lady, please calm down

Chapter 349 The Han family can thrive again!

November eleventh.

The court meeting at the Daqing Palace in Tokyo.

A few days ago, news of the great victory in Fucheng had been sent back to Tokyo. Yesterday, Liu E and his followers were escorted into Beijing.

Therefore, the atmosphere in the morning is quite relaxed.

Only the new Minister of Rites, Du Zhaoqing, was worried.
Tomorrow, he will lead an envoy to the Kingdom of Jin. According to the regulations, he will search for beauty every three years. This year, he should present three hundred beauties to the Kingdom.

But just now, when he cautiously mentioned this matter, Cai Yuan, the new official minister, said calmly: "Giving a daughter as a gift is absolutely impossible. I don't have a spare woman in Daqi for people to enjoy. Which sir is really sincere? If you are worried about national affairs, you can dedicate yourself to your wife and daughters.”

One sentence blocked everyone's mouth.

And all the officials knew that although the King of Chu was far away in Hebei, Cai Shangshu's words were the expression of the King of Chu's will.
Even Jia Rou, who rarely expressed opinions in court, rarely spoke up to support Cai Shangshu.

It is understandable that His Highness is a woman, so he is naturally disgusted with the practice of using women to win the favor of the country.

But Du Zhaoqing also felt aggrieved. He didn't do this for himself. This year, the situation between the country and the DPRK was in turmoil. It was the time when stability was needed. But on this mission, not only were the beauties that should be presented gone, but also the cloth, gold and silver. It is also much less than in previous years.

What if the Emperor of Jin becomes angry and Du Zhaoqing's head is too small, and the Jin Kingdom raises troops to invade Da Qi?

However, the victory at Fucheng was a rare victory for the Qi State in recent years. All the nobles in the court were congratulating His Highness on winning the king of Chu, the mainstay of protecting the country. Who had the time to deal with Du Zhaoqing, a disappointing guy.

The next day, November [-], Du Zhaoqing left Beijing for the north in a worried mood.

The size of the mission this time was much smaller than in previous years, but there were also some strange people, such as Li Hedou, director of the Tea and Wine Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Cai Kun, representative of Huaibei Commercial Affairs.
On the way, after passing Damingfu, Du Zhaoqing suddenly took the road to Fucheng in the northeast.

After all, he felt something was wrong and wanted to see the King of Chu in person.

On the afternoon of November [-]th, the mission arrived near Fucheng.

Du Zhaoqing couldn't help but be shocked. This place had just experienced war last month. In his opinion, the surrounding villages should be in ruins, with ten houses and nine empty houses, and no cockcrows for hundreds of miles.

But the scene in front of you.
On both sides of the north-south Beiliu River, there are people like ants and flags fluttering. Among these flags are official and military banners such as "Suppress the Huai Army Pioneer Horse Camp" and "Guangjie Army First Arrive at the Camp".

There are also slightly crude flags such as 'Beiwan Villagers' Strong First Team' and 'Jiaohe Villagers' Strong'.

There are also some flags that clearly belong to the squire family, such as the 'Yao Family of Shawo Town' and the 'Qin Family of Luoshiji'.
On the river slope protection under the flag and on the dry river bed, there are people shouting slogans everywhere, cleaning up the silt, or consolidating the river bottom. It stretches for several miles and cannot be seen to the end.

On both sides of the river, there were groups of women with their sleeves rolled up, working at the makeshift stoves, filled with smoke and steam.

Even those half-grown men were running around in the wild woods to find firewood for the stove.

Li Ke, known to the public as Li Hedou, and Cai Kun were from Tongshan. Although the scene of the winter battle in front of him was shocking, he had finally seen it before.

But Du Zhaoqing sat on the horse and was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time, and finally said: "What a good one."

"Does Du Shangshu want to say that it is a scene of great vitality?"

Cai Kun asked with a smile, and Du Zhaoqing slapped his thigh, "Ah! That's right! I have traveled all over Daqi, and I have only seen such a scene in Caizhou! It's heart-pounding to watch!"

"Hahaha" Cai Kun and Li Ke looked at each other and laughed at the same time.

That sense of pride is unabashedly telling you to see our grassroots organizational capabilities in Huaibei!

"The labor chant is ho ho, the ground is moving all day long, Pan Gu opened the sky, ho ho, it is sung to this day, ho ho, are you not afraid of the wind, ho ho, are you not afraid of the rain, ho ho, your apartment moves mountains, ho ho "

On the riverbed a mile away, Chen Chu, wearing short brown clothes, was consolidating the river channel with Zhou Zongfa, Fan Guanghan and about a dozen brothers from the Huai Army.

