Don't be a prince

"Idiot! When did Gu allow such intensive military training? Do you know that the so-called physical fitness is to force the body to repair and strengthen after causing damage to a person's body. The training plan formulated by Gu has already It is the limit, even if you want to strengthen it, you need to do it step by step. The result? You actually doubled it on this basis? Now in peacetime, you have trained and injured more than [-] soldiers. How do you call Gu to explain this to them? matter? Because of quick success?"

Yu Tai, who was yelled at by the prince for a while, knelt down on one knee, bowed his head and said nothing.

During the recent military training, he found that many soldiers still have a lot of energy after completing some projects.Therefore, he simply became cruel and directly doubled the amount of basic training.

But who ever thought that this doubling would cause a big problem.There were more than [-] soldiers who could not keep up with the sudden increase in training intensity, and their bodies were strained, and they did not recover after several days.

Yu Tai also knew that this matter was his own doing, so he didn't say a word.

"Okay, okay, what's the big deal, as for forcing Yu Tai into this?"

Hearing the voice from outside the door, Li Chengqian jumped up as if his buttocks had been pierced with nails.As for Yu Tai, he didn't get up, and simply changed the direction and knelt down.

The door of the study was pushed open, and all the court ladies and eunuchs were released.

Li Shimin and the eldest grandson walked into the study room together, and walked around the East Palace today. It was not easy for the eldest grandson who was already pregnant with Liujia. When he got here, he already needed the emperor's hand to help him.

Seeing the sweat on his mother's forehead, Li Chengqian quickly pushed the chair over and let her sit down.

After the tea was served, Li Chengqian said to Li Shimin: "Father, what makes my son angry is not Yu Tai's overstepping, but his attitude. The soldiers led by the crown prince are living people, not animals. Too much work on the cattle It will be exhausted, let alone people. This bastard didn't try it himself, so he ordered it directly, which is already stupid. More than [-] people have muscle strains, and I'm afraid they won't be able to recuperate for a while. It will cause psychological pressure on the rest of the soldiers."

Li Shimin didn't know what psychological pressure was, but seeing Yu Tai's blushing face, he still couldn't help pleading for his former subordinates: "It's just a strain. Who can't experience a soldier who has experienced fierce battles? There were no less than a hundred times of strain. The most severe one was the Hulaoguan Battle. After Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande's army were completely defeated, I dragged my exhausted body off the battlefield. After a good night's sleep, I was sore It’s like going through torture, and many soldiers of the Xuanjia Army who rushed to the battle with me even cried out in pain. Compared with these, the strains during training are nothing.”

After finishing speaking, Li Shimin patted Yu Tai on the shoulder, signaling him to leave.He stretched out his hand to take the tea from the Queen, and drained it in one go.

The Hulaoguan battle can be said to be the most dangerous battle since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.

Although I learned a little about it in the TV series, this history is obviously distorted.Instead of fantasizing on false cues, ask the person directly.

Regardless of Yu Tai who went out, Li Chengqian pushed a chair for the emperor's father, and asked with a smile: "Father, since you have spoken today, why don't you tell me about the Hulao Pass?"

The feeling of being admired by his son is naturally refreshing. He picked up the teapot without pouring it out. Li Shimin blew directly into his mouth and took another big gulp before saying: "If you want to talk about Hulaoguan, you must first talk about Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande. It's a pity, Cheng Qian, that you were born a little later, and you were not able to go to the battlefield with me. Only when you are actually on the battlefield, can you realize how dangerous that battle was..."

The emperor holding a teapot and telling stories is no different from ordinary storytellers.Because it is a personal experience, it only needs to match the tone of voice to vividly interpret the danger of the battle and the grief and indignation of seeing the soldiers dying around you.

Although the person concerned was telling the story, Li Chengqian couldn't help but draw a few black lines in his heart as he listened.

The story told by the emperor's father is obviously eroded by individual heroism.How many arrows can a quiver hold?From the beginning to the present, there are fifty or sixty arrows shot by him alone.There can be twenty or thirty enemy generals who died under the arrows.

Even if Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande were diligent in entrusting each other, there would not be so many generals!

