Seventy-one Emergency Plan (Part 1)

  After staying in Zijiazhuang for a day, Suning also thought about many things, holding the divine machine to check some questions that made him feel puzzled, and went on some professional websites. Suning finally had a general understanding of the emergency plan and had some ideas about specific measures. However, the current situation faced by Datang and later China is different, and the situation faced by Datang is much more difficult.

  All devices are in a nearly primitive stage, the great chaos of hundreds of years destroyed the crystallization of the wisdom of the Han nationality hundreds of years ago, and the construction technology and ideas of Zhengguo Canal and Dujiangyan have nowhere to be found. The high-tech of Qin and Han dynasties has been buried in the dust of history, and it is unknown how to excavate...

  Su Ning didn't systematically learn about water conservancy, and his greatest advantage for the Tang Dynasty was his thousand-year-old ideas and knowledge. As for manual skills, he wouldn't be more skilled than a craftsman. What he could do was find professional talents, tell them his ideas, and let the craftsmen combine Su Ning's ideas with their own expertise to create technologies that didn't belong to this era. Meanwhile, he would act as a mentor, supervising everything in progress at all times.

  In the end, perhaps the Great Tang had mastered many technologies that transcended its time, but Su Ning still knew nothing, yet he was the creator of everything, the ancestor of all things, and it was all so wonderfully strange...

  But what is most valuable about a person is his thoughts. If his thoughts are open enough, nothing is impossible. Thoughts are the true soul of humanity.

  After thinking for a long time, Su Ning felt that he should still tell Li Er about this matter. After all, being prepared for danger is correct and preventing disasters before they happen is necessary. The Tang Dynasty needs enough capable officials and enough emergency rescue personnel. Su Ning thought that emergency reserve materials were also very important. Almost every mature modern country prepares such emergency material reserves warehouses in various places. Once a disaster occurs, the warehouse will be opened immediately to provide relief, striving for the time when the central government's relief supplies arrive.

  No matter whether such materials can be prepared in full, the operation of the system is always to be established. Once the system is established, there is no need to worry about other things. Just like the establishment of the system of the Grand Council's review and approval of imperial edicts, the system of the Supervising Censors will naturally come into play, and Emperor Li's imperial power will inevitably be restricted in a logical manner. If the Grand Council members, especially the Supervising Censors, do not sign off on an imperial edict, it will have no effect and will need to be resubmitted. Even if Emperor Li tries to intimidate them with his presence, he will still be powerless against a stubborn Supervising Censor.

  Kill? Replace? Unless you want to be scolded by the historian in the history book, any emperor with reason will choose to vent his anger and leave, admit defeat. If he really can't swallow this breath, wait for this period of time to pass, everyone has forgotten about this matter, find an excuse to exempt this person from punishment, of course, it still needs to be reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel...

  So once the system is established, it is also allowed by law. The so-called feudal era when imperial power overrides the law is actually inaccurate. For example, Emperor Li Er would be restricted by law. Although this era did not last long and was marred by various events, nonetheless, it truly existed in 7th century China and reappeared countless times afterwards, shining brightly in the annals of history.

  Suning is going for this, and once the emergency plan system is established, it will only be beneficial to Datang, with no drawbacks. This is a systematic aspect; however, in an environment governed by human factors, corrupt officials will inevitably emerge, even under the rule of law. Therefore, the emergency material reserve system accompanying the emergency plan system will also become a high-risk point for corruption.

  But in any case, emergency supplies are absolutely not allowed to contain a single drop of water, because they are used to save lives; but it is precisely because of the importance of these materials that they will not be used normally, and no one knows when the next disaster will occur, so corruption can happen at any time.

  On the way back to Chang'an, Su Ning even wanted to suggest to Emperor Li that a anti-corruption agency be established to combat this kind of corruption. However, considering the reality of the imperial court, who could guarantee that an anti-corruption agency in this era wouldn't become a "corruption headquarters"? Moreover, in a society ruled by people rather than law, without the authority of the law to protect them, who could guarantee the safety of those upright officials in the anti-corruption agency who had touched the interests of the privileged class? Didn't something similar happen in Hong Kong too?

  When corruption becomes an unwritten rule in society, the law does not blame the masses, and it has become a truth.

  Past experience serves as a lesson for the future. In this era, there are many people who can serve as officials of the Control Yuan, such as Wei Zheng, Kong Yingda, Ma Zhou, and Wang Xuance. Each one of them is an upright official who dares to offend the emperor, challenge imperial authority, and protect the truth in their hearts. Especially Ma Zhou, this unusual person, dared to question the feudal hereditary system, which is the greatest reliance of the feudal system. If the feudal hereditary system were abolished, wouldn't imperial power also be threatened?

  Of course, Ma Zhou would not know of a political system called constitutional monarchy...

  Suning can be expected that in the era without absolute authority of law, the ICAC can shine for a while, but ultimately become a vase and disappear in the long river of history...

