"In a moment of desperation, this official barged into Taiji Palace without reporting. This is truly disgraceful and has offended Your Majesty. I beg for Your Majesty's forgiveness!"
When Li Zexuan had just arrived outside Taiji Palace, Zhao Song was about to enter to report. However, when Li Zexuan heard the conversation between Kong Yingda and Zhangsun Wuji, he couldn't bear it any longer. He thought to himself, The locusts are already here and you guys have been discussing for so long, yet you guys still haven't come up with a solution. Do you guys have to be so inefficient? Thus, he directly walked in!
After gaining the upper hand, Li Zexuan walked to the front of the officials and bowed to Li Er to ask for forgiveness.
Seeing that Li Zexuan had finally arrived, Li Er heaved a sigh of relief. It wasn't that Li Zexuan wasn't present, but that Li Zexuan would be able to fill in the gaps and come up with better and more eye-catching suggestions, thus making the final outcome even more perfect. At this moment, Li Er wouldn't be bothered about whether Li Zexuan was being rude or not. He waved his hand and said,
"Since This Emperor has summoned you into the palace, there's no harm in you entering Taiji Palace. This Emperor will pardon you!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Li Zexuan bowed and said.
At this moment, Kong Yingda couldn't help but ask, "Marquis Yong 'an, what do you mean by 150,000 chickens?"
The officials in the palace couldn't help but shift their gazes to Li Zexuan. They thought to themselves, What kind of surprise will this mysterious young man bring to Great Tang this time?
At this moment, Li Zexuan turned to Kong Yingda and clasped his hands together. He smiled and said, "This Marquis has a total of 150,000 chickens. Just before I came to Chang 'an, these 150,000 chickens had already been driven to the farmlands by the villagers and children of the Han Family Manor and Plum Village. I believe that there aren't many locusts left in the farmlands of the two villages?"
Once these words were spoken, everyone was shocked!
Firstly, they were shocked at the number of chickens that Li Zexuan controlled. Secondly, they were shocked at Li Zexuan's reaction speed to mobilize the villagers so quickly. Thirdly, they were shocked at Li Zexuan's confidence in the chickens' ability to exterminate locusts. Lantian County was only an hour's journey from Chang 'an. In such a short period of time, 150,000 chickens could really exterminate all the locusts in the farmlands of the two villages?
"This … this, Marquis Yong 'an, when did you have so many chickens?"
Kong Yingda was caught off guard.
Li Zexuan replied with a smile, "Could it be that Chancellor Kong has forgotten about the matter of Taifu Monastery's Yuan Shaoqing accusing me of inflating the price of chicken seedlings last year? Last year, this Marquis first bought eighty thousand chickens for the Han Village, then another eighty thousand chickens for the Plum Village. Today, there are approximately one hundred and fifty thousand chickens that have survived. Not only that, last year, I discovered two chicken training experts at the Han Village. Under their guidance, the children of the two villages now know how to train chickens.
Thus, before coming here, this Marquis had these children bring the 150,000 chickens to the farmlands that were plagued by the locusts. Everyone here might not know this, but a mature chicken can eat up to three hundred locusts a day. Twenty chickens can almost guarantee that one mu of farmland is free of locusts. This Marquis's' Sky Chicken Brigade of 150,000 chickens is estimated to be able to clear six thousand mu of farmland of locusts in an hour. That's twelve thousand mu of farmland in two hours!
The entire Lantian County only has a few hundred thousand mu of farmland. This Marquis can guarantee that within two days, the locusts in Lantian County will be completely exterminated! And Lantian County will be the first county in Great Tang to exterminate locusts! "
Arrogance! Li Zexuan, who said these words, could be said to be arrogant! Everyone present, including Li Zexuan, did not dare to say that they could exterminate a county of locusts in two days. But Li Zexuan dared to say so!
However, Li Zexuan had the capital to back his arrogance!
Who asked Li Zexuan to be the only one who did not care about the high price of chicken seedlings last year?
Kong Yingda could not help but be speechless. Li Zexuan's words were reasonable and he had no way to refute them. This made him sigh in his heart. The Li Zexuan in front of him was no longer the insignificant minister of the Imperial College. He already had the ability to dictate the life and death of a county's citizens! Furthermore, this was far from the end of this youth's road. In a few years, this youth would definitely become a true authority!
However, Kong Yingda still had some doubts in his heart. He wondered why Li Zexuan bought so many chicken seedlings last year. Could it be that Li Zexuan was like Li Er last year and predicted this year's locusts?
Thinking of this, Kong Yingda looked at Li Zexuan with a hint of fear in his eyes!
Actually, he was not the only one who had such thoughts. Officials like Cheng Yaojin who were familiar with Li Zexuan also had such suspicions or guesses in their hearts. Cheng Yaojin was planning to ask Li Zexuan after the morning assembly!
