Emperor Sui Yang

Chapter 396
In the fifth year of Daye, on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, Yang Guang set off to return to Beijing.

From leaving Beijing to returning to Beijing, it took almost a year for Yang Guang to take 50 people almost half of the north. There really is no emperor in history who likes to tour like him, but I have to say that the emperor's tour is a good thing , but Yang Guang's tour is not.

The original intention of the tour should be to inspect local government affairs and civil affairs in order to picket and rectify, but Yang Guang's tour is to eat, drink and have fun, consuming local finances.

He ignored the original meaning of "Xun" and enhanced the color of "lucky".

Before leaving, Dugu Feng'er recommended a person to Pei Shuying, Zheng Anrao, and she hoped that Pei Shuying would be able to cover her in the capital in the future.

Although Zheng Anrao has a lot of backstage, and the backstage is not small, he can't compare with Yang Ming after all.

Dugu Feng'er would not leave by herself, and although Dugu Zuan wished to send someone to tie her back to the capital, she still didn't do it in the end.

Yang Hao was also taken away, and he knew in his heart that he couldn't return to Luoyang because Hebei's debts had not been settled.

50 people passed through Tongguan and returned to Daxing, the capital.

At first, everyone thought that with the emperor's energy, the court meeting would be held the next day after returning to Beijing, but there was no such thing. Yang Guang excused that the journey was tiring, and he stopped the court for three days without even summoning any officials.

But everyone knew in their hearts that the storm was just three days away.

Today's Prince Qin's Mansion is full of bigwigs, and there are more than 20 of them are above the third rank.

Everyone has nothing to hide now, because they all know in their hearts that whether Yang Ming can be the prince is just a matter of these few days.

Yang Yinjiang, who became the concubine again, also appeared at the meeting. She didn't intend to participate in the discussion, but Yang Ming wanted her to come.

Because of the presence of Yang Yinjiang, the Yang family of Hongnong was reassured and had a backbone, and would work even harder in the decisive battle.

Therefore, Pei Shuying is also there, because the family behind her is also very strong.

In the center of the hall, there are a pile of files and memorials and personal letters, all of which are Yang Hao's numerous crimes.

Yang Ming didn't directly introduce the topic at first, but let everyone take a look at the dossier letters.

"The memorials among them were copied from the sect. The original memorials are still in the palace. I think His Majesty will see them in a few days," Yang Ming said, "Everyone, take a look and tell us about yours." idea."

The stack of letters brought to Su Wei belonged to Qinghe Cui's family. After reading it carefully, Su Wei remained silent.

He could guess that Qinghe's Cui family was already on Yang Ming's side, and the contents of these letters were scolded more and more ruthlessly. After all, this time, the old Cui's family was really hurt.

People often say that the most fearful thing in life is to be short of people and money. This is the current situation of the Cui family. More than half of the money has been looted, and a lot of people have been lost because of the local rebellion.

There were even offshoots of the family who were directly killed by the refugees and lost their incense.

But Su Wei also knew in his heart that these letters were mostly exaggerated, and the loss of Qinghe Cui's family was definitely not as serious as they said.

If it was so serious, the rebel's surname would not be Gao, but Cui.

As for the Cui family's reaction this time, they probably chose to stand in line and bet completely on Yang Ming.

As time passed, some people in the hall began to cry.

Among them, the most senior official is the new internal governor Lu Chu, who is from Hebei, and the contents of these dossiers and letters all record the tragedy that happened in Hebei last year.

Don't think that people are really sad, but most of the officials who can reach the fifth rank and above are already cold-blooded animals, and the death of a son is not necessarily so sad, let alone the death of a hometown person.

Those who truly serve the country and the people in their hearts, Gao Yan counts as one, Niu Hong counts as one, and the others are all so embarrassing.

When people cry, they are just pretending, which means that I am soft-hearted, affectionate, and sympathetic to the elders in my hometown.

Those sitting here today are all ruthless people, and no one will believe him when he comes out.

But Lu Chu still said: "The crime is heinous, the crime is heinous."

As for who he was scolding, he didn't dare to say it himself. If he was scolding Yanbi, at his current level, he could definitely name him.

Yan Pi is sitting below now, what can you do if you scold him?

At this moment, Yang Ming suddenly thought of an idiom: Too many bamboos are too difficult to write.

This idiom has not been invented yet, because the originator is Li Mi.

The original words are: the bamboos of the Nanshan Mountains are exhausted, the crimes of books are not exhausted, and the waves of the East China Sea are broken, and the evil is endless. This sentence is for Comrade Yang Guang.

Today's discussion, because there are too many people and too complicated, so the real bigwigs will not reveal their true inner thoughts, but discuss the facts, and say some empty-headed complaints about the dossier in front of them.

Gao Yan sat on the upper left side, frowned at Yan Pi at this time, and said in a deep voice:
"I'm afraid you can't get away with it this time. You are the Grand Supervisor of the Canal. Hebei has become like this. Lord Yan can prepare for the funeral."

He deliberately intimidated the other party, because Gao Yan knew that Yan Pi must be afraid of death and would not be willing to take the blame, otherwise he would not have gone to Zhuojun early. If Yan Pi wanted to get rid of the relationship, there was only one way, and that was to put all All the crimes were blamed on Yang Hao.

