Prosperous Tang Blood Blade

Chapter 778 The Person Waiting for the Peach Pickers (Part [-])

Chapter [-]: People Waiting for Peach Pickers
In the Wude Hall of Taiji Palace, in front of the Panlong Pillar, which was originally empty, a man in black suddenly appeared.Li Yuan was no longer surprised by this, the man in black was none other than Yu Yanzhang, the guard of the left prison.

Yu Yan knelt in front of Li Yuan on one knee, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I'm back!"

Li Yuan took the secret report from Yu Yanzhang, opened it, and Li Yuan said coldly, "The news is true? King Qin has nothing to do with the chaos in Hebei?"

Yu Yanzhang lowered his head, and said in a firm tone: "Your Majesty, I have specially sent in secret agents from Xuan Zihao!"

At this moment, a black-clothed man who was dressed in black like Yu Yanzhang and a bamboo hat slowly entered the hall.

The man in black kowtowed to Li Yuan, bowed and saluted, "My lord, I pay my respects to Your Majesty!"

Li Yuan looked at Xuan Zihao's secret agent and said, "How much do you know about King Qin?"

The man in black thought for a while and said, "Everything is detailed!"

Li Yuan pondered and said slowly: "The matter in Hebei..."

The man in black said: "I followed His Highness the King of Qin and arrived at Hedong together, and about Hebei, I and His Highness the King of Qin knew nothing about it.

Li Yuan sighed and said: "I also know that Erlang would not have such a scheming..."

The man in black raised his head quietly, gave Li Yuan a complicated look, and then quickly lowered his head.At this moment, we saw clearly the face of the man in black, and it was Hou Junji.

Li Yuan turned to look at Hou Junji and said, "What about the Turkic dispatch of troops?"

Hou Junji thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, according to the investigation by the Baiqi Division under the King of Qin, Liu Heitai was defeated and died in the army, and his brother Liu Shishan fled to the Turks, and was sheltered in the Turkic tent by Jieli Khan. The next time Liu Shishan returned from the Turks, he received the support of more than ten thousand elite Turkic cavalry, without the help of the Turkic army, Liu Shishan could not have occupied Mingzhou so quickly and devoured Hebei..."

Li Yuan thought for a while, waved his hands and said, "Okay, you can go back and watch King Qin carefully."

Hou Junji saluted and quickly exited the hall.

Perhaps at this moment, Li Shimin didn't understand that the general Hou Junji he relied on was actually Li Yuan's left prison guard, Wei Xuan, an undercover spy.In fact, since Li Yuan ascended the throne, the guards of the left guard were transferred from the commanding organization that originally commanded the imperial guards to our secret service organization, and Li Yuan placed generals beside the generals everywhere.

Li Yuan learned the secret report from the guard of the left prison, proving that Qin Wang Li Shimin had nothing to do with the Hebei Rebellion, and the scene of Li Jiancheng asking him to go to Hebei involuntarily appeared in his head.

Li Jiancheng bowed at that time and said: "Father, I implore Father to abolish my son's position as the crown prince and make His Royal Highness King Qin the new crown prince. My son is willing to lead the army to Hebei. I also ask my father for permission."

Li Yuan put away the thoughts in his heart, turned to look at Yu Yanzhang and said: "Since the matter of Hebei has nothing to do with the King of Qin, does it have anything to do with the Crown Prince?"

Yu Yanzhang bowed and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the report of my "Tian" agent, the Crown Prince has nothing to do with Hebei affairs. According to the report of "Di" agent, there have been recent changes in the Western Regions!"

"Chen Ying?" Li Yuan was slightly surprised: "His hand stretched so long, he actually reached Hebei?"

Yu Yanzhang shook his head and said, "It's not about Hebei, but about the Western Regions!"

As he spoke, Yu Yanzhang handed a thick secret report to Li Yuan.

As he got older, Li Yuan's eyesight also began to decline, and he could no longer clearly see the petite script on the secret report.He pondered, "What happened in the Western Regions?"

Yu Yanzhang opened the secret report, and read according to the number on it: "Chen, "Huang" brand secret spy is playing. There is little rain in the Western Regions this year. From June to August of the sixth year of Wude, there has been no rain for two months. Fortunately, in the past two years, Chen Dadu has been actively digging irrigation wells and repairing canals. The irrigation of the farmland has been strongly guaranteed. Coupled with sufficient fertilizers, the harvest has been bumper. This year, the Western Regions harvested a total of 620 million shi of wheat and chestnut 180 million shi, 80 shi for grapes, 700 million shi for melons and fruits, 16 shi for beets, 27 and [-] shi for rapeseed, [-] shi for cotton..."

