and accompanying officials and sergeants. If we go to Luoyang to eat, it will be We can survive the spring famine next year!”
"What do Sanlang think?" Li Hong's eyes turned to Wang Wenzuo.
"Please forgive me for speaking frankly!" Wang Wenzuo said: "Although Pei Shizhong's method can solve the urgent need, it ultimately treats the symptoms but not the root cause. I remember the first time I came to Chang'an, Guanzhong was also short of food, so the imperial court sent Chang'an's son-in-law All the bad boys were sent to Longyou Anxi as garrison soldiers to reduce Chang'an's food burden. What happened later was also known to His Majesty and Shizhong Pei. But even if such a big mess was caused, only 60,000 to 70,000 people were brought out. Right? Then what? Has the population of Chang'an decreased?"
"Probably not!" Li Hong shook his head. Although he was young, he had been serving as a supervisor for a year or two. He was still a little unsure about Chang'an's household registration and food consumption figures.
"It should be said that there are more!" Pei Judao answered more firmly: "Normally, although Guanzhong's autumn grain last year and this year's summer grain cannot be called a great harvest, they can at least be regarded as a medium year. There has been a lot of rain since the beginning of spring. , the Wei River and other rivers are also abundant in water, and the grain transported from Henan will not be less than in previous years, but the grain reserves are so much less than in previous years, it can only be said that there are more mouths around Chang'an!"
"What should we do?" Li Hong became a little anxious after hearing this: "Are we going to move the unemployed people of Chang'an to Longyou and Anxi like we did that year?"
"Absolutely not!" Pei Judao said hurriedly: "Your Highness has just ascended the throne, your kindness has not yet been extended, and your foundation is unstable! How can you do such a thing to attract public resentment?"
"Sanlang——" Hearing his father-in-law's objection, Li Hong's eyes subconsciously turned to Wang Wenzuo.
"Your Majesty, what Shizhong Pei said is right! In fact, even if your Majesty's foundation is stable, you can't just drive people to Longyou, Anxi. Otherwise, the population of Chang'an will increase a lot every few years. Wouldn't it be necessary to increase the population of Chang'an every few years? Drive people away?" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "And your Majesty, have you ever thought about why Chang'an's population is growing so fast?"
"Why is it growing so fast?" Li Hong was stunned. He had never thought about this problem. Pei Judao on the side smiled and said: "Chang'an is under the rule of the emperor and a place where treasures from all directions gather. Naturally, everyone in the world will find a way to come here. !”
"Yes, everyone in the world hopes to come to Chang'an. The civil warriors hope to be appreciated by nobles and rise to the top; the merchants hope to sell goods in Chang'an and earn tithes; the traders and porters hope to find a job in Chang'an to support themselves and their families; Even the Evil Young Ranger hopes to gain fame in Chang'an! Let's put it this way, everyone except farmers wants to come to Chang'an. These people are willing to come to Chang'an, not because this is Chang'an, but because this is the capital of the Tang Dynasty, under the feet of the Emperor .These are His Majesty’s wealth, how can you turn them away?”
"Wealth?" Li Hong glanced at Wang Wenzuo with a strange look, and Pei Judao next to him coughed: "General, there are many people in Chang'an City who are homeless and unemployed. When troubles often arise and food and rice are wasted, how can it be said that it is His Majesty's wealth?"
"Sir Pei, not only the payment of food, cloth, and military service are His Majesty's wealth!" Wang Wenzuo said: "There are people who have wealth. Where people live together, wealth will gather. When wealth gathers and merchants buy and sell, wealth and silk will naturally not be there." You can get what you ask for. For example, if your Majesty has a household registration of hundreds of thousands in Chang'an now and wants to make money, you can privately hold the Jiaofang Division and ask the merchants to pay for licenses. Once every five years, you can pocket tens of thousands. This is This kind of thing can only be done in Chang'an, Chengdu, and Yangzhou, but not other places. Why? Isn't it because these places are densely populated and other places have fewer people?"
"The general is right!" Pei Judao nodded: "But the problem now is that Chang'an is short of food. Without food, it is useless to say anything else, right?"
