The Prodigal Son of Zhenguan

"My nephew came to you to see the account book of the construction site." Li Fu said, "After I went there yesterday, I saw that there were indeed quite a few people working on the construction site. I asked Jiang Que, and Jiang Que said that some of the people recruited on the construction site were from the people whose crops were reduced or even lost due to the locust plague, and some were unemployed people in Chang'an City."

"After all, the construction of the arena was paid for by the Da'an Palace. This is the first time that there is a project in the palace without corvée, which gives the people a way to survive. My nephew thinks that even if this matter is not under my jurisdiction, it is necessary to pay more attention to it."

Li Yuan looked pleased, stroked his beard and nodded.

"Well, you are right."

Afterwards, Li Fu picked out some of the conversations he had with Jiang Que yesterday and repeated them to Li Yuan.

He also discussed the problem of unemployed vagrants in Chang'an City with Li Yuan.

"Although it is impossible for the court to cancel the forced labor and miscellaneous labor now, the court will gradually change in the future, and Chang'an City, and even the entire Tang Dynasty, will become better and better."

"Yes, it can't get worse and worse, right? Erlang also has his own way of handling state affairs." Li Yuan smiled and said, "But it will take time to restore the country's strength, and it will be difficult for the court."

"Although I don't know how much the court has changed now, let's talk about the time when I was in power." Li Yuan recalled and explained the situation to Li Fu: "The Tang Dynasty has a population of one million households, and each household pays two stones of grain every year, which is two million stones."

"Perhaps you will wonder why I have to calculate it based on one million households and two million stones. The population of the Tang Dynasty is far more than that."

"The rent paid by the extra people is also a considerable amount."

Li Fu nodded as he listened.

Yes, no matter how miserable the Tang Dynasty was, it would not be left with only one million households.

There are more than 350,000 people in Chang'an City alone, and 80,000 households if five people per household are calculated.

"When the Tang Dynasty was established, I promised to give out many titles and official posts, and many royal titles and titles were granted over the years, and rent was waived. Moreover, if there are natural disasters in the local areas, we can't ask the people to pay the full grain, right? We should also reduce it according to the situation."

"Therefore, at the end of the year, the account given by the Ministry of Revenue can only be considered as one million households and two million shi of grain."

"These two million shi of grain require more than 700,000 shi for various expenses of the court, and 200,000 shi are given to the 18 tribes of the grassland every year." Li Yuan said: "The rest is less than 1.1 million shi, plus some miscellaneous expenses, so the actual accumulation is less than 1 million shi."

"Do you think that when I was in power, I didn't want to take action against the Turks on the grassland?" Li Yuan asked: "Since I started the army and established the Tang Dynasty, I am not such a weak person. I will swallow my anger. That is also Temporary. "

"During the Wude period, the Tang Dynasty had not yet been unified. Internal troubles had already given the court a headache. Coupled with the external threat of the grassland, I could only swallow my anger. "

"How much food and grass is needed to conquer the grassland and send out a large army?" Li Yuan patted the back of his hand and said, "I dare not calculate. Even when fighting Wang Shichong, the court had accumulated food for a long time before sending troops. It was Erlang who led the troops well and defeated the enemy with fewer troops, saving a lot of food. In one battle, Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande were captured, and the Tang Dynasty was unified. Otherwise, the Central Plains would be divided and the war would continue. "

"The Tang Dynasty is still caught in the middle, and life is very difficult. "

"Tolerating what cannot be tolerated for a while will allow the Tang Dynasty to develop steadily, accumulate food and soldiers, and counterattack the grassland in the future. Only then can we be more confident and get rid of the bad breath that has been squeezed in our chest for so many years. "

Li Yuan exhaled a long breath.

It's a pity that he couldn't do it, but Erlang could.

"Even now, the court dare not talk about fighting the Turks. In addition, the court has suffered a lot of disasters in the past two years and has to spend a lot of money to help the people. It's difficult."

Li Fu was in a complicated mood.

The court was not easy either. However, under such circumstances, in the fourth year of Zhenguan, Li Erfeng was able to destroy the Eastern Turks and capture Jie Li Khan alive. It was really awesome.

It should be said that Li Erfeng was in charge of Chang'an, and the civil and military officials under his command were awesome.

First, Zhao Deyan, the troublemaker, was sent to the Turks to cause chaos within the Turks, and then troops were sent to attack while the Turks were suffering from disasters.

Li Jing traveled light and attacked Jie Li's base camp. This move was really wonderful.

"The court wants to accumulate, which is nothing more than what the ministers say, to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. How can the court reduce expenditure? It can't. To increase revenue, it is nothing more than to find ways to increase taxes from the people, or to increase the population after stabilizing the country. With a larger population, there will be more taxes."

"But the population is not the grain in the land.If you grow more food, you can harvest a lot in the second year. Population growth is slow, so you can't rush it."

"Then increase taxes, won't it still make the people suffer?" Li Yuan shook his head helplessly: "So, it won't work, just be patient and wait. "

Li Yuan also took the opportunity to say this today, and also expressed the pain in his heart during these years of being an emperor.

That is, this is not okay, that is not okay, he has to endure it externally, and he has to balance the court, the family, and his two sons internally.

It feels a bit aggrieved to think about being an emperor.

It seems that he holds great power, but in fact, he has to think twice before doing anything.

After Li Yuan finished speaking, he felt much better.

He ordered the eunuchs around him to bring all the account books sent from the construction site of the arena to King Jingyang for review.

"The Turks on the grassland have always been the heart of the Tang Dynasty. Although the two sides have reached an agreement not to invade each other, it is like a thorn in the throat. This thing is like a toad, no, it is more disgusting than a toad.

A toad jumps on the back of your foot, it doesn't bite you, but it makes you sick, but the Turks, he will really bite you. "

"But there is one account that can be saved." Li Fu said: "When the alliance with the Turks was signed, the Tang Dynasty did not use the national treasury to send things to the Turks. The national treasury was saved, but did the Tang Dynasty give food to the Turks every year before?"

Li Yuan nodded.

"Of course, otherwise how can the two sides live in peace? The Turks are short of food. The last time Erlang was the emperor, the Turks went south, and you only saved the money in the national treasury, but you still have to give the food you agreed to before. Otherwise, do you think the Turks will retreat so easily? Do you really want nothing? That is to ensure that the conditions they negotiated with the Tang Dynasty are still there. On this basis, they made a wasted trip and did not get anything extra. "