Taiji Palace, Ganlu Palace.

"Investigate, Xuan Ling, you send someone to investigate, I give you ten days to investigate Gyeonggi Province clearly, I want to know how the crops are? And is there any rain in other places except Chang'an? Li Er couldn't wait to give two orders.

"Obey." Fang Xuanling took the order, "Your Majesty, do you want to inform others about this matter?" ”

Li Er shook his head slightly, and said: "This matter should not be hyped up, especially not to inform Ru Hui and assist them."

Also, he ordered Tang Jian to collect grain at all costs, no matter what, he must buy enough grain to think about it. ”

Fang Xuanling said worriedly: "Your Majesty, if someone buys grain on a large scale in the market, it will cause panic among the people, not to mention, and it will also make those grain merchants raise prices." ”

Don't let the drought not appear, but the price of food will skyrocket, and the gains will outweigh the losses.

Li Er said in a deep voice: "Think of a way, let Tang Jian find a way." ”

"Yes."

"Let's go, go to Qin Tianjian."

……

Qin Tianjian, Yuan Tiangang was meditating, suddenly felt restless, opened his eyes, looked up at the sky, the sky was cloudless, making his brows tighten.

"How come it's only one rain on this day?"

A little Taoist boy ran in and said respectfully, "Master, Your Majesty is here again?" ”

"Hurry as welcome."

"Yes."

Yuan Tiangang hurriedly came to the lobby, and when he saw Li Er, he stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty arrived, Weichen failed to greet him, and asked Your Majesty to forgive me." ”

"No need to be polite, I'm here to make sure there's a drought again?"

"Did Your Majesty know from any little one that there was a drought?" Yuan Tiangang asked without answering.

Li Er glanced at him and said in a deep voice: "In the mouth of a kid." Even the turning over of Jinyang's earth dragon, which was not counted by the national teacher, came from his mouth. You say, do I believe him or do I believe you? ”

"Weichen is incompetent, please forgive your majesty."

Yuan Tiangang was shocked in his heart, the other party actually knew that the turning of the earth dragon would happen in Jinyang, and this Dao line must be much, much higher than his own, and maybe only his senior brother could compare with it.

Li Er waved his hand and said, "I don't need to apologize, I just want to make sure that there will be a drought?" ”

"This ......"

Yuan Tiangang hesitated.

Li Er's face instantly became gloomy, and he said angrily: "Waste." Tomorrow you go to retreat and let Li Chunfeng go out of the mountain. ”

"Wechen understands." Yuan Tiangang bowed down and left Qin Tianjian.

……

A few days later, there were some more recitals on the Ganlu Hall and the Dragon case, and these recitals were all reports of the investigation in the past few days, and they were all the same result, and there were droughts of different sizes in various places.

The main reason is that the day is getting hotter and hotter, and it is only June, and as long as the high temperature continues, it will not be long before the crops in the field will be sunburned.

Li Er was walking around in front of the dragon case, and he was a little upset at this time.

"Your Majesty, Lord Fang, Lord Du, Lord Eldest Sun...... They asked to see His Majesty. ”

"Hey, paper can't contain fire." Li Er sighed and said, "Let them in." ”

"Yes."

It didn't take long for Fang Xuanling and a group of other civil officials to enter the Manna Palace, and several of them were pale.

"See Your Majesty."

"Excuse me."

Everyone found a side, and Wei Zheng took the lead and walked out.

"Your Majesty, you already learned about the drought in the morning, why didn't you inform Wechen and others in advance, so that Wechen and others could take precautions in advance, and now it's too late, and ask Your Majesty to apologize to the people of Gyeonggi."

Li Er's face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "Wei Zheng, what is wrong with me, you are too presumptuous." ”

Wei Zheng seemed not to be afraid, and said righteously: "Your Majesty has obviously received the news that there will be a drought, so you should prepare in advance and not be in a hurry like now." ”

Fang Xuanling stood up and said, "Lord Wei, you can't blame Your Majesty for this matter. Imagine suddenly a populace telling you that there is going to be a drought, do you believe him, or do you scoff at him? ”

"It is better to believe what you have than to believe what you don't have." Wei Zheng said categorically.

Fang Xuanling asked again: "Could it be that Lord Wei didn't suspect it at all, didn't investigate, believed it, and then began to do precautionary work, not worried at all that the people were lying, just wasting manpower, material and financial resources to deceive you." ”

"Your Majesty, I also believed in the source of the news, and asked Qin Tianjian to confirm that the national teacher Yuan Tiangang repeatedly promised that there would be no drought, and at that time, Your Majesty still asked Lord Tang to buy food quietly.

Until a few days ago, the weather became very hot, and the accuracy of the news was thoroughly verified, just in case, His Majesty still went to the Qin Tianjian to confirm it, but found that the national teacher was speechless.

At this time, His Majesty has begun to buy food, and arranged for people to go to the countryside to check, let me ask, what is wrong with Your Majesty? ”

Wei Zhengbei was speechless when he asked, although what Fang Xuanling said was very reasonable, but he faintly felt that something was wrong in his heart, but he was speechless to refute.

He could only arch his hand at Li Er and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen is guilty, please punish Your Majesty." ”

"Forget it, you are also for the people." Li Er generously forgave Wei Zheng.

