Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 593: I heard Princess Gaoyang is making trouble again? (Part )

Luoyang, Zhenguan Hall.

The emperor was wearing a black robe with gold threads, and he looked at the sand table in front of him with a serious expression.

On both sides, Tang Jian, Yu Zhining, Yan Lide, Liu Dewei and others stood solemnly.

Outside the palace, it was raining heavily.

Above the sky, dark clouds were hanging low.

Thunder kept moving in it, and heavy rain poured down between heaven and earth.

A burst of hurried footsteps came from outside the hall. Zhang Da'an, the messenger, was wearing a raincoat and holding a memorial in his hand. He walked quickly to the emperor's side and handed him the memorial.

Li Chengqian turned slightly and took the memorial.

He didn't open it immediately, but looked at the entire sand table in front of him.

The sand table represents the entire world.

From Longyou to Guanzhong, to Heluo, Hebei, Shannan, Huainan, Jiangnan, Bashu, and Lingnan, all are included.

"What a heavy rain this year!" Li Chengqian sighed and said, "Although I predicted it in advance, it is still heavier than I thought."

"Your Majesty!" Minister of Revenue Yan Lide bowed and said, "Longyou is fine, with good weather and good harvests. Although there are minor disasters in Guanzhong, they are not a big problem. Shannan, Huainan, and Jiangnan have suffered significant disasters, but they are all commonplace and not a big problem. The real trouble lies in Henan and Hebei."

Li Chengqian looked up and asked, "Where is the Duke of Langya?"

"Jizhou." Tang Jian cupped his hands and said, "The Duke of Langya is in Jizhou assisting with disaster relief."

"Pass down the decree to exempt Hebei Province from taxes this year. Tell the Duke of Langya that whether it is necessary to use granaries in various places, or even military rations, is all up to him to decide. There is no need to ask for instructions. A letter can be sent to the court afterwards." Li Chengqian waved his hand.

"Your Majesty!" Minister of War Cui Dunli could not help but step forward and said, "Preparing for war against Goguryeo..."

"First, focus on disaster relief." Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Hebei cannot be in chaos."

The ministers in the hall all looked solemn, then they bowed and said, "Yes!"

Li Chengqian's gaze finally fell on the entire Henan Province. He turned sideways and asked, "Where is the Minister of Works now?"

"We've reached Qizhou." Tang Jian lowered his head and said, "Most of Qi and Lu are located on high ground. Only a dozen places along the banks of the Yellow River have been flooded. The disaster has affected hundreds of thousands of people from five states."

"It's already very few." Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "We checked it last year. No provincial governor dared to neglect it. They tried their best to repair the river embankment. Although it is still difficult to defeat God's will, human efforts have been done to the utmost. No one will be punished this time, but..."

The ministers bowed solemnly.

"Next, all affected counties and prefectures, as well as the neighboring counties, will be exempted from all taxes this year. The granaries will then be opened to release grain." Li Chengqian looked up at General Tian Renhui of the Right Jinwu Guard and said, "Mr. Tian, ​​please go and investigate the local areas to see if there is corruption. Any officials involved can be dismissed immediately. It's up to you to decide whether to redeem yourself for meritorious service. What I want is for the people to survive the disaster safely."

"I obey your order." Tian Renhui immediately bowed and accepted the order.

"The rest is about Chenzhou." Li Chengqian placed the memorial in his hand on the sand table and said softly, "Although I have ordered Chenzhou to dig ditches to prevent disasters since last year, the rain is still too heavy, and most of Chenzhou is flooded. It is only because Chu Qing was in Chenzhou and handled everything properly that the number of people drowned is very small. Otherwise, I would have to issue an edict of remorse."

"Your Majesty is foresighted." All the ministers bowed in unison, looking deeply moved.

"Send a number of ships from Chang'an to transport grain to Chenzhou. At the same time, exempt the people of Chenzhou from taxes for a year." Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "Also, recruit able-bodied men from Chenzhou to serve in the Zhechongfu. After the disaster, transfer them to Luoyang to prepare for next year's eastern expedition. This way, the imperial rations will allow them to support their families."

"Yes!" The ministers obeyed the order solemnly.

"I know that the Hongnong Yang family has a large amount of grain stored. Tang Qing, please write a letter for me, asking them to take out the grain from their homes to use to relieve the people." After a brief pause, Li Chengqian said, "Have them give me a number, and the Ministry of Revenue will allocate grain to make up the difference later."

"Yes!" Tang Jian bowed and lowered his head with a look of horror in his eyes.

They had to take the grain from the Hongnong Yang family even if they didn't want to, and they had to take it in the name of the emperor.

Afterwards, the people of Chenzhou were only grateful to the emperor.

As for the last point, if they really dared to ask the court to return the grain, the spit of all the civil and military officials in the court would be enough to drown them.

"Alright, let's do this for now." Li Chengqian looked at the gloomy sky outside the palace and said, "The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War will jointly send people to the local areas. I want to find out how many counties and towns have been affected by the disaster, and then provide relief in a timely manner. No one can be left out."

"We obey your command." All the ministers bowed their hands with solemn expressions.

"Go." Li Chengqian waved his hand gently.

"We will take our leave." The ministers then bowed and took their leave.

Li Chengqian waved his hand, and Liu Rengui, Li Yifu and others immediately began to clean up the sand table.