Just look at the old empress who is sipping tea and desperately holding back her smile, and you will know that the emperor's father is bragging.

Forget it, the desire to know the historical facts is shattered, and as for the documents recorded by the military, they probably don't have much credibility.Because, Niu Jinda would always talk about Cheng Yaojin's random reporting of the number of enemies killed.It seems that it is a common problem of generals to multiply their military achievements by two, three, or four.

This is also understandable. In ancient wars, those who really won more with less have become stories passed down for people to respect. For the rest of the battle, which one did not kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred?

Such a thing as killing one hundred enemies and self-defeating eighty times would not look good in terms of military merits.

It wasn't until the tea in the teapot was drunk that Li Shimin ended his story of killing the Quartet.

Chapter 155 The Locust Plague

For the first time bragging in front of his son, Li Shimin gained great satisfaction.Because he knew that his son's sword and boxing skills were still being learned, but he hadn't practiced archery yet due to lack of energy, so he naturally praised his own archery skills.

Knowing the meaning of the emperor's father, Li Chengqian pretended to be admiring after bragging, and respectfully said: "Father, since there are few people in the world who are on par with your archery skills, why not, after two years, my son's How about asking you for advice on archery?"

Li Shimin laughed loudly: "Of course you can, but I usually use a four-stone bow. It will take a few more years before you want to have the strength of a four-stone bow."

After this period of rest, the eldest grandson has regained his strength and the sweat is no longer flowing.Seeing that her husband and son were all smiling, she couldn't help interjecting: "Your father's archery skills are rare in the world. This is not nonsense. But Cheng Qian, if you want your father to teach you personally, you have to go to the harem more often." .Your royal father handles a lot of government affairs this day, and his free time is very limited."

Li Chengqian nodded with a smile.

Fang Sheng's wink was always in place. He heard the emperor's impassioned words outside the door had ended, and sent a pot of hot tea just right. The temperature of the tea was just right for drinking.

Taking a serious look at Fang Sheng's back, Li Shimin said to Li Chengqian earnestly: "Prince, I have been able to be on top of the battlefield for many years and go forward indomitably because of my ability to control my subordinates. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, most of them were chaotic troops, but our Li The Li family's army, but I strictly prohibit it. Otherwise, why do you think the Li family was able to occupy the capital before the heroes of the world?

Yu Chigong, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, Li Ji and others are all talents that I recruited along the way.If it wasn't for the talents of my subordinates, how could they have supported me until they sent me to the position of the Ninth Five Lord?So, ah, the art of imperial power is something an emperor must possess.I see that most of your servants in the Eastern Palace are very loyal. I came from the Tongxun sect. When they saw my figure, they would report to you regardless of being rude.The chef in the kitchen is trying to make a dish that satisfies you even when he has nothing to do.

That's good, so I didn't blame them.From now on, you should too! "

Li Chengqian nodded in confusion.

The emperor's father is very strange today, he is busy with political affairs, even if he has something to say to himself, he will only explain it through letters.Even the regular greeting every ten days is just a matter of casual handling.Even if there is nothing to do today, it is a bit weird to enter the East Palace through a side door like Tongxunmen instead of the main entrance, and even walk around a lot.Coupled with these earnest words, he can almost be sure that there must be a deep meaning hidden in these words.

Having said that, Li Shimin stopped talking too much.Although the alliance of maids and eunuchs occupies the most important place in the palace, it can't cause much disturbance.Anyway, the object of their obedience is the prince, and it would be good for the prince to learn how to control people in advance.

Thinking of this, Li Shimin smiled, and stretched out his hand again to help his eldest grandson get up.

It was very unreasonable for the emperor to help the queen, but Li Shimin did it seriously with his eldest grandson, without any acting elements.

He bowed his hands respectfully to see his father and mother off, and when he looked down the steps, Li Shimin still followed suit and did not walk ahead.Li Chengqian suddenly discovered that perhaps, Li Shimin did not treat his eldest grandson as a queen.

Rather, the wife...

It sounds weird to say this, but that's the truth.A creature like an emperor theoretically does not have a wife. Although there is a position of empress, in history, the position of empress has often become a political bargaining chip or a face-saving job.

