hsntnovel Chapter 2183 Relief for work
Chapter 2183 Relief for work
Li Shimin had been idle at home for many years, and all the affairs of the court were left to the prince.
People always find something to do when they have free time, and playing with his son became Li Shimin's greatest pleasure.
He is not an ordinary person, he is an emperor, so there are many things he wants to do but cannot do.
If he were an ordinary person, he could go out to travel, stroll around the city, visit brothels, and go to places where scholars gather.
But he couldn't do that. When he went out, he was surrounded by cars and carriages. If something unexpected happened, the Tang Dynasty would lose all its face.
Even if he didn't consider himself, Li Shimin had to consider his country.
It is better to play with your own son than to bring shame to your own kingdom.
Therefore, in recent years, the struggle between Li Shimin and Li Shen has become increasingly fierce, and often turned from verbal fights to physical fights.
Anyway, I can beat the kids on a rainy day since I have nothing to do.
Li Shen often said that his father suffered from retirement syndrome and liked to make trouble for him whenever he had nothing to do.
As a twenty-year-old young man, who would want to hang out with an old man for no reason? There is a generation gap.
But you have to play, or you will get beaten.
"Report~~Your Majesty, the Crown Prince requests an audience."
Just as Li Shimin was thinking about how to trick Li Shen into giving away his treasure, the eunuch outside came in to report.
"Announce~~" Li Shimin gave the order and returned to his seat.
After a while, Li Chengqian was brought in.
"I have met Aye."
"Gao Ming is here? Please sit down." Li Shimin nodded.
After expressing his gratitude, Li Chengqian came and sat down next to Li Shimin.
"Gao Ming, have you been a little tired recently? I see that you don't look very well. I've told you that everything should be done step by step and not too hastily.
Your body is the foundation of the country, so don’t overwork yourself.”
Looking at his son who looked unwell, Li Shimin frowned and taught him a lesson.
"Thank you for your concern, Aye. I'm fine. I just didn't sleep well these days and was late in reviewing the memorials."
Li Chengqian stood up and saluted in reply.
"Didn't I tell you that you should make good use of the three provinces and six ministries? You don't have to do everything yourself. If you have to do everything yourself in such a big country, wouldn't you be exhausted to death?
What? Something went wrong with the officials of the three provinces? "
Hearing what Li Chengqian said, Li Shimin's expression became even more severe. If the emperor had the final say on everything in such a big country, then there would be no way for it to survive.
Isn’t the system of three provinces and six ministries meant to relieve the emperor’s worries?
The emperor is only responsible for the overall outline, and his subordinates will complete the tasks according to the general outline, and they will figure out the solutions themselves.
"Replying to Father, there is no problem with the three provinces. I just want to learn more, so after the three provinces have reviewed it, I will review it again."
Li Chengqian quickly explained that the three provinces are now all old officials, and there is no problem in managing the country.
"Why is that? Could it be that... you used the Five Stones Powder again?"
The first thing Li Shimin thought of was that someone had poisoned his fish again and his bait had not been bitten for so many years.
Could it be that the bait has been changed?
"No, no, don't worry, Aye. I am very careful now and will not take any foreign substances until they have been approved by the imperial physician.
And Dr. Sun comes to the palace once a month to check my son’s pulse, so there won’t be any problems.”
Li Chengqian waved his hands quickly. He had learned his lesson from the last incident. Li Shen told him that Wushisan was a drug.
Taking Wu Shi San will make people mentally excited, and their lives may be in danger if they continue for a long time.
Although there were many aristocratic children in Chang'an City who were playing with the Five-Stone Powder, he believed in Li Shen's words without a doubt.
Over the years, except for matters related to money, everything Li Shen said would come true.
"That's good. If that's not the case, has something major happened in the court recently?"
Hearing that it was not Wushisan, Li Shimin was relieved. Li Shen had told him about the harm of Wushisan and had intended to ban it.
But this thing can also be used as medicine, and many noble children are playing with it. It is not easy to ban it, and it is a trivial matter for him.
As long as the crown prince doesn't take it, Li Shimin doesn't care about anyone else.
"Replying to Aye, the drought in Guanzhong has not eased, and losses are being reported in various places. I'm afraid rice cannot be planted this year.
It is not known whether the autumn planting of corn will be delayed. Er has already ordered the local authorities to send people to the villages below to check whether the people have enough surplus food.
It will also allow for more accurate distribution of food for disaster relief.”
Li Chengqian explained why he had been so tired in the past few days.
"Well, you did a good job. This also prevents some local officials from embezzling money. According to Lao Shi,
In recent years, people have indeed had a lot of surplus food at home. As long as the court exempts this year's taxes, people can survive.
There won't be widespread famine like before, but some places will have poor or scarce land.
The people do not have much surplus grain, and the court should provide relief to these people.
But instead of giving food, I think Lao Shi’s work-for-relief is better, what do you think?”
Li Shimin first praised him, and then entered the teaching mode again, not missing any opportunity to educate the prince.
"Work-for-relief? I understand. Old Ten once told me about this.
Direct distribution of food may lead to food being intercepted or misused, while work-for-relief can more fairly ensure that food reaches the hands of the people through labor remuneration and reduce the risk of corruption.
And it can also make a great contribution to the construction of the court."
After being reminded by his father, Li Chengqian immediately remembered what Li Shen had told him, that the Ji Wangfu had always provided disaster relief by using work instead of relief.
Except for occasional porridge distribution outside the city, food was not directly distributed to other places.
What Li Shen told him was to increase the employment rate, that is, the number of people who can work.
“Haha, yes, this is also a method used by herdsmen, and Lao Shi has used it flexibly.
If food is distributed directly to the people, in the long run they will not think of it as a favor, and with the protection of the court, they will not feel a sense of crisis.
This is not a good thing.
Now that the court is prosperous, they can accept infants waiting to be recruited, but if one day the court is not prosperous, they will complain about the court and blame the court for not distributing food to them.
They may even develop resentment and use this as an excuse to commit rebellious acts.
In the future, the imperial court should not distribute disaster relief food easily, but should use work-for-relief to provide disaster relief. There are many things to do, such as building roads, developing water conservancy projects, or even directly asking them to dig ditches.
The court could give them more food as a reward so that they could be self-sufficient.
The only people the court really needs help from are the helpless elderly and children.”
Li Shimin's ideas were naturally more comprehensive and thorough than Li Shen's. Li Shen was considering anti-corruption, and also believed that food could not be given for free, you had to work.
As an emperor, Li Shimin's considerations were more far-reaching.
(Yesterday someone asked when this sect started to exist. I have not found any documentation on this.
But I guess it should have started during the Song and Yuan dynasties, because I found out that several major events happened in the martial arts world at that time.
For example, at the Huashan Sword Contest, there were several old men who were very powerful, and later there was a disabled man who was missing an arm.
Working hard, striving to become a leader among the younger generation. A very inspiring story.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the size of gangs began to expand, and large-scale gang fights occurred, such as the siege of Guangmingding by the six major gangs.
There were numerous casualties at the time, which had a very negative social impact.)