In this way, the Great Yan Dynasty naturally entered an unprecedented glorious moment.

As the son of today, Emperor Yongping has a high reputation for a while, and is regarded as the Emperor of Yongping by many people.

Of course, Emperor Yongping was not dizzy because of this, he knew very well in his heart that the Great Yan Dynasty could reach today's glory, and Gu Ming contributed a lot.

Since there is such a great merit, it is natural that it will be rewarded heavily.

As a result, Gu Ming officially entered the cabinet and was canonized as a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and the title of "Prince and Prince" was added.

The prince and the prince, the prince and the prince, and the prince and the prince are also known as the "three divisions of the East Palace", which is equivalent to the prince's teacher.

First-class hereditary Jinyi Hou, Wenyuan Pavilion University Scholar, Prince and Prince, these three titles are combined, it can be said that Gu Ming is already a very human minister, and there are few ministers who can compare with him.

In terms of title, he is a waiter, and there is a duke above. However, the title is only a title and an honor, and there is no real position and power.

The prince and the prince are almost the same, and it is also a kind of title.

However, Gu Ming is also a cabinet scholar, this is a real real power figure, and his status is second only to the first assistant of the cabinet.

Moreover, Yu Wei, the current cabinet chief assistant, is very old, and it is estimated that he will have to return to his hometown after a few more years.

Therefore, the ministers knew in their hearts that when the time came, I am afraid that no one would be able to compete with Gu Ming.

But what people never expected was that when Gu Ming was on the rise and had a bright future, there was a news that shocked the government and the opposition......

"Have you heard that Scholar Gu is going to resign and return to his hometown......"

"Where's the gossip? It's impossible! ”

"Scholar Gu is young and promising, how can the emperor agree to his return to his hometown?"

"This news came from the palace, and most of it is true......

"So why is that? If you don't do it, what does Master Gu think? ”

"Could it be the emperor's ......"

"Don't guess ......"

……

Actually, this news is indeed true.

It was not Emperor Yongping who crossed the river and demolished the bridge, but Gu Ming took the initiative after careful consideration.

At present, the Great Yan Dynasty has entered an unprecedented glorious era, and the surrounding small countries and tribes have come to the court, and it is believed that friction is unlikely to occur in a short time.

Some of the plans and programs proposed by Gu Ming have been successfully implemented.

For example, the "Dayan Dictionary" has begun to be popularized throughout the country, and will be used as the content of the imperial examination in the future.

Some are going on smoothly, such as the "Yongping Ceremony".

Gu Ming has been involved in the preliminary preparations, arrangements and other preparations, and personally drafted a detailed plan.

Now, it only needs to be compiled according to the plan, and if nothing else, the "Yongping Canon" will almost be officially published in another year.

Special combat teams, ordnance departments, and so on, are also maturing day by day......

Therefore, Gu Ming thought about it, and then made the decision to retreat.

After all, he has almost reached the top of the officialdom, and next, he should also return to Wendao and strive to embark on the road to holiness as soon as possible.

When Gu Ming officially proposed his resignation to Emperor Yongping and returned to his hometown, Emperor Yongping couldn't help but be taken aback.

Although he had been mentally prepared for a long time, knowing that Gu Ming was not an ordinary person and would leave the officialdom sooner or later, he didn't expect it to come so quickly.

After a heart-to-heart exchange between the two monarchs and ministers, Emperor Yongping finally agreed to Gu Ming's request for resignation.

However, the titles of first-class hereditary brocade and prince still exist, after all, these two titles are only titles, and there is no real position.

Even so, Gu Ming's status is still very high, and all the princes, including the crown prince, have to take the initiative to greet him when they meet with the princess and call him a teacher or sir.

At the same time, Gu Ming also promised Emperor Yongping to enter the palace every once in a while to teach for a few days, or to give advice or something.

After all, he is the crown prince and the prince, and these are also things within the scope of his duties.

In order to express his gratitude, Emperor Yongping once again gave Gu Ming a fief, that is, Montenegro.

In other words, from now on, Montenegro will belong to Gu Ming's private territory, and he can transform it as he wants.

In addition to the fiefdom, Emperor Yongping also generously rewarded Gu Ming with a lot of gold and silver, jade, silk, etc., as well as a door plaque with a royal pen inscription: first-class brocade Houfu.

