Chapter 64: Li Shimin wants to talk?

Zhang Sun Wuji took the lead, and all the officers in the hall also spoke up to persuade them.

But Li Shimin did not speak, nor did he look at them, as if he did not hear what they said.

Upon seeing this, Changsun Wuji winked at the others in the hall and prepared to take everyone away.

In Li Shimin's current situation, he probably needs to be alone and quiet.

Zhang Sun Wuji retreated to the side of the table and was about to leave when he heard Li Shimin suddenly ask, "Where is Yuanji now?"

Changsun Wuji was stunned for a moment, and quickly looked at the four attendants at the end of the hall.

Xingcan, also known as Xingcanjun, is an official of the royal palace and holds an official position of the eighth rank or above.

The four attendants felt Changsun Wuji's gaze, and one of them stepped out and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi has already traveled to Anyang in Xiangzhou, and will arrive here soon."

Li Shimin's expression was expressionless as he ordered, "Send someone to hurry him here as soon as possible."

Xing Can hurriedly said, “Yes!”

Changsun Wuji and others looked at each other.

They thought that Li Shimin probably wanted to talk to Li Yuanji, as he still could not accept the fact that Li Yuanji had burned down the granary in Luoyang.

…

Xiangzhou, Anyang, Anyang Post Station.

Li Yuanji was sitting on a chair in the big house of the post station, and he and Qu Tutong, who was sitting below him, were staring at each other.

Just half an hour ago, Qu Tutong, accompanied by three followers, rode fast horses and rushed over from the direction of Luoyang.

Qu Tutong had been traveling day and night, and he looked much more listless, with bloodshot eyes. When he saw Li Yuanji, he stumbled off his horse, rushed to Li Yuanji and asked.

"How could Your Highness have the heart to do this?"

Seeing Qu Tutong on the verge of madness, Li Yuanji realized that he seemed to have gone a little too far, but he did not regret it.

In order to prevent Qu Tutong from dying of torture, Li Yuanji had to tell him the truth.

Nominally, there were 300,000 dan of grain stored in the Luoyang granary, but in reality, there were no 300,000 dan of grain in the Luoyang granary at all.

More of the bran, and more of the husk.

As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows.

After being stolen by Li Shimin once, he realized that the granary in Luoyang was not safe. In order to prevent the grain from being stolen again, he secretly stored the grain in three places.

People in Luoyang City saw cartloads of grain being transported into the Luoyang granary, but at night, the grain would be quietly transported out of the Luoyang granary and delivered to three other grain storage locations.

The reason why they set up defenses in the Luoyang granary with great fanfare was to confuse the enemy .

As long as everyone thinks that he cares about the Luoyang granary and that the grain is still in the Luoyang granary, no one will pay attention to the other three grain storage places.

Therefore, there was not much grain in the Luoyang granary. There was only some grain for daily consumption by the soldiers of the Left One and Left Two Military Commands of the Prince of Qi's Palace, as well as the grain he left for Li Sixing to use to help the refugees.

The rest was mostly bran, husks and other things used as horse feed.

When he ordered Li Sixing to burn the granary, he had privately ordered Yuwen Bao to secretly transport the little grain and horse feed in the Luoyang granary out of the Luoyang granary, and asked Yuwen Bao to fill the granary with bags filled with broken wheat straw and corn stalks.

So what Li Sixing burned were just some broken wheat straw and broken corn straw.

In order to make it more realistic, he also specifically instructed Yuwen Bao to take people to risk their lives to snatch a few bags of grain when Li Sixing burned the granary.

With a few bags of grain as evidence, other people would not doubt anything after being stimulated.

He wanted Yuwen Bao to arrange all these things, so he asked Li Sixing to burn the Luoyang granary three days later.

Otherwise, there would be no need for him to let Li Sixing wait for three more days.

He only told Li Sixing half of this matter. He told Li Sixing that he would transport 250,000 shi of grain from the Luoyang granary and leave 50,000 shi to be burned.

The reason for doing this was to allow Li Sixing to execute his orders, and also to allow Li Sixing to truly express the pain of having the food burned.

If Li Sixing were really asked to burn down a granary containing 300,000 shi of grain, he would definitely not be willing to do it.

Li Sixing is not only his man, but also Li Yuan's man.

If he didn't tell Li Sixing some useful information, Li Sixing would definitely dare to disobey orders on the spot.

He told Qu Tutong the truth about the burning of the Luoyang granary. Qu Tutong became like a wooden man, sitting there without saying a word, only glancing at him from time to time.

"Has General Qu Tu seen enough?"

Li Yuanji felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Qu Tutong and couldn't help but speak.

Qu Tutong was not pretending to be dumb, and said with a complicated expression: "Your Highness, please don't scare people like this in the future. It will scare people to death."

Li Yuanji sighed, "Some people keep coveting my grain. I have to teach them a lesson, don't I? Otherwise, my granary will become their granary, and they can take as much grain as they want.

What have I become?"

Qu Tutong hesitated for a moment and said, "But your highness's farce is a bit too big..."

Li Yuanji said bluntly, "If it's not big enough, how can it scare people?"

