"Xiangrui?"
Lao Zhu, who was wearing a pair of purple and gold reading glasses, was sitting on the dragon chair, tilting his head and carefully looking at the autumn harvest memorials of the southern provinces. He suddenly raised his head and stared at the two tigers closely.
"Did you see it, it's He Xiangrui?"
"I am guilty. I heard that His Majesty King Yan had a memorial and an auspicious offering, so I rushed to tell His Majesty impatiently that I had made an oversight!"
Erhu suddenly knelt on the ground with a look of fear on his face.
Lao Zhu glanced at Erhu, who had been following him for decades, and knew why Erhu was so anxious, and waved his hand slowly.
"Okay, Fourth Brother doesn't dare to deceive us yet. Since we sent a thousand households to send auspiciousness, it is auspiciousness. Go and bring Zhu Liang in."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Erhu responded and quickly retreated.
Lao Zhu lowered his head again and began to review the memorials on the desk.
After a while, there was a dull sound of footsteps outside the hall.
Erhu walked in with a veteran.
"Your Majesty, Zhu Liang, who is trying to test thousands of households in Prince Yan's palace, has been brought!"
Zhu Liang saluted with excitement on his face, "At the end of the year, Zhu Liang from thousands of households in Prince Yan's palace came to see your majesty. May your majesty greet you."
"Get up."
With the veteran generals like Lan Yu and Feng Sheng taking the lead, Lao Zhu now has a good impression of generals like Zhu Liang who are very knowledgeable about etiquette.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Zhu Liang stood up quickly.
"We heard that King Yan has a memorial and auspicious omen to offer. What auspicious omen do you, a thousand households, want to offer us?"
Zhu Liang quickly took out a letter from his arms and presented it respectfully with both hands.
"Replying to Your Majesty, this letter is a memorial submitted by His Royal Highness, King Yan!"
Due to being in Zhu Liang's arms for a long time, the outside of the envelope was stained with pools of sweat, and there was a faint sour smell.
However, Zhu Liang couldn't hear it.
Lao Zhu said: "Send it up!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
A waiter on the side quickly went down to take the letter, checked it carefully, and then handed it to Lao Zhu with some hesitation.
Lao Zhu frowned slightly. Ever since he became emperor, no one had dared to hand them a letter like this.
However, he had read a lot of those blood-stained letters before. He just remembered them for a moment and then started reading them.
Below, Zhu Liang carefully took off the cloth bag on his back under the confused gazes of the two tigers.
Then, he took out five ears of rice from it, and there were no more...
Is auspiciousness the ear of rice?
Erhu's eyes widened with a look of horror on his face. How dare His Highness King Yan? And how dare this Zhu Qianhu?
Above, Lao Zhu shouted loudly: "Here, hurry up and summon the prince!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
A waiter responded and quickly retreated outside.
"Erhu, bring us the ears of rice."
Hearing this, Erhu immediately trembled, quickly took the rice ear that Zhu Liang handed him, and walked up carefully.
At the same time, Erhu's eyes were full of surprise.
After putting the rice ears in his hands, he immediately felt the difference between the five rice ears.
In the past few days, officials from various provinces often presented rice ears to the palace.
However, this was the first time he had seen such long and heavy rice ears.
"Okay, okay..."
"You can actually grow such good ears of rice. That bastard Fourth Brother has finally done a great thing that benefits the country and the people..."
After Lao Zhu took over the rice ears, he looked at them one by one, praising them while looking at them.
Erhu felt calm.
Suddenly, Lao Zhu said again: "Er Hu, hurry up and get us the rice ears presented by Jiujiang Prefecture and Taiping Prefecture!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Erhu quickly exited.
Soon, Erhu walked into the hall with several servants, each carrying a basket of rice ears.
Lao Zhu was looking carefully at the memorial written by Zhu Di.
Another moment passed.
Prince Zhu Biao walked in from the outside of the palace, sweating profusely and panting.
Zhu Biao glanced at Zhu Liang with some doubts, and then greeted Lao Zhu.
"My son has met my father!"
"Biao'er, hurry up and get free of gifts!"
Lao Zhu directly picked up the memorial letter and the five rice ears in his hand, and walked down from it.
Zhu Biao looked at the letter in Lao Zhu's hand with some confusion, which seemed to exude a slight sour smell.
"Father, what is this?"
"The letter sent by Zhu Liang from the fourth sect of thousands of households is related to the livelihood of all people in the world. Biao'er, take a look!"
Lao Zhu handed the letter to Zhu Biao as if offering a treasure, and then gently placed the five rice ears in his hand on the table at the side of the hall.
He waved his hand again, signaling Erhu to take over the ears of rice presented by Taiping and Jiujiang Prefectures.
Then, Lao Zhu picked out the largest one and placed it with the rice ears from Beiping Prefecture.
Erhu and the few servants beside him stared.
The ears of rice sent from Beiping Prefecture are two inches longer than those from Taiping Prefecture and Jiujiang Prefecture, which are rich in rice, and the grains are also much larger.
And on the other side.
After Zhu Biao took the letter and took a look at it, he looked solemn and found a chair to read it seriously.
The more he looked at it, the more surprised he looked on his face.
After reading for a long time, he slowly put down the letter in his hand. While his face was full of excitement, he asked Lao Zhu in disbelief.
"Father, are all these things the fourth child said true?"
It's not that Zhu Biao doesn't believe in Zhu Di, but it's really unbelievable that rice seeds can be cultivated artificially and the rice yield can be increased by 20%.
Zhu Biao even carefully recalled the thousands of books he had read since he was a child, and was sure that no sage had ever mentioned this method.
"Biao'er, come and see for yourself!"
Lao Zhu did not answer, but just waved, indicating Zhu Biao to come over.