Then his face turned grim and said, "Tang Jian, how long is the grain that is currently closed enough for the people of Gyeonggi Province?" ”

"A month."

"So short?" Li Er's brows furrowed slightly.

Tang Jian said: "Back to Your Majesty, this is still to save food, plus the people have surplus food, can it support a month." ”

"Didn't I already ask you to buy food? Didn't you buy it? ”

Tang Jian smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, the household department has no money, and Weichen has already used all the money he can use to buy grain, but there is only one hundred and fifty yuan of grain."

These grains can barely be eaten for a month in Chang'an, but for the entire Gyeonggi Province, it is a drop in the bucket, and it is good to be able to last for ten days.

Coupled with the loss of food transported everywhere, it may be less, a month, it is really already the limit. ”

Du Ruhui stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Lord Tang's words are very reasonable, and now we have an urgent priority to determine the situation of the victims."

We decide where to save first according to the priority of the victims, and as for food, the imperial court can collect donations, find merchants to raise donations, or local squires can be the target of donations. ”

Wei Zheng arched his hand and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen is willing to go and donate food." ”

Li Erzhen said: "Okay, the matter of food depends on Wei Zheng." I don't want much, as long as I can make the people of Chang'an not suffer from food. ”

"Ministers should do their best." Wei Zheng said, feeling slightly bitter in his heart, there are more than two million people in the entire Chang'an, and how much food is needed for this.

The eldest grandson Wuji said: "Your Majesty, the minister believes that not only do you need to collect food, but you also need to mobilize food from the south. ”

"Yes, auxiliary, you can arrange it."

"Yes."

Tang Jian said: "Your Majesty, the price of grain in Chang'an has begun to rise because of the drought, and even many grain merchants have begun to hoard grain and not sell it. Profiteer. ”

"No." Fang Xuanling immediately stopped, "If the imperial court intervenes in this matter and punishes those grain merchants, then other merchants will lose trust in the imperial court, and the economy of Chang'an, and even the entire Tang Dynasty, will regress." ”

Li Erdao: "This matter is considered in the long run. ”

Suddenly, his face turned solemn, and he said in a deep voice: "There is a drought in Gyeonggi Province, which has been forewarned by the heavens, and we only know it now, it is our fault, so I have decided to make an edict against myself." ”

Fang Xuanling and the others were shocked and wanted to stop it, but they were stopped by Li Er: "All Aiqing don't have to stop it, it's my fault, and I will never deny it." ”

This is Li Er's decision after careful consideration, before the people appear rumors that are unfavorable to him, he will admit his mistakes and not let anyone with intentions take advantage of them.

Everyone was extremely relieved to have an emperor who had the courage to admit their mistakes, which was their blessing as a courtier.

Among them, Wei Zheng felt the most gratified.

Li Er's sin was edicted, the people's speech was controlled, and the relief work of the imperial court began to be in full swing, and the people were grateful to the imperial court and Li Er.

The disaster relief work was not very smooth, first of all, the price of food rose, so that the food of the imperial court was rapidly reduced.

Grain merchants in Gyeonggi Province's capitals began to hoard grain, and grain prices began to rise, from a little a day to several times a day.

For a time, the price of rice in the entire Gyeonggi Province, especially in Chang'an, quadrupled, and it was sold for 15 wen and a bucket.

Secondly, the porridge factory of the imperial court was mixed, the order was chaotic, and the epidemic was breeding, so that the porridge factory was facing the crisis of closure.

In the end, the people did nothing, just waiting for the court to help, without thinking about finding a way out for themselves.

A few days later, Fang Xuanling, who discovered the shortcomings, immediately rushed to Taiji Palace.

After Li Er got the report, his brows tightened, and he said, "Let Tai Hospital and Jin Wuwei go to various porridge factories." ”

"Your Majesty, this is just a palliative, not a cure."

"And what good advice do you have?" Li Er asked in a deep voice.

Fang Xuanling was silent for a moment, and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen's methods are all decent methods, it is difficult to achieve immediate results, Weichen has a suggestion, it is better to go to Li Feng." ”

"Looking for him?"

"That's right, has your majesty forgotten, he said, there is any trouble to find him. It's a minister's view of this son, whether it's about Yang Guang or Xuanwumen, it's all about the sword.

His words made the minister feel that although Yang Guang was mediocre, he had made a great contribution to future generations, which was the same as Qin Shi Huang's book burning and Confucianism. ”

Li Er nodded slightly, what Fang Xuanling said was right, Li Feng's thoughts were all about the idea of the sword going off the peak, just like this drought, he bought a lot of grain in advance, but did not inform the court of the news.

If it is a decent person, he will definitely inform the court of this matter and ask the court for an official and a half-position.

"Okay, let's go find Li Feng. It is estimated that by this time he should have known that the drought had broken out, and he did not know how much his grain would sell for. ”

"He spent so much money, he definitely won't suffer."

"Nonsense." Li Er scolded with a smile, "Let's go, go find Li Feng." ”

"Yes."

At this time, Li Feng didn't know that Li Er had already left the palace to find him in order to solve the trouble of disaster relief.

At this time, he was busy dealing with the major grain merchants.