"What Shizhong Pei said is true!" Wang Wenzuo said: "But the solution to the food shortage is to either increase the supply of food or move the capital instead of driving people from Chang'an!" At this point, he paused for a moment: "Your Majesty, I think There is a lot of potential in water transportation. Every year, the grain transported from Hebei, Huaihe and Jiangnan is piled up in warehouses on both sides of the Yellow River to rot, while Chang'an is starving. This is not going to work. There is also the imperial court We have sent troops to Tibet many times, but the war effort is simply about food. There is no food in Guanzhong, so how can we fight in Longyou and Anxi? I beg Your Majesty to issue a decree and allow me to inspect water transportation!"
"Sanlang wants to inspect the water transport issue?" Li Hong frowned. In his plan, Wang Wenzuo should sit in the center and control the Chang'an garrison, but the other party was right. If the water transport issue is not handled properly, even the city of Chang'an will be destroyed. Without food, all other things are like rootless trees: "Okay, the decree is simple, but Saburo should not put too much energy into this matter. I still have many things to entrust to you!"
"I obey the decree!" Wang Wenzuo quickly bowed his head and saluted. Pei Judao on the side did not speak. He could feel that although he and the emperor were already relatives, the emperor obviously trusted Wang Wenzuo more and gave him more power. Although Wang Wenzuo was indispensable for his son-in-law to ascend the throne in advance, that was a thing of the past. Since he was the emperor and held the ninth level of the throne, he naturally could not take one side and pin everything on the loyalty of a certain minister. The house There can’t be only one big pillar! It's hard for others to explain this truth. As a father-in-law, I still have to find an opportunity to talk about it. This is not aimed at Wang Wenzuo, but also to preserve the rule of monarch and ministers as a long-term solution.
"Pei Gong, Sanlang, you two have worked hard these days!" Li Hong yawned and said with a smile, "Let's stop here today!"
"I obey the order!" Pei Judao and Wang Wenzuo stood up in unison. It was indeed as the emperor said. The two of them have been working from morning to night these days. It is not an option to continue like this. Pei Judao hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice: " Your Majesty, I have something I don’t know whether to say or not!”
"Mr. Pei, please speak!"
"Since your Majesty ascended the throne, he has mostly summoned ministers and generals. However, how can the affairs of the world be handled by just three of us, the monarch and his ministers? I believe that only by recruiting talented people, using elegant words, and being informal, can the world be brought to order. Great governance!"
"Yes!" Li Hong nodded and turned to Wang Wenzuo instinctively: "What do you think, General?"
"What Shizhong Pei said is true. Your Majesty just ascended the throne a few days ago, and everything is not on track yet. Now it is on track. You should really listen to the opinions of other ministers!" Wang Wenzuo said in a deep voice. Pei Judao was right, power is It's like a cake. If you and Pei Judao share the cake, it will be like forcing others to flip the table. In the end, no one will be able to eat. The long-term solution is to take the initiative to give up part of the cake.
"I understand!" Li Hong said with a smile: "Then just follow what Mr. Pei said!"
"General Wang!"
Wang Wenzuo had just gone out and was thinking about how to arrange the investigation of the rapid river channel in Sanmenxia when he returned. Pei Judao's voice came from behind him, and he quickly turned around: "Shizhong Pei?"
"General Wang!" Pei Judao quickened his pace and caught up with him: "Can I take a step to speak?"
"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "What's wrong with Mr. Pei?"
"General Wang!" Pei Judao pointed to a pavilion nearby, and the two of them came to the pavilion and sat down: "General Wang, can you remove the third-rank official from the Zhongshu family?"
"Shizhong Pei wants me to withdraw from the Political Affairs Hall?" Wang Wenzuo frowned.
"Not bad!" Pei Judao nodded: "Let's put it this way! As General Zuo Wuhou, you are already in charge of the troops of Nanya. Your subordinates Cui Hongdu and Murong Mout are in charge of the forbidden army of Beiya. This is already very eye-catching. ! If you are still in the political hall, even if the emperor has great trust in you, you still have to be wary of what people say!"
