Emperor Jing sat on the guest chair, his face a little gloomy. Geng Laohan's two-story building is gorgeously decorated, with smooth floor tiles, white tiles on the wall, various wall lamps on the wall, and exquisite spiral staircase, which is very eye-catching in the eyes of Emperor Jing. As an emperor who admired frugality, he hated [***] officials the most. In particular, this orphanage has invested a lot of money, which has always been earmarked by the Shaofu, even if Emperor Jing wants to repair the palace during his birthday, he would rather temporarily reduce the use of the palace, and has not embezzled a penny from this money. Now that he sees that a small official in the orphanage who manages the official Tian lives in such a luxurious house, he can imagine how the higher official position is profligate, which can't help but make him murderous.

"You orphanage stewards live in such houses?" Emperor Jing suppressed the anger in his heart and asked calmly.

Geng Laohan was busy serving water to a few people, and he didn't notice Emperor Jing's expression, but said casually: "The steward doesn't have this blessing, even the chief steward can only live in an ordinary tiled house, although all kinds of household items are also available, but it is still a lot worse than this Zhuangzi." ”

Emperor Jing was stunned when he heard this, his face was slightly pale, and he tentatively said with a little doubt: "Isn't that old man more powerful than the chief manager?" Is there some power in a non-family? ”

Geng Laohan brought the water cup to the coffee table in front of Emperor Jing and Liu Che, scratched his head honestly, and said with a smile: "I am a civilian who grows crops, I have been a border army in Longxi for several years, and the biggest official I have ever seen is that when I read the military ceremony, I glanced at the captain of Longxi County from a distance. Where did the power of Rausch come from in the family? ”

Emperor Jing nodded, Geng Laohan was wearing a natural linen clothes, his left leg was still a little lame, and his speech was also very rough. He couldn't help but become more and more puzzled: "Then why can the old man live in this Zhuangzi, and the stewards can only live in ordinary tiled houses, they can be regarded as officials of the Shaofu, right?" ”

"Hehe, it turns out that the noble man wanted to ask this. This is the rule set by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for the orphanage, only the gentlemen in the courtyard can live in such a good house, although I am a person in charge of the crops, but the dean of the Agricultural College, Mr. Qiu, said that I have a lot of credit, once reported to the prince, and also gave me the name of a gentleman, and also issued a letter of appointment, which is stamped with the prince's gold seal. ”

Geng Laohan picked up the water cup and poured a sip beautifully, this is the cool mountain spring water drained down from Nanshan with a bamboo pipe, and the taste is sweet. He squinted his eyes, his face was full of pride, and he said in a boastful tone. It is as if the position of this gentleman without official position is a great honor.

Emperor Jing was stunned, and looked at Liu Che on the side with dissatisfaction in his eyes, obviously waiting for his explanation.

Liu Che smiled bitterly, but it was just a matter of improving the treatment of technical talents, and he would never be stingy in this regard. Qiu Li was originally a gardener in the Imperial Garden, he was very good at grafting and breeding, and he once learned some words from the old waiter, Liu Che sent him to the College of Agriculture to be a dean, and at the same time approved a few gentlemen recommended by him, this Geng Laohan is also one of them.

"Father, the child thinks that the rules of the orphanage are good. Talented people should naturally give more rewards, the king of the ancients, buy horse bones with thousands of gold, and find a good horse for thousands of miles. Now the orphanage's move shows today's thirst for talent. The person in charge still lives in a tiled house, and the gentleman lives in a Chinese house, which shows that he cherishes talents and values talents. The ruler is short and the inch is long, don't look at the old man is a cropper, but he knows the four seasons, understands the solar terms, and cooks farm tools. That is to say, the seedlings bred in the experimental field will benefit all the people of the world in time. From the child's point of view, the credit here is not inferior to the three princes and nine kings in the court. ”

Liu Che thought for a moment, got up and bowed down to Emperor Jing and explained seriously. He felt that he should take this opportunity to persuade Emperor Jing to attach importance to talents in various industries and appropriately improve the status of various craftsmen.

