my grandfather was qin shi huang

Chapter 511 Shi Lu: Does Your Highness have any good ideas?
The First Emperor said nothing, staring at the prostrate Hei for a long time. The trace of sullenness between his brows suddenly slowly dissipated, and finally turned into a gentle sigh.

"Hei, how long have you been with me..."

Black knelt on the ground.

"Back to Your Majesty, it has been forty-one years and seventy-eight days since Your Majesty took Zhao as a hostage..."

A trace of nostalgia appeared on the face of the First Emperor.

"Yes, without knowing it, you have been following me for forty-one years. I remember that when you first followed me, you were only thirteen or fourteen years old..."

Hei knelt on the ground and bowed twice.

"Yes, the old slave was thirteen years old at that time. His parents were killed in the rebellion, and the old slave was kidnapped to Handan for sale. It was His Majesty who discovered the old slave in the market and paid to save the old slave. From then on From that moment on, the old slave has been with His Majesty and has never been far away over the years..."

The First Emperor turned around and looked at his magnificent palace, his eyes suddenly became dazed.

"In the blink of an eye, forty years, we are all old..."

When the First Emperor heard this, his expression finally changed.

"You old guy, how can you continue to serve me with your body and bones? From tomorrow on, just follow me and practice Tai Chi together..."

"How old are you? You're still kneeling down to plead guilty. Why don't you just get out of here..."

The First Emperor probably really listened to Hei's words. He no longer mentioned asking Hei to look for elixirs, nor was he in a hurry to deal with the piles of memorials. Instead, he lay aside leisurely. On the lounge chair.

"The old slave is guilty of the death penalty. Without the permission of His Majesty and His Highness, I went to investigate several of His Highness's wives, concubines, and young ladies. I found that, as His Highness said, they all started to become strong and healthy after practicing Tai Chi. Increased strength..."

"Old slave, thank you for your mercy..."

Seeing that the First Emperor was not lying on a few cases to deal with the memorials as he had done in the past, but he and Hei were walking leisurely under the shade of the trees. Then he couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his face. .

Because he was delayed for more than half a day, as soon as Zhao Ying entered the hall, he ordered Zhang Liang to bring up all the memorials that needed to be dealt with urgently today.

The First Emperor waved his hand and pondered for a long time before giving instructions calmly.

After taking a look, Hei, who was still kneeling there, cursed angrily.

If the First Emperor hadn't reached out and pulled him in time, he would have almost fallen to the ground.

"Especially Mrs. Yu. Before she learned Tai Chi, she was just an ordinary woman from a water town in the south of the Yangtze River. Her body was weak and she had no strength to bind a chicken. But unexpectedly, after His Highness taught Tai Chi, in just a few months, she became His strength has greatly increased. According to people in the house, he can dance a hundred kilograms of stone locks with one hand. Even the most powerful generals in the army are not as good as him. For example, those who are proficient in martial arts can even do it. Pulling a galloping horse, we can see that Tai Chi is a magical and secret method, it does have miraculous effects, and I expect that your majesty will not be without effect..."

Waiting for his grandson to come back after marrying his wife.

However, the routine of work and rest has really become regular, and even the diet has begun to strictly follow the instructions of his eldest grandson, and he has become more dedicated when practicing boxing.

Having said this, Hei didn't dare to look up to see the First Emperor's reaction. He knelt there, with a hint of shock in his voice.

Hei Qiang stood firm and bowed to the First Emperor respectfully to thank him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty——"

In fact, Zhang Liang would prepare these memorials for Zhao Ying in categories according to priority every day, so that Zhao Ying could review them at any time.

At this point, Hei's tone paused for a moment, and seeing that the First Emperor didn't seem angry, he continued.

"Only for you, no external news..."

"Promise, this old slave knows the pros and cons and will not dare to spread it falsely. If there is any violation, God will abandon it."

"Your Majesty, according to what I know, the person who reacted fastest to this boxing technique was the young lady Zhao Xi, who accomplished it in one day, followed by the granddaughter of the Taiwei family, who practiced it in just two days. Then Mrs. Yu Ji felt it in seven days, and it took the Imperial Concubine and Concubine Hui thirty-seven and fifty-two days respectively..."

I thought my persuasion yesterday had worked.

This boxing technique seems to attract people!
Hei seemed to have anticipated the First Emperor's reaction.

Black looked solemn.

"Your Majesty, I suspect that the time it takes for this set of boxing techniques to take effect will vary from person to person. Your Majesty, the Queen, and Young Master Zhao Qi are not ineffective, but the time to take effect has not yet been reached..."

