"The princess is wrong, I didn't know about Zhuge Dewei's capture of Liu Heimin in advance!" Li Xiu made up his mind and refused to admit it.

"It's impossible, if you don't know about it, how can you be so sure you'll win?" Princess Pingyang asked rhetorically in disbelief at all.

"Huh? I'm just guessing casually, in fact, I don't have a bottom in my heart, I must be confident on the surface, otherwise how can I make others believe it? Li Xiu quibbled again.

"Really? But why do I think you're lying? Princess Pingyang asked again in disbelief.

"Your Highness, this kid's lies come as soon as he opens his mouth, and his mouth is very strict, no one wants to force him to say what he doesn't want to say, so you better don't ask, otherwise he will make up countless lies so that you can't tell the truth from the false!" At this time, Ma Ye spoke again on the other side of the river, he was probably the person who knew Li Xiu best in the world.

"Uncle Ma, I didn't expect me to be such a person in your eyes, you make me so sad." Li Xiu was aggrieved at this time, but he didn't defend himself, because Ma Ye was indeed telling the truth.

was interrupted by Ma Ye like this, Princess Pingyang couldn't get to the bottom of it, but after this incident, thinking of Li Xiu's previous performances, this made Princess Pingyang even more curious about Li Xiu, on the surface, all of Li Xiu's previous experiences were nothing special, but where did his special skills come from?

Maybe because of Ma Ye's arrival, Princess Pingyang was embarrassed to stay here any longer, so she quickly said goodbye and left, Ma Ye was also about to leave with the princess, but Li Xiu stopped him, because he still had something to discuss with Ma Ye.

Ma Ye bypassed Hegang, and Li Xiu immediately greeted him enthusiastically and said with a smile: "Uncle Ma, how about the waterwheel workshop I helped you rectify last time, is the efficiency of the craftsmen satisfactory?" ”

"Why would you kid ask this question for no reason?" Ma Ye heard this but did not answer Li Xiu's words, but asked with some vigilance, after getting along for a long time, he has figured out some of Li Xiu's routines, and generally when he mentions one thing for no reason, there must be nothing good next.

"Why did you ask for no reason, I helped Uncle Ma renovate that workshop, and naturally I should also care about the progress behind it, is this called after-sales service?" Li Xiu said with a natural face.

Although Ma Ye didn't understand what after-sales service was, he could understand what he meant, and Li Xiu's words were also reasonable, and after thinking about it at the moment, he finally replied: "The workshop is running very smoothly, according to the rules and regulations you wrote, everyone performs their duties, especially when you split the waterwheel into parts, so that each craftsman is only responsible for the production of a certain part, and the standard is unified, so that the production efficiency of the waterwheel has increased greatly. ”

"Selling water wheels?" Li Xiu couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this.

"Yes, the imperial court has issued an assessment target for waterwheels in each county, and each county has a fixed number of waterwheels that need to be built according to the number of cultivated fields and population, but some counties have fewer craftsmen, or craftsmen have low production efficiency, and they can't complete the task at all. Ma Ye explained with a smile.

"Huh? He's not going to do it for long, is he? Li Xiu was also stunned when he heard this, he had other plans, if Xinzhu County Commander planned to sell water wheels all the time to make money, it would delay his affairs.

"How is it possible, the craftsmen in the workshop are all here to serve, there must always be a time limit, and the new county order is not such a short-sighted person, he is very impressed by your workshop management regulations, I only learned yesterday, he actually copied the management regulations and dedicated it to the imperial court, I hope that the imperial court will promote it according to the law, not only the watermill workshop, but all other workshops can be improved according to your management." When Ma Ye said the end, he also showed an expression that seemed to be smiling but not smiling.

"It's reported to the court again, doesn't he know what it means to make a lot of money with a muffled voice, and everyone else has learned what kind of waterwheel he sells?" Li Xiu couldn't help but say angrily when he heard this, he was already worried that he had too much credit on his body, but now it was good, and another credit was about to fall on him.

"Hehe, the new county order is not as stingy as you, obviously full of talent, but you refuse to show it, do you want to wait for those talents to mold in your stomach?" Ma Ye glanced at Li Xiu with some schadenfreude and said, sometimes even he couldn't understand what Li Xiu thought, he regarded fame and fortune as dung at a young age, and he couldn't do this step even when he was middle-aged.

For Ma Ye's reprimand, Li Xiu just smiled and did not refute, in fact, he was not unwilling to contribute, for some technologies that benefit the country and the people, he is also very willing to provide them, but in this way, it will definitely attract the attention of the imperial court, and if he is made an official at that time, he may have to repeat the tragedy of his previous life in this life, and he may not die of overwork, but he must not think about being idle, which is inconsistent with his original intention of coming to Datang, it can be said that this is a very contradictory thing.

