Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 15 Winter is approaching
Just when Li Tai put his mind into the down jacket and started to make a fortune this winter.

Li Shimin needs to deal with many derivative government affairs brought about by the locust plague. He said to Dou Jing, "This year's Guanlong area has a bad harvest, and Chang'an may be extremely cold in winter. Can the grain price in Chang'an be maintained at around [-] yuan per shi? There is enough to add!"

Dou Jing stood up and replied respectfully: "The locust plague and drought have hit the Guanlong area, and this year's crops are already in short supply.

However, Qiantang, Yangzhou and other places had a bumper rice harvest. When drought and locust plagues appeared, Dai Zuocheng ordered to arrange ships and dispatch grain from the south of the Yangtze River. Now he has established a warehouse in Luoyang, saving 30 shi, and will still send it later.

It's just that Luoyang needs to travel by land to Chang'an, so it's still on the road, but at least before winter, the food will definitely be delivered to Chang'an. "

"Xuanyin, you are the leader of Shang Shusheng on your behalf, so I am relieved!" Li Shimin praised Dai Zhou.

"Thank you sage for your praise." Dai Zhou came out and said, "This time the locust plague and drought hit fiercely before and after, but my court was not prepared enough. He asked the sage to follow the example of the previous dynasty and set up a righteous storehouse, so that officials, aristocratic families, and common people would pay food for preparations." famine."

"This strategy is very good, so you will temporarily act as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and you will be fully responsible for this matter." Li Shimin ordered.

"Dai Zhou takes orders!" Hearing Li Shimin's words, Dai Zhou understood that although he was acting as a temporary agent, as long as this matter was completed, it would only be a matter of time before the so-called temporary acting became a regular.

"Everyone, the drought and locust plague in Guanlong this year has been contained to some extent, but we are still preparing for the cold!"

"Keep in mind the teachings of the sages, and we will be prepared to be loyal to our duties." Fang Xuanling stood up and said.

Soon, the entire hall began to discuss how to prevent the cold.

Although everyone didn't say anything in their hearts, they all knew that many people would definitely die this winter.

Because of the plague of locusts and drought this year, the people did not have enough surplus food.

Generally speaking, the common people resist the cold, so naturally they can't expect to have fox fur or mink, or ground fire walls.

The only thing they can count on to survive the cold winter is the warmth brought by the food they eat.

But because of the locust plague and drought, not only their own food was consumed seven to eighty-eight, even the imperial court was no longer able to provide a large amount of food to help them.

So this winter, the people outside Chang'an City may have a hard time.

Even though the imperial court built porridge sheds outside Chang'an City, in the final analysis, it was just a bowl of gruel for charity every day.

It would be unrealistic for these people to survive the whole winter with only this bowl of gruel.

And even if Li Shimin wants to help more people, in the final analysis of all his plans, he still needs money and food.

Even if the imperial court wants to help the people at the bottom, it is impossible to invest unconditionally.

The foundation of the Tang Dynasty, which had just experienced the locust plague and drought, was still too weak, and there was not enough money and food in hand, so it was difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

At this moment, after Li Shimin retired from the court, he returned to the East Palace with some melancholy thoughts, and wanted to talk to Empress Changsun about his thoughts.

After all, the meeting was physically and mentally exhausting, and the most important thing was that there was really no good plan to prevent the coming of cold winter.

In the end, I can only let these people see if they can survive this cold winter with their own physique.

When he approached the palace where Empress Changsun was, he heard laughter and laughter coming from the palace.

Li Shimin frowned but relaxed again, and entered the room after singing.

At this time, not only Empress Changsun was in the East Palace, even Li Chengqian and Li Tai had already come here.

"What are you talking about, so happy?" Li Shimin looked at Empress Changsun curiously and asked.

"Chengqian's birthday gift to Lizhi is a hand-copied Analects, with his own notes on it.

Because after Lizhi learned the thousand-character prose, she was ready to learn the Book of Songs and the Analects of Confucius, Chengqian was very thoughtful for Lizhi. "

Empress Changsun couldn't help chuckling when she said this.

Li Chengqian really wanted to be a competent brother, so he carefully selected the birthday gift and copied an analysis of the Analects by himself.

But for anyone else, if the birthday gift is given as textbooks and exercises, not only the smile will gradually disappear, but even the murderous thoughts will appear.

