On the south bank of the Haihe River, spring is bright.

The scene of more than 100,000 people waving their shovels and pouting their heads to add soil to the embankments around the polders is very spectacular.

With so many people working at the same time, it was very efficient, and on the first day of yesterday alone, a large polder of 3,000 acres was enclosed.

Last night, Li Chengqian ordered people to set fire to the enclosed polder, and the wildfire burned all the hay in the polder last year and the tender teeth of this year's newborn in the polder to black ashes.

Today, some old and weak people have already begun to plant mulberry trees on the field dam that was just piled up yesterday, and tomorrow after the wildfire is completely extinguished, there will be people who will go in to tidy up the fields.

Hundreds of thousands of poor people who have nothing are on fire when they see 3,000 acres of high-quality paddy fields fenced off in one day. When an experienced old farmer saw such fertile land, he wept and told the people around him: There will definitely be a good harvest this year.

Although these people were tired yesterday, they are more energetic and energetic today.

According to Li Chengqian's plan, the more than 300,000 people should have more than 30,000 mu of polders, and then sort out the southern part of the polders.

You must know that the Tianjin area was developed by the Liao State during the Northern Song Dynasty, and the climate in the north at that time was dry and cold, far less humid than during the Zhenguan period. Now here Li Chengqian stands on the dam and looks at it, and there are withered yellow weeds for dozens of miles to the south.

If these places are reclaimed into farmland, the needs of Yandu can be met for the time being, of course, this will also require more manpower support.

Li Chengqian violently threw a large shovel of wet soil onto the field dam, which was already 1.78 meters high, and then stopped the shovel on the ground and held the shovel with both arms, and stood there panting.

Looking at the more than a dozen transparent blisters in the palm of his hand, he lamented in his heart: I have not suffered in two lifetimes, and this time I have suffered all.

Seeing this, Wang Fangyi hurriedly waved a few shovels, threw all the wet soil in front of Li Chengqian onto Tianba, and said in a low voice: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has no people coming here at this time, you can rest for a while." ”

Li Chengqian looked at Wang Fangyi and said: "I don't want Fang Yi to be born in a scholar clan, he has studied and practiced martial arts since he was a child, and he is so neat at doing farm work. ”

Wang Fangyi's expression darkened, and he said in a low voice: "When my father passed away, the minister was only eight years old, and my grandmother ordered the minister and his mother to live outside the city. ”

Li Chengqian vaguely knew that Wang Fangyi's father died early, and Wang Fangyi's grandmother didn't like Wang Fangyi's mother.

His grandmother is Li Yuan's younger sister, who has been named a princess at that time, and she said the same thing at home, Wang Fangyi's mother and son had a really sad life for a while, and this period of time also left a deep impression on Wang Fangyi.

Li Chengqian stretched out his hand and patted Wang Fangyi's shoulder and said, "Wealth and blessing will be the life of Houwu; Poor and lowly and sorrowful, Yongyu is also in Cheng. ”

Wang Fangyi lowered his head when he heard this, and immediately rejoiced: "Thank you for the teachings of His Royal Highness the Prince, can His Royal Highness the Crown Prince write this sentence to the ministers?"

Li Chengqian looked at Wang Fangyi and asked with a smile, "You can't be considered a great achievement now, are you?"

Wang Fangyi scratched his head when he heard this, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Okay, I'm almost done, you can go and see how many more people come in." Li Chengqian said, endured the pain in his hands, and grabbed the shovel bar again with both hands and prepared to work.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, forget it, the people here know that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is also working here, and they won't think about anything else." Wang Fangyi whispered.

Li Chengqian shook his head solemnly and said, "No, if the food at sea is not available for a day, I can't rest assured." ”

No food is a ticking time bomb, once the food here is eaten and the food from the sea does not come.

No one knows what hundreds of thousands of people facing food shortages can do. Therefore, Li Chengqian could only try to have as much contact as possible with the people here to increase the trust between the two sides.

Li Chengqian worked here, and there were more than 200 guards scattered around him, assisting him in his work and protecting him.

