Chapter 456: Fundraising

Sending away Yang Lihua's cronies and maids who came to visit Yuan in the temple, An Ruoxi accompanied Xinyi Shitai and Lichen and Yuan, and the two talked for a while, and then said that they were unwell and went back to the room to rest alone. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 The info mind teacher mistakenly thought that she cried during the day and was too sad, and he didn't pay much attention to it. There is only one person, who understands the middle of it, and knows that An Ruoxi and Liyuan both have something to hide from their master, but they also have the mentality that more is better than less, so they turn a blind eye and let An Ruoxi and Liyuan arrange nonsense to fool the master, and they just pretend not to know on the side.

An Ruoxi returned to the dormitory and lay down, and his mind began to work rapidly: just because Liang Shiyan, the Duke of Shengguo, sent someone to the temple to meet with Yuan, it was not possible to judge that Yuan and the old ministers of the previous dynasty were colluding with each other, and they wanted to do wrong, and everything had to wait for further observation before they could be concluded, so this matter was not urgent at present. For her, being able to help Yang Guang raise the court's bounty for the Turks as soon as possible was the top priority.

However, he was thousands of miles away in the Chang'an Ni Temple, and he only learned about what had happened in Hebei in the past few months, so how could he help Yang Guang? An Ruoxi lay on the bed, tossing and turning, until the next day was about to dawn, and failed to come up with a way to help Yang Guang get through the current difficulty, so she had to beg for the newly born emperor and grandson on the surface, but in fact, she was secretly praying for Yang Guang every day and every moment in her heart, begging the Buddha and Bodhisattva to bless Yang Guang to be safe.

An Ruoxi in Wanshanni Temple failed to help Yang Guang come up with a safe way to raise the court's favor in Hebei, but Zhang Heng, the head of the Hebei Provincial Household Department, did.

More than a month ago, when the emperor ordered Yang Guang to raise his own rewards in Hebei and issue an edict to the Turks in the name of the imperial court, Yang Guangzheng took Zhang Xutuo, Xian Yuluo and a few other guards to pay a private visit to the eastern states under the rule of Hebei Province. Entrusted by Yang Guang, Zhang Wei, the left servant of Hebei Province Xingtai, who was temporarily in charge of the administrative affairs of Taiwan, received the edict on behalf of Yang Guang, and without thinking about it, he ordered the prefectures under the rule of Hebei Province to raise the rewards from the imperial court to the Turks on the spot, which aroused the boiling of public resentment and led to civil turmoil in Hebei.

Yang Guang reported in Youzhou that the government offices of Hebei prefectures had imposed additional taxes on the local people, which had provoked a popular uprising, and he hurriedly rushed to the Youzhou Governor's Office to meet Zhou Shao to inquire about the details. When he heard Zhou Shao report to him about the cause and effect of the whole thing, Yang Guang immediately felt the seriousness of the situation: how could his father ignore the fact that the people of Hebei had suffered from the Turkic invasion for many years, and forcibly issued an edict to raise the court's reward for the Turks in Hebei, and Zhang Wei also bore unshirkable responsibility in this incident. Either they disregard the people's grievances and forcibly requisition grain and silk, although they can take into account the dignity of the imperial court towards the Turks, it is very easy to invite civil strife, so that the situation in Hebei, which has just stabilized, will fall into chaos again. Neither of these outcomes is something you want to achieve.

Zhou Shao had an idea for Yang Guang: the matter had come to this point, and since the people understood that the government imposed additional taxes on them in order to raise the court's reward for the Turks, it was better for the state officials to come forward and buy 300,000 stone grains and 30,000 horses of silk from the people at a high price as a reward from the court to the Turks. In this way, there is no need for the people to pay out of their own pockets, and the supply to the Turks may be able to alleviate the contradictions and calm the turmoil.

However, when Yang Guang was very pleased to adopt Zhou Shao's suggestion and ordered Zhou Shao to start from the states under his jurisdiction, and the government offices of the prefectures came forward to buy grain and silk from the local people at a high price, Zhou Shao replied with a bitter face: "Your Highness doesn't know, all the prefectures under his jurisdiction have caused a huge deficit in the treasury due to the supply of the army of King Wei to Yuguan to clear Gao Baoning in the past two years, and it has not been made up so far, how can I get the money to exchange grain and silk from the people?" ”

Yang Guang was both annoyed and funny, and said secretly in his heart: You dare to touch your upper lip with your lower lip, and you only say it easily, and when it is your turn to ask your subordinate government office to pay, you will be dumbfounded.

He was angry and annoyed with Zhou Shao, but because he remembered that his suggestion was indeed a workaround to resolve the current crisis, Yang Guang reprimanded Zhou Shao, did not dare to stay outside for a moment, and immediately took people back to Bingzhou.

However, when Yang Guang rushed back to Bingzhou non-stop, he ordered someone to send Zhang Heng, the secretary of the branch of Xingtai, to ask him face to face, and even Yang Guang himself was completely deflated: according to the information that Zhang Heng had, not only did the continuous war with the Turks almost exhaust the money, food, and silk of Xingtai in Hebei Province and the prefectures under his rule, but also a large amount of money was lost in various places under his rule due to the rebuilding of Buddhist temples and the re-recruitment of a large number of monks and nuns to become monks.

"Then, there is also a coin-casting furnace that my father gave to this king, and I ordered him to give money immeasurable, and asked him to supervise the foundry, and cast more 'five plants of the emperor' day and night, which will be used to exchange the grain and silk needed from the people." Yang Guang listened to Zhang Heng's report with frustration, and commanded unwillingly.

"Your Highness, the coinage furnace rewarded by the emperor, the total amount of money minted per month is only one or two hundred thousand, and it needs to be used to support the daily use of various departments and palaces in Xingtai, it is difficult to do what His Highness ordered." Zhang Heng spread his hands helplessly and replied.

"According to what you say, at the moment I am the only one who can go to my father's emperor and beg him to withdraw the edict and raise another grain and silk to reward the Turks." Yang Guanggao sat in the main hall of Jinyang Palace, casually took An Ruoxi's handwritten letter from An Ruoxi, the maid Xiao Xiao, who rushed to hear the news, and said to Zhang Heng without raising his head.

"Your Highness, I have a plan that can solve my current difficulties in Hebei Province." Zhang Heng saw that Yang Guang had read the letter in his hand, his face became gloomy, and he wanted to speak again.

"Let's hear about it. What clever strategy did you have to raise 300,000 grains and 30,000 horses of silk to be rewarded to the Turks in just two months? If it is not useful, the king will return to Chang'an, meet his father, and beg him to withdraw the edict. Yang Guangyin learned from An Ruoxi's letter that the queen mother Dugu Jialuo failed to allow him to marry An Ruoxi as the two of them wished, and he couldn't help but be annoyed in his heart, and urged Zhang Hengdao loudly.

"Xia Guan remembers that two years ago, when His Royal Highness wanted to rebuild the Buddhist temple in the prefecture capital under the rule of Hebei Province, someone suggested to His Highness that he would raise good funds for the construction of Buddhist temples for the local family in Hebei. Zhang Heng heard that Yang Guang's speech was not good, and said a long story short.