Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 72 Ma Zhou's Visit
In the gazes of Xu Xian and many audiences gathered in the audience, Bai Suzhen just shook her head in embarrassment, and then after the anxious Xu Xian walked off the stage, Bai Suzhen called Xiaoqing again, saying that she wanted to be promoted to the altar, please ask Pilan Po Bodhisattva, however, it takes a lot of energy to invite Bodhisattvas. Xiao Qing persuaded her, but Bai Suzhen insisted. In the end, she lost her way and invited Pilanpo Bodhisattva, and Bodhisattva sent his son Pleiades to help her deal with the locust plague.

Then, on the stage, a Pleiades star officer wearing a chicken beak mask appeared, holding a bamboo stick in his hand, and drove dozens of chickens onto the stage.

"Everything in the world is born and restrained by each other. What these immature locusts are most afraid of is poultry. Let's see a certain army of [-] chickens descend to the realm and eat up the eggs of locusts."

Pleiades Star Officer actually had such a line, but it made the people listen to it like a treasure. It turned out that ungrown locusts are afraid of chickens. You only need to release chickens to eat the eggs, and the locust plague will not break out.

After Pleiades Star Officer drove the chicken off the stage, the scene of the stage changed to Bai Suzhen with a tired face, persuading Xu Xian who was in anxiety, saying that the danger of the locust plague was over, and reassuring him. The star official Pleiades boasted, but concealed the inside story that he had spent a lot of effort to accomplish this, and established Bai Suzhen's kind image. After that, the curtain began to fall, and Qin Han came to the stage to sing the curtain call with Xiaoqing.

"This opera is really interesting. Why did it stop after this moment? Erlang quickly ordered them to perform another part."

Seeing that the curtain would no longer rise after it fell, Li Yuan quit and pointed to the stage and said to Li Shimin.

"Uh, father, before this drama is staged, it needs to be rehearsed. It takes several days to rehearse for an hour-long piece. Today, it has been performed for an extra quarter of an hour. The following plots need to be rehearsed first. .”

Li Shimin explained a sentence, and Li Yuan realized that more than an hour had passed, and said, "So, then this drama will be staged again in the future, and I must watch it."

"Yes, father, it's getting late now, my son, let me send father back to the palace! After the drama at Wangjiang Tower is scheduled, my son will definitely bring father to see it again." Li Shimin returned very respectfully. In one sentence, he persuaded Li Yuan to return to the palace. If his time bomb was not placed in the heavily guarded forbidden palace, Li Shimin would not feel relieved to do other things. After all, there are now soldiers in Shandong, Youzhou, and even Jiangnan. The vassal power that helped Li Yuan restore has not been resolved!

Li Yuan gave Pei Ji a meaningful look, and then went back to the palace with Li Shimin's carriage. He knew that Pei Ji's painstaking effort to get him out of the palace must have deep meaning, but during the whole process of leaving the palace this time, Pei Ji didn't say a word. Speaking of serious matters, he only said, 'This drama is a must-see'.

Li Yuan is also a person who has experienced battles and rebellions. He immediately understood that Pei Ji had other arrangements, and this scene happened just now. Maybe he can become the supreme again, after all, Li Shimin is his son, on the surface, he dare not do anything to him.

In Li Shimin's luxurious carriage, the eunuch Wang Deyong knelt aside and beat his legs while saying, "Your Majesty, this old servant has been staring at Prime Minister Pei the whole time, and has not noticed any changes."

"Pei Ji is not a fool, of course he won't act the first time he comes out of the palace, he will honestly let Father watch the play a few times, and then take action after I become paralyzed." Li Shimin said with a cold face.

"That old slave will have to keep an eye on it from now on." Wang Deyong said in his heart when he heard the words.

"No, just stare at him once or twice, and then gradually relax. I want to see who this old ghost can lure out in the end."

"promise."

Wang Deyong knew in his heart that Li Shimin was planning to lure the snake out of the hole.

Pei Ji, who has been No. 1 in the Tang court for many years, can't be lonely. Now Li Shimin always consults with Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji and others no matter what happens. In front of him, how can he not be in a hurry, so he has been looking for a way out, until Sun Xiangfu came up with the drama, he thought of a plan to let Li Yuan out of the palace, so that he can hook up with ministers, vassal kings and local forces , to help Li Yuan regain the ruling power again, and only when Li Yuan regains the ruling power can he continue to be his No. 1 court.

That's why Pei Ji would rather offend people of seven clans and five surnames in the court, but also speak for Sun Xiangfu. He just wanted to save Sun Xiangfu's life so that the Wangjianglou drama could continue to be sung.

Sun Xiangfu, who was kept in the dark, thought that Pei Ji became his ally because of lawyer Pei, but he never thought, what qualifications does he have to become an ally with Pei Ji?What they are seeking is the power of the entire country, where is the petty profit of a restaurant.

The emperor's decree to all parts of Guanzhong was issued immediately after Li Shimin returned to the palace, ordering the local government to organize farmers to plow the farmland when the weather is fine. In addition, those who have the conditions can go outdoors to raise chickens. So, from the next day, the land of Guanzhong began to be lively again. The people understood Li Shimin's decree very well, because most of the masters above them had read the Legend of the White Snake in Wangjiang Tower and knew the way to fight against the locust plague. With the order, the tenants below are naturally only ordered to work.

Plowing the land shallowly and releasing chickens and ducks to eat insect eggs can only suppress the locust plague. Before the locust plague, the first thing to face is drought. Early in the morning, Sun Xiangfu was invited to the Ministry of Industry for a meeting. At that time, the new minister of the Ministry of Industry was Changsun Shunde, a fat old man in his 50s.

