bastard seizes tang

Chapter 645 Food shortage
Since the Spring and Autumn Period, there have been rumors of aristocratic families. Since the existence of aristocratic families, aristocratic families have been tightly bound with the imperial court and power, and their interests are closely related.

Just like in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the kings and horses shared the world, the royal family gave birth to the king, and it was also like the three families of Han, Zhao and Wei were divided into Jin and replaced their Guozuo, and the family let the king die, and vice versa. The rise and fall of the southern dynasty is a clear proof.

Aristocratic families and royal power, both live and kill each other, and what is mixed in it is nothing more than two words - "benefits". , Datang's internal contradictions were slowly exposed.

At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the royal power was in charge of the forbidden army, and had absolute say in the forbidden army. However, in the local government army, because of the century-old management of the aristocratic family, in many cases, the power of the Longyou clan in the government army was comparable to that of the king. neck and neck.

But Li Shimin is the hero of the whole area, and Li Ke's successor is not weaker than his father, and they all want to make a big difference. Naturally, they want to firmly hold the military power of Guanlong, which has nearly half of the soldiers in the world, in their own hands.

As for the Guanlongmen faction, their influence on the government army is the foundation of their fortune, and it is also the thing for them to live and die. If they lose their control over the government army, most of the Guanlongmen clan will be killed by Shandong or even Jiangnan families. Get rid of it and gradually decline, so they are naturally unwilling, and the struggle between the two is inevitable.

If the power of kingship is like fire, which is so fierce that it can burn everything, then the aristocratic family is like water, seemingly gentle, but with thousands of streams flowing into the sea, it also has monstrous power.And just as the news of Li Ke's westward tour reached Hexi, a crisis was quietly brewing among the people.

If it is said that the power of the king can be taken by life and death, so it is intimidating, then the aristocratic family's prestige is based on the reputation of the connections accumulated in the local area for hundreds or even thousands of years, and the land connected to the fields.

If you have the land, you will naturally have the food. Food has always been the foundation of survival, especially at this critical time when the autumn harvest has not yet begun and the depths of winter are approaching.

At this time, the food needed is the most, since last year's harvest has been exhausted, and we are waiting for the autumn harvest, and we need to prepare winter food for the winter, both of which are indispensable, but it is precisely at this critical juncture, The grain market in Hexi suddenly changed.

Liangzhou, Guzang City, Liangzhou Hotel.

"Prince, Xie Shufang, governor of Liangzhou, is asking to see you." The next day, Li Ke was staying in the residence, planning to go to Jiuquan to worship the ancestor's tomb, when Xue Rengui suddenly entered the door.

Xie Shufang, the governor of Liangzhou, was born in Wannian, Yongzhou. He came from the branch of the Xie family in Kuaiji. He used to be a general of the hidden prince Li Jiancheng.

Although the current Xie Shufang is a civil servant, but he was born in the army, and coupled with his status as a child of the Xie family in Kuaiji, he is naturally closer to Li Ke, who stands behind the Jiangnan family.

Li Ke said: "I only saw him yesterday, and I came to see me again today. I must have something important to do. Let him come in quickly."

"No." Xue Rengui responded, and went down to lead the people.

Sure enough, as Li Ke said, Xie Shufang asked to see Li Ke today because he had something important to report, and Xie Shufang hurried in with Xue Rengui.

"Xie Inspector Shi suddenly arrived, I don't know what's the matter?" Li Ke watched Xie Shufang enter the door, half got up and greeted him.

Xie Shufang entered the door, hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, and then reported back: "Just now, the Liangzhou City Department sent the news that Liangzhou's grain market suddenly began to be short of goods recently. All thirteen grain stores said they were sold out and closed their doors. We have already fallen into a situation where there is no food to buy, and in a few days, I am afraid that the people of Liangzhou will have no food to eat."

