The carriage drove slowly on the road, the carriage still looked a little luxurious, and there were knights following before and after, externally, this was the carriage and horse of Zhuge Zhan, the son of Shangshu Ling, and no official could come forward to meet him, but they were all refused, as for whether these people would blame Zhuge Zhan for his rudeness in the future, the Son of Heaven didn't care much, he was carefully observing his own country along the way.

The strength of the Han Dynasty can be seen along the road, the farmland is cultivated, the farmers who work hard, the Son of Heaven often listens to Zhuge Liang's words, from the faces of the farmers, it is the best way to see whether the country is strong or not, the Son of Heaven looked at those faces seriously, they are all pleasant, joyful faces, strong and tough, and the old people inside and outside the country seem to be a lot more.

Seeing those old people gathered in the village, smiling and talking about the children at home, Liu Xi couldn't help but smile on his face, seeing such a situation has made him satisfied, the number of old people is increasing, this can only mean that the life of the Han people is getting better and better, and even some businessmen are selling on both sides of the road, Liu Xi did not let these lowly businessmen blow away.

They brought a lot of materials needed by the people in Lizhong, to be precise, they said that the business tax paid was also a lot, the year of Yankang, it was still relatively friendly to the merchants, Liu Xi also secretly observed for a long time, the increase of the merchants, did not destroy the Han Dynasty, but made the Han more wealthy, and the life of the people was much better.

These days, Zhong Changtong has followed this holy son of heaven with him, and he has not been able to calm down for a long time and watch these folk scenes, gradually, his face is also a little smiling, indeed, in the year of Yankang, the national strength of the Han Dynasty has reached its peak, in all aspects, it has never been seen since ancient times, whether it is the number of people, or their wealth, or the degree of cultural prosperity.

All of these have broken through people's inherent imagination of the prosperous era, today's Han people, their eyes are flickering with fire, they know that they were born in the most powerful country, in their minds, they also have the idea of pursuing a more prosperous life, fifty years ago, if any farmer dared to say that he wanted to raise three ploughing cattle in the future, he would be laughed at and broken, but now, this is nothing.

Even, when he followed the Son of Heaven to these people's houses to rest, Zhong Changtong was surprised to see that the people had begun to dress the children in splendid clothes, and the barking of dogs could be heard in the kennel in front of the house, and in the circle behind the house, you could also see the rolling dolphins, the chickens and ducks in the courtyard, and the old and young sat together with a smile, talking about many ideas for next year.

Zhong Changtong felt in his heart that the so-called prosperous era of Datong was just like this.

Liu Xi smiled and sat with the farmers, eating the farmer's grains, looking at a few pieces of fat in the bowl, the joy on his face was even worse, Zhong Changtong sat beside him, enjoying the hospitality of the rural people, the Son of Heaven pulled a child, and asked with a smile: "How old are you, have you ever studied?" The little child was not afraid, and said proudly: "I am eight years old, and I have been studying in the government school last year!" ”

"What books did you read?"

"He Zi's Enlightenment!"

"Good! All right! The Son of Heaven laughed, when he left this family, he also left some money, Zhong Changtong followed him, and they had already rushed to the border of Hebei, the people here experienced a big conscription, however, it seems that Zhuge Liang did a good job, at least it did not make the people complain here, and most people still don't care much about the conscription.

"Thanks to the Son of Heaven, we can get the family business today... What is the point of a little conscription? In the eyes of the people, he is already comparable to Emperor Xiaokang, Zhong Changtong can clearly see that this is the son of heaven, who is not full of joy and anger, laughs heartily all day long, and the corners of his mouth are not closed.

"Axiom...", the Son of Heaven suddenly shouted, and Zhong Changtong hurriedly walked up and said, "Your Majesty, the minister is here." ”

"Just call my master.."

"What does the head of the house command?"

"Do you say that the wheat in Hebei is delicious, or the millet in Yuxian County is delicious?" , The Son of Heaven asked with a smile, Zhong Chang was stunned, and hurriedly replied: "Minister... I still think it's a little tastier. Liu Xi shook his head and said disdainfully: "You are a person who can't endure hardship, I think back then, when my father was still there, he would always arrange a meal of miscellaneous grains for me every day, do you know why?" ”

"I want to... Does the old family owner want the family owner to understand the sufferings of the people, not to be extravagant and wasteful, but to care for the people? ”

Liu Xi grinned, shook his head, and said, "He is afraid that I will eat too much and be as fat as him!" ”

"Hahaha!!" , Zhong Changtong couldn't help laughing, realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly stopped, Liu Xi glanced at him, and said, "Just laugh if you want to laugh, I won't throw you out of the plug because of your jokes!" ”

"Is this true?"

"Of course, at most, it's to be thrown to Ningzhou, what are you afraid of."