Therefore, Li Lizhi's expectant gaze, which was originally happy, gradually lost focus.

But when Li Tai and Empress Changsun saw the gift from Li Chengqian, they couldn't help but chuckled at Li Lizhi.

"Aye, both brothers bullied me!" Li Lizhi resolutely came to Li Shimin's side to complain.

"Haha." Li Shimin only laughed a few times when he heard Li Lizhi's complaint, and said, "Today is your birthday, Lizhi, so don't see the punishment. Aye, I'll give you this Lantian jade pendant here. Let Cheng Qian go." How about with Qingque!"

"Hmm!" Li Lizhi took the jade pendant from Li Shimin's waist, and made faces at Li Tai and Li Chengqian: "Humph!"

"I remember Lizhi, you haven't gotten your birthday present from me yet, so you don't want it!" Li Tai said with a smile.

"Eh..." Hearing Li Tai's words, Li Lizhi's face clearly showed some hesitation and hesitation.

Obviously at this time Li Lizhi was seriously considering whether her face or Li Tai's gift was more important.

Li Lizhi came back to her senses, and asked Li Tai expectantly: "Brother Qingque, you won't copy an agricultural book for me!"

For Li Tai, Li Lizhi, who grew up since she was a child, naturally knows that Li Tai likes to read agricultural books.

But if you give yourself another book, Li Lizhi feels that it is better not to celebrate your birthday in the future, or if you give yourself a few more books in the future, I am afraid that your head will get big.

"Of course not!" Li Tai glanced at Bai He who was holding the box and said, "Bai He brought the present."

Bai He heard Li Tai's words, and put the padded jacket in front of Li Lizhi, it was a lavender padded jacket.

One side is made of high-quality silk, and the other side is made of warm cotton wool. Touch it with your hands, one side is cool and smooth, and the other side is warm and soft.

Li Tai said: "If it's cold, just wear this padded jacket outside, it might be a little too big for you to wear now.

But it's okay, you will grow taller in a few days, and it should almost fit you.

The real silk in it is nothing, but I spent a year to grow this white stack. "

"Oh?" Upon hearing Li Tai's words, Li Lizhi put the padded coat on her body and said in surprise, "It's really warm!"

Li Shimin heard Li Lizhi's words thoughtfully from one side, but he didn't say much to disturb the atmosphere.

The whole group had a great time celebrating Li Lizhi's birth, and even Xiao Lizhi yelled a few times.

After everything was over, when Li Shimin returned to the study, he called out to Li Tai and asked Li Tai to go to the study with him.

Seeing that Li Shimin left Li Tai behind, Li Chengqian took a surprise look at Li Tai, and went back without saying anything.

Li Tai followed behind Li Shimin, and when he came to the study, Li Shimin asked Li Tai, "How much do Bai Diezi have?"

"It's gone, and all the rest are made for Lizhi to make cotton clothes." Li Tai said truthfully.

"Bai Dizirong is not easy to cultivate? Can it eat soil?" Li Shimin asked again.

To tell the truth, Li Shimin could feel that the cotton cloth made of white folds was quite warm, at least it was definitely a good material for keeping out the cold in winter, at least it was much better than linen.

"Baidiezi doesn't like the location relatively, but he has stricter requirements for sunshine. Compared with Chang'an, Longxi may be better!" Li Tai nodded.

"However, growing cotton will encroach on the cultivated area of ​​food, so unless the imperial court implements supportive policies, it will not be easy to develop."

What Li Tai said was not a lie. It was probably during the Tang and Song Dynasties that cotton, a crop that could be used for spinning, was discovered.

But the real cotton from the aristocratic family to the common people still has to wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to promote cotton on a large scale.

Hearing this, Li Shimin was somewhat hesitant. After all, in the feudal era, unless many cash crops were used to supply the royal family or supply military supplies, most of the cash crops were just occasional sidelines for the common people, and there were basically no large-scale crops. The emergence of planting is largely due to the fact that traffic conditions do not allow it.

Even basically the vast majority of economic crops, unless they can be directly processed locally into primary processed products with a longer shelf life, or even if economic crops are more valuable to society, but the road is blocked, then this value cannot be transformed.

Therefore, many places that may not be suitable for growing food can only bite the bullet and grow food.

"Is the imperial government's policy support..." Li Shimin heard Li Tai's words, somewhat hesitant and hesitant.