Hearing the word "grain", Li Ke's brows slowly frowned. Since ancient times, the imperial court has cared most about the word "grain". The matter is that the world is stable, but once the people have no food to buy or food to eat, there will inevitably be turmoil in that place. This was the case at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Li Ke couldn't help but pay attention to it.

Li Ke asked: "When did this start?"

Xie Shufang replied: "Five days ago, the grain market gradually started to run out of goods, and the supply became less and less, and the people in the city rushed to buy them. At that time, because the autumn harvest was approaching, the officials of the Municipal Department did not take it seriously. But today, the supply has been completely cut off. The whole There is no grain to sell in Guzang City, if this continues, the people of Liangzhou may not have enough to eat before the autumn harvest."

It is the end of summer right now, and there is still one month before the autumn harvest, and it will take nearly a month for the crops to be harvested in the autumn, until they are dried in the sun, and then they are processed into grains, which is two months before and after, or even more, so For a long time, it is definitely not enough to rely on the surplus food in the people's homes.

Li Ke asked puzzledly: "I have never heard of any famines in Liangzhou in Beijing. How come there is a sudden shortage of food and grass?"

Xie Shufang replied truthfully: "In the past two years, the weather in Hexi has been smooth, and there have been no locust plagues. Naturally, I will not report to Beijing."

When Li Ke heard this, he became more and more puzzled. Li Ke continued to ask: "If there is no natural disaster, it will be a good year. How can there be such a shortage of food in a good year? Has there ever been such a situation in previous years?"

Xie Shufang shook his head and said, "It's never been like this, it's the first time since I became governor of Liangzhou."

Listening to Xie Shufang's words, Li Ke slowly understood that the people in charge of the fields in the world are those from aristocratic families who handle the most food. The past two years have been good years, but they have been short of food and grass. It is not difficult to find out where the problem lies. Guessed.

The food was sold out everywhere, and it happened to be a coincidence that Li Ke was in Liangzhou. If what Li Ke thought was correct, the people from the Guanlongmen Clan were probably making trouble behind this incident, in order to force Li Ke to negotiate peace. After all, Li Ke is the prince Well, the future monarch can't watch the people of Liangzhou starve to death.

But Xie Shufang is not Li Ke's confidant, Li Ke would not talk to him about this, Li Ke paused and said: "As the governor of Liangzhou, you must have spare food in the state treasury."

Xie Shufang replied: "Because it's about to enter autumn, the surplus food in the Yamen has been used up, and the summer food that has to be escorted to Beijing is taken away, and the full load is less than [-] shi. It can't even solve the urgent need."

As soon as Xie Shufang's words came out, Li Ke understood the purpose of his visit. Xie Shufang, as the governor of Liangzhou, had no obligation to report to the East Palace when something happened to the state department, but should report to the Minister of Finance. Coming here to report this matter to Li Ke, I am afraid that they want to take advantage of Li Ke's cheap power to temporarily withhold this batch of summer grain that is about to be sent to Chang'an, so as to relieve the urgent need.

Li Ke didn't hesitate, and asked directly: "How much is this batch of summer grain, and how long can it last?"

Xie Shufang hurriedly replied: "Nearly [-] shi, plus the surplus food from the state department, if it is tighter, it can be used by the people of Liangzhou for ten days."

If it was just a Liangzhou, Li Ke could still adjust the grain from Pangzhou without having to withhold the summer grain that needs to be paid to Beijing, but I am afraid that the whole surrounding states and counties in Hexi are like this, and it will be troublesome.

Li Ke frowned and thought for a moment, and then said to Xie Shufang: "Take the summer grain first, and my father will write an article to explain it in person, but you have to remember that the summer grain cannot be used first, you have to wait for the word of the palace." transfer."

"Promise." With these summer grains, there is at least room for change in everything. What Xie Shufang was waiting for was Li Ke's words. Li Ke just let go, and Xie Shufang quickly agreed.

(End of this chapter)