Planting a fairy in ancient times

Chapter 298 297. The Four Great Families
Zhou Mingtao hastened the [-] miles. Could it be that the locust plague is serious, and the court should hurry up to allocate food for disaster relief?
Emperor Tianjing's heart beat a little.

After Li Huaiji opened the wooden box, the first thing that caught the eyes of Emperor Tianjing was a snow-white envelope.

On the envelope, a red word "Secret" is shocking.

"Li Banban, read it to me." Emperor Tianjing pointed to the envelope and said loudly.

"Yes, Lord Long Live." Li Huaiji didn't dare to delay, quickly put down the box, took the silver knife on the table, cut open the envelope, and took out the letter inside.

"Your Majesty Zhou Mingtao said that on the fifth day of March, locusts from Beiyan flew to Pingjiang Mansion. The swarms of locusts came fiercely and gnawed on the plants wantonly. The fairy sympathized with the difficulty of the wall crops, so let his beloved disciple Chen Xiaoyu inform Chen Mingde of Xinghua Village , present the method of exterminating locusts. I implemented the method according to the law, and a total of more than [-] catties of locusts were exterminated..." Li Huaiji's voice rang out in a cadence.

Zou Zhizhou's secret letter was not long, Li Huaiji read it in less than half a cup of tea.

Emperor Tianjing couldn't help applauding when he heard Zou Zhizhou say that the locust plague in Pingjiang Mansion had been brought under control.

Most importantly, Zou Mingtao said in the secret letter that this season, most of the crops grown in Pingjiang Prefecture are sweet potatoes, and the harvest should be at least [-]% to [-]% of the usual.

In this way, the Pingjiang Mansion can almost be self-sufficient in the first half of the year, and there is no need for the imperial court to allocate food for disaster relief.

Zou Mingtao also said that fried locusts taste good.

Can locusts be eaten?It can also save a lot of rations!

Emperor Tianjing was delighted.

With Zou Mingtao's experience in exterminating locusts, more than a dozen other state capitals must be able to rescue some food from the mouths of locusts.

"Li Banban, quickly ask someone to invite Cui Xiang and Mao Yiming into the palace, by the way, ask Chaoyang to come too." Emperor Tianjing ordered with a happy face.

In Zou Mingtao's secret letter, several methods for eradicating locusts are clearly stated.

Emperor Tianjing couldn't wait to promote these methods.

If you act faster, the major grain-producing areas in the south may be able to save a lot of grain.

"Yes." Li Huaiji replied, and hurried down to work.

Cui Shian and Mao Yiming are very capable.

As soon as Emperor Tianjing said it, the two immediately came up with a set of work procedures.

A series of decrees were sent from Emperor Tianjing's case, and sent to various state capitals through the post station in an expedited way of five hundred miles.

After finally smoothing things out, it was almost dark.

After Cui Shi'an and Mao Yiming left the palace, Emperor Tianjing complained to Li Huaiji: "Li Banban, I almost wanted to beat Chaoyang to death several times today. Everyone is doing things, only Chaoyang is wandering in the sky."

"Long Live Lord, it's the first time His Highness Prince Rui came into contact with these things, and he didn't realize it for a while." Li Huaiji helped Xuanyuan Chaoyang speak.

"Sigh~! I really don't know how Chaoyang's brain grows. He's not even half as smart as Muye." Emperor Tianjing said with disgust.

"Long Live Lord, for Prince Rui's sake, don't be too harsh on His Highness." Li Huaiji said with a smile.

"That's right, just because Chaoyang gave me Mu Ye, I don't care about him." Emperor Tianjing smiled.

This time, Emperor Tianjing asked Xuanyuan Chaoyang to participate in the discussion of government affairs, just to let Xuanyuan Chaoyang get some credit so that Emperor Tianjing could use it to pave the way for his grandson Xuanyuan Muye when necessary.

From the very beginning, Emperor Tianjing didn't expect Xuanyuan Chaoyang to come up with any amazing and brilliant ideas.It doesn't matter if you are disappointed or not.

