"The first step is done," Yao Chong said as he sat on a chair in the Political Affairs Hall. He asked someone to make him a cup of tea and sighed in relief.
A few days ago, when there were signs of a drought, he had already sent a letter to the local government.
However, the local governments were secretly opposed. Now, the locusts had become a disaster.
Is it good now? Has there been a decrease in production? If not for Li Yi personally handling the situation, all of you would have been arrested.
Yao Chong was angry. My words don't carry any weight now, do they?
He didn't know that Li Yi was also hesitant during the first year of the locust plague.
Moreover, during the spring and summer, there weren't many losses. He was just observing.
During the autumn harvest, the people were still able to survive. Bi Goo's Henan prefectural magistrate had been supporting him.
The second year was even worse. Bi Goo was transferred back. For the sake of the economy, he gave a strict order.
At that time, heads would be chopped off. The local government had no choice but to let the people catch locusts and bury them.
This year, he received the news in advance and had been paying attention to Li Yi.
Li Yi was usually calm, but now he was anxious. This meant that the problem was serious.
"I'm just a Prime Minister. I can only drink tea of the second grade. There are still three grades above it." Lu Huaishen poured some tea into a bowl.
"Only His Majesty, King Song, and Li Yi drink it. They don't even let us taste it," Zhang Shuo complained.
Their tea was provided by the Celestial World. They drank the fourth of the fourteen grades of tea.
Yao Chong's mind wasn't on the tea. He said, "The locust plague of this year's summer harvest is a foregone conclusion. The provinces east of the Taihang Mountains didn't suffer many losses.
After the harvest, there will be more locusts in the fields. Then, we have to soak them in water and plow them.
I'm going to give the order to plow the fields now and soak the locusts' eggs in water. "
Lu Huaishen and Zhang Shuo looked at Yao Chong in astonishment. Old Yao now knew farming. Impressive.
Speaking of farming and killing locusts, it was a set of skills.
"Yuanzhi, artificial incubation technology is the most important." Lu Huaishen had discovered something hidden during the locust plague.
When the common people raised chickens and ducks, they would let the old hen hold the nest, and then divide the ducklings for the ducks to take care of.
If an old hen hugs its nest, it won't lay eggs and will become thinner.
After hugging the nest, the old hen didn't like to lay eggs, so she took the chicks and ran around, teaching them how to find food.
It would take a long time. The commoners would rather sell their eggs than build a nest for the hens, unless there were too few hens in the house.
Nowadays, artificial incubation technology was very powerful. There was no need to find an old hen. Humans would take care of it.
Moreover, there were several methods. The kang bed was the easiest to control the temperature.
Yao Chong thought for a moment. "Since he took it out, he naturally can't take it back. In the future, the Tang dynasty can indeed raise more chickens and ducks."
He admitted that after the plague of locusts, the people would raise more chickens and ducks.
If you don't feed the chickens and ducks good ingredients, the chickens and ducks will find their own food to eat.
Especially next to the manure pit in summer, there were always chickens eating maggots there, and ducks looking for small fish and shrimp in the water.
A few extra chickens and ducks for each household was a subsidy for the family.
Zhang Shuo took a big gulp of tea and smacked his lips. "Li Yi is famous now. I wonder what will happen in the future."
"The Li Family Zhuangzi's perimeter is more strict. The Zhang Family's village and Zhuangzi's place have dug a canal and built a bridge over it. The Imperial Plantation is even more difficult to cross."
Lu Huaishen seemed dissatisfied. He still wanted to go to Zhuangzi to play, mainly to watch others eat in the canteen.
"He's obviously a great talent, but His Majesty wants to hide it. He doesn't allow others to ask about it. Last year, His Majesty specially opened a Xiucai examination for him and then gave him an official position. Isn't that great?"
Zhang Shuo also had something he wanted to ask Li Yi. Originally, he could still ask, but now he couldn't.
"Who doesn't hide good things? Besides, he's someone who can really do things well. "
Yao Chong expressed his understanding, but he was also unhappy.
He was still unconvinced and wanted to compete with Li Yi.
Li Yi entered the Imperial Court, and everyone relied on their own abilities.
Li Yi didn't enter the Imperial Court and only floated outside. There was no way to compete with him according to the same rules.
When Li Yi entered the Imperial Court, he had to clearly explain why he knew about the drought and the locust plague, and then apply for how to deal with it.
In the end, it was up to the Imperial Court and His Majesty to make the decision.
Li Yi didn't need to tell anyone. He just took the chickens and ducks and rushed out.
On the day he arrived, he solved the problem of the territory. Two days later, he contacted Bi Goo.
What should have been a matter of the Imperial Court was forcefully opened up by him using money.
It felt like he had jumped out of the Three Realms and was no longer part of the Five Elements.
"Do you think he understands the rules of the Imperial Court? For example, writing documents, which department should do how to handle matters? "
Zhang Shuo suddenly thought of a problem. Li Yi had never been an official. Even if he was just a county magistrate, would he know what to do?
Lu Huaishen shook his head. "I only know that he's good at bribery. He gives people benefits and doesn't leave any evidence behind, such as … renovating your house."
"Old Lu, don't you feel guilty saying this?" Zhang Shuo didn't agree. Renovating our house?
"Why don't you and I work together to make him a high-ranking official?" Yao Chong suggested.
"Yuanzhi, you go first." Lu Huaishen indicated that he would be the support.
"His Majesty will hate us." Zhang Shuo refused.
At this time, His Majesty Li Longji, Li Dan, Noble Consort Lu, Empress Wang, and Li Chengqi were vividly describing the news he had received.
At this moment, he was like a child. "All the prefectures are finished. Only Huaizhou, Zhengzhou, and Henan are fine, especially Henan …"
Noble Consort Lu had a loving expression on her face. She hadn't seen Li Longji like this for a long time.
The last time seemed to be when Li Longji hadn't gone out to open his residence and was raised by her.
After that, there was no smile on everyone's face during the power struggle. After a series of killings, Li Longji became the emperor and Princess Taiping died.
Today, looking at the happy appearance of the child she raised, Noble Consort Lu's tears suddenly fell.
She raised her sleeve to wipe them and asked, "Is that child back?"
"He should be going back. He doesn't like to be there at the last moment. Instead, he says the method and once it's done, he doesn't care anymore.
Other officials will fight for credit, but he only wants credit. There's still a month for the empress here, so he must be there before that. "
Li Chengqi was more familiar with Li Yi's style of doing things.
"What's the reward for this great merit?" Li Dan asked her son.
"When he comes back, he'll be Jinziguang Lu, a third-rank official." Li Longji said. He didn't want to give him an actual official position.
If he gave him an official position, other officials would use the rules of officialdom to bully him.
Although he felt that Li Yi wasn't afraid, it was still troublesome. If Li Yi had the time, he might as well write medical books in Zhuangzi.
Li Dan nodded. He was also afraid of giving him an official position. Knowing that he was still an official, he felt relieved. "Such a great talent, you have to … treat him well."
He wanted to say "use him well", but he found that the word "use" sounded distant.
"Uncle actually wants to do things that benefit the people. He used to say that he wanted to be a county magistrate, but now the people he's in charge of are no less than the ordinary county magistrate of Zhong County."
Empress Wang touched her belly and said with a smile.
"I'm going to help Brother Yi sell tea leaves. He bought all the tea leaves around the capital office before Qingming and Guyu. In Zhuangzi, Steward Song specially found Liuli Village and gave him fourteen grades of tea leaves. Oh, and five grades of tea leaves foam."
When Li Chengqi talked about the tea leaves, he was glad that he did get Liuli Village.
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