Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 109 Relief for Refugees
The March wind is warm and there is a fresh scent in the air.

As the sun passed its zenith, the complicated ceremony of farming finally came to an end.

Li Zhi returned to the palace in the imperial sedan chair.

After returning to Ganlu Palace, he took a bath, changed his clothes, jogged in the harem for quarter of an hour, and then lay down in the water pavilion for a nap.

After sleeping for half an hour, Li Zhi walked slowly along the Jinshui River. While he was walking, the eunuch came to report that Di Renjie wanted to see him.

Li Zhi saw a pavilion in the distance, so he walked over and sat down. He ordered Di Renjie to come to the harem for an audience, and ordered people to set up the Go board.

Not long after, Di Renjie arrived at the pavilion. After the formalities, he was about to report to Li Zhi when Li Zhi said with a smile, "Don't worry, let's play a game of chess first."

Di Renjie replied, "Yes."

Di Renjie seldom played chess and his chess skills were slightly inferior to Li Zhi's. He was exactly the opponent Li Zhi had been looking for.

The two fought for a round. Di Renjie tried his best, and when he finally won, Li Zhi won two games.

Li Zhi was in high spirits after such a satisfying game of chess. He smiled at Di Renjie and said, "Mr. Di, if you have anything to say, you can tell me now."

Di Renjie then told the story of Changsun Yang's confession.

"Your Majesty, Changsun Quan has already left Chang'an. I would like to request your permission to arrest him."

Li Zhi was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's keep an eye on him first, and wait until he takes out the tax money, and then catch him red-handed."

Di Renjie took the order and left.

Li Zhi returned to Ganlu Hall and flipped through the memorials on the table. One of them caught his attention.

The refugees from Hebei are approaching Tongguan, not far from Chang'an City.

After discussion, the prime ministers of the Secretariat proposed to set up a disaster relief point in Tongguan.

However, Gao Youdao disagreed with the prime ministers' opinions. He crossed out the memorial and attached his own opinions.

He believed that the flow of people at the Tongguan Pass was too large, and if a disaster relief point was set up, it would easily block the Tongguan Road and the Qiaohan Road.

Gao Youdao proposed letting these refugees pass through and setting up disaster relief sites in Fuping County, Chunhua County, and Baishui County north of Chang'an.

He then ordered Yongzhou Prefecture to re-register these refugees and relocate them to the counties around Chang'an.

After pondering for a moment, Li Zhi agreed with Gao Youdao's previous measures.

However, he made a slight modification to the last point.

He decided to settle these refugees in the Anxi Protectorate and let them reproduce and thrive there.

Only when there are more Tang people here can the Tang Dynasty truly gain a foothold in the Anxi area.

After dealing with the remaining memorials, Li Zhi came to the left side hall and saw Gao Youdao and others busy at work.

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "My dear ministers, please put down what you are doing. I have something to ask you."

Everyone stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, please give your orders."

Li Zhi said: "I haven't seen the memorial from Sanmenxia recently, so I'm asking you about it."

Yuan Wanqing rushed to say, "Your Majesty, the progress at Sanmenxia is going very smoothly. One large reef has been broken, and the other reef should be breaking soon."

Li Zhi said, "Now that we have broken through a reef, has the amount of grain transported to Sanmenxia increased?"

Guo Zhengyi said, "Your Majesty, I have calculated that we could only transport 3,000 dan of grain per month, but now we can transport over 7,000 dan. Once we break through another reef, we should be able to transport over 10,000 dan of grain per month."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Order the Secretary to allocate 1,000 dan of grain from the grain shipped from Luoyang to provide relief to the refugees."

There were only three to five thousand refugees, and these one thousand dan of grain were enough to feed them for ten days to half a month.

During this period, they can be arranged as logistics personnel to transport grain to Anxi, and they can also settle down in Anxi.

After Li Zhi finished his work, it was already late and the sound of evening drums came from the direction of Suzaku Gate.

Li Zhi left Ganlu Hall and came to Lizheng Hall, where he saw Wu Meiniang, Madam Yang, and Wu Shun all in Zhinuhong in the inner hall.

Wu Meiniang was originally chatting with her mother and sister, but she still noticed Li Zhi first.

"Mother, sister, His Majesty is here." She reminded in a low voice and stood up to greet them.

Li Zhi raised his hand and said, "No need to be so polite." He walked to the couch, sat down, picked up the teacup and drank tea.

Mrs. Yang noticed very early on that Li Zhi seemed not very satisfied with her as his husband and mother. Every time they met, they had nothing to say, so she took her daughter and left.

After the two left, Li Zhi said, "Mei Niang, I will be leaving the palace in two days."

Wu Meiniang asked in surprise, "Where is your Majesty going?"

Li Zhi put down his teacup and said, "I plan to go to Fuping County to see the situation of the refugees."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please go. I have my own place in the palace."

Li Zhi glanced at her and said, "Mei Niang, I want to stay tonight."

Wu Meiniang was stunned for a moment and her face turned slightly red.

Li Zhi touched her belly and said with a smile, "I am just accompanying you and the child. I won't do anything, and I won't violate any regulations."

Wu Meiniang smiled slightly and said, "I obey your order."