"Marquis Yong 'an, is your Heavenly Chicken Brigade really able to exterminate the locusts in Lantian County in two days?"
Xiao Yu stood up and asked with cupped hands.
Li Zexuan nodded and replied, "Of course it's true! If there were only one hundred and fifty thousand chickens, I would definitely not dare to say such arrogant words. But now, not only do we have so many chickens, we even have a group of children who are good at training chickens. This is like having soldiers and generals. I am confident that I can exterminate all the locusts in Lantian County in two days!
Other than that, I have also set up a department to purchase locusts in the county office. One copper coin for two catties. This is to encourage the citizens of Lantian County to catch locusts! With the unity of the people, I firmly believe that within two days, all the locusts in Lantian County will be cleared! "
After hearing the second half of Li Zexuan's words, everyone was speechless. They secretly thought that someone was really rich. At such a critical juncture, he actually dared to buy locusts. Wasn't he afraid of going bankrupt?
Xiao Yu was also shocked, but he was not worried that Li Zexuan would go bankrupt because of this. Strange Taste Pavilion, Drunken Immortal Tavern, and the winery were all places that made a lot of money. No matter how much Li Zexuan squandered, it was unlikely that he would go bankrupt.
Xiao Yu nodded and then cupped his hands to Li Er.
"Your Majesty, the locust-control strategy adopted by Marquis Yong 'an in Lantian County has many merits. This old official believes that the imperial court's top priority is to issue official documents and order the county magistrates who are suffering from the locusts to imitate the strategy adopted by Marquis Yong' an in Lantian County. They will guide the citizens to kill locusts and do their best to protect the crops in the fields!"
At this time, Fang Xuanling couldn't help but say, "Minister Xiao, the imperial court's treasury is tight on money. How can we buy locusts like Marquis Yong 'an?"
"Your Majesty, Minister Fang is right. If we use money to buy these locusts, who knows how much money we will have to spend? "Ever since the Battle of the Shuofang in the fourth month, the Turks have been eyeing my Great Tang like a tiger eyeing its prey. The two countries can go to war at any time, and this war is certain to consume an enormous amount of money. How can the Imperial Court take out money to buy a few useless locusts? Not everyone can be as rich as Marquis Yong 'an! "
As soon as Fang Xuanling's voice fell, a burly man walked out from the military camp and bowed to Li Er.
However, his words were mixed with a lot of sarcasm and sarcasm!
Li Zexuan couldn't help narrowing his eyes as he looked at the burly General. He didn't know this person, but why was the other party mocking him in such a strange manner?
Li Zexuan couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
Sitting above, Li Er couldn't help but frown. He wanted to reprimand him, but the other party's words were not completely unreasonable.
"Hey! Marquis Yong 'an was able to call on the people to eliminate the locusts in two days. Even if he didn't make a great contribution, he still saved tens of thousands of people in Lantian County, right? What did you do, Qiu Xinggong? What right do you have to mock him here? "
Cheng Yaojin was a fearless person. Seeing that there was a 'traitor' in the army, he immediately stood up and loudly rebuked.
Qiu Xinggong!
This person was actually Qiu Xinggong!
Li Zexuan couldn't help but narrow his eyes and feel a wave of shock!
After Qiu Xinggong submitted to the Tang Dynasty, he followed Li Er to conquer the north and south. He took down Chang 'an and eliminated Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou, Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, and other separatist factions.
Apart from this, Qiu Xinggong could also be considered a great figure whose name would go down in history. This was because in front of the Zhao Mausoleum, Li Er had carved six horses — the Six Horses of Zhao Mausoleum. One of the horses was different from the others because it had a person standing beside it. This person was not the coachman, but Qiu Xinggong!
During the Battle of Hulao Pass, Dou Jiande sent 150,000 soldiers to help Wang Shichong. At that time, Li Er only brought 3,500 Black Armored Soldiers. At that time, Li Er was quite brave and actually only brought Qiu Xinggong and a few personal guards to scout the enemy camp. In the end, they were discovered. In order to protect him, his personal guards were all shot to death. At that time, his purple horse was also shot. Qiu Xinggong dismounted from his horse and pulled out the arrow from Li Er's horse. He then passed his horse to Li Er and held his saber. He shouted loudly and shocked the enemy formation. He killed several enemy soldiers and protected Li Er as he broke out of the encirclement and returned to the Tang Army camp.
Because of this, Li Er remembered Qiu Xinggong's contributions and had someone carve Qiu Xinggong into the Zhao Mausoleum Six Horses!
Of course, Qiu Xinggong's biggest characteristic was his ruthlessness. In the 17th year of Zhenguan Era, You Wenzhi, the County Magistrate of Shen County, reported that Liu Lancheng, the Governor of Daizhou, was plotting a rebellion. Li Er ordered Liu Lancheng to be cut at the waist. In order to show his loyalty, Qiu Xinggong actually dug out Liu Lancheng's heart and liver and cooked it!
