Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

Hearing this, the man who Lu Chen first spoke to hurriedly responded: "Craftsman Zhao Dahu, from Xingping County, Shuntian Prefecture."

Several other people also spoke one after another.

"Caomin Zhou Da, from Jiuqu County, Shuntian Prefecture."

"Grassman Lin Feng, from Heng County, Shuntian Prefecture."

"..."

After listening to their introduction, Lu Chen couldn't help but take another look at Zhao Dahu.

Xingping County... Isn't that the county where his fief is located?

However, he has not sealed it yet, and has not determined the scope of the fief, so naturally there is no food town, so Zhao Dahu is definitely not his leader.

Otherwise, if the people in his food town were conscripted into labor, this matter would have to be discussed.

Shaking his head, Lu Chen stopped thinking about it, and then asked them how much work they had to do a day, whether there was a target, what would happen if they failed to complete the target, whether there would be a reward for completing the target, how about the food provided by the government, and whether they would be full.

Zhao Dahu was silent for a moment, and then slowly opened his mouth, but he didn't answer directly, and then asked suddenly: "My lord, Xiaomin...Xiaomin wants to ask you a question first."

Lu Chen looked at him with some surprise. This man is quite courageous. If he were any other official, he might have to take dozens of sticks.

However, he would not be annoyed by the other party's rhetorical question, so he simply nodded.

"Don't be cautious, as long as it is a question that can be answered by your own senses, let alone one, ten or hundreds are fine, you can ask whatever you want."

Chapter 183

Hearing what Lu Chen said, the others looked at Zhao Dahu nervously.

Although this uncle is a nice person, his temper is too straightforward and he doesn't have a heart. If he accidentally asks some question that shouldn't be asked and annoys this young and shameless big shot, then they will be finished.

Under the tense eyes of several people, Zhao Dahu asked in a trembling tone: "My lord, you...have you ever said...the people...the people are the most precious, and the people are water or something?"

Lu Chen thought for a while, and then said directly: "The people are more important than the king? The people are water, and the king is a boat?"

Zhao Dahu nodded vigorously: "Yes, Erhu seems to have said so!"

Hearing this, Lu Chen vaguely remembered something.

I remember that when Xia Yan, the No. [-] backstab guy, was interrogated by the third division, among the Yongchuan people who came all the way from Yongchuan County to hand over the Wanmin letter to save Xia Yan, there seemed to be something called Erhu.

But this little matter seems to be nothing to worry about, so he didn't think about it too much, nodded directly, and admitted:

"Well, that's what I said."

After the words fell, Zhao Dahu breathed a sigh of relief as if he had confirmed something, and then he uttered the questions that Lu Chen had just asked.

The people who were conscripted into labor had to work for nine of the twelve hours a day, and each person still had a workload every day. If it was less than this amount, the food would be reduced according to the less, and it would not be enough to fill the stomach. It was even harder to finish the work, and I could only watch the food gradually dwindle.

Then, if no family members come to deliver meals, they will basically either die of exhaustion or starve to death on the construction site.

There is indeed a reward for completing the workload, but the reward is just an extra bowl of so-called broth with no oil or water in it. As for the food provided by the government, it is even more difficult to describe. They have never tried it without eating sand. The so-called thick porridge is so "thick" that it is almost difficult to stand up with chopsticks, and the pancakes given can almost be used as blunt weapons to kill people, and there is only a small piece.

Eat less and work more, if you don't do well, you have to be beaten and starved, even if you do well, there is almost no reward, the rest time is short, and there is a strict time limit for going to the toilet.

Sometimes the officials are in a bad mood, such as losing money, or failing to be the guest of a certain girl or Mr. Rabbit, and they will find all kinds of excuses to vent their anger on them.

It has been just over a month since the renovation of the Wuji Palace and the arrangement of the New Yuan Ceremony started. As far as Zhao Dahu knows, there are no less than ten servants who have died of violent deaths.

After listening to his story, Lu Chen's heart became more and more heavy.

In ancient times, labor was indeed a more terrible thing than tax items...

Then he raised his head, staring at the scars on several people who were clearly left by whipping, a look of regret flashed in his eyes.

Working for free, you have to endure bullying by officials. If you are unlucky, you will be responsible for your life here.

In ancient society, human life was indeed worthless.

Compared with this, modern society is simply a fairyland on earth.