Hei was lying on the ground, his voice already choked with sobs.

The First Emperor smiled bitterly upon hearing this.

Of course, if he knew that after what he said yesterday, the First Emperor would arrange for Hei to find the elixir, his mentality would probably explode.

"You know, I don't have much time left, so why should you..."

Hei said this, how could he not know, but he also knew that his other grandson, like himself, had been practicing for several months, but so far there was almost no effect.

Hei just listened to the tone of the First Emperor and knew that the First Emperor had obviously listened to his advice. He couldn't help but feel happy. He pressed his hands on the ground and wanted to get up. Unexpectedly, he couldn't get up after kneeling for a long time.

It is already a great kindness to get His Majesty to not give up and allow him to practice Tai Chi with him. How dare he think of teaching it privately. He and the First Emperor had been rulers and ministers for decades, and no one understood the First Emperor's character better than him.

Hei Hei couldn't help but look moved when he heard this. He knelt down on the ground again and kowtowed.

"Your Majesty, you must not talk about life and death again until the end. You must not mention the elixir again. Your Highness has already confirmed that although the elixir can cheer people up for a while, it is poisonous. Eating is like drinking poison to quench thirst..."

Who would be willing to die if there was hope of life?
Zhao Ying, on the other hand, was really worried about the health of the First Emperor. He asked for permission from the Wei Mansion and went directly back to the palace.

If you really dare to secretly spread this boxing technique, once the clues are discovered, the whole family may be annihilated.

This time, the First Emperor did not pull him, but allowed him to kneel down and thank him, and then gave instructions in a calm tone.

He turned around and looked at Hei, who was already white-haired, with a softer look in his eyes.

Having said this, Hei paused slightly, raised his head, looked at the First Emperor and said.

……

"Is there any particularly urgent government affairs today?"

Zhao Ying sat down and picked up the top memorial.

"Back to Your Highness, there is no..."

Speaking of this, he seemed to have remembered something and mentioned it casually.

"But Julu County is more interesting. Another memorial was sent, saying that it has not rained in Julu County for several months, the rivers have dried up, and the food production has decreased. It requests the imperial court to reduce local taxes again, and asks His Highness to make preparations for disaster relief... "

When Zhao Ying heard this, he couldn't help but be startled, and immediately remembered something that he had almost forgotten.

In March this year, Han Zhang, the governor of Julu County, had already sent a memorial, but that time, he asked the court to allocate money and food and open canals for drinking water. At that time, it seemed that it had been mentioned that Julu County had not rained since the beginning of spring, and the water level in the rivers had dropped. Many of the original watered fields could not reach the water, and it was necessary to go further and dig canals for drinking water. I remember that I allocated some money and food at that time.

This is probably the reason why Zhang Liang told this matter as a joke. After all, how can anyone take the same thing and take advantage of the imperial court over and over again? Even if you ask for money or food from the court, you must at least find a fresher reason.

Zhao Ying couldn't help but feel a thump in his heart, and suddenly raised his head to look at Zhang Liang standing aside.

“It hasn’t rained yet in Julu County?”

Zhang Liang didn't expect that Zhao Ying would suddenly care about this, and immediately nodded seriously.

"Back to Your Highness, judging from the news coming from various places in Julu, it is indeed the case. However, because the local officials are quite diligent, they have expanded the canals in advance and most of the land has been watered. Although the food production will be affected. The impact will be severe, but it probably won’t be as severe as what Commander Han said..."

However, before he finished speaking, he couldn't continue because he found that Zhao Ying, who had a relaxed face at first, had become extremely serious at this moment.

More than three months have passed and still not a single decent rain has fallen!

If I remember correctly, in fact, Julu County has not had a few decent rains since the beginning of autumn last year, and last year, there was no snow for the whole winter. At that time, there was actually a drought. Signs.

It's just that after the Chinese New Year, I went out on inspection for the First Emperor, so I didn't pay attention to it or think much about it.

"Where is the memorial from Julu County? Bring it to me!"

Zhang Liang was just joking about this matter at first, but now that Zhao Ying reacted like this, his expression suddenly became serious, then he walked aside and quickly found this memorial from Julu County.

There is already a mark from the cabinet on it.

It was suggested that the court could appropriately reduce or reduce local taxes, but as for the serious situation mentioned above, the nonsense of asking the court to quickly mobilize money and food, repair dams, and provide relief to the people was directly rejected.

This can be regarded as the normal behavior of the officials below.