  When I arrived in Chang'an, it was already afternoon. The officials of the Great Tang Dynasty generally only worked half a day, and most officials worked in the morning and rested in the afternoon. Every ten days, they could take a day off, which is considered relatively relaxed. If they worked in the morning, they could spend the afternoon with two or three good friends going to Chongning Fang to drink flower wine and talk about life ideals with the courtesans; at this time, except for the necessary duty officials, the government offices were mostly empty.

  In addition, the time from noon to afternoon is when the two cities of Dong and Xi are open for business, so the Chang'an in the afternoon seems particularly lively. However, correspondingly, the Imperial City inside will be a bit deserted, but that's okay, it's also what Su Ning likes.

  The children of high-ranking officials and aristocrats who studied at the Hongwen Academy had special waist plaques that allowed them to enter and exit the imperial palace freely, with the exception of the inner palace. Although Su Ning was neither a child of a high-ranking official nor an aristocrat, he could still enter and exit the imperial city freely thanks to this plaque. This created an opportunity for him to request an audience with Emperor Li at any time. It was also his first time entering the palace alone to find Emperor Li; previously, there had been a eunuch to guide him, but this time, not even a ghost was present. The guards at the Zhuque Gate let him pass after seeing his waist plaque, but did not tell him which way to go...

  Suning is a road idiot, a real road idiot. Where does he know the way? Just now, he got lost and accidentally bumped into Chun'er Xiao Luoli, oh, princess, almost causing a big deal. So this time Suning was very cautious, trying to avoid another encounter with the tragic princes and nobles. He went around looking for someone, finally finding an eunuch. Just as he wanted to talk to him, the dead eunuch saw Suning bow his head and ran away, as if he had seen something terrifying. Suning was both furious and baffled...

  It wasn't easy to meet an officer on duty, so Su Ning hurriedly went up to chat with him, asked about the route, and also mentioned the eunuch's matter just now. Who knew that the officer on duty burst out laughing and said that he wouldn't run away if it was strange. Eunuchs are not allowed to talk casually with external officials unless they have obtained the emperor's consent, otherwise, there is a possibility of being beaten to death...

  Okay, in the early Tang Dynasty, there was no possibility of eunuchs dominating politics. How could an emperor like Li II accept the phenomenon of eunuchs dominating politics? As for Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he became more and more romantic as he ruled, and Gao Lishi was not a power-hungry person either. He was loyal to Emperor Xuanzong. When Emperor Suzong of Tang and Li Fuguo were in trouble with Emperor Xuanzong, they did their best to protect him. After being demoted and learning of Emperor Xuanzong's death, he cried blood and died. It's just that his followers went too far.

  Arriving at the door of Li's study where he usually handled government affairs, Suning took out his waist card and handed it to the palace guard who came forward to ask questions, explaining his intention. The guard looked at Suning with some surprise, then went in to report, and after a while, the guard came out, returned the waist card to Suning, and told him that Li had allowed him to enter.

  Su Ning adjusted his clothes and appearance, and stepped into the most luxurious study in the Great Tang Dynasty, which belonged to Li Er. It turns out that being an official in the Great Tang also has a requirement for being presentable. To put it bluntly, if you're ugly, don't even think about it - they judge people by their looks. If someone like Pang Tong were to appear, even Liu Bei's eagerness to recruit talented individuals would have to be reconsidered. How much more so in today's Great Tang, where talent abounds? Being handsome and capable is just too much; it's simply not fair to others!

  Li the Second's study was not that luxurious, a bronze tripod emitted a faint smoke, emitting a faint fragrance, Li the Second sat cross-legged on the soft couch writing something, and his personal eunuch Wang De stood motionless beside him.

  Suning stepped forward and bowed: "Your subject Suning pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

  Emperor Li did not raise his head and said, "Didn't you ask for a three-day leave from Gong Ai due to a cold? If you have a cold, you should rest at home. What are you doing coming to the palace looking for me?"

  Su Ning said: "Actually, I didn't take leave because of a cold, but to make some more great achievements for the Tang Dynasty. I went to my fief in San Yuan County to inspect it for a day and then rushed back. I also plan to buy 200 fine oxen from the court."

  Li Er's hand paused in writing, and he looked up at Su Ning with a surprised expression: "Two hundred heads of fine cattle? What are you going to do? If you were buying horses, I could still think that you're planning to rebel, but buying cows? Two hundred heads of fine cattle, do you know how much silk money that would cost? What do you want so many cows for? Don't tell me you're thinking of eating them! You can't eat beef! Although the chicken and mutton brought by Cheng Qian the other day were indeed quite good."

  Su Ning secretly despised Li Er, thinking to himself: "Isn't this blatant extortion?" Poor Li Chengqian had received so much support the day before and was still basking in the glory, so he had neglected the fact that eight or nine out of ten dishes Li Er had brought back to the palace had ended up in Li Er's own mouth! No way, did he think it would be that easy to swindle me? So Su Ning smiled and said: "Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty; however, I was thinking that my six hundred tenant households only have twenty-seven head of oxen, which is really not enough, so I wanted to give them a gift as a token of our meeting."

  Li Er was even more astonished: "Each household is allocated one head of oxen? What are you trying to do?"