The first year of Chongzhen.

February XVI.

Taihemen early dynasty.

The rain outside the Taihe Gate has been falling.

The courtiers in the Taihemen Hall were bustling with discussion.

Yang reform, as always, ignores these NPCs. Sit on the throne in a daze. However, his eyes cooperated well, and from time to time he swept over the foreheads of the ministers. Let everyone think that the emperor is paying attention to me.

Last night, the rain began to fall, and the spring rain was as precious as oil, and it continued to rain until now. Yang Reform suddenly had a whim in the middle of the night and asked the little eunuch to use a copper basin to catch the rain.

The ministers "squirted" saliva on each other for a long time, and soon found that His Majesty the Emperor was sitting on the dragon chair in a daze, and there was no desire to quarrel any more. No one appreciates the performance, and the performers find it boring! It's like a novel that no one reads, and if you write it, you will be a eunuch.

The hall finally fell silent.

"Zhong Aiqing is finally done arguing?" Yang Gengai came back to his senses and asked.

The courtiers spurted blood. I thought that this emperor was too "bad", so we wasted our efforts for a long time, our saliva was dry, and I asked if we were done arguing.

"Aiqing, let's put aside the quarrel for the time being, let's talk about something else first, relax your mood, I see that a few Aiqing are arguing about a red face and a thick neck, how about taking a break?"

The ministers were speechless for a while, thinking to themselves what the emperor had come up with. Every time we talk about something else, we are embarrassed.

Yang Reform had already spoken again, and said: "I look at the drizzle outside this hall, from last night to now, it has been dripping non-stop. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, everyone loves to talk about it. ”

The ministers breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the emperor was fine, there was nothing out of the moth, and they asked about this rain, which was the "Spring Equinox Festival" yesterday, and they must have felt it.

"Your Majesty, as the saying goes, 'spring rain is as expensive as oil', this drizzle is as precious as oil, it is a good thing, it indicates that this year of my Ming Dynasty must be a year of abundant grains, congratulations, Your Majesty." A minister who is good at sycophants has already thought of a good harvest of grain.

"Your Majesty, this is a good thing, there has been so much spring rain, presumably there will be no shortage of rain in spring ploughing this year. It's a good omen! ”

……

"Your Majesty, yesterday was the 'Spring Equinox Festival', and today it is raining, which is really a pity to congratulate."

"Your Majesty, this is a good omen from heaven!"

“…… Your Majesty Hongfu ......"

……

“……”

There is an endless stream of sycophants, and Yang Reform ignores them.

"Everyone, Aiqing, listen to me first." As soon as Yang Reform spoke, the ministers below stopped talking, and watched what the emperor said.

"Do you know how long this rain has been falling? How much more? You Aiqing kept saying that this 'spring rain is as precious as oil', and said that this year will definitely be a bumper harvest. But I ask you, how much rain did it actually take? And who of you knows the exact number? "Yang Gengai said today's theme.

"Uh......"

"This ......"

"Ahh

……

Depressed, a group of ministers shouted aggrieved in their hearts, we are the courtiers who are in charge of the center of the Ming Dynasty, not the dragon king who cares about how much rain falls, ask us what are we doing?

A group of ministers were holding back their ears and necks below, but they didn't know where to start.

After a while, one of the old ministers came out and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister estimates that this rain has been ugly from yesterday (1 o'clock in the morning to 3 o'clock in the morning in modern times. It had been nearly noon (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) for five hours. As for how much rain it has fallen, Lao Chen doesn't know how much, but he can't estimate it, it's been like this all along. ”

"Well, yes, Aiqing is right, yesterday it was just the time for the rain, I woke up, and when I saw this spring rain falling, I sighed, this rain did fall in time, yesterday it was the 'spring equinox', and today it will rain, I think there will be a good harvest this year, I also think so."

Yang changed the topic again and said: "Since this is a good thing, who can tell me how much rain is needed for the seedlings in this field?" How long will it take for the people of the world to have a bumper harvest of grain, and how much will it be regarded as a blessing from heaven, not a disaster? ”

Speaking of which, it's a little cold.

The ministers thought to themselves, I didn't expect this emperor to care about this matter? It seems that there is still some thought. But does that have anything to do with us? We just collect the rent, as for how much grain can grow in the field, it has nothing to do with us, it is the business of the tenants, more of them, they can eat a few more mouthfuls of white flour, if there is less, they will be hungry, to gnaw the bark, to borrow usury, sell children and daughters to pay rent for us, just put some seal money out, and collect a few concubines, buy a few girls to serve.