Zhu Biao walked over quickly.
After seeing clearly the piles of rice ears on the desk in front of Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao's eyes narrowed and he stared at the five rice ears at the top, which were obviously a circle larger. He was so excited that his whole body trembled.
Those five rice ears were placed together with several other piles of rice ears. They were as big as Zhu Biao standing among the ministers, and they were extremely conspicuous.
"Father, these five ears of rice are the good rice that the fourth child mentioned?"
"Um!"
Lao Zhu nodded slowly, but his eyes still did not leave.
Zhu Biao also stared for a while, then suddenly remembered something and quickly looked at the dusty Zhu Liang beside him.
"Are you Zhu Liang who delivers rice ears?"
"It's the last general!"
Zhu Liang responded quickly.
Zhu Biao asked with a solemn face: "Have you seen the hundred acres of good rice on the farm of the fourth family? Is it really as big as what the fourth person said?"
Zhu Liang said: "Reporting to His Majesty the Crown Prince, the hundreds of acres of good rice on the farm have grown so big!"
"Very good!"
Zhu Biao nodded slowly, "You did a great job in escorting Daosui this time, and you deserve a reward!"
With that said, Zhu Biao looked at Lao Zhu.
Lao Zhu nodded slightly, "Zhu Liang is a general in Lao Si's house, and he can be promoted to a thousand households by Lao Si.
As for us, I will reward you with a hundred taels of silver! "
Zhu Liang was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, His Royal Highness!"
Lao Zhu waved his hand, "Erhu, take Zhu Liang down to have a rest!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Erhu responded quickly and took Zhu Liang out.
In the main hall, Lao Zhu looked at the five ears of rice on the table again and said slowly: "Biao'er, if a great sage could research this fine rice in the Yuan Dynasty, then our parents and eldest brother would all I won’t starve to death…”
A trace of heaviness flashed in Zhu Biao's eyes, and he comforted in a slow voice: "Dad, now that the fourth child has researched it, as long as this kind of fine rice can be planted in our country, this kind of tragic situation will definitely not happen again in our country!"
"snort!"
Hearing this, Lao Zhu's expression changed again, and he said bitterly: "Biao'er, don't be deceived by those officials.
All the merchants and gentry in the world are treacherous and greedy. Whenever there are natural or man-made disasters and the people suffer from disasters and lack of food, it is the time when these merchants and gentry secretly hoard food to make money.
Even if the grain production per acre is doubled now, as long as there are treacherous and greedy gentry and merchants, people will definitely starve to death because there is no grain to buy! "
Zhu Biao sighed slightly, "Dad, there are countless merchants and gentry in the world. Our Ming Dynasty also needs those gentry to govern the country. We need those merchants to transport goods to various state capitals and make the people of each state capital rich..."
Lao Zhu looked murderous, "Biao'er, you have to remember that they are useful to our Ming Dynasty, but they must be killed, otherwise these traitors will become more and more unscrupulous, and by then, the people's lives will be even worse. bitter!
Even the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed by their greed..."
"Kid, remember!"
Zhu Biao nodded heavily.
Then he said: "Dad, I want to go to Laosi to see those good rice with my own eyes!"
Lao Zhu nodded directly, "Okay!"
"In the past few years, the Fourth Brother has made great achievements in Beiping Mansion. I heard that the Beiping Mansion has been very prosperous, so you go and inspect it. If the Fourth Brother does anything wrong, you reprimand him..."
"Yes, Dad!"
Zhu Biao's face lit up and he continued: "Dad, I want to leave tomorrow and rush to Beiping Mansion.
I want to reach Beiping Mansion before Lao Si harvests the good rice! "
Lao Zhu pondered for a moment and said: "Cao Zhen, Marquis of Jingchuan, happens to be in the capital, and his younger brother Cao Peng is also the chief envoy of Beiping Prefecture.
Let him follow the Jiujiang two and a team of Jingwei to go with you!
In addition, we will send a secret order to Zhou Xing, the commander of the Peking capital...
You must also reward the fourth son, Guo An, the eldest son, and those wise farmers who have studied good rice..."
"Thank you dad, my child understands."
Zhu Biao replied.
Lao Zhu gave instructions again for a while and then asked Zhu Biao to prepare.
Later, Jingchuan Marquis Cao Zhen and Cao Guogong Li Jinglong were summoned to the palace by Lao Zhu.
Early the next morning, three large ships sailed out of the capital and quickly headed towards Beiping Mansion.
At the same time, several fast riders also ran out of the capital and headed towards Beiping Mansion.
…
Prince Yan's Mansion.
"Your Highness, where is the Crown Prince?"
Guo An walked into the hall and looked around.
Above, Zhu Di looked helpless. Ever since Guo An became Zhu Gaochi's teacher, Guo An would come to see Zhu Gaochi every day.
"Guo Qing, it's time for Chi'er to study Confucian classics with the professor in the mansion!"
Guo An directly raised his hands in salute and asked: "Your Highness, as the crown prince of Prince Yan's palace, the Crown Prince studies history books with Master Luo and can learn from the successes and failures of ancient sages to govern the Kingdom of Yan.
But studying Confucian classics with a professor from Fuzhong?
Is it possible that His Highness can make the crown prince a great Confucian who is full of talent and ethics, and can sit together with those great Confucian officials to quote scriptures and argue with each other to explain each other's ideas? "
Zhu Di was surprised and said, "How could we let Chi'er become the kind of Confucian scholar who only uses his words?"
Guo An asked: "Then why did Your Highness allow the prince to study the Confucian classics for half the day?"
Zhu Di replied directly: "Chi'er is calm by nature, likes to read and delve into classics. Although we are his father, we can't stop him!"
(End of chapter)
