When the game started, everyone started asking for stones from each other. Li Chengqian asked five people for stones, and then stopped asking for stones. Looking at the other people, many people did not move. It seemed that everyone was not very enthusiastic about the game.
At the end of each round two people are eliminated.
After playing for a while, Li Chengqian was eliminated in the third round. He had the most stones in the third round.
Zhang Daan came back and recorded all the discussions of those in Hongwen Hall.
Opening the scroll, Zhang Yang frowned and looked at the contents. There were only a few names, as well as the names of a few stewards of the Hongwen Hall. Some of the names he didn't recognize.
"Da'an."
"exist."
"You can make another copy and send it to the village. I will use it for other purposes." Zhang Yang patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "From now on, you will be my reporter."
"reporter?"
"Yes, I specialize in recording these things. Don't you mind having an extra job?"
Zhang Daan hesitated a little, but agreed, "I don't mind."
Da'an is an honest guy. The most important thing is that he can tell the truth and seek truth from facts. This is a very good quality.
The guards of the East Palace were playing games with Li Chengqian, and everyone gave in to the current prince. This kind of game of plotting against each other would be boring once this kind of trend occurs.
It seems that Li Chengqian is still enjoying it and is not aware of the situation at all.
I am quite worried about the rest of this prince's life.
Zhang Yang got up and left the East Palace. Before he reached the Li Zheng Palace, he heard a burst of laughter. His wife and a large group of palace children were playing the game of eagle catching chicks.
This was when her grandmother was still alive and took her to play this game.
Now she can play with other children too.
Seeing Queen Changsun walking towards him, Zhang Yang saluted and said, "I have met the Queen."
Queen Changsun handed over a clay pot and said, "This is full of fine salt, and there is also some in the palace."
Such a jar of fine salt is worth a lot. The fine salt in Chang'an City is so expensive that it makes people toothache.
Life in the palace is not easy either. The queen has to take care of a large number of children and is currently pregnant with one.
"Take it, there is nothing good for you and your wife in this Li Zheng Palace."
"Thank you very much, Queen."
"As a mother, I should give it to you." Queen Changsun looked at the children playing and asked in a low voice: "How is Yue'er's health?"
Zhang Yang took the jar of fine salt and explained: "Still recovering, my hands and feet are still cold, and I am afraid of the cold. Generally speaking, there is no problem."
Queen Changsun nodded, "You are a sensible child. While taking care of your elders, you also get along well with Prince Qingque and the others without going beyond the rules. I have also heard some things. It is rare for children of your age to be able to care about the elders and the young. Take good care of the balance between the two generations.”
"The queen has rewarded you."
"I have also heard that you asked the prince to exercise in the East Palace, and also taught the prince how to write a list of officials and ministers."
"I am from the East Palace, and I am just giving some appropriate advice to the prince."
Queen Changsun smiled, "I also heard from Yue'er that you should lead the people in the fief to live a good life."
The eagle admitted defeat, and there was joy and laughter in the Li Zheng Hall.
"When we first arrived in the fiefdom, what we saw was a poor village. It was very poor there. Not to mention that we were living well, their lives were even more difficult. We originally thought about having a family business to make a living in the future, so we thought To inspire the villagers."
"Will you have a family business to make a living in the future?" Empress Changsun nodded and said, "This is your plan."
Zhang Yang replied: "Perhaps for others, with the food and clothing, they can have no worries about food and clothing, and they don't need to care about how other people live. The food is given by the emperor. The fief is for food and salary, and they have the right to tax, but This is a reward from the founding emperor. After one year's salary, the lives of the people in the fiefdom will be even harder. Instead of doing this, I want to get rich together and let them work for me. They will get the income from their labor, and I will get mine. benefit."
"I'm not afraid of the Queen's jokes." Zhang Yang smiled awkwardly, "At first when we arrived at the fiefdom, we had the urge to return the fiefdom to His Majesty, but Yue'er is a kind person. I call this getting rid of poverty and getting rich. Rather than letting them be poor, It’s better to get rich together, we will gain both family property and people’s hearts.”
Empress Changsun nodded with admiration in her eyes, "You and your wife can have enough food and clothing with just the salary, but you still chose a path that is not easy."
"There will always be setbacks, just think of it as training yourself."
"I also heard that you want several thousand acres of land?"
This daughter-in-law really told her mother everything. Zhang Yang nodded with a wry smile, "In life, you must have a lofty ideal."
