Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 220 The Emperor's Tour
Late at night, the lobby of the Liu Mansion was still brightly lit with candles.

Liu Yuanli paced back and forth in the lobby with his hands behind his back, looking extremely anxious.

A quarter of an hour later, a servant came to the hall and said, "Alang, Su Xima is here."

Liu Yuanli walked out of the hall quickly and saw Su Liangsi following the servants in the outer courtyard.

"Brother Su, you are finally here. You kept me waiting for so long." Liu Yuanli said with a wry smile.

Su Liangsi explained, "Tonight, the eldest grandson of the Yu family was crowned, and I was invited as a guest. Later, I drank a few more glasses at the dinner, so I returned home late. Please forgive me."

Men in the Tang Dynasty were crowned at the age of 20. The one being crowned this time was Yu Zhiwei, the eldest grandson of the Yu family. The ceremony was very grand and almost all the prominent figures in Chang'an City were invited.

Liu Yuanli sighed, "No wonder, I also received the invitation from the Yu Mansion."

Su Liangsi frowned and said, "Then why don't you go?"

Li Hong was made the crown prince, and Yu Zhining was also promoted to the crown prince's tutor. His status in the court was vaguely on par with Li Ji.

Liu Yuanli smiled bitterly and said, "I'm so upset that I really don't feel like going."

While the two were talking, they came to the outer hall and sat down as host and guest.

Su Liangsi asked, "What happened again?"

Liu Yuanli asked, "I heard that His Majesty is on tour. Is this true?"

Su Liangsi said, "Yes, the Queen also left Chang'an with His Majesty, and now the Crown Prince is the regent."

Liu Yuanli asked anxiously, "Do you know where your Majesty went?"

Su Liangsi said in a deep voice: "How would I know about this kind of thing? And who would dare to inquire about it?"

When the emperor was on tour, anyone who secretly inquired about his whereabouts would be suspected of treason, so no one dared to ask too many questions.

Liu Yuanli sighed and said, "I was thinking that since you are serving in the Eastern Palace and accompanying the Crown Prince, he might accidentally reveal where His Majesty has gone."

Su Liangsi said unhappily, "The Crown Prince is intelligent, how could he possibly say such a thing? Brother Liu, what's wrong with you today? Why are you always asking about the whereabouts of His Majesty?"

Liu Yuanli smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid that His Majesty will find out..."

"What did you find?"

Liu Yuanli was about to speak, but suddenly seemed a little worried. He walked to Su Liangsi and whispered a few words to him.

After hearing this, Su Liangsi's face changed drastically. He said, "Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid?"

Liu Yuanli said anxiously, "But among the princes, only Prince Guo has submitted a petition opposing it. Now that the land system reform can no longer be stopped, I have no choice but to do it!"

Su Liangsi was silent for a long time, then sighed, "I can't help you with this matter. You can only pray to His Majesty not to go to Jingyang."

……

The Wei River surrounds Chang'an City to the north. After crossing the Wei River Bridge and heading north, there is a long official road. After crossing the Jing River, you will reach Jingyang.

Li Zhi's imperial procession was on its way to Jingyang, accompanied by three thousand armored soldiers and General Cheng Zhijie of the Right Jinwu Guard.

There were also imperial physicians such as Sun Simiao and Zhen Guangzhou.

Wu Meiniang was also taken along by Li Zhi.

The two of them sat together in the spacious imperial carriage. Along the way, Li Zhi was looking at the scenery along the road.

As the sun was about to set, Cheng Zhijie rode his horse to the imperial chariot and said, "Your Majesty, we are only two miles away from Jingyang. Do you want to enter the city?"

Li Zhi said: "Let's not go into the city, let's go around from Jingyang."

Cheng Zhijie agreed and led his troops to bypass Jingyang from the west.

After sunset, the team set up camp near the Jing River.

Li Zhi rarely slept in the wild, which he found quite novel. He took eunuchs such as Wang Fusheng and strolled around the camp.

Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard. A cavalry team was coming towards the camp, but was stopped by the sentries in the distance.

The visitors were Wang Jishan and several inner guards. After entering the camp, they quickly found Li Zhi and said, "Your Majesty, Niangbo Golden Bird and Dabo Wu have been released."

Li Zhi said: "Have you done a good job of keeping it secret?"

Wang Jishan said, "I have sent twenty inner guards, led by Cheng Wuting, to lead them on a secret detour from Liangzhou back to Tubo. We will never leak the secret!"

Li Zhi hummed, and said, "The person impersonating them must also keep it secret and not be discovered."

In order to confuse Lu Dongzan, the Tang Dynasty must accept the surrender of Niangbo Jinniao and Dabowu on the surface, and needs to find someone to impersonate the two.

Wang Jishan said, "Subilanya personally selected two men who look similar and placed them in the Honglu Temple. They are under strict guard by the Inner Guards, so there will be no problem."