Shaking his head, putting his obedient thoughts behind him, Li Chengqian called Yu Tai in.

The training led by the crown prince should not be rushed, only those who have practiced steadily every day can have real strength.It's just a pity that the domestic war completely subsided after the heads of Changsun Anye and Li Xiaochang fell.At least, in a short period of time, there should be no blind eye to try pulling out the emperor's dragon beard.

Without fighting, pure training is still inferior to the veterans of hundreds of battles.

After searching his guts, Li Chengqian sadly discovered that it seemed that only the third year of Zhenguan's war against the Eastern Turks could allow the crown prince to personally take part in it.

After dealing with the close things, you can rest for a while.The damn locust plague, there is no way to judge when it really appeared.Perhaps some early locusts have grown wings, but they can only be called "insect plagues" rather than "locust plagues" before they have a large scale.Between the two names, there is a clear and fuzzy dividing line.

The lives of Chang'an citizens and ordinary people will not be disturbed by the endless hoarding of grain by aristocratic families and grain merchants since last year.

Farming has always been the most basic thing on the Central Plains.Since the Chinese ancestors learned to use leaves to make clothes to cover their bodies, food has come second.

But in fact, for a creature, perhaps eating is the most important thing.

What insects eat, people have nothing to eat.So when the weeding people found that the leaves of the seedlings in the field had been gnawed off by something, they could only sprinkle plant ash on the field over and over again.In Datang without pesticides, spreading plant ash was the only way they could come up with.

They all thought it was an invisible pest, and people who hadn't experienced locust plagues for a long time found it difficult to connect those things that were still jumping around with the locust plagues passed down from generation to generation.And the old people who can see the signs of the locust plague have generally stopped farming.

The grain merchants in Chang'an are still relentless in searching and stockpiling grain in common people's homes.In Chang'an, Wannian, Lantian and even Sanyuan counties, the price of grain has risen to ten copper coins a bucket.While bowing his knees to collect the grain, the merchant's heart was singing.After the locust plague strikes, the price of food will always double continuously.When the time comes, they will always be able to double their wealth and come back again.

The patriarchs of the five surnames and seven families who lived in seclusion in their respective courtyards read one after another the memorials written by the children of the clan, or the call to action.The emperor was obviously unwilling to be dominated by aristocratic families, which can be seen from the successive rejections of recommendations.The position of the emperor is exactly that.They all think that everything will be fine when they become emperor, but they don't know that not one or two people are greedy for this position.

As a family detached from the outside world, they are unwilling, even disdainful, to pursue the position of emperor.Because, participating means going to war, and it is far worse than maintaining one's own family like it is now, and no matter who is the emperor, he must respect it.

While the grain merchants and the Patriarchs of the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs were making intensive preparations, Li Chengqian was also preparing.However, his preparation was to exchange all the copper coins in the East Palace for silver.

If the plague of locusts arises, the copper coins deposited among the people, especially those hoarded in the homes of wealthy households, will inevitably be released.In this way, the copper-silver exchange ratio, which was barely maintaining a balance, would be lowered, and one tael of silver, or consistent money, would exceed one thousand copper coins.How can such an opportunity to make money lying around for no reason let it slip away in vain.

The queen's [-] guan in the inner palace were returned to the East Palace after all.The eldest grandson said that the prince's filial piety is better than anything else.Since the East Palace needs money, it's just a matter of taking it back and keeping your mind in place.

The stewards of the inner palace didn’t know the tricks of exchanging copper and silver at first, but when Fang Sheng was transporting back the copper coins under the order of Li Chengqian, after chatting with the stewards of the inner palace, the imperial palace followed the East Palace and began to exchange copper coins for silver. things.

Because of the purchase of grain, the amount of copper coins on the market in Chang'an has been faintly reduced. The move of the Imperial Palace and the Eastern Palace to release money has been praised by many wealthy merchants.

"These businessmen didn't follow suit?"

In the study of the East Palace, Li Chengqian was dumbfounded after listening to Fang Sheng's report.

