A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 827 My sword is not at a disadvantage

Li Shimin took Li Yi's hand and walked out of the palace.

Just as Pei Huaijie, the Palace Attendant, was about to enter the palace to report on matters, he saw the emperor in such a hurry and quickly reminded him, "Your Majesty, the King and Queen of Gaochang have already entered the palace and will come to pay their respects immediately."

Li Shimin didn't even turn his head. "Tell them to wait."

Pei Huaijie caught up with the emperor, saying, "The Western Turkic Moheshe Ashina Nishu and the Tuyuhun Daning King Murong Shun will also be coming to pay their respects later today."

"I am busy today. Tell them to come another day."

Pei Huaijie had never seen the emperor so anxious before. Although His Majesty was young, he had a heart full of turmoil but a calm face.

He looked at Situ Li Yi, who was being practically dragged along by the emperor, with a puzzled expression.

Li Yi smiled slightly at him but did not explain.

He could only watch as the young emperor and his minister quickly disappeared into the distance.

He was left standing alone in front of the Zhenguan Hall, completely puzzled as to what had happened to make His Majesty so anxious. But looking at Li Situ's smile, it didn't seem like anything bad.

If you can't figure it out, then stop thinking about it.

He lifted his long robe and chased after him. He was the Palace Attendant, and when the emperor left the palace, he had to accompany him as an attendant.

Despite chasing and rushing all the way, they still couldn't catch up.
The palace guards told him that His Majesty had already left the palace.

Where did His Majesty go?

The guard remained silent, unaware of the emperor's whereabouts, and even if he did, he would never easily reveal it.

In order to see the magical herb as soon as possible,

The emperor did not ride in the golden carriage, but rode directly on horseback, leading a team of a hundred riders to Li Yi's residence in Tongji Ward, the southwesternmost corner of Luoyang.

Jump off the horse,
The emperor pulled Li Yi directly into the mansion, heading straight for the library.

As they passed through the garden, they happened to see Crown Prince Chengqian playing a war game with Li Shu and Li Cong, who were riding bamboo horses. Li Shu was directing her younger sisters, and Li Cong was directing his younger brothers.
Chengqian, however, became Li Shu's vanguard, wielding a wooden sword and riding a bamboo staff as his horse.

He was engaged in a fierce battle with Erlang Li Yan on the battlefield.

Suddenly, I saw my father, the Emperor, walking briskly towards me.

Li Chengqian was startled, thinking that his father was coming for him. He was so frightened that he froze on the spot. The sword in his hand was knocked away by Li Yan, and then the wooden sword was placed against his neck. He shouted happily, "We have captured the enemy's vanguard general!"

Chengqian disregarded everything else and looked at his father, nervously at a loss for what to do.

After arriving at the Li family, he was so busy playing that he went crazy and didn't study or do his homework.

As her father drew closer, she suddenly turned away with Li Situ, seemingly not seeing him at all.

Wasn't his father coming to see him?

I breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt a little disappointed at being neglected.

Li Yan tried to grab him and take him back to their own lines.

At this moment, Li Shujiao shouted and charged out wielding her wooden spear, ambushing Li Yan and rescuing Chengqian. "Retreat!" Chengqian was pulled back by Li Shujiao.

Li Yan, having been hit twice with a stick, said somewhat aggrievedly, "Sister, you attacked me from behind. That's unethical and not gentlemanly!"

"Hmph, I am a female general, not a gentleman. Besides, all's fair in war. Come at me again if you dare!" Li Shu shouted.

Li Chengqian then came to his senses, "I was distracted when I saw my father and Minister Li arrive, which is why you attacked me first. You attacked me first!"
Do you dare to fight me again?

Li Yan brandished his wooden sword, "Fine, let my defeated foe test the sharpness of my sword once more!"

Chengqian raised his wooden sword, "My sword is just as sharp!"

"Come again!"

The two rode on bamboo staffs, rushed to the middle, and began to fight again, brandishing their wooden swords. For a time, it was difficult to determine a winner.

Li Shimin pulled Li Yi toward the library.

"Wasn't that Chengqian the one riding a bamboo horse and wielding a wooden sword just now?"

"Yes, the Crown Prince is currently having a sword duel with my second son."

