After nearly two and a half months of absence from Chang'an, Liu Ying's very characteristic dilapidated chariot finally drove into Weiyang Palace again.

stepped off the chariot outside the Sima Gate and went to the palace to wash up a little, Liu Ying also came to the Xuanshu Hall where her mother Lu Pheasant was located for the first time.

As Liu Ying expected: he returned to Chang'an with Liu Ying, and built Hou Lu Shizhi outside the palace gate, which was already earlier than Liu Ying entered the palace, and talked with Queen Lu Pheasant with a smile on his face.

The atmosphere in the oath hall was relaxed and pleasant, and Liu Yingzi was also happy, walked into the hall lightly, pulled a futon by himself, and knelt down on the side of the hall.

After listening to Lu Pheasant's conversation with Lu Shizhi for a while, I saw Lu Pheasant turning his head sideways with an easy-going face, and then I found that Liu Ying had already entered the Xuanshu Hall and quietly knelt on the side.

"This kid ······"

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Lu Pheasant pretended to be annoyed, and only a moment later, the feigned anger that was held up was replaced by an unstoppable laugh.

"Now that you have entered the temple, how can you not know that you will make me wait so well?"

Seeing that Liu Ying heard this, he only stepped forward with a chuckle and bowed to Lu Pheasant.

"When the son saw his mother and his uncle talking happily, how could he dare to disturb his mother's ······"

didn't wait for Liu Ying's words to fall, but saw Lu Pheasant's face full of kind beckoning, and when Liu Ying stepped forward obediently, he couldn't help caressing Liu Ying's face.

"Looks like I've lost some weight."

With a mutter, Lu Pheasant leaned his upper body back a little and looked Liu Ying up and down: "It seems to be a little taller?" ”

"It's just that the complexion is not very good."

"But you can't take care of your body when you work hard to repair the canal?"

Listening to Lu Pheasant's unreserved words of concern, Liu Ying only felt a warm buzz in her heart.

Once upon a time, Liu Ying, who was still a university monk in later generations, returned to her hometown, and her elderly mother always kept these words on her lips: hungry and thin, tanned, taller, and not good-looking······

Greedily recalling the warmth in her heart, Liu Ying couldn't help but put a warm smile on her face.

"The queen mother said that it was high, and that was high······"

With a low whisper, Liu Ying also sat beside Lu Pheasant and quietly lowered her head.

Seeing Liu Ying's behavior, Lu Pheasant only smiled and shook his head again and again, and there was endless love on his face.

Pulling Liu Ying's hand over, wrapping it between his hands, Lu Pheasant chuckled and turned to the side, looking at his brother Lu Shizhi, who was kneeling beside him, with an aunt's smile on his face.

"This time, my brother helped the prince to repair the canal, and it was very hard."

Seeing Lu Shizhi's words, he only smiled and lowered his head, and then looked at Liu Ying with a gentle smile, and said, "The queen is serious." ”

"Although the minister's family is called a monarch and a minister, in fact, he is an uncle and nephew whose blood is thicker than water."

"If the nephew has something, why can't the uncle not help him and stand by and watch?"

Lu Shizhi's affectionate confession suddenly made the already heart-warming atmosphere in the oath hall even more gentle.

Seeing that Lu Pheasant heard this, Wen smiled and nodded again and again, and his face was a little serious.

"What are the obstacles to repairing the canal this time?"

As he spoke, Lu Pheasant was afraid that Lu Shizhi and Liu Ying would not understand, so his eyes switched back and forth on the two of them several times before he pointed out: "In the past two months, can there be a small trouble, to destroy and obstruct the repair of the canal?" ”

"I heard that in the autumn and September, not a few days after His Majesty led the army to the expedition, King Zhao summoned the head of the Chang'an rangers and conspired with him."

"Later, this person took hundreds of rangers and left Chang'an in the north, and then he didn't know where to go······"

Unexpectedly, when Liu Ying and Lu Shizhi heard this, they looked at each other with strange faces, and then both of them laughed dumbly.

