Tang's dining table

Many times, some earth-shattering events that happen in the court have less to do with the people than everyone thinks.

Whether a loyal minister was unjustly accused and killed, or a treacherous minister was bloody liquidated, it was nothing more than a talking point to the people.

Because whether they are loyal ministers or traitorous ministers, they are not in the same class as the people, or even people in the same world.

Therefore, the next day, Yun Chu took the officials from Wannian County to the countryside to supervise such important events as farming.

Before leaving the city gate, Yun Chu saw the white-haired Master Li near the notice board beside the city gate.

I didn't see the whole picture of Master Li, because there was only one head on display in a wooden cage. The body was somewhere unknown. There were two young men crying sadly underneath. The soldiers guarding the city gate were considerate. A ladder was given to the two young men.

Tell them in a low voice how to steal heads after dark, and they will pretend not to see it.

This has nothing to do with whether Master Li is loyal or traitorous. It is just the dignity that a person must have after death.

The people of the Tang Dynasty were always tolerant towards the dead. Even if they committed the serious crime of killing the nine tribes, even if they were beheaded, the only remaining relatives and friends would steal the body that was supposed to be exposed for three days and bury it quietly, and no one would ask questions. .

This is the importance of filial piety. They naturally believe that "hiding relatives from each other" is human nature. Since it is nature, it is indelible.

Li Keshi's head did not reveal his power as Duke of Danyang. After his death, he looked unlucky. He did not have the domineering look of his ruffled beard, nor did he have the heroic spirit of Zhang Fei's angry eyes after his death. He just had a drooped face. of suffering.

Looking at Li Keshi's unlucky appearance, Yun Chu became even more determined that he would never get involved in the dispute between Li Zhi and Wu Mei, even if he was beaten to death. Li Keshi's death may have been caused by this guy, but Well, when Shangguan Yi dies, it will chill many people who want to get involved in the relationship between the emperor and the empress.

There shouldn't be trees in farmland!

If the trees grow too big, they will affect a large area of ​​farmland. Even the shade of the trees will affect the growth of crops, not to mention that they will attract birds to eat the crops and bring pests that will affect the crops.

At this time, the endless farmland with no obstructions except houses is the real good farmland.

There is always not enough food in Wannian County. Every year, a lot of food is purchased from other counties in Guanzhong, and a lot of food is also purchased from the fertile land of Longyou.

It can be said that the largest quantity of goods purchased by Wannian County is grain. This is also the first time that Chang'an City, a city with a large population, has not allocated grain from places such as the southeast and Hebei.

In recent years, if the emperor had not strongly supported Yunchu's food reform plan, little Yunchu would not have been able to withstand the oppression of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, let alone the right to purchase food nearby voluntarily.

There are too many stakeholders in the process of transporting grain from Dong'an, Hebei, and Shandong to Chang'an.

The distance to transport food is long, and the price of food has been increased. As a result, the price of food allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs in Wannian County is far higher than the price of grain purchased nearby. Generally speaking, the price of food allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs is far higher than the price of grain purchased nearby. For the price of one pound of grain, you can buy four pounds of grain nearby.

Although Yunchu did not deliberately control the price of food in Chang'an in recent years, causing the price of food in Chang'an to rise by 30%, the income earned by the people in Guanzhong from growing food increased by a full 50%.

Nowadays, there is no cotton to grow. If you think about it, those who grow food are actually pretty good, but there is no government to protect them.

The good days of guaranteed harvests due to droughts and floods finally became a thing of the past as cotton was cut down, but people didn't seem to have much objection.

A true Guanzhong farmer will panic if there are no crops growing in the fields.

Yun Chu and Wen Wen were both busy in the farmland they managed respectively. Planting cotton over the years had other benefits. At least it gave the over-planted land in the two counties an opportunity to cultivate. Among them, the amount of saline-alkali land was reduced by more than 80% compared with before.

These are all changes brought about by cotton cultivation. Just because cotton cultivation is highly profitable, people will spend money and manpower to improve saline-alkali lands.

Now, the farmland area in Wannian County has approximately doubled compared to when Yunchu first took over Wannian County.

The increase in agricultural land is a good thing, but it also shows from another aspect that the land potential of Wannian County has been exhausted.

Over the past ten thousand years, the two counties of Chang'an have invested more than 3,000 guan in high-quality seeds. The investment in water conservancy facilities does not count the investment in corvee, and the investment in money alone has exceeded 5,000 guan.

If it is true as the agricultural doctor from Sinong Temple said, the increased grain yield in the fields will definitely offset these two investments by next autumn at the latest.

