Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 27 Li Zhi's Assessment
On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the snow had almost melted, and frost had formed on the dead branches on the roadside.

A carriage drove into Chang'an and was surrounded by a large group of people as soon as it passed the city gate. They escorted it to a mansion in Xuanyangfang.

This person was none other than Lu Chengqing, the Minister of Revenue who had just been recalled to Beijing.

There is a street in Xuanyangfang. People living in front and behind the street are all from the Lu family of Fanyang. There is a big house in the front street with four big characters "Fanyang Mansion" written on it.

After Lu Chengqing returned home, he first went to the ancestral hall to pay homage to his ancestors, and then returned to the main hall to chat with his family.

Mrs. Lu chattered on and on, telling about what had happened at home recently, such as which relative was staying at the house and how much land the family had added.

Lu Chengqing was a dissolute man who loved poetry and wine and did not like domestic affairs. After hearing a few words, he became impatient and just said that he had to go to the Secretariat to report on his work. Then he left home and took a car to the palace.

He first went to the Ministry of Personnel to complete the transfer process, and then wanted to visit several officials in the two provinces to facilitate the handover of official duties in the future.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived at the door of Menxia Province, I heard a quarrel coming from inside.

Lu Chengqing looked over and saw that the people arguing were the newly appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Du Zhenglun and the Minister of the Interior Han Ai.

Lu Chengqing listened carefully for a few sentences and it seemed that they were arguing about Chu Suiliang writing "Da Tang Xing Si" in Tanzhou. It was clearly a trivial matter.

Lu Chengqing also noticed a young eunuch about twelve or thirteen years old, who was standing beside a table in the room, sorting out imperial edicts.

After a while, the young eunuch left with a dozen imperial edicts.

Lu Chengqing understood immediately.

Du Zhenglun deliberately quarreled with Han Ai in the Ministry of Personnel and let the eunuch who was holding the imperial edict see it, just to show his loyalty to the emperor.

He was a proud and arrogant man, and would never do something as hypocritical as Du Zhenglun. He shook his head and left Menxia Province.

On the other side, Xiaoji came to Ganlu Hall with a brisk pace, holding the imperial edict.

Li Zhi was reviewing official documents. He carefully placed the new imperial edict on the imperial desk. As he was about to leave, Li Zhi suddenly asked, "Xiao Ji, when you went to get the imperial edict, what were the officials of the Ministry of Personnel discussing?"

Xiaoji said, "I saw Han Xianggong and Du Xianggong arguing with each other."

Li Zhi looked up and asked, "Which Minister Du?"

"Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Mr. Du Zhenglun."

Li Zhi's heart moved, and he ordered someone to call Wang Fusheng over and asked, "Have Du Zhenglun and Lu Chengqing arrived in Beijing?"

Wang Fusheng said, "Du Zhenglun arrived in Beijing yesterday, and Lu Chengqing just arrived in Beijing today."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Send them to see the emperor."

Wang Fusheng reminded: “Everyone, Lu Chengqing just got home and probably hasn’t gone to the Ministry of Revenue yet.”

He guessed that Li Zhi wanted to ask the two of them about the Ministry of Revenue, so he reminded Li Zhi that Lu Chengqing had not yet been exposed to official duties, and if he asked him now, he was afraid that he would not be prepared.

Li Zhi understood what he meant and said, "If he really wants to do his job well, he won't be idle since he has so much time on the way to the capital. He should send the message now."

Wang Fusheng took the order and left.

Not long after, Lu Chengqing and Du Zhenglun arrived.

Li Zhi looked up at the two of them. Lu Chengqing was tall and handsome, while Du Zhenglun was much inferior to him, a plain-looking old man.

After the two men exchanged greetings, Li Zhi smiled and said, "My two beloved ministers, you have traveled all the way to the capital, and you must be exhausted by the journey. I was so anxious to summon you here, so please don't blame me."

Lu Chengqing said sternly: "Your Majesty summoned us to the capital to do business. As soon as I entered the city, I went to the palace to wait for Your Majesty to summon me."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Since you know why I summoned you to the capital, I will ask you directly: do you have any solution to the food shortage in Chang'an?"

Du Zhenglun was secretly surprised when he heard this.

After arriving in Beijing, he was only busy writing a memorial to impeach Chu Suiliang, and he also had a quarrel with Lai Ji and Han Ai. He had no time to take care of the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue.

Just as sweat was breaking out on his forehead, Lu Chengqing beside him slowly took out a memorial.

"To resolve the current food shortage in Chang'an, I have come up with two solutions. Your Majesty, please review them."

Li Zhi took the memorial, read it slowly, and nodded secretly in his heart.

Lu Chengqing had a good vision and saw the two main reasons for Chang'an's food shortage.

One is that the land in Guanzhong is becoming less and less, while the population is increasing.

One is that it is inconvenient to transport grain to Luoyang.

He also figured out how to deal with it.

