Seeing that he could not answer, Yuwen Rong smiled and said, "I think that when the snow first fell, the court should have made an early judgment and opened the granaries to release grain as soon as possible to provide food and clothing for the people..."
"What if the snow is not heavy? Can the people fend for themselves?" Another person stood up. It was Yang Jiong, who had been known as a child prodigy since childhood.
"Is the snow not heavy? If it is not heavy, the court can take back the distributed grain after the ice and snow melt. As for whether the people can support themselves, in my opinion, this will not affect the court's release of grain." Yuwen Rong glanced at Yang Jiong and said.
Li Hong was outside listening to the discussion of these people. Yang Jiong and Wang Bo were both in this school, and they both had some idealistic sentiments. They were talented in poetry and songs, but the pedantry and overly idealistic views of the literati were also beginning to show in them.
"There is no possibility of taking back the grain distributed by the court. If we do this, won't the people be happy for nothing, and won't the court be just going through the motions? How much should we give? How long will the heavy snow last? Who knows? This is all God's arrangement and cannot be resolved by what Brother Yuwen said." Wang Bo and Yang Jiong had similar interests. They often discussed poetry together in the past two years and established a good friendship.
"Li Hong meets the gentleman." Li Hong was listening at the door with great interest. Although there were no substantive suggestions in the discussion, Yuwen Rong's suggestion was the prototype of the establishment of a necessary mechanism.
Just like when General Cheng Zhijie conquered the Western Turks, Wang Wendu, jealous of Su Dingfang's military achievements, forged an imperial decree and seized military power, causing the entire army to miss the best opportunity to defeat the Western Turks. In the end, Cheng Zhijie was demoted and spared death. Wang Wendu was also executed after returning to the court.
Taking this incident as an example, it can only prove that this was not the fault of any one person, but that the existing system was not sound enough. During the war, there was a joke that the imperial edict was passed to the deputy chief steward instead of the chief steward.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." More than fifty people in the room hurriedly stood up and saluted.
...
...
Li Hong waved his hand, then smiled and sat down on another chair next to Shangguan Yi. He looked at Yuwen Rong and asked, "Go on. I want to hear your final solution."
"Yes, Your Highness." Yuwen Rong bowed and continued, "Having said this, I have basically expressed my point, which is to advance the payment. When the heavy snow first falls, we can open the warehouses to release grain, give cloth and firewood, so that we can ensure that the losses caused by the heavy snow are reduced to a minimum. If the snow is light and the duration is short, we can completely take back some of it, or even let the people use the money to pay for the goods."
Li Hong smiled calmly and continued to ask Yuwen Rong: "Do you remember when the rain first fell this year, I asked you to measure the water levels of Yong'an Canal and Longshou Canal?"
"Your Highness, I remember, and I have taken notes every time it rained this year. I even measured the water level of Qujiang Pond after the rain." Yuwen Rong said.
Li Hong nodded, stood up from his chair, turned around and walked to the glass writing board behind him, picked up the chalk on the edge of the writing board, thought for a while, and then wrote the names of the seven colors on the writing board: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue and purple.
Li Hong turned around and looked at Yuwen Rong and said, "Report all the water levels you measured."
As Yuwen Rong reported a water level, Li Hong marked the water level number under a specific color. After reporting seven water levels of different sizes, Li Hong also arranged the marked water levels in order of high to low under the seven colors.
Then he turned around and looked at the confused expressions of the students. Even Shangguan Yi looked puzzled, not knowing what Li Hong was going to do.
Li Hong threw down the chalk in his hand, clapped his hands and said, "What we lack is not methods, but systems. Without a perfect system, no matter how feasible your methods are, no matter how smoothly you can solve the difficulties of floods and snowstorms for the people, without a perfect system, everything will be in vain. Because all methods will always have more difficulties than methods when they are implemented. Only after a system is established can the methods we can imagine be implemented. In the process, the methods will have various weaknesses exposed, but as long as they are guaranteed by the system, everything will become simple and effective."
After Li Hong finished speaking, he looked at the thoughtful expressions of the crowd, paused for a while, and waited for everyone to digest it and continued: "So, this is what I mean by the system."
Li Hong walked to the writing board again, pointed to the water levels from low to high below the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, and said, "Yong'an Canal, Longshou Canal, and Qujiang Pond are enough for us to roughly analyze the size of the rain. As the water level changes, we can correspond to which color it is under, and we can also predict the flood in advance and what consequences this rain will have on the people. There is a prerequisite, that is, we need to use the water level line of a certain color as the standard."
"Don't understand? Confused?" Li Hong looked at them and explained, "When the water level is red, the court naturally doesn't need to help the people. As the water level rises, the color above will change accordingly. We use blue as the warning line. For example, when the water level reaches blue, does it mean that the rainfall is too heavy and the people can no longer save themselves? In that case, can we activate the system to rescue the people?"