The data obtained by Dr. Sinongsi from the experimental fields, as well as reasonable planting methods, were all used by Yunchu in autumn grain planting this time.

It's not that Yunchu doesn't trust the old farmers in Guanzhong, but it's because they always follow the ancient planting methods and are still unwilling to change to this day.

The method of growing crops they follow is still the same method that Shang Yang used to force them to adapt with sticks and knives.

Therefore, Yunchu also prepared a stick this time. Fortunately, the people of the Tang Dynasty were not as stubborn as during the Western Qin Dynasty. They chose to believe in their county magistrates. Under the scolding of the village chief and the village chief, they clumsily summarized the doctor of agriculture. That set is used in the cultivation of his own farmland.

The doctors at Sinong Temple now like to show Yunchu some new farming tools. They know that the young magistrate likes new things, and will reward him accordingly because of the role the new things can play.

Then, Yun Chu saw Qu Yuanli!

"Your Majesty, this is a Jiangdong plow. Even though this thing has twists and turns, it saves animal power.

You see, the first thing is to change the straight and long shafts into curved shafts and short shafts. The direct benefit of this is that the curved shafts are placed on the front blades of the cattle, making it easier for the animals to exert force.

A plow plate that can rotate freely is also installed on the shaft head. This not only makes the plow frame smaller and lighter, but also facilitates U-turns and turns. The operation is flexible. One person and one ox can plow the land, which saves the county a lot of manpower and animal power. "

Although Yun Chu was born a farmer, to be honest, he had never farmed since he was a child. Although the Quyuan plow played a very important role in history books, he did not expect that this thing had already appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

And it appeared so directly.

"Why didn't you take it out earlier?" Yun Chu looked at Qu Yuuli in front of him and asked the doctor of agriculture feebly.

"Didn't the County Lord already use our Wannian County's new plows before? That thing is not bad. The County Lord also reported it to Sinong Temple. The humble official and others thought that the County Lord looked down on this kind of Jiangdong plowshare."

Yun Chu was speechless. The plow that Wannian County used before was the plow that Yun Chu had asked someone to improve. Although it was not bad, the plow he made out of thin air was, to be honest, in various constructions. The optimization is not as good as the Quyuanli in front of you.

The Jiangdong plow has been used in Jiangdong for hundreds of years. It can be said that this thing has been optimized to the extreme by farmers in the process of using it. You can tell the pros and cons just by looking at it.

A good plow must first be light in weight, easy to use, and save manpower and animal power. These advantages are all reflected in the curved shaft plow. The most important point is that the plowshare used by Yunchu uses Too much iron.

No matter what, as long as it’s good stuff, it’s never too late.

For thousands of years, the two counties of Chang'an had the largest number of livestock in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, in the wilderness, Yunchu saw cattle, donkeys, mules, draft horses, and even camels pulling plows to plow the land.

Yunchu stayed in the countryside for ten days, and all the autumn grain in Wannian County had been planted.

At this time, the harvest of wheat, the main summer grain in Guanzhong, has been completed. Although Wannian County has not planted a single wheat this year, their county's warehouse has the most new wheat.

Every year when Wannian County puts out old grain from the warehouse, it is a carnival day for the people of Chang'an City.

This was their only opportunity to buy affordable grain from the market every year. The price of grain during this period was only 80% of the price of grain in Changpingcang of the Tang Dynasty.

For Wannian County, it is a case of buying in at the original price and paying out at the original price, which is of great benefit to the people. Wannian County itself has absorbed the costs of storage and transportation.

The large-scale storage of old grain in Wannian County has played a role in lowering grain prices to a certain extent. At this time of the year, the high-priced grain transported by the Ministry of Revenue through canals from afar is basically ignored.

Now Yunchu basically can't go to the household department to do business. Once he goes, he will always be greeted with cynicism.

Now he just hopes that these slick guys can go to Luoyang as soon as possible. If he can't see them, he won't have any bad feelings.

Di Renjie and Wen Wenwen have often tricked corrupt officials over the years. Unfortunately, no matter how diligent they are, there are more and more corrupt officials in their eyes.

Early in the morning, it was raining lightly. Yun Chu put on his raincoat and went to the Wannian County Granary. Today was the day when the main granary was opened.

There are 300,000 tons of grain that will be released at a one-time price. However, this time, the target of the grain release is not the common people, but the merchants.

The cheap grain purchased by the common people has been distributed according to the district and market as a whole. The common people go to the village and district chiefs with their household registration to buy it.

The purpose of distributing cheap grain to merchants is to benefit the workers who work under the merchants.

