The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 215 Food Storage
It was sometimes very embarrassing to stand in front of the emperor. I listened to my father say something insignificant, and then Yan Liben also said something insignificant.

Li Chengqian turned his head expressionlessly to look at the heavy rain outside the window. For a moment, he was in a state of confusion and had no idea what the situation was like in the counties of Guanzhong.

"I heard that Luoyang has a flood every three to five years. I wonder what the situation will be like this year?"

Yan Liben replied: "Li De will send the report to Chang'an in the next two days."

Yan Lide, the Junior Supervisor of the Ministry of Works, had been in Luoyang with the Ministry of Works staff for a year, and he said something useful.

"I wanted to have Yan Lide build the Summer Palace two years ago and give him the title of Master Architect."

After he finished speaking, Li Shimin looked at his son. At this time, his son was looking out the window with a bad expression and even frowned.

Then, the emperor calmly drank a sip of tea and asked, "Is there anything that you can't let go of recently?"

Li Chengqian simply replied: "There is nothing that I cannot let go of, my father is wise."

A mouthful of tea got stuck in his throat, and it took a long time for him to swallow it completely. What happened today? He choked even when drinking water, Li Shimin asked himself.

But one could hear the Crown Prince's impatient words, as if the Crown Prince would lose his temper if His Majesty did not let him leave.

Yan Liben's mind raced, thinking about how to get out of this strange atmosphere. He quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have important matters to attend to in the Ministry of Works. May I..."

Li Shimin nodded and indicated that he could leave.

Just as Yan Liben was about to bow and leave, he heard the prince speaking beside him.

"Father, Jingzhao Prefecture has absorbed many students who failed the imperial examination this year. These people have been arranged to stay in the Literature Institute as editors or students. I want to increase the expenses this year. The manpower will be around a thousand. In addition to the cost of recruiting local people, the expenses for the second half of this year will be around three hundred strings of cash, including various assistance and subsidies."

Upon hearing this, Yan Liben's words about resigning got stuck in his throat, unable to speak or swallow them back, and he was in a dilemma.

His Majesty was lost in thought and did not answer immediately.

Although the autumn rain came early this year, the weather was still a little hot. Yan Liben wiped the sweat from his forehead. Facing the emperor and his son in front of him, he didn't know what to do.

Li Shimin picked up the tea bowl again and took a sip of tea.

The eunuch standing aside thought to himself, in the past, His Majesty only spent money on tea for memorials submitted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but now he has to spend so much tea even to talk to the Crown Prince?
The sensible eunuch quickly refilled the tea.

After a long while, seeing that his father had not spoken, Li Chengqian asked, "Huh? Doesn't Minister Yan have important matters at the Ministry of Works?"

Yan Liben wiped the sweat off his face again and bowed, saying, "I'll take my leave."

When everyone left Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin asked in a deep voice, "How many people are there in Jingzhao Prefecture now?"

Li Chengqian replied: "There are thirty people registered as having committed the crime."

"Thirty people?" Li Shimin asked suspiciously, "Then how many people are there who are not registered in the criminal record?"

"All officials in Jingzhao Prefecture are registered. No one who is not on the list is an official in Jingzhao Prefecture."

"Why did I hear you say that Jingzhao Prefecture has thousands of people under its command?"

"Your Majesty, I have misunderstood. What I meant is that there are thousands of people in Chongwenguan working for Jingzhao Prefecture. They are editors and students registered in Chongwenguan, not officials of Jingzhao Prefecture. As for what they do, it is all arranged by Chongwenguan and has nothing to do with Jingzhao Prefecture directly."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "I heard that it was Xu Jingzong who arranged the students of Chongwenguan."

"Father, Du Zhenglun is a man who is overqualified for his job."

"I have my own arrangements."

Taking advantage of the loopholes of the Tang Dynasty, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace of the Tang Dynasty wanted to do something for the benefit of the country, but he had to take advantage of loopholes.

Jingzhao Prefecture certainly does not have enough staff. Even the street offices do not have enough staff. They can't keep doing things in a tight spot, right?

Besides, since it is in accordance with the law and rules, this loophole has been exploited, and all we need to do is prevent others from exploiting it again in the future.

Li Chengqian sighed, "Now I feel more and more that it is a far-sighted decision for the teacher to let me build Chongwen Hall."

Li Shimin felt a little upset, took another sip of tea, and said, "You used the money in Jingzhao Prefecture, but put it in the hands of students in Chongwenguan. If the court officials knew about this, how would you end it?"

"Don't worry, Father. Since this has been going on for a while, I will do the accounts very carefully and there will be no mistakes."

