Datang is still quite cautious in terms of rewarding and punishing merits.

Of course, there was a bit of chaos at the beginning of the founding of the country, including Li Tao, Cheng Yanjin and other famous generals, there was a bit of chaos of taking credit or exaggerating merit, and it was not until after the Zhenguan Year that there were slowly rules, and the famous generals also converged a lot.

After Li Zhi ascended the throne, he overthrew the eldest grandson Wuji, and established his authority to the court, and he was even stricter in rewarding and punishing meritorious deeds, especially in terms of promotion to officials.

Because of the title, although it is a great honor for the courtiers and an iron rice bowl for the descendants of meritorious heroes, it still does more harm than good to the imperial power.

Therefore, after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, from Li Shimin to Li Zhi, they were all intentionally or unintentionally trying to reduce their titles as much as possible, and rarely increased them.

Li Qinzai is a special case, and he has made too many contributions in the past, and it has reached the point where he has to be knighted.

As for Li Qinzai's introduction of sweet potatoes, Li Zhi of course also wanted to promote him to the title immediately, but many courtiers at that time admonished him, and Li Qinzai repeatedly humbly shirked it, and Li Zhi was inconvenient to insist.

Until today, the second season of sweet potato harvest planted in the south is really in front of Li Zhi, as the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi is happy in the sweet potato production and the society is forever, how could he forget Li Qinzai?

The first harvest is only a few dozen catties, and there is no clear amount of yield per mu, this is the second harvest, and it is clearly more than 2,000 catties in front of you, and it can't prove Li Qinzai's merits?

The credit is too great, if Li Zhi doesn't say something, he will be ashamed.

Empress Wu watched Li Zhi pacing back and forth in front of a pile of sweet potatoes, and her expression was also very excited.

No matter what the husband and wife fight at home, Datang's national fortunes are still closely related to her, and of course she hopes that Datang will get better and better.

After Li Zhi paced a few laps, he suddenly stopped, turned his head to look at Empress Wu, and said, "Empress, since Jing Chu was made a county marquis, it seems that he hasn't been promoted to an official for a long time, right?"

Empress Wu smiled quietly and said, "Your Majesty, Jing Chu is an idle character, and he has no ambition for the court officials, and the concubine remembers that His Majesty said several times that he wanted to promote his title, but he refused, and not only that, but His Majesty wanted to appoint him to an official position and he also hid."

"So now Jing Chu only has the title of Marquis of Weinan County, and he doesn't even have an official position, so he is really an idle marquis."

Li Zhi laughed and said, "That's right, Jing Chu's problem is the most dissatisfying to me, and it is reassuring that the courtiers are not ambitious, but ...... He can't be so idle, it's outrageous, I've never seen anyone so lazy."

Empress Wu's eyes flashed, and she said tentatively: "What does Your Majesty mean, do you want to be promoted to the title of Jingchu?"

Li Zhi stared at the sweet potato in front of him silently for a long time, and sighed, "If not, how can I reward him?"

Pointing to the large pile of sweet potatoes in front of him, Li Zhi smiled and said, "The significance of this thing to the Tang Dynasty is so great, the queen must also know that Jing Chu has made this great achievement, can I pretend not to see it?"

Empress Wu's lips twitched a few times, but she smiled suddenly: "The concubine thinks that Jing Chu can accept it calmly."

Li Zhi glanced at her with a smile.

Since Mrs. Wei was killed, Li Zhi beat her hard once, and cut off most of her wings in the court, the Empress Wu has been very well-behaved and obedient recently.

Li Zhi's mood has gradually become happy recently, and he even took the initiative to summon her to sleep the day before yesterday.

Whether inside or out, this is the shape of a queen, in the shape of her husband.

Looking at the well-behaved and sensible Empress Wu, Li Zhi smiled secretly.

Sure enough, when the mother-in-law floats up, she must be ruthless in picking up, since she eats hard and not soft, I can completely satisfy her.

[In view of the general environment,

After pondering for a while, Li Zhi said slowly: "Come here, summon the left and right ministers, the servants of the Xitai Palace, the six Shangshu and other court officials to enter the palace......

After a pause, Li Zhi suddenly said, "Send a soft sedan chair to the Ying Gong's mansion and invite the Ying Gong to enter the palace to see you...... Yinggong is old, be careful with the sedan chair, don't be bumpy

Old man."

An hour later, the ministers hurried into the palace.

Among the courtiers who entered the palace, only the British Duke Li Tao was treated the highest, and he was carried in by the palace people in a soft sedan chair.

The ministers could only watch with envy as Li Tao got off the sedan chair outside the Taiji Palace, but they couldn't feel jealous.

This is the treatment of the three dynasties for decades of meritorious service with a sword and a sword, and people deserve it, and they can't be jealous.

Li Zhi was waiting outside the Taiji Palace, and there were more than 2,000 catties of sweet potatoes piled up on the vast open space outside the hall, which was the harvest of King Teng's supervision and supervision of the planting of new grain varieties in the south of the Yangtze River this time.

The ministers climbed the stairs and came to the outside of the hall, and saw that Li Zhi was already waiting, so they bowed and greeted him.

After saluting, everyone saw a mountain of sweet potatoes in front of Li Zhi.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, but a fine light flashed in Li Tao's cloudy old eyes, and then quickly fell silent.

After the monarch and the ministers saw the ceremony, Li Zhi smiled and chatted with everyone for a few words, and the monarchs and ministers had their own questions and answers, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

In terms of the emperor's attitude towards his courtiers, Li Zhi did better than Li Shimin.