All these grains are rations and are not for merchants to sell. The merchants are also very clear about this. Except for a few guys who are greedy for profit, few people use cheap grains to do other things, because , once discovered, you will be fined and bankrupted by the government.

After doing all these things, time has come to July unknowingly.

Yunchu always thought that Chang'an in July was not suitable for human habitation. In the hot weather, people slept on the roofs.

She even took off her clothes without any care, which was very unsightly.

Most of the houses that people live in in Chang'an City are still adobe houses, the ones with one side sloping, which are also called half-sided houses.

Yu Xiurong, who already had a big belly, wiped his sweat with a wet towel and yelled at Yun Chu: "I should also sleep on the roof and take off my clothes."

Yunchu only had a pair of shorts on his body. He fanned Yu Xiurong vigorously, hoping that this woman who had become violent due to the heat could calm down.

There was an iceberg in the house where Naha and others lived, and Yu Xiurong could not get close to the iceberg because of her pregnancy. Therefore, Yunchu had no choice but to share the same fate with his wife.

"You can strip naked in this room too."

"No, I will stand on the roof and take off my clothes." Yu Xiurong, who was about to faint from the heat, had no idea what she was saying at this time.

"Tomorrow, as soon as the city gate opens tomorrow, I will send you to Bashang to escape the summer heat. The terrain there is high, the wind is strong, and it is cool."

"No, you should send me to Chencang County, your hometown. I heard it gets cold there at night and you need to wear a cotton-padded jacket."

This statement made absolutely no sense. Yunchu himself didn't even know where his hometown was. The hometown of Chencang County was completely filled in casually in order to avoid future troubles when he was in the Western Regions.

"How about I ask someone to bring some well water back and wipe you down?"

"Get out of here, I'm pregnant, how dare I feel hot and cold for a while?"

Yun Chu knew that this method would not work. Yu Xiurong followed the health regimen of pregnant women and insisted on it even more rigorously than he did.

Anyone who has lived in Chang'an City knows that there is basically no wind in Chang'an City. The most desperate thing is that the hotter the weather, the less wind there is in the sky.

Even in the middle of the night, the heat in Chang'an City is not much different from that during the day. Instead, it becomes more humid and hot because the earth absorbs heat during the day and releases heat at night. In a short time, people's bodies will be sticky, which is very attractive to mosquitoes. .

As for fanning, it has no effect in dissipating heat, because once you stop fanning, your body will become a heat absorber, so hot that you want to peel off your skin to cool down.

There was no other way, so Yunchu had no choice but to use warm water over and over again to help Yu Xiurong cool down...

No matter who it was, no one could stand taking ten baths in one night, whether it was Yu Xiurong who was being bathed or Yun Chu who was in charge of bathing.

When daybreak was approaching, the earth finally stopped radiating heat, and with the slightest breeze, Yu Xiurong, who was extremely sleepy, finally fell asleep.

Yunchu lost his sleep and sat at the door in his underwear, guarding the screen door to prevent mosquitoes from running in and disturbing Yu Xiurong's sleep.

Because it was the beginning of the month, the moon could not be seen, and the stars in the sky could not illuminate the earth. Yun Chu vigorously shook the cattail leaf fan, fanning the wind while driving away mosquitoes.

At this time, he actually saw someone climbing the wall of the inner house. Hearing the noise, it was Fei Jiu who was outside the high wall.

Yun Chu, who originally wanted to kick the guy who climbed the wall to death, immediately thought that there was only one person who climbed the wall of the inner house with Fei Jiu's help at this time, and that was Cui Yao.

This woman obviously no longer loves Fei Jiu. Cui Yao herself described this very clearly, and others could also see it clearly.

However, Cui Yao desperately wanted to have one or more children.

This made Yun Chu think that he had hired the wrong etiquette teacher.

However, Cui Yao told Yunchu that the etiquette teacher's first consideration is the survival of mankind. In other words, having children is the bounden duty of the etiquette teacher. Only when you have children can you talk about etiquette.

A woman who has never given birth to a child is definitely not a good ethical nun. She had wanted to have a child before, but unfortunately she could not just find a man to give birth to her. This was not in line with the ethical concepts she upheld.

Otherwise, the child will be born with an improper name and a misspoken person. Such a child will not receive the blessings of heaven and earth. Even if he achieves success in the future, he will be deformed and incomplete.

She used to think that she would never have a child of her own in this life. As a result, she saw her former husband in Yun's house.

Now, she can give birth happily and openly.

Every child born will be the darling of heaven and earth.

Watching Cui Yao skillfully put away the light bamboo ladder from the other end of the wall, put it on this side, got off the ladder skillfully, then casually put the ladder down and hid it behind the flower bed.

