Straight man of steel

Chapter 111 God's will or man?

Chu Da would bring some new news to Zhang Yuan when he came to Zhang's mansion every other month.

Regarding the physical condition of Empress Dowager Dou, no one can know better than their young supervisors.

Zhang Yuan can't remember the exact date of the incident, and he can only infer the historical trend from these news.

Potatoes grew in May. Since the field was planted with soybeans last year, the fertility was sufficient, and the potato seeds in Zhang Yuan’s field did not lose much. There is no need to hide crops and other things from others. Chu Da pulled a full cart and sent it to Jianzhang Palace.

And repeatedly asked that this substance is as weakly poisonous as taro, and it cannot be eaten when it turns blue.

If the key things are not explained clearly, it would not be good for Liu Che to cut off his own head after eating too much.

It took more than a month before Liu Che made a decree.

Jiajue Zuo Shuchang, a reward of a hundred gold.

In the two years without an official position, the title has gradually risen to Zuo Shuchang, which made Zhang Yuan feel much more comfortable.

For nothing else, this time he was on an equal footing with Chu Da.

"I would like to congratulate you, Chief Zuo. You will be favored by His Majesty and you will rise to great heights soon."

Seeing Chu Da bowing slightly to him as a parity, Zhang Yuan felt very comfortable in his heart. Chu Da belonged to the kind of high-ranking and low-ranking officials. A discerning person can tell who is more favored at a glance.

"Brother Chu was joking. If you hadn't been protecting the Zhang family, there would be many people who would come to seek trouble and seek benefits."

Potatoes are already a staple food for Zhang Yuan, and this was clearly mentioned in the memorial to Liu Che. Planting potatoes during famine years can prevent the people in a place from starving to death due to lack of food.

As a crop that can replace corn and wheat, and this kind of food is resistant to cold, drought, and barrenness, it can be planted in bitter cold places. It is a crop that saves water, fertilizer, medicine, and labor.

Zhang Yuan thought that Liu Che granted him a title because he could benefit the people, but he was still too young.

"Since you call me Brother Chu, I'll call you Ayuan because I'm older.

A Yuan, you don't know how happy His Majesty is after seeing this potato.

He said that if this was used as military rations, the army would no longer have to worry about food problems when going on an expedition. "

The emperor, who was full of thoughts of washing away his shame and expanding his territory, could think of military affairs no matter what he saw.

When he first saw watermelon, even if Liu Che liked it in his heart, he only tasted it, and controlled his desire very well. No matter how delicious the food was, it couldn't shake his determination.

Chu Da also received some awards this time, and talked a little more than usual.

"Your Majesty has ordered ten thousand acres of fertile land to be opened up in Hugu, south of Huxian County. If you want to plant potatoes, you may have to say sorry to Ayuan today. Basically, the potatoes in your field will be used as seeds.

Your Majesty allows you to keep some. Thinking about tens of thousands of acres of fertile land planted with potatoes, I, a big man, will have the confidence to go on an expedition. "

Hehe, Zhang Yuan only had these two words in his heart, not to mention that all the potatoes in his field would be less than [-] mu, even if he could plant [-] mu of land, it would not be enough for an army of [-] people to consume.

Liu Che was just testing the reaction of Empress Dowager Dou and the officials below, to see if there were any different opinions on his future policy against the enemy.

In front of Chu Da, he said that he would use potatoes as military rations and plant them vigorously. Any fool could tell that Liu Che could no longer bear his desire to use the army.

"Brother Chu, for the sake of the country and the people, I, Zhang Yuan, are willing to lose my mind. In the past two days, I will ask Lao Zhao and the others to dig out all the ground and send it to the official residence of Shanglin Yuanling."

Potatoes can be planted twice a year without much fertility, which is why Liu Che can't wait.

"Ayuan, I have always been very relieved when you handle things."

I don't know what kind of reward Liu Che gave Chu Da, which made him happy all afternoon. He didn't take the initiative to mention it, and he didn't bother to ask.

The population of the Zhang Mansion has reached 200 in the past few years, and more than half of them are children, which has also added a lot of vitality to the Zhang Mansion.

On sunny days, people at home always like to sit in the shade with a piece of watermelon and feel the mountain breeze.

The children scooped and ate the half-circle watermelon with wooden spoons one by one.

Wearing light gauze, Xiao Qing also scooped out the seedless watermelon with a spoon and put it on the plate beside Zhang Yuan.

In this way, Zhang Yuan can hold a bamboo stick, put it in his mouth, and lean on the bamboo chair so comfortably.

There is always a jug of iced soy milk on the side. Although eating watermelon will not make you thirsty, Zhang Yuan still likes to crush the watermelon without seeds, pour some soy milk on it, and drink it while stirring.

This enjoyment is incomparable, and it is wonderful to have a bottle of rum mixed with it.

When the temperature is high, it is torture to go to work in the fields, but women can weave silk into silk.

The reason why Shu brocade is called brocade is that the people of Shu have mastered the dyeing skills beyond other places. Unfortunately, these women from Sunjia Village don’t know how to dye, so they can only weave it into pure silk and sell it. , the price gap is very large.

Zhang Yuan only knows about dyes, but he doesn't know how the dyes are mixed.