Li Shimin ordered: "In the future, try to give these people official positions. Considering that you are willing to build Guanzhong and you are short of manpower, I will allow you to do so."

"Thank you, Father."

"Okay, let me ask you again. This year, so much money and grain has been transported to Luoyang. Many generals have asked me to fight this year. Once the war starts in the Western Regions, have you prepared money and grain?"

Before his son could reply, Li Shimin continued, "I heard that you sent 200,000 dan of grain to Luoyang, and also sent a lot of grain to Zhengzhou, Jinyang, and Xingyang to deal with the drought this year."

"I have discussed the war with the generals. They all asked whether there is enough food and fodder. The allocation of money and fodder is in the hands of you, the crown prince. I am afraid that you have squandered all the food and fodder for the war. How should you deal with it?"

Li Chengqian still looked at the heavy rain outside the window. He first let out a long sigh, and then slowly said: "There are 650,000 shi of grain and grass in the Hexi Corridor."

After the words were spoken, the hall was silent for a long time.

Li Shimin picked up the tea bowl and took a gulp of tea, then asked, "What did you just say?"

Li Chengqian said: "Your son said that there are 600,000 shi of grain and fodder in the Hexi Corridor."

"The surplus of the government warehouses in the counties of Guanzhong is only 100,000 dan. Where did you get 600,000 dan of grain?"

Seeing that His Majesty had finished the tea in the bowl, the eunuch carefully handed the tea to him, and very sensibly made tea for the prince, and brought the tea bowl to His Majesty, but His Majesty did not pick up the tea bowl.

The eunuch had no choice but to silently place the prince's tea on the table beside him.

Li Chengqian rubbed his brows and said in distress: "Father, the Hexi Corridor was built by me."

"I know."

"Every year, I send a surplus of grain and fodder to the Hexi Corridor. I send a few thousand or tens of thousands of shi more every month and store them in the Hexi Corridor. Otherwise, does your Majesty think that I have only been building the Hexi Corridor in the past two years?"

Li Chengqian looked a little more depressed, and said in a deep voice: "It seems that father doesn't read enough files on weekdays."

Li Shimin came to his senses and asked in surprise, "Are you saying that food and fodder for the expedition have been prepared in the Hexi Corridor?"

Li Chengqian sat down on the side, holding his temple with one hand, and said with a distressed look, "The harvest has been good in the past two years. In addition to the stored grain in Guanzhong, there are also land taxes collected from various places. In fact, there are so many old grains in the government warehouses that they are infested with worms. We don't know what to do with these grains. A lot of old grains have been sent to Xinfeng to make wine."

"Moreover, the grain reserves in Guanzhong that your father knows are actually inaccurate. Including Tongguan, there are actually 510,000 dan of grain reserves in Guanzhong. In addition, each household in the village has at least 5 dan of grain stored this year. In addition, the summer harvest is now underway, so there is actually plenty of grain. And..." The prince spoke one sentence after another, coordinating north-south dispatches, transporting east-west, brewing wine for disaster relief, exchanging wheat for glutinous rice, millet for beans, bran and wheat straw for cloth and silk...

After hearing the last part, Li Shimin felt dizzy and waved his hands quickly, saying, "Okay, I understand."

Li Chengqian stood up and said, "If Your Majesty wants to know more details, I will have someone send this year's dispatch file to me. I hope Your Majesty will take a closer look."

"Ugh……"

The emperor in the hall suddenly sighed and waved his hand to signal his son to leave. If he listened to one more sentence, he would feel more dizzy.

Talking to his son was very tiring, so Li Shimin had to go find his wife. He went to Lizheng Hall to find the queen and tried to find some peace in his wife's comfort.

"Your Majesty." The eunuch's voice was heard outside the Lizheng Hall.

"Speak." Li Shimin said with a serious face.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince sent over the files for this year's money and grain allocation. I didn't dare to disturb Your Majesty, so I put the files in Ganlu Palace."

Li Zhengdian did not respond for a long time, and the eunuch called out again in confusion, "Your Majesty?"

"Send it to the Sanqing Temple, don't leave it in the Ganlu Temple."

"Here."

The eunuch responded towards the window and then left quickly.

Inside the palace, Empress Changsun, who was arranging toys for Little Sizi, suppressed her smile and asked, "Your Majesty, are you planning to let the Taoist Ancestor read those files?"

Li Shimin was indignant and said, "That boy is clearly trying to embarrass me."

"When did Cheng Qian embarrass Your Majesty? Did he do things inappropriately?"

"I..." Li Shimin hesitated and had to give up.

Since last autumn, the father and son have been focusing on internal construction while keeping an eye on developments in various border areas.

