The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 180 I like talking to people
Li Zhi said: "You always draw some lines, which is boring and dull."

Li Shen explained: "My Royal Brother, you don't know that any building can be drawn with lines, and different buildings are built differently according to different terrains."

Thinking about what Shen Di is good at, he has an amazing memory for graphics.

Li Zhi looked up at the rain in the sky. He now felt that he was the most mediocre one in front of his brothers and sisters.

He whispered, "You will definitely take Master Yan as your master, right?"

Li Shen shook his head and said, "My sister took Shen's drawings to ask Master Yan, and Master Yan said that Shen's knowledge is not suitable, and it needs to be considered where to use it. Maybe it should be a newer knowledge."

"But our royal brother said that even if we will miss the beautiful scenery that others have seen in the future, our persistence and hard work now will become our most precious memories in the future."

The more Li Zhi listened, the more frustrated he became.

In every aspect, Li Zhi felt that he was mediocre.

The imperial sister of Dongyang became a disciple of the divine doctor Sun, the little Sizi was taught by the Taoist priest Yuan, and the eldest sister was the chief disciple of the crown prince Li Chengqian, and she had learned more knowledge in various fields than any other child in the Eastern Palace.

The children of the Eastern Palace are now slowly showing some talents as they grow older.

In the quiet front hall of the East Palace, Li Chengqian was telling Li Lizhi how to increase value during the labor process.

Ning'er sat aside and took notes.

Li Lizhi listened very attentively, taking notes while picking up a pen. She whispered, "Brother, is Guanzhong now in the stage of accumulation and expanded reproduction?"

"It's not even the stage of reproduction yet, it can barely be called the stage of accumulation on a small scale, and the productivity in Guanzhong is still insufficient."

Li Lizhi lowered her head and wrote down these words.

After the class was over, Li Chengqian took a look at Ning'er's records, confirmed that they were correct, and said, "Let someone hand them over to Father."

"Here."

Ning'er walked out of the palace, waved to a palace maid, and ordered her to hand the article to His Majesty in Ganlu Palace.

Now that the children were no longer making noise, Li Shimin lay comfortably on the couch, planning to spend the next whole day like this.

For the emperor, the most comfortable moment now is the present quietness.

Cherish every moment of the present, because after the court opens tomorrow, a lot of things will come up.

A piece of paper was placed on the table, and the eunuch reported: "Your Majesty, this is an article sent by the East Palace."

Li Shimin nodded, still keeping his eyes closed.

Seeing that His Majesty had no interest in reading the article, the eunuch stepped aside and placed the kettle on the clay stove outside the hall in case of emergency.

My heart was originally very peaceful, tranquil and comfortable, and it was a good feeling.

Articles from the East Palace... Articles from the East Palace...

A strange sound kept coming from the depths of my heart.

Then the voice became more and more impatient.

Why did this eunuch insist on saying the four words "Donggong Wenzhang".

The eunuch also noticed that His Majesty was lying on his side on the couch and his breathing had become heavier. He quickly stepped back a few steps and kept a distance from His Majesty.

Li Shimin opened his eyes slightly and his gaze fell on the piece of paper on the table.

Suddenly, wind blew in from the window, blowing up the paper and then it fell under the table.

Li Shimin closed his eyes comfortably again, and comfort once again took the dominant position in his heart.

But after a moment, the eunuch suddenly picked up the paper on the ground, put it back on the table, and even pressed it down with a paperweight.

This time, no matter how hard the wind blows, it cannot blow the paper under the table.

Finally, Li Shimin let out a long sigh, sat up from the couch, sat down at the desk, picked up the paper and looked at it.

The three eunuchs divided the work. One brought the kettle, and another put a lot of tea leaves in the tea bowl. After the tea was brewed, the third eunuch placed the tea bowl next to His Majesty's table.

The reason why so much tea leaves are put in is because Your Majesty needs strong tea the most at this time.

Whenever Your Majesty reads the articles in the Eastern Palace, that is when you consume the most tea.

It’s nothing, it’s just that reading the articles in Donggong consumes the most tea.

Li Shimin looked at the article, picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of hot tea, and read it over and over again.

The rain in Guanzhong this year was very gentle, not as heavy as last year.

Xu Jingzong was wearing a blue round-necked robe with some hidden patterns embroidered on it. The three-chapter pattern on the round-necked robe showed his current status in the court, which was that of a fourth-rank official.

Only one level lower than the fourth-rank official of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Standing under the eaves, Xu Jingzong looked at the gray sky and whispered, "This time last year, I was still building a river bank on the Wei River."