He clapped his hands and entered the room where she lived.

Yun Chu covered his mouth and snickered. Yu Xiurong's hot body leaned on his shoulder and said, "Don't look at it, they are together every night."

Yun Chu looked at Yu Xiurong and said, "Aren't you asleep?"

Yu Xiurong shook his head and said, "I don't want you to worry, so I pretended to be asleep."

As he spoke, he pointed to a glimmer of light on the horizon and said: "Look, today is another bad day with no clouds in the sky. I'm afraid it will be even hotter at night. Let's pack up now and go to Bashang's Villa to escape the summer heat." It's early, I can sleep a little longer."

When it was just dawn, Yun Chu put the sleeping children into the carriage and prepared to leave the big furnace of Chang'an.

After leaving Fangshi, I discovered that Yun's family was not the only one who had the same idea. Before the city gate opened, Zhuque Street was crowded with cars.

The leader turned out to be the emperor's cavalry, followed by tens of thousands of troops and horses. After asking the deputy general of the Jinwu Guard who accompanied the cavalry, I found out that the emperor was not going to Qujiang when he left Chang'an City this time, but straight to Jiucheng Palace.

"Didn't His Majesty say that Jiucheng Palace would be detrimental to his life and never go there again?"

Because he was wearing armor, he was sweating from the heat early in the morning. Lieutenant General Liu Jinding said: "We can't live in Chang'an. Your Majesty is not heat-resistant. If you continue to live here, you may suffer from heat problems.

You have cut down all the trees in Qujiang. There is no cover there and there is plenty of water. It is a good place to raise mosquitoes. If Your Majesty does not go to Jiucheng Palace, will you visit the Qinling Mountains?

Marquis Yun, what do you think is going on in Chang'an City this year? It can freeze people to death in winter, and heat them to death in summer. Is the weather wrong? "

Yun Chu smiled and said, "That's Si Tianjian's job."

"Forget about Si Tianjian, three of the old Taoists in Si Tianjian were killed by the Queen. Who dares to talk nonsense now?"

Liu Jinding lowered his voice and said.

Yun Chu looked behind him, but did not see the carriages and horses of the civil and military officials, so he asked carefully: "Why don't you see the many ministers accompanying you?"

Liu Jinding looked at Yun Chu and said: "This time, the officials did not accompany him, so he brought several close officials from the secretary's supervision. This is the first time for the prince to supervise the country."

When Yun Chu heard these words, he felt like he was struck by lightning. It took him a while to wake up. He said goodbye to Liu Jinding, took his family's motorcade, and left Zhuque Street. He instead took the Qixia Gate next to him, preferring to be beaten by someone. He would go through the same door as cattle and sheep, but he would not follow the emperor through Mingde Gate.

For such an important matter as the prince's supervision of the country, the court did not explicitly mention it. The emperor and the queen left Chang'an so casually and went straight to Jiucheng Palace three hundred miles away. God knows what they wanted to do.

Li Hong did not inform Yun Chu of the news. It was obviously not Li Hong's original intention, but rather an arrangement between the emperor and the empress.

Not knowing what the emperor and empress wanted to do, Yun Chu still felt that it was best not to see Li Hong during this period.

Li Yifu returned to Chang'an four days ago...

Because it was a hot summer, fewer pigs, cattle and sheep were transported to the city through Qixia Gate, but the place still smelled stinky.

Qixia Gate also opened earlier than Mingde Gate. Therefore, when the Yunchu family's motorcade had already entered the main road, the emperor's car had not yet left Mingde Gate.

Behind Yu Xiurong's carriage is the children's carriage. They haven't woken up yet. The old monkey who usually sleeps has woken up and is sitting cross-legged behind the carriage. For some reason, he always looks behind the carriage.

Yun Chu slowed down his horse, approached the old monkey and said, "It's Yin Erhu and the others, Zhang Jia and the others are exploring the way ahead."

The old monkey asked: "What did the Suleiman you captured say?"

Yun Chu smiled and said, "They are here to destroy your Buddhist kingdom."

The old monkey looked at Yun Chu and said, "We are here to destroy Naha's Buddhist kingdom. Why, are you not worried at all?"

Yun Chu sat up straight and said: "If the big cannibal wants to enter the territory of the nine surnames of Zhaowu to preach, he must first ask the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty whether they agree."

The old monkey coughed and said, "Have you heard of the Sassanid Kingdom?"

Yun Chu nodded and said: "It is a very large Persian country. It was annexed by the Dashi Kingdom during the Yonghui period. What happened?"

The old monkey said: "If you go to Qiyun Temple and see a Persian prince named Beluz, don't be surprised."

