Chastity Layman

The wind and rain are rustling, the wind is cold and the rain is cold.

The avenues in Chang'an City are all dirt roads, and the low-lying roads are full of water, and the other roads are also muddy, and the horseshoes are also stuck in the mud. In this kind of weather, the more horses and horses walk on the road, the more muddy and difficult the road will be.

The emperor also had to decree that he would not go to court on holiday.

Even the Chongxian Hall had to have a holiday without classes.

As the imperial capital of the world, Chang'an City has turned into a city of mud because of the continuous rain. This is something that Qin Lang has never thought of. The majestic Chang'an, the imperial capital of Huanghuang, how could it be like this?

Ma Zhou, who had already served as the censor in the palace, requested to dig sand from the Chan River near Chang'an and transport it to the city. On the six most important streets in Chang'an, a sand embankment corridor was laid for vehicles and horses to travel.

Qin Lang rode on the leopard's head and walked on the newly paved sandy path, and finally he didn't have to be splashed all over by the muddy water like a few days ago.

When I came to the East Palace, I took off the rain cape, but half of my clothes were still wet.

As soon as Li Shimin saw Qin Lang, he said, "This autumn rain came in time. The wheat that has just been planted in the field has water. The locust eggs you mentioned will also be drowned by this rain, right?"

Qin Lang was not so optimistic. It rained for several days, but it was not heavy. Chang'an became a city of mud, but the water level in the canals of Chang'an City did not rise much, which meant that the precipitation was not high. Then the exposed low-lying land such as the river bed and lake bank in Guanzhong will not be flooded, and the locust eggs will not be drowned in large numbers.

"I hope God will rain two more times." Qin Lang could only say so.

"Let's go, let's see how your eggs are hatching." Li Shimin said.

These few days Qin Lang came to the East Palace every day, not to discuss any important military and political affairs, but mainly to hatch chickens in the greenhouse. He was in Xiande Palace that day, but it took countless saliva to calm down Li Shimin's anger and teach him The prince's chicken hatching experiment is said to be to cultivate the prince's ability to observe and learn, and it is said to let the prince understand the various high-level purposes of the people's livelihood.

He also said that the prince is participating in an important plan for locust extermination and disaster relief.

The final result is that after the arrival of Princess Li Lizhi of Changle, the conversation went wrong.

Li Lizhi also insisted on doing this experiment, and in the end Li Shimin actually asked Qin Lang to build a greenhouse in the East Palace. He wanted to personally participate in this important experiment to see if it was really as mysterious as Qin Lang said.

The two monarchs and ministers first went to the Lizheng Hall to greet Princess Changle, and then went to the newly built greenhouse.

When the straw curtains of the greenhouse were lifted, a wave of heat rushed towards us.

Qin Lang felt that the room temperature should be thirty-seven or eight degrees, which seemed as hot and dry as summer in this somewhat cool autumn rainy season.

There are heated kangs in the conservatory, which are completely built according to Qin Lang's requirements. The top is covered with a thick quilt, and the quilt is covered with thick wheat straw.

The corner of the quilt was lifted, and the eggs were laid one by one on the wheat straw.

Qin Lang stretched out his hand and touched the egg to feel the temperature. When his palm touched the egg lightly, it was very warm.

Li Shimin also stretched out his hand to imitate, to touch the feeling.

"I've never heard of hatching chickens without a hen. Can this really happen?"

Li Lizhi looked around, and was very happy to see those neat eggs. She touched them here and there like this, regardless of the heat in the warm room.

Qin Lang said, "As long as the heat is kept constant, then in about 20 days, chickens will hatch out of their shells one after another. Of course, in addition to burning the kang to maintain the heat, every two hours or so, chickens will be hatched. Turn the eggs over so they cook evenly."

"It usually takes about twenty-eight days to hatch a chick. You can do it in twenty days?"

"The most important thing for hatching chickens is the temperature. Using this warm kang and quilt with wheat straw is to simulate the temperature of an old hen. If the temperature is right, the eggs will naturally break out of their shells. The time it takes is shorter than that of an old hen because of this kind of warm room." The heat on the kang is more stable and continuous, after all the hens have to leave the nest to eat and drink.”

Soon Li Lizhi's face was flushed, and she was even sweating a little, but she still didn't want to leave.

Qin Lang previously reserved a special place for her in a corner of the kang. Twenty eggs were covered under the quilt, and there were marks drawn by Li Zhi herself on them. First, eggs with different shapes and colors have begun to be named.

The one with red spots on the shell is called Xiaohong, the one with white spots on the pot is called Xiaobai, and the one with pockmarks is called Xiaomazi...

Although Li Shimin always said that he didn't believe it, Qin Lang knew that he actually believed Qin Lang in his heart seeing how diligent he was coming every day.

In addition, the greenhouse warming bed that Qin Lang made for hatching chickens was also admired by Li Shimin, and he had long been thinking about other uses of the greenhouse.

Although there is no need for this thing in the palace, because there is no shortage of charcoal fires in the palace in winter, and there will be a fire wall in the emperor's bedroom, and there is a flue inside for heating.

But it will undoubtedly be useful in other ways.

For example, if there is such a heating kang in the military city and garrison on the northern border, it will definitely help the soldiers survive the cold winter better.

Even for ordinary people, sleeping on such a kang in winter will be very comfortable, and there is no need to worry about the sudden extreme cold, and many people will freeze to death.

Li Lizhi named another egg that was a bit small today, calling him Xiaoxiao.

"Sanlang, after Xiaoxiao hatches, can he separate the male and female?"

"Of course this is possible."