Every time he sang a sentence, everyone worked together to pull the hemp rope, and the big millstone tied in the middle was pulled one or two feet high from the ground, and then dropped heavily, making a dull sound.

Beads of sweat dripped from the thick shoulders and ran over the muscular arms. In conjunction with the continuous labor chants, there was an indescribable masculine beauty of its own.

"Master, you can go and rest under the thatched hut on the river slope. My brothers and I will be fine."

Taking advantage of the free time to adjust the millstone, Zhou Zongfa suggested for the nth time.

Chen Chu laughed, took off the towel tied around his neck, casually wiped the sweat on his face, and said: "It's okay. The bones I've been resting recently have become crispy. After doing this for a while, my whole body is clear and refreshing!"

When he was still in Tongshan, the proportion of Chen Chu doing farm work in his daily life was not low. Today, he had free time and came here to sweat profusely, which made him feel a little comfortable.

Seeing that Zhou Zongfa was still trying to persuade him, Chen Chu said instead: "Brother Fa, can your legs and feet withstand such heavy work? If you feel uncomfortable, take a rest early."

"What are you talking about, boss! I used to work as a sharecropper, how can I be so tired with this little job?" Zhou Zongfa raised Weipo's right leg and stamped it hard on the ground to prove that he was strong, which naturally attracted a lot of attention. The good-natured laughter of the robes.

A few feet away, in the section of the river where the first team of Beiwan Villagers Zhuang was in charge, Lu Shou, who was loading soil onto a rickshaw, heard laughter. He couldn't help but look over there with a wooden handle, and then whispered to the rickshaw. Zhang Wuluan said: "Boss, that young man is not the King of Chu!"

Zhang Wuluan glanced over there, shook his head to express that he didn't know, and then said: "Ask what Chu Duo is doing, it's serious to do our own thing! Don't let the moving red flag be lost, the children are waiting to eat meat !”

"Haha, okay! I'm sure my nieces and nephews will have delicious meat slices to eat tomorrow!"

The two of them became the first batch of prisoners to be released six days ago due to their good behavior.

As soon as we came out, we encountered this huge "Winter Dredging Battle"!
Different from the past officials who forced strong men to recruit young men, although no wages were paid in this battle, they were provided with two meals a day to keep them full!

In addition, each male worker was given three jins of grain per day and the female worker was given two jins per day.
There is not much farm work in winter, so farmers from surrounding counties flocked to the farm as soon as they were given food.

In order to facilitate management, the Zhenhuai Army organized them into units according to villages. Each village is responsible for a section of the river. If any village can complete the task beyond the quota, it will receive a mobile red flag the next day.

Whoever gets this red flag means that they will get half a fan of pork on the stove in their village the next day!

At first, Beiwan Village had a smaller population than neighboring villages, so it was unable to see the moving red flag for two consecutive days.

Although the rice on the stove was sweet, the children's mouths watered when they saw the people in Cijiajing Village next door feasting on fat meat with greasy mouths.

Seeing this, Zhang Wuluan was moved. Among the first batch of prisoners released by the Yongjing Army, many brothers were not from Fucheng. They had gained their own property but lost their jobs to make a living. They didn't know where to go, so Zhang Wuluan sent them all. A strong team of villagers was brought to Beiwan.

Later, based on military custom, everyone was organized into four teams. The first team was strong laborers doing heavy work such as digging soil, pulling carts, and ramming soil. The old people with poor labor ability in the second team were responsible for repairing fragile tools for everyone. For example, the third team of women cooks and sews clothes for everyone, and the fourth team is composed of children who collect firewood.
As a result, Beiwan Village's labor efficiency immediately surpassed other villages by a large margin.

Since November [-], when they started moving the red flag, they have never lost it again.

At this time, Zhang Wuluan not only gained the respect of his fellow villagers, but was also noticed by some officers of the Guangjie Army. Now, reports on his various performances have been sent to the desk of Peng Er, the commander of the Guangjie Army.

Brother Peng has already received news from Chen Chu that the Guangjie Army will be stationed near Fucheng in the future. At the same time, Brother Peng will be responsible for rebuilding the Yongjing Army. Naturally, he wants to find some military officers who are familiar with the local situation.

At the end of noon, Zhang Wuluan's mother-in-law Chunni stood on the river slope and looked around among the crowds in the valley. Finally she saw the figure of her husband, so she called her son to point out and give some instructions.