"Uncle Ma, since I have made such a great contribution to the waterwheel workshop and helped the Xinzhu County Order, do you want to give me something in return?" Li Xiu suddenly said with a smile at this time.

"I knew you kid must not have been in a good mood just now!" Ma Ye heard that Li Xiu wanted to reciprocate, so he slapped his thigh and said.

"Uncle Ma, you misunderstood me, I don't want any benefits, I just want to borrow some craftsmen to use, and I don't use it in vain, how much salary should I drive, I will give them double the price, it's interesting enough, right?" Li Xiu hurriedly explained when he heard this.

"What do you borrow craftsmen for, do you want to build a workshop?" Ma Ye was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then guessed again.

"What kind of workshop to build, I want to build a new yard, you also know that my house is such a place, I lived with two maids before, and now there are more Qi Niang, the family can't live at all, I slept on the floor last night!" Li Xiu explained helplessly at this time.

"So that's the case, I'm wrong to blame you, isn't it just to build a yard, this thing is easy to do, there are already some craftsmen in the house, as for the waterwheel workshop, I went to Xinzhu County to talk, speaking of which he is also very respectful of you, and he has asked to visit you several times before, but I know you don't like others to disturb, so I refused, presumably it is not difficult for him to borrow some craftsmen." When Ma Ye heard this, he immediately patted his chest and reassured.

"Then thank you Uncle Ma!" Li Xiu immediately thanked him, and at the same time he was very happy in his heart, he was not satisfied with the yard he lived in now, such as the kitchen, toilet, etc., and now he was going to build a new yard, and he had to plan it well.

Ma Ye not only guaranteed that the craftsmen would help Li Xiu prepare, but even the building materials were packaged, the required wood, masonry, etc., these things The princess has a special way to come, which also makes Li Xiu very grateful, after all, if there is no Ma Ye's help, he will have to find someone to buy these things in the same way, spending money is a trivial matter, the main thing is that it is too troublesome, now it is good, Li Xiu only needs to concentrate on designing the new yard.

The idea of building a new yard Li Xiu has long had, and he has planned it before, and the old yard he lives in now does not need to be demolished, he plans to choose a good place nearby to build a yard from scratch, so that there are two advantages, one is that there is no need to demolish the original house, so that they have nowhere to live when building a house, and the other is that the location of this yard is not very good now, mainly because it is too close to the river, listening to Boss Liu, when the river soars in summer, Li Xiu's house is full of river water, and he can't go out at all.

For the location of the new courtyard, Li Xiu originally wanted to choose a desirable place by himself, Ma Ye thought that he knew the art of feng shui, and asked a few words at the moment, but he didn't expect Li Xiu to ask three questions, which made him reprimand Li Xiu for messing around, and then sent someone to invite a Taoist priest with fairy wind bones, but unfortunately the surname Wang is not surnamed Yuan, Wang Daochang is said to be a famous feng shui master in Chang'an City, and ordinary people can't invite it.

Li Xiu didn't believe much in the art of feng shui, thinking that it was all feudal superstition, but after talking with Wang Daochang, he found that he had a great misunderstanding of feng shui, although there are many gods and strange things in feng shui, but the core is that the ancients summed up some mysterious knowledge of the surrounding environment.

For example, Wang Daochang gave him several residences, all of which took into account the influence of wind direction, plants, topography and other factors on the occupants, and even Wang Daochang can judge the underground geology, the flow direction of groundwater, soil structure, etc. only by some characteristics of the surface, which can be compared with the geological masters of later generations.

Moreover, Wang Daochang is also proficient in architecture, and proposes different courtyard plans for each site, which is practical and beautiful, and Li Xiu has to be convinced.

Wang Daochang helped Li Xiu choose several residential lands with their own characteristics, and finally he finally selected a residential land located on the right side of the original courtyard, close to the bamboo forest, where the terrain is higher, do not worry about the problem of river water, the whole house has a wide view of the mountains and water, which is very conducive to living.

The homestead was chosen, and all kinds of materials and craftsmen on Ma Ye's side were also prepared, and then he was pulled to the housestead, and began to work under the command of Li Xiu, the style of the house is still the style of the Tang Dynasty, but he put forward many new requirements, such as the planning of the kitchen and toilet, and even the heating channel was even designed in the bedroom, in fact, the principle is the same as the Northeast Pit in later generations, but a pipe made of bricks was added to the lower wall, and the fire can be burned to heat the room in winter.

It can be said that in the next time, Li Xiu devoted himself to the construction of the new courtyard, ignoring the affairs of the outside world, but when the courtyard had just been built a prototype, he had trouble coming to the door.