In fact, this kind of tacit understanding has always been pretty good.

Li Shimin was also very annoyed and asked, "Guanyin, do you think I shouldn't ask too much about Cheng Qian's affairs? Does he really hate it when I interfere in his affairs?"

Empress Changsun advised, "Your Majesty, you are overthinking. Chengqian and Lizhi have always hoped that Your Majesty would be able to understand political affairs. They wish that Your Majesty would work hard to govern the country and understand the situation in Guanzhong. They have also sent you files, memorials, and articles."

Li Shimin leaned back in his chair, raised his head and closed his eyes to rest.

At this moment in Luoyang, when the autumn flood was about to come, high sandbags were piled up on both sides of the river, and the water was dredged through several canals along the river all the way eastward to the downstream.

As a result, this flood only submerged more than ten acres of farmland that could not be managed.

Li Ke wore a straw hat and a raincoat and rode his horse along the river from the downstream to the upstream.

On both sides of the river, many militiamen were shouting that they had solved the problem of this flood.

This year's flood season is more severe than last year.

If there had been no control last year and there had been another flood this year, who knows how dire the situation would have been in Luoyang.

From last winter to the end of this summer, the river channel has been dredged and the silt has been cleared several times. Although this year's flood season is still fierce, the current result is very good. It can be better, but it requires more manpower and time.

Human resources are limited. If the water level rises more severely during the flood season, the river channels built now may not be effective.

Fortunately, the current governor of Luoyang is Ma Zhou. He mobilized militiamen from fifteen counties and led people to carry sandbags to raise the river embankment when the water was the heaviest during rainy days.

Li Ke pulled the reins and walked in front of the cheering crowd. Looking to the north from here, there were fields with crops growing on them, and villagers were rushing to harvest the crops.

"That's great. The flood this year didn't flood the fields, so the food is saved." Li Ke walked to Ma Zhou excitedly and said, "We saved Luoyang!"

Ma Zhou stroked his beard and said seriously, "The autumn rain season has not yet ended. We cannot be careless. Tongguan said that the water level upstream is still rising."

Li Ke said seriously: "As long as the floodwaters enter the downstream canal, they will not flood after being dredged. We just need to guard this section."

Quan Wanji said, "I and Censor Ma will guard the riverbank. If there is any change, we will arrange for people to fill the riverbank. Censor Ma is right. It is not time to relax yet."

Ma Zhou handed over a scroll of documents and said, "This is my report on this year's flood control. Your Highness, King Wu, please send it to Prime Minister Fang and report the matter here to Your Majesty."

Seeing the serious expressions of Ma Zhou and Quan Wanji, Li Ke took the document and said, "I will tell my father right away."

But after saying this, Li Ke suddenly looked at the two of them and said hesitantly: "Now that Ke is gone, what should we do, gentlemen?"

Ma Zhou put his hands behind his back, looked at the heavy rain and said, "I will stay here to control the flood until the autumn flood ends and wait for Your Majesty to recall me. Recently, there has been news from the court that Your Majesty may want to use troops in the Western Regions."

Li Ke said quickly: "But the things here... I'm still worried."

His Royal Highness the King of Wu was a unique young man. He was able to eat and sleep with the local people. There were even several times when Quan Wanji could not find the King of Wu in the crowd.

Later, we learned that the King of Wu and the militiamen had worked together to dredge the river by stepping on the silt.

I thought that the King of Wu, who was of noble status, should not do such things, but I heard that in Xianyang County, the King of Wu also did the same thing when repairing the official road with the villagers.

Quan Wanji has always felt that God has favored the Tang Dynasty by allowing His Majesty to have such a sensible child.

Whether it is the current crown prince, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu, or His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei, these three children have different temperaments, but they are all kind in what they do. They are very different from each other, and each has his own strengths.

"I would like to wait for the autumn flood to end with you two gentlemen."

Ma Zhou said, "Go back. One less King Wu is not too much, and one more Highness is not too much either. Hasn't Your Highness always wanted to lead the troops to war?"

Quan Wanji also advised: "Someone should report to His Majesty, Your Highness, please go."

Li Ke bowed deeply and said, "I will wait for you two gentlemen to come back and drink some good wine together."

Ma Zhou looked at the river instead of looking at King Wu, and said loudly, "Okay."

Li Ke once again mounted his horse, led a team of soldiers, hurriedly left Luoyang, and headed for Chang'an with the documents.

The autumn flood would not end until September. Li Ke rode his horse westward. Along the way, he saw the surging river water rushing down the river. Every five miles on both sides of the river, he could see officials from the Jingzhao Prefecture patrolling with their men.

(End of this chapter)