Tang's dining table

In March, the winter wheat on the Shandong plain is already half a foot tall. In two months, this crop of winter wheat will be harvested.

However, most of the winter wheat here is grown on dry land, which is still insufficient compared to the wheat irrigated by Chang'an's dense canals.

Yun Chu dismounted, went to the wheat field, and pulled up a clump of winter wheat. After looking at the root system, he found that the root system of the winter wheat, which should have developed root systems, was no better than that of the wheat sown in the spring on the Chang'an Plain.

Just in time, Li Hong's car passed by here. When he saw Master standing in the farmland, he got out of the car and came over and said, "Master, did you find anything?"

Yunchu threw away the wheat seedlings in his hand and said, "Didn't it snow in Shandong last winter?"

Li Hong thought for a while and said: "There was a heavy snowfall in early December. I still remember that the officials in Yanzhou reported that the snow caused a disaster. My father also allocated 7,000 guan and asked the Yanzhou local officials to make up for 10,000 guan. People whose houses collapsed built shelters from the cold.”

Yun Chu pointed to the winter wheat seedlings on the ground and said: "Obviously, there is no heavy snow in Yanzhou in December. At least, the disaster caused by the heavy snow is not enough to cause the collapse of people's houses."

Li Hong has been a farmer since he was a child and is familiar with things in the fields. He glanced at the wheat seedlings that his master had discarded on the ground, picked them up and looked at them again and said: "The main root of the winter wheat at this time should be half a foot, and it is less than half a foot here. It should be It’s caused by insufficient water in winter.”

Yun Chu said: "I also remember Yanzhou's snow disaster allocation last year. I decomposed that money from the profits of various state-owned stores in Chang'an. For this reason, many shopkeepers were quite dissatisfied. Now, if the snow disaster in Yanzhou did not exist, If so, I have to ask where the eight thousand guan we allocated to Yanzhou went?"

Li Hong nodded and said: "In this case, we must verify it. Come here, immediately investigate the growth of winter wheat in Yanzhou, and also go to the Daomen under Si Tianjian to verify whether there was a snow disaster in Yanzhou last December."

Yun Chu added: "This is a very serious problem."

Li Hong nodded and said: "I know that this is clear evidence that Yanzhou officials ignore the imperial power. They dare to make up disasters and defraud relief money from my father, and the court knows nothing about it. This shows that Yanzhou officials, It sucks from top to bottom.”

Yun Chu thought for a moment and said, "Do you dare to kill these people?"

Li Hongdao: "Master, do you think it's time for your disciple to establish his authority?"

Yun Chu said: "Go and discuss with Xu Jingzong how to take action."

Li Hong nodded and went back.

The gentle former army Sima was deprived by the emperor, so now he became a member of Yunchu's army. When he saw Yunchu leaving the brigade and running to the wheat fields to see the wheat seedlings, and chatting with Li Hong for a long time, he was right Di Renjie said: "Xue Changfeng clearly went to Youzhou, why did he still leave so many secret reports in Yanzhou?"

Di Renjie said: "Xue Changfeng is actually a very cautious person. The reason why he wrote these things that Baiqisi could detect and left them to us as a secret report shows that Baiqisi here is already rotten. It is impossible to say that he has already communicated with the local The officials are colluding."

Wen Wen yawned and said: "If such an official were in Chang'an, he would be very suitable for peeling off the skin and bones to make a skeleton man and give it to the Taiyuan Hospital as a teaching tool."

Di Renjie glanced at Wen Wen angrily and said, "If the entire Tang Dynasty follows this approach, I think there will be a mountain of skeletons in the Imperial Hospital."

Wen Wen shook his head and said: "Forget it if you can't see it. Since you have seen it, don't let it go. Our brothers have killed hundreds of evil people in Chang'an for more than ten years. Only then have we changed the atmosphere of Chang'an. We have done it. It’s better than not doing it.”

Di Renjie sighed and said, "It's illegal after all."

Yun Chu led an army and drove around the land of Yanzhou for three days, surrounded by the emperor's chariot, before arriving at Yanzhou City.

Yanzhou's officials, big and small, had already been hundreds of miles away to greet the emperor's carriage.

Just when these officials were thinking about how to serve the emperor well so as to further their own future, the prince's six soldiers and horses rolled over them like a tide.

This crushing is not an adjective, but a real crushing. These cavalry horses trampled over these officials.

After the 3,400 heavy armored cavalry swept through the venue where the welcoming officials were, only stumps and broken arms and tattered corpses were left on the ground.

Prince Li Hongduan sat on the horse with cold eyes. The horse walked around the land full of corpses, and then he said to Xiao Siye behind him: "Two hundred and twenty-one people?"

Xiao Siye clasped his fists on his horse and said: "From the governor to the eighth-level Zhanggu, no one is bad, and one is not bad. There are three people who have reported illness, and they have also canceled the illness and came here."

Li Hong said again: "No innocent people were hurt, right?"

Xiao Siye said: "When they came, the general ordered them strictly not to bring any followers with them."

Li Hong nodded and said: "Then go to the city and start searching and confiscating homes and people according to the list."

Xiao Siye licked his dry lips and gave an order. He led Prince Liu and everyone else and rushed towards Yanzhou City, a hundred miles away. Anyone who encountered obstacles along the way would be killed.

In response to Prince Li Hong's sudden killing spree, the accompanying civil and military officials were just stunned for a moment. Countless Shandong officials took off their official hats, tied their hands, and knelt down before the emperor to apologize.

