After the end of the court the next morning, Pei Ju did not go back to his official room, but walked towards the imperial study of Wencheng Palace.

Walking through a long corridor, Pei Ju saw Xiao Yu from a distance and seemed to be reprimanding Shao Ming, the household servant, so he stopped, at this time, Xiao Yu felt something, and when he turned around and saw Pei Ju not far away, he waved his hand to let Shao Ming leave.

"Shi Wen's mood doesn't seem to be very good!" Pei Ju walked over with a smile.

Xiao Yu is the younger brother of Queen Xiao, not yet fifty years old, a generation younger than Pei Ju, although he served as the waiter of the internal history and was in a high position, he was quite respectful of the elderly, bowed to Pei Ju, "Let Pei Gong see a smile." ”

Pei Ju glanced at Shao Mingyuan's back, and smiled with concern: "Is last year's tax ugly?" ”

Xiao Yu is in charge of the land finance and taxation of the Great Sui, and every April the household department will report to him the summary of last year's taxes in various places, and Pei Ju saw him reprimanding Shao Ming, and knew that the situation last year was not optimistic.

Xiao Yu sighed lowly, "Last year, the taxes in various places were sharply reduced by fifty percent, and I couldn't report it to the Holy Lord!" ”

"How can it be so reduced?" Pei Ju was taken aback.

Since the outbreak of the Goguryeo Campaign in the eighth year of the Great Cause, the finance and taxation of the Great Sui have been decreasing every year, the main reason is that the population is dying, the bandits are raging, and many counties have actually been controlled by the bandits, so everyone is accustomed to the annual reduction of finance and taxes, but this year is actually a fifty percent reduction compared with last year, which can no longer be called a sharp decrease, but an avalanche, so Pei Ju is really surprised.

Xiao Yu was in a heavy mood, shook his head and said: "Last year, Heluo and Bingzhou suffered disasters in a row, and the rebellions in Jiangnan occurred one after another, and the impact of natural and man-made disasters was too great, and the manor annexation over there in Guanlong was too powerful, and the homesteaders decreased sharply, and the only slightly stable one was Bashu." All the disadvantages are combined, and the final result is ugly. ”

"But this is not Shao Shilang's problem! Why did Shi Wen blame him? ”

"I'm not reprimanding him for not paying enough taxes, but because he has a problem with his thinking."

Pei Ju looked at Xiao Yu puzzled, and Xiao Yu continued to explain: "He suggested using inventory to offset taxes, and using inventory to make up for the lack of income and expenditure, but he wanted to deceive the saint. So I reprimanded him severely. ”

"It's hard for him, you also know that once the saint is angry, he won't consider whose responsibility it is, and the household servant bears the brunt, he just wants to protect himself."

"Even if you protect yourself, don't think about deception, wouldn't the crime of deceiving the king be more serious."

Pei Ju knew that Xiao Yu was very principled, or not good at being flexible, and he couldn't talk about many things with him. Pei Ju smiled, didn't say anything more, and took his leave and walked towards the imperial study.

Xiao Yu was worried, he was still thinking about how to report to the Holy Lord about last year's sharp tax cut, in fact, he knew the real reason better than anyone else.

In the past few years, the Guanlong aristocracy has wantonly annexed the land of Guanzhong and Longyou, and the local government did not dare to stop it, and at the same time did not report it, resulting in a sharp decline in homesteaders. In addition, the tax on the manor could not be collected, and it was the sharp drop in taxes in the Guanlong area that caused the entire tax to fall by fifty percent.

Xiao Yu hesitated for a long time. In the end, he decided to tell the saint the real reason, after all, it involved the Guanlong nobles, not as simple as reducing taxes, and Xiao Yu also hurriedly walked to his official room

Pei Ju waited outside the imperial study for a while, and a eunuch came out to laugh and said, "Pei Gong, the saint is invited!" ”

Pei Ju smiled slightly. "Don't say the word 'please' in the future, just say that the Holy God will announce that I will come in, so as not to make people laugh."

"Huh! Pei Gong is right, it's our family that is not well considered, Pei Gong. Please! ”

Pei Ju shook his head and walked into the imperial study quickly, Yang Guang had just returned from the early dynasty, and was savoring a bowl of bird's nest porridge, Pei Ju stepped forward and gave a deep salute, "The old minister sees Your Majesty!" ”

"Pei Gong came just in time, and today's bird's nest stew is good."

Yang Guang smiled and ordered left and right, "Give Pei Xiangguo a bowl of bird's nest as well." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

A eunuch presented Pei Ju with a bowl of bird's nest, Pei Ju only drank a little symbolically, and the saint was just polite, how could he really drink it to the bottom.

Yang Guang tasted two more mouthfuls of bird's nest, then put the bowl aside, and said to Pei Ju with a deep groan: "I am considering letting Zhang Xuan be the general guard of Qi County, and Pei Ren's tone is the general guard of Xingyang County, what does Pei Qing think?" ”

Pei Ju's face changed slightly, he was afraid of this result, so he wanted to do everything possible to find the reason for Pei Renji's defeat, but he didn't expect the saint to come up with a plan so quickly, fortunately, now he is just asking for his opinion, and he has not really implemented it, he must try his best to prevent the saint from implementing this decision.