From time to time, Wang Fangyi would invite a few poor people to Li Chengqian's side, dig soil with Li Chengqian, and chat with Li Chengqian for a few days.

In this way, more people can come into contact with Li Chengqian and make them feel more at ease.

When Wang Fangyi heard this, he no longer persuaded him, and walked to the periphery of the guards with a shovel, while Li Chengqian took advantage of this time to rest again.

After a while, Wang Fangyi led a few poor people carrying shovels and shovels to walk in, and when Li Chengqian saw it from a distance, he bent down and threw the soil one after another onto the dam.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, these people are here to help you dig the soil together." When Wang Fangyi led the poor people to six or seven steps away from Li Chengqian, he shouted loudly.

When Li Chengqian heard the sound, he stopped what he was doing, turned around and stood on a hoe, and looked at the few poor people led in by Wang Fangyi with a smile and said, "The lonely king has not done this work before, and he digs slowly, so please ask a few to help." ”

Li Chengqian said and set his eyes on one of the young men, only to see that this person was different from the other skinny and skinny paupers.

This young man had a thick skeleton and a burly figure, and his two big eyes were quietly looking at Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian took a step forward with a shovel to take a closer look at the young man, but saw that although he was wearing a burlap short, there was not a single patch on his clothes, and although the exposed calves were covered with muddy water, he could still see that there was thick leg hair on his legs.

Li Chengqian looked at Wang Fangyi suspiciously, Wang Fangyi saw Li Chengqian's eyes, and shook his head slightly at Li Chengqian, obviously he didn't know how this person came in.

"The grass people meet His Royal Highness the Prince."

The poor people who came in with Wang Fangyi had already been guided by Wang Fangyi, walked five steps in front of Li Chengqian, and bowed down to Li Chengqian.

When the young man saw others saluting, he also hurriedly followed and saluted Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian no longer paid attention to the young man, and said with a smile: "Let's all be flat, let's hurry up and put this section of the dam well." ”

"Oops!"

A few poor people hurriedly walked to the edge of the dam and bent down to dig and throw the soil. The burly young man was also busy walking over to work, but he wanted to lean towards Li Chengqian's side intentionally or unintentionally, and Wang Fangyi saw this and hurriedly protected Li Chengqian behind him.

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, why do you let you rest for so long at noon? If you take a little break, you can definitely dig more. A poor man asked Li Chengqian while digging hard.

When these poor people saw the effect, they hated to have to fence off the polders without eating or drinking.

When Li Chengqian saw that someone was asking, he smiled and shouted to everyone: "We have nearly 400,000 people here, and we will set out 600,000 mu of fields before the Qingming Festival, and even more than 30,000 mu of polders will be enclosed, and there will be more than 20 days between now and the Qingming Festival."

After enclosing the field, it is necessary to tidy up the fields and hoe the grass, and it will take at least two more months to plant the rice seedlings. If you work hard now, I'm afraid it won't be long before everyone gets tired and lies down. ”

Li Chengqian's words brought out the bright prospects for the future, and when he heard these poor people's hearts, they couldn't know how to express their good mood at this time.

After a long time, he smirked and said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is really a blessed god for us poor, we must follow His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to do a good job." ”

Li Chengqian smiled with satisfaction when he heard this, and immediately noticed that the young man was looking at him covertly. Li Chengqian smiled and glanced at him, just as if he didn't see his abnormality.

Seeing this, the young man hurriedly withdrew his gaze and continued to work.

Next, while throwing the soil, Li Chengqian answered some questions for these poor people, which strengthened their confidence.

Wang Fangyi has been guarding against the young man from approaching Li Chengqian.

In the end, with the joint efforts of everyone, this section of the dam was finally laid.

When Li Chengqian was about to move to the next section of Tianba, Wang Fangyi sent people to send away the poor people who had been invited to work with them.

Several poor people were very happy to salute Li Chengqian and leave, only the burly young man looked at Li Chengqian and did not want to leave.