When summer came, Liu Che didn't want to stay in the sweltering Chang'an City. Ganquan Palace in the north was the residence of Empress Dowager Dou, so Liu Che had no choice but to go to Dinghu Yanshou Palace on the edge of Lantian Mountain to escape the heat.

In order to maintain ventilation, the gates of the Zhang Mansion and the courtyard doors of various places are all open. Standing outside the gates of the mansion, one can directly see Zhang Yuan sitting in front of the main building.

The old man and the adults who were playing with the children fell silent for a moment, and the women who were weaving the silk also stopped their work. The whole Zhang Mansion became quiet for a moment, and only the sound of slow movements could be heard. The wind and cicadas shouting outside the house.

Sensing that something was wrong with the atmosphere, Zhang Yuan opened his eyes and slowly raised his head, and then saw Liu Che standing outside the mansion gate under a giant umbrella.

Liu Che seemed to be in a very bad mood. It could be seen from the fact that all the Lang Guan attendants around him lowered their heads, and no one dared to say anything, including Wang Sui, who also lowered his head, but made a gesture with his two palms. Kneeling action.

Zhang Yuan trembled all over, sighed inwardly, ran down the hall regardless, and knelt down in front of Liu Che.

"Your Majesty came to the humble house, and the minister failed to meet him from a distance. It is indeed the crime of the minister."

Liu Che glanced at Zhang Yuan, and let out a cold snort in conjunction with his two nostrils and his chest, which made Zhang Yuan feel cold all over in this summer.

Seeing Liu Che walking inside, Wang Sui hurriedly called the surrounding followers to follow, then lifted Zhang Yuan, helped him up, and whispered to Zhang Yuan in a voice that no one else could hear.

"Your Majesty is not happy today, but it's not because of you. Please take good care of me and don't offend Your Majesty."

Zhang Yuan glanced at Wang Sui gratefully, and walked towards Liu Che together.

There is a complaint in my heart.

Ma De, if you are not in a good mood, why do you come here to scare me? Good times only last a few days and it will not make people live comfortably.

"The countries from Nanyang, Runan to Dongjun are all plagued by locusts. Your life here is quite leisurely."

As soon as Liu Che happened, Zhang Yuan understood the reason for his unhappiness. If he had known that there was a locust plague somewhere, Zhang Yuan would have ordered everyone in his family to complain.

When others are suffering from disaster, the quiet and peaceful scene in his own home will definitely make Liu Che feel uncomfortable.

"I really don't know that there is a locust plague among the people. I have [-] dan of food stored at home. I am willing to donate all of it to the disaster area."

The autumn harvest will be in two months, and the old grain in Zhang Yuan's house is almost exhausted. In addition, there is not much grain grown on the [-] mu of land, so only five hundred shi can be produced.

The expression on Liu Che's face softened a lot when he heard that there was only five hundred shi of food in storage, but he still asked people to go to the warehouse in Zhang's mansion to check.

"Every time there is a disaster, all the ministers say that they have no food at home, and they all write letters saying that I have done something wrong, and God will punish my people. Zhang Yuan, you usually have many ideas, come and tell me, is it? It's not that I did anything wrong."

Now under Liu Che's nose, Wang Sui did not dare to give Zhang Yuan the slightest hint. Zhang Yuan could only solve everything by himself.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the natural disaster occurred not because Your Majesty did something wrong, but because this winter was not very cold, and most of the eggs of the pests were preserved. Then the lack of rain in the spring gave the locusts an opportunity to grow. This causes them to multiply in large numbers and trigger a locust plague."

It was obvious that Liu Che couldn't understand what Zhang Yuan said, and he saw confusion appear on his face, and he returned to normal after a while, and asked Zhang Yuan.

""Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals" said that if the emperor implements government orders in summer that can only be implemented in spring, it will lead to locust plagues."

Damn it, Zhang Yuan let out a roar in his heart, but his expression remained normal.

Where did he know what was written in "Lu's Spring and Autumn"? There was something wrong with the ancients. As long as it was about ancient things and ancient books, they were all right.

Everyone worships the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors every day. This is a retrogression of history.

"I thought that the book "Lushi Chunqiu" was only applicable to the previous dynasty. Our great Han Dynasty was far stronger than the Qin Dynasty, the people were richer, and the monarch was more capable. We should not use the old point of view to explain what is happening now. If we follow the standards of our predecessors in everything, we will only be worse than the previous generation."

Liu Che glanced at Zhang Yuan with satisfaction and said to Wang Sui.

"Wang Sui collected some insect eggs this autumn and cultivated them according to Zhang Yuan's instructions. I want to see whether it's because of the environment or if I really made a mistake and offended the heavens."

Liu Che didn't care much about the truth, as long as he didn't shake his own fundamentals. This was just to shut up the ministers in the DPRK, so as to avoid such a thing from happening again in the future. Each one of them would jump out and speak out about themselves. It's not.

"My servant must do what Zhang Zuo said."

Getting a different statement from Zhang Yuan made Liu Che very excited. He ordered his servants to pick watermelons in the melon field outside Zhang's mansion, and sat down on Zhang Yuan's original seat.

This made Zhang Yuan mutter in his stomach again.

A group of people ate and drank in Zhang Yuan's place, and they stayed until the sun went down and it was no longer so hot outside before leaving.

(End of this chapter)