Zhenguan Han-in-law

Chapter 463 Small Matters
Chapter 459

Wei Hao and Li Ke were chatting, Chang Sun rushed over and said that it was troublesome.Wei Hao and Li Ke heard it, stood up, and looked at him puzzled, are you in trouble?What's the trouble?This is Chang'an, what troublesome things can't be solved?

"Xicheng, on the outskirts of Xicheng, the locusts stretch for hundreds of miles, covering the sky and the earth, and they can't see the end. Wherever they go, they don't leave a blade of grass!" Changsun cried anxiously,
The harvest season is coming soon. No one would have thought that the locusts came suddenly. The key is fatal. If the grain is eaten by the locusts, the entire Chang'an city and the state capitals to the south will not be easy for anyone. .

"Locusts?" Wei Hao was also shocked when he heard it. As a modern person, he had never seen locust plagues, only heard about them, and saw them in the news. He was also shocked when he heard what he said.

"Report to the court immediately!" Li Ke said in shock, this matter is no longer something their Jingzhao Mansion can solve.

"You go to the report, I'll go and have a look, let's go!" Wei Hao walked out quickly as he spoke, and Chang Sun Chong also followed.
When he got outside, Wei Hao got on his horse and went straight to the western suburbs. After riding for about [-] quarters of an hour, Wei Hao arrived at the place where the locusts were. It was so densely packed that he could not see clearly from a distance. Now those locusts were eating vegetation and food.

"Shao Yin, what should we do!" Changsun Chong said anxiously, and in the distance, there were still a large number of people who were beating locusts, and they were yelling at the same time.

"Come here, pass on my order, post a notice at the gate of the west city, and tell the people in the entire Chang'an city that I, Wei Hao, will collect those locusts, and send them to the west gate, regardless of life or death. That's right, go!" Wei Hao said to a guard beside him.

"Yes!" The guard heard it, turned around and ran quickly to the city gate with his horse.

"Shaoyin, it's Wei Shaoyin!"

"It's Wei Shaoyin!"

"It's Duke Xia!"

"Duke Xia, help me, what should I do now?"

"Duke Xia, think of a way, otherwise, we will run out of food, and it will be harvested in half a month!".
When those people found Wei Hao, they all shouted at Wei Hao. Wei Hao is also very uncomfortable at the moment, the food that is coming soon, has been harmed by these locusts, and this year's busy work has been wasted.

"There is a way. Listen, you can hunt locusts for a penny and a catty. Pack it up and send it to the west gate. Ben Shaoyin will accept it. You guys, ride your horses and send the order. Go immediately, and let the whole Chang'an County The common people in the city know that if they come to capture the imperial city, I won’t believe it, I still can’t finish capturing you!” Wei Hao rode on the horse and said to the guards around him, and the guards heard it and rode their horses one after another Went to inform.

"Can you catch it?" Zhang Sun Chong asked anxiously.

"Then what can we do, watch them eat, eat Chang'an County, and the counties below, when will they be big? They can't catch them all, I don't believe they can't catch them all!" Wei Hao turned his head and looked at Changsun Chong and said ,
Chang Sun Chong is also very big right now, and this happened not long after he took office, so what to do.

Soon, Wei Hao rode back to the west gate of Chang'an City, and then asked the soldiers to start digging a big pit, and at the same time brought lime, and waited for the people to send locusts. On the side of the west gate, a large number of people carried bags He Wang went out, all to catch locusts, one penny per catty, if it was done well that day, it would cost ten pennies, who wouldn't want to earn this money.

In the palace, Li Shimin is also very anxious at the moment, and has already called six meetings.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Civil Affairs is also mobilizing food. Such large-scale locusts are still rare. It will be difficult to eliminate them within a month!" Dai Zhou, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, sat there, also very depressed. ,
In ancient times, when locusts appeared, no one could do anything about them. Most of them just watched those locusts eat them. Of course, they would organize people to hunt them down, but they couldn’t kill them. After all, the population was sparse at that time, but there weren’t that many. People, besides, not everyone will hunt and kill.

