Chapter 498 The Situation is Not Good

When night falls, Wang Quan will present the report sent from Chang'an to Li Chengqian for review.

Although Li Chengqian left Chang'an and ran to Cuiwei Palace to escape the heat and have a leisure time, he still cares about the situation in Chang'an.

Every day when night falls, a report about the situation of Chang'an in the twelve hours of the day will be sent.

Li Chengqian wants to know the movements of Chang'an at all times, what the ministers have done, what the prince has done, and so on.

In short, all the major events that happened in a day were recorded one by one, and written into a report and sent to the hands of Emperor Li Chengqian who was in Cuiwei Palace to escape the heat.

"Everyone! This is the report sent today, please take a look." Wang Quan said and handed the report to Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian took it and looked at it while saying, "We have been away from Chang'an for two days! This fast horse can travel between Chang'an and Cuiwei Palace within a day. I wonder how the prince is doing as regent?"

Li Chengqian was a little worried that Li Jue would not be able to cope with it as regent, and there would inevitably be some chaos. As a father, he naturally needed to worry more about him.

If something really went wrong, he would be able to know it at the first time and take measures to make up for it.

"The prince is now an adult, not a child, but the father of two children! What's more, there are prime ministers to assist him, and he will not disappoint everyone's expectations."

"You were much younger than the prince, but you were already regent, and all the officials praised you, saying that you could become a wise ruler like the late emperor." Wang Quan said.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! You are right. The prince is no longer a child. I don't need to teach him everything. It's time for the prince to make his own decisions."

"When I was twelve years old, the late emperor told me to order a hearing. He also said that from now on, if someone sues someone in the Secretariat and refuses to obey, he should report to the East Palace and let Chengqian make the decision."

"Now he is thirty years old and has matured mentally. He should know how to do things without anyone teaching him."

"Speaking of the prince, it reminds me of Li Xiang. I wonder how he is doing in his fiefdom?" Li Chengqian said with a smile.

Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Sooner or later, he will die. If he teaches the prince everything, how will the prince control the ministers after he dies that day?

"Has everyone forgotten? Some time ago, King Xiang of Hengshan sent someone to deliver a certificate of ordination, saying that he had a baby boy. Now! King Xiang of Hengshan already has three sons and one daughter." Wang Quan said. "

If you hadn't told me, I would have almost forgotten! Pass on my decree to confer the title of King of Wei, and call Li Sujie and others back to Chang'an. I want to see them." Li Chengqian said.

"Yes!" Wang Quan replied, and sent someone to invite Shangguan Yi to come and draft the edict.

In order to facilitate Li Chengqian to summon at any time, the place where the accompanying officials lived was not far from Cuiwei Palace, 30 meters to the left of Cuiwei Palace.

Upon learning that Li Chengqian had summoned him, Shangguan Yi, who had just undressed and was about to go to bed, hurriedly dressed and came to Cuiwei Palace under the guidance of the eunuch.

"Your Majesty, I, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Shangguan Yi, pay my respects to you!" Shangguan Yi saluted Li Chengqian.

"No need to be polite! You should know why I want you to come here. I won't say more. Let's get started!" Li Chengqian said.

"Yes!" Shangguan Yi responded, and sat down at the table beside him. The pen, ink, paper and inkstone had already been prepared for him. After

Shangguan Yi sat down, an eunuch came forward to grind ink for him. Shangguan Yi picked up the pen and wrote an imperial edict to appoint Li Xiang as the King of Wei, and summoned Li Xiang, Li Sujie and others to the capital to meet the emperor. Shangguan Yi stood up and

picked up the drafted imperial edict, blew off the ink on it, and walked towards Li Chengqian, intending to show him the imperial edict.

Shangguan Yi walked in front of Li Chengqian and found that Li Chengqian's brows were tightly knitted and his face was worried. He didn't know what had happened.

"Your Majesty! The edict has been written. Please take a look at it. If there is no problem, please write an edict on it, sign the names of the officials of the three ministries, and finally seal it with the imperial seal before it can be issued." Shangguan Yi said.

In order to better consolidate the imperial power and weaken the power of the prime minister, the officials of the three ministries are no longer one person. For example, the Zhongshu Ling, Shizhong, and Zuo Pushe are basically held by two or more people.

In addition, there are a large number of third-rank officials in the Zhongshu Menxia, ​​which greatly divides the power of the prime minister. This also allows many imperial edicts to be signed directly without going through any procedures.

"I don't need to read the edict you drafted, Shangguan Yi, it must be correct." Li Chengqian said, picked up the pen and wrote the word "edict".

"Your Majesty! I see that you look worried, I don't know what happened?" Shangguan Yi asked.

"Alas! I am worried about the natural disasters this year. The climate is abnormal this year, and disasters are everywhere. In June this year, there was heavy rain in Jizhou, and the water was more than ten feet deep. Fourteen houses and three hundred and ninety areas were damaged. In addition, 4,496 acres of fertile land were destroyed because of this heavy rain."

"In July, there was a severe drought in 19 states including Yi, Lu, Shi, and Mao in Jiannan Road. A total of 367,690 households were troubled by the drought."

"Later, a rainstorm occurred in Kuazhou, which led to a tsunami and submerged 6,843 areas of houses of the people in Yongjia and Angu counties. 9,070 people and 500 cattle died, and 4,150 acres of land were damaged."

"This year, more than 40 states are suffering from famine, especially Guanzhong, which is in great need of food." Li Chengqian sighed.

The drought had occurred since last year, but he didn't care, thinking that with the pressure well, everything would be solved.

Who knew that this year it would be even worse, with heavy rain and tsunamis, or drought, which was even more serious than last year.

"Your Majesty! Now the people are living in dire straits, and disaster relief should be provided as soon as possible to save the people from the water and fire." Shangguan Yi was shocked and said hurriedly. "

I have ordered people to go to the disaster relief. The court has allocated 8 million taels of silver as disaster relief funds, 30 million shi of grain, and transferred grain from other areas that were not affected by the disaster, all to the disaster area." Li Chengqian said.

I hope these can control the disaster well. There is no better way at the moment, which makes Li Chengqian worried.

"Your Majesty! Since ancient times, there must be locusts in droughts. Now many places are suffering from droughts, especially Jiannan Road, which is a severe drought disaster area. I am worried that a large number of locusts will appear here, causing a locust plague." Shangguan Yi said.

Shangguan Yi's worry is unreasonable. As long as there is drought, locusts will appear. A drought environment is beneficial to the reproduction, growth, development and survival of locusts.

Once drought strikes, locusts will multiply in large numbers. Over time, it will turn into a locust plague, causing heavy losses. A large number of locusts will devour the fields, completely destroying agricultural products, causing serious economic losses and even famine due to food shortages.

However, Li Chengqian is not too worried about locusts. He can let local people use the natural enemies of locusts to prevent locust plagues.

The court could provide funds to send a batch of chickens and ducks to the local area for breeding. Once locusts appear, these chickens and ducks can prey on them.

"I understand what you said, my dear minister. I will send someone to handle this matter properly. It's late at night, my dear minister, you should go back and rest early!" Li Chengqian said.

"I'll take my leave!" Shangguan Yi bowed and left. He had said what he needed to say. Whether the emperor listened or not was his business.