Queen Changsun waved to Li Yue.
Seeing his wife approaching, Zhang Yang deliberately shook the clay pot in his hand, indicating with his eyes that this was given to him by your mother.
Li Yue stepped forward and stood obediently, "Actually, my husband and I don't lack anything at home."
Queen Changsun looked at the two of them and said, "Go back early, and come to the palace more often in the future."
"Um."
Li Yue nodded heavily.
After leaving Li Zheng Hall, we have to go to Chong Wen Hall to take a look. The couple has always been taking care of it, but they haven't done it for some days.
Walking on the path between the palaces, Li Yue whispered, "The older princesses have already been married off, and those princesses seldom come to the palace after they get married. Last year, His Majesty married Princess Yuzhang." He married Tang Shanshi, Tang Jian’s son, and rarely came to the palace again."
"The princesses in the Li Zheng Palace are still too young now. I can help the queen more and ask her more questions."
Zhang Yang asked suspiciously: "Then what did you learn today?"
She smiled playfully, "They are all methods of employing people. Our family has such a big business, and I need such skills."
Zhang Yang pushed open the door of Chongwen Hall, and there was some dust accumulated here.
The couple cleaned the place again, and Li Yue found several volumes of books, especially some books on construction.
"I haven't seen Mr. Zheng for some days."
Li Yue's words are on the other side of the bookshelf, and there will be echoes in Chongwen Hall.
Zhang Yang looked at the scroll and replied: "Actually, Zheng Gong and I often meet in the East Palace, but he has to teach the prince, so we really haven't had a good conversation for a while."
"Mr. Zheng must be very busy."
"I don't know what he is busy with."
Li Yue took several scrolls of bamboo slips and cloth and put them into her schoolbag. She also took out a pen and wrote a mark on the bookshelf.
I took a look at the mark she wrote. She wrote the date and the name of the book so that it wouldn't be misplaced when I returned it.
Zhang Yang opened the window here to ventilate it, and then gave it a good sweep.
The sun shines into the temple, and you can see the dust floating in the air through the sunlight.
Looking up, I saw that the roof of Chongwen Hall was very high. When I first cleaned it, I couldn't touch the roof, which was also a blind spot for cleaning.
Most of the dust falls from the roof. Within a few days after cleaning, dust will fall on the bookshelves again.
The village has been busy for a month, and finally completed this year's farming tasks. Like last year, Zhang Yang left a few acres of land to grow cotton.
The castle in the village was finally completed. Li Yue walked in this three-story castle, which was made of stones.
Zhang Yang looked at the results and said, "I think this is more like a military bunker."
"What's that for?"
"Used to defend and detect the enemy, and use the advantage of being at a commanding height to annihilate the enemy."
"Hmph, we're going to fight and kill."
Zhang Yang frowned and said, "You don't really want to live here, do you?"
Li Yue walked around and said, "As my husband said, the princess lives in the castle, and there are flowers planted by the windows of the castle. I don't like it here, and I don't want to live in the castle."
"Don't you like it?"
"I don't like this kind of place surrounded by things like this. The thick walls isolate everything, and the windows are so small. Standing here feels like being in a prison." Li Yue walked out of the castle and took a deep breath of fresh air. "Everything is very small in the castle. I prefer the small yard of our house. Although it is small, I feel more like home."
Zhang Yang raised his head and looked down at the entire castle, "Why don't you let Niu Chuang arrange a few guards here? Don't waste it. Let's use it as a fortress and plant flowers on the roof eaves and window sills as a landscape."
Li Yue has lost interest in the castle, and her enthusiasm for new things disappears quickly.
But no matter what, it was Niu Chuang and the others who spent a long time building the castle. My wife just said she didn’t like it and she didn’t like it. It was really willful.
It also occupies three acres of land. If you have a high-rise building, you still need to use it, and you can't waste it.
Li Tai became the child king of the village again. Niu Chuang said with a straight face: "I heard that Prince Wei's palace is so poor that he has nothing to eat. Now he brings his servants to our village to eat and drink for free all day long."
"Just deal with the matter of a few more pairs of chopsticks if you can handle it. It's not easy for him either." Zhang Yang consoled him.
"They eat a lot." Niu Chuang said with a straight face.
"Then give less in the future."
"good."
Seeing Li Tai and a group of children flying paper kites, I thought to myself that I would help Li Tai get through this difficulty first, and that this future cash cow was finally getting better.