Li Shimin looked skeptical when he heard this, thinking that Qin Lang was bragging, how would such a small chicken cub be divided into male and female?

Qin Lang then smiled and said that after the chicks hatched, they had to go through a separate process. Keep more hens, so that you can get many laying hens. As for the chicks, after they are separated, they can be put together for special breeding. , Short-term cultivation as broiler chickens, or castration after a little bigger, so that they can become fast-growing broiler chickens.

"How?"

Qin Lang raised his index finger.

"Press this finger on the chick's buttocks, and the chick's buttocks will feel hard, but the chick's buttocks will not."

Li Shimin stretched out his index finger, which was covered with layers of old skin and hard calluses, "Can you feel it?"

"Your Majesty's army is fighting, and there is hard skin on the belly of the fingers, which is not easy to feel. You can grind the hard skin on the millstone, so that you can be sensitive."

Coming out of the greenhouse, Qin Lang told Li Shimin.

"Your Majesty, this is the price of grain in various states collected by the Zhenfu Division."

Li Shimin took it, and after a few glances, he couldn't help frowning.

Since the establishment of the Zhenfu Division, it has developed rapidly. It has set up dispatched agencies in Bing, Yang, You, Jing, Yi, Guang, An, Luo, and Liang prefectures, and stationed personnel in all states in the world. It not only monitors officials in various places, but also collects various intelligence .

According to Li Shimin's order, Qin Lang previously issued an order to his subordinates to focus on collecting food prices in various places and price changes of various important livelihood commodities.

The information was collected in several major divisions, and then sent to Chang'an Town Fushi through the post station for summary.

"The food price in Chang'an broke through 200 yuan per bucket of rice ten days ago, and Luoyang and Taiyuan have also broken through this line."

Although the imperial court has taken over the grain from righteous warehouses in various places, this amount of grain is nothing at all, and the food crisis has become more and more serious.

The imperial court transports hundreds of thousands of shi of grain to Beijing from Jianghuai and other places in Shandong every year, but it is far from enough now.

"Limited by the water transport capacity, the grain transport capacity to Guanzhong has reached its limit and cannot be increased, and soon Shandong and other places will have no grain to transport over."

Li Shimin frowned.

The food shortage is huge.

"The prime ministers have already proposed that I make an order to allow the people and even encourage the mobilization of the people to start leaving the customs now, so that the food will be in Shandong and Shannan." Li Shimin sighed.

The so-called "grain when you leave the customs" means to let the people flee famine and beg for food. This kind of thing actually happened many times in the Sui Dynasty. At that time, Yang Jian took hundreds of officials and common people out of Beijing more than once to go to Luoyang for food.

At that time, there was a famine in Guanzhong as far as grain was concerned. Although there were grain reserves in the Jianghuai area at that time, they were limited by the water transportation capacity and could not import more grain into Guanzhong, so in the end they had to go to Shandong for grain.

After all, when the former dynasty was prosperous, Chang'an alone had a population of one million. The population consumption of so many capitals was huge, but it was mainly consumed by imports.

But the problem now is that there is no food in Henan and Shandong.

Li Shimin didn't immediately agree to let the people go out for food, because he considered that this would cause instability. He had not been in power for a long time, and he was afraid that someone would use this to cause chaos.

Second, he doesn't think it's that serious yet.

And now, after Qin Lang handed over the booklet of grain prices in various places to him, Li Shimin discovered that the matter might be more serious than he had judged. From the soaring price of grain in these places, it can be seen that there is a shortage of food everywhere. .

"Your Majesty, what I am most worried about is this year's autumn locusts. According to the reports of the local prefectures and counties investigated by the Zhenfu Division, this year not only in Guanzhong, but also in Longyou, Hexi, Hedong, Shandong, and Henan. Large-scale autumn locusts, and even parts of Shannan and Huainan, may also be plagued by locusts."

Qin Lang's words made Li Shimin's frown even tighter.

Qin Lang reminded him again and again that there would be locust plagues, but according to the traditional judgment, there was no such argument.

"Your Majesty, after a severe drought, there will be locusts, and after a severe disaster, there will be a famine. After a severe disaster and a severe famine, there will be a plague. If you can't judge early and do a good job of prevention, the situation will really get out of hand. It’s really helpless.”

Li Shimin stared at Qin Lang with fierce eyes, "Then what's your suggestion?"

"Your Majesty, before a disaster strikes, people must be protected first. Wherever there is food, let the people go. It must be planned in advance, and the officials must arrange and send people along the road to receive them. For example, Yongzhou More than 20 counties can be arranged to go to the south of Shannan, and the victims of a county in Yongzhou can be arranged to go to a prefecture in the south of Shannan, and the counterparts will be responsible.

"When the disaster is not too serious, those people who have no food or not much food at home will be transferred out of the customs first, which will also reduce the pressure in the customs."

······

Qin Lang also agreed with the prime ministers' proposal to let the people go out to get food, but it can't be unorganized and let the people flee famine and beg for food, there must be an organization, so that there will be no chaos, and it will not turn into a large group of hungry refugees.

And his exit is to give priority to the poor, instead of waiting until the famine is severe, the emperor will run away with all the officials, nobles, and powerful people.

Through the comparison of the big data of the Zhenfu Division, we can formulate corresponding plans for temporary relocation to avoid disasters and provide food, instead of coaxing countless hungry people out of the customs and turning them into an army of hungry people like locusts, sweeping along the way, and taking away those who were not serious The area was also swept up and turned into a disaster area, turning other people into hungry people.

At this time, what needs to be considered is Li Shimin's decision-making courage and the imperial court's organization and execution ability. It depends on whether Li Shimin has such determination and dares to act in advance.