Moreover, the people of Central Continent will be threatened by evil cultivators, evil spirits, monsters, natural disasters, spiritual disasters, etc. Maybe when an evil cultivator who has practiced some kind of kung fu that needs to dig out the marrow and eat the heart will pass by, All the people in an entire area will die tragically.

Compared with it, the ancient society before he traveled didn't seem so bad.

"grown ups…"

Seeing Lu Chen's silence, Lin Feng asked nervously, "Do you have anything else to ask?"

Lu Chen suddenly came back to his senses, then shook his head and said, "No more."

As he said that, he stood up directly, patted the dust on the back, then stretched out his hand to stop Zhao Dahu and the others from getting up, told them to take a good rest, then turned and walked towards another construction site.

Afterwards, he roughly inspected the entire Promise Palace.

It seems that the renovation project and the layout of the New Yuan Ceremony are halfway through. According to this progress, it should be completed before the New Yuan Ceremony.

Of course, the premise is that everything goes smoothly and there are no twists and turns in the middle.

Finally, Lu Chen came to the warehouse where various things such as spirit stones, special stones from Tianhe Mansion, spells, etc. were placed.

Several petty officials followed behind him.

"Lord Lu."

One of the clerks said with a smile: "Although the warehouse is not dirty, but all kinds of spirit-controlling objects inside are piled up together, and the surrounding aura may be a little abnormal, which may not only hurt the adults, but also cause harm to you." The spiritual root of the adult has an influence, and there are many more..."

"You're full of nonsense, why don't you go and write a book?"

Lu Chen snorted softly, and said decisively:

"Stop talking nonsense, where is the spirit key? Hurry up and open the vault door for me!"

Seeing that Lu Chen was so strong, they had no choice but to follow suit.

But when they opened the door, the two of them gave each other a wink inexplicably.

click...

The heavy warehouse door opened, and Lu Chen walked in without hesitation, then went straight to the place where the spirit stones were piled up, randomly took out one of the blue spirit stones piled up in a small hill, then closed his eyes, Perceive carefully.

After a while, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Yes, the spiritual power is pure, and it is a top-grade spiritual stone."

Hearing this, the eyes of several small officials relaxed slightly, and then one of them smiled flatteringly and said: "Of course, this is something used in the palace, and the quality is naturally not bad, otherwise, your majesty will blame it, and no one will take care of it." I'm sorry..."

Another little official also continued: "Moreover, the Lingshi in the palace has always been provided by the Duke of Yan. The Duke of Yan has been loyal and good for generations, and the Dukes of Yan have been loyal to the court and respected His Majesty. How could this be possible? Will you do such disrespectful things as shoddy?"

"That's right, Duke Yan is absolutely trustworthy. It is said that every spirit stone supplied to the palace must be carefully confirmed by the nobles of Duke Yan's mansion, and it will only be shipped to the capital after confirming that it is a top-grade spirit stone."

A few people talked about Yan Guogong's kind words, but they didn't notice that the corner of Lu Chen's mouth showed a meaningful arc.

"Spiritual stones are indeed good, but...a top-grade spiritual stone costs 500 taels of silver, isn't it a bit ridiculously expensive?"

Hearing this, the voices of several people stopped abruptly.

Lu Chen threw the spirit stone back casually, and continued, "Although it's normal for good things to be more expensive, when I was the governor of Yu and Sui states, I knew a lot about prices. You know, the general high-grade spirit stone is about 250 taels of silver, and I have seen its fineness, and it seems to be no different from the spirit stone of the Duke of Yan's mansion."

"That, Mr. Lu, you don't know something..."

A small official said softly: "The spirit stones in the Duke of Yan's mansion have much less impurities than ordinary high-grade spirit stones, and the spiritual power contained in them is also extremely pure. It can be used to arrange magic circles..."

Lu Chen smiled coldly: "Can it be twice as high as the high-grade spirit stones in other places?"

As soon as the words fell, the faces of all the petty officials froze slightly.

Chapter 184 New Officials Are Not Old Official Accounts

Facing Lu Chen's questioning, a petty official's heart sank.

"Lord Lu."

He raised his head, glanced at Lu Chen, and then replied as calmly as possible: "You may not know much about the spirit stones produced by the Duke of Yan, their spirit stones are abundant in the Longquan Secret Realm, and the spirit stones mined from it , in addition to the pure spiritual power that a high-grade spirit stone should have, it also has a trace of real dragon spirit, which is an extremely precious treasure, and no emperor can rely on it..."

"A spirit stone is a spirit stone."