……

A month later, Gu Ming returned to his hometown again.

This time compared to the time when the champion returned to his hometown, the pomp was much bigger.

It can also be said that it is the largest pomp and circumstance for officials to return to their hometowns since the opening of the Great Yan Dynasty.

There are 2,000 soldiers and horses, of which 500 are elite special combat teams. It can be said that with these 500 elites alone, they can withstand thousands of soldiers and horses.

This is not that Gu Ming wants to pay attention to pomp, but what Emperor Yongping meant.

On the one hand, it is to express gratitude and attention to Gu Ming, and on the other hand, it is also to show the world that he is not an emperor who forgets his roots.

This time, Emperor Yongping specially ordered the crown prince to accompany him and escort Gu Ming all the way back to his hometown instead of him.

Princess Ningyang learned about this from the mouth of the queen mother, and immediately began to be coquettish, and she had to go with her brother.

The queen can't be the master, so she can only go to the emperor to discuss.

As a result, Princess Ningyang took her little sister Princess Anyun and ran to the Queen Mother to be coquettish and crying, saying that she was reluctant to leave Mr., so she must send Mr. away. By the way, I also went out with the prince's brother to observe the people's feelings.

To put it bluntly, I just want to take advantage of this rare opportunity to sneak out of the palace to play.

The Queen Mother has always doted on these two little granddaughters, and as soon as her heart softened, she begged for the two little granddaughters in front of the emperor.

Emperor Yongping didn't have the face to refute his mother, so he nodded and accepted the matter.

After all, with Gu Ming here, at least the safety of the prince and princess is not to worry about.

At this time, the two little girls were crazy with joy and ran back to the dormitory to toss ...... As far as their things are concerned, they are all loaded with three cars.

When I left Beijing, the two little girls in the city were fine, sitting in the car and maintaining the princess's reserve.

Not far from the city, he began to make trouble with the demon moths, yelling to take Mr.'s car.

As soon as they got into the car, the baby would rather suffer......

"Wow, what a beautiful puppy......"

As soon as Princess Anyun got into the car, her eyes began to be full of little stars.

You're the puppy, and your whole family is.

Ying Ning looked lazy with your expression.

"Master, mother, is it okay to let people hug the puppy too?"

Princess Ningyang looked at Nie Xiaoqian and begged.

"Poof~"

Yu'er, who was following the car, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Poor baby Ning......

"Two little princesses, this is a little white fox, whose name is Ying Ning, but not a puppy."

Nie Xiaoqian explained with a smile.

"It turned out to be a little white fox...... Does it bite? ”

Gu Ming also smiled and said, "Ying Ning only bites bad people. ”

"People are not bad people, people are not bad people......"

An Yun hurriedly waved his chubby little hand.

That cute little appearance suddenly made Nie Xiaoqian's love overflow, and she couldn't help but pull her to her side, rubbing her little face lovingly and said, "Of course you are not a bad person, you are a cute little princess." ”

"Hehe, Master, can that person hug Ying Ning?"

"Well, yes, Ying Ning is very well-behaved."

"Thank you, Mrs."

Princess Anyun thanked her sweetly, and then stretched out her hand with a cautious look......

"I'm going to hug Ying Ning too."

Princess Anyang was older and bolder, so she rushed over and hugged Ying Ning first.

Princess An Yun couldn't help but flatten her mouth, looking aggrieved.

Seeing this, Gu Ming said to Princess Ningyang: "Ningyang, you are a sister, you should let a little sister." ”

"Oh, okay...... Little sister, come and hug, be careful, don't drop Ying Ning. ”

"Uh-huh, got my sister."

An Yun happily reached out and hugged Ying Ning into his arms, but he looked a little struggling, after all, he was still young.

Along the way, with these two cute little princesses with me, there was a lot of singing and laughing.

Leaving the palace, the sisters were like birds flying out of a cage, and it was a joy.

Everything in the outside world was so new to them, as if they were tiring all day long.

At noon that day, the team stopped at the foot of a mountain to prepare for lunch......

Along the way, the team was all cooking by themselves, after all, the team of 2,000 people, no post station or inn or the like had the ability to receive it.

However, he accompanied two imperial chefs to open a single-pot stove for the prince, the little princess, Gu Ming and others.

Just as he was about to start, there was a sudden commotion in front of him.