"We can use rivers to measure rainwater, but what about snowy days? What should we do when it snows heavily?" No matter how much he had already digested, Yu Wenrong couldn't wait to continue to absorb more inspiration and ideas.
"The same goes for snow, or even simpler. A bamboo pole is enough to do the job. There are many counties in the Guanzhong region, and the population radiates from Chang'an and Luoyang. We just need to set up a bamboo pole on the open space. As the snowfall increases, the bamboo pole will be submerged. Isn't this a very clear reminder?" Li Hong said with a blink of his eyes.
Everyone suddenly realized what had happened, and the classroom was immediately in an uproar as everyone started talking about it, with varying opinions.
After a long time, the noise of discussion gradually subsided, and many students' faces were filled with excitement.
At this moment, a student who was about fifteen or sixteen years old stood up and asked solemnly: "Your Highness, I have a question for you."
"explain."
"Everything you said needs to be based on the system you just mentioned. After much thought, even if we can measure the size of the rain and take precautions according to the warning line, if the court does not have this system, aren't we just talking about war on paper like Zhao Kuo?"
Liang Xiaoren's question was very sharp and directly pointed out the most important link, which is who will push it forward. If the court does not push it forward, all these will be of no help.
The whole school was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Li Hong's face did not show the anger that the students feared. Instead, he gave Liang Xiaoren a thumbs up to show his approval. Then he paced back and forth in the middle of the school and said slowly, "The system is one thing. The time required for the court to establish a system is not like ours. It is enough to implement it after just a discussion. Are you sure that your ideas have matured after the discussion just now?"
Yuwen Rong stood up and said, "Your Highness, if the system you mentioned can be established, our brief discussion just now will be enough to deal with the annual famine, so that the people will no longer be forced to leave their homes and become displaced because of famine."
Li Hong walked up to Yuwen Rong, a sly smile gradually emerged on the corner of his mouth. This smile was too familiar. Whether it was Yuwen Rong, Wang Bo, Yang Jiong, or Liang Xiaoren just now, they all felt a chill down their spines at the same time. Could it be that they had missed something?
"I have always warned you that the height determines the comprehensiveness of your view of the problem, and the angle determines the correctness of your implementation method. Unfortunately, you still have not reached my standard. In one year, you will leave Chongwenguan. You are the first group of students to enter Chongwenguan. If you are at this level, the face of the Eastern Palace will be lost. No matter who of you, after leaving Chongwenguan, you prepare for the imperial examination of the court, or choose the position I offer you, no, I will not want you because you do not meet the requirements." Li Hong's smirk became even wider, and he walked to Shangguan Yi again.
Shangguan Yi was also confused. These students had already considered everything very carefully, so why was the prince still not satisfied?
"May I ask Your Majesty, I feel that they have taken all considerations into account, why are you still not satisfied?" Shangguan Yi did not ask as a gentleman at this moment, but as a minister.
This obviously shows that he was also very concerned about how the people could survive the famine, so he asked as a minister.
"A small bamboo pole and a curved river can let you see the size of floods and snowstorms, but do you really think that a natural disaster is just the people's lack of food and clothing and displacement? Rain and snow block the roads, how do you deliver these to the people? How do you ensure that the people have enough money to spend after receiving the food and clothing you send? There will be plagues after a disaster. Have you considered these? Where will the disaster relief personnel come from? Where will all the food and clothing come from? What will happen to the people who are homeless? When floods and snowstorms are beyond human control, how will the people be resettled? What about children, women, the elderly, and those with mobility problems?"
Li Hong scanned everyone and continued slowly, "No matter what kind of natural disaster it is, if we want to fight it with human power, what we have to do is like dealing with a severe war, which is sometimes even more time-consuming and labor-intensive than a war, with more casualties! This is by no means a matter of food and clothing alone, there are still many problems that need to be solved. But thank you very much for this hypothesis, Yuwen Rong. I have decided, Mr. Shangguan, to treat this as the topic for this month. If I can't come up with a feasible plan after a month, I will stand outside Jiafu Gate for two hours with a sign that says 'I am a fool' on my back."
Seeing the silence below, which was obviously willing to accept this new topic, Li Hong's smirk gradually disappeared, and he said again: "We are not afraid of problems, but we are afraid that we can't find out where the problems are. Some of you are good at poetry, some are specialized in pharmacology, and some are like Yuwen Rong and Liang Xiaoren, who have been staring at the Daming Palace under construction with shining eyes. But are you sure you can handle it on your own? The Daming Palace gives you two a wall. With the knowledge you have learned now, I don't think you can stand safely under that wall."
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