After signing the memorandum of understanding, Yang Yuanqing personally took Xiao Lilan out of Ziwei Pavilion and asked him with a smile: "After the mission is over, doesn't Xiao Xiangguo consider some personal matters? For example, meet the Queen Mother."

Xiao Li was the brother of Empress Dowager Xiao. Although it was just a small task to meet his biological sister, he still shook his head, "What can we say when we meet? In the troubled times of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, peace is a great blessing. Everyone cherishes it! Your Highness, please stay."

He glanced at Yuwen Shiji again. Yuwen Shiji was now about a foot away from him. He was walking slowly, obviously not wanting to go back with him.

Xiao Li disliked Yuwen Shiji very much. First of all, Yuwen Shiji was Yuwenshu's son, and Yuwenshu was Xiao Li's political enemy. The two of them had always been sworn enemies. Naturally, Xiao Li didn't like Yuwenshu's son.

Secondly, Xiao Li is the uncle of Princess Nanyang. He cannot tolerate Yuwen's brother regicide and hates the whole family. He also has no good feelings toward Yuwen and Shiji.

But in front of Yang Yuanqing, Xiao Jing needed to protect the face of the Tang Dynasty and did not want outsiders to see the internal strife among Tang officials.

"Yuwen Yushi, are you going back with me, or are you going back to the posthouse by yourself?"

Yu Wenshi was worried that he had no excuse to stay. Xiao Li obviously gave him a step up. He quickly said, "Xiangguo will go first. I have some personal matters and will come back later..."

Xiao Li couldn't help but snorted, his eyes filled with dissatisfaction with Yuwen Shiji. Did he, Xiao Li, really not want to see his sister?

But his current identity is to represent the Tang Dynasty, and he is the envoy of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. If he talks about private matters in Jinyang Palace, if word spreads about it, it will make the world laugh. How can he explain it to the Holy Emperor?

This Yuwen Shiji is so confused that he has even forgotten the basic ways of being an official. When he returns home, he will make a good complaint to the Holy One, and simply let him explain to the Holy One!

Xiao Li ignored him and turned around and walked away. In fact, Yu Wenshiji also knew that it was inappropriate for him to stay, as it would make people think that he was having an affair with the Sui Dynasty, but...

When he thought of his wife and children, he couldn't care about anything else. Yu Wenshiji looked at Xiao Li's back and couldn't help but sigh lowly.

Yang Yuanqing was standing next to him. Seeing his lost look, he smiled and patted his shoulder, "Do you really want to see me?"

Yuwen Shiji nodded silently, even if Li Yuan said that he collaborated with the enemy, he would never regret it.

Yang Yuanqing is also a husband and a father. He can understand the pain of Yuwen Shiji. Last time he spoke to him in the Central Plains and asked him to use the opportunity of negotiation to meet his wife and children. Unexpectedly, he actually came out of sympathy.

Yang Yuanqing also decided to help him.

He turned around and waved, called a guard forward, and ordered him: "Take Yuwen Shijun to the inner palace, tell the Queen Mother that it is my wish, and ask her to arrange a meeting between Princess Nanyang and Yuwen Shijun.

"

The guard took the order and said to Yuwen Shiji: "Your Majesty, please come with me!"

Yuwen Shiji was moved in his heart and bowed deeply to Yang Yuanqing, "Shiji will always remember the kindness of the King of Chu."

After saying that, Yu Wenshiji took a deep breath and turned around to follow the guards towards the inner palace. He kept watching Yu Wenshiji go away before Yang Yuanqing returned to his official room.

When he returned to the official room, Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu had been waiting for him for a long time. "You can sit wherever you like!"

After negotiating and signing the contract, Yang Yuanqing was busy for more than an hour. He was also a little tired. He sat down at his seat and took the tea cup, but found that the tea was actually scalding hot. He smiled and nodded at the two of them.

Cui Junche smiled and said: "I am not so careful. Du Xiangguo asked the tea boy to change the tea for His Highness."

Du Ruhui also smiled slightly and said: "His Highness fought hard with the Tang envoys for the food of the Sui Dynasty, so it is appropriate to give His Highness a cup of tea."

