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Text Chapter 715: The Battle for Mingde Hall (Part 1)

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    During this period, Li Zhi was very upset, mainly because after his father became seriously ill and fell into coma, officials headed by his uncle Changsun Wuji ignored his sad feelings and insisted on dragging him to deal with heavy government affairs every day.  But now Li Zhi just wanted to watch over his father quietly and was not in the mood to pay attention to those ministers. As a result, those ministers started to admonish him one after another.

    Li Zhi was very happy with Li Min's arrival yesterday. Especially after his father Li Shimin fell into a coma, Li Zhi felt as if he had lost his backbone and had no sense of security.  But when the sixth brother, who had always had a deep relationship with him and was also the most talented among the brothers, arrived, Li Zhi felt that his backbone was suddenly back, and his mood became particularly happy.

    Li Zhi originally wanted to go to Li Min yesterday to talk about the depression these days and the situation in the country. This way he could not only vent his depression, but also ask Brother Six for advice on how to deal with the current situation.  But after Li Min came back yesterday, he first went to Ganlu Hall to talk to Li Shimin for a long time, and then went to Concubine Yang and Queen Changsun. When he finally left Li Zheng Hall, it was already dark, and Li Min was busy making arrangements again.  The family moved to the original Prince Qi's mansion, which made Li Zhi unable to visit at all.

    Originally, at dawn this morning, Li Zhi planned to take Cai'er to Li Min's house.  Now that Li Shimin is seriously ill and in a coma, sons like him cannot hold any more reception banquets, otherwise they will definitely attract criticism from many ministers.  However, it is normal for the two brothers to meet and then have a casual meal.

    But just when Li Zhi got up happily and finished washing up, Cai'er also finished cleaning up little Li Hong. When the family of three was about to leave the East Palace, they were blocked by Chang Sun Wuji at the door, and then he was dragged by the other party to handle government affairs.  .

    The Xiande Hall is the most important building in the entire East Palace. It is also the place where the prince meets with ministers and handles government affairs.  Even when Li Shimin lived in the East Palace, because the palace was occupied by Li Yuan, he ascended the throne as emperor in the Xiande Hall.

    The layout of the entire Xiande Hall is similar to that of Taiji Hall in Taiji Palace, except that the scale is much smaller. After Li Zhi became the prince, he often met with officials from the East Palace here.  When Li Shimin fell into a coma some time ago, the Xiande Hall became the place where Li Zhi, Changsun Wuji and other courtiers discussed government affairs.

    In the main hall of Xiande Hall, Li Zhi sat helplessly on a chair. In front of him, Changsun Wuji and other ministers sat on both sides according to their rank.  One of the old ministers was reporting to Li Zhi.

    "Your Highness, news came from Bazhou yesterday. Due to the continuous spring rain in recent days, the Bazhou section of the Changsong Highway has caused flash floods and has washed away large sections of the road. This has caused serious traffic jams from Chang'an to Songzhou and other places.  It affects the flow of people and goods. Although the governor of Bazhou has mobilized civilians to rush to repair the road, there is a shortage of funds, so he submitted a letter to the court to allocate road funds!" Among them, Chu Suiliang, whose status was only lower than Changsun Wuji, was the first to report.  .

    The Chang-Song Highway is the highway from Chang'an to Songzhou built by the Tang Dynasty when Li Mingang invented cement more than ten years ago.  It is tied with the highway from Chang'an to Luoyang as the first highway in Datang. After its completion, this road made Datang's rule over the southwest region increasingly stable, and it also exerted huge economic value.  It's just because of the original route chosen and the quality of the cement.  The road has undergone several major repairs, but problems are still inevitable.

    "Well, I understand. The Ministry of Accounts allocates the required road funds. The Ministry of Works sends people to supervise the use of road funds!" Li Zhi said weakly.  In fact, these things are neither big nor small.  Changsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang could have decided to handle it themselves, but now they were leaving it all to him, on the grounds that they wanted him to be more familiar with the handling of government affairs.

    "I obey the order!" Chu Suiliang immediately stepped back after hearing this. At the same time, he wrote down Li Zhi's handling method on the memorial. After the court meeting is over, the people below will naturally take it and deal with it according to the order.

    "Your Highness, the northern part of Huzhou was hit by heavy snow this spring. More than half of the cattle, sheep and livestock froze to death. The governor of Huzhou did an effective job in disaster relief, so there were no casualties, and the victims have been resettled. However, the governor of Huzhou reported that he hoped that the imperial court could reduce some local taxes.  !¡± Another minister stood up and reported.  Huzhou is a newly established state in the northern grasslands of the Tang Dynasty. The entire state covers a vast area. The state is mainly engaged in animal husbandry and is often attacked by various disasters.

    "Accurate! Exempt the Huzhou disaster area from taxes for one year, and make this news public. I believe many food merchants will be interested in the frozen beef and mutton. This will also reduce the losses of some victims. The court will also give some to those merchants.  Preferential policies, such as tax exemptions along the way, etc.!" Li Zhi replied without thinking.  He has been with Li Shimin these years and has gained great experience in handling various government affairs. Although his mind is not focused on it, he can still handle it.