Li Shimin finally smiled and said, "It's like we're pretending to be two armies facing off. It's quite interesting."

The emperor glanced back and saw Chengqian happily playing with a wooden sword. "Let's go, I can't wait to see the true appearance of the immortal herb."

In the afternoon,

The first floor of the library
Sunlight streamed in through the small, latticed windows made of oyster shells.

"Your Majesty, these six jars contain water hyacinths."

The emperor looked in the direction Li Yi was pointing.

The afternoon sunlight shone like shattered gold on a row of ceramic jars in the hall.

On the surface of the water at the mouth of the tank, water hyacinths clustered and intertwined, like a wisp of emerald cloud gently floating above the blue sky.

He quickly walked closer to examine it more closely.
The leaves of this herb are round and plump, with slightly curled edges. The leaves are an intensely green, exuding vitality, so green that they seem to be bursting with juice.

The petiole is thick and long.
The middle part is swollen, just like a small gourd, steadily supporting the leaves.

Most notably,
Nothing could be better than this lush greenery.

There is a flower in full bloom.

It is full of mystery and nobility.

It peeked out from among the green leaves, its pinkish-purple petals shimmering with a soft purple light in the sunlight.

Just like the blushing cheeks of a young girl.

In the center of those pinkish-purple petals were dark blue patches, with bright yellow eye spots within them, much like the peacock feathers presented as tribute by the Cuan clan of Nanzhong.

The yellow stamens trembled slightly, emitting a faint fragrance.

"Phoenix Eye Lotus".

The emperor murmured to himself, then leaned closer to examine it closely.

Li Yi simply reached out and picked up a water hyacinth.

"Your Majesty, the stem of the water hyacinth is very short, but it has long creeping branches, so it can divide quickly and is highly adaptable. It can grow in ponds, ditches and low-lying waterlogged fields. It prefers a warm climate and plenty of sunshine, and it likes to grow in shallow and still water. It can reproduce rapidly by division."

It can be eaten as a vegetable, used as animal feed, and also used for medicinal purposes.

The whole plant, including the roots, is used medicinally, possessing properties that dispel wind and heat, promote urination, and clear heat and detoxify. Seeing Li Yi so casually pick up a plant, the emperor quickly said, "Be careful. If it's really as miraculous as you say, then it's a treasure."

National treasures.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, this thing is extremely resilient. Even if you leave it on the ground for ten or fifteen days and it looks like it has dried up and died, it can still recover when you throw it back into the water."

Even if it withers in the cold winter, it can grow again the following year. Even if the roots and stems die completely, its seeds can still sprout from the soil.

Li Yi handed the water hyacinth to the emperor, Li Shimin, who hesitated before accepting it and carefully holding it in both hands.

"Your Majesty pinched that gourd; the inside is very porous. This stuff is even lighter than a reed."

After being dried, it can be used to weave mats, bags, etc.

Koi carp swam around in the water tank, very beautiful and lively, but the emperor didn't even glance at them.

All eyes were on the water hyacinth.

"From what you've said, this plant is best suited to grow in the south, which is a bit of a shame."

Li Yi smiled and said, "It can be raised in the north as well. After spring arrives and the weather warms up, it can be transported from the south to the north. In less than three months, one flower can multiply and fill a pond. You can just throw some into the river and it will grow into a large patch."

Although they will freeze to death when winter comes, they can still grow for six months and can still be used.

"That makes sense." Li Shimin nodded.

Li Yi pointed to the several vats of water hyacinths, "Your Majesty, they can actually overwinter in the north. For example, if you keep some like this in a warm indoor environment, they can overwinter. When the weather warms up, you can throw them into a pond in the wild, and they will quickly reproduce and spread."

In winter, we can just bring some indoors to keep them.

If you raise a whole pond of them, you can't catch them all even if you do it every day.

In the past, when water hyacinths were raised in rural ponds, there was a very effective method to prevent them from multiplying too quickly and affecting the fish in the ponds.

Connect the bamboo poles together to form a frame, and the water hyacinth will be contained and unable to reproduce outwards.

If you want to raise more animals, use a larger enclosure; if you want to raise fewer, use a smaller enclosure.

Otherwise, the entire pond would be covered very quickly, and the fish in the pond would not survive.

Li Shimin put the water gourd back into the vat.