To address the first issue, he proposed relocating part of Chang'an's population eastward to reduce food pressure and allow the remaining people to have more fertile land. To address the second issue, he proposed modifying the grain transportation route to use a combination of land and water transport.

Two grain transport fleets were stationed before and after the dangerous valley of Sanmenxia. The grain was first transported to the dangerous valley of Sanmenxia by water, and then transported by land.

After passing the dangerous Sanmen Valley, we will change to the water route again. In this way, most of the way will be by water, and only a small section in the middle will be by land, which can save a lot of transportation capacity.

If Li Zhi had not thought of a better way, Lu Chengqing's latter method could have been adopted.

As for the previous practice of relocating the population, it did not solve the problem fundamentally. Lu Chengqing did not realize that the decreasing amount of arable land in Guanzhong was caused by soil erosion.

Li Zhi nodded and said "not bad", then turned to look at Du Zhenglun.

"Du Qing, have you come up with any ideas?"

Du Zhenglun was quite quick-witted and had also been appointed as the Minister of Revenue. While Li Zhi was reading Lu Chengqing's memorial, he had already sorted out some of his thoughts.

He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, during the Han Dynasty, there were over 40,000 hectares of arable land in Guanzhong. Now, there are less than 10,000 hectares. Therefore, the grain produced in Guanzhong is difficult to supply Chang'an."

Li Zhi's eyes lit up and he said, "Well said, then why has the arable land decreased?"

Du Zhenglun said, "It's probably because of the war. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, Guanzhong has been a battleground for military strategists, and the wars have destroyed a large amount of fertile farmland."

Li Zhi asked, "Why does war destroy good farmland? Can't wasteland be reclaimed?"

Du Zhenglun said: "This..." After all, he was just sitting in the office, reading some relevant historical books, and listening to reports from his officials, and he didn't know the in-depth reasons.

"Maybe there is not enough manpower to open up the land." Du Zhenglun said after thinking for a long time.

Li Zhi shook his head and said, "No, war can't burn the land, it can only burn trees. Trees have the function of storing water. Without trees, it will become a desert, and the fertile land will naturally disappear."

Du Zhenglun hurriedly said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right."

Li Zhi said slowly, "Chang'an has a large population. Not only do they have a lot of food, but they also need a lot of wood. The Qinling Mountains have been severely deforested, right?"

Du Zhenglun said repeatedly, "Your Majesty is wise. In the eighth year of the Zhenguan reign, when I was serving as the Minister of Revenue, I heard reports from officials below that the Qinling Mountains had been severely deforestation."

Lu Chengqing said, "Since that's the case, why not issue an order prohibiting the people from cutting down trees at will?"

Li Zhi glanced at him and said, "It's cold in Guanzhong. If the people don't have wood to burn, won't they freeze to death in winter?"

Lu Chengqing blushed slightly and said, "I made a mistake."

Li Zhi said, "This problem needs to be solved in two ways. First, we need to find new fuels to replace wood, such as charcoal and charcoal. Second, we need to plant more trees. You must remember that trees are like farmland and food, and they must be treated with respect!"

Coal, known as stone carbon, existed during the Tang Dynasty. Ruitan was coke sent as tribute from the Western Liang Dynasty. Its production was extremely limited, and only the royal family and the powerful could use it.

Du Zhenglun hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, the production of charcoal and carbon is scarce and difficult to mine. I'm afraid they can't be supplied in large quantities."

Li Zhi said, "Then we should increase exploration, find more mineral veins, and have the craftsmen find ways to reduce the difficulty of mining. Compared to the food shortage, what problems are these?"

Du Zhenglun said, "I obey your orders."

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "You do this alone. Lu Qing, you need to do something else."

Lu Chengqing's heart was lifted, and he said, "Your Majesty, do you want me to be responsible for the transportation of grain between Chang'an and Luoyang?"

Li Zhi shook his head and said, "Your method is good, but it's not the best. Have you ever been to Sanmenxia?"

Lu Chengqing shook his head and said he didn’t go.

Li Zhi said, "Then you should go and investigate on the spot, especially carefully observing the three places of Human Gate, Ghost Gate, and God Gate, to see how big the reefs there are and what the terrain is like."

Lu Chengqing was surprised and asked, "Your Majesty, are you planning to mobilize laborers to break through those reefs?"

Li Zhi said slowly, "I do want to break through those reefs, but I won't be mobilizing the people. Just go ahead and do it. I have my own ideas about breaking the reefs."

Lu Chengqing was secretly puzzled, wondering how he could break through the reef without any effort, but he didn't dare to ask too much, so he bowed and said, "I obey your command."

After a pause, he continued, "Your Majesty, may I ask someone to accompany me?"

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Who do you want?"

Lu Chengqing said, "The Minister of Works, Yan Liben."

Yan Liben once served as the Chief Designer. Like his brother Yan Lide, he was a master of architecture, and he was also a talented painter.

Lu Chengqing wanted to borrow Yan Liben's ability to draw the reefs of Sanmenxia so that the emperor could see it clearly.

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Approved."

(End of this chapter)