When Lu Pheasant looked at him with a puzzled face, Lu Shizhi hurriedly withdrew the smile on his face and forced a serious hand to Lu Pheasant.

"Queen."

"In the past few months, the construction of the canal has been smooth sailing, and there is almost no hindrance."

"And King Zhao summoned the secretaries of the Chang'an rangers to discuss ······"

Speaking of this, Lu Shizhi didn't forget to glance at Liu Ying for a moment, and then he laughed again.

"Maybe King Zhao has another important trust, so that this ranger will go to it for hundreds?"

After saying that, Lu Shizhi couldn't hold back his smile anymore, and lowered his head to cover his mouth and snickered.

Seeing this, Lu Pheasant had even more doubts on his face, and looked at Liu Ying in confusion.

Seeing that Liu Ying also chuckled, he bowed slightly to Lu Pheasant with a sly face.

"The Ranger ······ the Queen Mother Asked"

"Poof!"

Halfway through the words, Liu Ying couldn't help laughing, sneered, and hurriedly collected his face.

"The rangers asked by the queen mother seem to have seen them along Zheng Guoqu."

"Xu is Zhao Wang Zhi'er was ordered by his father to major in Zheng Guoqu, and because of the lack of hard labor, he had the heart to help, so he sent one hundred and seventy-four people to serve in force?"

"And King Zhao secretly did this, Xu is four years old and young, and he has no intention of inviting credit, so he secretly helps his son to repair the canal······"

Trying his best to suppress his smile and say all these words, Liu Ying and Lu Shizhi looked at each other with a tacit understanding, and the two gritted their teeth and laughed.

Looking at the eye contact between the two uncles and nephews, and then a little bit of what Lu Shizhi and Liu Ying said, Lu Pheasant also came back to his senses, and couldn't help but smile and shake his head again and again.

"One hundred and seventy-four ······ servants"

"Huh······"

"I don't know at this moment, in the Xuande Hall of Changle Palace, what does Qi Ji say to show King Zhao's 'respectful brother and elder'?"

"King Zhao has served one hundred and seventy-four people here, and he will reward ······"

Listening to Lu Pheasant say these words as if he was talking to himself, the hall was silent for a moment.

Then, the unsuppressed laughter of Liu Ying and Lu Shizhi's uncle and nephew resounded throughout the Xuanshu Palace.

Liu Ying was better, and she could still maintain her demeanor to some extent, but Lu Shizhi didn't care about the queen and the prince in front of him at all, and even laughed with tears.

Infected by the laughter of the old and the young, even Lu Pheasant's face slowly swelled with a knowing smile.

After a while, the laughter of Liu Ying and Lu Shizhi gradually subsided, and Lu Pheasant finally looked sideways at Liu Ying.

"Now, most of the canal repair has been completed, and my son has greatly boosted the people's prestige in Guanzhong, and the storage position is stable."

"If there is no mistake, when Chen Feng is in chaos, His Majesty's class teacher, Yi Chu's matter, it will be eliminated."

"King Zhao is weak, and his mother's family is not abundant, and he can't make any waves, my son should be cautious in his words and deeds, the more subtle it is, the more cautious he must be."

Hearing Lu Pheasant's slightly serious entrustment, Liu Ying's face couldn't help but straighten slightly, and nodded obediently.

"I understand."

"As for the construction of the canal, we only need to wait for the spring in February and the soil in the upper reaches will be solidified."

"Although the crown prince is in charge of the country today, except for this matter, I don't want to ask, Xiao Xiang is in charge."

Seeing that Liu Ying knew that it was powerful, Lu Pheasant only nodded reassuringly, was silent for a moment, and then changed the topic a little.

"Fangcai, when I heard the words of the Marquis, when my son turned around, he had already used all the taxes of the Marquis of Li to the people?"

Hearing Lu Pheasant ask about this, Liu Ying's expression couldn't help but feel a little complacent.

