Li Longji had actually moved the idea of hunting and killing locusts, but he could not make up his mind, so he asked: "Now that the locusts are overwhelming and the number is huge, can they be killed?" ”

Seeing that the Son of Heaven breathed a sigh of relief, Yao Chong struck while the iron was hot: "Then you must try your best, there is only one way to die if you sit back and wait!" Now that the locusts in Shandong are all over the mountains and fields, and the people on the north and south banks of the Yellow River have begun to flee, how can the saints and their ministers continue to sit idly by and watch the locusts eat the grain and grass and remain indifferent? It is imperative to exterminate locusts, and it is impossible to delay as many as you can kill! ”

Li Longji was still hesitant, so he listened to Yao Chongdao: "What doubts does the saint still have? If the old minister can solve it, he must do his best! ”

Li Longji sighed and glanced at Xiao Jiangyuan.

Xiao Jiangyuan didn't understand what this locust couldn't kill, but he understood Li Longji's concerns. Seeing that he was embarrassed to speak, she said, "What the saint is worried about is that the locust plague is from heaven, and the saint is the Son of Heaven, if he really decides to hunt and kill, will the heavens regard it as disrespectful, and then impose a more serious punishment?" ”

"The saint is very worried." Yao Chong also expressed his understanding, "To be honest, Lao Chen doesn't know if there will be other disasters after the locust is hunted and killed, but Lao Chen can be sure that if the locust plague is allowed to spread again, the country will be in chaos and the people will not be able to survive!" Since the saint has this concern, the old minister, as a human minister, should be worried about the monarch - in the future, all the decrees related to the killing of locusts will be issued in the name of the old minister and the prime minister without the need for the saint to issue an edict. If God really wants to punish, it will be counted on the head of the old minister! ”

"Yao Gong is so determined!" Li Longji was young after all, and seeing that Yao Chong was almost old and unfinished, he became much more down-to-earth and increased his confidence, "Okay! I will give my full support to Yao Gong! It's just ......"

Yao Chong said with a smile: "As long as the saint is firm and unwavering, the old minister has his own way for the rest." ”

The morning sun is out, and the morning drum is over.

Since moving into the Daming Palace, the court has arranged it in the Xuanzheng Hall in front of the Zichen Gate. Li Longji deliberately entered the Dongshang Pavilion on the east side of the Xuanzheng Hall early today, and while taking a short rest according to the usual practice, he waited for the courtiers to arrive one after another. He recalled that Yao Chong had a confident appearance when he was in the Zichen Palace, and thought of Yao Chong's arbitrariness and domineering in the past, so he was a little looking forward to today's court meeting.

Xiao Jiangyuan was serving a bowl of warm cheese to Li Longji, and saw that Li Longji, who was still frustrated last night, had his eyes shining at this moment, and a light smile on his lips that she was most familiar with - that was the look of him she was most obsessed with, whenever she saw it, it was the day when he showed his ambitions, and it was also the time when she was in high spirits.

Thinking about it, her family Ah Lang is very trustworthy to Yao Chong, and he has also made up his mind to exterminate locusts.

After Li Longji took the cheese, Xiao Jiangyuan turned his gaze to the window.

This day is the first day of the sixth month, which is the day of the pilgrimage, in addition to the annual first day of the court, the number of officials who enter the court on this day is the most. Recently, because of the locust plague, hundreds of civil and military officials were panicked, and at this time, outside the Xuanzheng Palace, they were talking more and more loudly.

The entire Tang Dynasty, from most of the courtiers to the common people of Limin, regarded locusts as heavenly soldiers and generals, and did not dare to make mistakes. Xiao Jiangyuan respected their ideas and knew that exterminating locusts would be a great fear and burden in their hearts. If you want to make this happen, it will be as difficult as climbing to the sky, and this court meeting is only the first step.

She was also very curious about how Yao Chong would deal with the aggressive crowd.

Sure enough, when he went to court, Yao Chonggang officially started the matter of exterminating locusts, and the opposition of the ministers was endless, and even Lu Huaishen took the initiative to stand up for the first time: "Locusts are living beings, and exterminating locusts is killing. ”

Lu Huaishen advocates Buddhist classics and is an example for the ministers, even if the officials occasionally disagree with Yao Chong, they are very respectful to him. Moreover, this kind of saying is now prevalent, so the majority of people in the court who have similar ideas echo it, but they all echo it, but they heard Yao Chong snort coldly and said: "Locusts are living creatures, aren't the people?" Lu Xianggong can't bear to see the locusts die, can he bear to watch my people in the Tang Dynasty starve to death?! ”

Of course, Lu Huaishen didn't mean this, but he was stunned by Yao Chong's question. Yes, if the locusts are not exterminated, is there a better way to deal with this?

The courtiers who had just echoed Lu Huaishen were suddenly silenced. Obviously, Lu Xianggong was not the only one who said these words, Yao Xianggong did not take the opportunity to accuse them together, but went straight to Lu Xianggong, obviously killing chickens and monkeys. They didn't dare to refute Lu Huaishen, so they had to pin their hopes on Lu Huaishen, whose tongue was far inferior to Yao Chong.

Li Longji and Xiao Jiangyuan couldn't help but look at each other and smile - isn't this just a tie-down of their hands?

