Just to the fifth watch, the rumbling drum sounded in Chang'an City, although this fifth early dynasty, but the people of Chang'an still feel extremely excited, they also rose with the drum, started a new day.

Wish! Just as the drum was triggered, the subjects of the Tang Dynasty, who had suffered a lot, finally saw hope, and a new king and a new era were kicked off by the drum of this diligent government.

The street was already bustling, and horse-drawn carriages were passing through Suzaku Street in an orderly manner, and as in the previous dynasty, orange lanterns hung beside the cars, showing the official titles and names of their owners, like twinkling stars floating in the morning mist.

In front of Mingde Gate, there is a backlog of a large number of carriages, these are the refugees who rushed back to Chang'an, some have just arrived, and some have been waiting outside all night, everyone has stretched their necks, anxiously waiting for the officials of the last dynasty to finish, some are anxious, have sent their families to walk back to see first, but more are complaining to each other, should not flee Chang'an in a hurry, and I don't know what the situation at home is now?

Some of the carriages of the last dynasty entered the imperial city from the Suzaku Gate, and went directly to the Yamen to deal with official business, but the deacons above the fifth grade made a detour to the Danfeng Gate, ready to participate in the early dynasty, according to the new court rules, a large dynasty every month, officials in Beijing above the seventh grade, regardless of the virtual official or the real official, all have to go to the Hanyuan Hall to make a pilgrimage to the emperor, seven days of a middle court, the deacon of the fifth grade or more enter the court to discuss matters, three days and a small court, limited to the real power officials of the Ministry Langzhong and Shaoqing above the Zichen Hall to make decisions on the world's major affairs, of course, in the time when there is no court meeting, Every morning, a joint cabinet meeting was held, and the emperor and the ministers met with each other. Schedule a day of government affairs.

However, due to the fact that it is an extraordinary period, there is a court meeting every day, at this moment, the eastern sky has already appeared in color, and the glow breaks through the clouds, dyeing the Daming Palace with a layer of gorgeous purple red.

The courtiers at the foot of the stairs gathered together to discuss today's court meeting, as early as three days ago, the palace supervisor had already issued the content of the daily court meeting. However, in the first three days, the contents of the discussions in the court meeting were all arrangements for the court, the formulation of rules, the transfer of personnel, and so on, and the biggest thing was to canonize the emperor's eldest son Li Shi as the crown prince and the crown prince's mother Shen Pearl as the queen.

"Lee Sang-kook!" went up, Miao Jinqing was originally a minister, and was deposed from Beijing because of Tianbao's six-year cheating case in the imperial examination. In the eleventh year of Tianbao, he was transferred back to Beijing as a member of the Household Division, and after Yang Xuan's death, he was promoted by Li Qing to be the Household Servant and Taifu Siqing.

Due to An Lushan's occupation of Luoyang, the transportation of Cao was not smooth, Jianghuai money and grain could not be released into Beijing, and the price of grain in Guanzhong could not be lowered for a long time, and it is still 800 Wen of doumi. Chang'an has a slightly better official porridge, but in Huayin County, which is the hardest hit by the military, people have died of starvation, and a wave of refugees flocking to Chang'an has begun to form.

As early as three days ago, Li Qing ordered the household department to write a report on the current financial situation, and Miao Jinqing collected the investigation materials of the household department, the Taifu Temple, the Yushitai, and other departments, and wrote it overnight last night, and will take it to the court meeting today for discussion.

As soon as Li Qing got off the carriage, several court officials were ready to meet him, and now everything was waiting to be rebuilt. There are also many opportunities for transfer and promotion, especially Yang Guozhong's henchmen who have occupied a high position for a long time and are now about to face purges.

However, because Li Qing was born in the household department and was in charge of salt administration, most of the people he promoted were his former subordinates. For example, the fifth Qi of the salt and iron superintendent was promoted to the head of the household department and the same Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi. Liu Yan took over as the supervisor of salt and iron; Cui Lian, the former household servant, was promoted to the Ministry of Industry Shangshu and Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi. also squeezed into the phase, so that all the people in the household raised their eyebrows. Even when I usually talk to people, my voice is a little louder.

That's it now, seeing that Miao Jinqing greeted him first, and the rest of the ministers all retreated with interest, Li Qing is not Yang Guozhong, and the more people who surround him, the better.

"Right Prime Minister, this is a recital written by his subordinates overnight last night, please take a look at it." Miao Jinqing had worry in his eyes, the situation was not optimistic, and the grain stocks in the Chang'an market could only cope with five days at most.

