Hao Chujun was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, isn't the food coming soon, is there another twist and turn?"

Li Chengqian knew that he had misunderstood, so he said angrily: "Even if the food can't arrive on time, the Lone King can still let these people starve to death?"

Hao Chujun hurriedly bowed his head and didn't dare to speak.

Li Chengqian glanced at him and felt that he shouldn't be angry at him, so he patiently explained: "The lonely king is worried, these people may not be able to understand the lonely king's intentions.

It was also the carelessness of the lonely king, who did not come here to inspect in advance, but he didn't expect the conditions here to be so bad. ”

Hao Chujun finally understood what Li Chengqian was worried about, and said with a smile: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, don't worry, the poor people here used to be people who had nothing in the Shi family's family or in the fort. They are the most able to endure hardship, and they must be very happy to be able to reclaim this place for their children and grandchildren. ”

Li Chengqian didn't want to talk to Hao Chujun anymore.

"Tell the king of Lone's commands, and gather the elders of the poor people, and Lone shall have a night talk with them." Li Chengqian ordered as he walked forward.

"Yes!" Hao Chujun hurriedly bowed and said.

……

The bonfire was blazing, and the faces of the people sitting by the fire were feverish.

Li Chengqian sat beside a few old peasants with rough hands and feet, and they all had one thing in common, they were as thin as firewood.

At this time, they were a little nervous sitting in front of Li Chengqian, their eyes didn't know where to look, and their hands didn't know where to put them.

Li Chengqian saw that they looked extraordinarily big because they were too thin, and there was fear in them, so he smiled at them warmly and said slowly: "A few old people don't have to be afraid, the lonely king came to you just to hear you talk about your hometown, and he didn't mean anything else. ”

"Uh-huh!"

Several old men nodded stiffly, but did not dare to speak.

"How long have you been living outside of Youzhou City?" Li Chengqian had to ask carefully.

"Uh-huh......"

A few old people still didn't dare to speak.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will tell the truth." Hao Chujun, who was in charge of recording next to him, said impatiently.

His words made several old people retreat back in fright, Li Chengqian hurriedly stretched out his hand to protect them, and then said to Hao Chujun: "Today, you are only responsible for recording, and you are not allowed to interject without orders." ”

Hao Chujun hurriedly lowered his head meekly like a cat and said, "The minister obeys the order." ”

Li Chengqian turned his head and said to several old men with a smile: "You think about it slowly, and tell me when you think about it." ”

Several old people were scolded by Hao Chujun and appeased by Li Chengqian, and they all felt less nervous.

An old man took the lead and said: "When my family arrived in Youzhou, I heard that it was February 17, and they lived outside Youzhou City for three days and came here. ”

"I'll stay in Youzhou for five days."

"I stayed for ten days."

……

Wait until they all report the number of days.

Li Chengqian asked again: "I heard that when you went to Youzhou, you all left home and took your family, don't you have a little surplus food at home?"

Li Chengqian did not know that before the founding of New China, there had always been a saying of "spring famine" in the countryside. It refers to the fact that in the spring, when the grain at home is eaten and there are only green seedlings in the field, it is the saddest time for farmers.

The Qingmiao method that appeared in the late Tang Dynasty was to lend grain to families who had no surplus grain to survive the spring famine in the spring, and then take back the crops with interest.

"Alas, Your Royal Highness the Prince, you don't know, although we don't pay rent to the imperial court, but we have to pay rent to the master's family, and we often have to work for the master's family, there are old and young in the family, where can there be surplus grain for the spring famine......"

"This year, I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in charge of us in Youzhou, and we don't need to borrow food from the lord's family, so we all came."

"I'm still afraid of a big drought this year, and I can't afford to borrow grain until the fall, and I have to sell my sons and daughters." An old man's eyes turned red as he spoke.

……

……

Li Chengqian listened to the words of these people, nodded secretly in his heart, and tried his best to let them pour out all the bitter water in the past.

These old men opened the conversation clips and chattered until midnight when they finished pouring the bitter water.

Li Chengqian listened carefully on the side, and felt very guilty in his heart, these things should have been asked clearly when these people arrived in Youzhou.

But at that time, he thought that transporting grain from the sea was a foolproof strategy, so he neglected this matter, and the focus of the literary and artistic propaganda led by Xu Jingzong was making these poor people grateful to the imperial court and Li Chengqian.

Fear of the future does not help much for the poor to lose their support.

"A few old people have been here for a few days, how about you take a look here?"

Li Chengqian took a sip of boiled water and asked with a smile.

How's it going here?

What else can you do in this watery depression?

