The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 214: Drought and Flood
Shangguan Yi smiled and said, "Zhengyi, look at these villagers. They are actually impatient with these imperial censors."

Guo Zheng smiled and said, "Of course. The current crown prince is wise and has presided over the construction of Guanzhong. No one has starved to death so far. This is already a commendable achievement."

When the two men walked into a karez in Weibei and looked at the space underground, they were amazed.

"They actually dug a ditch here. This is a ditch!" Guo Zhengyi exclaimed.

When Guo Zhengyi stretched out his hand to touch the water in the ditch, a villager who was also enjoying the cool air nearby came forward and shouted: "Don't touch it, use a bucket to scoop up the water. Why drink dirty water?"

Hearing this, Guo Zhengyi's hands froze in place.

Shangguan Yi took the bucket with a smile, scooped up a bucket of water, and washed his hands and face happily.

The water is very cool and I feel no heat at all.

Guo Zhengyi was very surprised. As early as when he entered Guanzhong, he felt like he had entered another world, and now he saw such a wonderful fortification.

Shangguan Yi started chatting with the old man next to him.

The old man sat on a stool and explained in a low voice: "This used to be a dry plateau. If people in our village wanted water, they had to walk ten miles on the dry plateau and carry water home."

"Now, the government has asked us to build five large water cellars, and the water cellars are connected by karez."

A bucket dropped from the well above and fell straight into the ditch.

Guo Zheng looked up and saw people above pulling the rope. The wooden barrel entered the ditch, and then he took the water and pulled it up.

"I am too old to do farm work." He pointed to the other end of the ditch and explained, "Old people like us would die of heat up there, so we can only come down to escape the heat and help them watch over the water."

Guo Zhengyi asked, "I heard that the Longshou Canal outside is so dry that it's almost dry."

The old man nodded.

"I also heard that the earliest karez was built in Jingyang."

The old man was a little proud. He said, "The karez in Jingyang is not as big as the one here. The karez here is connected from top to bottom and is 20 miles long. Construction began last winter. We dug out the loess bucket by bucket."

"I heard there's salary?"

The old man explained, "They need to pay the workers. Jingzhao Prefecture said it would be offset from the taxes of previous years, so no one cares. In fact, Jingzhao Prefecture doesn't have that much money. All their money was used to build the Hexi Corridor and Tongguan."

Guo Zhengyi asked: "Old man, do you hate Jingzhao Prefecture?"

"The officials in Jingzhao Prefecture are a bunch of annoying people. It's annoying, but what else can I do? Without those people in Jingzhao Prefecture, I don't know if I would die of heat today."

Guo Zheng laughed again after hearing this. One has to speak softly here because his laughter can echo in this tunnel for a long time.

By the Taiye Lake, the emperor and the prince were not in a very good mood.

Even the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace underestimated the severity of the heat this year.

Li Zhi put a piece of lard on a stone, let the lard melt on the stone, then cracked a duck egg and sprinkled the egg liquid on the stone.

Soon, there was a sizzling sound, and in a few moments a fried egg was ready.

He could even flip it over with a small wooden spatula.

Li Lizhi warned: "Zhi Nu, eat the eggs you fried yourself, don't waste them."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhi put the fried egg into his mouth.

The court was on holiday again. Li Shimin sat under the shade of a tree, chewing ice cubes in his mouth, looking at the blue sky, "Cheng Qian, when will it rain?"

……

There was no response from behind him, so Li Shimin asked again: "Cheng Qian, if this continues, Guanzhong will be so hot that people will die. Do you have any solution?"

……

Still no response, Li Shimin picked up another piece of ice and put it in his mouth, without looking back, but continued to call out: "Cheng Qian?"

Empress Changsun handed over a bowl of cool tea and said, "Cheng Qian left a long time ago."

"Hmm?" Li Shimin looked around a little dazedly, and found that his son, who was fanning himself impatiently in the back, was gone.

"I called him so many times, but he never left without telling me when he left."

Empress Changsun looked at her husband and scolded him with a smile, "You seem to be free, but Cheng Qian is not so free. He must be going to various places to report at this time."

Li Shimin lay on a wooden board with his arms and legs spread out, looking at Li Shen, Gao Yang and others who were swimming in the distance. These children wished they could soak in the water all day long.

Empress Changsun sat aside and looked at the palace accounts. She added, "Your Majesty is now increasingly relying on Cheng Qian."

"This child has perseverance, can endure hardships, and is very talented."