Li Qing took the music and flipped it over, and at this time, the drums of the previous dynasty had already sounded, so he returned it to Miao Jinqing and said, "Wait for you to raise it at the court meeting, and I will express my opinion." ”

The drums became more and more dense, and the courtiers lined up in two rows, the left line was led by the left minister Pei Kuan, and the right line was led by the right minister Li Qing.

According to the customary system, officials from the third rank and above have seats, and Li Qing is the first to sit on the right, at this time, a crisp sound sounded on the jade steps, and the hall immediately fell silent.

"The emperor has arrived!" With the deacons and eunuchs shouting, a group of guards and eunuchs poured out from both sides of the jade steps, and then under a yellow Luo umbrella, the young emperor Li Yu strode over, he wore a winged crown, dressed in a red yellow robe, full of energy, and his eyes were full of confidence.

"Your Majesty!" Hundreds of courtiers bowed together.

"Zhong Aiqing is flat."

Li Yu waved his hand, swept his eyes to the hall, and said loudly: "The court meeting for several days, the hard work of everyone Aiqing, but there are thieves on the outside, financial constraints inside, and the people are in hardship. ”

His eyes fell on Li Qing, and he smiled slightly: "Li Xiangguo, am I right?" ”

Li Qing stood up, bowed to him first, and then turned back to the crowd: "Your Majesty's words are what we think in our hearts, God bless our dynasty, and there is a monarch like Your Majesty who remembers the people of the world, and I am really fortunate to be in the Tang Dynasty, do you colleagues think it is right?" ”

Several important ministers stood up and bowed in agreement: "What Xiangguo said is what we think!" ”

Li Yu nodded, "In that case, let's hurry up and start the court discussion!" ”

According to the original plan, it should be the household servant who came out to ask for the stabilization of grain prices, but Li Yu looked at the court table arranged by the palace supervisor, and said to the new crown prince Zhan Shi Li Yu: "Li Zhan Shi can have a play?" ”

The so-called Prince Zhan Shi is the head of the hundred officials in the East Palace, and it is generally the Pingzhang matter under the Zhongshu Sect. Squeezed into the phase, but because most of the officials of the East Palace are idle, Li Mi does not have much real power, but he can participate in the joint cabinet meeting and express his opinions on some major matters.

Li Yu originally appointed him as the secretary of the ministry, but due to the resolute opposition of the right minister Li Qing, he said that Li Yu was only a bachelor of Hanlin and had no qualifications as a minister, and he became the head of the scholar in one step. I am afraid that the hundred officials will not be convinced, Pei Kuan also advised Li Yu to consider more meritorious heroes and old ministers, in desperation, Li Yu can only reach a compromise with Li Qing, according to the convention, the right minister Li Qing will be appointed as the secretary of the ministry, Li Yu can only take a step back and do the prince Zhan Shi. But he left a tail, and he was in the same book as the book.

Li Mi walked out of the court, he first arched his hand slightly to Li Qing, and then gave Li Yushen a salute and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thought that the former Prime Minister Yang Guozhong used a lot of money, and one penny was worth fifty wen, and the copper content of Kaiyuan Tongbao was reduced. This move has caused serious chaos among the people, making prices soar and the people's lives more and more difficult

The copper coins minted in the eleventh year of Bao were used to stabilize the land currency system of our Datang Dynasty. ”

Let's talk about it. He held it above his head, and a eunuch took it for him. Li Yu flipped through it. Smiling happily, he turned around and asked Li Qingdao: "What does the right minister think the prince Zhan suggests?" ”

Li Qing secretly sneered in his heart, although what Li Yu said was reasonable, but he wrote it as a twist, this is not a suggestion, he has overstepped his authority, it seems that Li Yu has always been angry about not being able to reuse Li Yu, and he even ignored the arrangement of the issue of the palace prison. He made his own initiative to let Li Mi take the lead in speaking, and after only a few days of being the emperor, he began to feel anxious.

