Lou Shide and Sima Lin looked at Bai Chun in surprise. They didn't expect that this beautiful woman's words were so sharp. Although she said this, her aggressive tone was surprising.
The two of them couldn't help but look at Bai Chun's two companions. They saw the two companions drinking tea as a matter of course. They didn't react at all to Bai Chun's aggressive tone, as if they should say so.
"The imperial court is the most important, officials are the foundation, and the common people are secondary. Should we give up the stability of the imperial court, the lives of the noble families, and the nobles, and spend all the food on a group of common people? The imperial court, the noble families, and the nobles Who is in charge of his life and death? When the trouble comes to the court, won't it still be my responsibility?" Lou Shide looked at Bai Chun and retorted with a righteous expression.
"The common people are second to none? Ridiculous! If there are no common people, who will be your high official? Are you the people's bread and butter parents? Or are you the retainer of the wealthy nobles and nobles..."
"How outrageous! I am a second-rank official of the imperial court. How can I allow you to insult the imperial official like this? Those who criticize the imperial official for no reason should be arrested and prosecuted!" Lou Shide slammed the table and said angrily.
But instead of frightening Li Hong, Li Sujie, Bai Chun and Sima Lin, this move made all the teacups on the table jump.
"The little girl is just discussing the matter. I have no intention of slandering or criticizing you, sir! The late emperor once said when he asked Duke Zheng and Wei Zheng about the policy, water can carry a boat and it can also overturn it. You value the holy words of the people so much, I don't know why you don't Treating people like ants and despising the lives of all people in the world! Is this a little girl criticizing you for no reason?" Bai Chun's face turned colder. Although she was disguised as a man, it did not affect Li Hong's eyes. The image of a beautiful fairy.
Lou Shide's face was also livid, and he gasped loudly in anger. Especially when he heard this little lady say the word "adult" and deliberately emphasized her tone, it sounded more like an insult to him!
Lou Shide looked at Sima Lin, who was a little embarrassed, with a dark face. If he hadn't done something unnecessary and heard three people playing the piano here, he wouldn't have been humiliated today.
Look at the two young men who accompanied this young lady. They looked at the ceramic teacups carefully. It seemed that in their eyes, there was a more beautiful young lady than the one in front of them. That cup looks like it's on the surface, staring at it motionless!
But Sima Lin was surprised to find that for some reason, Lou Shide's originally cold expression slowly softened when he looked at the two young people who were concentrating on admiring the teacups. In the end, his face even changed. He forced out a stiff smile.
Sima Lin was stunned. He and Lou Shide had known each other for many years and were close friends. This was the first time he discovered that a person's expression could change like this, like a slowly unfolding picture scroll. At the beginning, he was cold, then angry. From moderate fever to shock, then to peace and gentleness, then to the corners of the mouth turning up, to then to wrinkles on the brows and eyes showing a smile.
What surprised Sima Lin even more was that Lou Shide, who showed an awkward smile, actually stood up from the table, ignored the surprised looks of the waiter in the teahouse next to him and the guests at the three or two tables, and suddenly looked at the man named Li Bai. The young man in white robe saluted.
"Young Master is saying that I have learned a lesson. Officials should take the food and clothing of the people in the world as their own responsibility, instead of only looking at the sufferings of noble families, nobles and other aristocratic families. I would like to thank you... Master. "Lou Shide watched Li Hong turn his head to look at him and said in a low voice at the end.
Li Hong waved his hand at him and motioned him to sit down. Looking at the embarrassed face, he said lightly: "Lou Shide, your eyes seem to be fine. It's just that it took you so long to recognize me and my fourth brother." , Why, are these eyes looking for the aristocrats? "
"Don't you dare, I'll be the official... minister..." Lou Shide said quickly in fear under Sima Lin's astonished gaze.
When he was sitting at another table, he felt that Li Hong and the three of them looked familiar. He always felt that he had seen them somewhere. Moreover, Lou Shide was sure that the place where he had seen the three of them was not an ordinary place, but until just now, he had never seen them. I remembered where I had seen these three people.
Until he saw Li Hong holding the teacup and looking at it carefully, and looking at the profile of his face as he drank all the tea in the teacup, he suddenly remembered, in the Qianyuan Hall of Luoyang Palace! His Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, when he was drinking with Prince Da Shi in white, it was this profile that made him deeply remember His Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.
But because he was not in the court just now, and the prince was still wearing casual clothes today, Lou Shide's memory was suddenly blurred, and it took him a long time to remember.
"Okay, don't be a subordinate or a minister. This is not above the court. There is no need to be so formal. Tell me the truth. What is the purpose of your coming here today?" Li Hong continued to play with the cheap money in his hand. asked the ceramic teacup.
"This... In the past few days, I have been off the job... No, my old friend Sima Lin, the person opposite you, has been pestering me, hoping that I can open a warehouse to release grain, and in the name of Henan Prefecture, serve the people after the Lantern Festival. Solve the food problem, but... I... alas... I have a hard time saying it, Your Highness." At the end of his speech, Lou Shide had no choice but to lower his voice and revealed Li Hong's identity.
