Emperor Sui Yang

The capital, the official office of King Qin.

Fang Xuanling took the lead and said, "The Ministry of Industry received a report last time, saying that the canal will be completed in late September, and it is now September 23. It seems that it will be finished soon, so we should also finish it here."

Yang Ming sat on the main seat, nodded and said: "During this period, all the reports in Hebei, including administrative documents of local officials and private letters, have been sorted out, and I will submit them directly to His Majesty at that time."

These files are collected together, which can be described as piled up like a mountain. They are all Yang Hao's numerous crimes. They are not only Yang Hao's reminder, but also Hebei's strongest counterattack after this catastrophe.

Of the eighteen counties in Hebei, eleven of them sued. In the chaos in Hebei, five county magistrates died.

On Yang Ming's side, he couldn't get the exact number of casualties in Hebei this year, so he could only rely on the reports of local officials to calculate.

As for the real number, these sheriffs will not tell the truth. They are also to blame for too many deaths, but as far as the current situation is concerned, a number can be roughly inferred.

The number of deaths in the canal was reported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs as 11. This is simply nonsense. Judging from various sources, the number of deaths in the canal should be between 30 and 40.

Then the death toll of local people due to food shortages and wars is roughly between 20 and 30.

From a medium point of view, at least 60 people died in Hebei this year, not counting those in Shanxi and Henan.

It has to be said that the Huaxia nation is too tough, and its ability to withstand pressure is too strong. More than 60 people died before a substandard Gao Yingnian emerged.

Could it be that more people have to die if they want to wait until Dou Jiande?
Du Ruhui said: "Should His Highness send people from Silitai to Hebei to inspect the specific number of casualties? The Ministry of Civil Affairs is blatantly deceitful, it is really abominable."

Yang Ming shook his head and said: "This matter is not easy to investigate. Even if it is necessary to investigate, it is not right now. Now that you let the people from Silitai go down, they dare not go. If you investigate the facts, someone below will let them die. If they are pursued, the court will not let them go, this job needs a bigger inspector, not those who are not responsible for the officials."

Du Ruhui frowned and said: "If it continues like this, someone will definitely cover up the truth, and I'm afraid it won't be clear if you want to investigate."

"Everything can't be controlled by others," Yang Ming said with a smile: "Some things can't be done as we want, we must take into account the current situation, and we can wait until His Majesty returns."

Fang Xuanling continued: "His Highness discussed with the ministers some time ago to exempt Hebei from taxes for three years. Should we add some additional subsidies? If it is just tax exemption, I am afraid it will not solve the problem."

"Just the tax exemption may not be able to pass," Yang Ming said: "Your Majesty's exemption of Yangzhou tax is based on the judgment of the situation. With the Tongji Canal, goods from the south will continuously arrive in Luoyang and then sold to various places. This deficit in Jiangnan can be made up by trade. However, there is no place to find compensation for the exemption of taxes in Hebei, so it will be extremely difficult."

"Is tax exemption difficult?" Fang Xuanling was dumbfounded: "If there is no effective appeasement policy in Hebei, how difficult will it be for the people in the next three to five years?"

Yang Ming nodded and said, "So we have to think of other ways."

Everyone suddenly became depressed.

They originally thought that besides the three-year tax exemption, there were other ways to appease Hebei, but now hearing what Yang Ming said, it seems that the possibility of tax exemption is not high.

Yang Ming is also helpless, doesn't he want to exempt the people of Hebei from taxes?Of course he wanted to, but he also knew that he was taking it for granted.

Considering the overall situation, in the current Sui Dynasty, 44 states under the general jurisdiction of the old Yangzhou have been exempted from tax. If Hebei is exempted, the treasury will not be able to collect money in the next three years.

Once there are natural and man-made disasters in various places, the treasury will not be able to allocate money for disaster relief, and the north-south canal is already in debt for repairs, and the debt will have to be repaid in the coming year. Yang Guang may not agree to exempt Hebei from taxes at this time.

Then the people of Hebei must still need appeasement, so they can only make decisions on the aristocratic family.

Now the policy of exempting slaves and servants from granting land is only implemented in several counties in the south of the Yangtze River, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan. The Shu land on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the tax-heavy Jingzhou have not yet been implemented.

If these two places can also be implemented, it will be enough to supply Hebei.

As for Southwest and Lingnan, you can give it a try for the time being. If the local reaction is too great, you need to withdraw it in time. After all, rebellions in these two places are commonplace.

Mainly because of this policy, Yang Guang supported it.

Anyway, Yang Ming now understands that if he insists on confronting his father, he will definitely not be able to go around, so he can only follow along as much as possible.

Before the meeting was over, Xu Jing came in to report that the eldest princess hoped that Yang Ming would be free today and could go to her place.

There was nothing in the current discussion that required him to nod, besides, Yang Ming knew that Yang Lihua would not seek him for no reason, so he left the official office directly.

On the way, Yang Ming bumped into Chen Shuyi's convoy.

Good guy, I saw you, so Yang Ming immediately got Chen Shuyi into the car, and said directly:

"You still know how to go home?"

Chen Shuyi smiled embarrassedly, and leaned towards Yang Ming coquettishly. Yang Ming pretended to be angry and pushed her away again and again.

"Grandmother is old and in poor health. As a direct granddaughter, I have to serve her knees, right?"

You don't have to worry about him, he still has many years to live, Yang Ming snorted coldly:

"It's said that the water poured out by a married girl doesn't seem to be applicable to you. When you're old and don't know how to marry a husband and have children, how can you be decent if you keep running to your mother's house?"