Li Qing was silent, he stood up and smiled slightly: "Actually, the prince Zhan's suggestion has not been perfected, can you let the minister add it?" ”

A hint of unnaturalness flashed on Li Yudi's face, but he still smiled: "Please say it!" ”

Li Qing walked out of the court class and bowed slightly to Li Mi and said, "Prince Zhan Shi has hit the nail on the head. I couldn't agree more. However, the actual operation is up for debate. The main thing is how to abolish it, and it is a decree to abolish it immediately. Or should it be slowly abolished? I think that the currency system is very important to the people's livelihood, any big move will make the people's lives be impacted, should minimize this unnecessary shock, the big money is to be abolished, the first is to stop the big money minting, and then gradually withdraw and melt, otherwise an order to abolish the big money, what should the big money in the hands of the people do? Who will compensate them for their losses? ”

Li Mi was silent and speechless, and after listening to Li Qing's words, he immediately retorted: "Xiangguo, Li Mi is not trying to harm the interests of the people, and the big money in their hands can be redeemed by the imperial court." ”

"The minister opposes what Li Zhan said!" Striding out of the class, it was the fifth Qi of the Hubu Shangshu, he glanced at Li Yu with displeasure on his face, bowed to Li Yu and said, "Your Majesty, please speak!" ”

Li Yu saw him come out to oppose it, and sighed secretly in his heart, Li Yu overstepped his authority, it seemed that he was going to provoke the anger of the public, he just wanted him to come out, but he was a little inconsiderate, the formulation of the currency law was originally a matter of the household department, and now that the fifth Qi wanted to speak, he had to be allowed, Li Yu had to reluctantly say: "Fifth Aiqing, please speak!" ”

Fifth Qi turned around in one step, staring at Li Yu with blazing eyes: "I don't know if Prince Zhan Shi has seen Zuo Zang's account books, and how much money is still available in the imperial court now?" Tell you, there are still 800,000 yuan, how much does it cost to redeem a lot of money? It takes two million pieces,

The imperial court is now in ruins, but the money is only a little, if it is all used to exchange for a lot of money, then do you have to do anything else? Hundreds of officials and materials, the purchase of grain, the recruitment of soldiers do not need money, the loss of the right minister will be the cabinet shop to recover the money robbed of the land, otherwise you have to pay a sum of money, how can this 800,000 yuan be enough? ”

Originally, Fifth Qi was extremely dissatisfied with Li Mi's overstepping of his authority, and now Li Mi stepped on the sore spot of his financial constraints, how could he not be annoyed, and his voice was a little louder unintentionally, and his voice echoed in the hall.

"This. Laughing without saying a word, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, the emperor was indeed in a little too hasty, and in desperation, Li Mi had to take a step back and said: "Your Majesty, the minister agrees with Xiangguo's opinion, the big money should indeed be slowly recovered, and it can't be rushed." ”

In fact, Li Mi knew that Li Qing should still have a large amount of money in his hand, all of which were copied from the Yang family's rooms, although he didn't know the amount, but a fool could guess that there were at least millions of guan, but Li Qing only handed over 500,000 guan to Zuo Zang in the end, and the rest of the money was gone, although everyone knew it. But there are some things that cannot be said.

Li Qing and others retreated to the court. There was silence in the hall, and there was a confrontation just now. Many ministers have seen that the emperor intends to let Li Mi lead this court meeting. was counterattacked by Li Qing, and everyone couldn't help but be secretly worried about Li Yu. It's only been a few days since I've been in power, and I want to go my own way. After all, it's still a little tender!

Recently, there have been some rumors in the neighborhood of Chang'an, saying that the death of hundreds of princes and grandsons was not caused by the rebels as the government said, but for another reason; In addition, according to the Yulin Army who returned with the Emperor Taishang, the abdication of the Emperor Taishang was actually forced into the palace by Li Qing's army, and the scene at that time was very bloody.

Now Li Qing holds great power. In particular, the control of the Guanzhong Dianxi Army is still in his hands. If Li Yu annoys him, maybe he will have to change the new emperor again.

After a moment of silence, Li Qing stepped forward again and said, "Your Majesty, the minister discussed with a few ministers yesterday. At present, the most urgent thing is to stabilize the price of rice and the flow of refugees, prevent the occurrence of civil unrest, and the second is to recruit troops in Guanzhong to quell the rebellion in An Lushan as soon as possible. The day before yesterday, the minister had ordered the household department to write a report and ask His Majesty to discuss it. ”

went around in a circle. Back to the schedule, the content of the daily court meeting is generally drawn up by the prime minister and submitted to the emperor for approval. Then the supervisors of the palace issued it first, and in the late stage of the Li Long base, they no longer asked about this matter. Basically, Li Linfu has the final say, which is an important reason why Li Linfu can lean into power. He can lead the whole court.