The secret agent of Huang Zihao was also assimilated by Chen Ying. His memorials adopted the style of writing in the Western Regions, and they were written very simply and clearly in statistical reports. Yu Yanzhang just followed suit.

At the beginning, Li Yuan was still in a daze, but he quickly realized that every time Yu Yanzhang reported a number, Li Yuan would take a breath of air, and finally Li Yuan's mouth twitched.

He thought that the Western Regions were fertile pastures, but he didn't dare to imagine that Chen Ying was actually in the Western Regions, and the total output of grain, fruits and vegetables alone exceeded Guanzhong's total output.

Farmers in ancient times worked very hard. They often had to harvest three consecutive years before they could save a year's surplus of grain. Once floods, droughts, locusts, and hailstorms caused a large reduction in grain production, famine would occur.However, how many people are there in the Western Regions?I am afraid that including slaves, there are only a little over 150 million people, barely more than one-third of Guanzhong.

Now that he heard that the distant Western Regions had harvested so much grain, how could he not be happy?It's just that besides being happy, there are hidden worries.With so much food, what would Chen Ying do if he became king on his own?
Yu Yanzhang was also excited by this series of exaggerated figures, and unconsciously raised his voice a lot: "This year, the Western Regions should pay as much as 30 shi in grain tax, and the tax amount is 11 guan..."

Li Yuan clutched his chest, feeling that his heart couldn't take it anymore.

It's so scary!

However, the scare wasn't over yet.Yu Yanzhang went on to read: "The third 50-jin blast furnace in Huaergou was put into operation in February of the sixth year of Wude. At this time, the Western Regions can produce 3000 million jin of steel every month..."

Hearing this, Li Yuan was like a thunderbolt.

He took over Chen Ying's steel workshop in Qinglin, and has the capacity to produce 600 million jin of steel a year, plus Lingzhou's 1000 million jin of steel, as well as the steel production capacity of the weapon supervisor and general workshop. Datang is now It can produce 3000 million jin of steel every year, but with just 3000 million jin of steel, within ten years, people all over the world in Datang can say goodbye to wooden farm tools.

The output of 3000 million catties of steel per month is great news for ordinary people, but it is no less than a disaster for Li Yuan.

It is a well-known fact that with steel, weapons and armor can be made. 3000 million catties a month, such a behemoth can kill people with steel. Who can compete with this behemoth! ?Even if Li Tang Guanzhong, Hedong, Hebei, Bashu, and Jianghuai are all united, they will only be hanged and beaten!
Li Yuan snatched the secret report in a hurry and held it in front of his eyes to watch.The data on the report is very good-looking, and it is easy for Li Yuan to know through the strings of numbers.

In the past two years, the Western Regions have built no less than [-] miles of asphalt roads, connecting the nineteen states of Xizhou Road. This network of asphalt roads will center on Gaochang City and lead to Xizhou Road of the states.Now, walking on this asphalt road in a four-wheeled carriage, and taking a carriage, they can reach any state on the Western State Road within five days.It is several times faster than before.

The bone meal factory over at Mulan City has been put into operation, with a monthly output of [-] shi of bone meal, enough to supply crops for fifteen counties on Xizhou Road.

In addition, the Anxi Army established a breeding base for the Zhechong Mansion of the Anxi Army. Each Zhechong Mansion now has over ten thousand cattle and horses and tens of thousands of sheep. At the same time, it also greatly improved General Anxi's physique.

Today's Anxi Army soldiers have not known the taste of meat for three months. Although it is said that meat cannot be supplied in large quantities, every soldier can get no less than four taels of meat every day.The key point is that the various manures provided by the Anxi army poultry and livestock farms are sufficient to meet the fertilizer needs of all parts of the Western Regions. In other words, ordinary people no longer need to worry about the lack of fertilizers.

What stunned Li Yuan the most was Chen Ying, who actually used precious steel to build roads. This road consumes a lot of steel, with an average of 24 catties per kilometer of road. Of course, this is only the consumption on flat ground. .However, the Western Regions are not all smooth roads. There are countless mountains and valleys here. Not only do tunnels need to be dug, but bridges also need to be built. The bridge actually used 1000 to [-] million catties of steel.

At this moment, Li Yuan didn't know what to say.

The production of 3000 million catties of steel per month made Li Yuan afraid, but Chen Ying used the precious steel to improve farm tools, repair bridges and pave roads, which made Li Yuan feel like he didn't feel sorry for selling his father's land.

