Li Wei was watching the plane in the Western Regions, but Guanzhong was in a mess at the moment.

The newspaper said that there was a flood and then a drought, and then a plague of locusts. It's a very simple sentence, but in practice, it's miserable. When the three disasters are spread out in the same way, the people will suffer, and all three will come in a concentrated manner. Almost thousands of miles away, the eight hundred miles of rich Qinchuan where Qin Xianggong must have been great in the Qin Dynasty in the past has become a barren land. Not to mention the crops, even the leaves were almost eaten by the locusts.

This disaster was also almost one of several major disasters in the history of the Tang Dynasty.

Wealthy families don't care, and even many big landlords have stored grain in their hands, so they sell it at a high price and make a lot of money. But what is the food in the homes of the poor people?

If you don't see it right, not only will the summer harvest be gone, but the autumn harvest will also be nothing, so a scene that has been staged many times in ancient history - escaping from famine, is staged again.

There is no way to escape, it is raining heavily in East Luoyang and other places, and I can't eat, what relief will I give you? Heading to the north is ***, do you dare to go? To the south is the Qinling Mountains, unless to Liangzhou (Hanzhong region), other areas, over the Qinling Mountains or mountainous areas, the same bitter haha group, had to flee to Longyou.

This is unprecedented in history.

Related to the environment, Li Wei went to Tuntian, which was more than in history, with a higher yield, and ethnic relations were more harmonious, building a strong line of defense, which was also safer than in history. Originally, a large number of Han Chinese had settled there. All kinds of factors caused the people to flee to Qinghai one after another when they felt that something was wrong from the beginning.

It's also hard to escape, after all, there are still more than a thousand miles to go. They are not the people who were relocated by the imperial court several times ago, providing travel expenses on the road, managing food and warmth, and coaxing and persuading them to relocate. More than a thousand miles away, what to do?

The people thought of a way again, in the past ten years, Guanzhong has had many disasters and difficulties, and I don't know which god I offended, this day can't be lived, and there is still a way out to Qinghai. He heard that there was a lot of grain in the fields, so he sold the only land in his family to a large family, and scraped together enough high-priced rations, and the family fled west. This is the landed people, but what about the more tenants? Begging all the way, but they are all suffering, how to beg? Those who sell their sons and daughters, even those who are hungry, become robbers, prostitutes, monks, and so on.

After Li Zhi heard about it, he suspended the conquest and suppression of *** and gave Ashina Gu Lu an important breather. Then all the granaries were released, and except for the necessary grain leftovers, they were all sold at low prices. But this is not a solution, the court sold it at a low price, and the big families sent their subordinates and domestic slaves to buy it, and then sold it at a high price for a profit. So I thought of Li Wei's idea in the early stage, the food stamp system. The system itself is good, and it ensures that low-cost food reaches the poor people. What can be executed is the people, the officials and officials, and even Li Wei does not dare to guarantee whether it is in the hands of the people in the end. In addition, there was a great drought, and the water level of Weishui and Guangtong Canal was very low, so they had to be transferred to small ships to transport them to Guanzhong one stone at a time. Reduced efficiency and speed.

There were no starvations, but there were incidents of starvation dying.

Li Zhi had no choice but to let Liu Renliang go back and stay in Xijing.

This edict gave the people of Guanzhong a reprieve that Liu Renliang stayed in Chang'an, and was qualified, prestigious, and capable to reduce the harm caused by the disaster.

However, when this edict was issued, it kicked Liu Renliang to Chang'an. At this time, Chang'an was not the original Chang'an, Li Zhi was in Luoyang, and all the ministers were also in Luoyang, and when they kicked Chang'an, they undoubtedly kicked out of the court.

With Liu Renliang in charge, there were still two money in the treasury, and Li Zhi was also relieved and continued to go east.

In July, arrive at Mount Tai.

The situation in Guanzhong was still not optimistic, but a large number of people fled out, grain continued to arrive in various places, and the price of grain finally stabilized at 120 yuan per bucket. It's still a terrible number, a bucket is a unit of volume, corn is more than twelve catties, rice may be more, and salt is more than twenty catties. But at this time, will a bucket of corn have twelve and a half catties? It's nice to have ten pounds. With the income of the people of the Tang Dynasty, can they afford to eat a pound of corn? Not only that, but food prices have risen so much, and other prices have skyrocketed.

In addition, Hei Tooth Changzhi was also angry in Qinghai.

How many people have been victimized in a Guanzhong? The population of Chang'an and neighboring states alone has reached almost 5 million, and one-tenth of the people come to Qinghai, and Qinghai cannot afford it. To save or not to save, to save, Qinghai can't support it. If you don't save it, you don't dare to bear the consequences. I had to write two letters, one to Li Wei, asking him to find a way to solve it, and one to Luoyang, not to Luoyang, to transfer to Mount Tai, to Li Zhiming. The latter doesn't count on it, and I don't know what to wait for when I go to Mount Tai, and this emperor still has the heart to seal Zen, will he take it to heart? But when it came to broken leaves, Hei Tooth Changzhi was also very worried, Li Wei was not in the court, but in the Western Regions, and some whips were beyond his reach.