Zhong Changtong suddenly found that the Son of Heaven who had left Ruo County had become surprisingly approachable, exceptionally gentle, and even talked and laughed with him, without any king's frame at all, which flattered Zhong Changtong, but also enjoyed such a Son of Heaven, the two walked and watched, and talked about a lot of things along the way, from the lives of the people, to the merchants, and to the temple ministers.

"You, Zhou Yu, Pang Tong, and those people colluded with each other, I really thought I didn't know..."

"The head of the family, how can this be said to be collusion, we have the same ambition, the future of the Han Dynasty must be in business, only let the merchants continue to open up new worlds through wealth, conquer new regions, agriculture is the least exploratory spirit compared to business, only continuous development, the Han can always stand at the pinnacle of the position..."

"Perhaps." , Liu Xi nodded.

This is probably the first time that Liu Xi expressed his approval of Zhong Changtong, which made Zhong Changtong particularly happy, he has always been unfavored by the Son of Heaven, but he didn't expect that the Son of Heaven was not disgusted with himself in his heart, and Zhong Changtong became bolder, and finally couldn't help asking: "Family master?" Have you always hated me? Why do I disgust the head of my family? ”

Liu Xi sat in the carriage, looked at the scenery outside the window, and said seriously: "I really don't like you, you are a person, you don't believe in the Mandate of Heaven, which makes me very angry, you not only don't believe in the Mandate of Heaven, you don't believe in anything, you don't have the same heartfelt fear of me as others, you are afraid of me, just because I can kill you, not because I am the Son of Heaven..."

Zhong Changtong was silent for a long time, and then said with a smile: "What the head of the family said is right, it is true, I am a person, since I was born, I have countless questions in my mind, at that time, I always annoyed Father, asking him, what is this time, where are we born, where will we go, whether there are gods... What is the wind, what is the rain..."

"Everyone hates me and thinks I'm a stupid thing, I have no friends, no one wants to play with me, the kids in my hometown always bully me because they think I'm stupid, they always sit dumbfounded, look up at the sky, think about so many useless things, but I have a good father, he will listen patiently to my questions and explain to me..."

Zhong Changtong couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head, "Now that I think about it, a lot of the things he told me are wrong, but ah, I'm still very lucky, at least, he didn't beat me hard at that time, so I don't want to think nonsense, he said, he doesn't know a lot of things, when I grow up, I can find out for myself..."

"When I grew up, I began to learn knowledge, I studied Confucianism, no matter the Ram Guliang, I studied the Fa, no matter how big or small, I also visited the descendants of the Mo family, and studied with them, but they couldn't tell me the answers I wanted, so I had to explore it myself... The head of the family, I don't believe in the destiny of heaven, nor do I believe in ghosts and gods, everything changes with changes, and only continuous adaptation can make the present day better..."

"As for the Son of Heaven...", Zhong Changtong hesitated for a moment, frowned again, and continued: "For the world, it is undoubtedly the most dangerous person, if it is a Son of Heaven like Xiaowen Xiaokang, it will naturally be able to make the world peaceful and the people rich, but if it is... If the Son of Heaven is not virtuous, it is very likely that the efforts of several generations will be burned. ”

After Zhong Changtong finished speaking, he looked at Liu Xi and said seriously: "These days, the head of the family has been very good to me, to be honest, since the death of Duke Xing, few people have treated me like this, Fang Cai is the words of the minister's heart, the most sincere words, if Your Majesty blames, you can put me to death... I have no complaints, I just..."

"Whew... Call... Whew..."

Zhong Changtong couldn't continue, he found that the Son of Heaven in front of him was tilting his head sideways, snoring and sleeping, he didn't seem to hear his words at all, Zhong Changtong smiled bitterly, and then thought about something, his face was cautious, and he said seriously: "Thank you family master." ”

When the carriage stopped, Liu Xi opened his eyes, ignoring the emperor's majesty, yawned lazily, and then looked at Zhong Changtong and asked, "Where have we been?" ”

"We arrived in Raoyang County... Princess Raoyang's fiefdom, not far ahead is the Jiedu Pavilion..."

"Jie Shu Pavilion?" , Liu Xi was stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

"Hahaha, okay, just come to meet my ancestors!"

When the carriage arrived here, someone immediately stepped forward and blocked the way, this place is different from other places, there is an imperial tomb here, the father and ancestor of Emperor Xiaokang, and even the former residence, are here, so this is not something that ordinary people can enter, that is, some dignitaries and nobles, after arriving here, they also have to walk around.

And the local people here are also extraordinarily arrogant, even if the three dukes come, they are not afraid at all, they are all relatives of Emperor Xiaokang, or the descendants of the disciples who followed Emperor Xiaokang in the past, except for today, they are not afraid of anyone.