I heard Yao Chong say again: "If Lu Xianggong is really worried, it will be easy to do." Yao has already told the sage that the matter of exterminating locusts will be ordered by Yao to the state capitals, and if there is really a curse, it can fall on the head of Yao, and it has nothing to do with others! ”

Lu Huaishen was ashamed and anxious when he heard this: "What is this Xianggong Yao?" You and I are both prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty, although the locust extermination is a last resort, after all, it is for the country and the people, if there is really a curse, what is the matter with only Yao Xianggong? Anyway, since Yao Xianggong is determined to do this, Lu will take on this heavy responsibility with Yao Xianggong! ”

In this way, the Son of Heaven and the two prime ministers were determined to exterminate the locusts, and the other courtiers had nothing to say about any objections, and the matter was settled. There is no other major event in the Tang Dynasty at present, and the court meeting will end soon, and the civil and military officials will be helpless or unwilling, and will eventually disperse. Yao Chong directly pulled Lu Huaishen to prepare the spy book, Li Longji looked at their distant backs, and suddenly laughed: "Lu Gong, even I can't figure out how he will react, Yao Gong knows him very well, and he hit him with one blow." ”

Although Xiao Jiangyuan was also happy for Li Longji, he was still worried: "It's just ...... This is already the case in the court alone, and when the decree is issued to the locality, because it is not everyone's edict, some people may not listen to it. ”

"Yes, I'm afraid that when the order to exterminate the locusts is given, the effect will be very small, and even more serious, and some people will think that it is useless to exterminate the locusts, and then it will suffer."

Li Longji said a prophecy.

In fact, as early as when he made up his mind, he knew that this would happen, but he never thought that the most prominent part of this matter would happen to Ni Ruoshui.

Ni Ruoshui, when Li Longji issued an edict before Li Longji to make the officials of the two capitals alternate and orderly, once chased the dust splashed by his colleagues when they rode their horses to Chang'an, saying that his colleagues were like ascending immortals, and the dust came to his mouth and became "fairy dust". But this depression did not last long, after arriving at the local assassin Shi, in order to return to the two capitals as soon as possible, he was very diligent in government, loved the people, and was indeed a competent parent official. And because Li Longji opened up his way of speaking, Ni Ruoshui's upright temperament was even more revealed in the recital.

For this reason, Li Longji liked him very much, but he didn't want to exterminate the locusts this time, Ni Ruoshui not only did not obey the executive order, but also reacted the strongest among the local officials who opposed him - he handed Li Longji another note.

If it was just a recital, it was naturally nothing intense, but the content of this recital made Li Longji's good impression of him disappear in an instant.

At this time, it was Yang Siqiao on duty. He had never seen Li Longji so angry, no matter how powerful and majestic he was in the face of a strong enemy, he couldn't help but be a little stunned when facing the king. While he was busy asking Bian Lingcheng to look for Xiao Jiangyuan, he moved to the side in small steps, hoping that if he stayed away from Li Longji, he could have less trouble with the pond fish. As a result, he had just taken a step when Li Longji's gaze pierced.

Yang Siqiao was stunned, his eyes looked at his mouth and nose, and he didn't dare to move.

At this time, Xiao Jiangyuan was asking Emperor Li Dan and Princess Xue about the family banquet for the emperor's birthday tomorrow on behalf of Li Longji. Seeing Bian Lingcheng hurriedly entering the palace, after saluting, he said that the Son of Heaven urgently invited Xiao Jiangyuan to go back, and Li Dan became even more irritable: "The national disaster is still there, and the political affairs are so heavy, why bother to spend time on a birthday banquet?" ”

Xiao Jiangyuan also did not agree to congratulate Li Dan on his birthday, although he did not invite the ministers to celebrate in a big way, but only let the kings enter the palace and hold a simple family banquet. She felt that the people were in dire straits, and it was still a question of whether they could eat enough in the coming days, but the Son of Heaven was celebrating the emperor's birthday, even if it was for filial piety, the timing was not right.

Seeing that Li Dan did not appreciate it, but reprimanded her family Ah Lang, no matter how good Xiao Jiangyuan's temper was, it was also completely disappeared by the tension and worry during this time: "The Emperor Shengming." In this case, the slave and maid will go back to the saint to return to their lives, and the people of the world will also be grateful to the emperor for sharing weal and woe, and sing the praises of the emperor's great virtue. ”

Xiao Jiangyuan was about to retreat after speaking, but he heard Li Dan say angrily: "Kneel!" ”

Xiao Jiangyuan naturally would not refuse Li Dan's request, and immediately knelt on the ground respectfully, bowing his head and saying nothing.

Li Dan walked up to Xiao Jiangyuan, snorted coldly, and said, "Do you think your mind can hide from me, you think I am angry because I can't hold a birthday banquet, and you think I'm the kind of stupid person who ignores the national disaster and only cares about his own pleasure?!" ”

Xiao Jiangyuan bowed down and said, "The slave doesn't dare." ”

Princess Xue didn't expect Li Dan to be so angry. No matter how Ah Yuan is, she is just a slave, and being a general can't change her status as an internal servant, that is, the identity of the slave of the Son of Heaven, if Li Dan is dissatisfied, he will be punished directly, why must he explain the matter clearly before he is willing to stop?

Li Xian and the other brothers were also there at this time, Li Yu, Li Fan and Li Ye were all puzzled with Princess Xue, but Li Xian shook his head helplessly, got up and supported Li Dan: "Of course Ayuan doesn't dare, even if it's San Lang, he doesn't dare." ”

Of course, Xiao Jiangyuan understood that Li Dan's anger was not with him, but only from himself to anger Li Longji, and those questions were also asked to Li Longji through her. Of course, it doesn't matter what other people think of him, but what a son who has taken the throne from his own hands thinks of him, he has to care.