If Gao Yan wanted to force him to go this way, you would be dead if you didn't sue Yang Hao, but if you did, you would have a chance. You can choose for yourself.

Yan Pi had already made his choice, and he took the initiative to come to Prince Qin's mansion this time to seek asylum.

He has already suffered a big loss in his life, and he will definitely not be able to bear it again.

As early as Kaihuang's reign, Yan Pi had been Yang Yong's crown prince Zongwei leader history. Later Yang Yong was abolished, he was implicated, suffered a hundred sticks, and was assigned as Yang Su's slave along with his wife.

Yang Su is really awesome. He didn't treat Yan Pi harshly, but kept helping him. Two years later, Yan Pi turned from a slave to a commoner. After Yang Guang succeeded to the throne, he was recommended by Yang Su to the Ministry of Industry. , it can be regarded as having survived this catastrophe.

In front of so many people, Yan Pi will definitely not express his opinion, just a taste:

"I can't escape my responsibility, I can't escape my responsibility."

Pei Ju guessed what kind of medicine was sold in the Gourd Gourd, and said directly:
"It's just a preliminary estimate. The death toll in Hebei has reached 60 people. Let alone Yan Gong, who is a third-rank official, even a first-rank official can't stand this crime."

Yan Pi broke out in a cold sweat, did you two do it on purpose?Think I'm not timid enough?

"I can't escape the blame. I can't escape the blame" he still said.

This is a smart person, I admit the sin, but don't expect me to recite it alone.

At this time, just hearing a "snap", Niu Hong slapped the file in his hand on the long table in front of him, his old face was flushed, and he was suffocated when he saw it, but he didn't say anything.

When he is an official, he really can't speak nonsense, and every word needs to be considered.

Niu Hong was really going crazy. The construction of the North-South Canal was originally a project that had not yet recovered in Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, and Shandong. The situation at that time had already been decided, and the project could only be done slowly to minimize losses. However, if the engineer Yang Hao hadn't intervened, so many people would not have died as they are now, and it would have caused rebellions in several counties.

"If Hebei is not appeased, the population will drop sharply, which will be bad for the country and uneasy for the people," Niu Hong sighed.

Yang Yinjiang opened the mouth and said: "About the matter of pacifying Hebei, the King of Qin has already issued a memorial, requesting His Majesty to exempt slaves and servants from granting land in Yizhou, Jingzhou, Southwest and other places, and all the taxes that should be collected on the land will be fully supplemented to Hebei. , The goods transported from the south of the Yangtze River via the canal are also sold to Hebei first. Now it is an extraordinary time, and an extraordinary policy should be adopted. It can only be a pain for everyone, and Hebei will be appeased first."

This policy is completely aimed at the aristocratic family. Smart people have long seen that the emperor is using a knife trick. He said it was two years, but after two years, it will be two years.

According to the emperor's large-scale construction projects, I am afraid that this policy will not change in the end of the dynasty, and it will naturally become a permanent policy in the long run.

The families of these people in the hall have basically already accepted this policy, because most of them are from the north.

As the saying goes, we are all exempted from suffering from inequality rather than scarcity, and it is true that other places should also be exempted.

So Niu Hong agreed: "King Qin's good strategy seems to be the only way at present. If Shu and Jingzhou alone support Hebei with all their strength, within three years, Hebei will be restored."

"Far waters are hard to quench near thirst," Pei Ju said with a frown, "This policy sounds absolutely feasible, but it is actually difficult. Whether the excess taxes collected from Shu and Jingzhou can really be used in Hebei is still unknown. Half of the annual expenditure and the budget at the beginning of the year are discrepant. How and where will the money be spent? It depends on the current situation, not what we take for granted.”

"Isn't it enough to use the money exclusively?" Niu Hong frowned.

It works in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice. Pei Ju can’t say it clearly. The emperor is about to tour the west and plans to build Chi Dao. Do you think the money collected can really be used for Hebei?

Pei Ju could only say: "It's better to discuss a policy that can really benefit Hebei. For example, the princess also said just now that goods from Jiangnan can be given priority to Hebei. We can add one more to this, allowing Hebei to pay on credit."

Niu Hongleng said: "This move only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. The imperial court still owes Hebei a debt. Now you ask them to owe the debt? I'm afraid it doesn't make sense?"

"Correct Mr. Niu, the king of Qi owes the money, not the imperial court, and the imperial court did not borrow grain from Hebei," Pei Ju said with a smile.

How cruel, what do you want to do?Niu Hong instantly understood, do you want to take Hebei's account?
Yang Hao, what will he use to repay the debt?Don't you have to rely on the treasury?Niu Hong was already extremely angry, and the veins on his forehead burst out.

At this time, Yang Ming finally spoke:

"This policy is not very appropriate. It needs to be discussed. Hebei's money still has to be paid back. As for how to appease Hebei, everyone will think about it in private. We will discuss it after the court meeting."

Niu Hong breathed a sigh of relief when Yang Ming made such a statement:

"Exempting Hebei from taxes is unrealistic, but now that two canals have been opened one after another, maybe we can let Hebei really enjoy the benefits of this river."

Yang Ming nodded in agreement and said, "That's right. The key to appease Hebei is to focus on water transportation, supplemented by policies."

(End of this chapter)