A few old people also didn't have much knowledge, so they could only ask "hmm...... Uh" yes.

Li Chengqian was disappointed in his heart, but still patiently explained: "You have worked in those scholar families for several lifetimes, and in the end you can only be cleaned out of the house. But if you make out the fields here, the fields here will be yours. ”

"Ours?"

Several old men stared at their already big eyes, looking at Li Chengqian in disbelief, waiting for him to confirm.

Li Chengqian smiled and nodded: "Not only these lands are yours, but even these houses must be given to you to live in." ”

A few old men came back to their senses and hurriedly looked at the mud and straw house that had just been built, as if they wanted to see which yard they could be assigned to live in.

"There's going to be a big fort here."

An old man looked at it for a moment, pointing to the back of the house.

"How can one? There are 80,000 or 90,000 households here, and several large forts have to be repaired. ”

Li Chengqian smiled and continued.

"Oops!" The old people nodded hurriedly.

Li Chengqian looked at them and looked at himself again, so he continued: "Not only should a fort be built here, but also a lot of large enclosed fields should be built, in which rice can be planted. ”

"Growing rice?"

"Exactly, I have ordered grain and rice seeds to be brought in from the south, which can help you survive the spring famine. Cattle and sheep have also been transferred from Lingzhou, and when the time comes, you will not only be able to grow rice, hemp, and mulberry here, but you can also raise chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep in the fields...... Li Chengqian tried his best to describe to these old people their beautiful life in the future.

Several old men listened with yearning looks on their faces, and the worries in their hearts slowly dissolved.

……

After the third watch, Li Chengqian ordered the old men to be sent back to their place of residence, and then walked back to the place where he was sleeping.

"Tomorrow, we will give priority to arranging a group of people to repair Tianwei, and at the same time divide the grass huts that have been repaired so that the people can live in them. Even the houses that are so wet that they can't live in them for the time being are divided, so that they can see hope. ”

"Obey." Hao Chujun hurriedly bowed and said.

Li Chengqian didn't look at him and continued to walk forward, and at the same time ordered Wang Fangyi: "From tomorrow onwards, you and Wu Ting will go hunting with the guards alone, and the other will stay by my side to work with me." ”

"Obey." Wang Fangyi bowed and saluted.

Hao Chujun looked up at Li Chengqian's tired figure and admired it in his heart. Li Chengqian just asked a few old people to inquire for one night, and then made up for all the things they had neglected.

……

……

Early the next morning, when Li Chengqian got up, Yaxiang and Hao Chujun had already begun to gather people to allocate houses and discuss the matter of enclosing the fields.

Historically, it was around this time that the enclosure or polders appeared, but it was mainly in the water-rich areas south of the Yangtze River, and people in these places in Hebei Province had never heard of it.

The south bank of the Haihe River is the production area of Tianjin Xiaozhan rice in later generations, and Li Chengqian is still confident in enclosing the fields here.

But Ren Yaxiang explained the meaning of the enclosure to the people clearly, and it still took a lot of effort, but when these people heard that the enclosed fields were their own in the future, the motivation still came.

In addition, the house has also begun to be divided over there, so these people don't think it's fake.

Li Chengqian was waited by Liu Kui to wash up and eat some breakfast, changed into a set of coarse cloth clothes, and personally carried the iron milling to the construction site of the field.

Wang Fangyi took a hundred and ten guards, who were also dressed in the same way, carrying iron milling guards around Li Chengqian.

When Li Chengqian and his entourage came to the place where the field was enclosed, they saw that the construction was started today in a very large polder, the circumference of which could be more than nine miles long, and the length of each side was more than two miles, and there were more than 100,000 people in the field.

Li Chengqian and his entourage walked from the periphery and found that many people here did not know themselves, and when they came, there were not even many people who looked up at them.

Li Chengqian thought to himself: If he directly joins the labor process in this way, it will not play a role in motivating the people!

Fortunately, Hao Chujun seems to have been prepared.

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, why did you come to Weitian in person? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ......"

……

……

I saw Hao Chujun, who was dressed in a short fight, running from a distance and shouting all the way, and he was followed by more than ten officials, who also followed him to this side.

Such a big movement caused hundreds of people to look up and look this way.

There were also some officials who were working in other places, and when they saw this, they all ran towards Li Chengqian from all over the place.

They also shouted while running, and after a while, more than 100,000 people on the scene knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty had come to enclose the field in person.

"Oh, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is also coming to enclose the field!"

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a nobleman! The fields he personally surrounded would surely yield a good harvest.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is working with us, we can't be lazy!"

……

……

The people standing on the periphery also began to talk.