Regardless of whether he is a loyal woman, Li Zhi is very close to all the courtiers, very easy-going, usually likes to joke with the courtiers, or the east family, the west family is short, and some innocuous gossip secrets in the courtiers' family are also taken out by him to make fun of a few words, after the monarch and the ministers laugh, the distance between each other is closer.

Today, Li Zhi chose to summon the ministers outside the Taiji Palace, and the people who summoned were all important ministers of the dynasty, either the prime minister or Shangshu and the general, especially the venue where the summoning was still piled up with sweet potatoes.

The ministers were strange in their hearts, but it was inconvenient to ask, so they chatted with Li Zhi for a long time.

In the end, Xu Jingzong, the right minister, couldn't help but ask.

To say that this Xu Jingzong's mind is indeed clever, he knows that Li Zhi will not put a lot of sweet potatoes in front of him for no reason, since he has put it out, he naturally has his intentions, as the prime minister of the court, he has a very important duty, that is, to occasionally support the Son of Heaven, and not let the atmosphere fall to the ground.

Li Zhi smiled slightly, just waiting for Xu Jingzong's question.

So Li Zhi pointed to the sweet potato in front of him and said with a smile, "Do you know what this is?"

Most of the courtiers present had followed Li Zhi to Ganjingzhuang and witnessed the harvest of sweet potatoes, so they were naturally no strangers to this thing, so they replied in unison.

Li Zhi smiled again and asked, "Do you know what is the yield per mu of this thing?"

It's a question again, I heard Li Qinzai boast when I was in Ganjingzhuang, so the ministers said the answer again.

Li Zhi nodded: "Yes, five thousand catties, since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, have you ever heard of any crop with a yield of five thousand catties per mu?"

The ministers shook their heads, an excellent heel, you must follow the idea of teasing, you need to say what you need to say, just say anything, don't get along with your own job.

Seeing that the ministers followed his train of thought very face-giving and gave the correct answer, Li Zhi expressed his please.

Pointing to the sweet potato in front of him again, Li Zhi said slowly: "This is the second season of sweet potato harvest brought by Uncle Teng Wang from Jiangnan, totaling more than 2,000 catties, covering an area of less than half an acre......

"After two harvests, it can now be confirmed that sweet potatoes are indeed as Hou Li Qinzai of Weinan County said, with a yield of 5,000 catties per mu, which is only a lot more."

The ministers were stunned for a moment, and then shocked and in an uproar.

When I saw the sweet potato harvest in Ganjingzhuang, there were only a few sweet potato seeds in total, and the harvest was only a few dozen catties, so the ministers were surprised, but they didn't have much feeling.

After all, Li Qinzai pointed to dozens of catties of harvested sweet potatoes and swore that he would say that he would yield 5,000 catties per mu, and the picture was really not convincing.

But now, the harvest in the second season is more than 2,000 catties, and the hills are generally piled up in front of the Taiji Palace, and the picture at this moment is completely different from the beginning.

Although they did not want to believe it, they had to believe it. Because the facts are right in front of you.

After the shock, the ministers quickly thought of the significance of a grain crop with a yield of 5,000 catties per mu to the Jiangshan Sheji and to the people of Limin, so they became more and more shocked, and the last look of horror quickly turned into surprise.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty, the country will be forever, and all generations will never stop!"

All the ministers saluted together, and Li Zhi looked up to the sky and laughed.

This is not an exaggeration, with a grain yield of 5,000 catties per mu, won't the country be "eternal"?

So, next......

Li Zhi tried to restrain his laughter, and said, "Let me ask Zhongqing, this thing is more important to the Tang Dynasty than Zhu to expand the territory?"

The ministers are not stupid, of course they know the answer.

In the long river of history, the development of territory is only a temporary benefit of the dynasty, no matter how large the territory of the previous dynasties, less than decades, more than hundreds of years, once the dynasty turns into decline, the original territory will inevitably be lost, this is the truth that cannot be broken through the ages.

However, a grain with a yield of 5,000 catties per mu, no matter how the dynasty changes, once the grain is popularized, it will never be lost.

If the emperors of all dynasties were to dig out of the ground and ask them whether to choose a new grain with a huge yield per mu or a territory of thousands of miles, as long as they were not extremely mediocre emperors, their answer would definitely be grain.

Because the country is eternal, it is directly equated with grain, not the territory of development.

After a long silence, Li Zhi finally heard the answers of the ministers, and he expressed his satisfaction with the answers of the people.

After the ministers entered the palace, Li Zhi asked a few questions one after another, and at the beginning, the ministers were still confused, and they didn't know why the Son of Heaven asked.

However, all the people present were important ministers of the court, an old fox who was better than the other, and after Li Zhi asked questions one after another, everyone gradually felt the taste, so they glanced at Li Tao with understanding.

In the crowd, Li Tao's old eyes were half-closed, and he didn't say anything like a withered tree, as if he didn't know anything about outside his body.

Li Zhi also quickly glanced at Li Tao, then looked around at the ministers, and said slowly: "The importance of this thing is especially better than opening up thousands of miles of territory, so ...... How shall I reward those who find it?"

"Sweet potatoes are now in the Tang Dynasty, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a miracle, right? Do you think I can turn a blind eye to the person who made this work and let it be as if it didn't happen?"

The ministers are not only supportive, but also excellent, and they know very well what the answer the Son of Heaven needs.

When should I follow the words of the Son of Heaven, and when can I instantly tell that the Son of Heaven is saying the opposite.

As soon as Li Zhi said this, Xu Jingzong, who had the most clever mind, immediately spoke.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the person who discovered the sweet potato has made a great contribution to the Tang Dynasty, and must be rewarded heavily.