I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 52
Although it is boiled mutton in a copper pot, the emperor ate not only mutton, but put in a plate of lotus root, Li Tian burped and said:
"I'm afraid the rain won't stop today. Let me tell you, all the concubines will live in Kunning Palace tonight."

When Li Tian said this, the faces of the four girls were all blushing, Zhang Qinghuan was shy, and the other three knew what the emperor was up to.

"Your Majesty must pay attention to the dragon's body." Empress Zhang pointed out.

"En?" Li Tianyang clenched his fists and said with a bit of feigned anger:

"The Queen thinks I'm not good enough?"

"Why not? Ah, oh, what are you talking about, Your Majesty, Qing Huan is still here."

Empress Zhang was taken aback, and then realized what Li Tian meant, and said in embarrassment and annoyance.

Concubine Shu and Concubine Hui haven't figured it out yet, and said with doubts on their faces:

"Sister, what does Your Majesty mean by saying no?"

Empress Zhang glared at Li Tian in embarrassment, and wanted to quickly expose the topic:

"Your Majesty is not interested, hurry up and pick up some vegetables, the sliced ​​lotus root will be cooked in a while."

"Ling'er, what are you thinking, don't misinterpret what I mean." Li Tian pursed his lips and smiled.

Empress Zhang pretended not to hear, and filled Li Tian with tea:

"Your Majesty, drink more tea and think about what to do if there is a flood in the south of the Yangtze River."

After being bored, Li Tian curled his lips noncommittally, but he really began to worry about Jiangnan in his heart.

Although Daming does have more than 200 state capitals and more than 1000 county towns, the entire north is considered to be sparsely populated. More than one-third of the country's population is concentrated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

And this is all thanks to the Yuan Dynasty.

After the Yuan Dynasty annihilated the Song Dynasty, fearing the huge population of the Han people, they carried out a genocide-like massacre across the north.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang moved a large number of people from the south to the north every year after the founding of the country, the population in the north is still sparsely populated.

The two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi together have less than 800 million people, and 200 million of them are soldiers and their families stationed on the frontier.

The south of the Yangtze River is densely covered with water networks and numerous rivers. Once a flood occurs, it will affect more than a dozen state capitals, and most of these places are the main food producing areas. Once a large-scale crop failure occurs, millions of people will inevitably rush to the north. come.

Originally, the sound of rain outside the hall and the laughter and laughter in the hall made Li Tian feel at ease, but when he thought that the south of the Yangtze River might be bigger than the one under the capital, Li Tian's heart ached.

He got up and walked to the window, looking at the heavy rain outside the window, Li Tian couldn't help frowning.

Seeing the emperor walking by the window, Jiang Bao's heart skipped a beat, he wiped his mouth, and hurriedly got up.

"Your Majesty is worried about the heavy rain in the south?"

"En." Hearing Jiang Bao's voice, Li Tian responded in a low voice, and said in a deep voice:
"In half a month, it will be the day when Jiangnan harvests autumn grain. If it rains so much in the south, it will be troublesome."

Hearing the worry in the emperor's heart, Jiang Bao thought for a while, and said in a respectful voice:

"Your Majesty, there are floods in the south of the Yangtze River every year. The imperial court has already had a set of methods to deal with it. If there is a disaster in the south of the Yangtze River, it will only take seven days for the news to reach the capital."

This is still good news. Li Tian frowned when he heard this, and turned to say:

"Which government office is responsible for the water conservancy on the Jiangnan side?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, Nanzhili is managed by the Water Conservancy Department of the Ministry of Industry over there, and the Chief Secretary's Right Counselor is in charge of water conservancy in Zhejiang."

Turning around and nodding, Li Tian said in a deep voice:

"Tell the Secretary of General Administration that if you have the documents from these two yamen, you don't need to go through the cabinet, but send them directly to my imperial case."

"Old slave understands."

Empress Zhang and the others were still cooking all kinds of dishes. Li Tian strolled back to his seat, saw his dishes piled up into a hill, and said with a smile on his face:

"It's really a great joy in life to have your concubines accompany me to eat shabu-shabu on a rainy day."

Queen Zhang regretted breaking Li Tian's good mood before, and took the initiative to say:
"The concubine will play cards with the two younger sisters in a while, will your majesty want to sit at the table with the concubines?"

Hearing that the queen wanted to play cards, Li Tian couldn't help thinking of mahjong and poker, and deliberately put on a sophisticated look and said:
"What's so interesting about playing cards? I know several things that are more interesting than bridge."

"More interesting than a card?" Empress Zhang was immediately aroused, and she tugged on Li Tian's arm and said coquettishly:

"Speak quickly, Your Majesty."

Mahjong won't be available for a while, but poker shouldn't be difficult. He called Jiang Bao to explain, and Li Tian smiled and said:

"I have sent Jiang Bao to the imperial prison to deliver a message, please wait a moment."

The copper pot was still gurgling, but Li Tian and all the concubines were already full. They wiped their hands and rinsed their mouths and changed a table. Li Tian tapped on the table and said:
"I'm in a good mood today. If you concubines have any rewards you want, you can tell me. If Miss Qing Huan has anything you want, you can also tell me."

"Food and clothing are all available in the palace, and there is nothing lacking for my daughter." Zhang Qinghuan said in a nonchalant way.

Queen Zhang also shook her head with a smile and said:
"There is nothing lacking in concubine body."

Concubine Shu and Concubine Hui looked at each other, but they didn't shake their heads to refuse. The emperor has many concubines, and they don't know when the next time the emperor will be lucky. Such a good opportunity should not be missed casually.

"Your Majesty, I have a maid who has been with me since I was a child, and I want to ask her for a marriage."

Concubine Shu thought for a moment, raised her eyes and said cautiously.

Li Tian nodded slightly, turned to Concubine Xu Hui and said:
"Concubine Hui, have you thought about it, I'm so talkative now, there's no such shop after this village."

Concubine Hui bit her lip, with a somewhat hesitant look on her face, she plucked up her courage and said:
"Chenqie. Chenqie wants to go back to her hometown to see her parents."

"Okay, I agree." Li Tian agreed, and said:

"Concubine Shu, if that maid of yours has a sweetheart and wants to leave the palace, just send someone to tell Jiang Bao or Wang Fu.

As for Concubine Hui, I will send you a team of Habayashi Guards to escort you back to your hometown. As for when you will come back, it is up to you. "

The two girls were all overjoyed when they heard the words, and they hurriedly stood up and bowed down to Xie En.

Smiling to let the two get up, Li Tian turned to look at Queen Zhang and said:
"Ling'er, no matter what grade the concubines in the harem are, if they want to go back to their hometown to see their parents, you will agree for me. As for the time and so on, you just have a good idea."

"The concubine obeys the order."

Empress Zhang bowed and said.

After waiting for a while, Jiang Bao came back with poker, explained the rules to the beauties, Li Tian started to shuffle the cards and said:

"Let me say it first, a handful of one tael of silver, whoever runs out of cards first will win, Qing Huan, you watch first, whoever loses the most will end."

At the beginning, Li Tian was invincible relying on his experience, and he won dozens of taels of silver in a while.But who knows what's behind.

Li Tian didn't know if it was because of his bad hands or what, but he just couldn't hold the big cards. Not only did he lose his previous wins, but he also took in seven or eight taels.

"Qing Huan, come and draw the cards for me, I don't believe it now!"

(End of this chapter)