Li Yuan didn't know that Chen Ying wanted to show the world the preciousness of the Western Regions.The Chinese nation has an almost obsessive attachment to territories that can grow food or have valuable resources.

Emperor Er sold Yanyun sixteen prefectures, and he never forgot it during the Northern Song Dynasty. In fact, even at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the national strategic goal of regaining Yanyun had been unwavering.

A desolate Western Region, naturally no one cares.

But in the rich land, I dare not lose an inch of it.

Today's agriculture in the Western Regions has established a foundation and has begun to take shape. More than 1000 million mu of military and civilian fields have been reclaimed.In fact, even one percent of the arable land in the Western Regions has not been utilized yet.

With the support of the policy, there are as many as 40 new factories with more than [-] employees in the Western Regions this year. In addition to those opened in the past two years, the number of factories in the Western Regions has reached an astonishing [-] or more, and they are still growing. growth momentum.

The inevitable result of thriving agriculture and industry is the influx of people from surrounding areas. In the first half of the year, from Hexi, Qinliang, and especially with Liu Shishan's rebellion in Hebei, the whole of Hebei became a war zone. These Hebei people dragged their families mouth, over the Taihang Mountains, along the Hetao, all the way west.

In Hebei alone, a staggering 6 people applied for Xizhou Road household registration, and those who came here to work were not counted.Today, the population of the Western Regions has reached 150 million, a full three-fold increase compared to three years ago.

A large population means a huge market, and the prospects for the Western Regions are promising.

Using collective farms and army farms, after Chen Ying got his first pot of gold, he was busy building infrastructure.Of course, in order to retain the soldiers and their families who came to work or stationed in the Western Regions from Guanzhong, Chen Ying established 110 state schools in the 110 state offices of Xizhou Road, and [-] seven counties (plus The newly established county) established [-] seven county schools, but all the children of the soldiers of the garrison or the children of the common people in the states of Xizhou Road, school-age children must go to school.

In order to stimulate the people's enthusiasm for sending their children to school, Chen Ying also set up a free breakfast system in all prefectures and county schools. Every child's breakfast is free with one liter of fresh milk, two eggs, steamed buns or meat buns.

Lunch also adopts General Anxi's standard of three dishes and one soup.

Businessmen and even the local gentry borne more than half of the education expenses. First, they wanted to please Chen Ying. Second, they naturally hoped that these schools could really provide them with a large number of talents as Chen Ying said, so that they could The business is getting bigger and bigger.

After all, in this era, scholars are very noble.Even if he can read a few books, write and count, a random shopkeeper can earn more than a hundred dollars a year.Even a hundred fellows can't earn as much money as a shopkeeper.However, it is very difficult to hire shopkeepers. There are not enough talents, and their business cannot be expanded. They cannot let an illiterate guy act as the shopkeeper. In this case, they will lose all their money.

Li Xiuning was already immune to Chen Ying's big handwriting.

Chen Ying, on the other hand, was in high spirits and extremely proud.What a great cause it is to provide tens of thousands of people with the opportunity to receive education. He is so proud that he has done it!

Especially the generals of the Anxi Army, they burst into tears when they heard about Chen Ying's actions.

Who doesn't want their children to excel?They have had enough of the hardships of not being educated, and now that their children have met a nobleman, they don't have to be illiterate like them for a lifetime!
Because an ordinary soldier is illiterate, even if they fight the enemy bravely, after making meritorious deeds, they can at most reach the rank of captain, or the rank of deputy captain, and it is impossible to be higher.After all, the army also has too many orders and provisions, and there is no way to become a general with a blind eye.

There are no illiterate generals in history, such as Wang Ping, the first general of the Wudang Flying Army during the Three Kingdoms period, and Dang Jin in the Northern Song Dynasty, but such people are very few, and it takes a very big chance to meet a Supervisors who tolerate their illiteracy shortcomings.

Chen Ying drew up a grand blueprint in the Western Regions, operating the Western Regions as Datang's granary and Datang's heavy industry base. In this way, no matter when, the Tang court or the emperor would never allow the Western Regions to be lost.

Even if you encounter an enemy attack, you will spare no effort to get it back.

Of course, once the status of the Western Regions becomes important, and once results are produced, there will definitely be peach pickers.It is precisely this kind of person that Chen Ying is most afraid of. He is afraid that the Western Regions will be put on hold or forgotten.

PS: 7000 updates today!
(End of this chapter)