……

North of Chang'an City, eastern suburbs of Fuping County.

A group of refugees are heading towards Fuping County.

Li Moge walked among the fields with his wife and son.

His eyes were red like a wolf's as he stared intently at the rice and millet stalks by the roadside. Although the millet was not yet ripe, he was so hungry that he wanted to dig it up and eat it immediately.

He did not take action because the refugees were saying that the court had set up soup kitchens in Fuping County to provide relief to the refugees.

Seeing that they had arrived at Fuping County, Li Moge decided to endure it a little longer. If he could not get the relief food from the court, he would not care about anything else.

He was originally a Tang person of Khitan descent, and still had the blood of the grassland wolf tribe flowing in his bones. As long as he was pushed into a corner, there was nothing he dared not do.

"Dad, I'm hungry." Li Moge's son Li Mutang said.

Li Moge glared at him and said, "Just bear with it a little longer."

This child is half Khitan and half Tang.

Since the Khitans surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, many Khitans have admired the Tang Dynasty and hoped to become a glorious citizen of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Moge was one of them. He took great pains to marry a Tang woman and gave himself a Tang name.

However, within the Khitan, anti-Tang people ultimately made up the majority.

Li Moge suspected that the Khitans were going to rebel, so in order to avoid being implicated, he sold all his livestock and moved his family to Cangzhou to live.

Before moving, Li Moge had found out that Cangzhou was the fiefdom of Princess Xincheng and he only needed to pay taxes to the princess's mansion.

Princess Xincheng was also a kind princess and was very good to the people in her fiefdom.

Li Moge borrowed a lot of usury and went through many ways before finally becoming a resident of Princess Xincheng's fiefdom.

However, the good times did not last long. Before they could settle down, the Cangzhou Governor's Office suddenly issued an official document to collect a head tax from the households in Princess Xincheng's fiefdom.

It was said that Goguryeo was going to attack Silla, and the Tang Dynasty needed to assemble an army immediately to rescue Silla, so it needed a batch of military pay.

The head tax was shockingly high.

Li Moge was forced to pay taxes, which made him unable to pay back the money. His house was taken away and he had to become a refugee.

Many refugees said that although life in Hebei was difficult, Guanzhong was extremely rich.

As long as you get to the emperor's feet, there may be a way to survive.

This is the last glimmer of hope in Li Moge's heart.

It was this glimmer of hope that suppressed the anger and resentment in his heart and brought him here.

At this moment, a city could be vaguely seen in front of us. The city was connected to a river, and on the river, there were thousands of miles of ships.

What a rich county town! It is worthy of being the capital of the country.

The refugees all started running, and someone shouted, "They're really giving out porridge."

Li Moge hugged his son, carried his wife on his back, and ran over.

Outside the city gate, there were eight porridge stalls guarded by soldiers, and the refugees had no choice but to line up to receive food.

Anyone who tried to cut in line was immediately beaten away by the soldiers with sticks.

Li Moge waited in line and finally got a bowl of porridge each for him, his wife and children.

There is a lot of corn in the porridge. After eating a bowl, although I can’t say I’m full, I finally feel a little stronger.

Li Moge, with his wife and children, found a place to sit near the porridge shed and asked the surrounding refugees about the situation.

While he was talking to a Tang man of Xi ethnicity, someone suddenly shouted in the distance, "Look, there's a grain ship coming. It must be the imperial court sending us food aid."

Li Moge stuck his head out to look, and sure enough, there was a large ship sailing along the river, and soldiers could be vaguely seen on the ship.

He was cheered up. The arrival of such a large grain ship meant that the emperor would not ignore them, and he felt at ease in an instant.

He returned to his wife and children, comforted them with a few words, and after not having slept well for several nights, he fell asleep with his head resting on his bag.

I had just fallen asleep when I suddenly heard a noise coming from the crowd.

Li Moge sat up and asked his wife Cheng, "What's wrong? What are you arguing about?"

Cheng held the child in her arms and said with resentment, "The princess is here and is pretending to comfort everyone."

Li Moge looked up and saw a luxurious carriage not far away.

Not far from the carriage, a young woman in an elegant silk dress was distributing food to the refugees.

Although the refugees received food, they did not treat her well.

Li Moge sighed, "This matter cannot be entirely blamed on her. If you want to blame someone, blame that prince consort."

Cheng snorted, "The Prince Consort always listens to the Princess."

On the city wall of Fuping County, Li Zhi silently looked at the refugees below.

Princess Xincheng distributed food among the refugees, but did not receive their gratitude.

In an instant, he understood something in his heart.

"Fu Sheng, do you remember who originally proposed collecting taxes from the five prefectures of Hebei to use for military supplies?"

Wang Fusheng thought for a moment and said, "If I remember correctly, it seemed to be Zhangsun Wuji who proposed it."

Li Zhi nodded, this was consistent with his memory.

Wang Fusheng added, "Your Majesty, it seems that Changsun Wuji is also secretly investigating Changsun Quan's affairs."

Li Zhi nodded and said in a deep voice, "Prepare the carriage immediately and return to Chang'an. I need to go to the Duke of Zhao's mansion to meet Zhangsun Wuji."

(End of this chapter)