Hurriedly replied with a smile on his face: "When the fourth prince entered the palace for the New Year, the king was happy, and he was impatient with so many people dangling in front of him. The master said that he would let me go out of the palace and walk around for two or three days. But Master also said that Lord Rong's mansion must come to visit."

"Lord Wangcheng is also too polite, everyone is a close minister of the Son of Heaven, and it is also appropriate to help each other."

As soon as he sat down at the table, Qi Zhong immediately knelt down and thanked him, and Rong Yi had to leave the table to help him up: "My lord, how can Rong Yi be virtuous, why did he make this great gift?"

"The last time Master explained something, a certain family messed up. If it weren't for Mr.'s letter to turn the situation around in one fell swoop, I'm afraid Master would never have spared me. I am deeply touched by the grace of the gentleman's rescue." Unlike the waiter Jia, Qi Zhong said that he couldn't beat around the bush, and he always went straight.

"My lord's words are serious, so that the master and apprentice have a love of life and death with the king, I am just adding fuel to the fire, what is the merit? Although I am speaking for the king now, but Lord Qi is a real close minister who cannot be separated from the king's side, don't do this, torture me!"

"Hahaha-" The two of them met, looking at each other and smiling.

Once you're back seated, get down to business. Rong Yi asked first, "By the way, the king is determined to go out on patrol after the snow melts, has this guard general been chosen?"

"Well," Qi Zhong replied, "Who else?" Naturally, it's still Ji Tayou."

"Isn't he about to be transferred to the Eighth Division of Chengzhou? How? The successor has not yet been chosen?"

"The king is the king's favor. It's just because when the eldest father of Duke Yu was the prince and the prince, Yu Zhongban read for a while, and now that Duke Yu has died of illness, the king intends to cultivate the second child of the Yu family, so let him be a Wangcheng Sima on top first. It's just that he is still guarding the funeral, and he is afraid that he will not be able to come to Hojing until next year."

"How can this work?" Rong Yi stroked his short beard and muttered, "Wang Cheng Sima is in charge of the position of guard, and he must not be vacant."

Qi Zhong nodded: "Who said it wasn't? The whole body is worried about this!"

Rong Yi leaned forward slightly, and asked in a low voice, "My vain Zhongli, what do you think?"

Qi Zhong's eyes lit up: "Sir's first apprentice, I heard that he is a master of swordsmanship, and he will definitely be able to do it when he walks alone in the Central Plains. It's just ------" he frowned slightly, "I'm afraid that I have to call the public to call the master of this matter."

"It doesn't matter." Rong Yi smiled faintly: "How about taking this king's tour as an opportunity to take the apprentices with him?"

Qi Zhong understood, nodded his finger and smiled, "You are still resourceful, sir!"

Before the New Year was over, it was still in the first month, and King Zhou Li couldn't hold back his curiosity and eagerness, and went out on patrol accompanied by the waiter Rongyi and the close attendant Qi Zhong. Unlike last year, in addition to not seeing Wei Houhe, there was also less Wang Cheng Sima Ji Duoyou.

Except for King Zhou's wide and sturdy cool car, the rest of the entourage all rode lightly, and came east along the Fengshui River after leaving the east gate of Haojing Jing. Originally, Ji Hu was going to take the chariot, but the chariot was unobstructed on all sides, Rong Yi and Qi Zhong opposed it to life and death, and Ji Hu was also afraid of increasing the difficulty of the work of the fake deputy Sima Chongli, who served as a guard for the first time, so he also gave up.

This warm cool car is a special wide vehicle, people can sit and lie in it, the arc-shaped top cover of the carriage has a skylight that can be closed and closed, there are also windows on the left and right sides, there are burlap clothes outside, the clothes are warm when the window is closed, and the window is cool when the clothes are opened, so it is called the warm car, also called the warm car.

The carriage and horse go out of the pickaxe capital for dozens of miles, it is the confluence area of Fengshui into Weishui, a horse Pingchuan, and the topography is also regarded as the superior plot of the hinterland of Wangji. Ji Hu is not afraid of the cold when he is young, he has been sitting outside the skylight of the wide open carriage, the scenery of the four fields is in full view, and he sees that in the endless fields, many farmers are carrying hoes and do not know what to do, and from time to time there is a fierce noise, and he can't help but wonder: "It's already farming, the frozen soil has not been opened, what are the farmers arguing about?"

Rongyi's horsewhip next to the car replied, "There is a shortage of water in Guanzhong, and the farmers are always arguing over the direction of the water when they are free."

Ji Hu couldn't help frowning: "Guanzhong Wangji is surrounded by eight rivers, how can there be a water shortage?"

Rong Yi arched his hand and said, "The classics that my king is familiar with are all the things of the three kings of ancient times, and they are far from the current situation. Although there are eight rivers in Guanzhong, they all have to rely on the canals made of old wells and fields, and the hair canals opened by the households themselves to irrigate. These aqueducts,

The channel is narrow and shallow, and it is very easy to be blocked. In recent years, there have been frequent wars, and a group of officials in Guanzhong have been busy urging taxes, while the people are busy harvesting seeds and wartime conscription.

Recalling the books of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors that he had read in the past, he had indeed dabbled too little in practice, Ji Hu couldn't help blushing and asked, "The well field system has a four-layer water network inside and outside, a well canal, a canal, a community canal, a canal, and an external river, how can it become a waste canal now?"

