Zhenguan Xiaoxian Wang Li Shen Li Shimin

(Some book friends questioned the amount of food. I checked some information, but there were different opinions. I read a paper by experts and scholars, the kind that costs money. What it says is that this expert said based on many indications. The rule of Zhenguan mainly relied on A large amount of grain and silk left over from the former Sui Dynasty. Of course, I don’t know whether it’s true or not. But in this novel, I assume that he is true. Isn’t that reasonable? Your reading will go smoothly.)

Seeing how stiff the situation was, Fang Xuanling and others also came out to smooth things over.

"Zheng Guogong, King Ji is still young, and his words are unruly. Don't take it to heart."

"Yes. Duke Zheng. What King Ji just said was a bit extreme. But King Ji has a lot of insights into the relationship between countries."

"Li Shen, please apologize to Duke Zheng. You are also a person who has read books. There is no etiquette at all." Li Shimin scolded Li Shen here.

Li Shen raised his head and glanced at Li Shimin, then raised his hands to several ministers and said: "My lords, the reason why Emperor Gaozu Jinyang started his army was because of the injustice of the former Sui Dynasty. Many of you are old people who used to live in the palace of the King of Qin. Follow me Aye After fighting in the north and south, and sweeping through the heroes, we have now unified the world. This country belongs to the Li family, and it also belongs to everyone here. I hope you are different from the officials outside. You are now standing at the top of a country. A word from you can determine the life or death of millions of people. Since you are at the top, you must have compassion. Fame and wealth have no meaning to you. If you don't have the consciousness to put the country first, you are not worthy of sitting in this position. The saint's moral cultivation, family governance, country governance, and world peace are for ordinary scholars. But you are no longer ordinary people."

In fact, Li Shen knew, how could these people not understand what he was talking about. They are just pretending not to understand for their own benefit. Some are for fame, some are for profit. Some have power.

They didn't agree with Li Shen's words, but they couldn't say it openly. Wei Zheng said: "Then what does King Ji think we should do?"

"I don't know. I only know that since I am an official, I have the responsibility of being an official. I will relieve the worries of the emperor and benefit the people below. Let the people of the world live a prosperous life. It will make my country, Li Tang, more stable. But this is too ideal. .Thousand-year-old thoughts are not easy to change..." Li Shen did not directly answer Wei Zheng's words. He also felt that his idea was too true. But there are always times when people are passionate.

"Okay, everyone. What I said just now is also based on my feelings. Please forgive me if I have offended anyone. Back to the subject, this matter is actually easy to solve. There are so many old grains left by the former Sui Dynasty. Many of them have been dried. Rather than leaving them moldy It's better to sell them all. Anyway, as long as it doesn't kill anyone, everyone nodded and said it was feasible. The former Sui Dynasty did leave a lot of food, and the population was also large at that time. The population was not as small as it is now.

"Also, starting from the second year of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty established voluntary warehouses in various places to reserve grain in preparation for disaster years. However, the quantity was huge, so tens of millions of dan of old grain were saved. Some of them may be many years old. Every year there are New grain was brought in. The moldy ones were all disposed of, which caused a great loss to the court. We might as well sell the old grains that are more than three years old, as long as there is no mold, at a lower price than their market price, even if they lose a little money, it doesn't matter. No In three years, their food production capacity will decrease. After that, we will provide them with a high-priced crop for them to grow. We will recycle it. In a few years, they will be dependent on our country's food. By then, it will not be easy to control them. "Li Shenyan returned to business.

"Then if their court buys at a low price and sells at a high price, the price of food will still not drop." Fang Xuanling asked

"Prime Minister, we don't care who they buy or how much they sell. We just need to sell in large quantities. I call it dumping. Like a downpour. Don't forget. There are a lot of people to eat. I also hope that their court or nobles will Sell ​​low and sell high. That way, after seeing the profits, they will give up buying their own food and switch to buying ours." Li Shen explained to Fang Xuanling

"In this case, we will lose a lot of money." Tang Jian is very sensitive to money.

"How could we lose money? Wouldn't this batch of grain be moldy in the future? Or sell the old grain to our people. It would be better to sell it to their people. Wouldn't it be better to let the people of Tang Dynasty eat new grain. And It’s not like there’s nothing to earn. The opportunity to make money is later.” Li Shen smiled sinisterly.

