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

"Your Excellency, we'll slaughter a pig for you to eat..."

Hearing these words and looking at the villagers' simple expressions filled with gratitude, excitement, and hope, Chen Huai'an felt a warmth rise in his heart.

The common people are very complex. Some are ignorant, some are unruly, some are kind, and some are wicked, but most people are simple and honest, just like the villagers in this small village. Even if they are poor, they are still willing to give them the best things to eat.

Perhaps what Xiaoxi Village brought out was nothing to Chen Huai'an, a third-rank official.

But Chen Huai'an felt that there was probably nothing in the world more precious than these things that others considered ordinary. So-called gold, silver, jewels, and jade cups paled in comparison in Chen Huai'an's eyes, in the face of this scene.

"Okay," Chen Huai'an readily agreed.

This was Xiaoxi Village's heartfelt gesture, and he didn't want to refuse.

"That's great!" Aunt Xiao's anxiety vanished without a trace. She was afraid that Chen Huai'an wouldn't like these things.

They then quickly led everyone to set up stoves and pots by the stream and started cooking.

"Everyone, hurry up! We can't be late and delay Minister Chen's business."

"Alright!" The villagers all had smiles on their faces and got to work.

Behind him, the elderly man in his sixties, supported by others, slowly approached Chen Huai'an.

He first straightened his clothes, making sure his pale hair wasn't disheveled, then bowed respectfully: "This humble subject, Zhang Wenyuan, pays respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince and Your Excellency the Minister!"

Chen Huai'an was somewhat surprised. It was clear that the old man had changed into clean clothes before coming. From his behavior and even his name, it was obvious that this old man was no ordinary person.

"Old man, there's no need for such formalities. I'm sorry to have bothered you today, but I hope you don't mind," Chen Huai'an said gently as he helped Zhang Wenyuan up.

"No, not at all." Zhang Wenyuan breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his aged face. "It is an honor for Xiaoxi Village to have the Minister and His Highness the Crown Prince grace us with their presence. How could it be considered an intrusion?"

"Old man, were you... a scholar before?" Li Chengqian couldn't help but ask with curiosity.

"Your Highness... I did indeed read some books in the past." Zhang Wenyuan's expression was somewhat gloomy, clearly thinking of something unpleasant.

Recalling the age the old man had mentioned, Li Chengqian and Chen Huai'an roughly guessed the reason, so they didn't ask any further questions.

"Come, sit down and let's talk."

Chen Huai'an personally helped him up and sat him on the stone next to him. Zhang Wenyuan was shocked and terrified, but dared not refuse.

Finally, she cautiously sat down next to him.

Looking at the busy figures of the villagers not far away, Chen Huai'an said patiently, "You don't need to be nervous. I don't care about formalities, and I'm not that arrogant."

"As you probably know, His Majesty previously issued a call for you to kill locusts. Zhang Peng told me that you have killed a lot of locusts here, so I came to take a look."

"Firstly, I want to understand the extent of the locust plague; secondly, I want to see if killing the locusts is effective; and thirdly... I want to ask you what difficulties you still face and what shortcomings the court's policies have."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenyuan relaxed a bit and replied, "That's right. Ever since the court report said that His Majesty had called on us to kill locusts, everyone has sprung into action."

"Although the locust plague is still getting worse, at least thanks to everyone's efforts, our village has seen good results and managed to save some of our food."

Chen Huai'an turned his head and asked, "Do you have any other difficulties? Do you feel there's anything wrong with the court's policies?"

After he finished speaking, he paused and said, "Just now I asked Zhang Peng, and he actually said there's nothing wrong with it. Compared to the Sui Dynasty, it's already much, much better."

"I disagree with that statement, and I hope you can give me a different answer."

Zhang Wenyuan was speechless for a moment.

He was pondering, thinking, and guessing what Chen Huai'an meant by those words.

Li Chengqian explained from the side, "Old man, you don't need to worry. If it were someone else, you would consider what to say and what not to say, which is right. But when you're with Mr. Li, just tell the truth."

"Since you took office, you have never had any selfish motives."

"How are we supposed to know what you want if you don't tell us?"

Zhang Wenyuan glanced at Chen Huai'an, who nodded slightly, his expression remaining gentle.

Gradually, Zhang Wenyuan became less nervous. After a moment of contemplation, he replied, "Actually, Xiao Pengzi is right. The court has been good enough. We are not greedy people. We know that the court has its difficulties, and these past two years have not been easy for us either."

"The policies have been quite favorable to us. For example, Xiao Pengzi and a few other people in the village are about to set off to repair the Yellow River and get paid."

"There are difficulties..., but they're all the same."

"Oxen and iron farm tools, seeds, and..." Zhang Wenyuan hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "And the actual land we get."

Chen Huai'an's gaze sharpened: "You mean, even under the equal-field system, there were still people who embezzled your land?"

Zhang Wenyuan said bitterly, "It's not exactly greed. Anyway, I don't know what happened. According to the equal-field system, an adult male should theoretically be allocated one hundred mu of land."

"In reality, we can only get a maximum of fifty mu, most of which are allocated land. If we are unlucky, we may only get forty mu or even thirty mu."

"Take Xiao Pengzi for example. His father died in battle alongside His Majesty. After a series of compensations and distributions, he only had twenty acres of land."

"How is this possible?" Li Chengqian exclaimed. "This is right under the nose of Chang'an. How could the equal-field system only allocate such a small amount of land to you? Even Zhang Peng, a family member of a fallen soldier, only has twenty mu of land."

"This..." Zhang Wenyuan hesitated, his hand gripping the cane tightening, unsure of what to say.

Chen Huai'an did not urge him, but waited patiently.

After a long pause, Zhang Wenyuan recalled Chen Huai'an's actions and said in silence, "Actually, there were some at the beginning, but when the land was distributed, a large portion of it was not around Chang'an."

"For example, the fourth brother's family, the one who was carrying the pig just now. He is an adult male, and in theory he should be entitled to 100 mu. But after the land was allocated, we found that 20 mu of it was far away in Jiangnan, 20 mu in Jiannan, and 10 mu in other prefectures. Anyway, those lands were too far away, so far that we had never even heard of them."

"Only fifty acres of land remain locally, which is the land we can cultivate."

"..."