The letter is gone, and the black tooth Changzhi is still jumping to his feet, not marching to fight, for government affairs, not his specialty, more and more people are coming, what should I do?

Li Zhi really didn't think much about this, so he had to see that the grain price stabilized, once it was stabilized, more grain rescued from various places would reach Guanzhong, and it would not last long, and the grain price would inevitably drop. Let's stay up, as an emperor, I have done a good job, how many emperors are as concerned about the disaster as I am?

This is another wrong idea, because since the Eastern Han Dynasty developed the concept of thinking, the Tang Dynasty practiced business, the main tax came from the people, can be taken from the people, when is this, why not return to the people? It's not for you to use to squander Zen.

But with this kind of worthy mood, he climbed Mount Tai, turned around, and felt that he was in good health, so he had an unbelievable idea. Since ancient times, the emperor has been called the Emperor, Your Majesty, the Son of Heaven. But he was called the Emperor. Since ancient times, Feng Chan is mainly based on Mount Tai, but he issued an edict to build Fengtian Palace at the southern foot of Songshan Mountain, and said to the minister that he would seal the five mountains.

As soon as these words came out, the ministers were stunned.

However, it is extremely strange, as an important minister of Li Wei's faction, when Li Wei left, he instructed again not to say much, so as not to give him a handle. So there was no sound. The other ministers who attached to him saw that Li Yiyan, Di Renjie and others were silent, and they were silent one by one. The ministers loyal to Wu Zetian and Li Zhi are also not quiet.

Such absurd words were not objected to by any minister.

Knowing heroes in danger, Li Shangan, who supervised the imperial history, admonished: "Your Majesty sealed Mount Tai twice, sued Taiping, sent auspicious Rui, and the three emperors and five emperors Billon." ”

Li Yiyan wanted to laugh very much, even Li Zhi in his later years, he was cruel and mediocre and couldn't catch up with Emperor Yang of Sui, and his life as the emperor was not too evil, but what reason did he dare to fight with the three emperors and the five emperors?

Li Shangan continued: "But for several years, the corn has not been sufficient, starving and dying at each other, the four provinces have invaded, and the soldiers and vehicles have been driving all year round. Your Majesty, you should reflect silently and punish God. But not only did His Majesty not, but on the contrary, he camped the palace and worked endlessly, and the world was disappointed. The minister is the eyes and ears of the state (referring to his duties), and he is deeply worried. ”

Since the death of Chu Suiliang and others, Li Yifu and Xu Jingzong have been in power, and the ministers of the world have spoken with words. Even if you give advice, it's just a trivial matter. Later, Li Wei came out strongly, and there was an admonition, but there was more of a court dispute.

Only this admonition did not have any partisan contention, and he was an authentic neutral minister, so after it was spread, the people called it Fengming Chaoyang.

Li Zhi didn't listen, but was silent.

The matter was to be suspended.

But when he started, he led to a man. Liu Yizhi, one of the scholars of the North Gate, also gave a advice in front of Wu Zetian, which was given by handing over the cursive edict, and no one else knew.

He said: "The minister met an old man on the mountain, and he was worried about the minister's words. In order to survey the water conservancy and the victims, the emperor traveled all over Henan Prefecture, and he lived in no more than a few tents, and the food was nothing more than corn corn. However, the Emperor Taishang mobilized the people, and did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to come to Mount Tai to seal Zen. It's also worried. For the sake of the country's border defense, the emperor re-entered the Western Regions, and the emperor was enshrined in Zen, and the idea of sealing the five mountains was born. The emperor ascended the throne and made an edict not to build any palace, and cut the use of the palace and palace maids, but the emperor Taishang repaired the Fengtian Palace again, and his worries were also. Emperor Taishang Guangjian Yicang, disaster came, but there was no food to come out, only the emperor several large storage warehouses took out food to relieve the victims, and his worries were also. ”

This is said through the mouth of an old man, and there can be no such old man.

The realm of Shandong has not been affected by disasters, although it will also be implicated, such as the urgent collection of grain into Luo, such as the turmoil caused by the closure of Zen, but the complaints will not be too big. And there is no old man who can say such insightful words. Later, Yoshikura said very reluctantly. To be precise, this Yicang system did not come from the Tang Dynasty, but was made by Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui. Not only Yicang, but also the heavy talents, the establishment of imperial examinations, the abolition of the nine-product Zhongzheng system, the three provinces and six ministries system, and the government and military system, all of which were made by Yang Jian, so that the Sui Dynasty formed an efficient country, which was the great unification of China. It also brought the country's population almost back to the size of the Western Han Dynasty, which took a long time for the Tang Dynasty to reach that large population. I didn't expect my son to be ruined. After Li Yuan ascended the throne, almost all of them were used, and it can also be said that Li Tang quickly entered the chaos, and Yang Jian took a lot of credit.