Then, his seven-year-old child trotted down the river slope, shouting as he ran: "Daddy, Daddy, it's time to eat. Mom, let daddy call the uncles to eat."

The river slope was at an angle, so Zhang Xiaolang couldn't stop as he ran down, and a big horse fell on top of Zhang Wuluan.

The children in the village were thick-skinned and neither cried nor fussed. They lay on the ground and raised their heads and said to their father, "Dad, we are having dinner with our uncles. We have big, fat slices of meat!"

The cute appearance of the child made the people around him laugh out loud. Even Chen Chu looked over with a smile.

Zhang Wuluan laughed, picked up his son, turned to the villagers and Pao Ze and shouted: "Brothers, it's time to eat."

Following the shouts of Chunni from Beiwan Village, the voices of women from far and near came one after another calling their fellow villagers to eat.

For a time, both sides of the Beiliu River became even more noisy.

There were hundreds of people gathered in front of Beiwan Village's stove, but there was no sign of chaos.The woman who is responsible for cooking the meal prepares the old man with two slices of fat meat, each one long and one finger thick, and adds two large steamed buns. This is to respect the elderly.

The children's bowls also have two pieces of meat and a big steamed bun. They are growing. This is child-friendly.

The young and strong men had three pieces of meat each. The three big steamed bun men were out of power and needed to eat more oil and water to make up for it.

But when it was their turn, there were already a few pieces of meat in the pot. They gathered around the stove, chopped the pieces of meat, broke off the steamed buns and dipped them in some broth to eat.

But no one expressed any opinions or expressed dissatisfaction.

The tough quality of national characteristics may be glimpsed in the character of women.

Villager Wen San looked back and forth at the endless crowd of people eating, and sighed: "There are at least 2 people by the Beiliu River. How much food do they need to eat in a day!"

"Yes!" Another villager from the same village took a piece of fat meat in one bite and chewed it while chewing: "I heard from Brother Cai that after the Beiliu River is renovated, it will be the turn of the boundary river next to our village. He said, Prince It is necessary to dredge all the Beiliu, Yongliu and Sizang rivers, and each village will build its own canals. Before spring plowing, the field irrigation projects of 210 seven villages must be completed."

"Oh! What a big gesture!"

"That's a good feeling. If our village can irrigate the ground with water, we can eat white-flour steamed buns all year round!"

The villagers sighed with emotion.

Zhang Wuluan, who was sitting nearby, listened silently, but waved to the two girls not far away. When the children came forward, he gave the three of them the slices of meat in the bowl.

The eldest daughter took the meat back to her father, lowered her head, turned and walked away.

Yaoer and Yaonv were young. They ran to their mother carrying the meat they had just received from their father's bowl. They raised the bowl and showed off: "Mom, mother, daddy gave me another piece of meat!"

But instead my mother scolded me, "Your father uses his cattle and horse power to earn food for you guys, but you don't know that you feel sorry for your father!"

The son and daughter were scolded and turned to look at their father with tears in their eyes.

Zhang Wuluan couldn't help but shouted in distress: "Give them food, I'm not hungry."

A small episode interrupted the conversation among the villagers. Everyone laughed, and another villager picked up the previous topic and said: "Your Majesty provides food and drink for so many people all day long. He won't eat up all the food when it is our turn to dredge the canal in the village." Bar?"

However, villager Wen San smiled mysteriously and said show off: "You don't know this, do you? The prince came to Fucheng this time and killed one or two hundred squires, civil and military officials. I don't know how much food I got from these people's homes! How much can we eat?" All in all, King Chu made the most money!"

Zhang Wuluan, who didn't want to interrupt, suddenly frowned when he heard this, looked at Wen San, and said: "Brother Wen San, no matter how much rice the squire and civil servants have in their homes, have they ever given you even one grain?"

"There is no such thing as nature."

"That's okay. A person needs to repay kindness. Don't worry about where the prince got the rice. If I give you a bite, you must remember the kindness of this bite!"

After Zhang Wuluan finished speaking, he pointed to the old people in the same village, the women beside the stove, and the children chasing and playing in the distance after eating, and said: "Brother Wen, look at it, if the prince really just needs to work How would such a person allow so many women and children to work here? They are just looking for an excuse to feed us and ask us to earn some rations so as not to starve to death this winter!"

Widow Wei, who was leaning against the tree with a bowl in her hand, noticed the conversation between the men and immediately interjected loudly: "Fifth brother is right! Just like me, with two dolls, who would want to work for others? The prince is Think of a way to give us something to eat."