"Cough cough cough cough..." The tea in Sima Lin's mouth opposite him was not wasted at all. After hearing the words "Chen" and "His Highness", he hurriedly lowered his head and choked all the tea in his mouth and sprayed it on the ground.
The frightened Sima Lin looked at Li Sujie next to him, and then at Li Hong sitting opposite him. After coughing, he was about to stand up to apologize, but was suppressed by Li Hong's gesture.
"Mr. Sima, you don't have to be like this, just sit down and sit down." After finishing speaking, he looked at Lou Shide and said: "Then tell me, what is your secret? With so much food piled up in the warehouse, do you want the people to imitate Cao Mengde's practice of looking at plum blossoms to quench thirst? "
Lou Shide had a grimace on his face, and Li Hong looked around at the many people and store clerks who were eavesdropping. Regarding the issue of food, but the lives of these people next to him, now that he heard them keep talking about the topic of food, Naturally, I hope to hear some good news.
"Then you accompany me around the granary built by the previous dynasty, and... pay him." Li Hong stood up and walked outside the teahouse. Looking at the disappointed teahouse waiter, he pointed at Lou Shide and said.
"Okay, sir, please go slowly. By the way, if you can find out when the court will release grain right now, you might as well tell me so that I can be prepared." The shop assistant greeted Li Hong. said furtively.
"What? Is it possible that you didn't have enough to eat even though you were guarding the granary?" Li Hong asked with a smile.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, you are joking. I work as a waiter in this teahouse, and I am not working in a granary, so of course I don't have anything to eat."
"Then what do you eat every day now?"
"Food, you can't really let us chew tree bark, right? It's just less than when we have surplus food. I'm not afraid of your ridicule. After the Lantern Festival, the little one has almost forgotten what a full meal tastes like. "
"No, I gave you a lot of food last year. According to a family of five, you should be able to eat by now even if you are late, right?" Li Hong was very curious. According to the teahouse waiter, wouldn't it mean that the people have already started to eat? Save money and save money!
"There is food, but you can't eat it all, can you? If you eat it all, what will you plant after spring? Is it possible that you only eat the ready-made food and eat the seeds too? Wouldn't that mean you would starve to death?" The teahouse waiter looked at Li Hong and said disapprovingly.
You are truly worthy of being a young man. A well-fed man does not know that a hungry man is hungry. Do you think that people from aristocratic families like you are not rich in food? Just find some connections and you can get enough food! We are just ordinary ants and ordinary people, so it would be good if the government takes care of us.
Li Hong gave him a thumbs up, but saw Li Sujie and Bai Chun snickering. This was obviously not a joke about the poor waiter in the teahouse, but a joke about his own poor thinking.
Sima Lin was about to leave. Facing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prince Xu of the Tang Dynasty, he was still somewhat trembling in his heart. However, Li Hong did not intend to let him go, but asked him to follow him to the granary.
The five people were walking on the busy streets. The carriages filled with grain began to pass the inspection of the prison guards one by one, and then began to drive out from the entrance of the granary and slowly walked towards Luoyang.
Lou Shide walked beside Li Hong and lamented: "Your Highness, you don't know. He has been forcing me to come over and take a look in the past few days, saying that all the grain is being transferred out, but it is not being transferred to the people. Instead, they loaded the ship directly from Luoshui, or took a carriage to the north... "
"Yes, as the governor of Henan Prefecture, don't you know these things? First tell me why you don't want to release grain. Why do you have to wait for the imperial court to issue an order? Could it be that if the imperial court doesn't issue an order, you, a dignified second-in-command? A high-ranking official doesn't have the right to open a warehouse and release grain for the people?" Li Hong ignored the supervision of the guard, pushed Bai Chun's shoulder, and walked in first.
"Sigh... you don't know. There isn't much food left in Luocang this time. It's true that the court is planning to abandon it, but I also want to use all the food at the most critical moment, right?"
"Just tell me how much grain is left." Li Hong did not go to the granaries full of carriages. Instead, he specifically looked for the deserted granary to observe.
"This... I still have some food left after I return to Luocang... about... less than three million dan."
"That's quite a lot. It's enough to supply the people of Henan Prefecture to survive the famine years." Li Hong asked in confusion, if you don't consume so much food left, do you really want to wait as Bai Chun said? You only release food when the people starve to death and start eating tree bark!
"Three million is a lot, but among these three million stones, there are military rations, public rations, and royal rations, and there are still a few, and there are not many in the charity warehouse. And... and King Ji asked for 500,000 shi in the charity warehouse. Low-priced grains. If the five hundred thousand dan of low-priced grains are taken away, there won't be much left for the people. What do you think I can use to feed the people?" Lou Shide spread his hands as if this was something. There was nothing I could do about it, and I felt very wronged.
(End of chapter)