Li Lizhi led Li Zhi to hear this at the right time and asked, "Does my brother have the talent to be an emperor?"

Li Shimin added: "His skills are still lacking."

Empress Changsun knew what His Majesty meant, and Cheng Qian was going to be more ruthless.

Li Zhi returned to his mother and lay down to take a nap.

In the evening, there was a thunder in the sky, cheers were heard in every neighborhood of Chang'an City, and rain fell from the dark cloudy sky.

Heavy rain fell, watering the scorching earth, and the rain formed mist on the ground.

A group of children were cheering in the rain beside the Taiye Lake, and were then carried back one by one by the prince who had rushed to the Taiye Lake.

Li Chengqian held Li Shen's ear with one hand and Gao Yang's ear with the other, and carried his younger brother and sister, who were crying out in pain, back under the eaves.

Ning'er and Li Lizhi, who were standing by, covered their mouths and laughed.

Standing in the villa, Li Chengqian took a sip of iced tea and breathed a sigh of relief.

Empress Changsun took her son's coat and told him to wash it first, saying, "Look at you, you smell of sweat and your clothes are soaked with sweat."

Li Chengqian took a cold shower, then took a bowl of cold water handed to him by Ning'er and put some salt in the water.

The prince had been busy in the Secretariat from the afternoon to the evening. When the prince came to the East Palace, Ning'er saw that his clothes were soaked with sweat and even his hair was wet.

It was as if the sweat had just come out and dried, but the inner layer of the thick long hair was still wet.

Li Chengqian put down his coat and asked Li Zhi and Li Shen to help him with scraping.

The prince sat on the chair with his eyes closed, his hands hanging on the chair, his back facing his two younger brothers, allowing them to scrape his skin.

Every time a red mark was scraped out with the bamboo stick, Li Chengqian's face felt a little painful and his brows furrowed a little.

"Father, today only Yu Zhining and Gao Jifu helped me distribute the summer expenses. There is no one else in the imperial city."

Li Shimin looked at his son, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead again.

It would be a lie to say that I didn't feel bad, I just didn't say it. Empress Changsun whispered, "It's hard for this child."

Li Zhi and Li Shen scraped their brother's back, and soon his back turned red.

"Okay, you go and play."

Li Zhi and Li Shen stood silently by, not wanting to leave. Even they knew that this was the most difficult time for their brother the Emperor.

Li Chengqian put on his coat again and listened to another thunder outside. Until nightfall, lightning occasionally exploded in the night sky.

"Father, Taoist Priest Li Chunfeng said that after this year's severe drought, there is a high probability of severe flooding."

"Really? How confident are you, Taoist Li?"

Little Sizi bit off a peach with her still tender teeth and said, "This is what my brother and Taoist Li inferred based on the climate in previous years and the changes this year."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Just speculation?"

Li Chengqian explained: "It's just speculation. It all depends on the mood of the heaven. By the way... Li Dejian sent a letter to me. There was a wildfire on the edge of Zhongnan Mountain. The whole forest was burned to ashes. The fire burned for three days and three nights before it stopped."

The villa was very quiet, with only the sound of little Sizi eating peaches.

The father and son talked in a low voice about the current situation. Jingzhao Prefecture had made timely preparations and had prepared food long before the drought.

The food had already arrived before the drought occurred in Jinyang or other parts of Shanxi this year.

Li Shimin looked at a memorial and said, "So the population that has moved to Luoyang has reached 30,000 households?"

"Well, most of these people are those who have no land in other places, but they still have no land when they arrive in Luoyang."

Li Shimin said, "I'm afraid Ma Zhou and the others have other intentions?"

"Well, the construction of the Luoyang Canal has reached the most critical stage. Manpower is most needed at this time. Although the people who move to Luoyang have no land to farm, they can get job opportunities and prepare for the future development of Jingzhao Prefecture."

"Among these 30,000 households, 300 are merchants, and they have opened workshops. Du He's workshop alone is not enough. Now Du He has planned to open a larger soap workshop in Luoyang, and there are 600 merchants in Guanzhong. Cakes, buns, tables and chairs, carpentry, toilets, etc. will become the main force. They want to build their business in Luoyang. They call it expansion."

"With Tongguan as a bridge in the middle, preparations for this expansion have already begun. Even Guo Luotuo will go to Luoyang, and I have already reported this to you, my son."

Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Although I originally wanted to stabilize the construction of Guanzhong, I still can't stop these people's determination to expand. These things will also be hosted by Jingzhao Prefecture."

