Chapter 585: Persuasion
There will be no court meeting today.
At lunch time, the palace people brought food to the emperor.
Sima Chi didn't pay attention at first. After taking a casual look, his eyes suddenly widened.
What about white porridge? I said I wanted to eat plain porridge today, but why isn’t it available?
Where’s the wine? Not even a single one?
Where’s the meat? What about cheese?
Sima Chi suddenly became angry and scolded: "Where is the Taiguan? Where is the Taiguan? Call the Taiguan here quickly."
The Taiguan is an official subordinate to Guanglu Xun, in charge of Diet in the palace.
The palace people left in a hurry, but they did not go to the eunuch, but to the queen first.
After a while, Queen Liang Lanbi rushed over with the eunuch and his staff.
"Your Majesty, don't blame me!" The eunuch called Qu as soon as he arrived: "The young man didn't send rice and wine, and I can't do anything."
Sima Chi was stunned. , asked: "I just had white porridge seven days ago, why is it gone?"
The Taiguan glanced at him and said cautiously: "The Shaofu did have rice before, but it was given by Chen Gongjin. "I harvested two thousand dendrobium last year and have eaten all the new rice this year..."
Sima Chi didn't give up and asked, "Nothing left?"
" There are still hundreds of dendrobiums, but your Majesty has been giving gifts to his officials a few days ago, and now there is not a single one left,” the eunuch said.
“Let the young master go and get it!” Sima Chi was furious.
The Taiguan looked at Empress Liang with a troubled expression.
Liang Lanbi wanted to step forward to comfort him, but his heart trembled. He did not dare to approach the emperor, so he could only say: "Your Majesty, the rice eaten in the palace is sent from Xincheng and Luhun counties. However, a few years ago After the severe drought, the two counties no longer supplied rice. In the past two years, they only received rice from Guangcheng, and it was always supplied by Chen Gong. Asked subconsciously.
Liang Lanbi quickly shook his head and said: "I and Mrs. Yu are close friends. Your Majesty is working hard at the desk. I see it in my eyes and feel anxious in my heart, so I can only-"
"Shut up!" Sima Chi responded He came over and became even more angry, with an unnatural flush on his face. He asked, "Have you been bribed by Shao Xun? Do you feel that I have lost power? No wonder! No wonder!" "
Sima Chi stood up suddenly, like a trapped animal, walking around in the hall, and couldn't help but sneer: "No wonder Liang Fen gave up to Nanyang so easily, I thought he was outnumbered and unable to resist. I had no choice but to give up to Nanyang. I didn’t expect it, haha! Do you think I, Sima, have such a bad character that I can’t wait to find a new master?”
Liang Lanbi looked sad. Painful, couldn't help but wipe away tears.
She is a queen, but she is also a wife. She just wants to do what she can for her husband, but she has been insulted for many years - one thing is that her father Liang Fen also said that in this matter Gotta take the blame.
The official was also stupid.
In this world, there are still others who give themselves to themselves...
As a close minister, his loyalty to the emperor is just that. The previous eunuch disappeared without a trace because of the late emperor's eating of poisonous cakes, and his life and death are unknown. He has learned a lot since then.
Since Jia Nanfeng, the most effective speaker in Luoyang City has never been the emperor.
"Everyone stopped talking?" The emperor was still circling in anger, and kept saying: "What use am I raising you for?"
"We don't have any wine, do we have to ask Shao Xun for it? If this continues, what dignity will I have?"
"Trash, they are all trash! I don't want to see you!"
Outside the room There was a burst of hurried footsteps, and a moment later Shaofu Liu Qiao hurriedly arrived.
"Your Majesty, I will be punished by death." As soon as he came in, Liu Qiao prostrated himself on the ground.
Sima Chi felt disgusted when he saw him like that.
He had high hopes for Liu Qiao before!