After all, if you want to enter an industrialized society, you must have a large number of technical talents, and Liu Che really doesn't want to have a deformed social outlook and values that are all inferior, only highly educated. In later generations of American imperialism, the income of blue-collar workers was not lower than that of white-collar workers, and it was the huge group of technicians who ensured the continuous progress of their technology.

Emperor Jing waved his hand to signal Liu Che to sit down, and then his face showed a contemplative expression. In the Han Dynasty, the hereditary lord system and the most basic probation system were implemented, and the officials were either from families, or the filial piety and "wise men" recommended by officials from all over the world, and they were somewhat related to each other. (To explain, the Han Dynasty did not have a hierarchy of scholars, peasants, and merchants, only nobles, commoners, and slaves.) Among the common people, although agriculture is heavy and business is suppressed, they are still relatively equal. Therefore, the status of craftsmen and peasants is not bad, and it is not as difficult for commoners to be knighted as in later dynasties. ）

Emperor Jing has long suffered from the lack of good talents, and with the founding of the Han Dynasty, a generation of virtuous ministers and good ministers have passed away. There have been signs of a clear stream of debate-based retreat and not pragmatism, and most of them are political speculators who only have fame and no practical ability. For the sake of fame, there was even a local official who, without any plan, privately recruited migrant workers to build the Shu Road, resulting in a large landslide, not only seriously injured himself, but also killed nearly 1,000 migrant workers. Even so, it really gave him a good reputation for serving the country wholeheartedly, and he was recommended by many bigwigs, forcing Emperor Jing to promote his official. Every time Emperor Jing thought of this, he had the urge to kill.

Especially when Liu Che came up with all kinds of magical things, earned a lot of money for Shaofu, and also improved the armament and improved farming, Emperor Jing was surprised by the various benefits brought by various new technologies to Sheji, and at the same time, he gradually realized the important surnames of various craftsmen, and gradually understood the meaning of "talent is the primary productive force" that Liu Che had been talking about.

It's just that how to solve this problem, Emperor Jing couldn't figure it out, no matter how wise he was, after all, his thinking was limited, and he obviously didn't think about it as thoroughly as Liu Che. After all, Liu Che has thousands of years of human exploration and summary of various systems in his mind, although he can't compare with a seasoned politician like Emperor Jing in terms of details, but he is definitely the first person in the world to grasp the general direction.

Emperor Jing pondered for a long time, shook his head, dispelled the thoughts in his mind, looked up, but found that Geng Laohan was no longer in the house, and then looked at Liu Che with a hint of inquiry in his eyes.

"My husband went to the backyard cellar to get fertilizer, saying that it was dark and dirty underneath, and it was not good to ask my father to go down." Liu Che put down the water glass, leaned back in the chair, looked lazy, and said in a low voice: "Father has tasted this Nanshan spring water, the guards have already drunk it, and the sons have also tried it with a silver needle, but Father can drink it with confidence." This spring is clear and sweet, and the child will need to bring some back later, and if it is used to make tea, it is really wonderful. ”

Emperor Jing couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly, although this son is extremely good, he is quite particular about eating and drinking, which can be described as exquisite and luxurious. Fortunately, he showed no signs of losing his mind, and he did not use half of the people's fat and ointment, so he had to go.

Although Emperor Jing had the heart to talk to Liu Che about the selection of talents in the court, listen to his thoughts. But I also know that it is not appropriate to talk about it here, so I can only press the eagerness in my heart, pick up the water cup and taste it, compared with the ordinary mountain spring, it really has a different taste.

A moment later, Geng Lao Han walked in through the back door of the house, followed by his guard carrying a small bag in his hand. There was a lot of dust on both of them, obviously the guards were still a little worried about Geng Laohan, so they sent a guard to follow him all the way down to the cellar and get fertilizer.

