After Jinxiang left, Prince Teng breathed a sigh of relief, and Li Qinzai looked at him with a half-smile.
Prince Teng was very unhappy when he saw his expression, and bared his teeth like a dog: "What!"
Li Qinzai smiled: "Don't worry, later I will tell the story about His Highness falling into a latrine. I'll hire someone who is eloquent and divide it into twenty episodes and stand on Suzaku Street in Chang'an City and talk about it non-stop."
Prince Teng immediately panicked: "How dare Shu Zian insult my name!"
Li Qinzai sighed: "His Royal Highness always threatens me and always asks me if I dare. In fact, what do I dare not?"
We are all senior dudes. Besides rebellion, what else can we not dare to do?
Prince Teng was indeed much more polite. He was a bit of a bully and afraid of the strong.
"Ahem, Uncle Li, please take a moment to speak."
Li Qinzai said without hesitation: "I won't borrow it!"
After saying that, he turned around and left.
He is already very clear about the virtues of dandies, but he cannot tolerate them, and the same goes for old dandies.
…………
Li Zhi and Empress Wu didn't get up until three o'clock in the morning. Li Qinzai really doubted whether the couple came to Ganjingzhuang for business or for vacation.
In other words, the new environment has revived the long-lost passion of the middle-aged couple, and they had a rare love affair last night?
Li Zhi still had no intention of leaving Zhuangzi, so Li Qinzai had no choice but to take him to the entrance of the kiln where cement was fired.
The kiln entrance where cement is burned is very polluted, so Li Qinzai specially made a thick mask, with multiple layers of linen and turf on the inside, and a layer of sheepskin on the outside with more than a dozen air holes.
Li Qinzai strictly ordered farmers to wear masks, and they were not allowed to take them off as long as they were working. Otherwise, they would be severely punished. This is no joke. If you contract pneumoconiosis, your life will basically be lost.
Not only do you need to wear a mask, but you also need to pay attention to daily maintenance. Li Qinzai has people make pig blood soup near the kiln entrance every day, and has farmers run every day to exercise their lungs.
Li Zhi was puzzled by the rules set by Li Qinzai, so Li Qinzai had to explain it patiently, and Li Zhi suddenly understood.
"Your Majesty, burning cement is actually a job that takes a long time. I have a suggestion..." Li Qinzai said hesitantly.
"Jingchu, just say it."
"In the future, if the Tang Dynasty wants to bake cement, it is better to let the most heinous prisoners in the prison do it, or let the prisoners of war from foreign countries, such as the Japanese country, do it. Your Majesty can order the Japanese country to send 10,000 strong men to help us burn cement... …”
Li Zhi laughed: "Your suggestion is quite vicious. The Japanese country is already very honest, but you are still harming its people."
"Japanese people are not considered human beings...it's better than harming our own people in the Tang Dynasty, right?"
Li Qinzai saw that Li Zhi didn't agree, so he had to say: "Or maybe your majesty asked the generals who were cleaning up the remnants of Baekje to work hard and capture a few more prisoners of war and send them over. In short, our Tang Dynasty lacks labor, not only for burning cement, but also for It will be needed in the future to build roads, bridges, river embankments and so on."
"Your Majesty must tell those generals that in the future, living enemies cannot be killed casually on the battlefield. Killing is a loss. It's such a loss."
Li Zhi laughed angrily, pointed at him and said, "Go and tell your grandfather and those old generals yourself. See if they smoke you or not."
Li Qinzai said worriedly: "There is really a shortage of people. The farmers in my own village cannot burn cement for a long time. It is too harmful to the body. The cement burning at the moment is only temporary. In a few days, we will stop working when we have stocked up enough."
"Prisoners of war are so good. They are afraid of death and hard-working. They only need to take care of food and don't have to pay wages. They are full of treasures."
Li Zhi laughed and shook his head: "When I turn around, I will give an order to Sun Renshi, the commander-in-chief of the march of Xiongjin Road, and ask him to send a thousand prisoners of war to try it. If the prisoners of war can really be used, it can be made a rule in the future."
