In a wine shop in Pingkangfang, Chang'an City of the Tang Dynasty, several tables of guests were drinking and chatting together.
I saw a middle-aged man, holding a wine bottle, spitting with the people around him, talking about an interesting thing he heard in Qunfang Building last night.
In ancient times, there were not many entertainment projects, only places like brothels, teahouses, and wine shops where you could listen to music and brag.
In the past ten days, what has spread the fastest in Chang'an City is not that a high-ranking official married a concubine, nor that a dude from a certain family molested a girl from a certain family.
It's about autumn farming in Qinjiazhuang, Lantian County.
"Hey, do you think that person from Qinjiazhuang is crazy about food? Can he do such a ridiculous thing?"
"I don't know if he is crazy or not, but this Zhuangzi man is definitely not in his right mind. Now this matter has spread in Chang'an, and everyone is waiting to see the joke next year, haha."
"Yes, yes, I actually dreamed of plowing in the autumn and harvesting in the summer. If it was really possible, someone would have done it a long time ago. Will it be his turn?"
In fact, not only Pingkangfang, but also the large and small cities in Chang'an City are discussing this matter.
It's just that in Pingkangfang, because there are more dignitaries in Dongcheng and there are many Qin Towers and Chu Pavilions, the news spread faster.
At this time, in the Taiji Palace and the Ganlu Palace, a middle-aged man wearing a bright yellow casual robe, a jade hairpin in his hair, and a nine-dragon jade belt around his waist was sitting in the main hall.
He was carefully reviewing the memorials sent by Shangshu Province. He was about eight feet tall, with a tall build, broad shoulders and fat waist, and powerful eyes.
This person is none other than the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin.
At this time, the accompanying eunuch Wu Jian came in, knelt down and said:
"Your Majesty, the leader of the Hundred Cavalry Division is asking for an audience outside the palace, saying that he has something important to report."
Li Shimin raised his head and said:
"Announce him to come in"
"The leader of Xuan Baiqi Division, General Li Junxian, has an audience."
In no time, I saw a figure wearing armor from outside the hall walking into the hall and paying homage.
"General, Li Junxian pays homage to His Majesty."
Li Shimin raised his hand and said:
"Get up, what brings the Qing family here?"
"Your Majesty, we will receive news at the end of the day. After harvesting the corn, Qinjiazhuang in Lantian County did not end this year's farming work, but immediately began to organize manpower to cultivate wheat.
Later, the general sent someone to Qinjiazhuang to find out. It was said that it was arranged by a young man named Qin Ming, a landlord in Qinjiazhuang.
According to local tenant farmers, the young farm owner named Qin Ming believed that the wheat cultivated in autumn could survive the winter and be harvested in early summer next year.
They planned to cultivate corn after harvesting wheat. In this way, grain can be harvested twice a year. "
After hearing this, Li Shimin stood up from behind the desk, walked around the case twice, and kept mumbling:
“Harvest twice.”
“Harvest twice.”
Then Li Shimin asked:
"Is that young man confident?"
Li Junxian thought for a moment and replied:
"I don't know this for the moment, because according to reports from subordinates,
The person organizing the farming is the steward of the Qin family. Qin Ming has been at home these days and has not gone out, so he does not have a clear answer.
However, this matter has been spreading in Chang'an City in the past few days, and no one believes that the wheat planted in the autumn can be harvested. "
When Li Shimin heard this, he thought for a moment and said to Wu Shi at the door:
"Wuyu, please go and inform Duke Liang and ask him to come to Ganlu Hall immediately."
Wu Shi said yes and hurried to summon him.
Not long after, Wu Shi brought Fang Xuanling to Ganlu Hall.
"Wei Chen, please see Your Majesty. May I ask you what the reason for summoning Wei Chen is?"
"Ai Qing Ping Shen, Jun Xian, please tell Duke Liang what happened just now."
"yes"
Then Li Junxian told Fang Xuanling the whole story in detail.
