Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 57: One Year Closer to Xuanwu Gate

When he returned to his residence, it was already getting dark. Li Yuanji began to prepare the crabs he had caught, frying the small ones and roasting or steaming the larger ones.

After everything was done, Li Yuanji called Wang Xuance and others.

"You are in for a treat today. We are eating crabs, which Minghe and I caught together.

You guys should get to know each other, Minghe will work beside me in the future."

Wang Xuance and his companions were a little stunned. Seeing these crabs was enough to surprise them, but in just one day, another person came. Since Li Yuanji valued him and kept him by his side, he must be a good person.

After a few greetings, they got to know each other, and then looked at Li Yuanji.

"My lord, is this crab really edible?"

Li Yuanji directly picked up a steamed crab and started to work on it.

"Of course not. If I can't eat it, what am I going to do with it?"

Several people hesitated for a moment, picked up one each, and then watched how Li Yuanji ate it. Li Yuanji pried the crab open and saw that there was not much to eat inside. He was speechless for a while, but at least there was something, so he started eating.

Wang Xuance and his companions watched for a while, then followed their example and pried open the crab. Then, what should they do next?
Seeing Li Yuanji start to eat the second one, several people watched carefully this time. After seeing clearly, they started to move.

After some time, the ground was covered with crab shells, and everyone was still hungry and hungry.

"My lord, this crab is really delicious, fresh and tasty, but it's a pity that there are too few of them."

What could Li Yuanji do after hearing this? The crabs in the ditch were like this, generally not big in size. There were a few that were particularly large, but they were very few, and there were not many that could be eaten, and they were not the kind that could be fed.

Hmm? Feeding?

Li Yuanji felt that he had found a new way to make money. Breeding seemed like a good idea?

Then Li Yuanji stopped thinking about it. He thought that this matter could not be rushed now and he would have to wait until later.

"There's nothing we can do about this crab, but there are also some with more meat. If you have the chance to encounter them later, you can get them and eat them. No one in the entire Tang Dynasty eats this stuff. Zhijun, you can keep an eye out to see if there are any larger crabs in the sea. Then you can sell them to the Tang Dynasty and make some money back."

Feng Zhixun below immediately agreed.

"Your Majesty, I understand. I will pay attention next time. If I catch a crab, I will keep this delicious crab."

Afterwards, they chatted for a while, made some food and started eating. After all, the crab really couldn't eat enough, and if it didn't eat some food, it would probably starve.

"My lord, the food we have now can only last for another half a month. If the supplies don't arrive, most of the people here will probably starve."

After dinner, Li Yuanji also had a headache listening to Wang Xuance talking about this heavy topic.

"Hold on, and reduce the amount appropriately. However, we must make it clear to the people and tell them that we can resume operations when the supplies arrive.

By the way, now that we eat fish every day, have you ever gotten tired of it and don’t want to eat it anymore? Does anyone have any complaints about this?”

When Li Yuanji mentioned this, Ning Chun spoke.

"Your Majesty, in today's world, having something to eat is good enough, and having fish is even more rare. Although Haikang is close to the sea, there are not many people who can eat fish.

Now we have fish and fish soup for every meal, so who would dislike it? We wish we could have meat every meal in the future." Everyone laughed when they heard Ning Chun's words. Li Yuanji also felt that he was overthinking. He was so confused between going hungry and eating meat.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, the seventh year of Wude passed and the eighth year of Wude arrived. There was only a little over a year left before the so-called Xuanwu Gate Incident. However, Li Yuanji had no time to think about these things at the moment.

Because the food problem was becoming increasingly tense, Li Yuanji was already extremely worried about this matter. Even though he now had 90 contribution points, he couldn't be happy.

At this time, Yu Minghe hurried in.

"Your Majesty, General Yuwen sent a letter saying it will arrive in three days. The princess and General Xi are further behind, so it will take at least a month for them to arrive."

Li Yuanji was immediately happy when he heard the good news. The supplies that arrived first included not only food, but also craftsmen and iron. Now he finally had the people and materials needed for various constructions, and the construction in the city could be accelerated.

"Okay, go tell Wang Xuance and Ning Chun the news, and have them pass it on to the people. Tell them to be patient for three more days, and everything will be fine after three days."

Since reducing the amount of grain, Li Yuanji has become more and more uneasy as time goes by. What he is most worried about is that the people will cause chaos, and he will not be able to deal with it at that time.

Mutiny and rioting must be dealt with, this rule cannot be broken, otherwise who will believe in it in the future?

But if they were dealt with or killed, the construction of this place would be delayed again. There are already few people, and if another group is killed, there will be even fewer people. It will also cause the people to become disloyal, which is not what Li Yuanji wants to see.

Fortunately, after spending so much time together, these people not only did not cause trouble, but were very understanding. Some even took the initiative to reduce their food, as long as the children had food to eat.

Even among the teasing people led by Yang Shu, no one caused trouble. Although they ate less, they still worked the same as before, which made Li Yuanji very pleased.

Until these two days, when Wang Xuance told him that even if he reduced the amount of food, it would only be enough for seven days, he was really worried. Fortunately, Yuwen Hu and Yang Jianhe were about to arrive with the baggage.

Just when Li Yuanji was happy, Xie Shufang also hurried over.

"My king, my king, good news. Those salt ponds have all had crystal clear crystals at the bottom. They are the same as what you said, and they are quite thick."

Li Yuanji was filled with ecstasy.

"Go, go now!"

Li Yuanji hurried to the salt field and went straight to a salt pond. Looking at the white crystals at the bottom, Li Yuanji's eyes were as obsessed as if he saw his first thought. He had been waiting for this crystal for more than half a month.

"Shu Fang, have someone shovel some up with a wooden shovel."

Xie Shufang then found a wooden shovel with a long handle, which was specially made by Li Yuanji for shoveling these crystals.

After a while, Xie Shufang scooped up a shovelful of crystals and brought it to Li Yuanji. After Li Yuanji touched it with his hand, he became even more excited.

"Okay, okay! Uncle Fang, we succeeded. This crystal is salt!

Now take some people to get the wooden barrel I prepared, then put all the crystals in the salt pond into the barrel and transport it to the river.

Minghe, go to the military camp now and bring 500 men with you. First, take all the wooden basins and bamboo sieves that I have prepared to the river.

Go ahead and get moving now.”

(End of this chapter)