Li Dao Zong stood aside, watching the people of Chang'an coming and going on the streets, and said with a smile: "There will be no promotion for three years, but after this year there will only be one year left."

Xu Jingzong smiled and said, "Even if I can only be the Shao Yin of Jingzhao Prefecture, I will be satisfied."

Li Daozon's position as the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture was given by the current emperor, and Xu Jingzong was well aware of this gap.

The position of Jingzhao Prefecture Governor is not something that can be obtained so easily; one must be someone that Your Majesty trusts the most.

This sense of gap is powerless and insurmountable.

Watching Li Daozon walk into the rain again, Xu Jingzong looked at the puddles on the ground, then turned back to look at the busy people in Jingzhao Prefecture.

He walked back into the government office.

Di Zhixun asked, "It's time for Xu Shaoyin to go off duty."

Xu Jingzong ordered: "Prepare the horses and leave the city."

"Yes." A clerk hurried to do the work.

Di Zhixun asked curiously, "Will Xu Shaoyin not go home?"

Xu Jingzong stroked his short beard and whispered, "Every autumn rain in Guanzhong should not be taken lightly. I will stay by the Wei River these days. Come with me."

"Here."

Xu Jingzong walked out of Jingzhao Prefecture again. After leaving the city, he took a few people and headed towards the upper reaches of the Jing River.

When October comes in Guanzhong, the autumn wind blows and no green leaves can be seen.

Guo Luotuo and Yan Qinli have been in Weinan County these days. They have hardly returned to Jingzhao Prefecture in the past two months, and no one has come to ask about them.

Yan Qinli took over the entire Weinan County workshop construction, and Xu Shaoyin had to dispatch in Jingzhao Prefecture. Now was the flood season in Guanzhong, and Xu Shaoyin went upstream to preside over the river repairs. So Yan Qinli didn't go back to Jingzhao Prefecture for a month, and no one came to ask about it.

This is a very strange phenomenon. Logically speaking, there are 35 officials registered in Jingzhao Prefecture, and there are more than 200 people who can be employed in the periphery.

Many of them are frustrated students who failed the imperial examination last year. These young students are merely compilers in the Jingzhao Prefecture, and are registered under the name of Chongwenguan.

If everyone was in Jingzhao Prefecture, Jingzhao Prefecture would not be able to accommodate so many people. Most of the time, 90% of the people were working outside.

There was basically no one in Jingzhao Prefecture except the Jingzhao Prefecture Yin and Jingzhao Prefecture Shaoyin.

These people got a job in Jingzhao Prefecture, which gave them a fixed salary every month, and provided them with food and lodging in Jingzhao Prefecture.

It solved the livelihood problem for those failed imperial examination candidates who came from far away and came from poor families.

It also provided additional manpower for Jingzhao Prefecture.

In fact, these people were well-educated and capable. After being absorbed by Jingzhao Prefecture, they joined the construction of Guanzhong.

They were the first to come into contact with the governance strategies of Guanzhong and they often traveled around the counties of Guanzhong. In the future, they would have outstanding abilities in handling affairs and would also have official positions. For now, they had no worries about food and accommodation and received good wages, and they were already very satisfied.

If the imperial examination is held again next year, even if they fail again, Jingzhao Prefecture will continue to employ them based on their accumulated experience.

Now in Weinan County, there are more than ten people around Yan Qinli like these people.

Guo Luotuo looked at the abundant fruits on the tree, then looked down at the root system, picked up a handful of soil, smelled it carefully, and whispered: "The dates are growing well, and they can be picked before winter."

There are three workshops in front of us, and pottery pots are being fired in one of them.

Soy sauce is produced in Weibei, and the pots for storing soy sauce come from Weinan County. Weibei needs a large number of ceramic pots to store wine and soy sauce.

Weinan and Weibei have become two upstream and downstream industrial chains, complementing each other.

Only Weinan, which has a sufficient population and labor force, can take over this large order, and the two places are also close enough.

The old craftsman who made pottery pots was invited from Chang'an. He personally checked the quality of each fired pottery pot. If bubbles came out when immersed in water, it was a defective product.

After the intact pottery pots are loaded onto trucks, they will be sent to Weibei.

Copper coins also began to flow in these freight shipments.

This is reproduction. Demand and supply are mutual. Soy sauce, as a dipping sauce, will surely become popular once it enters Chang'an.

Yan Qinli recorded the situation here in a booklet. Most of the people working here are women.

After seeing the situation here, Yan Qinli and Guo Luotuo went to another place, where they found winter dates, persimmons, pomegranates, green onions...

This summer, Guo Luotuo planted some pepper seedlings here. Now the pepper has grown up, and the half-human-high pepper trees are bearing some brown fruits.

