Surprisingly consistent with Liu Ying's expectations, after seeing the mountains of grain and rice outside the Yabei City Gate of Lianshu County, no one in Weibei outside the city gate gave up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Younger, about fifteen or sixteen-year-olds, have said that they still have wives and eldest relatives at home, and they can definitely cope with the work of 'weaving willows as seats'.

Middle-aged people who are a little older, about thirty or forty years old, also say that they have "many relatives" at home, and when spring begins, they will definitely be able to take more than 100 willow seats to the Sanyuan area upstream of Zhengguo Canal.

What Liu Ying expected was that when she saw that there was food to take, even among the onlookers in Liantuo County, there were many women and old people who stood up, that is, 'although there are not many men in the family, there is still the strength to make a willow mat'.

Liu Yingzi was also happy to be so 'supported' by the people, so that the little officials wrote down the names of these women and the elderly, and gave each three buckets of rice.

By the way, Liu Ying also informed the Weibei Minzhuang who received the grain and left, as well as the local people of Lianlao, of the Liuxi standard proposed by Yangchengyan earlier.

- One zhang wide and two zhang long.

This data is not derived from anyone's 'thinking', but Yang Chengyan personally used willow mats of different sizes to make silicon, and tried it again and again.

According to Yang Chengyan's calculations, the length of the willow mat needs to reach at least two zhang to ensure that the silicon produced is a cylinder with a diameter of about five feet.

The five feet is precisely the depth of soil erosion in the upstream section of Zhengguo Canal, which needs to be filled to increase the height.

In this way, the upstream section of the canal, which originally required additional construction and filling, only needed to be laid at the bottom of the canal with a diameter of five feet, which was also considered to save a lot of effort.

The matter of repairing the canal was basically over, and he received food from Liu Ying's hands, and tens of thousands of Weibei people finally snorted their noses, with a happy smile, and embarked on the road home in groups.

happily sent out the remaining more than 20,000 stone grains in his hand, and got more than 46,000 people to compile Liu Xi and Kaichun to go to Sanyuan to sign up for the forced labor, Liu Ying finally left the city gate satisfied.

Not long after returning to the county office, Liu Ying waited for the visit of Shaofu Qingyang Chengyan.

Yu Lian Spoon County Yazheng Hall sat down, and after a few words of greeting, Liu Ying also went straight to the point.

"Today's excavation and reduction of leniency are nearing completion, and the moon and winter are coming, and the lonely should also turn back to Chang'an, and report this to the queen mother and the princes of the court."

"I'm afraid that when Lao Shaofu stays for a few more days, when the canal is finished, he will turn back."

As she spoke, Liu Ying did not forget to smile at Yangcheng Yan.

"When Shaofu returns, Gu Bi should go out of Chang'an for ten miles to greet him, and then set up a banquet in the Taigong Palace to thank Shaofu."

Hearing Liu Ying's words, Yang Chengyan couldn't help but smile lightly and gave up his hand.

"Words are heavy at home, and words are ······"

At the beginning of October, Liu Ying paid out of her own pocket to help Yangchengyan solve the ration problem of Shaofu's official slaves, coupled with the experience of colleagues in the past two months, the relationship between Yangchengyan and Liu Ying has become closer and closer.

If in the past, Liu Ying was just a young nobleman with the name of 'prince' on his head in Yangchengyan's impression, then now, Yangchengyan's understanding of Liu Ying is undoubtedly more like.

After a brief understanding of Liu Ying's temperament and character, Yang Chengyan gradually developed a cordial meaning for this prince, who is amiable to others, must bow to everything, and is willing to humbly follow the advice of his subordinates.

To put it simply, Liu Ying's character is still very much of Yangchengyan's appetite.

After getting along for more than two months, the relationship between the two has become more and more friendly.

With a little politeness, Yang Chengyan pondered for a while, and then pulled the topic back on track.

"At home."

"The matter of silt excavation and river widening should be completed after the ministers drove the officials and slaves of the young government to resume their work for ten days."

"Then, the bento was to use the officials and slaves of the Shaofu as a force to pick the soft branches of willows in various places in Guanzhong to send them to the homes of the people of Weibei."

Saying that, Yang Chengyan couldn't help but smile shyly: "In this way, I am afraid that the ministers should still be running outside, and between the ten months, there should be no way to turn back to Chang'an?" ”

Hearing Yang Chengyan's words, Liu Ying's smile on her face froze slightly, and her face suddenly became a little embarrassed.

It's not that Liu Yingzhen forgot about this matter, but before, Liu Ying subconsciously thought that this matter could be handed over to the officials below to do, and there was no need for Yang Chengyan to work hard at all.

But now that I think about it carefully, it's really as Yang Chengyan said.

- Don't say 'within ten months', I'm afraid that it will be difficult for Yangchengyan to spare time and return to Chang'an throughout the winter.

Now, it is the middle of November in winter.

Between now and the beginning of spring in February, there are only two and a half to three months left.

During these three months, the 30,000 officials and slaves of Shaofu were forced to collect wicker from all over Guanzhong and send them to the homes of Weibei Minzhuang, not to mention, but also to prepare for the spring of next year, and use willow mats to make the gravel needed.

The upstream section of Zhengguo Canal is nearly 100 miles long, and as for the width of the canal, even after the widening, the bottom of the canal is nine zhang wide.

According to the previous standard set by Liu Ying and Yangchengyan, the silica swept out with willows two zhang long and one zhang wide was just a cylinder one zhang high and five feet in diameter.