When he was young, this man was appreciated by Wang Rong (Wang Yan's cousin) and was ordered to attack Wuchang of Wu State with others. He attacked the city for several months and defeated it. After returning, he was rewarded as the magistrate of Xingyang County.
Twenty-four years ago, he participated in the operation to kill Yang Jun and was granted the title of Marquis of Guanzhong.
Fifteen years ago, he participated in the execution of Jia Nanfeng's party and moved away the regular servants.
Twelve years ago, he worshiped General Weiyuan, led the governor of Yuzhou, went south to put down Zhang Chang's rebellion, and became General Zuo.
After the Battle of Dangyin, Sima Yue fled Xuzhou and gathered tens of thousands of troops with the intention of returning to Luoyang. However, he was blocked by Liu Qiao and was defeated.
At that time, he was a loyal minister known throughout the world.
Unfortunately, he was quickly attacked by Shao Xun who ran hundreds of miles away and was beaten with a stick. After losing his morale, Wang Yan was transferred to serve as the military counselor and wine minister - Wang Yan was Sima Yue's military chief at that time.
After Sima Yue died, many people left the mansion. Liu Qiao did not leave immediately. After working for a while, he finally entered the court, cried bitterly in front of him, and finally won his trust. He was promoted along the way and took up the post of Shaofu.
I didn’t expect that he is also a poor person!
Sima Chi even doubted whether he was Wang Yan's person. After all, he only got the opportunity because of the appreciation and promotion of Wang Yan's brother Wang Rong.
As for Wang Yan, Sima Chi felt a sense of sadness. There were few civil and military officials in the dynasty who could be trusted. "Your Majesty." Liu Qiao raised his head, wiped his tears and said, "I'm not doing my job well. Da Sinong has not sent grain or rice for several months, and the Shaofu's treasury is already extremely empty. In a few days, , Let alone white porridge, we can’t even eat bean porridge.”
According to the system, Dasi Agricultural Administration took charge of the Taicang grain depot, and regularly distributed grains, oils, fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and other agricultural products to the palace for supply to the palace. expense.
As the emperor's great steward, the Shaofu received agricultural products, silks, and local tributes, and also made various utensils and stored them.
The eunuchs under Guang Luxun were responsible for cooking for the emperor, but the raw materials needed to be supplied by the Shaofu.
Liu Qiao said that the Shaofu's inventory has been exhausted. That is the problem of Dongyangmen Taicang. Is the grain depot empty?
Thinking of this, the frustrated Sima Chi suddenly lost his composure and asked in a voice: "Is the warehouse empty?"
"I heard it is almost empty." Liu Qiao replied : "Xuzhou is still fighting, and only Shouchun is transporting grain to Beijing. It can't make ends meet."
"Where is Shao Xun?" Sima Chi asked: "Why don't you ask Shao Xun for grain?"< br>
After saying this, he felt something was wrong and glanced at Queen Liang subconsciously.
The queen's eyes were red and swollen, her eyes were dull, and she didn't know what she was thinking.
Sima Chi quickly turned away and became angry again: "How come it was fine before, but as soon as Shao Xun entered the capital, he immediately ran out of food. What happened?"
"Chen Ye I don’t know why.” Liu Qiao said: “Maybe the Imperial Army was about to go on an expedition, and Pei Kuo, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, ordered a reward of grain and rice for the sergeants. The reward was quickly gone.” We are repaying the rice that we owe to all the officials..."
"It's all my food, how dare they!" Sima Chi almost jumped.
Liu Qiao and Taiguan looked at each other.
If you don’t give rewards to sergeants, how can you drive them to fight? Without a war, Luoyang would never have peace.
If you don’t give money to all the officials, who will work for you? Without the support of the ministers, can one person be emperor?
Queen Liang Lanbi also came to her senses and glanced at Sima Chi worriedly.
Now is not the time to be impulsive. If it really didn't work, she would ask Yu Wenjun for help. But then she thought that this might make the emperor's pride unbearable, and he would talk coldly to her or even beat her, which made her a little scared.
