Landlord of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 368

Xu Qing secretly hid the stumps of the jumping gnats, and absent-mindedly walked through the entire Golden Palace bird inspection process.I don't know if Li Yuan saw his strangeness, after the sacrifice, the eunuch called him into the imperial study to discuss matters.
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Imperial study room

Xu Qing took out the things in his pocket, took a deep breath and entered the imperial study.Since ancient times, there have been courtiers who report good news but not bad news, but there is no monarch who is happy but not happy. Although Xu Qing's move is loyal, it cannot guarantee that Li Yuan will like to listen so much.

The foot has already stepped into the imperial study room, and it is not now to retreat.Xu Qing bit the bullet and bowed down: "Mr. Xu Qing, pay homage to my emperor, long live my emperor."

Li Yuan smiled and said: "Come on, what happened to the Qiankun mirror I made for you, the ones you sent over yesterday are really not good."

Xu Qing was slightly relieved, what Li Yuan wanted to ask was not about the Taimiao, Xu Qing took out a magnifying glass in his bosom, handed it up and said: "Your Majesty, here is the mirror of heaven and earth, this is the finest medicinal jade in the royal palace It does so much better than the others.”

Li Yuan took it and took a look: "That's true, it's not bad, by the way, I see that you are a little uneasy during today's Golden Palace bird inspection, what's going on? You are not in good health, why don't you take a look at it from the medical office?" .”

Xu Qing was ashamed. If other officials were asked such a few words by Li Yuan, they might have already kowtowed in gratitude, but Xu Qing shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, today's golden palace inspects birds, and I found something. But this If you find something bad, if you speak out, you may cause riots. If you don’t speak out, you are afraid that you will be unprepared and the people will suffer disasters. Therefore, you are hesitant and restless..."

Li Yuan's doubts surfaced, and he thought about becoming serious again, and then asked: "Well... okay, now there are only you and Zhen in this imperial study, the monarch and his ministers, just talk about it."

Xu Qing sighed, took out the jumping gnat he found, put it on Li Yuan's table and said, "Your Majesty, this is the stuff in the belly of the bird caught today, can your Majesty recognize it?"

Li Yuan looked at the stump on the table solemnly, and couldn't help asking: "Isn't this a common bug? Could there be a bug plague?"

Xu Qing nodded seriously and said: "Your majesty is wise, this insect is called jumping gnat, and it is the larva of locusts. There are a lot of jumping gnats in the belly of birds, which means that there are a lot of jumping gnats. If you don't take precautions, there will be a plague of locusts."

Li Yuan stood up suddenly, picked up the stump and thought about it carefully, it seemed that he realized the seriousness of this matter.But, this bird is flying from far away, flying in all directions, who knows where this jumping gnat is?Unable to think of a way, Li Yuan looked at Xu Qing.

Seeing this, Xu Qing thought for a while and said, "From yesterday, there has been a blizzard around Chang'an. Moreover, before the blizzard, there were not many days of sunshine, and there were very few days when the snow thawed. Jumping gnats need food, and they must not be able to live in the snow. Your Majesty, you can send soldiers and horses to run in all directions of Chang'an, find a place where there is no snow or very little snow, and then look for green shoots to grow, which is the place where jumping gnats gather. The sparrow's esophagus is very short. There are remnants of food, this place should not be far away."

After Xu Qing finished speaking in one breath, Li Yuan was still in a daze. After a while, he said: "This matter is a bit troublesome. Sending troops and horses, there is no guarantee that the news will leak out. Once this news is leaked, you know what will happen."

Xu Qing nodded. Once this kind of thing is leaked, it will not only lose the harvest of a county or a state, but also be used by interested people to make a fuss.In ancient times, karma was emphasized, and the emperor was degraded, and heaven would punish the people. Therefore, several emperors such as Chongzhen issued an imperial edict to admit their mistakes.

However, it’s impossible not to investigate. Judging from the stumps in the bird’s belly, this jumping gnat may have become a disaster. By the beginning of spring, the winter wheat in many places is about to sprout green shoots. If it is killed by locusts If they get mixed up, they will have to wait for the autumn grain, and many people will starve to death.In this way, some people will still use it to make a fuss, this is the time when the wolf is in the past.

"Your Majesty," Xu Qing said with a flash of light, "today's bird inspection in the Golden Palace, all the birds we inspected were average. Why don't we send a few governors to inspect the prefectures and counties around Chang'an and persuade farmers Sang, I am concerned about the upcoming summer grain. In this way, we can ask about the situation of the snow water. But in the field, if we send confidant guards to check, even if it is leaked, it is better than causing a disaster in the future.”

Li Yuan patted his head and said: "I'm confused. Come!" Li Yuan shouted loudly, and an eunuch came in outside, and he ordered: "Go and call General Longwei."

Seeing this, Xu Qing cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I will leave." Li Yuan opened his mouth, but finally said nothing. Xu Qing thought to himself, this dragon guard is probably Li Yuan's confidant guard, otherwise, Li Yuan should leave him behind. Here it is.
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Xuanwumen

"What, this is charcoal?" Zhuge Yan looked at the carts of black things in disbelief, and said to the people who came: "This, this is not coal?"

"Charcoal, charcoal, aren't they all charcoal?" The little official who delivered the charcoal said: "Your general's letter only talks about charcoal, and you didn't name it. We are afraid of wasting it. Someone sent this charcoal."

Zhuge Yan was furious: "You are obviously sophistry, charcoal is more expensive than charcoal, how can you give charcoal and not charcoal?"

The little official smiled and said: "Don't be angry, general. It's good that charcoal is more expensive than charcoal, but our company has a lot of charcoal in stock, so I'm sending you charcoal."

Zhuge Yan's anger remained undiminished: "Our charcoal is here to cook and keep warm. You, your treasurer, don't you know that this charcoal is poisonous? I think you are clearly trying to get rich and kill yourself!"

The little official was also furious, and with his hips crossed, he cursed in a pointed voice: "You spout blood! You soldier, how much money do you have? If you seek your wealth and kill you, how much oil can you scrape?"

Zhuge Yan was surprised, he had been guarding the Xuanwu Gate for many years, and only today did he see someone rushing towards him.He couldn't help but sneered and said: "Do you know where this Xuanwu Gate is, and you are the only one worthy of shouting?"

"What's the matter? Xuanwumen is not under the shining sun and the moon, so Xuanwumen can be unreasonable?" The little official didn't know who gave him the courage to face Zhuge Yan, and he returned confidently: "Today's day Charcoal, I delivered it somewhere, I don’t care if you want it or not, please leave!”

"Stop!" Zhuge Yan yelled, "If you don't take this charcoal back today, you're delivering good charcoal to our car, heh heh... someone!"

At this moment, Xu Qing appeared, he looked over here and said, "General Zhuge, what's going on?"

The little official was startled, Xu Qing came back, what should I do?The previous person told him that as long as Xu Qing was not around, the others would be scumbags, and he could be bluffed at will. If he did anything wrong, those people would not dare to really do anything to him.

But Xu Qing was different, Xu Qing even dared to lead the army to kill him, even the minister of the imperial court, and he could not sell the face of Concubine Wan Gui.

(End of this chapter)