"Gong Lu, what are you..."
Tang Ping was not surprised to see Cheng Zhijie. This old guy was thick-skinned and often came to his shop to eat and drink. Apart from Li Yuanji, he was the most frequent visitor.
It's just that he doesn't understand why he brought a little girl here today. She doesn't look like Cheng Chumo's daughter at her age.
Moreover, the way he is dressed makes it look like his family is not very wealthy. Could it be...
"I said, Mr. Tang, don't think blindly. This is your little girl. I'll bring her here to have some delicious food!"
Then he touched the little girl's head: "Look, do I also call him Tang Xiaozi in front of him? Also, I'm not lying to you, did I bring you here to make a living? Look, that sister is called Xiao Luo, go find her, she is the one who makes the most delicious food in Datang."
He handed the child to Xiaoluo, and then sat down in front of Tang Ping with great dignity: "You are doing quite well here!"
"Thank you for the compliment from Duke Lu!"
"Okay, okay, I heard you want to build something? A red glass bridge?"
"Yes, the prince and I plan to build a glass bridge on a river leading to Chang'an here to see if we can make some money."
"Hey, if it's a small amount of money, can you think of it? I don't care, I also need to build a small bridge in my house, you can arrange it for me!"
"Yes!" This old guy is thick-skinned and not very unreasonable. If he wants to fix it, just fix it for him.
I just heard that his wife is not very courageous, and I don’t know if she will dare to go up there. If she scares his wife, I’m afraid this old guy’s ears will suffer again.
Tang Ping was also holding something bad in his heart. Cheng Zhijie didn't expect him to agree so simply and was slightly taken aback.
Then he looked around and saw that only Lao Cui, Lao Du and Lu Yi were around Tang Ping. He also knew that these people were absolutely trusted by Tang Ping, so he leaned over and approached Tang Ping and whispered: "You are not here. Aren't there many people who have no jobs for the time being? How about I introduce one to you?"
Tang Ping estimated that this old guy came here today not just for food, but it seemed that he had other things.
He also whispered: "Does Duke Lu have any other properties?"
"What kind of property can I have? You usually don't take me with you to make money, but this time, it's your Majesty's responsibility."
"Oh? What are you going to do?" Tang Ping didn't expect that Li Shimin was going to do it, but he didn't know why this old guy was so mysterious.
"Grow Bai Diazi!"
"Baidiezi?" Tang Ping was slightly stunned at first, and then realized immediately, isn't that cotton?
He brought a lot of cotton seeds to Li Shimin more than a year ago, but what Tang Ping brought could only be used for breeding, and it was definitely not enough for large-scale planting.
Now according to Cheng Zhijie, the breeding should have been completed.
"This thing can't be grown near Chang'an, right?"
"Isn't this nonsense? At that time, the five major cotton-producing areas were designated by you yourself. Now the suitable place for planting in our Datang is naturally the land northeast of Luoyang."
Cheng Zhijie was talking about the Northern Henan Plain. When Tang Ping gave the cotton seeds to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he also told them the five major cotton producing areas in my country according to the script. The most suitable area in the Tang Dynasty was indeed the Northern Henan Plain. .
"But...why do you come to me to ask for someone?"
"The composition of your staff is relatively simple. No matter who they were in Beiyan, they are now residents of the special zone with their families. The most important thing about this matter is to keep it secret!" Cheng Zhijie looked at the people reveling below. Resident of the Special Administrative Region: "Winter is coming soon, so now we have to clear out the land, and wait until spring next year to start planting in large quantities."
Cheng Zhijie was so mysterious that Tang Ping understood immediately that he was preparing for war.
It seems that growing cotton requires a lot of people, and if people are recruited from other places, they may be discovered by spies from other countries if they are too conspicuous.
If we pull people over from Tang Ping, there will be no contact between the people in this special zone and other people outside, so we can pull people over without being noticed.
Moreover, when growing cotton, you must make cotton-padded clothes, so it is easy to think of where to attack. Beiyan in the north has been captured by Hou Junji unexpectedly. The only thing that made Datang pay so much attention to it was its location. Tibet on the plateau.
For more than a year, Tubo was under Tang Ping's economic offensive. The Tubo nobles raised sheep on a large scale, which caused widespread dissatisfaction in the country.
It's just that the Tibetan armed forces are in the hands of their nobles, so the people dare to be angry but dare not speak out.
However, public dissatisfaction is indeed getting bigger and bigger. If it is stirred up next year, I am afraid there will be many twists and turns in Tubo.
When the winter cotton-padded clothes are ready, the Tibetan people will probably launch a full-scale attack at the most unexpected time.
It is true that the Tubo people cannot be prepared for this matter in advance.
Tang Ping thought for a while and said with some uncertainty: "But they have just settled down in Chang'an. If they have to leave for more than half a year..."
"So didn't I come to discuss this with you? I just took a look and found that these people are very grateful to you. It's up to you to tell me. I guess they won't have much objection."
Tang Ping rolled his eyes angrily: "So you let me be the bad guy, right?"
"Why do you want to be a bad guy?" Cheng Zhijie said anxiously: "As you said, there is something going on when we go out... Yes, travel expenses. They go to Luoyang to plant Baidianzi. The government will take care of food and housing until the harvest is harvested. From now on, I will charge you by the pound, and I can guarantee you that the combined income will definitely be more than what you can earn by working in a workshop!"
After finishing speaking, Cheng Zhijie said with ill intentions: "You fooled Chu Mo out of my house. I haven't settled the score with you yet."
Tang Ping smiled. At that time, he suggested setting up a supervisory department, which was composed of the second-generation officials who had just grown up in Chang'an City. Cheng Chumo was one of them.
It seemed that he had indeed used his travel expenses to fool them.
"Okay, I'll give it a try!" Tang Ping finally nodded: "Let's talk about it first. It's okay for my people to go over and work, but the logistics have to be sorted out for me. How many people went there, how many people came back. !”
This matter involves Datang's future strategic deployment, so he will naturally help if he can.
"Don't worry, I, Old Cheng, will keep an eye on this matter for you, and you can go over and have a look yourself!" After finishing speaking, Cheng Zhijie said with a strange look on his face: "How about I write a letter and give you full authority over this matter? Responsible? I originally planned to give this matter to you from the beginning, but you didn’t know that you didn’t go to several meetings in the Xiande Hall, so it was handed over to me, Lao Cheng.”
Tang Ping was ashamed. This thing was probably true, but he could only refuse and said, "I have to go to Luoyang for this matter. Look, my wife is pregnant, and I can't go. I'd better trouble you, Duke Lu!"