"Your Majesty." Before Shaofu Liu Qiao could speak, the Taiguan said tremblingly: "Mr. Chen is in the west of the city, and the military rations are piled up like a mountain. We may ask him to carry some of them to Taicang, Dongyang Gate."
"I..." Sima Chi was about to refuse, but soon his stomach growled.
It suddenly occurred to him that he had been so angry just now that he hadn't eaten yet!
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the biscuits on the table. Although there were no sesame seeds sprinkled on them, although he found them unappetizing before, now he found that they seemed to be quite delicious.
The eunuch lowered his head and cursed secretly: "I, I, I, chicken and dog! I don't even have to eat, so why not me?"
Liu Qiao took the opportunity to stand up and comforted: "Your Majesty, maybe you can order Chen Gong to disperse military rations and provide relief - well, I am guilty of death and said the wrong thing." Chi is even more embarrassed and annoyed.
Relief? Do you want to help me?
But after all, the situation is stronger than the person. His expression changed for a long time, he took a breath, and asked: "Shao Xun is so obedient?"
"Your Majesty." Liu Qiao said with a low eyebrow. : "Shao Xun came from a military family, a humble slave-like person, vulgar and uncultured. With a little coaxing of this kind of person, he will no longer know the north, south, east, west, and west. Your majesty is wise, I will allow him to play, and I will show my old face again and beg you hard. After a while, we will surely be able to raise enough food and rice to return."
Sima Chi glanced at Liu Qiao doubtfully and said, "Liu Qing, are you following Shao Xun's order..."
"Your Majesty, you are unjust!" Liu Qiao said loudly: "Quan Ziyou was harmed by Shao Xun in the state of Pei. For ten years, I have been thinking about revenge all the time. How can I be used by him?"
Finally, faint sounds of crying could be heard.
Sima Chi was a little moved.
The Taiguan looked at Liu Qiao stupidly and sighed to himself that this might be the gap between them.
When Shao Xun attacked and killed Liu You, he was also ordered by Sima Yue. The culprit was the King of East China Sea. But didn’t Liu Qiao later become Sima Yue’s military counselor? Although he had an extra layer of fig leaf, serving as Wang Yan's deputy, he still worked for Sima Yue after all.
Does he really care about his dead son?
As far as he knows, Liu Qiao's second son Liu Ting is currently working under Lekai, the military chief of the Miobei shogunate - Liu Qiao was born in Anzhong (Cao Cao broke Zhang Xiu's office and has now been merged into Wan County) The Liu family is a noble family in Nanyang.
I learned, I really learned, you can’t lose face when you are an official.
"What request did Shao Xun make?" Sima Chi asked after a long time.
"Shao Xun asked Pei Kuo, the Northern Army's lieutenant general, to be the commander, and he would select the generals to attack Wang Mi of Hongnong." Liu Qiao said.
Sima Chi was silent for a while and said: "I'll give you permission to play this."
"Shao Xun also asked your majesty to come out of the city to work on the troops and boost their morale." Liu Qiao said again.
Sima Chi's face flashed with green energy, a little displeased.
Liang Lanbi glanced at her husband again worriedly. In her opinion, she had agreed to the first thing, so what was there to hesitate about the second?
"Your Majesty." Liu Qiao wiped his tears and advised: "The sergeants are ignorant, but they are also very loyal and simple. If Your Majesty comes to the school in person and allows the soldiers to see the beauty of the sky, it may be able to gain military morale, which will be beneficial to the great cause of Zhongxing."
Sima Chi’s expression changed again.
Yes, he still has a righteous reputation. If the soldiers could see him and cheer loudly, he would gain military morale at his fingertips, which would be much more effective than him secretly wooing the Forbidden Army generals.
Shao Xun is a minister and I am the king. He and his soldiers must bow their heads before me!
(End of this chapter)