But a few decades later, the Tang Dynasty had too many powerful elites, serious annexation, and a serious shortage of taxes. The Yicang system was originally good, but in the end it became a tool for the state to make profits, coupled with the loss of the old and the new, as well as the greed of the officials, which led to the fact that many Yicang could not get food this time. However, because of the large number of newly built granaries with a lot of grain storage, even if there is loss and greed for ink, they can still take out grain.

Liu Yizhi deliberately added this article, which was intended to form a strong contrast.

He himself is a member of the Queen Mother's faction, after all, it was Wu Zetian who made the transfer, but he also has his own bottom line, he has dealt with a lot in recent years, knows the Queen Mother's skills, his contribution to the country, and does not oppose the Queen Mother's power. But the bottom line is that the queen mother is not allowed to be called emperor, and she never thought that Wu Zetian would finally have the idea of becoming emperor.

Therefore, the spearhead is slightly aimed at Li Wei, Li Zhi can't go on like this, if it goes on, it is estimated that the common people will overthrow Li Zhi for Li Wei and take charge of the country. But the original intention was still for the good of the Tang Dynasty, how much did it cost to seal Zen? Moreover, Feng Chan brought most of the leadership groups with him, and also affected the handling of state affairs.

What kind of consequences will there be if the five mountains are sealed again?

Wu Zetian didn't speak, maybe she heard it, maybe she didn't want her husband's body to run out of oil, tossing on the mountains and mountains, but she thought of another thing.

Waiting for Liu Yizhi to leave, he summoned Ximen Chong to see him.

When Ximen Chong arrived, Wu Zetian said, "What is your duty?" ”

"Enshrine sarcasm, obey public opinion." Ximen Chong didn't know Wu Zetian's intentions, so he had to answer.

"Since you know that the Emperor Taishang wants to seal the Wuyue, you are not only the left supplement, but also the most important staff member of the emperor's side in the past, why don't you admonish?"

This is very unreasonable.

Ximen Chong has the right to admonish, but not only the left to make up for the que, but also the officials of the imperial history platform in the Tang Dynasty system, the right to supplement the que in the Zhongshu Province, and the left to make up for the doctor in the lower province, all of whom are responsible for supervising the civil and military officials, and the emperor has missed the omission of the emperor. If you really want to investigate it, you must first investigate it from the officials of the Yushitai, and there is no reason to find a small trouble with Zuo Buque.

But Ximen Chong was frightened.

He thought for a while and said: "This is a big deal, the minister does not dare to admonish, if the minister wants to admonish, the minister admonishes another matter." ”

"What's the matter?" Wu Zetian asked lightly.

Simon Chong admonished one thing, but this incident unveiled Pandona's box.

That's the fire consumption.

It is best to be an official of the Song Dynasty, and there is no crime of killing the head, except for the unlucky Yue Fei. Moreover, the salary is also high, and the salary of some officials plus subsidies may reach tens of millions of yuan. The officials of the Ming Dynasty were the most miserable, if they were not greedy and had no way out, they could only live a precarious life like Hai Rui. But the officials of the Tang Dynasty were okay, so Li Wei said that Pei Yan was hypocritical, like Pei Yan as a Zaifu, in addition to salary subsidies, there were also Yongye Fields, Gongfu Fields and Career Fields, even if he treated tenants well and did not levy much rent, the annual income of salaries and various subsidies was close to nearly 1,000 yuan. The various rewards are not counted.

With the life of the Tang Dynasty, it was not easy for Jingshi to live in a big place, and he could live a very nourishing life. Or communication, if he is communicative, there is no share of loss. Later, Yao Yuanchong lived in the temple in history, and it has been proved that this is his state of hypocrisy. However, Lu Huaishen is an honest man and is not good at business, so he is a minister, he is inevitably hungry and cold, and his residence is not sheltered from wind and rain. But there is still a place to live, and when he took the throne, he received a lot of favors, and he was a good man, so after he took the throne, he took out his own money and scattered it with his relatives. The latter is also an important reason for his poverty, otherwise he can still live a well-off life.

Pei Yan needs relief for that old relative, does the Pei family in Hedong need him relief?

But he also has a countermeasure, and after revealing it, he said lightly to people: "Although I have some money, but the source is only here, and I have a wife to support, one guarantees the future, and the other is born not to like luxury." Could it be that if you become a prime minister, you have to live a luxurious life to be a good official? ”

There are many who think so.

Li Wei also has no way to deal with him, isn't it unreasonable? Yes!