Furthermore, Qiu Xinggong's son, Qiu Shenji, was also a super ruthless person. He was the most famous ruthless official in Wu Zetian's dynasty!
Thinking of this, Li Zexuan couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle. He thought to himself, How did I provoke such a ruthless person?
He wasn't afraid that Qiu Xinggong would really do anything to him. Putting aside the fact that he was now a noble Marquis, as long as Qiu Xinggong still wanted to stay in Tang, he wouldn't be able to do anything to him. Taking a step back, he had his own martial arts skills. There was no reason for him to be afraid of Qiu Xinggong! However, when he thought of how this fellow was a ruthless person who ate people's hearts and livers, he panicked!
"This Qiu is just stating facts. Why is High Duke Lu so angry?"
Qiu Xinggong's eyes flickered, but he didn't back down.
Cheng Yaojin was so angry that he stomped his feet and scolded, "Hey! I'm angry? Bah! I think it's you, Qiu Xinggong, who's angry? You just can't stand the fact that the younger generation is more capable than you. You're jealous! "
As soon as he said this, many officials looked at Qiu Xinggong with a strange gaze!
"Cheng Zhijie, you …"
Qiu Xinggong was furious and wanted to fight Cheng Yaojin to the death.
At this moment, Li Er slapped the dragon table and shouted, "Shut up! At this critical moment, countless people are in deep trouble, but the two of you are quarreling here. What are you doing? Back down! The two of you will be locked up for three days and your salary will be deducted for half a year as punishment! "
Cheng Yaojin and Qiu Xinggong were both shocked. They stopped quarreling and bowed to Li Er. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
At this moment, Li Er looked at Fang Xuanling and Xiao Yu and said, "Regarding the purchase of locusts, the Ministry of Revenue doesn't need to pay. I will use the money from the palace treasury to purchase locusts from the people. As long as we can eliminate the plague of locusts, the Empress and I will live frugally."
The officials were once again moved by Li Er. They all shouted, "Your Majesty's health is related to the Tang Empire. We are willing to contribute our salary to help the Imperial Court purchase locusts!"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
Li Er saw this and couldn't help but laugh in his heart. Others thought that he was making a loss by purchasing locusts, but only he and Li Zexuan knew that two catties of locusts for one copper coin was not a loss, but a huge profit! The meteoric rise of the Drunken Immortal Inn and Sun Simiao's words that locusts could be used in medicine proved that locusts were very valuable!
"My beloved subjects, I appreciate your kind intentions! But I have made up my mind. There's no need to discuss this anymore! "
Li Er waved his hand and said "righteously".
"Your Majesty! I am willing to take out twenty thousand strings of cash to help Your Majesty purchase locusts. I hope that Your Majesty can fulfill my wish! "
Li Zexuan cupped his hands and said.
Everyone couldn't help but widen their eyes. They thought that Li Zexuan was really willing to spend a lot of money to please His Majesty!
Just as the other ministers with meager wealth wanted to imitate Li Zexuan, they saw Li Er's old face darken. He shouted, "Scram! I can still afford this small amount of money! "
One copper coin for two catties. Ten thousand strings of cash could buy sixteen million catties. Twenty thousand strings of cash could buy thirty-two million catties. Was Li Zexuan planning to "swallow" the locusts of more than a dozen states?
The officials were stunned. Li Zexuan touched his nose embarrassedly and cupped his hands. "Your Majesty is generous! Uh, no, Your Majesty is wise! "
After saying that, he couldn't help but mutter in his heart. Damn, this trip to the palace actually "cultivated" a competitor. Could it be that Old Li also wanted to do the locusts business?
Li Er realized that he had just lost his composure. He quickly said, "Minister Fang, you write the decree! Order the county magistrates of the disaster-stricken counties to immediately lead the people in the counties to drive the chickens into the fields to eliminate the locusts. The counties within three hundred miles of Chang 'an can send fresh locusts to Chang' an. The counties beyond three hundred miles must dry the locusts before sending them to Chang 'an. When the time comes, I will send people to buy them at different prices by catties!
In addition, the counties must prevent grain merchants from taking advantage of this opportunity to raise the price of grain. If there is a violation, severe punishment will be imposed! If the price of grain goes out of control, it must be reported to the imperial court as soon as possible. The counties nearby should immediately open their warehouses to release grain! "
Fang Xuanling bowed and said, "I will write the decree immediately!"
Li Er nodded and then stood up. "Good! While it is still early, please follow me to Lantian County to see if the Han Village and Plum Village have basically eliminated the locusts as Marquis Yong 'an said! "
"We obey!"
The officials heard this and all of them became alert. After all, some things were useless no matter how beautiful they were. They could only be believed when they saw it with their own eyes!
…
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