Lu Chen interrupted expressionlessly:

"I have a friend who is very proficient in formations. She told me that in formations, the only role of spiritual stones is to provide massive spiritual power to start and maintain the operation of the formation. The only criterion for evaluation is the original spiritual power. The purity and magnitude of the original spiritual power are due to the need to quickly absorb the original spiritual power when the large array is operating. The higher the quality of the spiritual stone, the higher the purity and magnitude of the original spiritual power under the same volume, and the efficiency of supplying the original spiritual power is higher. The faster, this top-grade spiritual stone from Duke Yan's Mansion, even if it is said to be shocking, its essential function is still the same as other spiritual stones?"

As soon as the words fell, the shoulders of several petty officials trembled slightly.

Lu Chen asked again in a cold voice: "The effect is the same, but the price is twice as expensive. In this case, why not buy ordinary high-grade spirit stones, can the emperor's Dao formation only use the spirit stones from the Duke of Yan's mansion? Without their high-grade spirit stones, can't the grand formation be activated?"

Hearing this, a small official hesitated for a moment, and then responded with a humble face: "My lord, since the Duke of Yan's mansion opened up the space channel to the secret realm of Longquan in the third year of Xuanping until now, for more than 50 years, the imperial court has always been Those who purchased high-grade spirit stones from the government of Yan State, before them, in the years after the government of Sui State, which originally supplied the spirit stones, was punished for treason, there were always problems with the spirit stones purchased by the court from time to time, so that the formation occasionally failed , It even caused the formation to be destroyed once, and tens of thousands of taels of silver were used to restore the formation, but after using the Lingshi from the Duke of Yan's mansion, there was no problem again."

After a pause, the little official said again: "The spirit stones in Duke Yan's mansion are a bit more expensive, but you get what you pay for, at least you can rest assured, this alone is worth a lot of money, and, Your Majesty is the Supreme Being in the world, and Ziji City is the center of Central Continent, how can you use ordinary spirit stones in the royal formation? Only supreme treasures can be used by the imperial court, this is the highest respect for Your Majesty!"

At this time, another small official took over the conversation and said: "Master Lu, my Great Xia Dynasty has a vast land and abundant resources, and Your Majesty is rich all over the world. How can you care about such a small amount of money? You are so meticulous in calculating, it seems that the court is a bit petty, and it will even attract people. If His Majesty doesn't like it, it may be bad for you in the future."

Lu Chen glanced at them, and didn't bother to pay attention to the last little official's reminder that seemed to be for his own good. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully:

"Oh? In the past few decades, the imperial court's Lingshi expenses have always been paid by the Duke of Yan?"

Several people nodded.

"Exactly, the spirit stones produced in the Longquan Secret Realm are famous all over the world, and one stone is hard to find. It is also thanks to the loyalty of the father-in-law of Yan State. If there is any good thing, we must first think of the court, so that we can use the Longquan spirit stone that can make people feel at ease. "

"Don't look at the high price of Longquan spirit stones. In fact, the government of Yan State didn't make much money. After all, the secret land of Longquan is extremely dangerous and difficult to mine. Its mining and transportation costs are extremely high. I don't know how much it will give out just for the pension. .”

"So……"

The corner of Chen's mouth slightly raised, revealing a cold smile.

"That is to say, the Lingshi veins in the Longquan Secret Realm have been mined for more than 50 years. Under the great consumption of many heaven-level formations such as the Ziji City and the Luojing City Protection Formation, they have not been exhausted. Until now, they have continued to grow. Supply high-grade spirit stones to the imperial court, right?"

As soon as these words came out, the complexions of several people changed again.

As we all know, high-grade spirit stones are extremely rare. Generally speaking, if there are one percent of high-grade spirit stones in ordinary spirit stone veins, it is already a very good rich mine, and spirit stones are still non-renewable. It took tens of thousands of years to slowly form, but the Lingshi veins in Longquan Secret Realm have been dug for more than 10 years...

"This... this... Longquan Secret Realm is unique, and the Lingshi veins are naturally unique."

Regarding these remarks, Lu Chen shook his head coldly.

"If there are too many things, they will naturally be worthless. I don't need to remind you of such a simple truth, right?"

Hearing this, several people didn't know what to say for a while.

Lu Chen continued: "Besides, who can be sure that the Duke of Yan's government purchased spirit stones from other places, put them in the Longquan Secret Realm, took them out, and then sold them to the court?"

click...