The guards who were standing nearby immediately drew their swords and stood guard, and two of them walked briskly to the front of the group to check on the situation.

After a while, one of the guards hurriedly came back to report: "Tell His Royal Highness the Prince, there are more than a dozen refugees begging for food in front of you......"

"Refugees?" The crown prince frowned: "Are you sure it's a refugee, and not someone pretending to be a refugee?" ”

"It's not like someone pretending, it's supposed to be a real refugee."

"Got it, don't drive them away just yet......"

Speaking of this, the prince turned around again and said respectfully at Gu Ming: "Teacher, the student wants to go over and see what the situation is. ”

Under normal circumstances, the crown prince has a special status, and he generally does not need to call himself a student in front of the teacher, but he cannot call himself the king, the palace, or the little king like he does in front of other courtiers.

To show self-humility, you can call yourself a trade name.

However, Gu Ming's identity and status are also very special, so the prince calls himself a student to show respect.

"Brother Wang, Brother Wang, I'm going to see ...... too"

Princess Ningyang immediately ran to the prince and begged.

"Brother Wang, people are going to ...... too"

Princess An Yun followed and stepped forward to join in the fun.

"Let them both go over and have a look, and I'll go with them."

Gu Ming helped to say a favor.

"Hee-hee, thank you sir!"

"Thank you, sir!"

The two little princesses smiled and thanked Gu Ming.

Gu Ming opened his mouth, and the prince naturally couldn't refuse, so he took his two younger sisters and walked towards the front of the team together.

"Teacher, we haven't seen any refugees along the way, right? Why did it suddenly appear? ”

After walking for a while, the prince couldn't help but ask.

Gu Ming couldn't help but sigh: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, there are many beggars and refugees in this world, and the reason why you didn't see it is because they have long been driven away by the government." ”

"How can such a thing happen?"

"It's not to blame them, after all, none of the local officials along the way want to leave a bad impression in the minds of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Hey......"

The prince couldn't help but sigh.

He also knew in his heart that it would not be easy to solve this problem.

"See His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

"See Her Royal Highness the Princess!"

"See Lord Jinyi!"

When Gu Ming and his party came to the front of the team, many people stepped forward to salute.

At this time, there were more than a dozen ragged refugees kneeling in front of them, all with withered faces and skinny bones, and they didn't look like they were pretending, but real refugees.

When these refugees heard the words "prince", "princess", and "brocade wait", they were so frightened that they kowtowed.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, they are here to beg for food......

One of the generals who led the team stepped forward and whispered.

"Begging for food?"

The crown prince frowned, and shouted at the group of refugees and asked, "You are not small, don't you see that this is the army of the imperial court?" How dare you come forward to beg for food? ”

"Back to ...... Back to the Prince's Palace...... Your Highness, we ...... Really...... I really don't know if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is here......"

"Ridiculous, no matter whether the palace is in the team or not, it is also against the laws of the imperial court to wait. If you stop the army while you are on the march, it is a crime of killing the head! ”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince spares his life!"

"I'll wait...... There's really nothing I can do about it...... Again...... If there is no more food, we ...... They all have to starve to death......"

"Ladies and gentlemen, we haven't eaten for three days, and we can't find a grain of rice in the whole village......

"Hey, there's no rice, why don't you eat meat?"

Princess Ningyang couldn't help but say something.

"Uh-huh, that's it, there's no rice to eat meat......"

Princess Anyun was like a little heel, and said a word to her sister.

Gu Ming: "......"

Prince: "......"

Escort: "......"

Refugees: "......"

It's really a child's talk.

It's not right, it is impossible for a child of the common people to say such a ridiculous thing.

It can only be said that the children raised in the deep palace are really full girls who don't know that they are hungry, so they will tell jokes about eating meat without food.

So, Gu Ming couldn't help but turn his head sideways, and said seriously: "Two little princesses, when they say that there is no food to eat, they are not only referring to rice, but to all foods that can satisfy the stomach. ”

"Huh? That's right......"

Princess Ningyang couldn't help blinking.

"They're so pathetic......"

Princess Anyun sucked her fingers and looked at the refugees with a sympathetic expression.

The crown prince frowned and asked, "Where is your grain?" Is there no food left? ”

"This year, there was a drought, the crops were not harvested, and the grain stock was already exhausted......

