Silk in the air dense flying, no moon, the street is exceptionally dark, even the cats and dogs that often come out to forage for food are hiding in a corner to sleep, the cold and bleak spring night makes people nostalgic at home and reluctant to come out, the home bright *** and warm smile is the best destination for people's souls.

Li Qing's door was barely replaced until the first watch, and it closed with a heavy and tired sound, and the day made everyone exhausted, and the lights were extinguished one after another, but the lights in the back house were still on.

The lights in the room were flickering, filled with a strong fragrance of medicine, Li Qing and Curtain were guarding the bedside, both of them staring at the sleepy Xiaoyu in silence, she had already woken up once at night, drank a bowl of medicine and fell asleep again.

"Li Lang, did you come up with this new salt method?" After a long silence, the curtain suddenly asked.

Li Qing didn't speak, and after a while, he said slowly, "What did you hear?" ”

The curtain sighed, glanced at Xiaoyu and said with a wry smile: "Come to my house to make trouble, this is the street splash, it's okay, but I heard Song Mei say that the price of salt in the bazaar has risen sharply, more than three times overnight, the most expensive has reached one hundred and fifty-one buckets, and the price of rice has also risen, originally thirty or forty-one buckets, but now it has also risen to seventy, and people in the streets and alleys are saying that this is the sin done by Li Shilang of the household department, I think, is there anyone else in this Shilang surnamed Li?" ”

"You're right, this new salt law is indeed implemented by me, but it has not officially started yet. The current increase in the price of salt and rice in the market has nothing to do with me, it is all unscrupulous profiteers who take the opportunity to raise prices. ”

Li Qing sneered and said: "In fact, the earliest raw salt came out of only seven, eighty-one buckets, and the high-grade salt was only ten, but in the end, it was sold for fifty in the market, and it was sold for eighty in our Shazhou, where did the profits go?" It's not taken away by salt merchants and magnates. ”

He stepped forward and gently hugged his wife's shoulders and said softly: "My new salt law is to deprive these people of their huge profits. The government bought it from the salt factory at 10, and then sold it to the small salt merchant at 30, deducting the transportation, and finally the price of salt in the bazaar was only 70, which was not much different from now. ”

Curtain looked up at her husband's face and said worriedly: "I know that you are not an official who harms the people. But we also worked hard from the bottom little by little, have you forgotten the Liuxian order in Yilong County? The fate of the common people is still in the hands of these grassroots officials, you may be able to control the capital, but in those small counties, can you control it? ”

Li Qing's eyes flashed with a trace of worry, he touched his chin with his hand, and then turned into a resolute attitude, his right hand clenched his fist and hit the palm of his left hand, "If you can't control it, you have to take care of it!" Curtain, don't look at the current school of singing and dancing. In fact, this is all false prosperity, and the prosperity of Kaiyuan is already yesterday's yellow flower. After Tianbao, more and more peasants lost their land. The wealth is taken away by the authorities, the poor get poorer, the rich get richer, the people have no way to live, they can only sell themselves into slavery, just say that the king of Naqing, he owns ten thousand slaves, but he is not satisfied. Selling illicit salt and hoarding grain, these moths will sooner or later hollow out the foundations of the country. In the long run, how can the ambitious people not see the opportunity and start a rebellion, I started with the salt policy, which is to accumulate a financial foundation for the next step of reform, as long as I have money, no matter what I do, I can get twice the result with half the effort. ”

The curtain didn't seem to understand, she looked up at Li Qing blankly, and suddenly hugged her husband's waist, her head was tightly pressed against his chest, and she said emotionally: "I don't care if the price of salt is heaven, but you are my husband, I am just worried that you will offend those powerful people, they will definitely attack you, if you have three long and two short, what can I do with the child!" ”

Li Qing hugged his wife tightly, smiled and comforted her, "Don't worry! I'm not easy to mess with, I even dare to kill Tubo Zampu, are you still afraid of those bullshit King Qing, King Yong and the like? If you really annoy me, I will even clean them up, and it's a big deal that let's go back to the Western Regions, where it's another day! ”

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The next day, the sky was bright, Li Qing got up early and went to the imperial city, and there were troops patrolling everywhere along the way, and the atmosphere was quite tense.

Since Li Longji moved to Xingqing Palace, the daily early dynasty has gradually been abandoned, first three days of a dynasty, and then changed to five days, after the Shangyuan Festival, the early dynasty has not been over, but the great dynasty and foreign envoys to the dynasty can barely maintain.

Every morning, officials from various ministries, monasteries, and prisons went to the office to complete their respective tasks, while the ministers went to the Xingqing Palace Political Affairs Hall to discuss some military affairs with Li Longji.

