Li Zhi, don't be a coward

Chapter 682 Trial Planting
Bitter and cold night, down and out.

There were only three or five people left in Zi Nu's entourage, including her, everyone was injured, and the familiar figure Li Qinzai had seen before was missing from the crowd at this moment, including the one who seemed to have a certain interest in him. Wei Tuo without hostility.

Li Qinzai knows that those who are missing will be missing forever.

"It's over, I will protect you from now on." Li Qinzai patted Zi Nu's back softly.

Zi Nu was still crying bitterly in his arms, the tears soaked his front, icy cold through his skin.

Li Zhi was holding an iron basin at the side, and said tremblingly: "Inside, is that new grain?"

Li Qinzai patted Zi Nu on the shoulder and said, "The Son of Heaven asks a question, please tell me."

Hearing that the person next to him was the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Zi Nu was startled, stopped crying, gave Li Zhi a complicated look, then knelt down on one knee, performing a foreign etiquette.

"People who have lost their country, pay homage to His Majesty Tang Guotian Khan."

Li Zhi was taken aback for a moment, and then took a closer look at her, but what he was most concerned about at the moment was not Zi Nu's origin, but the iron basin in his hand.

"Is it new grain?" Li Zhi asked again.

Zi Nu choked up and said: "Yes."

Li Zhi said cautiously: "I'll see if you can take it out of the soil."

Li Qinzai said with a smile: "If what I expected is not bad, it should be a new kind of grain called 'sweet potato'. Sweet potatoes are not so expensive. If your majesty wants to see it, just brush the soil carefully."

Li Zhi's heart beat faster, and he brushed the soil away with his hands, digging to the middle layer, and found several small dark red fruits.

Li Zhi looked at them carefully, and murmured: "Are they... are new grains? Are they buried in the ground?"

Li Qinzai also saw their appearance, and became more and more sure that they were actually sweet potatoes, and couldn't help feeling excited.

It is no exaggeration to say that China's civilization has taken a serious step forward because of it.

A few small fruits lay quietly in the iron basin, and a few sprouts sprouted on them. Li Zhi trembled slightly holding them in his hands, as if he was holding the whole land of Tang Dynasty, and he didn't even dare to breathe for fear of An unseasonable draft can hurt them.

Li Qinzai was not so cautious. He reached out to take the few small fruits, held them in his palm, looked carefully, and smelled them closely.

Li Zhi watched anxiously, with a tense expression, as if his newborn child had fallen into his hands.

Until Li Qinzai scratched a small opening on the fruit with his fingernails, intending to see the flesh color inside, Li Zhi turned pale with shock: "Stop the beast!"

Li Qinzai was taken aback, the title was so familiar, where did he learn it?

Li Zhi snatched a few fruits over and stared at him dissatisfiedly: "It doesn't matter whether it's light or heavy, there are only a few grain seeds in the whole world, if you hurt the roots, you won't be able to relieve your hatred by killing a thousand swords!"

"Your Majesty, it's not that fragile..." Li Qinzai explained with a wry smile.

"That's not enough! The yield per mu is five thousand catties, it is my treasure, the treasure of the Tang Dynasty! I can't wait to offer it in the Taimiao, so that it can be used as incense for generations."

Lovingly stroking the sweet potato in his hand, Li Qinzai's gaze was as tender as water, as gentle as treating an older mature wife and lover, with a particularly creepy expression.

"Jingchu, does it really have such a high yield per mu? Are you sure?" Li Zhi still asked anxiously.

"I'm sure, and only high but not low." Li Qinzai said with certainty.

Li Zhi let out a long breath, and said: "If this is the case, Jing Chu's contribution to the community... I can't even estimate it. The fortune of thousands of years and generations is all given by Jing Chu."

"Jingchu, you have accumulated great merit, and I... don't know how to reward you," Li Zhi's eyes turned red for some reason, and his tone trembled a little.

"With this one thing, I am worthy of the people of the Tang Dynasty, and worthy of the lands and mountains laid down by the late emperor. Since I ascended the throne, the courtiers and the world have compared me with the late emperor. In their mouths, I am not as good as the late emperor, saying that I am a mediocre and cowardly king. , Unworthy is the father, the late emperor entrusted the country to me, I really don't know the good or bad..."

"In these years, I have worked hard to govern, never dared to slack off, and never did a foolish thing, in order to block the mouths of the world, but after more than ten years since I took the throne, the world still criticizes, I often have nightmares, sleep and eat hard install."

Patting Li Qinzai's shoulder heavily, Li Zhi was moved and said: "It's lucky to have you, Jing Chu, lucky to have you."

"Those things you made for me, military bows, horseshoes, gunpowder, three-eyed blunderbuss, civilian pulleys, hydraulic machines, etc., the king's master conquered Baekje, and you wiped out the country of Japan, and let you go to the northwest. You took Tuyuhun to me..."

"Today, you brought me new grains with a yield of [-] catties per mu. The people of the Tang Dynasty will no longer have to worry about hunger, and they will be able to pass through the disaster years calmly. My country, Li Tang, will at least continue. Hundreds of years."

The more Li Zhi spoke, the more excited he became: "Don't tell me, I don't think so, but Jing Chu's credits are so many, I can't count them in a few words...Jing Chu, you are the auspiciousness bestowed by heaven, fortunately, I have you, fortunately, I have you! "

Li Qinzai said in embarrassment: "Your Majesty's absurd praise. The minister is just doing his duty. Many things are just done by hand, not as great as His Majesty said."

Li Zhi shook his head: "Jingchu Mo Ziqian, I am not absurd, you really have the ability..."

"The merit of discovering new grains is as high as the sky, how can I not reward you? I have decided to make you the Duke of the county..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Qinzai's eyelids twitched, and he hurriedly said: "Hold on, Your Majesty, absolutely not!"

"Why?"

"Your Majesty, the Marquis of Jinchen County, it's only been more than a month, and he immediately became the Duke of Jinjun. Don't say that people in the world criticize, and I can't accept being accused by thousands of people. Please take back your order."

Li Zhi said in displeasure: "The meritorious deeds are done by you. If the courtiers object, ask them to dedicate these meritorious deeds to me. If I reward meritorious deeds and punish others, what is wrong with me?"

Li Qinzai said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, although we have obtained the new crop, we haven't seen the actual harvest yet. Why don't we plant it first, and when the actual harvest comes out after autumn, how about your Majesty offering a reward?"

Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly: "Yes, I was in a hurry. When Jing Chu said that the yield per mu was five thousand catties, I had no doubts. I thought the five thousand catties had already been buried in the ground, haha."

"Okay, let's plant it, and I will award it after the harvest in autumn. Where does Jing Chu think it is appropriate to plant this new crop?"

Li Qinzai pondered for a while, and said: "Why don't you just plant it in Ganjingzhuang, and I will take care of it day and night, so that there will be no loss. Of course, the news of the new grain cannot be hidden from others, and we must also beware of thieves. It is better to strengthen the vigilance around Ganjingzhuang. OK."

Li Zhi nodded and said: "Jing Chu's words are reasonable, and according to Er's words, you find a good field in Zhuangzi and plant it. Now it's just spring, and it's in time for the season. I will send another three thousand soldiers from the Jinwu Guard to come outside Zhuangzi. Guard and surround that fertile field so that no bird can fly in."

(End of this chapter)