For the next two days, Li Xian lived at the construction site.
The dignified prince lives at the construction site, and the living conditions are naturally unmatched by ordinary workers.
However, no one disputes this. The prince spent his own money to improve their food, and they thought this treatment was really good. You must know that migrant workers at other construction sites do not receive this kind of treatment.
When people are usually at home, unless they go hunting in the mountains and catch something, or fish in the water and catch fish, they generally cannot eat meat.
The quality of life of the people in the Tang Dynasty was actually very poor. Except for some wealthy places, more people have only improved their living standards to the point of "starving to death". In some places, there are still occasional rumors of people starving to death.
Under such conditions, the several large carts of meat brought by the prince were particularly touching.
A prince is a prince, and whoever wants to be an emperor in the future will naturally not do backbreaking work.
However, it is still okay to walk around, cheer everyone up, and order people to add some water to the water shed.
No one raised any objection to the prince not working. Even when eating, the prince's food was obviously more exquisite, and no one thought there was anything wrong.
After ordering people to build a shelter, Li Xian was ready to take a rest. Unexpectedly, a large number of migrant workers gathered outside. The leaders are Ding Liu and Li Niu.
The person in charge of translation is still the steward.
Relying on the fact that they had visited the prince before, Ding Liu and Li Niu walked over naturally and accepted the body search by the guards calmly.
Seeing these two fierce men being held up and down by the guards without changing their expressions, the migrant workers behind them who did not dare to get too close couldn't help but respect them.
Although everyone is curious about His Highness the Crown Prince, these two fierce men are the only ones who dare to get close.
You know, the guards around the prince are all fully armed!
Besides, who is the prince? After the emperor, he becomes the prince. If you approach such a noble person rashly, what should you do if he gets angry?
All the worries of the migrant workers dissipated a lot after Ding Liu and Li Niu were allowed to sit on the mats and were rewarded with a cup of scented tea.
Although the conversation required an interpreter with an accent, which was quite awkward, the three of them still had a great time talking to each other.
"How is it? The work on the construction site must be tiring."
"Tiredness is inevitable, but we are here to be tired. As long as we have enough to eat, have a place to live, and can pay our wages, it is not a problem to be tired. From the start of work to now, all the food we have earned has been transported by the East Palace. Team and sent home. When I first came out to build roads, who could have imagined that I could earn so much food?"
"That's right, it's okay to be tired, as long as you can make money."
It is said that the people of the Chinese nation are the most honest and the strongest. Now that he saw the work on the construction site, Li Xian was extremely convinced of this.
It is no exaggeration to say that this road is basically soaked in sweat.
Digging mountains, digging soil, and digging trees is obviously the hottest time of the year, but these migrant workers brave the scorching sun and rush to the construction site all day long.
Nowadays, if you sit under the pergola and look around, you will see that as long as there are migrant workers, everything is dark. Some people have sunburn marks on their faces that haven't even healed yet.
Sighing, Li Xian couldn't help but ask: "Last time I came here alone and solved the housing problem for you. This time, do you have any other requests? But it doesn't matter?"
After hearing the steward's translation clearly, Ding Liu and Li Niu both waved their hands.
"I am very satisfied to have a better place to live. Especially His Highness the Crown Prince also asked me to be hygienic and take good protection. At the beginning, some idiots thought that the requirements were too much and that they were too particular and thought that it would take a lot of money. Without protection, it is inconvenient to work. However, after they found that fewer and fewer people have bad stomachs, and it is basically difficult to get injured after an accident, they are all grateful for His Highness the Prince's great kindness!"
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has shown such great kindness to us, please accept the worship of the common people."
After speaking, before the steward could finish translating all the words, the two of them imitated Wang Bo and other officials, stood up and saluted.
The migrant workers watching the excitement also followed suit.
Speaking of which, their saluting postures were different and non-standard, which was a bit comical.
However, facing this scene, Li Xian still stood up.
The huge difference in status made these people unable to tolerate his courtesy, and forcing him to return the favor would only make them panic.