In the Tang Dynasty, where supplies were scarce, people's living conditions were backward. As long as your things were useful to people's lives, there would be demand, especially in the prosperous Chang'an City. Even Li Tai used 50% of the profits from his soap business to help with repairs. Chang'an City is, at best, a strain on the soap business.
After a while, Li Tai will be able to regain his strength. As long as soap production is still a sole business, there will be no competitors. With a good backer, it will be easy to become the dominant one.
The village was busy again. Li Yue took a roll of paper that had just been printed and said, "Husband, what do you think?"
Zhang Yang took it and looked at the content above, "Is this all sent by Zhang Daan?"
"I heard that Zhang Daan will have some fragmentary news every day, so he asked Shangguan Yi to sort it out."
Zhang Yang couldn't help but gasped when he saw the above content, "It turns out that Duke Zhao also urinates everywhere."
Li Yue stood on tiptoes, grabbed Zhang Yang's arm and raised his chin to look at it curiously, "Is there one? Let me see?"
"How can Tang Jian, who is over fifty years old, still take concubines? It's shameless."
Zhang Yang found a large, clean stone, and the couple looked at it side by side.
"Look, Li Junxian was beaten by a group of alchemists when he went to investigate the case. He didn't dare to fight back even though he was beaten."
"It's just little things that seem interesting."
Each message is recorded with the date and person, and it would be more vivid if there is a picture.
"It would offend people if others saw this." Zhang Yang looked solemn.
"Why do you want Da'an to do this?"
"I asked him to collect some information. He was originally asked to record some people's discussions about Hongwen Hall. It seems that the scholars in Hongwen Hall are quite leisurely. They really talk about everything."
"It's better not to take it out, for fear of offending someone."
After the couple finished reading, they put the roll of paper in the laboratory and ignored it.
Li Tai was tired after playing around for a day. He came to the laboratory to see if there was anything new here. He accidentally saw this roll of paper and couldn't help laughing when he saw the content on it. "Let Grandpa Huang Check it out too, it’s so interesting.”
Zhang Yang and Li Yue helped organize the clothes of the teacher and his family.
"They are all old clothes accumulated in previous years, and I don't wear them anymore." The teacher's wife was drying them.
"It can be worn by the villagers here, but it can't be wasted." Li Yue said as he wrung out his clothes.
"They are all old clothes, how can they be given to others to wear?"
"The material is good. It would be a pity to throw it away. Why not give it to the villagers? There is nothing to dislike about it."
Mrs. Li likes Li Yue’s habit of being diligent and thrifty in running the house.
Zhang Yang made a bowl of tea for Zhang Gongjin and put a dried chrysanthemum in the tea. "Teacher, this chrysanthemum has some fire-clearing effects."
Zhang Gongjin took a sip and put down the tea bowl, "Everything I drink now smells like medicine."
According to Sun Simiao, Zhang Gongjin's health is indeed better than before, but it only slows down the severity of the disease. The root cause of the disease is still not eliminated, especially as his breathing becomes increasingly short.
Zhang Yang pressed his shoulders and said, "The human body's absorption capacity is related to the organs. If the organs are not well nourished, the absorption of the medicine will also become worse. Stop taking the medicine for a few days to nourish the organs."
Looking at Zhang Yang's expression, Zhang Gongjin lowered his eyebrows and said, "He is already in his twilight years. It wouldn't be surprising even if he can't open his eyes tomorrow."
Zhang Yang leaned down and listened to Zhang Gongjin's heartbeat, "The heartbeat is still very strong. It seems that the situation is not bad so far."
Zhang Gongjin coughed twice and said, "There is no need to comfort me. I know very well how my health is."
The teacher's gray hair was getting more and more. Zhang Yang looked at his complexion and said, "When I have time, I will make a wheelchair for the teacher, so that even if he can't walk, he can be pushed around to see the scenery."
Hearing this, Zhang Gongjin nodded and took another sip of scented tea, "It's been pretty good in the East Palace recently."
"It's still the same as before. There are many powerful children around the prince. I hope that the prince will stay less with those powerful children and not let the prince interact with children from aristocratic families." Zhang Yang sighed: "It can be controlled for a while."
Zhang Gongjin stood up and whispered: "You know what can be done and what cannot be done. If the prince understands this, he must change himself."
"I think so too. All I can do is give him regular warnings and give him some positive influence. Whether it has any effect depends on him."
"Come for a walk with me."
"good."
(End of chapter)