The prince's smile showed some annoyance and helplessness.

There will always be troubles in production development. Guanzhong’s development has just begun, but they are already thinking about taking off.

This is a normal trend of interests, but the difficulties they encounter in their subsequent development and expansion will become valuable experiences.

These experiences will become the soil for the rise of this dynasty. There will always be someone who tries and makes mistakes, even if they fail.

Du He became the leader of Guanzhong merchants and the pioneer of this expansion.

The Jingzhao Prefecture also played a role in supervision, dispatch and integration.

It’s okay, the bumps and bruises along the way are inevitable.

Half a moment later, the rain stopped and the emperor walked out of the villa, pointing at the sky and cursing.

In the past, the emperor always prayed to God, but now, for some reason, the emperor began to curse God, saying that it had been hot for so many days, and God only gave them a little rain.

If this matter were known to the court officials, perhaps there would be rumors that the emperor was disrespectful to heaven, and he would be advised against it by a group of court officials.

The eunuchs in the villa were sensible enough to keep their mouths shut, limiting the spread of the incident to within the villa.

The next day, Li Chengqian learned that Jingzhao Prefecture was going to reduce the price of grapes this year to fifty coins per catty.

At noon, the prince called Xu Jingzong to the Secretariat and scolded him severely.

Although there were no other officials in the imperial city at that time, the guards on duty could still vaguely hear what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was cursing when they passed by.

Xu Jingzong said with a bitter face, "Your Highness, if you don't lower the price, those merchants will not buy grapes."

"Is it easy for villagers to grow grapes? You are lowering the price now, are you going to lower it further? Luoyang is going to grow grapes, how are we going to sell Guanzhong grapes in the future?"

The Crown Prince's angry curses echoed in the Secretariat.

It is also summer, and people are very irritable.

Xu Jingzong wiped the sweat from his forehead and listened to the scolding.

"They don't want to buy it, why are you so anxious! The taste of grapes in Guanzhong is unique." Li Chengqian pointed at him and said angrily: "Don't you know how to build brand reputation? How come your smart brain, Xu Jingzong, is useless at this time?"

"I understand. I will go and tell them right away."

……

This hot summer season will be spent amid the curses of the emperor and the prince.

Near August, a heavy rain swept across Guanzhong and east of Luoyang.

The autumn rain finally came. On this rainy day, Li Chengqian walked out of the bedroom of the East Palace and said with a smile, "Ning'er, look! It's raining, really heavy."

Ning Er also smiled and said, "Great, the autumn rain is finally here."

Li Chengqian took a deep breath of fresh air and looked at the water tank that was about to run dry and was now half full of rain water.

The heavy rain was like God pouring water. The water levels in rivers in Guanzhong were rising and the flows in the rivers were becoming more turbulent.

After the extreme heat and drought in the tenth year of Zhenguan, a heavy rain swept in. When the rain started, the villagers in Guanzhong cheered.

But when the heavy rain continued for three days with no sign of stopping, some people began to worry.

Li Daozon rode his horse in the rain and hurried to the bank of the Wei River, where many officials from the Jingzhao Prefecture were already standing.

Yan Qinli bowed and said, "Prefect, there may be trouble in Tongguan and Luoyang downstream."

Not to mention that the situation in Guanzhong, which is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, is already like this. Luoyang is located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and the situation there must be even more serious.

"Damn it! The Tongguan Market and Luoyang that we built with great difficulty cannot be flooded." Li Daozong cursed, "After a severe drought, there will be severe floods. I should have thought of this earlier."

Yan Qinli said: "Fortunately, we have made preparations this year. Both Tongguan and Luoyang have built river embankments."

Li Dao Zong felt somewhat relieved and said, "Those officials who impeached the Crown Prince for recruiting laborers and wasting a lot of money and grain should all be killed in the hall to make amends for the country!"

"Yes, if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince hadn't made preparations in advance, Tongguan and Luoyang would probably have been flooded by now." Yan Qinli whispered to himself.

Inside the palace, the emperor returned and was reading the report on the crown prince's supervision of government affairs and defense of Chang'an these days. Standing in front of him were the current crown prince and the Minister of Works Yan Liben.

Seeing all the satisfactory results, Li Shimin said with emotion: "This year has not been easy for you all."

Yan Liben bowed and said, "Even if I die, I am willing to share the worries of the Tang Dynasty."

Today there will only be two chapters for now, and the update will be left for tomorrow, okay!
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(End of this chapter)