Yang Yuanqing gently sucked the hot tea, and a warmth flowed into his chest and abdomen along with the tea. He felt very comfortable. He put down the tea cup and then said to the two of them: "It's not easy! Five hundred thousand shi of grain was obtained, half of the Tang Dynasty's

Their family fortune has been emptied by us, as well as the Dugu family's 300,000 shi of food. They are going to give it to us in three years. This year, we will give 100,000 shi first to this cunning family."

Yang Yuanqing couldn't help but scolded the Dugu family. Dugu Zhen changed the promised 300,000 shi of grain to three years of payment on the pretext that he was afraid that Li Yuan would know that the Dugu family had connections with the Sui Dynasty.

Although fearing that Li Yuan would find out was a reason, Yang Yuanqing knew that the real reason was that the Dugu family was swinging between two sides, neither willing to fully bet on the Tang Dynasty, nor willing to put all their money on the Sui Dynasty, and always had reservations.

Although Yang Yuanqing was dissatisfied with the Dugu family, Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu did not take the Dugu family seriously. They looked at each other and just nodded silently.

Yang Yuanqing couldn't see the joy in their eyes, and couldn't help but be startled, "Why, isn't it enough?"

Du Ruhui smiled bitterly, "I should say barely enough."

Yang Yuanqing frowned slightly, "What does barely enough mean? Add in the food from the Tang Dynasty and the Dugu family, how much food do we have now?"

Du Ruhui said: "The Tang Dynasty and the Dugu family have about 600,000 shi of grain. Including the official warehouse grain, we have a total of 1 million shi of grain. It is indeed enough to deal with the hungry people in the Central Plains and Hebei, but if something unexpected happens

, I’m afraid I’m still a little nervous.”

Yang Yuanqing knew Du Ruhui well. If he wasn't sure, he wouldn't say anything unexpected. There must be something bad going on.

"What happened?"

Du Ruhui sighed slightly, "Your Highness, let me tell you straight away. This year may be a disaster year. There is a severe drought in the entire north. From Qingzhou to Guanzhong, no one is spared."

After Du Ruhui said this, Yang Yuanqing suddenly realized that it seemed that from June to now, it had not rained much and it had been very hot. However, he did not associate agriculture with consumption.

Du Ruhui added: "Originally we wanted to buy the surplus grain from the farmers at a high price, but it was very unsuccessful. The farmers said that the harvest would be poor this autumn, so they refused to sell the grain. Alas! In fact, I should have thought that the summer harvest is a small year, and the autumn harvest will

It won’t be too good either.”

"Didn't you say it was enough at the beginning? Why is it not enough now? How much food is still missing?"

Yang Yuanqing became a little anxious. Du Ruhui once told him that as long as he added five to six hundred thousand shi of grain, he could cope with it until next summer. The negotiations with the Tang Dynasty had just ended. Now Du Ruhui said that it was not enough, which really made Yang Yuanqing a little dissatisfied.

Du Ruhui sensed the dissatisfaction in Yang Yuanqing's tone, and quickly stood up to plead guilty, "Reporting to Your Highness, I did not think carefully about my humble position, please punish me!"

Yang Yuanqing felt helpless. What was the use of punishing Du Ruhui now? He had no choice but to wave his hands and said: "Forget it, Du Xiangguo, tell me clearly. Where did you fail to consider it thoroughly?"

Du Ruhui sighed and said: "Beizhi had already realized that the autumn harvest would not be good, so based on the estimates during the disaster year, if we only dealt with Hebei and the Central Plains, one million shi of grain could barely support it, but Beizhong did not consider Qingzhou.

The impact of hungry people in the seven counties. I heard that there has been no rain for three months and the drought is the most serious. In addition, the armies of Dou Jiande, Song Jingang and Liu Heita have been fighting for several months, which has a great impact on agriculture. The summer harvest has been seriously affected.

If there is another bad harvest in the autumn, the tide of hungry people will inevitably explode. Your Highness, we must prepare for a rainy day!"