Fang Sheng arched his hands and said: "Your Highness, there is no one to follow suit. Your method of making money, if you want to make a profit, you must first have capital. Although there are many merchants in Chang'an who are wealthy, there are more people, and those who are valuable It's goods, not copper coins. Except for Changsun's family who started exchanging copper coins for silver like Feng Donggong, there is no second person."

After listening to Fang Sheng's answer, Li Chengqian smiled helplessly.Smart man!It's no wonder that Changsun Wuji was selected into the list of historical yin people. Whether he discovered this or made the decision to follow suit, it shows that he is smart enough.

There is such a smart uncle here, especially this one who will stand in the court for a long time, this has to be helpless!Fastest update../ ../

are waiting.

are waiting.

When the Dragon Boat Festival passed and entered June, finally, the grain merchants gathered in the restaurant on Anyifang Street, waited for what they had been looking forward to all the time - Hongling Jishi!

The first wave, the second wave, the second wave, the third wave, wave after wave of Hongling urgent envoys rushed into Chang'an desperately with urgent memorials from their respective state capitals.At the beginning, there were some people who were interested in counting, but when the Honglings rushed in a continuous stream from morning to night, everyone fell into panic.

Hongling's urgent missions should not be used unless there is an urgent need. Whether it is an enemy coming to the border or a disaster somewhere, against the backdrop of the endless stream of Hongling's urgent missions, it is a calf cramp-level event.

Before the dawn of the next day, the courtiers, who were still restless in their sleep, were all awakened by their family members—the emperor ordered to convene a grand court meeting immediately!

The sudden court meeting lasted until the next day. During this period, the meals of the courtiers were even served in the Lizheng Hall.

I don't know how the news leaked out. The news of the locust plague completely shocked Chang'an!

I heard that from the south of Guanzhong, the locusts cover the sky and block out the sun in groups. Everywhere they go, not to mention almost all the green things are eaten up. shock.

It wasn't until this time that those families who sold the stored grain at a high price complained and wanted to buy back the grain. As a result, many grain merchants, the wooden signs inserted in the grain troughs in the store, all rose to more than fifteen copper coins a bucket.Moreover, as the prices of some stores increased, they all increased by coincidence, and no one went down at all. The food prices in Chang'an changed ten times a day!

Just when people in Chang'an were shrouded in fear of locust plagues and confusion about the future, Li Chengqian left the East Palace and came to the boundary of Wannian County, which received the most refugees.

The chickens and ducks in the farm are still free-range. Compared with the rice seedlings in Lantian and Sanyuan counties that are about to disappear, the rice seedlings in Wannian County and Chang'an County are still green.The prince personally led 2000 people to leave the barracks and stationed near the breeding farm.Those who saw the army were terrified.Because not long after the crown prince paid compensation, some people said that the seedlings in the field were eaten by free-range chickens and ducks...

At this time, there is no time to pay attention to those useless rumors, because according to the report from the state government that dispatched Hongling's emergency envoy, the locusts should arrive in Chang'an within a few days.

Those who can fly are naturally not much slower than those who can run.Along the way, the locust group almost always followed Hong Ling to the north.

Sun Simiao hadn't seen him for a while and lost a lot of weight. After transporting a large amount of medicinal materials and patent medicines to the farm with the help of Taoist colleagues, he asked, "Prince, why did you leave Chang'an and choose Wannian County? You need to know the surrounding area. , only Chang'an County has the most people."

Li Chengqian was playing with a copper coin in his hand, and said worriedly: "Daozhang Sun, we are also acquainted, so I won't hide it from you. The surrounding area of ​​Chang'an naturally has the imperial court donating money. In fact, almost all the grain stored in Longyou has been transferred to Chang'an. What worries me the most is Lantian County and Wannian County. These two counties receive the most refugees, and they are the most vulnerable people in this disaster. After all, they have encountered such a disaster before they have harvested a season after leaving the mountains. .”

Sun Simiao nodded knowingly, and looked to the south worriedly.

The weather is cloudless, and I don't know what the overwhelming locusts look like.

From sunrise to sunset, no locusts were encountered today, which made everyone feel relieved a little bit.

And just a little bit.

Lying in the tent, tossing and turning, Li Chengqian still forcibly suppressed the thoughts in his heart and forced himself to fall asleep.

