Chapter 288 [Bohai King, bald?] Two-in-one chapter
The oral narration of the mountains and rivers, and the sister-in-law sorted out.
【The following is the main text】
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The night had passed, and it was early morning. However, the fish belly in the east was not white and the sky was still dark. However, the Tang Dynasty convoy had already set off, and the carriages were rumbling like giant dragons lying across the earth.
In ancient times, it was extremely difficult to travel, and there was a word called hardship, which was called hardships in boats and cars, which meant the hardships of rushing on the road.
The road was uneven and the carriage was shaking. Li Shimin was gradually anxious while sitting in the car. He felt a hint of pain in his waist and knees. The emperor suddenly picked up the curtain of the car and asked outside the car, "Who will tell me how far is it?"
The question seemed calm, but his tone was obviously impatient. A group of guards beside the car looked at each other. The leading general of the Baiqisi replied carefully: "Report to Your Majesty, we have passed Fanyang. Not far ahead is Youzhou. After leaving Youzhou, we are Yuguan. After reaching Yuguan, we have to cross the Liaohe River and then go two hundred miles to reach the land of Bohai City."
The general answered very carefully, but Li Shimin frowned and suddenly snorted coldly: "It has been three months since he left Chang'an, but he has not arrived in Youzhou yet. There are still 800 miles from Youzhou to Liaohe River, and there are 200 miles from Liaohe River to Bohai. It is so far away, when will it be... "
The emperor stopped here and pondered for a while and suddenly said, "Can the convoy be accelerated? I want to reach the Bohai Sea within ten days."
The general of the Hundred Riders hesitated for a long time before he replied carefully: "This may not work. It is difficult to reach in ten days. The convoy is too large and it is difficult to travel a hundred miles a day."
As he said that, he took a breath and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, you know that there are countless people following the convoy, and those people are taking their families with their families, and there are also many elderly, weak and lonely people. If the convoy accelerates, the people will inevitably be left behind. At that time..."
The general dared not say anything after this, and lowered his head and waited quietly for the emperor to make a decision.
Sure enough, Li Shimin sighed lightly and murmured: "Yes, there are too many people following the convoy. I want to speed up, just to shorten the time to travel. The shorter the time, the less the hardship the people suffer. Unfortunately, they cannot speed up, otherwise the people will be left behind."
This is a contradiction that even an emperor cannot resolve.
The longer the travel time, the more tired the people are, but they cannot speed up the road, otherwise the people will be left behind. Therefore, since leaving Chang'an, the Tang Dynasty convoy has been rushing slowly, like an old cow pulls a cart. It can only walk dozens of miles a day, and two thousand miles a day for three months. It is no different from a snail climbing the wall. When I walked, the spring flowers were blooming, and now it is already midsummer.
It is not scary to walk slowly. What is scary is that the logistics supply is not enough. Originally, Li Shimin planned to go out of the imperial guards and bring all the civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty with them when they came out of the customs. In this way, there will be greetings whenever they arrive in a place, and the monarch and ministers and others will not be short of food. However, the emperor did not expect that the people would follow him.
The so-called following him is actually to go to Bohai. There are too many poor people in the world, and they must struggle if they can't survive. Li Yun's name as the God of Wealth is so powerful that the people fantasize about going to Bohai City to ask for some food.
Li Shimin can't control such things.
It is said that it cannot be controlled, but in fact it is because it is unwilling to take care of it. The Tang Dynasty had a strict household registration system, and the people were not allowed to leave their homeland without permission. As long as the emperor gave the order, which people dared to leave their hometown? However, Li Shimin did not give the order and allowed the people to follow the convoy.
When they first left Chang'an, only a few thousand people followed. After all, Chang'an was the imperial capital, and it was difficult for people to starve to death in Guanlong, so there were not many people who chose to leave their homes. Most of the thousands of people who chose to follow were to make a fortune. They were not unable to survive, but wanted to go to Bohai to fight for a better future.