The guard put the silk bag in his hand on the ground, untied the bag, and some black powder appeared in front of everyone. Emperor Jing stepped forward, bent down strangely to grab a little fertilizer, twisted it with his fingertips for a moment, and sighed: "I didn't expect that just a little powder can increase the yield per mu by at least fifty percent, it's really a miraculous thing." ”

After speaking, Emperor Jing slowly stood up straight, turned his head to look at Father Geng, and was about to continue to ask, but saw a faint pain on his face, and couldn't help but say: "Didn't my uncle say that this fertilizer is not a valuable thing before, why is he distressed at this time?" ”

Geng Laohan shook his head, frowned and said, "It's not that I feel sorry for this fertilizer, I just want to grab a handful of fertilizer and show it to the nobles." Who knew that this guy actually took out a bag and filled some and brought it out. Now that I got to the light, I saw that the bag was actually silk, which was really a waste of such good material. ”

Only then did Emperor Jing understand that the old man was not used to the guards' loser behavior, and suddenly felt that this old man was very interested in his appetite, and quipped: "Looking at the old man's house, not only does he not have to worry about food and clothing, but he even has to beat many rich people in Chang'an City, how can he be so frugal?" ”

Geng Laohan smiled innocently: "I was originally from a poor family, and I am not used to being rich and noble." Now I am fortunate to be blessed by His Majesty and the crown prince, live in this fairyland-like house, and have a lot of money every month, and I will be content in this life. I am a rough man, I have no skills except farming, and if I want to repay His Majesty and the Prince, I can only fiddle with those official fields. I can't use up the monthly money, so I buy some food, and from time to time cook a good meal for the dolls in the orphanage, so that they can come to eat at home, which is lively. ”

Liu Che frowned and asked, "Listen to what the old man means, the food in the canteen in the orphanage is very poor?" I heard that the Shaofu allocates a lot of money every month for the food of the dolls, is there still someone who can't deduct it? ”

Geng Laohan hurriedly waved his hand again and again, and said with a serious face: "Little nobleman, don't talk nonsense, why did I say this?" The food in the courtyard is no worse than the meals of the rich and noble, large pieces of meat, large bowls of rice, and you can eat them at will. There are also a variety of pastries and eggs in the morning, and fresh soup in the evening. The old man in my hometown doesn't dare to say that he eats meat every day, which is far worse than the dolls in the yard. The chief steward in this courtyard was originally an old man in the prince's mansion, who was bold and decent, and treated the dolls as if they were his own family, where would others be allowed to withhold the dolls' food?! The reason why the dolls came to my house for dinner was that the food in the courtyard was too good, and they were a little greasy, so they came to me to eat some home-cooked dishes. The little nobleman must not tarnish the reputation of the chief steward, otherwise I will not agree. ”

When Liu Che heard this, he was not angry but happy, smiled and arched his hand: "The kid is too anxious, and I hope that the old man will not be surprised." ”

Grunt! There was a sudden muffled sound next to him, and everyone followed the reputation, but they saw that Emperor Jing's face was full of embarrassment, and he was faintly embarrassed. I left Weiyang Palace early in the morning, and I didn't enter the rice for a few hours, and the emperor Lao Tzu, who has always eaten regularly, has begun to protest in his stomach.

The guards hurriedly turned their faces away, as if they hadn't seen anything, while Liu Che's face turned red, holding back a smile bitterly, and dodged the threatening eyes of the emperor's father.

Geng Laohan scratched his head, looked at the head outside the window, and saw that it was already noon, and then said honestly: "If the nobles don't dislike it, stay at my house for lunch, my uncle was originally a cook who guarded the house, and I learned some from him when I was a child, and my skills are also good." ”

Emperor Jing opened his mouth and wanted to refuse, but if he wanted to go back to eat, it would take a lot of time, and then he responded: "It's so good, then it will bother the old man." ”

Geng Laohan smiled innocently, and then hurriedly went to prepare the meal, and a guard took the silver needle handed by Liu Che and followed.

(There are two more chapters, but it's going to be late, around 11:40...... Whew)

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