Li Qing is going to the place now is not the household department, but to the ministry of officials, he has a thousand things to do in front of him, to stabilize the price of salt, to implement the salt law, to take over the source of salt, but to trace back to the source, the top priority is to set up a salt and iron envoy, no one, he can't do anything, yesterday the fifth Qi gave him a list, many people need to be called across departments, this needs to go through the ministry.

"Hah! I knew Yang Ming would come to me today. ”

Yang Shenjin saw Li Qing from afar, greeted him with a smile, he took Li Qing's hand, looked him up and down, and said again and again: "It's okay!" No injuries were caused. ”

Li Qingwei was stunned, "What, do you already know what happened yesterday?" ”

Yang Shen smiled slightly, and said: "Don't look at the vast area of Chang'an, but this kind of thing spreads the fastest, I heard that early this morning there is already a royal history ready to impeach you for committing murder on the street and arresting people indiscriminately, and I am afraid that the emperor will ask you about it in a while." ”

"How does Brother Shen know that the emperor wants to see me?"

Yang Shenjin looked up at the sky, looked at Li Qing and said with a smile: "Presumably you haven't gone to the household department yet!" Xingqing Palace has already sent a decree, in the morning all the ministers and ministers must go to Xingqing Palace to attend an emergency meeting, I am about to leave, it is better to go. ”

The two got into Yang Shenjin's carriage, and the coachman flicked his whip, and the carriage quickly started and headed south.

"The emperor's emergency meeting is about the skyrocketing price of salt and grain in the market?" On the carriage, Li Qing, who had been silent, suddenly asked.

Yang Shenjin nodded heavily, "I heard that this is the case, yesterday a few grain shops were robbed by the chaotic people, and even the county government of Wannian County was also impacted and half burned, the emperor was furious, and ordered the Xingbu, Dali Temple, and Yushi Taixing Dasansi to try the case." ”

Speaking of this, Yang Shenjin glanced at Li Qing and said with a faint smile: "I'm afraid that today Yang Ming will become the person that everyone pays attention to again." ”

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The political hall of Xingqing Palace was solemn, dozens of important ministers of the Tang Dynasty gathered together, waiting for His Majesty's lecture from the Emperor, yesterday's grain robbery incident in Beijing, although the matter was small, but it was the first time since Li Longji ascended the throne, it was of great significance, no wonder His Majesty wanted to be furious and strictly investigate this case.

Li Linfu sat at the top, and was greeting Li Daofu, the new secretary of the Ministry of Industry, but his eyes looked coldly at Yang Shenjin, who had just walked into the lobby, he came with Li Qing, but after entering the door, he went to greet Zhang Qiu and Qiong, not himself, and recently he also heard that Yang Shenjin and Zhang Qiu and Qiong were very close, and it was obvious that this person wanted to change the court, Li Lin

！ Doesn't he know what the end of betraying himself is?

Li Daofu got up, slowly walked to Li Qing's side, walked around him, and suddenly looked up to the sky and smiled, "Life is so wonderful, Li Dongzhu, don't come to harm?" ”

Li Qing also laughed, smiled, stared at him and said coldly: "What should I call you?" Li Shangshu, Li Tingshi or Li Sima, it is not easy to turn over, and if you take another wrong step, I am afraid that it will never be recovered, Li Shangshu should be careful. ”

"Humph! Ignorant and ignorant child, my Datang is really no one! ”

Li Qing was not annoyed, glanced at him, and said with a faint smile: "Li Shangshu, do you mean that the emperor is mediocre and doesn't know anyone?" ”

Li Daofu's face turned pale with shock, looked at no one on the left and right, and hurriedly whispered: "Nonsense! When did I say this, you don't want to spew blood! ”

At this time, a light bell rang, and the palace eunuch shouted, "His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!" ”

Everyone stopped talking, stood up, and for a moment, they saw Li Longji's face sinking like water, striding forward surrounded by dozens of eunuchs and palace maids, sitting on the dragon chair, and the officials knelt down and shouted three long live.

"That's it, let's sit down and discuss it!"

The ministers got up and returned to their respective positions, Li Longji coughed lightly, and said in a heavy tone: "It has been thirty-five years since I ascended the throne, and the country and the people have always been safe, but yesterday there was an incident of hungry people grabbing food, which really shocked me. ”

He glanced sharply at the crowd. Stopping at Jingzhao Yin Li, he said coldly: "Yesterday's incident, you will explain it first!" ”

Although he did not name him, Jingzhao Yin Li knew that the emperor was looking for him, so he hurriedly bowed his head and hurriedly came out of the ranks, and saluted Li Longji: "Back to Your Majesty, yesterday's Chang'an riots were mainly concentrated in the area of Xinghuafang and Xishi, and five grain shops and silk shops were robbed.