……

Li Chengqian walked to the front of the palace gate and looked at the entire Luoyang city.

Under the heavy rain, the originally clear Luoyang City has become extremely hazy.

Luoyang was not bad, as the water flowed freely and the canals crisscrossed, so the disaster was not very serious.

Thanks to internal and external disaster relief, the people have already settled down.

Moreover, Li Chengqian exempted them from rent and taxes last year, so the people still have surplus food at home.

In addition, the Luo River Plain is a fertile land, and even a flood is unlikely to have much impact on agriculture here, so as long as the rain stops after autumn this year, a good harvest can still be foreseen.

There wouldn't be much of a problem in using this to help the world.

The key is Shanzhou. Li Chengqian smiled somewhat unkindly.

In this disaster, Hongnong was actually not severely affected, because Hongnong County was the highest in the entire Shanzhou.

However, because Chu Suiliang was repairing the ditches, he was actually conducting a disguised inventory of the fields.

In order to prevent the hidden fields and population from being discovered by the court, they filled up all the ditches connecting the hidden fields to the outside world.

Under such heavy rain, the rainwater could not be drained away and instead flooded their own land.

This year, a poor harvest for the Hongnong Yang family is inevitable.

In this situation, Li Chengqian asked them to take out food to help the people. If nothing unexpected happened, the Hongnong Yang family would not only not be unwilling, but they would take out more food to help the people and win their reputation.

Of course, the result of this is to exchange food for people's hearts.

If something happens in the future, they should be able to recruit a large number of soldiers in an instant.

Not only the food reserves but also the combat potential were greatly consumed.

In addition, Li Chengqian recruited all the young and strong men in Shanzhou into the Zhechoufu in the name of disaster relief. As a result, the number of elite troops that the Yang family could actually use would be much smaller.

Even if they wanted to rebel, these soldiers would resist them.

This summer's rain has almost exhausted the combat potential of the entire Hongnong Yang family and their threat to Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian raised his head slightly and looked at the dark clouds hanging low above his head.

To be honest, if he had a choice, he would not want this kind of rain, because this rain also reduced his war potential in the eastern expedition to Goguryeo.

"Your Majesty!" Li Yifu and others packed up their things and bowed earnestly to Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Issue an order to transfer Liu Renyuan, the Left Commander of the Right Guard, to garrison Lushi County to prevent flooding in the mountains and provide medical care to the people."

"Yes!" Liu Rengui bowed, his pupils dilated instantly.

He was a local and of course knew that Lu'shi was just south of Hongnong. Although there was Mount Xiao blocking the way, there was also a small path that could go directly from Lu'shi to Hongnong County.

The Yang family of Hongnong was surrounded on all sides and died.

Li Chengqian smiled and looked at everyone and said, "Now that we're done with our work tonight, let's go to bed early."

……

With a "bang", the cigarette on the table was thrown out fiercely, hitting the ground and fragments flying everywhere.

Yang Zhong stood at the door of the study, not daring to move.

Outside the window, the autumn cicadas are chirping.

"What a great emperor! He has almost blocked Hongnong from all sides. What a good method, what a good method." Yang Sina gritted his teeth.

In June, although the emperor did many things to make things difficult for Yang, the flooded area was Hongnong after all, and the emperor used all possible means to control the disaster.

Although the Yang family suffered heavy losses, they had no choice since that was their home.

However, in July, when autumn arrived, news came that Liu Renyuan was still stationed in Lu's County, and Yang Sina immediately couldn't hold it anymore.

From Lushi, you can directly enter Hongnong.

In the past, the emperor had never done anything in Lu's territory, but now, with the help of the mountain torrents, the one thousand elite soldiers would probably have to stay in Lu's territory for quite some time.

Especially if there is heavy rain next year, they will stay in Lu's for at least two years.

Once Goguryeo goes to war, the emperor will not let them leave easily.

Although the Yang family could send people to block the mountain road, they couldn't block it for long.

This is equivalent to someone pressing on their vital points from behind.

Once they take action, the emperor will immediately send someone to stab the Yang family from behind. After that, whether Hangu Pass or the Qiaohan Ancient Road is blocked, they will be in big trouble.

What a great emperor, what great methods he has!

In this situation, it is difficult for the Yang family, at least the Yang family alone, to have an impact on the overall situation.

Not to mention, he was also trying to split the Yang family internally and set up his own faction.

To be honest, it’s not the emperor who can’t sleep now, it’s them.

"Okay, okay, we don't really plan to move anyway." Yang Sina gritted his teeth. Although he looked unwilling, he still calmed himself down.

Yang Sina suddenly looked up and asked, "Is there any news from King Jing?"

"Yes!" Yang Zhong came back to his senses and immediately bowed, saying, "My dear, the letter was sent by Wan Hongnong. The King of Jing said that he would not be able to return for the anniversary sacrifice of the Duke of Liang. I am afraid I can only wait until the end of the year to return to Chang'an and have a drink with you."

"Yeah!" Yang Sina nodded calmly and said, "That's fine. We can talk about it later, it will be convenient for both of us. But it's almost the anniversary of Duke Liang's death, so I have to go and pay my respects... Oh, and I heard Princess Gaoyang is making trouble again?"

"Yes!" Yang Zhong cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is not in Chang'an, and Duke Zhao doesn't care, so the commotion is a bit fierce."

"This is a good thing!" Yang Sina smiled gently.

(End of this chapter)