Wang Fangyi's face suddenly turned cold when he saw this.

"This doesn't seem to be a pauper, is he?"

The young man's face turned straight when he heard this, and he waved at Li Chengqian and said, "Cao Minnan and Duan Shaolong see His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

"Nanhe? Is it Nanhe County, Xingzhou?" Li Chengqian asked.

"Exactly." Duan Shao's head didn't dare to lift it.

"Why did you come here to see the Lone King?" Li Chengqian said.

Duan Shaolong said when he heard this: "Grass people, grass people don't do anything, they just want to come to meet His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

"Huh?"

Li Chengqian snorted suspiciously.

"Take it!"

Wang Fangyi immediately broke off and said.

The two guards next to him immediately stepped forward and grabbed Duan Shaolong's arms and were about to escort him down.

Duan Shaolong was very frightened when he saw it, and said loudly in a panic: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, the grass people are willing to tell the truth. ”

"Let him talk."

Li Chengqian still said with a smile.

Duan Shaolong hurriedly said: "The grass people heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to arrange for the poor people in Hebei Province, some people say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is kind-hearted, and some people say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to treat these poor people as coolies, so they will come in and take a look." ”

When Li Chengqian heard this, he immediately became interested, and said secretly: This Shaolong shouldn't be a chivalrous man.

"Tell me what you're seeing now."

Seeing this, Duan Shaolong broke free from the guards, and said with a smile: "The grass people saw a generation of holy masters, Han Feizi said: The king of Yu is also the king of the world, and he thinks that the people are the first, and he has no hair, and although he is a captive, he does not suffer from this.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince works with the people with the respect of the crown prince, what is it if he is not a holy king?"

The meaning of Han Feizi's words is that the monarch of the world in the Yu period is not as good as a captive, because the people at that time were not as good as the later generations.

"Nonsense?" Wang Fangyi was furious when he heard this.

"Do you know that "Han Feizi" also said a famous sentence through the ages?" Li Chengqian looked at Duan Shaolong and asked lightly.

"Ugh!" Duan Shaolong lowered his head weakly.

Li Chengqian saw that Duan Shaolong really hadn't read "Han Feizi" well, so he said directly: "Han Feizi said: Confucianism uses literature to mess with the law, and chivalry uses martial arts to violate the ban. ”

"Ahh Duan Shaolong was stunned.

"Take it!" Wang Fangyi said again.

Li Chengqian said disapprerovingly: "Let him go, you brought him in, and he didn't act rudely by the side of King Lone, so he can't be convicted of this." ”

Li Chengqian said that he waved his hand at the stunned Duan Shaolong and said, "Let's go!" ”

Saying that, Li Chengqian turned around and limped towards the next section of Tianba.

Duan Shaolong looked at Li Chengqian's back, and his eyes turned red unconsciously. After a while, he raised his arm and wiped his eyes sharply, and went to dig elsewhere with a shovel.

Wang Fangyi watched Duan Shaolong walk away, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop Li Chengqian and said, "His Royal Highness the Prince, your hands are already full of blisters, so don't do it." ”

Li Chengqian stretched out his hand to pick up Wang Fangyi, and said as he walked forward: "Lonely King has been recuperating for a while but his body is getting weaker and weaker, but he has been busy for the past few days, although there are blisters in the palms of my hands, but my spirit is getting better and better." ”

Wang Fangyi, who was following closely behind Li Chengqian, was stunned when he heard this, and when he didn't know how to persuade him, he suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance.

Wang Fangyi looked at the sound and saw a guard in soft armor running out of the polder on a fast horse. The guard turned over and dismounted and ran in front of Li Chengqian and the others, and said breathlessly: "The last general will see His Royal Highness the Prince, and there are more than 100,000 people from the west of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and General Wang coming towards us. ”

"Who is it? How far is it from here?" Li Chengqian hurriedly asked.

"Like a pauper. It's five or six miles from here. ”

"What do you mean by being like a poor person?" Wang Fangyi said angrily.

"Dress like you, but don't act like you." The guard wondered.