These thousands of Chang'an people are special and are not within the emperor's care. However, as the convoy continues to advance, more and more people join along the way. These are the truly poor people, almost following the convoy with their families and fleeing the famine.
These people are the headache for Li Shimin.
There are 70,000 or 80,000 people, all of whom are hungry and poor. The extremely poor family has no food. Every bite of food and drink has to be helped by others. Seventy or eighty thousand people have 70,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 80,000 or 50,000 or 50,000 or 50,000 or 50,000 or 50,000 royal guards, and hundreds of ministers who came out of seclusion in the entire court...
I don’t know if I count it, but I was shocked when I calculated it. The number of people was 100,000, and I needed to eat and drink every day. If I included the cattle and horses pulled by the convoy, the consumption of forage was also a terrifying number. The pressure on supply in the later stage was so huge. No wonder even Li Shimin wanted to shorten the travel time.
The emperor felt that he could not hold on.
This sounds like a joke, but it was really true in ancient times. It was very simple to lead a hundred thousand troops to fight in ancient times, but it was not easy to lead a hundred thousand people in ancient times. Even the emperors of the Tang Dynasty would have a numb scalp when they were doing such things.
At this time, the sky was getting brighter, and a ray of morning glow finally appeared in the east. Li Shimin suddenly stood up from the imperial carriage and said in a deep voice to the Baiqisi next to the carriage: "Take me a horse."
The general of the Hundred Riding Division was slightly stunned and subconsciously said, "Your Majesty wants to ride a horse? Could it be that he thinks the frame is too slow?"
Li Shimin looked at him, stood on the imperial guards and looked behind his back, saying, "I am not disliked the car frame being too slow, I am worried that the people behind me will ride a horse to take a look, otherwise I will not be able to feel at ease."
"Your Majesty, no!"
The Baiqi Shi was responsible for defending the situation. He heard this and immediately spoke out and said hurriedly: "There are 80,000 people in the rear, and it is difficult to distinguish between fish and dragons. Your Majesty is the emperor and I will be worried about your safety."
"Nonsense!"
Li Shimin angrily scolded, and said fiercely: "That is my people, how can I say about safety? Don't be too verbally speaking, bring my horse over."
The Baiqisi looked bitter and refused to obey the order. He was guarding the imperial guards and looked sad. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to his mind and said, "Your Majesty, even if the people are kind, you can't go there. We are about to enter the Youyan land. There are many mountains and cliffs on both sides of the road, which are easy to defend but difficult to attack. The soldiers and soldiers are dangerous. Since ancient times, there have been many bandits in Youyan land, so there may be dangers hidden in it..."
He had to continue talking, but Li Shimin scolded again and said, "It's still nonsense. Which bandit dares to provoke me? Five thousand mysterious iron cavalry in front of him are guarding five thousand imperial guards. Such a 10,000 army will also be dispersed. Don't say more and lead the horses."
The generals of the Hundred Riders' faces were full of sorrow, and Qiqi Ai Ai refused to obey the order!
Li Shimin suddenly raised his foot, stood on the imperial throne and kicked the general over the horse, and then the emperor jumped at the foot of the Hundred Cavalry General. The Hundred Cavalry fell to the ground and rolled a few times, hurriedly got up and ran to the front, begging: "Even if your Majesty is worried about the people, please wait for the last time, and you will take someone to guard the surroundings, so your Majesty can ride a horse to patrol."
This is a loyal word. Li Shimin finally nodded and said, "I will give you ten breathing time."
The general of the Hundred Cavalry Division nodded quickly, turned around and scolded a group of soldiers. In a blink of an eye, a guard of five hundred people formed, carefully protecting Li Shimin on his horse and galloping.
The emperor's movement naturally attracted the attention of the ministers. Soon many civil officials left their carriages, and the generals had already rode on a strong horse and chased the emperor.