But Pei Yan is the prime minister after all.

How many officials were there in the Tang Dynasty? There are also soldiers, as well as raised dignitaries, relatives of the clan, and foreign "friends". At least a few hundred thousand people. If everyone wants to maintain Pei Yan's treatment, even if there is a Song Dynasty's finances, this finance will not be able to bear it.

And not every official can run a business, or have a good family background.

However, except for Li Zhi in his later years, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the three emperors have been called good emperors, even if they are officials, they dare not overdo the common people. So there was a fire consumption.

For example, military generals overreport the number of soldiers and get military salaries. Or overreport the consumption of weapons, even if there is no war, weapons and armor must always be maintained, like a set of bright armor to be overhauled, the cost may reach the usual two dollars. This is also a fire consumption.

There are more civil servants in various places.

For example, rents from all over the country are transferred to the two capitals, and there are losses and freight along the way, and there is no way to calculate, so some of them are deducted, and they become fire consumption. Another example is that when requisitioning grain, the bucket becomes a little bigger, and it is a change of direction of exploitation. But some farmers are very shrewd and measure it at home first. But the trick came out again, which is called drenching and kicking. Some officials specially practiced at home for this kick, and on the day of the grain requisition, they still thought that their skills were not deep enough, so they added 100 meters to run, and then came to Hu, shouted loudly, and kicked desperately.

What does this kick do?

When the people pay the grain, it is packed into the hu, sometimes there is a quantity, sometimes it is weighed, it depends on it, millet is lightly weighed, rice is heavy, and the official counts. The grain pile is in the shape of a pointed heap in the husk, and some of them are emerging from the husk. This kick will come out of it and scatter it on the ground. The people hurriedly went to pick it up, and the officials said, don't pick it up, it's a loss. Hey, where else are you picking up, if you want to eat a lawsuit?

Therefore, this kick is skillful, and the more skillful it is, the more it will be sprinkled, and these sprinkled are what they get.

The same is true of cloth, which has many patterns.

Under the instruction of Li Wei, the Tang Dynasty implemented a whip method of deformation in some areas. This is a big improvement, a progress that even Li Wei did not expect. It was divided into three classes to levy money. This is again a very scientific method of taxation.

The general regulation of rents in the Tang Dynasty did not change, but many miscellaneous taxes appeared. The actual tax paid is far more than the prescribed rent regulation, if it is paid according to the system, then the people of the Tang Dynasty can enter a happy life. Some of these miscellaneous taxes went into the treasury, but most of them went into the pockets of officials. The Tang Dynasty also had some humane actions, so many in the mountainous areas, and in the plains, the people paid a lot of forced labor, household taxes, and Yicang taxes because of transportation, so they were divided into three classes of tax payments. In general, it is comparable to the actual tax paid in various places, and it also saves a lot of burden for the state. But this change made some officials lose the opportunity to make fire consumption.

However, there are policies at the top, and countermeasures at the bottom.

In the grain-producing areas or the mascu-producing areas, the payment in kind is to give the people a fair one. In these areas, the fire was still consumed, but in some areas people began to replace it with gold and silver. But whether it is gold or silver, because it is precious, it is a small ding, a small piece, inconspicuous when paid. Unable to do so to the imperial court, the officials had to remelt them, and when they melted, they had to produce some losses, such as impurities, or the loss of gold and mercury. Even copper coins are privately minted copper coins, which cannot be handed over to the treasury, and a new fire is generated.

However, after the imperial court issued silver treasures, it also issued thinner gold treasures, very small and thin pieces, one piece equivalent to fifty yuan. Most of it circulated in the hands of merchants, and some of it went to the common people, who used it to pay taxes.

Some officials were black-hearted, and actually re-fused the cast gold and silver treasures, deducted them, and artificially created fire consumption.

Today, Ximen Chong, under the persecution of Wu Zetian, admonished this matter.

His intentions are good, and the country loses countless money every year. However, in order to use the surplus money in the treasury, the emperor cut back on food and clothing, and even issued an edict that no palace should be built in the future. It is very sad that he himself was born in a poor family, and he has seen a lot of similar things, and often lives in low-level officials, and even witnesses the various practices of some officials. Especially when I heard that some officials had re-melted Jinbao and Yinbao, I was finally shocked.

In order to prevent counterfeiting, the country cast gold and silver treasures, spent a lot of effort, each piece of gold and silver treasures out, have gone through a lot of procedures, this cast again, how much does it cost?

I've always wanted to say it, but today I forced it and said it.

But Wu Zetian smiled when he heard this, and said with his forehead: "Ximenqing, this advice is good, you can go." ”

"Whoa." Ximen Chonghu went down suspiciously.

Wu Zetian smiled, that's not a good thing, but I don't know what's wrong. found Di Renjie and told what had happened, Di Renjie was shocked: "How can you advise this?" ”