The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"Yes, just kill them. After that, feed them to chickens, ducks, and geese. We can have meat at the end of the year, isn't that great?"

A smile appeared on Chen Huai'an's face. At this point, someone would definitely dare to make a move.

As the saying goes, if one person dares to make a move, the others will dare to make a move as well.

"When will the Yellow River dike be repaired, Your Excellency?" someone asked.

Chen Huai'an turned to the official and said, "What are you still standing there for? Continue reading the court report."

"Yes, Minister." The official was also somewhat excited, but upon hearing this, he came to his senses and continued reading.

Besides the locusts, the next thing to do was to build a dam on the Yellow River. This was proposed by Chen Huai'an and later approved by a group of officials.

Empress Zhangsun and Cheng Yaojin had already contributed money and effort to start producing cement in large quantities.

After the official finished reading a long passage of the court report, he added an explanation because the content was rather official: "His Majesty's meaning is that the Yellow River dikes have been in disrepair for many years. In order to prevent the Yellow River from breaching its banks, he has decided to conscript laborers to rebuild the Yellow River dikes."

"Because new materials have emerged, each repair can greatly reduce the damage to the Yellow River. The first batch of 20,000 people were recruited from all over the Tang Dynasty. They were required to be able-bodied and capable of heavy work. Women were also needed to do some lighter work, such as helping out or cooking."

"The 20,000 people are just the first batch. In early June, a second batch of 30,000 people will be recruited. The same rules will be followed as before. Each person will be paid 20 coins per day, including food and lodging."

"Twenty thousand people!" Exclamations arose from the crowd, and many people were overjoyed.

With so many people, their chances of being selected are very high.

Even if the first batch doesn't work out, they'll always get a turn in the second batch.

By now, they had a pretty good understanding of the court's standards for selecting personnel. First, they would select from the lowest-ranking people who were on the verge of starvation, choosing only one person from each household, and then gradually move up the ranks.

This is equivalent to disaster relief, which is the work-for-relief program proposed by Chen Huai'an.

Of course, the hard requirement is that one's hands and feet are intact, and at least able to do heavy work.

If only one person in a household works, it's enough to support the family.

The official announced loudly, "Tomorrow, registration offices will open in the East and West Markets of Chang'an. Anyone who wants to go should register as soon as possible, and remember to bring your household registration certificate and other relevant documents."

"Also, everyone should remember to settle down at home. Time is tight. In May, those selected from Chang'an and the surrounding areas will be arranged to depart together."

The people had no objections to this, as they were already very familiar with the process.

In short, it is similar to the old system of conscription, but it is better managed, more standardized, and safer.

Immediately afterwards, the official continued reading the court report.

However, this news pertains to the imperial examinations. The imperial examinations will be held this year, and the main reforms to the imperial examination system have been discussed.

Because it involves going through layers of examinations, this year's imperial examinations will begin in a few months, and the final palace examination will be held next year.

As things stand, this news has nothing to do with ordinary people, but they are still listening attentively.

The reason is that Chen Huai'an really paved a way for them. Everyone, as long as they can study, has the opportunity to change their fate. The imperial examination is no longer something out of reach.

Chen Huai'an didn't stay any longer. He went up to Zhang Peng and patted him on the shoulder: "Man, take good care of your mother and your sister."

"I hope that, like the name your father gave you, you can soar high like a roc."

Zhang Peng was somewhat apprehensive, but mostly overjoyed. He was excited for a moment, then straightened his back: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, I will!"

"it is good."

Chen Huai'an nodded slightly, turned and left, and the people spontaneously made way for him.

Zhang Peng puffed out his chest, tilted his chin slightly, and looked extremely smug: "Did you hear that?"

"The Minister said I'm a real man!"

"A real man isn't afraid of hardship or fatigue!"

"One day, I will make sure my daughters get to eat the roast chicken they've been craving!"

"..."

After leaving, Chen Huai'an didn't take the incident to heart at all. He even thought about whether he should go to the fields to kill locusts himself when he had time another day, to set an example for the people.

He even started planning to trick Li Shimin into going with him.

Didn't we say we were going to eat locusts?

How can you not keep your word?

With such a good emperor, it would be a waste not to make him suffer.

However, he had only been gone a short time when he encountered someone.

A person who surprised him.

"Oh, Lord Zheng, how have you been lately?" Chen Huai'an asked with a smile.

Zheng Yuanzhu clenched his fists tightly, his eyes almost overflowing with hatred: "Good... thanks to Minister Chen's care, this humble official is doing very well!"

Almost all of his relatives died overnight, and the Zheng family's reputation was completely ruined. Even their roots in their hometown were being relentlessly targeted by the Taiyang clan and other powerful families.

Everyone was thinking of taking a piece of their flesh.

All of this stemmed from Chen Huai'an; how could he not hate him?

"Why does Lord Zheng look at me like that?" Chen Huai'an feigned confusion. "Didn't you threaten me before? You subtly hinted that you would take action against my family."

"What's wrong? Why do you have that expression now?"

"You..." Zheng Yuanzhu wanted to get angry, but now he had even lost the right to be angry at Chen Huai'an.

He had overheard everything Chen Huai'an had said to the people.

How ridiculous is that?

They used to be the ones in a superior position, and he even advised Chen Huai'an to compromise, assuming he was neutral. Now the situation has completely reversed.

He only wanted to ask Chen Huai'an to be lenient and let the Zheng family off the hook.

Zheng Yuanzhu took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "What do you want? We'll give you anything we can afford, just please don't be so ruthless, okay?"

Chen Huai'an gave him a serious look.

For the proud Zheng Yuanzhu, hearing such words was undoubtedly more painful than being killed.

But Chen Huai'an felt no ripples in his heart.

Neither Li Shimin nor any other force could possibly exterminate the Lu and Zheng families.

How much are the lives of those two families worth?

What the Lu and Zheng families possess is the most important thing.

What Li Shimin and the major aristocratic families wanted was not their lives, but their accumulated wealth over the years.

Rushing into a complete massacre would not benefit anyone; taking a gradual approach in the future is the right approach.

So Zheng Yuanzhu didn't come to ask him to release the Zheng family or anything like that; rather, he asked him to leave a place for the Zheng family, because he didn't want to be completely kicked out.

Chen Huai'an asked, "Lord Zheng, I've said it before, your arrogance is ingrained in your bones, and you still haven't grasped the crux of the problem."

"It's not that I want to wipe you out, but there's no place for the Zheng family at this dinner table anymore."

"If you're going to gamble, you have to accept the consequences!"

"..."