"Since this plant is suitable for growing in the south, we can't delay. Let's send it to the south to grow now. When it gets warmer in the Central Plains, the water hyacinth will have multiplied a lot in the south. We can then bring some back to grow."

Food is the most important thing for people.
Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the problem of feeding its people had never been solved.
Any major or minor disaster will lead to famine and starvation. Even during the lean season each year, many people starve to death or are forced to flee their homes and beg for food.

Although this water hyacinth is just a type of grass...
If it's edible, then it's not just any ordinary grass.

Although many wild vegetables, such as shepherd's purse and sow thistle, are edible, none are as potent as the water hyacinth that Li Yi described.

It's practically inexhaustible.

Throw in one flower, and it can cover five or six acres of water surface in three months. It doesn't take up farmland, requires no human effort to maintain, and doesn't need fertilizer.

What else could this be but a miraculous herb?

During famine,

If it were readily available in the south, grinding it into powder and mixing it with other grains to make relief food would be much better than bran, grass roots, tree bark, or clay.

With the auspicious crops of corn, sweet potatoes, and yams that Li Yi had previously presented as offerings,

Now that Li Yi has brought out this divine herb again, Li Shimin has no doubts whatsoever.

In his eyes, Li Zhenren was an immortal being; he even began to doubt whether Li Zhenren had actually been crushed to death by the collapsed kiln.

He felt that it was just a case of the cicada shedding its shell, and that Master Li had simply left and was currently wandering somewhere.

"Your Majesty, how about I pick a few and stir-fry them for you to try?"

"Absolutely not! How can we waste such precious resources!" The emperor refused, adding that he would send a hundred cavalry to guard the six vats of water lilies in the library.

Water hyacinth? How can this be called a water hyacinth? This should be called a fairy gourd, or a phoenix-eyed lotus.

"First came corn and sweet potatoes, and now this magical gourd. It is truly a blessing from heaven for our Great Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin gazed at the purple-blue flower and sighed deeply.

In recent years, corn, sweet potatoes, and yams have been rapidly promoted in Guanzhong. Although it is not possible to achieve full popularization in five or six years, the planting volume has indeed been quite large.

Although corn cannot compete with wheat and rice in terms of yield on fertile plains, it yields more than millet, sorghum, and oats on poorer land such as hillsides and dry land.

Needless to say, the yields of sweet potatoes and yams are astonishing.

These new crops have brought tangible benefits to the people, increasing the food supply for many.

The emperor and his minister sat around the water hyacinth, discussing the spring planting this year. In the north, they needed to guard against both drought and locust plagues, so they decided to plant less corn, sorghum, millet, sorghum, and wheat.

We need a variety of soybeans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins.

Meanwhile, the south should vigorously promote crops that increase yields, such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes.

First, concentrate our efforts on getting through the famine and try to minimize the number of people who starve to death.

“There is no prosperous age without famine!” Li Shimin sighed, his expression solemn.

"Your Majesty, this is only temporary."

Li Yi proposed that water hyacinths from the south be ground into powder, which would then be transported to the north and mixed with locust egg powder, locust powder, corn flour, soybean flour, etc., to make disaster relief food.

This limited amount of food can be used to produce more disaster relief food, providing relief to more starving people.

Such disaster relief food certainly wouldn't taste good, but during a famine, if starving people could eat it, it could save their lives.

If a major famine were to occur, without relief, the hordes of refugees would have nothing to eat, not even grass roots or tree bark, as the food would have been consumed by those already there. This would be especially true in the Central Plains, where the vast plains would be barren and desolate during a severe drought.

In ancient times, people used radishes as a form of provisions to prepare for famine. In peaceful times, radishes were used as raw material, steamed, mashed, molded, and then naturally air-dried into brick shapes for storage at home, or even used directly to build walls.

To prepare for emergencies during times of war and famine.

These bricks are better for storing food than grain.

Li Yi's water hyacinth powder and locust powder disaster relief grain can also be made into brick or cake shapes, which are convenient for transportation.

Tea bricks and tea cakes are just like that.

Looking at the lush greenery, Li Yi couldn't help but sigh. In later generations, this thing would be so abundant that even pigs wouldn't eat it.

But now, it has to become a life-saving food.

(End of this chapter)