Travel to the early Tang Dynasty and become a salted fish

After hesitating for a long time, Li Shimin looked at Fang and Du and asked, "What should we do now, according to what the two beloved ministers said?"

As if he had known for a long time that Li Shimin would throw the blame on him, Du Ruhui said directly:

"Your Majesty, I discussed this before the morning meeting. The top priority now is to find out the source of the rumors and confirm whether they are true or false."

"Besides, winter is coming soon. According to the usual practice in previous years, the deployment of winter storage materials at this time is just a little earlier, which is nothing."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Zhenghui, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who had been sleeping with his head down, immediately jumped out and shouted:

"Du Ruhui, what you said is easy. Prepare winter supplies earlier. However, due to the severe drought in Guanzhong this year, the national treasury has already been unable to make ends meet. Now that the autumn grain has not been harvested, what do you want us to prepare?"

As if he had known that Liu Zhenghui would jump out, Du Ruhui raised his eyebrows slightly and sighed: "Liu Shangshu, it's not that we want to embarrass the household department, but those rumors are actually a little evil."

"It is said that this frost disaster is a rare event in a century. If we do not deal with it in time, the consequences may be more serious than the previous drought."

"The people were displaced due to drought before, and now they have just begun to recuperate. If another frost disaster occurs, it will undoubtedly make the situation worse. How do you expect those people to survive."

"Furthermore, Your Majesty has begun to mobilize troops to prepare for the use of troops against the Turks. Those soldiers outside also need winter supplies. If a frost disaster suddenly comes, how will you ask the soldiers on the front line to fight? How to keep out the cold?"

Liu Zhenghui wanted to refute, but Li Daozong, who was temporarily acting as the Minister of War, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I agree with what Prime Minister Du said. If the soldiers at the front are taken advantage of by the Turks due to supply problems, you will let us sitting in the court. How do people deal with themselves/"

As soon as Li Daozong opened his mouth, the generals in the main hall responded and accused Liu Zhenghui of not considering the soldiers at the front, which was a serious dereliction of duty.

When the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs saw that their immediate superiors were under siege, they all jumped out and began to blame other officials for their inaction, which led to the empty treasury.

For a moment, the entire hall seemed to have turned into a vegetable market. All kinds of obscene words were being said in an endless stream. The ministers rolled up their arms and sleeves, almost starting a fight.

Li Shimin, who was sitting on the dragon throne, looked at the noisy ministers below and clenched his fists.

He could finally see that these ministers were not because of the frost disaster or the problem of winter storage of supplies, but because he had put Li Cheng and Li Cheng in jail for no reason. This was an opportunity to express dissatisfaction with him.

Taking a deep breath, Li Shimin took the tea cup from Wang Dehai's hand and smashed it down with a bang.

The ministers were shocked by this sudden move and fell silent instantly.

Seeing that everyone was quiet, Li Shimin stood up directly, pointed at the courtiers below and said:

"Look at you, you are all my ministers, but now? You are worse than the shrews on the street. Why, are you pretending that I don't exist and are you going to do whatever you want?"

When the ministers saw Li Shimin's anger, they all knelt down and dared not speak.

Looking at the ministers kneeling together, Li Shimin felt a headache.

How could he not know that these people must have colluded long ago to sing a double act here.

After thinking for a while, he said to Wang Dehai on the side: "It is my decree that all the ministers have lost their manners in front of the palace today. I order the Ministry of Rites to send someone to supervise their moral conduct."

"In addition, the Ministry of Household Affairs will suspend all unnecessary expenditures from now on and make every effort to collect winter supplies..."

Before he finished speaking, Liu Zhenghui immediately shouted: "Your Majesty, our Ministry of Revenue has no money now. Even if you drag the old minister to the vegetable market to sell meat, you won't be able to make a few bucks from it."

As soon as Liu Zhenghui opened his mouth, the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs began to cry about poverty.

"How much money can the Ministry of Finance still have to spend now?"

Li Shimin gritted his teeth and looked at Liu Zhenghui and asked.

Liu Zhenghui had already made sufficient preparations and said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue can only use 110 million taels now, but if the use of troops against the Turks is suspended, enough money should be available to collect supplies."

After hearing Liu Zhenghui's words, Li Shimin almost laughed angrily. After all, these people originally wanted to prevent him from using troops against the Turks.

Very good, very good, you all call yourself loyal ministers and my right-hand man.

When I asked Li Jing to train his troops, you did not interfere. When I replaced Li Jing, you did not interfere. When I ordered the army to be assembled, you did not interfere.

Now I want to allocate military supplies, but you have started to use various methods to obstruct it.

Li Shimin now began to wonder whether the frost disaster that was being circulated was deliberately released by these ministers.

Looking at the ministers kneeling on the ground again, Li Shimin threw up his sleeves and left angrily.

Seeing this, Wang Dehai hurriedly shouted: "Retreat!!!"

Then, he immediately left with Li Shimin.

As soon as Li Shimin left, several ministers gathered around Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui.

Liu Zhenghui was the first to speak: "Prime Minister Du Xiang, it seems that your Majesty is determined to use troops against the Turks this time. However, I always feel that the rumors this time are not groundless. We should make preparations in advance."

After listening to Liu Zhenghui's words, Li Daozong snorted disdainfully: "I don't care how your household acts, but I agree with your Majesty's use of troops by the Turks, but I don't agree with Hou Junji commanding the three armies."

"It's just that now His Majesty seems to be unwilling to listen to anyone's words. He insists on going all the way to the dark side. If not, why should we do this and make His Majesty disgusted?"

After Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui looked at each other, Fang Xuanling said: "What we did today is equivalent to forcing the palace. If Your Majesty can understand, we will be safe and sound..."

The second half of the sentence was not spoken, but everyone knew that His Majesty was really angry. I am afraid that no one present today would get a good result.

Du Ruhui sighed and said: "Now that the national treasury is empty, Your Majesty is in a dilemma. If you choose disaster relief supplies, it will definitely slow down the war ahead."

"If all the supplies are transported to the front line, then if a frost disaster really occurs and the people are ignored, Your Majesty will be under pressure from all sides. Your Majesty will also have a hard time making a choice."

Although the ministers all knew that what Du Ruhui said was true, they also understood that the person who made the final decision was their Emperor.

Therefore, the ministers only talked briefly, and no one dared to chase Li Shimin directly to his bedroom to ask him to make a choice as soon as possible.

After Li Shimin returned to the imperial study, he immediately ordered Qian Niuwei to investigate the rumors thoroughly.