"Is there any way for Shenyong to deal with it now?" Li Shimin thought of Wei Hao and asked.

"I don't know yet, Shenyong went to see it, and my son came to report!" Li Ke immediately replied with hands clasped.

"Your Majesty, let the other surrounding state capitals get ready. Those locusts will pass by at any time. It is estimated that such a large-scale imperial city will travel thirty to forty miles a day, or even seventy or eighty miles at the fastest speed. It is necessary to let them Prepare in advance and see if you can disperse those locusts!" Dai Zhou sat there and said.

"Hey, why is there such a thing?" Li Shimin is in a bad mood at the moment. When encountering locusts, there will be more rumors among the common people. There are bad rumors, locusts are disasters, and those rumors are sometimes disasters!
"You six must think of ways to reduce losses as much as possible. No matter what method you use, you must also be prepared for disaster relief. Once those locusts eat a lot of food, you must reduce taxes and distribute food to the people affected by the disaster. What's the matter, let the people have food for the winter!" Li Shimin said to the officials of the Sixth Ministry, they all nodded, and then continued to discuss,

Wei Hao, on the other hand, has been sitting under a big tree on the west side of the city, waiting for the people to send the locusts over.

"My lord, my lord, the common people are crazily catching locusts, and they have been notified. Don't trample on the farmland, don't destroy the seedlings, and catch anything else!" A personal guard rode to Wei Hao's side and shouted loudly.

"Okay, are there many people going?" Wei Hao asked.

"Many, many, old people, children, men and women have all gone, and some people's homes have grabbed several bags!" said the guard, clasping his hands.

"Okay, you go and inform the people that the locusts they caught will be sent over at any time. If the city gate is closed after dark, Ben Shaoyin will also arrange for people to collect the locusts here. You can come here at any time!" Wei Hao faced The guard said, the guard heard it, and rode away on horseback, he was going to inform the people,
In the place where the locusts are located, it is estimated that 5 to [-] people are catching locusts, and they are all rushing to catch them. It is difficult for those locusts to take off on a large scale. up.

"Wei Shaoyin, Wei Shaoyin, what are you doing?" Dai Zhou saw Wei Hao at the foot of the mountain not far from the west city gate, and immediately rode over to ask.

"Wait for the people to come over! Dai Shangshu, what are you going to do?" Wei Hao looked at Dai Zhou and asked.

"Hey, what are you going to do? There is a plague of locusts. As Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, can I not go and see it?" Dai Zhou said with a sigh, then stared at Wei Hao: "Why don't you go and see it?"

"I've finished reading. I'll wait for the common people to come over. It's fine. It will be over in three to five days!" Wei Hao said to Dai Zhou, waving his hands while sitting there.

"What did you say, it will be over in three to five days? How is it possible?" Dai Zhou heard it, looked at Wei Hao in surprise and asked.

"Almost, you can go and have a look. In my territory, locusts still want to take off, what are you kidding!" Wei Hao said with a smile, now there are so many people to catch, one person can catch ten catties a day, Wei Hao Hao didn't believe that he couldn't catch them all, and those common people, many of them could catch more than ten catties!
"You, what are you talking about?" Dai Zhou asked immediately.

"You'll know when you go and have a look. Anyway, on my side, just watch those people digging holes!" Wei Hao said with a smile. thinks he's bragging,

Soon, Dai Zhou rode his horse to the location of the locusts. Before he got there, he saw people everywhere catching the locusts.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Dai Zhou said in shock. Obviously, many people here are not farmers, but people from the city. They don't farm the land at all. Why do they come here to catch locusts?
"Dai Shangshu?" At this moment, Chang Sun Chong, who had been staring at him all this time, rode over after seeing Dai Zhou.

At this moment, he is not as flustered as he was just now, and there is a smile on his face, because he found that it has been two hours since he discovered those locusts. The common people don't know how many have been caught, and they are still rushing to catch them!
"So many people caught?" Dai Zhou was also frightened by so many people, there were people everywhere, grabbing locusts everywhere.

"Well, there are still a lot of people rushing here. It costs a penny and a catty, but the price is unbelievable. It is more expensive than meat. You think those common people will come and catch them. If they are caught, they will be sold for money and meat! "Chang Sun Chong said with a smile.