"That's what Pei Shizhong said!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "But I can't do it now. Well, it will take me one to two years. When the matter is finished, I will naturally resign from the political affairs hall!"
"Hey!" Pei Judao sighed: "General, why do you still need that false reputation? The emperor trusts you so much and obeys his words. What does it matter whether you have the third rank of Zhongshu's sect?"
"Shizhong Pei!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Is Mr. Wang one of those people who is greedy for fame? He really wants to do a few practical things for the country, thinking that it will last for generations, so he wants to enter the political hall. You should know a lot Even if the emperor agrees to the matter, it will not be implemented without the cooperation of the ministers in the political hall!"
"A few real things?" When Pei Judao heard what Wang Wenzuo said, he couldn't help but be surprised: "The few real things you mentioned should include the reform of water transportation, right?"
"Yes, this is one of them!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "If I remember correctly, since the Zhenguan period, the grain transported to Guanzhong every year is probably no more than 200,000 shi, right?"
"Yeah!" Pei Judao nodded: "That's almost the number!"
"I plan to increase the total amount of grain transported to Guanzhong to 800,000 shi within five years! With so much grain, whether it is the use of troops against Tibet or the peace of Guanzhong, it should not be a big problem, right?"
"Eight hundred thousand stones?" Pei Judao was surprised: "Isn't General Wang joking? Although Chang'an is connected to Luoyang by a large river, the river is turbulent from the east of Tongguan and is divided into three by the mainstay. There are underwater There are many hidden reefs, and many ships have sunk when passing them. The only way to go is by land, which causes great losses and is beyond the reach of human power."
"I didn't expect that Shizhong Pei also paid attention to water transportation?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people in Chang'an who feed on water. How could Pei not pay attention?" Pei Judao sighed: "General, it is a good thing for you to pay attention to water transportation, but you have to do it step by step. There have been four or five incidents since the founding of this dynasty. In the past ten years, there have been countless talented people who have paid attention to water transportation. However, the maximum amount of grain transported into Guanzhong every year is only 200,000 shi. If you want to quadruple it all at once, you are too anxious. You should leave some things to do. Let future generations do it!”
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "If Emperor Wenzong and Emperor Taishang thought so at the beginning, then the Turks, Xue Yantuo, Tuyuhun, Goguryeo, Baekje and other barbarians must still be around today, and today's people have their own affairs. People have things to do with future generations, so it’s better not to leave the things of today’s people to future generations!”
Hearing Wang Wenzuo's rebuttal, Pei Judao was speechless. If others said this, he could still laugh at his arrogance, but the man in front of him really practiced it. At least two of the Yi Di he mentioned earlier were killed in his hands. In the end He also sighed and said no more.
When Wang Wenzuo returned home, it was already late at night. While eating the supper given by Sancho, he listened to Igilianbode's report on everything. At the end, Igilianbode said: "My lord, a scribe named Wang Bo is here. When I visited, I also brought your famous tattoo, saying that I was a good friend of Lu Zhaolin. I had wanted to come to Chang'an to see you for a long time, but I fell ill in Chengdu and was delayed for a while!"
"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "There is this person. Why is he here? To seek an official position?"
"Ask for an official!" Ijirenbod said, "I originally wanted to keep him here to help me in your shogunate, but he wanted to go to the Hongbun Hall, so I recommended him to be the school secretary of the Hongbun Hall!"
"Hongwenguan Secretary, you want to be the prime minister!" Wang Wenzuo put down the spoon with a smile: "It's no wonder he is, that's all! You can't force this kind of thing! By the way, I plan to straighten things out next. Fan Caoyun, I remember you had a few businessmen working under you when you were in Chengdu, and things were pretty good!"
"Yes, Lord, are you planning to find them?"
"Well, if you want to do things, you have to have a team. Now I can no longer do everything myself. I will leave this matter to you. Put up the shelf first, and then do the work! Remember, calm down, Do more and talk less! Wait until you understand the situation clearly and feel confident before you speak, do you understand?"
"My subordinate understands!" Yijilianbode nodded. (End of chapter)