Yun Chu sneered and said: "Persian Sassanid has been destroyed. If this prince does not resist the cannibals and restore the country, why is he coming to Chang'an?"

The old monkey smiled and said: "He came to Chang'an just in the hope that the Tang Dynasty could lend him troops to drive away the cannibals and restore the former glory of the Sassanid Kingdom."

Yun Chu said: "It's not that the Tang border army can't lend it to him. The question is, what kind of reward can he give to impress the emperor and allow the soldiers and horses of the Anxi army to cross the plateau to help him fight against the cannibals?"

The old monkey chuckled and said: "Helping Sassan is to guard the borders of the Tang Dynasty."

Yunchu laughed and said: "You know this is not enough reason. Not to mention that the Sassanid Kingdom was too far away from the Tang Dynasty, and their country also perished. If the Tang army could defeat the Great Cannibal, why not establish a Persian empire there? Where is the Protectorate?"

The old monkey said: "Other Tang people can say this, but you can't, because that piece of land is very important to your sister."

Yun Chu shook his head and said: "That doesn't mean the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty traveled thousands of miles to fight in a strange place. If they died there, their bones would not be able to return home. Forget about it.

Helping you deal with things in Shiguo is the limit of my help. With Chang'an as my back, I am invincible. If I get to the Western Regions, what I can do is very limited. You shouldn't have too high expectations of me. Require. "

The old monkey sighed, closed his eyes, and got into the carriage, looking very disappointed.

Yun Chu had no sympathy for the old monkey at all. Ever since he discovered that he was old, the old guy had always acted helpless and forced Yun Chu to agree to many of his unreasonable demands.

More often than not, Naha is mentioned.

Yun Chu believed that the old monkey said that Naha would become the queen of a Buddhist country in the future, so she would definitely become the queen. But with Naha's current appearance, she is only suitable to be a puppet queen.

Especially under the encouragement of the old monkey, Naha will be happy even if she is a puppet queen.

Therefore, Yun Chu would not try his best to help the old monkey until he came up with something real. God knows if he would be making wedding clothes for others after helping him.

Judging from the territories that the old monkey has mentioned so far, Naha will almost have a country as big as the Central Plains. Yun Chu does not remember that such a Buddhist country has appeared in history.

After traveling for almost two hours, the carriage arrived at Bashang.

Because of the high terrain, the wind here is very cool. In addition, there are many people here and the mountain streams are gurgling. Yu Xiurong and the children, who had been struggling in the carriage, immediately fell asleep and fell unconscious.

Even though the motorcade had arrived at the other courtyard, they still couldn't scream, especially the two younger ones.

The rooms in the courtyard had been prepared long ago, and the bamboo mats had been wiped with cool stream water. The group of people didn't even think about eating, so they went into their respective rooms and fell asleep.

Yun Chu was no exception. He did not enter the house, but got a deck chair and threw it under the persimmon tree, then fell asleep.

At this moment, no matter what the emperor and the empress meant by asking Li Hong to supervise the country, and no matter what ambitions the old monkey said Prince Beluz had, it was not as important as having a good sleep.

The old monkey stood alone in the quiet courtyard, looking at Yun Chu who was snoring and sleeping soundly, then left Yun's villa and went to Qiyun Temple with his hands behind his back.

Just as the old monkey walked out of the yard, Yun Chu snored, opened one eye, and glanced at the old monkey's back.

No matter how good the relationship is, even if they are like a family, the old monkey should not lure him step by step towards the restoration of the Sasanian prince.

At the beginning, it was only said that it was a dispute over the property of the Stone Kingdom. The old monkey's wealth was Naha's wealth, and it was natural for me, the elder brother, to help the girl.

Now, there is another Prince Beluz, and from this, Yunchu can draw a conclusion.

Those people from the Stone Kingdom didn't come here to kill the old monkey at all. Their target should be this damn Prince Beluz.

This time, if the old monkey didn't apologize, Yunchu decided to just deal with the matter as far as Shi Guo came from.

Geographically speaking, he did not intend to reach out to Broken Leaf City because it was too far away.

Because Master Xuanzang is here in Qiyun Temple, everything here is full of Zen. Even the cicadas on the persimmon trees sing more rhythmically than the cicadas in other places.

The breeze gently shook the persimmon trees, and the leaves were whirling, completely blocking the blazing sun above.

Occasionally, the sound of monks chanting sutras came from next door, which had a very good hypnotic effect. Yun Chu turned over, letting the cool breeze blow on his hot body, and murmured comfortably, feeling that there is nothing more beautiful in this world than being here. Take a nap here.

See you tomorrow,