Don't wait for him to finish. Li Longji interrupted him impatiently, "I am asking about the root cause of the riots, not about your losses. ”

"Yes!" Li secretly glanced at Li Qing and said slowly: "The cause of this incident is the sudden introduction of the new salt law, which caused panic among the people and hoarded salt one after another. It continued to affect the price of rice, causing the price of rice to rise, and finally triggered the grain rush incident, and the minister sent a note to Jianghuai, requesting that grain be urgently transferred to Beijing to calm the price of rice. ”

"Adjust the rice of Jianghuai? You can figure it out! ”

Li Longji snorted heavily, "Jianghuai Zhimi enters Beijing, even if it takes twenty days to get lucky, can it calm down the situation?" Spread my will and ordered Taicang to quickly release 500,000 stones. In order to calm the price of rice in the capital. ”

Taifu Siqing immediately received the order to handle the matter of releasing grain, without mentioning it.

"As for you."

Li Longji said coldly to Li Ran: "The introduction of the new salt law will inevitably fluctuate. But you were not prepared at all, and this happened. You are hard to get rid of your crimes, and now you are transferred to Changsha Assassin History, and the post of Jingzhao Yin will be taken over by Shaoyin Yang Guozhong. ”

Li knelt down and kowtowed, and thanked gloomily: "The minister is guilty, thank Your Majesty for your kindness!" ”

The emperor's sudden appointment made all the officials dare not believe their ears, Yang Guozhong, who has only been in Beijing for one year, has been promoted from a small Jin Wuwei military to Jing Zhaoyin, who has been in the military from the third grade, it seems that the emperor's infatuation with the concubine is no longer ordinarily deep, and Li Linfu can't help but flash a trace of jealousy. At the same time, there is also a point of vigilance.

Yang Guozhong in the back was ecstatic, Jing Zhaoyin was an official from the third grade. That is to say, he finally surpassed Li Qing at this moment and became a real power department, he knelt softly on his knees, almost crawling over, he kowtowed again and again: "Thank you, Your Majesty!" ”

Li Longji waved his hand lightly and ordered him to return. With a slanted gaze, it fell on Li Qing, and the root cause of the riot still fell on Yan Zheng, which Li Qing could not solve.

"I don't know how the implementation of Li Shilang's new salt law is progressing?"

Li Qing strode out of the court, arched and said: "Back to Your Majesty's words, the preparation of the salt and iron envoy has already been raised." ”

He took out the inventory from his bosom and handed it over: "If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools, and the minister thinks that people are the first important, this is the list of personnel drawn up by the minister, please approve it." ”

A eunuch stepped forward to take it and handed it to Li Longji, he only flipped it slightly, then took a pen and signed it, handed it to Yang Shenjin and said: "I have approved this matter, and the officials will immediately handle the order." ”

He looked at Li Qing again and continued, "Then what other difficulties do you have that I need to help you solve?" ”

"When I returned to Your Majesty's questioning, what the minister was most worried about was that the local yang and yin were violated, the salt law was empty, and inaction or taking the opportunity to end up filling his pocket."

Li Qingdi's meaning was obvious, he wanted Li Longji to solve the local implementation problem for him, at this time, Shangshu's right servant Chen Xilie saw that the emperor was obedient to Li Qingyan, he couldn't help it anymore, and repeatedly gave Li Linfu a look, asking him to come forward to stop him, but Li Linfu seemed to turn a blind eye to him. After more than ten years of being a land minister, Li Linfu naturally knows what he can oppose and what he can't oppose, and his heart is like a mirror.

He knew that Li Longji's support for Li Qing was really because the treasury was empty, and the emperor was eager for money, and if he rashly came forward to oppose it, it would inevitably cause Li Longji to be dissatisfied with him, but the gains outweighed the losses, so he wouldn't be so stupid!

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to say!" Ban against.

"The minister thinks that the top priority now is to solve the crisis in Chang'an, not the locality, so the minister suggested that the army should be sent first, find out the salt and grain stocks of the major shops in Chang'an, and sell them at a limited price."

Li Qing was most disgusted by this person, thinking that he was old and stinking to put on a stinky fight, he took his words and said in a deep voice, "It's okay to find out the situation, but the military ministers are against it, although it works quickly, but the sequelae are serious, and the people will not believe in the court in the future." ”

"What do you think?"

Li Qing sneered and replied: "The soaring price of salt and rice in Chang'an is nothing more than the hoarding of goods by unscrupulous businessmen, it is easy to quell it, I just need to see Jianchang close the position, they don't sell I will sell, there is a dumping of low-priced salt and rice that is often closed, no matter how much he hoards, it is useless, so the key is to implement it locally." ”

Li Longji nodded, he stared at Chen Xilie and said sharply: "Chen Servant, you don't need to talk too much about this matter, the local government really needs to supervise the implementation, and the new salt law can be implemented.

Li Longji called the names of seven people in a row, and only after they were out of the ranks did he say in a loud voice: "I order the seven of you to branch the world, and supervise the implementation of the new salt law for me. ”

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