"It's okay like this?" Dai Zhou looked at the scene in front of him, a little in disbelief.

"It was Xia Guogong's idea. I didn't pay attention at first. Xia Guogong just ordered his guards to post the notice. I didn't expect it to have such an effect. I guess this locust wants to fly over our Chang'an County, right? It's very possible!" Zhang Sun Chong said happily at the moment.

"Well, there is a way, there is really a way, okay!" Dai Zhou is also convinced at the moment, and he is really convinced of Wei Hao's handling of the locust plague. Tens of thousands of people went to catch the locusts.

Then Dai Zhou continued to walk forward, wanting to see those people catching locusts. When he saw those people, some of them just pulled them off the branches with their hands, and some used nets to fish them directly over the plants, and then Put it into the cloth bag, those common people grabbed it vigorously, Dai Zhou wanted to ask them for a question, but couldn't bear to disturb them, so he could only watch.

After a while, Dai Zhou rode back, and when he arrived at Ximen, he saw Wei Hao lying on the armchair, drinking tea, and chatting with the soldiers.

"Shen Yong, Shen Yong!" Dai Zhou ran to Wei Hao and shouted with a smile.

"Huh! Are you back? Come, serve tea!" Wei Hao asked with a smile when he saw that it was Dai Zhou.

"Good boy, you are capable!" Dai Zhou ran to Wei Hao, gave Wei Hao a thumbs up and said, and then saw that there were already many baskets of money beside you, all of which were copper coins.

"I guess you will spend a lot of money!" Dai Zhou then said to Wei Hao.

"How much money can it cost? Even if they catch 10 catties by themselves, 5 people go to catch it, isn't it 500 yuan? Even if they catch it for three days, they can finish it. , the loss is not the same!" Wei Hao said with a smile.

"That's right. That's a good idea. Your Majesty is worried now. I want to go back and report to Your Majesty. I don't know how happy Your Majesty is to know!" Sitting there, Dai Zhou said with a smile.

"What's the report? Come, drink tea. It's noon and you're still running back and forth. Be careful of heatstroke!" Wei Hao said to Dai Zhou.

"It's okay, hey, when the old man came, he was very worried. Thinking about the troubles in Chang'an this year, it is estimated that a lot of money will be spent on disaster relief, but judging from the current trend, it will not cost much!" Dai Zhou was completely relaxed at this moment, facing Wei Wei Hao said.

"Hey, Shangshu, the lost farmland now needs money from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It will be distributed according to the subsidy of 300 renminbi per mu of land. It's no problem. I'll ask Chang'an County to make statistics. It's not much, at least. In the sky, it’s only one or two thousand mu, and a few thousand dollars can do it!” Wei Hao looked at Dai Zhou and asked.

"Success, let Chang'an County report it, and I will approve it at that time!" Dai Zhou nodded and said, this little money, small money, as long as it can keep the food, this little money is nothing.

"Success, with your words, I feel relieved!" Wei Hao was relieved a lot when he heard it.

"You, I'm really convinced. Cheng, I won't sit here anymore, I'm going to the palace." Dai Zhou stood up at this moment, and said to Wei Hao.

"Why are you so anxious, drink tea, you still go out for a run in such a sunny day? Sit down and drink tea!" Wei Hao pulled Dai Zhou back and said with a smile.

"What, do you have something to do?" Dai Zhou stared at Wei Hao and asked.

"There is something!" Wei Hao nodded and said.

"Well, let's hear it!" Dai Zhou asked Wei Hao as soon as he heard something.

"It's like this. I want to build bridges over the Bahe River and the Weihe River. Does your Ministry of Civil Affairs have money?" Wei Hao stared at Dai Zhou and asked.

"What did you say?" Dai Zhou wondered if he had heard wrong, so he looked at Wei Hao.

"Do you have the money to build the bridge? It is estimated that it will cost 10 yuan. Can you support it?" Wei Hao stared at Dai Zhou and continued to ask.