Li Qinzai said hurriedly: "Send two thousand, Your Majesty. Many prisoners of war may die on the way from Baekje to Guanzhong. It would be good if half of them are left at the end of the field."
Li Zhi said nonchalantly: "Then it's two thousand, no problem."
The monarch and his ministers seemed to be chatting, but the content of the chat was full of blood. However, they both felt that it was normal, as if they were talking about hunting a few wild animals for a taste.
Li Zhi was a benevolent king, but he was only kind to the people of the Tang Dynasty, and was not so kind to the prisoners of war and people in foreign countries.
Growing up, he had been witnessing his father Li Shimin's wars in the south and north. Li Zhi was not an emperor who was soft-hearted towards his enemies. In fact, he launched foreign campaigns and killed more people than his father. Every time he fell into a city, massacre of the city had become routine. .
A sage on the inside and a king on the outside, this is Li Zhi’s unique style.
The relaxed political environment of the Tang Dynasty made the domestic folk customs extraordinarily simple. However, for the neighboring countries of the Tang Dynasty, in the more than ten years since Li Zhi came to the throne, the monarchs of neighboring countries have felt an unprecedented sense of oppression.
Especially after Baekje was destroyed, and then Japan was destroyed again, this sense of oppression became more serious. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Tang army is sweeping the world now. They do have this strength.
What's more, the divine arm bow, gunpowder and three-eyed gun invented by Li Qinzai gave the Tang army a blessing status, making it invincible in the world.
The two left the kiln entrance and walked aimlessly in the village.
Li Zhi suddenly sighed and said: "Master Sun Ren has wiped out Baekje, and the remaining remnants cannot make waves. You have destroyed the Japanese country again, and completely cut off Goguryeo's last sea supply line. Originally, I planned to do it next year Who knows about the eastward expedition to Goguryeo..."
"There is an inexplicable drought this year. Could it be that God is warning me not to resort to violence?"
Li Qinzai smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, it is better to wait patiently for two years. This year's drought is serious, and the national treasury will have to spend a lot of food relief. It will take about a year or two to recover. At this time, it is unwise to march eastward to Goguryeo."
Li Zhi sighed: "If I had enough food in the Tang Dynasty, those powerful neighbors in the Tang Dynasty would have been conquered by me long ago. Why are they so timid now and in a dilemma?"
"Food..." Li Qinzai was thoughtful.
Li Zhi's eyes lit up: "Jingchu has many methods, can you think of a way to increase food production?"
"Your Majesty, calm down. I am only a mortal, not a god."
Li Zhi sighed dejectedly and said with a wry smile: "That's right. If Jing Chu can even think of ways to increase grain production, wouldn't he be a god?"
Li Qinzai hesitated for a long time and said softly: "There is a way to try your luck. Let's see if Your Majesty is willing to take a gamble..."
Li Zhi was surprised, then overjoyed: "Jing Chu really has a way?"
"It's just a matter of luck. It may not work. The probability of failure is very high. If it fails later, I'm afraid..."
Before he finished speaking, Li Zhi immediately interrupted: "I won't blame you, just try my best. Maybe I just got lucky, please tell me."
Li Qinzai hesitated for a moment and asked slowly: "What does 'the world' look like in His Majesty's eyes?"
Li Zhi was stunned and said: "The so-called 'world' is of course the Tang Dynasty, as well as the surrounding Tubo, the remnants of the Turks, Mohe, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, etc. I heard that there is a wider land to the east of the ocean, but that's just It’s a rumor.”
Li Qinzai shook his head: "The world is huge, definitely beyond your Majesty's imagination, and those undiscovered continents are rich in products, including various crops, and all kinds of exotic flowers and fruits."
"Many species are not available in Datang. If they can be collected and transplanted to Datang for cultivation, over time, increasing food production in Datang will not be a problem."
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