This hand was brought over by him from later generations.If he doesn't get a good night's sleep in the limited time he has, he's really sleep deprived.

Li Chengqian fell asleep, but some people were celebrating overnight.The most declining grain merchant among the merchants has finally completely occupied the merchants of Chang'an this time!

After sleeping hard all night, the next day, Li Chengqian opened his eyes irritably, wishing he could go upstairs to find his neighbors.

It's too noisy, and the decoration didn't start early in the morning!

But the anger in his heart disappeared without a trace after seeing the hair hanging down in front of his eyes.He hurriedly opened the tent, and under the persuasive persuasion of the guards, Li Chengqian insisted on getting out.

In the sky, large swaths of dark clouds and some "rain lines" kept falling from the sky to the ground without knowing when, and then revealed the blue sky covered by them.

Locusts, here they come!

Chapter 156

When later generations were idle and bored swiping their phones, they had also seen the appearance of the locust plague in Africa, but no matter in terms of the size of the locusts or the degree of flooding, they were incomparable with the scene in front of them.

A few groups of dark clouds in the sky only landed on a verdant mountain for a few seconds before rising into the sky again.When the dense locusts flew away, there was only a desolation left.

Grass, leaves, and even parts of tree bark are eaten by the locusts.

Li Chengqian watched helplessly as the dark clouds that had just taken off swooped down again. It is estimated that the average of the mountain just now could not even reach two bites per locust.In the face of numbers, even the land that bred locusts had to succumb.

Fang Sheng was going crazy, because he found that there were a few groups of locusts that were so immortal that they flew towards this side.In desperation, he immediately pushed the prince into the tent. At this time, it is estimated that the house is not safe.

The two thousand princes drew their swords one after another, not to kill the locusts, but to protect the prince from threats.

The exercise during this period is effective, and it is difficult for Fang Sheng to push Li Chengqian.

Pointing to Liao Zhong, Li Chengqian said loudly: "If you haven't opened the cage yet, when will you wait!"

Liao Zhong, who had been stunned by the scene in front of him, came back to his senses, and ordered the guys at the farm to open the chicken coop.The sound of locusts flying was deafening, and many poultry were panicked.

Under the begging of the hammer, Li Chengqian had no choice but to enter the tent, and then looked at the situation outside through the heavy gauze.

discharge.

Watching the scene of the locusts landing, Li Chengqian only had one word in his mind.

The locusts that fell to the ground were really like goods dumped by a cart.

There were layers of locusts layer upon layer, and the soldiers led by the prince simply put down their horizontal knives and stomped on them wholeheartedly.At this time, even using your feet is faster than the horizontal knife, not to mention that the sight of the locusts flying around is blocked, and it is easy to hurt your companions when you swing the horizontal knife.

All the poultry in the farm were released. I still remember that when we first started farming, there was not enough food to feed them, and many chickens would not get fat even if they were raised free-range.Don't worry now, whether it's flying in the sky, crawling on the ground, or hanging on the branches, it's all their food.

The locusts came quickly and flew away quickly. When the roar faded away and they walked out of the tent, Li Chengqian had to ask Sun Simiao, who was taking refuge in the house, for wound medicine.Who knew that the locusts would bite people when they were impatient. Many of the soldiers led by the soldiers who were exposed to the outside were bitten.The thorns on the legs of the locusts cut the skin of those that were not bitten.

The locusts, which fly around and eat whatever they see, obviously carry some unclean things.So before applying the medicine, Li Chengqian deliberately ordered everyone to use alcohol as a disinfectant to disinfect the wound first.

Seeing the direction in which the locusts left, Sun Simiao said with lingering fear: "In the past, I was still wondering about the cause of the epidemic after the catastrophe, but now it seems that if your analysis of the causes of the disease is good, the plague of locusts is indeed the way the disease spreads." One of them!"

Taking a look at the safe and sound warehouse under the protection of the soldiers, Li Chengqian sighed: "Let's start, Daoist Sun, the boy is going to use this farm as a base to receive the people and disperse the food."

Sun Simiao agreed, and then led the Taoist priests of Laojunguan to start wandering.