"Weihe River and Bahe River, are you kidding me? These two rivers are so wide, can bridges be built?" Dai Zhou stared at Wei Hao at this moment and asked.

"Whether it can be repaired or not is my business. Now I'm asking you, do you have any money?" Wei Hao rolled his eyes at Dai Zhou and asked.

"If you can repair it, I will have money, and I will also repair the bridges of the Bahe River and the Weihe River. Are you here to make me happy?" Dai Zhou said in disbelief.

"Tsk, am I idle? Am I making you happy? Do I still want to have a vacation? If I hadn't been serving as the governor of Jingzhao Mansion, I wouldn't have given up the idea. The completion of these two bridges will be a huge blow to Chang'an City." Good thing, it will be much more convenient for merchants to come to Chang'an in the future, and the transportation of goods will also be convenient!" Wei Hao looked at Dai Zhou and said with a wry smile.

"Sure, it's settled. Don't pay 10 yuan. I'll give you 15 yuan. You just need to repair the two bridges. If it's not enough, you can discuss it. One thing, if you want to be able to pass a carriage, as long as you can pass a carriage." That's fine, will it work?" Dai Zhou looked at Wei Hao excitedly and said.

"A horse-drawn carriage? Do you have to line up to cross the bridge? At least four horse-drawn carriages can pass at the same time! 15 yuan, I remember what you said, and send it to Jingzhao Mansion tomorrow. Survey!" Wei Hao said with a blank look at Dai Zhou, who do you look down on?
"Okay, okay, send it to your Jingzhao Mansion early tomorrow morning. I decide. His Majesty will definitely agree. If he doesn't agree, I will persuade His Majesty!" Dai Zhou was very excited, for fear that Wei Hao would go back on his word. .

"Hey, it's done!" Wei Hao immediately laughed when he heard him say that.

Soon, Dai Zhou still left, unable to sit still, he wanted to go back and report the locust plague to Li Shimin.

"What did you say? Tens of thousands of people are catching locusts? This? One penny and one catty, can you catch them all?" After hearing Dai Zhou's report, Li Shimin stood up in shock, and the other ministers also looked at him.

"Yes, I went to see it. I heard from Zhang Sun Chong that since the discovery of the locusts, the common people are scrambling to catch them. Meat is not so expensive. Who are those people? I don’t want to rush to catch locusts. How nice it is to buy meat instead of locusts.
Moreover, there are still a large number of people in the west city going to catch the locusts. Shenyong has already prepared money and dug a hole, waiting for those people to send the locusts over! "Dai Zhou stood there and reported.

"Only one mile away?" Fang Xuanling asked in shock.

"Well, it's only a mile away, it can't fly, it's all nets, and when it flies, the common people use nets to catch it!" Dai Zhou nodded and said.

"Okay, okay, this kid is capable, really capable, have you calculated how much he can spend?" Li Shimin heaved a sigh of relief and asked Dai Zhou.

"He said that he paid 1500 yuan, that's 150 million catties of locusts, and I don't think there are so many!" Dai Zhou said to the inside.

"This, 1500 pennies will solve it?" Li Shimin looked at Dai Zhou in disbelief and said.

"Well, it may be more than that. After all, the locusts have damaged a lot of crops now. These need to be compensated. According to the compensation of 300 yuan for one purpose, it is estimated that it will cost three to five thousand yuan!" Dai Zhou continued to cup his hands and said.

"That's a good deal. We discussed just now that the court will lose at least 10 guan in this locust plague, or even more. The key is food, and we can't do without food!" Fang Xuanling said excitedly.

"Hey, this kid, this kid can do it!" Li Shimin was very happy at the moment, his son-in-law had done meritorious service again, the key was that everyone was convinced, and it would not work if he didn't.

"By the way, Your Majesty, Shen Yong also said that the Ministry of Civil Affairs should allocate 10 guan for the construction of the two bridges on the Bahe River and the Weihe River. But let’s listen to him later, it seems to be sure, he said that if he is asked to repair it, he will send him money early tomorrow morning!” Dai Zhou continued to report to Li Shimin,
Li Shimin and other ministers were stunned when they heard it.

(End of this chapter)