Qu Tutong said with a bitter face: "That's not to scare people, that's to scare people to death. Feng Li, who was under the Crown Prince's command, was almost beaten to death by us, and Yuwen Shiji was almost scared to jump off the gate tower of Luoyang City."

Li Yuanji was stunned and chuckled.

Feng Li was almost beaten to death, he believed it.

But Yuwen Shiji almost jumped off the city gate tower because he didn't believe it.

If Yuwen Shiji was really so stubborn, he would not have become Li Tang's son-in-law.

"You need to keep this matter a secret for me, and you must not tell my second brother about it."

Li Yuanji instructed.

Qu Tutong looked hesitant.

He was Li Shimin's man. Seeing Li Shimin worried, he was unable to help share his worries, which went against his duty as a minister.

Li Yuanji stared at Qu Tutong and said earnestly, "As you traveled from Weizhou to Hebei, did you see the people living in a worse situation than the refugees who fled to Luoyang?"

Qu Tutong nodded without hesitation.

The refugees who escaped from Hebei were already miserable, and those who did not escape would be even more miserable.

Li Shimin had already gathered the food and fodder needed for the army early on, and also received some help from Li Yuanji, so after entering Hebei, he distributed a lot of food to help the people of Hebei.

Under such circumstances , the people of Hebei seem to be even more miserable than the refugees who escaped, which shows how miserable the people of Hebei are.

Exchanging one's own children for food is no longer a phrase in books. People who have frozen to death or starved to death can be seen on the roadside and on the streets from time to time.

Most of the people who are still alive have a look of numbness on their faces, and their eyes are white when they look at people.

The eyes do not move or blink, so the whites of the eyes appear particularly prominent.

"Since you are aware of the tragedy in Hebei, you should understand how important the food is to the people of Hebei."

Li Yuanji said solemnly.

Qu Tutong pondered and said, "What does this have to do with whether or not to tell His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin? After being frightened by you, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin probably doesn't dare to think about the food in your hands."

Li Yuanji glanced at Qu Tutong and said, "While Li Yi was resisting the Turks, he led the army to conquer Ding, Luan, Lian and other four states. Does the court want to reward him?

Youzhou, under Li Yi's rule, is now suffering from famine. If the court wants to reward Li Yi, what would be the most appropriate reward?"

Qu Tutong narrowed his eyes slightly.

Without a doubt, it must be food.

What Li Yi needs most now is food.

You can give him gold, silver, jewelry, beautiful women and official titles, but nothing can make him happy by giving him food.

"My second brother has already allocated 30,000 dan of grain to Li Yi. If he knew that the grain in my hands was not destroyed, he would definitely find a way to scrape out some more for Li Yi."

Li Yuanji said seriously.

Giving Li Yi food can make Li Yi feel at ease.

Once Li Yi feels at ease, he can help Li Shimin expand his military achievements.

In the face of military affairs, civil affairs must give way.

Therefore, any surplus food must be provided to Li Yi first.

Li Shimin was frightened by him and might not ask for food directly from him again, but Li Shimin could report it to Li Yuan. Once Li Yuan's imperial edict came down, he would have to give it even if he didn't want to.

But if we give the grain to Li Yi, what will happen to the people of Hebei?

Li Yi still had some stored grain, so he could still hold on. However, the people in Hebei no longer had any food left. If they were not given relief, a large number of people would die immediately.

Qu Tutong thought about it for a while and understood the relationship. He could only sigh and said, "I understand. I will keep my mouth shut."

Li Yuanji nodded in satisfaction and asked, "You have come to Anyang, what about the defense of Luoyang?"

Qu Tutong immediately said: "I have handed over the defense of Luoyang to Yuwen Shiji."

Qu Tutong was the undisputed second-in-command under Li Shimin. When Li Shimin was not present, he was the leader of the Qin Palace.

He temporarily transferred the defense of Luoyang to Yuwen Shiji, who had no choice but to take over.

As for whether Yuwen Shiji can defend Luoyang, there is no need to worry.

Yuwen Shiji was also proficient in military affairs and was more than capable of guarding Luoyang.

"If you do this, you will inevitably be scolded by my second brother."

Li Yuanji smiled and sighed.

In Li Shimin's mind, Yuwen Shiji was not a good person. Qu Tutong handed over such an important place as Luoyang to Yuwen Shiji, so Li Shimin must have scolded him.

Qu Tutong glanced at Li Yuanji, not knowing what to say.

The reason why he did this was because of Li Yuanji.

"Then you will accompany me to the front of the battle."

Li Yuanji invited with a smile.

Qu Tutong did not refuse either.

Since the defense of Luoyang has been handed over, he doesn't mind taking a walk in front of the battlefield.

As he gets older, he has fewer opportunities to go to the battlefield.

Take a trip if you can.

Otherwise you won’t be able to leave even if you want to.

Li Yuanji ordered people to arrange for Qu Tutong to have a good meal and then arranged for Qu Tutong to go to bed.

The next morning, the two men, along with the people from Prince Qi's mansion, rushed to Mingzhou.

With Qu Tutong around, Li Yuanji became a hands-off boss.