Chen Shuyi stuck out her tongue and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I got it, this time I go back, I'm sure I won't go out, can't I?"

"What have you been doing there for so long?" Yang Ming asked with a frown.

Chen Shuyi shrugged her shoulders and sighed: "It's not just some trivial matters in the family. Now all the uncles and children in the family come to me for help. If they go to the palace to find me, it will cause you trouble if they spread it out, so I just stay with my grandmother." There, it will be more convenient to discuss things in this way."

The children of the Chen family right now have pinned their hopes on three women, Mrs. Xiurong Chen Kui, Mrs. Chongyi Chen Yu, and Qin Wang's concubine Chen Shuyi.

They couldn't see the first two, so they could only pin their hopes on the third one, similar to how the Xiao family in Lanling counted on Empress Xiao, but not everyone could see Empress Xiao.

"Haven't most of them already been arranged?" Yang Ming asked.

Chen Shuyi said: "Some people are high-spirited, not satisfied with the status quo, and hope to be promoted to the next level. I know that I have nothing to do with this, but I still have to come forward to hang them."

Good guy, are you playing tricks too?Yang Ming was dumbfounded.

Chen Shuyi stuck out her tongue playfully: "Okay, okay, go get down to business and come find me at night."

"Let's go," Yang Ming waved his hands impatiently.

Chen Shuyi leaned over with a playful smile and tapped his cheek lightly, and then got off the carriage like a fragrant breeze.

Princess Palace.

Yang Lihua is in a very good mood recently, because Li Jingxun's cough and asthma have completely healed.

Yang Ming also knew that he was a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse, and it was pure luck, but at least it prevented Yang Lihua from continuing to run around with Li Xiaobai.

Guanzhong people stay in Guanzhong honestly, only the water and soil in Guanzhong can support you.

One side of water and soil supports one side of people.

After Yang Ming came, Yang Lihua dismissed the others directly, looked Yang Ming up and down, and said with a smile:
"It's good to be young. There was such a commotion in Jingzhao Nunnery that day. Afterwards, I went to that wooden house to have a look. Tsk tsk, the bed boards were all broken, it was terrible."

Yang Ming was taken aback, and smiled embarrassedly, how could he have thought that Yang Lihua would tell him such a thing.

We are aunts and nephews, why don't we talk about such things?

Yang Lihua laughed, and continued jokingly: "After you left, many nuns there went to the vegetable garden smelling fishy smell, you, you, you do things regardless of place."

"I can't help it at the moment," Yang Ming said cheekily.

Yang Lihua suddenly trembled, and after a while, she panted and laughed:
"Okay, okay, stop joking, let's talk about business, the Hebei chaos is over, your chance will come, but there is a problem right now, you must solve it in advance."

Yang Ming asked curiously, "What's the problem?"

"Who is the main wife?" Yang Lihua changed her voice just now, and said solemnly: "General Yin must be restored as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences will be unpredictable, and Pei Ju will not give up. At that time, you will enter the East Palace. It is very difficult to change, if this problem is not resolved now, the dispute between Yang and Pei is just around the corner."

Yang Ming sighed: "There is no suitable opportunity. I fought for it at the beginning, but Father seems unmoved. I really don't know what he is thinking."

"What else can you think about? Of course it is to check and balance the Yang family," Yang Lihua said:
"Your father succeeded to the crown prince, the Yang family has put in a lot of effort, and naturally knows a lot of secrets. Now that Yang Su has passed away, it is imperative to suppress the Yang family, but the current court can help your father solve the problem." Only Pei Ju can answer this question."

After all, Yang Lihua continued: "Su Wei is tactful and unwilling to do such a thing, Niu Hong has no such ability, and Gao Jiong is not reused. I hope Yu Wenshu can beat the Yang family? So, your father knows that It's going to get you in trouble, but it has to be done."

Yang Ming frowned and said, "Could it be that only Pei Ju can suppress the Yang family?"

"No, you should think so," Yang Lihua said: "Only the Yang family can suppress Pei Ju. These two families are like two sides of a weighing pan. Whoever is tilted up must let it go down."

"But I just married the girls of these two families," Yang Ming said distressedly.

Yang Lihua smiled and said: "If you gain, you will lose. If you can get the full support of these two families, you should naturally bear the burden of these two families. Now that Yang Su dies, Pei Ju will sit on the throne. This is not a good thing, Yang It's hard to get in if you are good at conspiracy, so I have a method here, you can think about it."

"What method?" Yang Ming asked.

Yang Lihua said: "Now Pei Ju on the side of the weighing pan has turned up, and he was shot by the right servant of Feng Shangshu, so you have to help the Yang family. Yang Wensi, Duke of Luochuan County, is a great talent. He has already made many achievements, and he can have a position in the six ministers, and I can help with this matter."

In Yang Lihua's eyes, the first wife is the regular wife, and the first wife cannot be abolished and must be restored. Once this opening is opened, it will not be a good thing in the future.

She wanted Yang Yinjiang to be the crown princess, otherwise, how embarrassing would the situation of the eldest son Yang Rui be?

The restoration of Yang Yinjiang can not only guarantee Yang Guang's check and balance in the court, but also minimize the conflict between the Yang and Pei families. If Pei Shuying is in charge, the Yang family must be destroyed.

Yang Ming pondered for a while, then said with a headache, "I will think about it."