Guo Luotuo silently picked a few peppercorns, rubbed the skin open in his hands, put them in his mouth and tasted them carefully, without saying a word, just nodding secretly.

Yan Qinli tucked the book under his arm, picked some peppercorns, smelled them carefully, put them in his mouth and savored the spicy taste.

Guo Luotuo was a man of few words. Yan Qinli followed him and said, "When grapes are grown in Guanzhong, grapes from the Western Regions will be worthless. If Guanzhong can grow this, pepper from the Western Regions..."

It was lunch time. Guo Luotuo did not reply at first, but asked for two bowls of noodles from the family next door and asked someone to burn some lard.

Guo Luotuo gave the man a few copper coins.

The county residents here all knew that these officials were working for the county, and they didn't ask for money. Instead, they took out their own bacon to entertain them.

Guo Luotuo sprinkled pepper on the noodles and then sprinkled a layer of oil. The pepper gave off a spicy smell under the hot oil.

After sitting down, Guo Luotuo picked up the bowl and started eating.

Yan Qinli felt somewhat uncomfortable working with the silent Guo Siqing.

I had heard from Shangguan Yi and Xu Jingzong that Guo Siqing was a taciturn person, but I didn't expect him to be so silent.

I saw Guo Siqing handing over a bowl of noodles sprinkled with pepper and oil.

Yan Qinli took the bowl and chopsticks, scooped up the noodles and took a sip, frowned and tasted it, and whispered: "I heard that the East Palace crushed pepper and salt to make pepper salt. Is it inappropriate for us to eat it like this?"

"Nothing is inappropriate. There will be no shortage of pepper in Guanzhong in the future."

Upon hearing this, Yan Qinli started coughing due to the choking of pepper.

Guo Luotuo added: "Actually, this is pepper and it's not pepper. I have seen a kind of Lingnan spice in books, and later I heard rumors about this thing from merchants in Shuzhong. It's called Shu pepper, but this Shu pepper is different from the Qin pepper in the past. Shu pepper adapts better to water and soil."

"This is all thanks to the exchanges with merchants coming and going from Guanzhong. In fact, I like talking to people, which allows me to know the changes in crops in various parts of the Central Plains."

Do you like talking to people?
Yan Qinli slurped a few mouthfuls of noodles. When he talked to people, most of the time, he wouldn't say unnecessary words.

Guo Luotuo continued, "After comparing pepper and Sichuan pepper, I cultivated them. I not only read books related to farming, but also many medicinal articles and classics, which gave me a lot of inspiration."

Yan Qinli only understood half of what was said.

"Yan Shuling, after the Central Plains came to Guanzhong to trade goods last year, I asked the merchants last year to give each of them a piece of soap. I asked about the origin of this pepper. In fact, it should be called Huajiao. This is a story from a very distant place."

Yan Qinli ate the noodles happily and nodded, "Peppercorns!"

Guo Luotuo added, "This year those people came to Chang'an to buy soap again. I would like to ask Jingzhao Prefecture to give each of them a bar of soap. No money is required. It is a gift."

Yan Qinli ate the noodles. Perhaps it was because of the peppercorns, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "It's as it should be. It's a great thing that Guanzhong has this."

Guo Luotuo said: "Don't worry, this piece of land will be planted with a lot of pepper in the future, not only in Weinan, but also in Lantian, Sanyuan, and Xianyang counties."

Yan Qinli bowed and said, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Guo Si."

Guo Luotuo added: "Actually, these are the ideas that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave me. He asked me to find more ideas from the Pharmacopoeia. Now I finally understand that farming is related to the Pharmacopoeia. Why didn't I think of it before?"

This bowl of noodles was surprising to Yan Qinli. He whispered, "Guo Siqing?"

Guo Luotuo said, "You tell me."

"Can you tell Jingzhao Prefecture in advance what you have planted so that we won't be caught off guard and make hasty preparations?"

"Hmm?" Guo Luotuo hesitated and said, "I clearly told Xu Jingzong about this. Didn't he tell you?"

Yan Qinli was surprised again when he saw Guo Siqing, who was not easy to get along with. "Ah?"

"Yes." Guo Luotuo nodded and said, "Then it has nothing to do with me. It was Xu Jingzong who didn't tell you."

Yan Qinli wiped the sweat from his forehead again, wondering why Guo Siqing didn't sweat after eating peppercorns.

Guo Luotuo whispered again: "Well, Xu Jingzong probably forgot."

Recovering health and status...sleep first.

I will update more when I am in better condition, yes.

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(End of this chapter)