Crying children are given sweets to eat. When the officials guarding the places below mention the difficulties within their own borders, they are eager to elaborate and compare them, saying that the people in the places they govern are living in dire straits.

In order to strive for the greatest help from the court.

Therefore, he stuffed this memorial at the bottom of the last category of memorials.

"Your Highness, please take a look——"

Zhang Liang held the memorial and handed it over with both hands. Zhao Ying didn't care about anything else and grabbed it directly. When he opened it, he saw the description on the memorial.

There has been no rain for several months, the river water has dropped, and some small lakes have dried up and cracked in large areas. Even if the summer grain can be harvested, if the drought continues, the autumn grain may not be harvested. The court must exempt taxes and allocate disaster relief. Matter and so on...

The more Zhao Ying looked, the more serious his face became.

He closed the memorial, paced back and forth on the spot, pondered for a long time, and then gave the instructions in a deep voice.

"Let Mr. Shi enter the palace to see me immediately!"

Soon, Shi Lu hurried over.

"Your Majesty Shilu, I have met His Highness..."

Zhao Ying smiled and nodded, asked Shi Lu to sit aside, and then said with a serious expression.

"Since the beginning of autumn last year, Julu County has not had a few decent heavy rains. Last winter, there was no snow. I am worried that a katydid disaster will come soon..."

When Shi Lu heard this, he suddenly took a breath of cold air, and even Zhang Liang beside him couldn't help but look shocked.

Catastrophe!

This is a name that made people talk about it in ancient times.

The so-called katydid plague is actually what later generations often call the locust plague.

In ancient times, due to the lack of corresponding means of killing, locust plagues became an extremely perennial disaster. Whenever they occurred, they would bring extremely heavy disasters to society.

For example, a case recorded in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian".

"(In the first year of Xingping), since there has been no rain in April, until this month, one bush of dendrobium is worth half a million, and people in Chang'an eat each other. The emperor ordered Hou Wen, the imperial censor, to go out of Taicang to make rice and beans for the poor, and they died of starvation. As before."

After a locust plague, the human tragedy of "cannibalism" occurred even in Chang'an, the capital, let alone a local place?
There are countless similar examples in history books.

In order to avoid locust plagues, the imperial court even held special sacrifices every year to pray for blessings from heaven, earth, ghosts and gods. But this thing, as long as it encounters a sustained drought and a slightly warmer winter, the probability of an outbreak will increase infinitely.

"Why did Your Highness say this..."

Shi Lu ignored the disrespect and spat three times on the ground.

Only then did he say it with lingering fear.

"Your Highness, you cannot say such things easily..."

Looking at this guy's nagging attitude, Zhao Ying couldn't help but laugh or cry.

"Is this unreasonable? In fact, the katydid disaster is not caused by the power of ghosts and gods. It has its own rules to follow. We can predict in advance based on the actual situation..."

Although Zhao Ying has now passed the stage of explaining to everyone, in order to popularize the knowledge of locust plague, Zhao Ying still patiently told him and Zhang Liang the process and principles of locust plague formation.

As for, how do you know?
Zhang Liang and Shi Lu naturally didn't dare to ask for details, but even if they asked, Zhao Ying was easy to deal with. In one sentence, it was just what they saw in the book, and his photographic memory was just like that——

The First Emperor collected the theories of various schools of thought in the world and made them available in Xianyang. There are so many books that it can really be described as a huge number. Even if anyone wants to verify it, it is not an easy task. What's more, with Zhao Ying's current situation, who dares to really stare and investigate what he said? Authentic?
Even if someone is brave enough, they can still explain it away with one sentence.

Forgot where I saw it...

There are so many unique books in the world. Just because you haven’t seen them doesn’t mean I haven’t seen them.

Originally, the two of them looked doubtful, but as they listened, their expressions couldn't help but change.

Although they don't understand why this is the case, it is not true. They naturally have their own way of identifying it. Your Highness, the Emperor's Grandson, said it in too detail. What's more, with his current local power, it is impossible for him to talk nonsense.

"Your Highness, do you have any good ideas?"

Shi Lu's eyes were full of seriousness, and he bowed to Zhao Ying solemnly.

Zhang Liang also looked at the learned emperor grandson without blinking.

In this era, although people did not think that the locust plague was caused by the power of ghosts and gods like some dynasties in later generations, and they did not even have the courage to hunt and kill them, the means of dealing with them were also extremely simple.

Apart from burning and burying, there was no other good way. At this time, he wanted to know if the emperor's grandson could have a good way to deal with the katydid disaster since he was right.

(End of this chapter)