It's not that Li Shimin can't see the potential of cotton as a cash crop, but because Li Shimin, who has just experienced the locust plague and drought, pays more attention to food safety. If possible, Li Shimin hopes that the entire Chang'an can be filled with food.

Therefore, at most, Li Shimin just searched for a city with a lot of sunshine in Longxi to conduct a small experiment.

But it is impossible for Li Shimin to carry out large-scale seeding, or even provide policy support.

And Li Tai didn't expect himself to say that Li Shimin would plant cotton on a large scale. After all, although Li Shimin cared about the people, he didn't know what the people really needed.

So for cotton, in Li Shimin's view, this is just the emergence of a new textile material, but he really can't see what it means to the people of the entire Tang Dynasty.

"Aye, what's bothering me, I wonder if I can talk to Qingque!" Li Tai said to Li Shimin.

"Winter is approaching, and the people in the city have just experienced the locust plague and drought, and the remaining food in their hands may be exhausted. If it is snowy and cold this winter, the people may not be able to survive this cold winter." Li Shimin didn't hide anything, and said directly to Li Tai.

Li Tai said: "If Aye can give me a few coal mines and lend me some food, I think I can find something for these people to do. It may be difficult to save them all, but if it is only to rescue Part of it, I think it’s still very possible.”

"What do you want so many coal mines for?!" Li Shimin frowned when he heard Li Tai's words.

"Let them mine!" Li Tai said, "Let them exchange their labor for food, I think this is the most fair thing!"

"I'm afraid we won't be able to grant you food!" Li Shimin shook his head and said, "The food in Chang'an City is a bit tight."

"Can I buy grain directly from the imperial court?" Li Tai said, "Using the thousand mu of land you gave me as collateral, I want to buy a large amount of grain from the imperial court at one time, so as to avoid the inconvenience caused by my purchase of grain on the market." panic."

"You also know that this thousand acres of land was rewarded by me!"

Li Shimin heard Li Tai's words, the corner of his mouth twitched and said, he couldn't help rubbing the dog's head fiercely on Li Tai's head.

This proposal is really stupid!

Anyway, for Li Tai, this thousand mu of land is not near the agricultural college, so it belongs to an enclave relatively.

So it's better to give Li Shimin a large amount of food in cash first. If he can use this food, he can really find enough labor at one time. of.

However, Li Shimin finally came back to his senses, and said seriously to Li Tai, "Qingque, how sure are you?"

"Do your best, at least this year Chang'an will never freeze to death!" Li Tai said seriously.

"Then your thousand-acre field is really gone!" Li Shimin looked at Li Tai and said,

"But when the grain from Luoyang is delivered to Chang'an, the first tranche of grain will be delivered to you!"

"Aye, then I'll go back and work on this matter!" Li Tai assured Li Shimin with a serious look.

"Qingque..." Li Shimin watched Li Tai leave, but felt relieved and sighed in his heart.

Although Qingque is only eight years old, it can be seen from the management of the locust plague that he has a very good management talent.

This kind of ability seems to be innate, as if he was born to be an invincible commander.

Of course, for child prodigies, no matter how miraculous they are, Chinese people are not surprised.

Because no matter how amazing a child prodigy can be compared to the 12-year-old Gan Luo in Qin State, and Huo Qubing who is astonishing as a marquis, in this magical land, there is never a shortage of child prodigies meeting strange flowers.

What's more, Li Shimin feels that he is a young hero, and it should be normal for his descendants to produce one or two strange things.

Of course, compared to Li Tai, who had already started to fight for rights at the age of eight, Li Chengqian, who was changing to a new teacher, asked his new teacher Li Gang very solemnly at this moment: "Master Li, can I ask you any questions!"

"Prince, please speak!" Li Gang respectfully said to Li Chengqian.

"Shiro has gotten quite close to his father recently... but it makes me feel a little bored, as if my territory has been interfered by Shiro!" Li Chengqian said, "I feel that this kind of thinking is wrong, but I can't help it all the time. Thinking."

Li Gang was silent for a while, then said, "The king of Yue can do things, he can accomplish things, but he governs with virtue, like Beichen, where the stars live. Even if the king of Yue is talented, he is just the other stars surrounding the star of Beichen. "

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Li Gang's words, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Master Li, for clarifying the confusion."

(End of this chapter)