The Tang Dynasty's convoy was extremely large, stretching for five or six miles in front and behind. Behind the huge convoy, there were even larger caravans. Unfortunately, the caravans were loaded with goods, and they thought they could see fewer food and other supplies. After passing the convoy and the huge caravan, there were tens of thousands of people with family members behind them. The old saying goes, "Over 10,000 people are boundless, and more than 80,000 people have formed an extremely large trekking dragon. The team stretched thirty or forty miles. Li Shimin rode his horse to check along the way, and his pair of tiger eyes gradually became unbearable.
The situation of the people is so pitiful!
Because each family is traveling with its families, the situation of each family is different, so it seems to be a huge team that stretches for thirty or forty miles, but only at close range can you find that they are traveling in small groups. Most of these teams are based on families, and often have to sit on the side of the road for a rest if you walk a few hundred steps.
While resting, the children were crying and the adults were anxious. Some pale and thin women unwillingly unwilling to their minds without any scruples, and just sat on the ground with a numb expression on their faces to feed the children. Unfortunately, there was no milk. The children cried even harder after eating for a long time.
So some skinny men crawled into the mountains beside the road, hoping to find something to fill their stomachs. Unfortunately, they often had nothing to do, but they came back dejectedly. The children cried even more pitifully, and the women sighed numbly.
The more Li Shimin looked at him, the more he felt unbearable. His pair of tiger eyes gradually showed a strong murderous aura. At this time, a group of ministers rushed over. The emperor immediately roared at a minister and shouted fiercely: "Changsun Wuji, how did you be the Minister of Revenue?"
Changsun Wuji is the queen's biological brother. The emperor rarely calls him a name directly. However, calling out his name directly at this moment shows how angry the emperor is.
The ministers observed their words and expressions, and no one dared to speak at this time. Only Changsun Wuji was named, so he could only ride a horse to come over and whisper: "Your Majesty, this is my dereliction of duty. I have sent several letters in succession to ask Chang'an to transport a batch of food."
"Let them use the national treasury and bring all the grain stored last year." Li Shimin spoke coldly, and then said: "I will order all parts of Hebei to provide urgent support, and how much food can I send to me."
Changsun Wuji smiled bitterly and said, "Hebei Road was poor for too long, and it has only been difficult for two years to show signs of recovery. However, they can only guarantee that they will not starve the people to death and that they will not be able to take out any extra grain."
Li Shimin was furious and suddenly waved his whip and said, "I have enfeoffed the Zi Nu in Hebei and let him inherit the land that Li Yun has worked hard to build. All the princes envy his good luck, but he couldn't even take out a grain of food..."
This temper was unreasonable. Changsun Wuji could only smile bitterly again and explained carefully: "Although the King of Yan inherited the land of Hebei, the time for inheritance was too short. There is only one Fanyang City in the whole of Hebei. The King of Yan wants to use Fanyang City to support the people. He is only ten years old this year, and it is already a great virtue to ensure that the people do not starve to death."
Li Shimin snorted coldly, and stopped talking with a gloomy face.
After a while, the emperor suddenly spoke again: "Where is the grain of the aristocratic family? The Zheng family in Xingyang promised to give four million stones, and the Cui family in Qinghe, and they promised to give five hundred thousand stones of grain..."
This is what I decided before leaving Chang'an.
At that time, Li Yun sent a silk book, one of which mentioned five things. Then Li Shimin launched a large butcher knife and directly killed the entire Wang family in Taiyuan. In order to save his life, Zheng family in Xingyang directly gave four million stones of grain as a price. In name, it was a dowry for Linglong, but in fact it was to buy life from Li Shimin.
In addition, the wealthy families of the Cui family in Qinghe also agreed to give food to please.
At this time, when Li Shimin saw the situation of the people, he immediately remembered the food that the aristocratic family agreed to. Unfortunately, Changsun Wuji smiled bitterly again and suddenly waved to the back: "Captain Zheng clan, leader Cui clan, don't hide behind, come over and explain to His Majesty."
Li Shimin's eyes flashed and he looked back from afar.