"The government didn't distribute relief food to you?"

At the mention of this, the refugees were silent.

"What does this king say to you? Is there any food for disaster relief? ”

"Hair ...... Hair is a post, just ......"

The refugee who replied seemed to have something unspeakable, and stammered and couldn't come up with a reason.

Seeing this, Gu Ming couldn't help but whisper: "Yiming, why don't you let them fill their stomachs first, and ask if you have anything to say later." ”

"It's okay, just according to the teacher's words......"

The prince answered, and then ordered the guards: "Go and prepare some food for these people." ”

"Yes!"

The guards answered.

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness the Prince, thank you to all the officials......"

"Sir, we have a lot of dishes there, why don't you give them some?"

Princess Ningyang raised her head and said to Gu Ming.

"Yes, yes!"

"Hee-hee, thank you sir. Let's go, little sister, let's go get it together. ”

"Uh-huh!"

The two little girls held hands and turned around and ran back.

It didn't take long for him to come back with a few guards with some food.

At the same time, the team also served some food for the refugees to eat.

After that, Gu Ming asked people to load some food and distribute it to them.

In this way, the refugees were naturally grateful, and Gu Ming also took this opportunity to ask about it, and finally let the other party tell the truth.

It turned out that they were all villagers of Maliu Village, and it was also one of the hardest hit villages.

The drought has caused a large reduction in crop yields in more than half of the county, or even no grain harvest, and tens of thousands of people have been affected.

"More than a dozen people in our village have starved to death, and in order to survive, some people have to sell their children and daughters......"

"The government did distribute grain, but after deducting it from all over the world, a family could not receive a few catties of grain, and most of them were moldy brown rice......

"Those unscrupulous rice merchants also took advantage of this to raise the price of grain, and the price increased several times......

Hearing the refugees talk about the reason, although the prince did not speak, his face was extremely gloomy, his eyes kept changing, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

After a group of refugees left, the prince found Gu Ming and said in a low voice: "Teacher, since we know about this, we must not sit idly by, if my father is also there, he will definitely investigate to the end." ”

Gu Ming nodded: "Well, it's okay to take care of it...... Why don't you call someone from the county office? ”

"Teacher, call them over, they will inevitably make up a reason. Otherwise, let the team go first, and how about we go to Weifu for a private visit? ”

It is difficult to leave the palace, and the prince naturally wants to take this opportunity to experience the feeling of a private visit to the microservice.

Gu Ming naturally understood the prince's thoughts, so he nodded and said, "Well, it's better for you to go and see it with your own eyes." ”

"Great, thank you, teacher!"

The prince was excited, and immediately thanked Gu Mingzuo.

As a result, the two little princesses heard that their brother was going to play...... Well, the private visit of Weifu suddenly stopped following it, and I had to go with it.

After some discussion, Gu Ming decided to divide the personnel into two groups: he and the prince went to the mountains alone to take a look at the disaster situation and learn more about the situation.

Nie Xiaoqian took the two little princesses to the county seat for a walk, to satisfy their wishes, let them experience the real folk life, and the snake princess went together to protect them.

The others waited for the itinerary to remain the same, and waited for them to finish their errands before converging.

Soon after, Gu Ming and the others acted separately as planned, Gu Ming and the prince walked in the direction of Maliuzhuang together, and Nie Xiaoqian and Snake Ji took the two little princesses in the direction of the county seat.

……

Along the way, the prince finally witnessed with his own eyes what is called civil suffering.

Ponds dry up, fields dry up, crops wither...... As far as the eye can see, it is desolate, as if walking into the desert, lifeless.

Occasionally, when I saw a few people, they were also lifeless, like walking corpses, with blank eyes and skinny bones.

"I didn't expect the disaster to be so serious!"

The prince couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"There is no way, the life of the people is like this, relying on the sky for food.

If the wind and rain are smooth, you can barely mix food and clothing. In the event of a natural or man-made disaster...... Then you can only leave it to fate. ”

"Teacher, is there really no way to change all this?"

"It's not impossible, it's just that it's going to take a long process."

"Can the teacher solve your doubts?"

"To change this, we need to solve some problems at the root.

For example, in the event of a natural disaster, not to mention the ordinary poor people, even the granary of the imperial court will be in an emergency.