Yang Yuanqing only felt that his head was as big as a bucket. Five years after the great cause, various places in the Sui Dynasty had 12 million shi of grain reserves, which still led to the final destruction of the Sui Dynasty.

But now they only have one million stones of food in hand, but they have to deal with Hebei and the Central Plains, which are riddled with holes, and they encounter another disaster year. Can they cope with it?

Yang Yuanqing had no idea at all, so he said to Du Ruhui: "Prime Minister, write a detailed report! I will give you ten days to make a good estimate and take into account all possibilities. I need to know how much we are still short of."

food?"

Du Ruhui bowed and retreated. Yang Yuanqing glanced at Cui Junsu and saw his serious face. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Does Cui Xiangguo have any problems?"

Cui Junsu bowed slightly and said: "It's not a problem, it's a potential crisis! I want to talk to His Highness about the Turks."

…

The official room finally became quiet, and only Yang Yuanqing was left. Yang Yuanqing stood in front of the window with his hands behind his hands, staring at the sunset in the distance. The sunset shone in front of the window, coating Ziwei Pavilion with a layer of magnificent purple.

In the past, Yang Yuanqing would have appreciated the beautiful sunset, but at this moment, he felt that the sunset was particularly dazzling and bright, which meant that the weather would be sunny for the next few days.

At this time, he was extremely looking forward to rain and drought. These two words, heavier than a lead weight, were weighing heavily on his heart. He had never worried about drought since he was a child, but now, Yang Yuanqing wanted to worry about drought.

Considering the whole world, drought will be a hurdle that he cannot get around.

In the final analysis, it is still a matter of food. One stone of rice is only one hundred and twenty kilograms, which is enough for a family to eat for two months. If you save a little, you can last for three months.

There are about three million households under his jurisdiction now. Even if 20% of the people need relief, that is still 600,000 households. If the relief is calculated based on half a year, it will require 1.2 million dan of food. But if we consider

If a wave of hungry people broke out in Qingzhou, they would need at least 1.5 million dan of food, and the shortfall would be about 500,000 dan.

The only way is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. Simply reducing expenditure is not enough. We must find ways to increase revenue. But where can he find these five hundred thousand shi of food?

Yang Yuanqing was so worried about food that he couldn't even open his eyebrows.

…

Yu Wenshiji and his wife, Princess Nanyang, sat face to face. Because Yang Yuanqing spoke, Empress Xiao put tremendous pressure on her daughter, forcing her to come to see Yu Wenshiji.

Princess Nanyang had no choice but to meet her husband of the 10th, who was now her enemy. She said nothing. Their relationship had long been severed and there was nothing to talk about.

Princess Nanyang wore a curtain hat so that Yuwen Shiji could not see her face. The two sat facing each other for a quarter of an hour. Yuwen Shiji finally broke the silence and asked: "Where is the Zen Master? Why don't you see him?"

Princess Nanyang said coldly: "He is studying at Guozixue. You can visit him. If he is willing to follow you, you can also take him to Chang'an. I will not stop him."

Yuwen Shiji's eyes suddenly turned red. He stood up and knelt down in front of Princess Nanyang. Tears welled up in his eyes, "We have been husband and wife for hundreds of days. We have been husband and wife for more than ten years. Don't you remember any kindness at all?"

?”

Princess Nanyang shook her head slowly, "I am not a merciless person, but the death of my father has made it impossible for us to reunite. On one side is the love between husband and wife, and on the other side is the family relationship between father and daughter. I have no choice. I can only choose to escape."

Princess Nanyang's tears also welled up. She took off her curtain hat. Yu Wenshiji was immediately shocked. She saw that her wife Princess Nanyang's head had no hair left. The top of her head was bare. Princess Nanyang sighed.

, "I have converted to Buddhism, my name is Wangchen, my benefactor is Yuwen, take care!"

She whispered "Amitabha!" and turned around to leave the hall. Yu Wenshiji felt that his eyes had become extremely dark and he could no longer see the future. His heart seemed to have been pierced by thousands of sharp arrows.

Looking at his wife's back, he shouted in a tearful voice: "Aluo!"
Chapter completed!