Li Qing's departure is still this step, and all the contents of the court are selected by him in advance in many political affairs. and then handed it over to Li Yu for approval. In the end, the palace supervisor distributed it to the officials participating in the court meeting, so that they could prepare in advance, instead of the emperor improvisingly saying, 'You Aiqing have a book to play, and there is no book to disperse the dynasty', if that is the case, it is equivalent to crossing the Xiangguo and reporting directly to the emperor. This is ultra vires, which should not be allowed in a tight bureaucracy.

And there are two topics today, one is to stabilize the price of rice, and the other is to recruit soldiers, both of which are top priorities, Li Yu nodded silently and agreed with Li Qingzhi. He then looked over to the queue of household officials.

Miao Jinqing took a deep breath. Strode out of the court. "Your Majesty, the minister has a play!"

He took out the fold. Raised high above his head, a eunuch came down to take it and handed it to Li Yu, Li Yu listened to his statement while looking at it, "In the past few days, the minister has collected the situation from various channels, and the food situation in Chang'an is indeed not optimistic, and the grain in Taicang is about 700,000 stones, which is about 500,000 stone for recruiting soldiers, and it cannot be moved. Let's take a look at the grain stored on the market in Chang'an, judging from the grain storage in the major grain stores and bazaars in the West Market, it can only support five days at most, and now the original citizens and hungry people who pour into Chang'an every day have reached more than 20,000 people.

Miao Jinqing's tone was flat, but everyone's hearts were heavy, Li Yu tried his best to restrain the worries in his heart, and waited until he finished talking before asking, "Then Miao Aiqing has a countermeasure?" ”

Miao Jinqing sighed, and said frustratedly: "The countermeasure is there, but the effect is not ideal, just now the fifth Shangshu also said that the household department is ready to allocate a part of the money to the rich households to buy grain, in fact, since the day before yesterday, the Changping Administration has begun to collect grain, but by last night, it only received a total of more than 2,000 stones, far from enough!" ”

At this time, Wei Jiansu, the secretary of the military department, suddenly interjected and asked, "What is the purchase price of the land for Miao Shilang?" ”

Wei Jiansu is also from the household department, and he has also served as the secretary of the Taifu Temple (since

From what Miao Jinqing just said, the price of grain on the black market has exceeded 1,500 Wen per bucket, he feels bad, he knows that it is impossible for the imperial court to purchase grain at a price higher than the official price, otherwise there will be a vicious circle of higher and higher grain prices.

Sure enough, Miao Jinqing said the price that worried him the most, "Eight hundred Wen!" "It is far below the black market price, so of course the government will not receive food.

Wei Jiansu shook his head and said to Li Yu: "Your Majesty, if you don't take strong measures, I'm afraid that there will be a civil uprising in Chang'an, which will greatly weaken Your Majesty's prestige." ”

If Miao Jinqing's words made Li Yu deeply worried, then what Wei Jiansu said made him restless, and as soon as Wei Jiansu's voice fell, he immediately said: "Wei Aiqing has a good way?" ”

Wei Jiansu turned around and apologized slightly to Fifth Qi. Fang Cai replied: "Yesterday, the minister and the right minister discussed this matter, and our opinions are all the same, and extraordinary measures must be used in extraordinary times to achieve results. With that, he nodded to Li Qing. Motioned for him to continue.

"Wei Shangshu is right, is it necessary to use extraordinary means?" Li Qing stood up again and saluted Li Yu. He said with a smile: "It should be Jing Zhaoyin's matter to rob the house, but Wei Shangshu pushed it to me, and asked His Majesty Rongchen to act on his behalf again." ”

Li Yu couldn't help but smile slightly when he heard him say something funny. The boredom just now was swept away, although he didn't like Li Qing to hold on to the military alone. But when he saw him come out at a critical time, Li Yu still felt a kind of steadfastness in his heart.

"You don't have to be polite, but please speak up!"

"Your Majesty, the minister is also an old householder, and the minister knows that although the grain storage in Chang'an is tight, it is by no means as Miao Shilang said. It can only be supported for a few days, and it's the end of June. By past experience. I thought I could hold out for at least two months, but the key was the unevenness! ”

The words 'unevenly' came out of Li Qing's mouth. There was a buzz in the hall, some people applauded in their hearts, and some landers were secretly scolding, in fact, everyone knew what the problem was? But no one dares to say it, I'm afraid that only Li Qing dares to say it.

Li Qing swept around the hall. Seeing that some people were happy and some were worried, he sneered lightly and said, "The so-called extraordinary means. In fact, it is to use heavy codes to control chaos, and there are only three ways to sum it up, the first is to crack down on the black market, please Your Majesty immediately issue an order, and anyone who dares to resell grain without permission will be beheaded! ”

"Your Majesty, is this too much. Right.