Rong Yi smiled, "My king doesn't know anything. At the time of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, there were many people in the world, and the water conservancy system of the well field was naturally regular. However, more than 100 years after the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, the rivers and rivers flowed and the population and land have undergone great changes, and most of the four-story canals inside and outside the well field system have become barren grass and dry ditches, which have no benefit of diverting water to irrigate the fields, but will contribute to the disaster of floods and occupy a large amount of land."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Ji Hu and said with deep meaning: "The king also came into contact with the case of land invasion in the well field last year, and he should know that the waste of the well field canal is not only due to the cause, but also because of people's selfish intentions."

The words evoked Ji Hu's unpleasant memories, and the resentment of the selfish and greedy rentier aristocracy swelled up irrepressibly, and Ji Hu clenched the rails of the car and muttered hatefully, "These damn moths!"

After being silent for a while, Ji Hu suddenly asked, "How does the gentleman know it, is there a countermeasure?"

Rong Yi immediately owed: "According to the minister's humble opinion, the waste roads and ditches left over from the leveling well field system should be cultivated fields. This matter cannot be implemented by one bureau or one place, and it should be achieved with the unified planning of the entire Wanggi plot."

The clangling wheels crushed heavily in his heart, and Ji Hu was speechless for a long time. Since his accession to the throne, he has been confident that he will be a promising king who will work hard in the future, knowing the country and knowing the people. However, today's words of Rong Yi shook his self-confidence. I had mixed feelings for a while, and I couldn't help sighing: "Qing Yijie has a foreign surname, and he can be so grateful to Wang Jishu's livelihood like a few treasures!"

Half an hour later, a sudden gust of white wind and mist rolled in, and before Ji Hu could rub his eyes, he sneezed a few loud times, waved his hand again and again, and asked, "What is this place?" How can there be a white-haired wind?"

Rong Yi coughed and shouted, "King, you have arrived at the Weibei Halo Land, and the common people call it the Nitrate Beach!"

Ji Hu struggled to open his eyes, only to see the vast white salt-alkali flats, and occasionally there were oases in the snow formed by large fields of wild grass. As far as the eye can see, there is not a single village, only patches of sparkling water shining in the sun. From time to time, strong winds swept by, and patches of white dust and mist swept from the salt-alkali water beach seeping out of the vast barren grass, and it was so terrifying.

"How many of them are in Guanzhong?" Ji Hu asked hoarsely in the wind.

Rong Yi waved his arm and pointed: "There are intermittent Pingchuan in Weibei, and most of the good cultivated land in Guanzhong is concentrated on the south bank of Weishui, and almost 12 of Weibei are such nitrate beaches!"

Ji Hu jumped out of the warm car with a gloomy face, raised his hand and pointed: "Let's go, look at it!"

Everyone rode a horse to get a sparsely wooded hill, but they saw that the mountains in the northern sky were like daisies, and behind them was the surging Weishui, which was sandwiched between Weishui and Beishan and stretched intermittently to the east, and escaped from an ugly bald scar in the fertile field!

In this bald scar, the green is the vast barren grass, the white forest is covered with thick alkali flowers, and the bright and bright is the bad water that seeps out of the grass and is saltier than salt. The basil between the water and grass reaches the waist, the fox rabbit is infested, and the frogs are chirping, but there are no grains!

"This ------ Guanzhong is known as a fertile field, how can there be such a bad land?" Ji Hu was at a loss.

Rong Yi pointed to Weishui and said, "There are eight rivers in Guanzhong, five waters in Weinan, and only three waters in Weibei. Since I built the capital of Fenghao Erjing in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the irrigation of the river canal is mostly in the south of Weishui, so the land of Weinan is mostly fertile fields. Weibei was originally a wasteland full of grass and trees due to the lack of rivers and reclamation. The Weishui River flows through the central area of Guanzhong, and the riverbed is high in the south and low in the north, but if there is a flood, it will overflow and spread to the north, silting up into a beach in the grass and trees wasteland, which cannot be discharged, and over time it will accumulate into this kind of white clay brine land, which the people call the nitrate beach."

While staring, Ji Hu suddenly narrowed his eyes and pointed: "The stars and black spots on that white beach are people, right?"

"Your Majesty, that's the Alkali Sweeper." Rong Yi continued, "Although nitrate alkali is

harm, but there is also a benefit, that is, alkali. In addition to cultivating the slopes, the common people of Weibei make a living by sweeping and boiling alkali."

"How? How do you make a living by sweeping alkali and boiling alkali?" Qi Zhong beside him couldn't help but interject.

Rong Yi smiled slightly, pointed to the white alkaline land and said, "This white ground does not grow a single grass, but there are leached crystalline alkali flowers. The people made brooms with dried basil, swept back the alkali flowers on the beach, added water and boiled them in a large pot, the soil sank to the bottom of the pot, and the alkali juice floated on it. Fill a pottery bowl with alkaline juice, and it will condense into a large lump overnight. When the alkali lumps are dissolved, it is alkaline water. Crude alkali can be mixed with noodles to prevent face acidity, and coarse ones can be tanned. If it is done well, not only will the people on both sides of the Weishui River be self-sufficient, but even the northern Rong tribes will come to buy goods!"

"That's a good thing!" Ji Hu's eyes widened: "Born with nitrate, it doesn't take much effort, just sweep and sell it for money, and the money can be exchanged for all kinds of things!"

"My king doesn't know anything!" Rong Yi sighed and said, "As far as alkali is concerned, this white vast beach is also divided into three, six, nine and so on, and not there are alkali flowers to sweep everywhere. There are no alkali flowers in the barren grass of basil over there, and there will be no alkaline flowers if the water is too much, only the barren land that is soaked in salt and nitrate but not soaked in salt water, damp and white and no grass grows, can have alkaline peanuts. In this way, the common people can only help make ends meet, how can they sweep away and become a cash cow?"