The two ministers there were full of guilt. One of them was the head of the Zheng clan of Xingyang. This man bowed carefully and said, "Your Majesty also asks you to atone for your sins. It is not easy to transport food. My Zheng family promised to give four million stones of grain, but the granary was built in Xingyang. Three months ago, it had already started organizing chariots and horses, and transported a total of 200,000 stones of grain."
The other person was the head of the Cui clan of Qinghe, and then explained: "The Cui clan transported a batch of grain from the Qinghe granary, and a total of 200,000 stones."
"Where is the grain?" Li Shimin suddenly interrupted and asked coldly: "Why haven't I seen it?"
The two patriarchs looked at each other and smiled bitterly: "Report to your Majesty, you have eaten!"
This answer immediately stunned Li Shimin.
Changsun Wuji next to him spoke carefully and said, "One hundred thousand people, after three months of walking, people eat horses and chew every day, which consumes a huge amount of money. The 200,000 stones of grain transported by Zheng and the 200,000 stones of food transported by Cui have been consumed and gone. They have not lied about this matter."
"Nonsense!"
Li Shimin shouted harshly and said angrily: "Do you bully me and don't understand the worldly affairs? How can a hundred thousand people eat 400,000 stones of food?"
Changsun Wuji bowed his head helplessly and said with a laugh: "One hundred thousand people, four hundred thousand stones, each person spread it out, only four stones..."
I didn't say the rest, but Li Shimin already understood it.
What is the food of Sishi?
Four hundred kilograms!
Four hundred jin sounds like a lot, but the Tang Dynasty convoy has been gone for three months...
In ancient times, people had insufficient oil and water in their stomachs, so they ate too much more food than later generations. An adult man consumed three kilograms of food a day, so it was difficult to eat enough, and it was easier to get hungry when traveling long distances.
Li Shimin took a deep breath, suddenly looked at the heads of the two families, and asked in a sequel: "Where is the remaining food? Each of your families promised more than 200,000 stones."
The head of the Zheng clan of Xingyang hurriedly spoke, saying, "I have sent letters to urge me many times, and the remaining 1.8 million stones are all transported to the Bohai Sea."
The head of the Cui clan followed and said, "I have sent letters to urge me many times, and the second batch of food has been transported on the way."
Li Shimin was not satisfied with this explanation, and Senran asked again: "I don't listen to your words. I just asked how long will the food arrive?"
The heads of the two families looked at each other and carefully lowered their heads. Needless to say, they knew this situation, and I am afraid that the food would not be transported in a short time.
Li Shimin's eyes were angry and he was about to roar. Suddenly, the emperor's pupils shrank and he stared at the distance ahead. The emperor's face was stunned. He stretched out his hand and pulled Changsun Wuji next to him and said, "Wuji, please help me see if there is something wrong with my eyes. The figure flashed just now, and it seemed that he saw a bald young man. The boy looked very familiar, and he looked like, and he looked like..."
Changsun Wuji looked up curiously, but unfortunately he did not find any suspicious person. The Minister of Revenue of the Tang Dynasty was confused and asked Li Shimin in a low voice: "Who did Your Majesty see?"
Li Shimin suddenly took a light breath and said, "It looks like that brat, but unfortunately he is a bald monk. I guess I have misunderstood. Every time I encounter difficulties, I always miss that brat."
Changsun Wuji's eyes flashed, and he suddenly realized something and asked, "Is Your Majesty talking about the Lord of Bohai?"
Li Shimin stared at the direction just now and murmured to himself: "It shouldn't be him. This brat should be busy building a city in Bohai."
After the emperor said this, for some reason, a curve suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if his mood suddenly improved a lot. He suddenly turned his head and said, "You will go back with me, and the inspection will end here. Today's convoy will continue to be held. Each family will send memorials to my imperial guards."
As he said that, he didn't wait for everyone to react, he galloped away with a whip and suddenly remembered a loud laugh. I don't know why the emperor suddenly became happy.
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Chapter completed!