This is due to insufficient reserves.

When the imperial court solves the problem of insufficient grain reserves, it often levies and forcibly apportions it...... In fact, it is an act of killing chickens and eggs.

The court requisitioned the grain, what did the people eat?

Once they are cornered, it can easily lead to chaos......"

The prince looked at a loss: "But teacher, if the imperial court does not levy grain or collects less grain, how can it maintain the operation of a country?" ”

"Your Highness, when the teacher says this, he does not mean that there will be no grain collection or less grain collection, have you ever thought about fundamentally changing the grain levy into increasing the grain collection?"

"Food?"

"Yes, we can find ways to increase grain production in order to solve the problem fundamentally.

It can not only meet the needs of the imperial court for grain collection and storage, but also allow the people to have surplus grain to eat. In this way, even in the event of a natural disaster, the people will not starve to death. ”

The prince's eyes lit up, and he asked urgently, "Then how can we increase grain production?" ”

This problem requires the imperial court to take a lot of trouble to train professionals in this area. For example, improving seeds, improving soil, fertilizing, insecticide, weeding...... Wait a minute.

In short, it is a principle that measures should be adapted to local conditions.

There is also the need to send people to foreign lands to inspect and appropriately introduce some high-yield grain categories......"

The prince listened for a while.

After all, he is only a teenager, and his knowledge in all aspects is still lacking.

"It's okay, just listen to it, and you can practice it slowly when you have the opportunity in the future. For example, a local experiment should be demarcated first, and then it will be slowly spread across the country after accumulating successful experience. ”

"Teacher, have you ever told your father about these concepts?"

Gu Ming shook his head: "No, I talked too much about it with your father before, and I haven't bothered to talk about it yet." ”

"Oh...... Then, when I have a chance in the future, I will talk to my father about this and see what my father has to say. ”

"Well, you can take this matter on you, and it can be regarded as sharing some national affairs for your father."

"Thank you, teacher, for making it happen!"

The prince bowed respectfully.

Although he didn't understand it very well, it didn't matter, the important thing was that as long as the grain production could really increase, it could really be called a great achievement.

Soon after, the two arrived at what the refugees had called the village of Maliu.

At this time, the village was somewhat angry, because the previous refugees had brought back some food and were distributing it to everyone.

Although Gu Ming and the prince changed into regular clothes, they were still recognized at a glance, and they were so frightened that they quickly knelt down......

"Xiaomin kowtows to His Royal Highness the Prince, kowtows to Lord Jinyi!"

For a while, the village, young and old, knelt down one after another.

"All right, get up, all of you."

The prince sighed and raised his hand to signal the villagers to get up.

Gu Ming raised his eyes and looked around, and found that there were several tattered straw mats spread on the open space on the west side of the village, and on the straw mats, there were still a few skinny people......

Corpses, to be exact.

It seems that these refugees are not lying, and those must be the villagers who died of starvation.

For such a situation, Gu Ming was certainly sympathetic.

However, this is also an inevitable phenomenon, a necessary course of human historical development.

Not to mention, this is still a world infested with demons.

Even in Gu Ming's previous life, there were many people who died from natural disasters every year, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods......

This is a law of nature.

"Teacher, where are you...... Is there any silver? ”

The prince leaned over and whispered.

"You mean, give them silver?"

"Yes, the returning student will definitely return it to the teacher."

"Your Highness, it is better to give people fish than to give them fish, and giving them silver can only solve the problem for a while, but not for a lifetime."

Gu Ming is not reluctant to give up the silver, if he comes alone, what is the point of sending some silver?

It's just that the crown prince is here, and if nothing else, he will ascend the throne and become the emperor sooner or later.

Therefore, it is necessary to instill some ideas in him in advance.

"This ...... But now that we're here, we can't do without a little expression, right? ”

Gu Ming smiled and said: "I understand His Highness's feelings, in fact, it is very simple to solve this matter, one is to find out the source and reissue the imperial court's disaster relief food to them." Second, fundamentally solve their food ration problem. ”

"Looks like the teacher already has a better idea?"

"Yes, I have seen that the drought here is not accidental...... In other words, the place itself is a place where water is scarce.

But the crops they planted were not separated from water.

This has fundamentally led to their low grain yield, and even the phenomenon of no grain harvest like this year......"

……