"Everyone has arrived, so I will tell you about His Majesty's request. This time, His Majesty handed over 23 Turkic captives to the Ministry of Industry. Before next year's spring plowing, the [-] places marked on this map will be built." Dam, build a reservoir, do you have a good plan?" Sun Shunde asked, pointing to a map on his desk.

This map was marked by Shi Dalang who spent nearly a month checking the terrain in various places in Guanzhong. Sun Xiangfu has read it many times and is familiar with it by heart. Shi Bao has already marked each place with a number. Among them, No. 13, No. 3000 and No. [-] areas involve a huge amount of work, which can be completed by sending a large number of people first. The other [-] places, all It is a small project, with a team of [-] people, it will be completed in a few days, and it will not be difficult to complete it before the spring of next year."

"That's very good. Since your Fisheries Department is more familiar with the situation, then let your Fisheries Department take the lead, and the Water Superintendent will assist you. I will inform the Ministry of War and transfer the left and right military guards, and the soldiers from the left and right guards will help supervise the prisoners. , if you can complete the tasks assigned by His Majesty on time, I will ask for credit for you."

All right!I also met a boss who didn't do much. Sun Xiangfu, who thought there would be a clear division of labor, took over the power of the entire project with just one sentence. Therefore, the meeting of the Ministry of Industry broke up after only a quarter of an hour. The junior officials of the seventh and eighth rank followed Sun Xiangfu to the Fisheries Department Yamen.

"More than 7 Turkic captives eat, drink, and scatter, and supervise dozens of construction sites. This is a busy man!"

Sun Xiangfu complained, and immediately thought of his allies. With the help of General Zuoweiwei Qin Qiong and Zuoweiwei General Cheng Yaojin, they can implement military control on the Turkic captives. As for the money and food consumed, okay? After Changsun Shunde passed a hand, he lost [-]% of the money. Now it seems that he can only strive to finish the work ahead of schedule to save the money and food embezzled by him. Therefore, Sun Xiangfu spends all day drawing pictures in the yamen, and let The officials of the Ministry of Industry responsible for making tools took the lead in getting busy.

To do a good job in advance, you must first sharpen your weapon!After Sun Xiangfu had been busy in the Yamen for two days, the army was finally able to escort the Turkic prisoners to the construction site. Sun Xiangfu only regretted that he did not have a capable assistant under his command. My wife has no time to practice singing and rehearsal.

At the Laolongshan No. 20 reservoir construction site, tens of thousands of Turkic captives began to transport soil and ram the ground under the whip of Tang Jun. Sun Xiangfu visually estimated that after the construction of this most promising geomantic treasure, it would be at least ten times larger than the fishing ground in Xingfu Village. Moreover, there are two mountain streams that can continuously inject water into the reservoir to increase oxygen. In addition, due to the high mountains on both sides, this dam can also be built very high. It is not a problem to store more than [-] meters of deep water. This kind of large and deep reservoir Once the water injection is completed, the surrounding fields within dozens of miles will not have to worry about irrigation. I just hope that there will be more rains in the coming spring!
"My lord, there is a scholar outside the camp asking to see him. He said he is a guest of General Chang He's residence, his name is Ma Zhou."

"General Chang He? Oh, what did you say? His name is Ma Zhou? Why does this name sound so familiar?"

After a while, a man dressed as a scholar in his 20s was led into the camp.

"Caomin Ma Zhou, my lord."

Sun Xiangfu took a few glances at Ma Zhou, who was dressed in sackcloth, and suddenly remembered a TV series he had watched. It seemed that this guy was a famous minister in the middle and late stages of Zhenguan, and even became a prime minister, so he said politely, "Don't be too polite, I am The official heard that you are a visitor to General Chang He's residence, you must be a person of talent and learning, and you are here today, but what good advice do you have for this official?"

"The grassroots are so insignificant that they dare not call it a good strategy in front of adults." Ma Zhou clasped his hands.

Indeed, Sun Xiangfu was overjoyed when he heard the words, and pointed to Maza in the camp and said, "Please take a seat, Uncle De, and serve some wine, meat and cakes."

Ma Zhou was taken aback by Sun Xiangfu's sudden enthusiasm, but seeing Sun Xiangfu's sincere smile, he didn't say much. After sitting down, he said, "My lord, the grassroots have three strategies. I don't know if they will be useful. I don't know what to say. Alright, please don't blame me, my lord."

"Someone came to offer advice. It's too late for me to be grateful. How can you blame me? Tell me in detail."

Ma Zhou paused and said, "Since your lord knows that there will be a drought in the coming year and you want to build a dam to store water, the dam must be excavated a lot of soil, why don't your lord order the digging places to be centralized and orderly, by the way?" The local people dig ditches or dig wells, and in the coming year, the local people can also use these ditches and wells to irrigate crops, wouldn’t it kill two birds with one stone?”

Hearing this, Sun Xiangfu gave a thumbs up and said, "Wonderful! Before, I only thought about completing the project as soon as possible and saving more money and food for the court, but I didn't think of this."

Ma Zhou was praised by Sun Xiangfu, and there was a little smile on his face, and he said, "Your Excellency, you are overwhelmed. The imperial court completed the work earlier. These Turkic captives still have to be supported by the imperial court. Why not let them do more for me?" What is beneficial to the Tang Dynasty! Moreover, Caomin feels that after using these Turkic captives, His Majesty is probably unwilling to let them go back!"

Hearing this, Sun Xiangfu almost covered his face, but he didn't think in his head that these Turkic captives would be free to eat if the work was completed sooner. Now that Xieli and Tuli are evenly matched on the grassland, it is impossible for Li Shimin to let these Turkic people go back. Affecting the balance, since they all have to pay to support them, it is better to ask them to work more, the existing labor force is not used, and it is invalid when it expires!
(End of this chapter)