"How can a man interrupt a woman's conversation?" Wen San turned around and scolded Widow Wei. When he looked back at Zhang Wuluan, he said uncomfortably: "I didn't say anything bad about the prince. I remember his kindness."

Not far away, as soon as Chen Chu served his rice bowl, two squires dressed as old farmers came to visit.

The visitors are Yao Zongjiang, a squire from Shawo, and Qin Fu, a squire from Luoshiji.

Ten days ago, when the King of Chu called on all the people to participate in the Winter Conference, the two families responded positively. On the same day, they asked their nephew to lead their servants and relatives to the Beiliuhe construction site.

Naturally, their family has enough food and a few kilograms of food every day, but this is an attitude!

Also, although the property was extorted and "voluntarily" offered to the court, it was at least on the King of Chu's line.

There is no point in worrying about things that have been lost. Trying to use new relationships to seek new benefits for the family is what a mature family head should consider.

Sure enough, a few days ago, under the leadership of King Chu, the 'Eighteen Good People' had their first contact with the Huaibei Consortium.

It was initially discussed that both parties would jointly finance the plan to build a cannery and an iron farm tool factory locally.

Therefore, the nephew who stayed at the construction site today saw the King of Chu arriving in person and hurriedly informed the family owner.

Yao and Qin were able to rush over as soon as possible because they were close to each other.

Before coming, the two of them specially changed into peasant clothes because the nephew who had sent the message said that the King of Chu was dressed like this.

Chen Chu enthusiastically invited the two of them to sit down, which was actually sitting on the ground. However, the two of them showed no signs of disgust or discomfort. Instead, they happily sat down beside Chen Chu.

Then he praised him endlessly, saying that if the river canal is dredged, how many people will be benefited and how many generations will be passed down.

Chen Chu also replied: It is all thanks to Yao, Qin and other local sages who understand the righteousness and support the imperial court in cooperating with the king's work.
Extremely harmonious.

At this moment, another team with bright flags and neat ceremonial guards came from the south.

Shao Qing, Mao Dan rode up to him, turned over and dismounted, ran all the way to Chen Chu, cupped his fists and said, "Brother, Du Zhaoqing, the Minister of Rites, has arrived."

"Oh?"

Before Chen Chu could get up, Yao Zongjiang and Qin Fu got up in one fell swoop. Their movements were even more agile than the young Chen Chu.

The Minister of Etiquette who is the chief official of the six departments!

After a while, Du Zhaoqing's envoy team approached. Du Zhaoqing got off his horse early and came on foot.

Next to the river bank full of soldiers and peasants, the honor guard representing the Qi State behind him, and the red and purple official robes on his body are particularly conspicuous.

It made all the people within a mile radius stand up and look over.
Du Zhaoqing walked over quickly, and Chen Chu finally stood up.

There was still a foot of distance between the two, so Du Zhaoqing suddenly stopped, raised his hand to straighten his official hat, then bowed his head to the bottom and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, Du Zhaoqing, has met the King of Chu!"

"."

The surroundings became silent for a moment.

In the distance, I couldn't hear clearly, but I saw a high official saluting a young man in coarse cloth, and I was very surprised.

Those who were nearby were really startled.

More than ten feet away, Lu Shou was so excited that he pulled Zhang Wuluan's sleeves and said in a suppressed voice: "Boss, boss! Look, I said, he might be the King of Chu! Look, I guessed it right "

Zhang Wuluan looked shocked and couldn't react for a long time.

Is this the prince?The prince and I will dredge a river together?
But his youngest son, standing next to his mother, said childishly: "Mother, mother, isn't this the man who came to our village to talk to Uncle Cai a few days ago?"

"Hiss~" Chunni was so frightened that she covered her son's mouth.

Who is the prince? Apart from His Highness, he is the oldest in the Qi Dynasty!His son calls him 'that man', what if he gets annoyed!

Chen Chu, on the other hand, was also a little surprised, surprised by Du Zhaoqing's overly respectful attitude.

It's not that he was disrespectful before, but that his behavior was a bit extreme now.
Chen Chu had no choice but to step forward. He asked Du Zhaoqing, who was still bowing and saluting, and said with a smile: "Du Shangshu, what's going on today? I'm doing this great gift for no reason."

Only then did Du Zhaoqing raise his head, his eyes turned red. He looked around and said, "Your Majesty, in this scene in front of you, there are officials, gentry, soldiers, and people, but they are all sweating for the same thing! What if? This can be done all over China, and our Han family will surely prosper again!"

(End of this chapter)