Another minister couldn't stand it, and came out and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is related to celestial phenomena, and we have to ask the people of Qin Tianjian to know, and I am afraid that I will not know." ”

It's very good, it's very artistic, but it's also true, there was such an institution in ancient times, and it was Qin Tianjian who was in charge of this matter. Yang Gai nodded and said, "Well, that's good, just come quickly." ”

Yang Reform and the ministers have been "confronting" in the hall for a long time, and everyone is embarrassed when they have nothing to say.

Fortunately, the people from Qin Tianjian came, otherwise, if this embarrassment continues, I am afraid that I will not even have to eat.

……

"Chenqin Heavenly Supervisor...... xxx…… Long live my emperor, long live, long live. "A group of 'green-robed petty officials' and 'green-robed petty officials' kowtowed on the ground. I was afraid that the emperor would ask, so I called all the people who could be called by Qin Tianjian.

"Get up. I have something to ask you. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Long." They all got up. In this hall, the green and green robes are serious "petty officials", and they are quite conspicuous among a group of red robes.

"I talked to Zhong Aiqing about this spring rain today, and they all said that the spring rain is as expensive as oil, but I want to know how long this rain has been falling and how much it has fallen. Zhong Aiqing recommended Qin Tianjian to solve my doubts. Tell me about it. ”

The people of Qin Tianjian were dumbfounded, what is this called? It's a good thing that it rains, yesterday was the vernal equinox, and it rained today, so it looks like a good year this year, but how long and how much will it rain...... It seems too much. Who is okay to get up in the middle of the night and pick up a plate.

The people of the Qin Heavenly Prison were hesitating whether to answer the emperor's words.

Suddenly, one of them came out of the queue and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has also observed this spring rain, it is indeed timely, and this year will definitely be a good harvest." As for how long it has been raining and how much it has fallen, the minister is incompetent and really unprepared, maybe he said that he was prepared, but he could calculate how much rain would come. ”

"Well, what's your name?" Yang Gengai saw that there was still a "capable person", and he was also interested.

"Your Majesty, Weichen Qintian Jian Li Zubai."

"Li Zubai?" Yang Gengai thought silently in his heart, and he didn't seem to be impressed. I didn't pay much attention to it.

Yang Gai looked at this person as a play. I thought that I wanted to tease these scholars and elites of the Ming Dynasty, but I didn't expect that there would be a knowledgeable person. My heart immediately became happy, and said: "Li Aiqing, like this, I saw the rain yesterday, and I thought about it occasionally, thinking of the grain harvest of my Ming Dynasty, so I asked how much rain it rained, so I asked the little internal official to catch the rain with a basin, Li Aiqing quickly calculated it for me, I am eager to know...... "Yang Reform was very happy, and finally met a person who was pleasing to the eye, and he didn't say that he would "soak" himself in those sour things.

Yang Gai shouted again: "Come on, come up with a basin." ”

The little eunuch immediately walked over slowly, and took a basin in his hand, which was covered with a wooden lid. When the lid of the basin was lifted, it turned out to be a copper basin, yellow all over, and the clear water in it was about a finger deep.

"Li Aiqing, hurry up, calculate how much water is in this basin and how much rain is falling?"

In fact, Yang Reform himself has also experienced the nine-year compulsory education of New China, which is calculated as area, volume and weight, and then calculated rainfall, and has also been learned, but since he graduated, this learning has also been handed over to the teacher, and if you want to count, you have to review it again.

However, since he came to the Ming Dynasty to be the emperor, how can he calculate it himself, what does the emperor do? is a person who has people all over the world to serve, of course, he is looking for someone else.

The ministers were stunned, and muttered in their hearts that the emperor really dared to think, how dare to do it, isn't the rain in the sky a decree from the Jade Emperor and the Dragon King running errands? Why do we mortals have to count this thing?

However, the emperor is asking about this year's grain, which is also a matter of course, and he can be regarded as diligent and loving the people. It's hard to say anything. I could only stretch my neck to see how the supervisor Li Zubai measured the rainfall.

Li Zubai is also unambiguous.

He also played: "Your Majesty, the minister wants to measure the caliber and size of this copper basin, and he needs tools, please allow the minister to take it." ”

Yang Gengai couldn't wait to see how the people of the Ming Dynasty measured the rainfall. Immediately said: "Big companion, immediately ask someone to get it quickly." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the slave and maid will be asked to get it." Wang Chengen immediately agreed.