"The old minister can understand His Majesty's feelings, but His Majesty has not thought about it, Zhang Xuan's qualifications are still too shallow, and promoting him so quickly will make the military dissatisfied, and it will not be good for him, Weichen opposed the promotion of him to the Tiger Benlang General last time, and it is precisely because of this consideration, please think twice."

Yang Guang nodded slightly, "What Pei Gong said is reasonable, but if Langya County is not recovered, Qing and Xu Prefectures will not be able to be connected, so that the northern part of Jiangdu will not have enough security support, and I am more worried about Xuzhou, once the bandits from Donghai County and Langya County join forces to attack Xuzhou, and the Central Plains bandits will break out again, Jiangdu will lose the northern barrier, and even cut off the connection between Jiangdu and Luoyang, does Pei Gong understand my worries?" ”

"The old minister fully understands the bad impact of the defeat of the bandits in Langya County, but the old minister believes that the failure of this expedition to Langya County is caused by many reasons, and it is not entirely due to Pei Renji's lack of personal ability, I hope Your Majesty can understand this."

"Tell me, I'd like to hear it."

Of course, Yang Guang knew very well that Pei Ju wanted to defend Pei Renji, although he was extremely disappointed in Pei Renji, but after all, Pei Ju and Pei Yun were both high-ranking officials in the imperial court, and it was impossible for him not to consider their ideas.

"Your Majesty, Pei Renji's failure to attack Langya County, the old minister thinks that it is caused by two reasons, one is that Sun Xuanya and Wang Bo's old nest are in the south of Langya County, and the northern part of Langya County is undulating for hundreds of miles, the transportation is inconvenient, and the logistics supply is very difficult, which is not conducive to attacking Langya County from the north, so although Langya County belongs to Qingzhou, it is still necessary for the garrison of Xuzhou to attack for this reason, this is a reason, His Majesty also agreed last time, but this is not the real reason for Pei Renji's defeat."

"Oh? So what's the real reason? Yang Guang also became a little interested.

"Your Majesty, the real reason is that at the important juncture of the confrontation between the two armies, Wang Shichong of Qinghe County took advantage of the emptiness of Qi County's troops and led the army south, robbing the hundreds of thousands of people in Qi County, causing confusion in the front army, Pei Renji was forced to withdraw his troops, and the thief army took the opportunity to chase and kill, which led to heavy casualties in the Flying Eagle Army, this is the real reason, Your Majesty!"

In fact, Pei Ju also understood that Pei Renji was looking for a reason for himself, not necessarily this reason, but Pei Ju also needed to find a good reason to persuade Yang Guang and continue to let Pei Renji stay in Qi County.

What's more important is that Pei Ju believes that Yang Guang also knows about Wang Shichong, but Yu Shiji intercedes for Wang Shichong, Yang Guang may not pursue this matter, which makes Pei Ju catch the handle, if Yang Guang does not pursue Wang Shichong for cross-border robbery, then Pei Renji cannot be held accountable for the defeat of Langya County, and he cannot favor one over the other.

This is the balancing act in the art of the emperor, neither can one party monopolize the interests, nor can one party be held solely responsible, as the Son of Heaven, of course, Pei Shiji can be punished, but Wang Shichong must also be punished, otherwise Yang Guang will not be able to balance between Yu Shiji and Pei Ju.

Yang Guang did not speak for a long time, and he also received a report from Wang Shichong, which stated that the Qianli Chiye in Qinghe County did not have enough people to make it impossible for him to launch an attack on Gao Shida and Dou Jiande.

At the same time, Wang Shichong also accused Pei Shiji and Zhang Xuan of obstructing the people of Qinghe County from returning to their homeland, and he had to forcibly move back to the people of Qinghe County in order to pacify Dou Jiande and Gao Shida as soon as possible.

In addition, Yu Shiji used detailed data to explain the current bleak situation in Qinghe County, and tried his best to defend Wang Shichong, Yang Guang finally decided not to punish Wang Shichong for this kind of cross-county robbery, but asked him not to make an example.

But now the problem comes, Pei Ju pointed out that Pei Renji's defeat in Langya County was because of Wang Shichong's attack from behind, whether it was this reason or not, Yang Guang had to give Pei Ju an explanation, either Wang Shichong and Pei Renji would be punished together, or they would not be punished, which made Yang Guang feel very embarrassed.

After pondering for a long time, Yang Guang finally nodded, "That's it!" If this is the reason, then Pei Renji's defeat in Langya County is also understandable, and I will give him another chance, hoping that he will not let me down next time. ”

Yang Guang casually took the edict that sealed Zhang Xuan as the general guard of Qi County, drew a cross on it, and threw it into the discarded scroll.

Pei Ju secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and finally saved Pei Renji.

"Your Majesty, Old Minister, for your tolerance!" (To be continued......)