With silicons of this size and size, every mile laid at the bottom of the Zhengguo Canal requires a full 2,700 silicon.

If you count the side of the canal, I'm afraid you won't be able to beat 3,000!

In this way, it would take at least 300,000 silicons to lay in the first 100 miles of the canal.

This means that in the next two months, Fang has just received grain at the city gate, and the more than 40,000 Weibei people who have left their names need to make more than 300,000 willow mats.

In order to sweep the more than 300,000 pieces of willow into silicon, each chapter of willow mat needs to be wrapped with hundreds of catties of gravel.

In the beginning of spring, in the work of laying the upper reaches of the Zhengguo Canal with silicon, except for the preparation of willow mats and the production of silicon, the rest of the workload was all pressed on Yangchengyan of Shaofu and the 30,000 official slaves of Shaofu.

Specifically, in the next two months, enough willow sticks to weave 300,000 willow mats will be picked and transported to the homes of Minzhuang in Weibei, as well as enough gravel to roll 300,000 silicon, and transported to the upper reaches of Zhengguo Canal, that is, the Sanyuan area.

This workload is big, but it's not big.

- On average, for the whole winter, each Shaofu official and slave only needs to collect enough wicker to make ten willow mats, and the crushed stone needed to roll ten silicon.

But it's small, but it's really not small.

Let's just say that if there are a few days, the snow in Guanzhong is falling heavily, and the breath turns into ice, those young government officials and slaves who are thinly clothed and hungry can still devote themselves to labor?

If there is really bad weather, it must be a temporary shutdown for a few days, so that those young officials and slaves can slow down their strength.

Again: the wicker is good to say, the willow trees are everywhere in Guanzhong, but where does the gravel come from?

It is nothing more than going to the mountains and forests around Chang'an, or along the surrounding waters to pick it up with bare hands.

But in such a bitter winter, the source of the gravel is the cold places such as rivers and mountains, what should the officials and slaves do if they are frostbitten and frozen to death?

- You must know that these officials and slaves are all the private property of Shaofu!

Since it is property, it naturally cannot be used as a consumable, and every four or five days of labor, people must be allowed to rest for a day or two.

And this pile, one by one, needs to be watched by Yang Chengyan, who is the secretary of the young government, and personally arrange who is responsible for picking willows and who is responsible for picking gravel; Who is responsible for transporting wicker, and who is sent to carry the gravel.

Even if these questions are ignored, there is one last question, which is enough to make Yang Chengyan rack his brains······

"······ at home"

While Liu Ying was thinking about it, Yang Chengyan also happened to raise his head with an embarrassed face, and when he looked at Liu Ying, there was a faint look of emptiness.

Without waiting for Yang Chengyan to speak, Liu Ying raised his hand as if he had expected it, and immediately let out a long sigh with a wry smile.

"But Xiao Xiang's side, on the grounds of 'no food', still refuses to allocate grain for the use of the officials and slaves of the Shaofu?"

Seeing that Liu Ying's words were very powerful, Yang Chengyan couldn't help but smile and nodded, and then lowered his head with an embarrassed face.

"Alas~"

Seeing Liu Ying sigh again, she got up from her seat, paced forward, and didn't forget to stab Xiao He in the back again.

"Xiao Xiang's words, there are indeed some ······"

Seeing that Liu Ying stopped talking with an embarrassed face, Yangcheng Yanzong had the intention to open his mouth and defend Xiao He, but he had no strength at all.

At the beginning of October, when the Prime Minister's Mansion cut off the supply of rations for the officials and slaves of the Shaofu for the first time on the grounds of 'shortage of grain and rice', Liu Ying reminded Yangchengyan on the side: The truth is seen in adversity, and the hearts of the people are seen over time.

At that time, Yang Chengyan didn't care about this, but felt that Liu Ying had misunderstood Xiao He, and defended Xiao He a few words.

But after more than a month like this, the Prime Minister's Mansion still has a posture of 'no food, no life'.

Yangchengyan sent his cronies to find Xiao He, and only from Xiao He's mouth, he got a reply that 'the young man understands more, and the old man has a lot of difficulties'.

On the other hand, Liu Ying, almost as soon as Yang Chengyan opened his mouth, he didn't say a word, and with a stroke of the pen, he allocated 30,000 stones of Lu's private grain!

In such a comparison, in the past few months, I heard Liu Ying muttering from time to time, 'Xiao He is really not kind', and Yang Chengyan's mentality has quietly undergone some subtle changes.

If you want to break with Xiao He on this, it won't be enough, but it won't be as usual, you will not be like usual, you will be obedient to Xiao He.

Seeing that Yang Chengyan's face turned pale, but he still didn't open his mouth to defend Xiao He, Liu Ying couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Whew~"

"It's finally ······"

"Hard work pays off?"

laughing at herself in her heart, Liu Ying pretended to be extremely embarrassed, muttered for a long time, and finally raised her head with a gentle smile.

"When it comes to grain and rice, Shaofu doesn't need to worry."

"When the orphan turns back to Chang'an, he should ask Yu Xiao in person."

"Even if there is no food in the treasury, Lone should find another way to solve the difficulties of Shaofu."

Speaking of this, Liu Ying did not forget to bow her head with a wry smile, and muttered to herself: "The rent and tax of the Marquis of Li are now exhausted. ”

"If there is no other way, I have to seconded the Marquis of Chengcheng, the Marquis of Hu, and even the Marquis of Wuyang to pay taxes last year······"