"Yes."

"The matter of repairing the canal has been completed in digging mud and widening the two, and in the spring of February, it will be used as a driving force to make willow wood and gravel."

"Before the recombination, the 200,000 stone bricks transferred from the Shaofu should be laid at the bottom of the canal."

Speaking of this, Liu Ying couldn't help but smile.

"This time to repair the canal, there is a shortage of forced labor, but fortunately, the mother and son have good strategies, so that they can be complete."

"However, the moon and winter are coming, and the son has to send the people of Weibei to return to their homes, if they do not give them grain and rice, I am afraid that they will wait for the beginning of spring, and the matter of repairing the canal will be the shortage of coolies······

Seeing that Liu Ying did not make any reservations in his heart and expressed his thoughts, Lu Pheasant only nodded his head mildly.

"That's true."

"Although the people of Guan Zhongmin are honest and kind, they are not lacking in cunning in the subtleties."

"If you don't benefit from it, even if you are gracious in your heart, you may not be able to do it."

As if he was talking to himself, he saw Lu Pheasant looking at Liu Ying with a smile again, and his eyes were full of approval and nodded.

"It's very appropriate for me to deal with it like this."

Seeing that the old lady praised herself unabashedly in front of her uncle Lu Shizhi, Rao is self-conscious and accomplished in the way of thick blackness, Liu Ying was also a little embarrassed.

"Hey, hey."

"It's the queen mother, the queen mother teaches well, hehe······"

As she spoke, Liu Ying scratched the back of her head and laughed embarrassedly twice.

Seeing Lu Pheasant smiling helplessly, he shook his head, sighed slightly, and brought the topic back on track.

"The stone brick paving of the canal should be the beginning of spring in February; This winter is more than half of November, and there are nearly three months before spring and February. ”

With this said this indifferently, Lu Pheasant looked at Liu Ying again, with a little worry and temptation in his eyes.

"What are my plans for this March?"

"But you want to live in the womb so that you can be taught by your uncle and grandson?"

As he spoke, Lu Pheasant turned his head to the other side again, glanced at Lu Shizhi, and then looked at Liu Ying.

"Or climb the Hou Mansion and meet Shangshan Sihao in person to argue the way of Confucius and Mencius?"

Seeing that between Lu Pheasant's eyebrows, there was a touch of worry that seemed to be nothing, but never disappeared, Liu Ying couldn't help but shake his head and smile.

Almost without thinking, Liu Ying hurriedly shook her head.

"This March, there is another important matter."

With a slightly solemn face, Liu Ying did not forget to turn sideways and bow to Lu Shiyi.

"The four elders of Shangshan, I still need my uncle to appease me a little, and when my nephew is free, I will come to the door to meet in person."

After Lu Shizhi's face responded as usual, Liu Yingcai turned around again and looked at his mother Lu Pheasant again.

"In the first ten months of the year, not long after the construction of the canal began, Xiao Xiang refused to allocate the grain and rice used by the officials and slaves of the Shaofu on the grounds that his father was leading the army outside and the grain and grass consumption of the army was very huge."

"After the Shaofu begged for his son, the son thought that the matter of repairing the canal required the officials and slaves of the Shaofu to be forced to work, so he once passed on the book to his uncle and allocated 30,000 stones of grain to temporarily relieve the urgent needs of the Shaofu."

As she spoke, Liu Ying didn't forget to glance at Lu Shizhi again.

When Lu Pheasant looked at Lu Shizhi hesitantly, he saw Lu Shizhi nodding hurriedly, and then gave up his hand slightly.

"It is true."

"This time, the minister went to the lotus spoon with the family, and took the responsibility of supervising the grain for the family; In the early part of October in winter, the minister did inherit the order of the family and allocated 30,000 stone of grain and rice to Shaofu. ”

After his statement was verified by Lu Shizhi, Liu Ying cleared his throat a little and continued to report his planned itinerary for the next three months.