In this case, the best response is to stand up and solemnly accept their courtesy.
After everyone stood up, Li Xiancai said with a smile: "Don't you think that I have done something that needs to be thanked. Speaking of which, the court and the royal family are really embarrassed this time. Their own people were affected by the disaster, and they were unable to directly provide relief. We also need to use engineering matters to attract aristocratic families to participate, so that we can barely eliminate the impact of the disaster. This is not something that a responsible court or a responsible royal family can do."
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is serious. We are well aware of the fact that the imperial court is unable to make ends meet this year. A young man can fill his stomach by chewing grass roots. He should not be embarrassed to death by receiving relief for no reason. Now let's not talk about women and children who can fill their stomachs. As for me, we can not only eat a full belly, but also earn some food reserves for the family. If it were a disaster year in the past, it would be great if we could not starve to death. How can we feed the whole family and even have a surplus?"
"Ding Liu is right. If anyone dares to speak ill of the imperial court, I, Old Li, will be the first to refuse!"
Along with the roars of Ding Liu and Lao Li, the migrant workers onlookers also roared.
Once upon a time, they were worried that the court was deceiving them, but after they actually came to participate in the construction, they discovered that the court was not deceiving them.
As long as you started working on the construction site and have persisted until now, who hasn’t sent home a few bags of food?
In addition to eating freely at the construction site, although the work is tiring, it is more profitable than farming.
The stewards of the East Palace were fed and housed on the construction site. If anyone was tired from working and had a rest, he would not be whipped. If anyone was injured, a doctor would come over immediately to take a look.
At this point, what else can be done?
A group of migrant workers felt that anyone who spoke ill of the court at this time and ended the project would be truly seeking death!
Although this year is a disaster year, with such good things happening, everyone is looking forward to working until the end of the year so that they can enjoy a prosperous year with their families.
Seeing that everyone's words didn't seem to be fake, Li Xian breathed a sigh of relief.
Whatever you plan to do, the biggest fear is not reaping the planned benefits.
So much money has been invested in the disaster relief project. If it fails to achieve the expected results, it will really be a big loss.
Now it seems that the effect is not bad. At least, the court has won the praise of the people this time.
Taking a sip of tea, Li Xian waved his hand and ordered the guards to pour down the vat of tea for the migrant workers to drink.
Although there was no shelter and they were just basking in the sun, the migrant workers obviously had no intention of leaving to rest.
It was rare to meet His Highness the Crown Prince, and the most unexpected thing was that His Highness the Crown Prince was actually willing to chat with them. Although they were a bit far apart, after today, this kind of experience can be used for several years.
Ding Liu and Li Niu naturally knew what the co-workers were thinking. They were not bored when they saw His Highness the Crown Prince. Instead, they were as kind as before, and they couldn't help but feel a little more courageous.
After taking a sip of the scented tea, Ding Liu didn't have time to distinguish the taste, and asked: "Your Highness, we heard that there is a fee to walk on the road that was built this time. Do we ordinary people also have to walk on it?" Pay for it?"
Seeing that Ding Liu actually asked this question, many migrant workers couldn't help but admire him.
Hearing the steward's translation, Li Xian immediately smiled and replied: "The purpose of building this road is to shorten the distance between Chang'an and Luoyang. First, it is to speed up the delivery of documents from the imperial court, and second, It is to strengthen communication between the two places.”
"To put it simply, it is more convenient to transport goods and people between the two places. The court has invested so much to build such a road, so it naturally has to collect money. However, it will not reach out to the people who come and go. To The only people who collect money are the merchants who transport the goods, or the officials whose fleet is too long."
"And part of the money collected from them will be used to maintain this road. No matter it rains or snows, we must ensure that this road is smooth. As for the rest, it will naturally go into Gu's pocket."
"Hahahahaha."
After hearing the steward's translation, the migrant workers burst out laughing.
They had guessed that the prince wanted to make money in this way. Now that the prince is speaking out, they don't care.
As long as you are an official, it is synonymous with "greed" in their eyes, so how can the prince, who is older than the magistrate of Li Zheng, not know how to make some money?