After Emperor Tianjing finished his dinner, Li Huaiji asked cautiously, "Long Live Lord, which Lord's womb are you going to rest tonight?"

During this period of time, he was busy with official duties, and Emperor Tianjing was old, so he no longer had the lust for beauty that he had when he was young.

Resting in the harem, most of the time is just chatting with the concubines under the quilt.

Even so, the concubines are still stretching their necks, looking forward to Emperor Tianjing going to rest in his palace for two more days every month.

This is a holy grace!

In the harem, how can a concubine who is neglected by the emperor have a good life?

Because of the locust plague, Emperor Tianjing hadn't been to the harem for many days.

Li Huaiji was afraid that Emperor Tianjing would stay in the upper study, and he would have to work till midnight with books or memorials.

Li Huaiji hoped that Emperor Tianjing would go to some empress's palace in the harem to rest, not only to change his mood, but also to put aside government affairs, and to rest his mind.

"Let's drive to Tinglan Palace." Emperor Tianjing thought for a while and said.

Tinglan Hall lived in the eldest prince's mother concubine Yifei.

"Yes." Li Huaiji replied, and hurriedly arranged to go.

Concubine Yi's boudoir name is Shangguan Lan'er, and she is the first daughter of Shangguan's family.

There were four great families in the Xuanyuan Dynasty.They are Shangguan, Dongfang, Duanmu and Ouyang.

Among them, the Ouyang family is the most powerful.

However, in the past ten years, Ouyang's family felt guilty because of the prince forcing the palace. Apart from guarding Tianmen Pass, they didn't care about other things at all.

The remaining three aristocratic families are headed by the Shangguan family.

The ancestors of the four great families of the Xuanyuan Dynasty were all followers of Shenmu Xianjun, the founding emperor of the Xuanyuan Dynasty.

The four great ministers are loyal to the Shenmu Xianjun.

During the reign of Immortal Shenmu, a lot of land was entrusted to the four great ministers.It also left behind the ancestral precept that "as long as the four great families do not rebel, the Xuanyuan Dynasty will share the wealth and honor with the four great families".

With this ancestral precept of the Immortal Lord Shenmu, although the emperors of the Xuanyuan family were anxious about the land that the four great families were getting more and more every year, they did not let go of the grind and killed the donkey and wiped out the four great families.

On the contrary, no matter which emperor is in power, he will choose a girl from the four great families to enter the palace.

The queen of Emperor Tianjing is Ouyang Min of the Ouyang family.

Unfortunately, when Ouyang Min gave birth to the crown prince Xuanyuan Yuque, he collapsed and died.

After Ouyang Min's death, Emperor Tianjing named Xuanyuan Yuque, who was still in his infancy, the crown prince.Until ten years ago, the prince forced the palace and was killed by Emperor Tianjing.

After the death of the crown prince, Emperor Tianjing took back a lot of rights from the four great families.

Except for the Ouyang family who firmly controlled the military power of the Dingbei Army and guarded the Tianmen Pass for the Xuanyuan Dynasty, few members of the other families were officials in the court.

Emperor Tianjing went to Shangguan Lan'er tonight for a purpose.

The Shangguan family is the family with the most land among the four great families.

There was a huge food shortage in the imperial court. Emperor Tianjing wanted the Shangguan family to take the lead and bring along three other families to donate some grain to the imperial court for disaster relief.

Shangguan Lan'er is over 50 this year. Although she has been well maintained, the years have left many marks on her face.

Hearing Xiaohuangmen's report saying that Emperor Tianjing would come to Tinglan Palace in fifteen minutes, Shangguan Lan'er hurriedly ordered several big ladies under his command to turn around.

"Chixia, find that azure dress with flowers and smoke it again."

"Orange light, do me a ponytail. Shiro said I look best with a ponytail."

"Jasper, find out the rouge I made a few days ago, I want to use it."

······
(End of this chapter)