"Isn't this done to control the vassal country? Why do we still want to make money?" asked the eldest and roughest man, Yuchi Jingde. The first reason why their generals didn't speak was because they didn't understand. Second, they all agree with what Li Shen just said. Countries are hostile to each other and will fight if they don't accept it.

"Of course we have to make money, otherwise why should we control them? Poverty alleviation? When their own food production is reduced to half in a few years, we can find reasons to raise prices, such as wars, plagues, floods, droughts, insect pests and even Use transportation difficulties, major festivals, etc. as an excuse to create objective reasons for the sharp increase in food demand. Then we can plunder their wealth, resources, and minerals.

All the fruits of years of development will be plundered by us. By that time, people's lives have fallen into poverty, their quality of life has declined, prices have soared, and their coins have become worthless. There must be riots and rebellions in the country. We are secretly fueling the fire. When things got out of hand, we in the Tang Dynasty sent out righteous troops to save the local people from the fire and water. Find a puppet in power. We are helping to provide disaster relief and expand our image. In three or two years, let the puppets find a reason to merge the country into the Tang Dynasty. Wouldn't this be an extra piece of land? "Li Shen finished speaking and took a sip of water.

Everyone looked at Li Shen, seeing that this teenage prince had such a vicious plan. This is not control, it is simply annexation and plunder. And he makes a lot of money, so vicious.

"King Ji, what if the puppet is no longer under control in a few years." Li Xiaogong asked the question.

"Uncle Emperor, don't we still have troops in their country? You don't think you will come back after the war. Our Tang Dynasty is a country of benevolence and righteousness, a country of etiquette, and of course we must send troops to help the new king stabilize domestic stability. What to do if there is another rebellion. And the large number of people we send to support disaster relief also need safety protection. This process will take at least two or three years. After all, our Tang Dynasty is a country of etiquette." Li Shen explained to Li Xiaogong one time. He is an uncle after all.

These civil servants now begin to feel that the country of etiquette is not so noble. Suddenly I felt that this sentence had some negative connotation.

"In this case, you write a detailed memorial." Li Shimin saw the silence and said

"Memorial? What I just said is not clear. I don't have time to write it. By the way, just leave it to me as for Tubo. If you dare to take advantage of our sisters, I think they are too full. Hmph. "Li Shen felt very bad about Tubo.

"Humph, if you don't write, who will? You are a traitor, sleeping until the sun is shining all day long. And you said you don't have time." Li Shimin was angry after being rejected by Li Shen.

"Let your lords write it. This way you can find out the shortcomings. I'll leave first if I have something else to do. By the way, Tang Shangshu, please leave me some grain in the free warehouses around Jiannan Road, and I'll buy it for you. Purchase it at a [-]% increase in price. How about it? The court can still make a lot of money. I'll let someone contact you. Say goodbye." After saying that, Li Shen went to the harem without looking back.

Li Shen missed Concubine Wei quite a bit after not seeing her for some time. Before entering the palace, Li Shen went to the East Market and bought a lot of high-end rouge gouache, spices for cooking, high-end pastries, and fine silk. Anyway, we pulled a few big cars. They were all waiting for Li Shen after undergoing inspection at the palace gate.

Some of them were for Empress Changsun, and a cart of gadgets was for his sister Li Mengjiang. Li Mengjiang is 16 years old this year. It stands to reason that she has already reached the age of marriage.

However, Li Mengjiang didn't like anyone, so he wasn't in a hurry. Li Shen even felt that you should be at least twenty years old before getting married, otherwise it would be too dangerous to have children in this era. Li Shen felt that he should find time to study medicine.

(As a Chinese here, I would like to thank my motherland for withstanding the pressure of imperialism in difficult times and establishing a staple food security system. The cultivation of China's staple grains is completely left to domestic farmers, and the country has a series of agricultural subsidies and purchasing and storage policies. You must know As of 2023, 1.25 million people in Brazil are facing food shortage, and more than 3300 million people have almost no food to eat. Brazil is the third largest food exporter in the world. We should all thank the country.)