Making money for big shots is nothing in their eyes. As long as they don't reach out to the common people, it's up to them how much they can earn, and they can't envy them.
However, the behavior of pretending to be poor while making money is the most looked down upon.
Seeing such a sensitive topic like Ding Liu, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince answered truthfully. Li Niu was not to be outdone and quickly asked: "Then Your Highness the Crown Prince, why did you come to us? If a noble person like you is hurt, But it’s not good.”
After hearing Li Niu's words, before the steward could translate, Ding Liu stretched out his foot and kicked Li Niu.
After saying something to stop Ding Liu's behavior, the steward translated Li Niu's words with a grimace.
After listening, Li Xian smiled helplessly and said: "Actually, I came here just to wait for the Tubo envoy. Oh, they are the barbarians from the west. These Tubo people are amazing. It is said that they are extremely powerful and are not afraid of death on the battlefield. , so it is very majestic. Over the years, although the court has heard that the battle with Tubo has been successful, the fact is that we have suffered a lot from them. "
"No, we encountered a drought, and people came up with the idea of attacking us. Although there is still money and food left in the treasury, no one knows what will happen until the next tax payment comes. More What's more, the disaster in the pass has directly reduced Datang's revenue. Even if the war is postponed to next year, we may not have enough power to defeat them."
"Because of this, Gucai wanted to scare them and show them the construction site to show them that although Datang has been affected by the disaster, it still has the ability to build. If we can successfully frighten them, our Datang will It’s a little bit of a relief.”
Listening to the prince's words, the steward looked worried and translated sentence by sentence.
He was indeed worried that as the Crown Prince, His Highness' words would carry too much weight.
And it was such a prince who actually shared such a confidential matter directly with the common people.
He is really worried now, what if the people panic.
However, when he translated all the words of His Royal Highness Prince Jia Ang, he was surprised to find that the migrant workers in the audience did not show panic. Instead, they all looked ferocious, like evil ghosts.
Ding Liu smashed his fist on the ground angrily, and said angrily: "This barbarian really goes too far to bully others. Don't worry, Your Highness, if they really dare to attack our Tang Dynasty, the three sons of the grassroots family can go into battle, and they will definitely be defeated." No return.”
"Yes! When will barbarians be able to yell at us?"
"that is."
....
Listening to the comments, all of which were indignant, Li Xian couldn't help but smile.
This is the effect you want.
It is wrong for the court to blindly pretend to be weak to its own subjects. Occasionally revealing its weakness can gain the support of the people. After all, the Chinese nation has always had supreme self-esteem since ancient times. Blind control cannot make the people submissive forever. On the contrary, only by making them feel a sense of belonging to this country can the success of the ruler be considered.
However, he also knew very well that this method was definitely not suitable for the current Datang Dynasty. These words are just to stimulate the migrant workers at this construction site.
Yesterday plus today's reward is a favor, and today's revelation of the Tibetan people's intentions is a request for retribution.
Li Niu stood up and shouted to the group of migrant workers: "Folks, let's work harder tomorrow and let the Tibetan people take a closer look. It's true that we are experiencing a drought, but we are not worried about the drought at all." !”
"Okay!"
"good!"
Looking at the migrant workers who gathered to respond, Li Xian breathed a sigh of relief.
The two stages have been set up. Next, it’s up to the three county magistrates and Zhechong Mansion.
Autumn hunting and other things are not important at all. What is really important is before the autumn hunting starts and things other than autumn hunting.
As long as there are no problems with these three points, the autumn hunting process will probably become very interesting.
After appeasing the people who were receiving chicken blood, Li Xian simply went back to the tent to rest.
Probably tomorrow, the Tibetan envoys will arrive. Today I will prepare for these migrant workers. I will hold back my anger for an afternoon and another night. Think about it...
We all know what tomorrow will be like.
When night fell, a letter was delivered to the construction site by the red feather messenger.
Seeing the contents of the letter, Li Xian couldn't help but look forward to tomorrow even more.