After hearing this, Fang Xuanling said:
"Your Majesty, Wei Chen believes that if this matter can be accomplished, it will be a great good thing for our Tang Dynasty, but whether this matter can be accomplished or not. Wei Chen really cannot judge."
"Ai Qing thought that I summoned Qin Ming into the palace and asked him carefully. What does Ai Qing think?"
"Your Majesty, I know that you care about the people and are looking forward to getting the answers you prepared as soon as possible, but I think it is inappropriate to summon the owner of the small village of Qin Ming.
According to General Li, this matter has spread throughout the city. If he is summoned to the palace, if the matter fails in the coming year, it will damage His Majesty's reputation in the future.
To be on the safe side, tomorrow happens to be a holiday, so why not pretend to be a grain merchant and visit the small village owner of Qin Ming to find out the truth.
Your Majesty, is this okay with you? "
Li Shimin was happy after hearing this and said:
"Well, I didn't think about it. Aiqing's idea is good. I may not have left the palace for a long time, so I will go with Aiqing tomorrow."
Early the next morning, a carriage slowly drove out of Chang'an City, followed by a dozen people dressed as guards.
Sitting in the car were Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling in white dragon fish suits.
Near noon, the carriage arrived at Qinjiazhuang.
Li Shimin opened the curtain and saw that Zhuangzi's fields were full of tenant farmers busy farming.
Li Shimin said: "Xuanling, look, this is the first time I have seen people farming in the fields in autumn.
If this thing can be done, I will definitely write a plaque with my own hand and send it to this Zhuangzi to commend their achievements. "
"Weichen has been thinking about this last night, hoping that Master Qin can give us a satisfactory answer."
As the two of them talked, the carriage had already arrived at the riverside of Qinjiazhuang.
Sitting by the river was a young man in a green shirt, holding a piece of dogtail grass in his mouth and a fishing rod in his hand. Behind him stood a little maid, who was shouting:
"Sir, there is a fish biting the hook, please raise the pole quickly."
Li Shimin said:
"What a handsome young man. Let's go over and ask Xuanling if they can take us to visit the owner of Qin Xiaozhuang."
After saying that, he and Fang Xuanling got out of the carriage.
The young man fishing by the river is Qin Ming.
At this moment, he and Wan'er also noticed the group of people on the bridge.
Looking at the way the group of people were dressed, I knew that they were not from the nearby Zhuangzi, but probably from other places.
The two people in the middle should be the leaders of this group of people.
Especially the middle-aged handsome guy walking in front, who walked with a graceful and elegant look, and you could tell at a glance that he was not an ordinary person.
The two of them walked up to him and Wan'er and said:
"Young man, someone's surname is Li, he is a grain merchant from out of town. This is someone's housekeeper Laofang, and someone is here to collect grain. I heard that in this village, the Qin family has the largest field. Can you take someone there? Would you like to visit?"
Qin Ming was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that these people were actually looking for him.
After reacting, Qin Ming smiled, cupped his hands towards the two of them, and said:
"Qin has met these two gentlemen. It seems to be fate. Qin is the Qin Ming you are looking for. I wonder where these two gentlemen are from?"
At this time, Fang Xuanling on the side raised his hands and replied:
"Oh, we came from Chang'an. I wonder if it's convenient for Xiao Langjun now. We have something to talk to you about."
Qin Ming didn't think these two people looked like bad people.
Moreover, in later generations, Qin Ming always believed in one sentence, that is, many friends lead to many paths, so he has always been relatively forthright.
So he said without thinking:
"It's convenient. It's not as good as this. It's almost noon. If you two gentlemen don't mind it, you can have a casual dinner at a certain house and we can chat while eating."
"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders. Then these people from a certain family will disturb the young man."
Qin Ming smiled and nodded after hearing this, and after packing up the fishing gear with Wan'er.
Qin Ming took Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling to the mansion.
...