Li Jingxuan and other officials were all silent and said nothing. Until now, they still don't understand why the prince committed such an animal behavior in Yanzhou.

Seeing the officials related to Yanzhou acting like crazy, Li Zhi slowly stepped down from the carriage, stood in the middle of the group of courtiers and said, "Are they really unjust?"

Kong Zhixuan slowly raised his dusty head and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the prince is being punished without teaching."

Li Zhi grabbed the jade belt with both hands and said to Kong Zhixuan: "You should be happy instead of continuing to make noise here. Those people are dead and that's the end of the matter.

Mencius told King Xuan of Qi: If the king regards his ministers as his hands and feet, then his ministers will regard him as his heart and soul; if his ministers regard his ministers as dogs and horses, his ministers will regard him as a fellow countryman; if his ministers regard his ministers as earth and mustard, then his ministers will regard him as a bandit.

The situation is no longer like this. I regard the officials of Yanzhou as my heart, but they regard me as Kou Yu. In this case, should I still treat them kindly? "

Kong Zhixuan asked: "What crime did they commit that caused them to be trampled into a pulp by the prince's soldiers and horses?"

Li Zhi looked at the place where the tragedy occurred in the distance and said indifferently: "Don't talk about the prince. He is actually helping you to eliminate future troubles. He is not cruel. If he doesn't take action, you will see an even more cruel person." I!

Kong Zhixuan, let me ask you, is it true that the Liangshan bandits have nothing to do with you, the Kong family? "

Kong Zhixuan looked up at the emperor and slowly stood up, and said calmly: "I really don't know, and Kong really doesn't know."

Li Zhi looked at Kong Zhixuan and said: "I am willing to believe you, the descendant of my wife, but now you can explain to me the blizzard in Yanzhou last December. I was going to check it before saying. It was you who said in the court how to provide disaster relief." We couldn't wait for a moment to put out the fire, so I bypassed the complicated appropriation process of the Ministry of Accounts and directly ordered Chang'an to allocate 7,000 guan to Yanzhou... I managed to save the people like putting out a fire.

Kong Zhixuan, tell me, did Yanzhou really encounter an unbearable snow disaster in December last year? "

Kong Zhixuan said with a puzzled look: "The urgent report from Zhang Dazuo, the governor of Yanzhou, first reached the hands of the ministers. The urgent report said that there was heavy snow in Yanzhou. The snow was three feet thick in the wilderness. Thousands of houses near Yanzhou collapsed. For a while, the victims wailed. There are countless people freezing to death in the wilderness. Could it be that... this is not true?"

Li Zhi looked at Kong Zhixuan and smiled bitterly: "On the morning of December 9th last year, it did snow in Yanzhou. It started falling at a quarter past nine o'clock and stopped at two o'clock at eight o'clock. The falling snow could not cover the insteps... Kong Zhixuan, how confused are you? ——”

Kong Zhixuan was as dumb as a chicken, and after a while he roared: "Zhang Da is a thief, how dare you deceive me to this point? Your Majesty, it is a lowly minister who did not check, and your Majesty was humiliated. Kong Zhixuan is punishable by death!"

Li Zhi tiredly waved his hands to the seventeen officials kneeling on the ground and said: "That's it, that's all, the prince has killed people and silenced you, so this matter is over. I only hope that you can still respect me as a king and father, and know that you are the king." The imperial court of the Tang Dynasty will remember your beliefs when you first became an official."

It wasn't until Luan Jia started to move forward that the people who had narrowly escaped death got up from the ground. They just looked in the direction of Yanzhou City one by one, with indescribable solemnity and solemnity.

At this time, Li Jingxuan came to Kong Zhixuan and said fiercely: "Kong Zhixuan, your Majesty can forgive you. Do you think the princes in the court can be as magnanimous as your Majesty?"

Facing the emperor, Kong Zhixuan did feel ashamed. However, when facing Li Jingxuan, Kong Zhixuan put his hands in his sleeves and said indifferently: "Just go ahead and impeach him."

Li Jingxuan sneered and said: "This time, it was the Kong family's initiative to cooperate with His Majesty's land reform policy that saved your Kong family. Your Majesty spared your life just because you valued your Kong family's leading role.

In this case, your Majesty has forgiven you, and you should repay Your Majesty well. If there are any more troubles in this, there will no longer be a place for you in this world. "

Kong Zhixuan said: "Just go ahead and impeach me."

Li Jingxuan sneered and said: "Who would impeach you and argue with you? Next time, if you Kong makes a mistake, you will definitely not face me, but the Tang Dynasty." The iron hooves of soldiers.

At that time, no matter how many years or generations your Kong family has lasted, it will all be wiped out under the iron heel of the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. "

Without saying a word, Kong Zhixuan got on his carriage, slowly closed his eyes, and shed two lines of clear tears.

Yunchu's army passed by the place where the massacre had just taken place. At this moment, the corpses on the ground had been collected by Prince Liu's men and thrown into a big pit, and were being buried.

The stench here is extremely unpleasant.

Wen Wen opened her eyes and said to Yun Chu, "Before, the prince was always an enemy of your majesty's new policies. These days, he has caused a lot of dissatisfaction to your majesty. Now, the prince is working hard and breathing the same fate as your majesty. There should be no more princes." Are you talking about being unworthy of your father?"

Yun Chu said: "It's good. It's better than everyone just chewing my tongue."