Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

"Well, for this Northern Expedition, His Majesty has suspended this year's scientific research. Although every battle is victorious, it must not relax the deduction of the battle situation because of this." Defang said, "Madam, you know, the Liao army at the border is now When it gets dark, I’m always afraid.”

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Among the Liao border people, there are many people who belong to the Song Dynasty, and many young and strong people spontaneously formed a gang to help our army resist the Liao invaders." Holding a teacup, Defang said, "There are even more brave people who sneaked into the enemy's city late at night, The head of the Liao army was captured and presented to our general."

"There is such a thing?" Concubine Di was very surprised. "If such a brave person can be recruited into the army, the battle will be smoother in the future."

"Yes, Your Majesty was very pleased when he heard about this, and immediately issued a decree to reward them. Your Majesty said that most of the people in the Liao border area are Han people. Because they are in a war zone, they are practicing during the slack season. If the imperial court rewards them, there will be more people. Many people were recruited into the army, so they ordered the troops from all walks of life. For those border residents who spontaneously form a gang to fight the enemy with the imperial army, the imperial court will provide food and weapons; , each prisoner will be rewarded with five thousand coins; those who capture the enemy's head will be rewarded with three thousand coins; those who capture the enemy's top horses will be rewarded with ten thousand coins; After pacifying Youzhou, those who are willing to enlist in the army will be given priority, and those who are willing to return to the countryside to work in agriculture will be exempted from paying taxes for three years. I heard that there are more and more border residents applying for recruitment."

"Then our army will be even stronger."

"Yes, this day is finally coming. When the armies from all walks of life capture the sixteen states, the door will open." Defang touched the jade buckle of the jade belt with his hand, "I will personally break that knife, and I am relieved." Emperor Taizu..."

Concubine Di looked at Defang and asked, "My lord, what door? What knife?"

Defang came back to her senses, "Oh, it's nothing... Open the gate of the sixteen states, break the sword of war, hehehe"

"My lord, what's so strange?" Concubine Di added some tea to Defang, "Did the good news make the lord think of the long-cherished wish of Emperor Taizu, which is about to be fulfilled now, so I feel a little emotional."

"Ma'am, what you said is, hehehe." Defang got up to look at the peony. "Well, ma'am, look at how colorful the peony is. People say that peony should be dry rather than wet, and the sun doesn't like the sun, so it moved into Nanqing Palace. The first thing I did was to let people choose this place to plant peonies."

"The first thing?" Concubine Di smiled, "Then what's the second thing?"

"The second thing is to put peonies in the bedroom so that they can be seen all year round."

"Inside the house? All year round?" Concubine Di was puzzled, "The concubine didn't see peony flowers or peony paintings in the room?"

Defang turned around and looked at Concubine Di, "Yes, didn't Madam see it when she looked in the mirror?"

"Look in the mirror?" Concubine Di was thinking, Defang approached and bowed and said softly, "Shh, Peony is thinking about something now."

Concubine Di looked at De Fang, and then she understood, "I hate it, the prince is always like this."

"Does the lady like it?"

"Don't be afraid of people's jokes, sit down and drink tea."

Defang smiled and sat back on the stone bench and said, "Madam, when I returned home today, someone from the household department told me that Deyi had a report to Beijing. There was a locust plague in the state, and it was very serious at that time. The sky was full of locusts. The officials and the people asked the government to set fire to drive them away. Deyi thought it was his fault, so God punished him for not managing the state capital well, so he began to eat fast and pray, which is strange to say In a few days, most of the locusts died, and the rest flew away, and the plague of locusts passed away like this. His Majesty was very happy to see the report, and ordered a reward."