    Every political matter was reported by the ministers, and Li Zhi handled it very reasonably. Occasionally, if there were any objections, Changsun Wuji and others would also raise their own concerns.Li Zhi will consider the matter before proposing a more reasonable solution.

    According to the unwritten convention of court meetings, the most important matters are usually brought up last, and it is usually Changsun Wuji who personally presents them. As the previous political matters are dealt with one by one, it will soon be Changsun Wuji's turn.  .

    In total, Changsun Wuji is one year older than Li Shimin, but most of the time before, he was not as involved in government affairs as Li Shimin. In addition, he is well maintained. Although he is fifty-eight years old, he looks like a fourth-year-old.  A middle-aged man in his teens, with three long strands of beard under his chin floating on his chest, he looks indescribably elegant and elegant.

    Changsun Wuji stood up at this time, stepped forward and bowed slightly to Li Zhi and said: "Your Highness, twenty-three states in the south, including Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou, jointly submitted a memorial, saying that the local business winds are getting stronger and stronger, making the original  Most of the people in the country have abandoned farming and doing business, which has severely damaged the local farming and mulberry industry. Grain production has declined year by year. Taking last year as an example, local rice production was less than half of what it was three years ago. This situation has attracted the attention of local officials.  But I didn¡¯t know how to deal with it, so I reported it to the court and asked His Highness to make a decision!¡±

    The incident reported by Changsun Wuji may not seem like a big deal, but it is actually related to one of the main conflicts in Datang over the years, that is, the conflict between commerce and agriculture.  Originally, commerce and agriculture are interdependent. They can promote each other, but they can also form conflicts.

    Taking Datang and Daqi as examples, there is a huge restriction on the industrial and commercial development of the two countries, and that is the lack of human resources. Even after more than ten years of encouraging childbirth, the total population of Datang has just exceeded 30 million.  , and the total population of Daqi, excluding those foreign races, is only one-third that of the Tang Dynasty. Even if those foreign races are added, it is still comparable to the Tang Dynasty.

    Although steam engines have been widely used, whether it is industry, commerce or agriculture, there is still a long way to go before the mechanization of later generations. Therefore, both industries now require a lot of manual operations. In this way, the contradiction is also  Then, industry, commerce and agriculture began to compete for the few human resources.

    In order to solve this contradiction, Li Min's Daqi worked hard to promote Sinicization while conducting a cruel slave trade, using slaves to fill the shortages in some industries, such as large agricultural plantations, industrial and commercial mines, textile factories, etc.  , all using a large number of slaves.

    Although the industry and commerce of the Tang Dynasty also used a large number of slaves, due to some historical or other reasons, there were very few plantations in the Tang Dynasty. Agricultural production was still dominated by the original small-scale peasant economy, but as the  With the development of commerce, many farmers found that doing business or working was far more cost-effective than farming. Therefore, these people began to abandon farming and moved to cities to become workers or businessmen. This situation is still prominent in the southern region. Although the industry and commerce in Guanzhong area are also  It is very developed, but the population base here is large, so agriculture has not been greatly affected yet.

    It was not Li Zhi's first day dealing with government affairs, so he naturally knew the weight of Changsun Wuji's memorial, so he frowned and thought for a moment, then raised his head and said to Changsun Wuji: "Master Sikong has something to say about this matter."  What do you think?"

    Sikong is one of the three princes and ranks first. Although it is a false title, it is enough to show Changsun Wuji's extraordinary status.

    When Changsun Wuji heard Li Zhi ask about his opinion, he immediately replied: "Prince Qi, I believe that the contradiction between industry and commerce and agriculture has been around for a long time. The development of industry and commerce in the past did bring greater income to the national treasury, but  Nothing is too much, and industry and commerce cannot develop indefinitely, and agriculture is the foundation of a country, so the veteran believes that heavy taxes can be levied on some commercially developed areas to inhibit local commercial development!"

    "Master Sikong, what you said is wrong!" As soon as Changsun Wuji finished speaking, someone immediately stood up and objected.  I saw that this man was not very old, probably in his early thirties at most. He was white, fat, and had a blessed face. If he took off his official uniform, he would look like a kind businessman.  If Li Min were here, he would definitely recognize this fat man at a glance. This fat man is none other than Li Jingheng, one of his closest friends.

    Li Jingheng is different from Li Yong, Cheng Huailiang and others. He is the eldest son of Jiangxia King Li Daozong. He will inherit the title in the future, so naturally he cannot take risks with Li Min. What's more, he is not good at literature and martial arts. His only advantage is his greed for money. Li Daozong  I don't expect my son to have any future, I just hope that he can be a happy prince.

    However, things are strange. Under the influence of Li Min, Li Jingheng began to get involved in industry and commerce. As the saying goes, if you are born with talent, it will be useful. Li Jingheng, who was originally useless, unexpectedly burst out with superhuman business talents, and soon developed the Jiangxia Palace's industry to all parts of the country.  It even attracted Li Shimin's attention.  Later, he gave up business and entered politics, and relied on his own background to enter the Ministry of Household Affairs. Starting from a small chief, he slowly rose to the fourth rank of Minister of Household Affairs, orHe was a very important figure in the Tang Dynasty.
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