Li Yu interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said coldly: "What Li Xiangguo said is exactly what I wanted. Quasi-play! ”

Li Qing glanced at Zhang Yi and saw him retreat with a flushed face, he couldn't help but snort coldly in his heart, and continued: "Second, it is strictly forbidden to hoard grain privately, and the household department can set the upper limit of grain storage for each household, and anyone who exceeds the upper limit of ten stones. One hundred rods were exiled to the border of the Western Regions for three years; Over 100 stones. The head of the house is beheaded. The family members were exiled to the Western Regions and enslaved for life; If there are more than 1,000 stones, they will be beheaded all over the house! ”

Li Yu saw that his punishment was more severe than the other. Especially for those who exceed a thousand stones, this is completely aimed at the clan magnates, but nearly half of the men of the clan in Chang'an have been executed, and the remaining women, children and children can only be ravaged by him, in fact, Li Yu also vaguely guessed that Li Qing did it, which can reduce his opponents, which is extremely beneficial to him, and he is also willing to pretend to be confused and put the responsibility on An Lushan.

It's just that he saw that almost half of the courtiers' faces had changed drastically, and he didn't dare to play it easily, so he hesitated and continued to ask, "What about the third one?" ”

Li Qing was a little hesitant when he heard Li Yu's tone, and knew that he was worried in his heart, so he smiled slightly and said: "The third is to cooperate with the specific strategy of the first two places, place the four under the Suzaku Gate, encourage the people to expose each other's complaints, and once it is verified, the whistleblower will be rewarded heavily!" ”.

The court meeting unconsciously lasted for two hours, many officials without seats had already stood with sore legs and feet, some were worried about the food stored at home, and their hearts were even more restless, at this time, the time for the court meeting had arrived, and the palace supervisor announced the dissolution of the court, and after sending off the emperor, everyone returned to the yamen in twos and threes, Li Qinggang got up, but saw Wei Jiansu walking towards him with a smile.

"Li Xiang's methods are vicious, but the emperor is frightened!"

"The idea is that you came out of the land, but let me be the wicked." Li Qing smiled, lightly punched him in the shoulder, and said, "I'll ask you, how much grain is in your family, quickly and honestly, I can tell the secret and receive the reward." ”

Wei Jiansu smiled, and when he saw that there was no one left and right, he whispered: "Stupid!" If I had food in stock, would I have this idea? ”

But as soon as his words fell, the fifth Qi came out from behind, he sighed leisurely, and said to Li Qing with a sad face: "Xiangguo, although your method is good, you killed me." ”

Li Qing was stunned, "Why is this?" ”

"Eight hundred wen collects a bucket, one stone is eight guan, I heard that in the past, Li Cong's grain storage in a manor was not less than 10,000 stones, if his family handed it over, how could I have so much money to collect grain? Besides, if the price of food drops, won't I do a loss-making business! ”

Li Qing and Wei Jiansu glanced at each other, and they both laughed, Li Qing smiled, a trace of cunning flashed in his eyes, and whispered in his ear: "I have already thought for you, all those who come to pay grain will give a receipt first, which clearly states that they will collect grain at the market price, and then settle with them when the grain price plummets, will you lose?" ”

Fifth Qi was stunned, and he said for a long time: "Isn't this a bit unkind to the people of Chang'an?" ”

"The people of Chang'an?" Li Qing sneered and said, "I'm afraid that the people of Dichang'an are not the same thing as I think the people of Dichang'an!" I only say ten stone meters to judge the crime, will ordinary Shengdou small people have ten stone rice? The rich and noble people can't finish eating the grain, and the pile there is rotten, and the hoarders deserve it, if they don't be so ruthless and let them have a good pain, how can the price of food be lowered? ”

At this time, Wei Jiansu also patted Fifth Qi's shoulder and persuaded him: "In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are indeed needed, what Yang Guozhong did in the past really lost the hearts of the people too much, if you don't want to make up for it, how can you build up the prestige of the emperor." ”

Fifth Qi nodded silently, although he always disapproved of Li Qing's methods, but there is really no better way, if the government collects grain at the price of 800 Wen, when the price of grain falls to 100 Wen, the government will lose 700 Wen per bucket of rice, and he Fifth Qi can't afford this responsibility!

At this time, a little eunuch hurriedly came and saluted Li Qing and Wei Jiansushi: "Li Xiangguo, Wei Shangshu, Your Majesty invites the two of you to the imperial study to discuss important matters." ”