"30,000 stone of grain and rice, 30,000 officials and slaves of Shaofu and canal repair, and they have to eat more than a month; However, now, Shaofu has returned to the shortage of bitter grain and rice. ”

"And in the spring of February, the silicons used to pave the canals need 30,000 official slaves of this young government, and from now on they will work until the beginning of spring, picking willows and stones, and transporting them to Sanyuan."

"With the addition of stone bricks and silicon, the shortage of rations for officials and slaves in the Shaofu will be more than three months."

Speaking of this, Liu Ying's face also became a little solemn.

"The queen mother should know that this time the son repaired the canal and transferred the officials and slaves of the young government to be forced labor, but it was a temporary suspension of minting money and three baht before it could be done."

"When my father and the emperor's class teacher return to the court, I will reprimand Yu Son for this matter."

"If the young government officials and slaves die of hunger and cold due to the lack of rations, I am afraid that at that time, my father will be ······angry."

As she spoke, Liu Ying couldn't help lowering her voice slightly, and turned her head sideways meaningfully, and the corner of her eyes pointed directly at Changle Palace, which was across Zhangtai Street from Weiyang Palace.

"In this way, I am afraid that the Xuande Palace, or the revival of the trick, in order to seek the power of the father and the emperor to revive the idea of Yi Chu······"

With Liu Ying's slightly dignified description, Lu Pheasant's expression, which was still as calm as water, suddenly surged a little gloomy.

"Xiao He ······"

With a soft murmur in a cold tone, Lu Pheasant thought for a long time before raising his head a little helplessly.

"What do you want to do with this matter?"

"If there is no mistake, the Marquis refuses to allocate the grain of Shaofu, I am afraid that it is not deliberate, but it is sure that the grain and rice are not enough for His Majesty's army······"

Saying this with a little worry, Lu Pheasant couldn't help but feel a little annoyed in his heart.

Lu Pheasant understands that Prime Minister Xiao He is unlikely to deliberately make things difficult for Shaofu Yangchengyan, or to use this to embarrass Liu Ying.

It should be the grain and grass that supports hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of Liu Bang's army, Xiao He is indeed haggard and unable to take care of the rations of the officials and slaves of the young government.

It can be understood that Lu Pheasant still has a little dissatisfaction with Xiao He because of this.

- I don't care what your reason is, it's hard for me, I just can't!

With similar thoughts, Lu Pheasant lowered his chin slightly and silently waited for Liu Ying's reply.

If Liu Ying has no way, then the rations of the officials and slaves of the Shaofu Mansion, Lu Pheasant naturally has a way to solve it.

- There are only 30,000 official slaves left and right, and three months' grain is more than 100,000 stones.

Lu Pheasant was thinking about it, when he saw Liu Yingwen smiling, patted Lu Pheasant's hand to appease, and then nodded confidently.

"The son wants to meet Xiao Xiang and argue with the major affairs of the society."

"I want to ask Xiao Xiang: The country is great, and the soldiers are the first? People first? ”

"——The foundation of the country, the army first? Farmers first? ”

Hearing Liu Ying say this confidently, Lu Pheasant understood Liu Ying's thoughts in an instant.

"My Child's Meaning ······"

"Why don't you start with the personal relationship between Shaofu and Yuhou?"

Seeing Liu Ying nodding with a smile, Lu Pheasant's face finally swelled with a gratifying smile.

"In this case, my son will go by himself."

"If the Marquis still says that there is no grain in the treasury, it doesn't matter."

"It's just a few tens of thousands of stones of grain and rice, Wu Lu's family, it should still be together."

As he spoke, Lu Pheasant didn't forget to smile and turn his head sideways, his eyes were slightly ridiculous, and he looked at his brother Lu Shizhi.

"If the prince is short of food, should the tax income from the last year of the construction be used by his nephew?"

Hearing Lu Pheasant's words, Lu Shizhi's face froze for a moment, and after a while, he smiled dumbly······