Li Zhi said: "You've worked hard, go and rest."

Wang Jishan bowed and took his leave.

After Li Zhi took another walk around the camp, he returned to his own tent.

Inside the tent, Wu Meiniang was sitting on a low couch, talking with Sun Simiao and Zhen Guang.

"Your Majesty has returned." Wu Meiniang came over with a smile, helped Li Zhi take off his cloak, and said, "Your Majesty, it's time to administer the medicine and acupuncture."

Li Zhi said to Sun and Zhen, "Thank you for your hard work, elders. You have to accompany me on this journey."

Zhen Guangzhou bowed and said, "This is my responsibility."

Sun Simiao held the medicine bowl and said with a smile, "I often travel around when I practice medicine. Your Majesty does not need to worry about me." Li Zhi took the medicine, took off his clothes, and let Zhen Guangxiou give him acupuncture.

At dinner, Li Zhi ordered people to build a fire outside the tent and invited Sun Simiao and Zhen Guangzhou to have dinner with him. He also asked Cheng Zhijie, Wang Jishan and Wang Fusheng to gather around the fire, spread mats and eat together.

During the meal, Li Zhi asked about Sun Simiao's experience as a doctor.

Sun Simiao only talked about the local customs and folkways, and mentioned very little about his own medical practice.

Wu Meiniang put down her chopsticks, smiled faintly, and said, "Your Majesty, I have heard a good story about Mr. Sun's medical practice, but I don't know if it's true or not."

Li Zhi said, "Tell me about it."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "It is said that Mr. Sun once practiced medicine in Qiu County. He treated everyone equally, never accepting money or thanks. He only asked patients to plant three apricot trees next to the temple after they recovered. In less than a year, he had planted a hundred acres of apricot trees, a lush forest, and when the apricots were ripe, he would trade them for grain to help the poor."

Sun Simiao smiled and twirled his beard, without refuting it, and it was obvious that this was true.

After listening to this, Li Zhi was stunned, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Wu Meiniang asked curiously, "Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"

Li Zhi said slowly, "During the Qin and Han dynasties, Guanzhong had tens of thousands of hectares of fertile farmland. Now, there are less than 10,000 hectares. I believe this is due to the severe deforestation of mountain ranges like the Qinling Mountains, which has led to soil erosion. Therefore, I ordered officials from the Ministry of Revenue to plant trees in the Qinling Mountains and replace charcoal with coal. This will reduce the people's deforestation and increase Guanzhong's output. Dr. Sun's actions in cultivating trees are similar to my own."

Sun Simiao bowed and said, "My methods are to heal the people, while your majesty's actions are to heal the country. I dare not be compared with your majesty."

Cheng Zhijie suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, are you changing the land system to restore Guanzhong's output?"

Li Zhi nodded and said, "That's also the reason. Although Chang'an is not short of food now, it needs to be transported from Luoyang, which consumes a lot of manpower and is not a long-term solution. Therefore, I still hope that Guanzhong can be self-sufficient."

Cheng Zhijie thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I have a plan that may be of some help to the people of Guanzhong."

Li Zhi's eyes lit up and he asked, "What method?"

Cheng Zhijie said, "I've heard that many merchants have recently opened private ranches in Mobei to obtain furs and horses. Your Majesty, why don't you establish more government-run ranches in Mobei so that Chang'an City can obtain more meat!"

There were more than a dozen government-run ranches in the Tang Dynasty, a custom inherited from the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, four major government-run ranches were established successively, namely: Daijun Ranch, Mo Nan Ranch, Hexi Ranch, and Heyang Ranch.

In the Tang Dynasty, some medium-sized ranches were added based on these four major ranches, and they were all managed by the Imperial Household Department.

The mutton eaten by Tang Dynasty officials was produced on these pastures.

With the emergence of state-run ranches, many private ranches also emerged among the people. The government did not prohibit them, but only set upper limits on land and scale.

Due to the westward migration of the Tiele tribe, the population on the Mobei grassland decreased a lot, causing the Mobei trade route to become much more depressed.

Many merchants with a keen sense of smell saw that there were grasslands everywhere, the government management was loose, and it was extremely easy to handle public inspections, so they applied to the government for land and built private ranches.

In this way, they can save even the costs and naturally make a lot of money.

After Li Zhi learned the details from Cheng Zhijie, he was overjoyed.

The statement that interests drive development is absolutely true. He had originally considered migrating people to the northern desert to graze, but was worried about causing public resentment, so he did not implement it.

Unexpectedly, driven by profit, the merchants developed in Mobei first, which was really a pleasant surprise.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?" Cheng Zhijie reminded Li Zhi when he saw that he had been silent for a long time.

Li Zhi smiled and said, "General Cheng's suggestion is very good. I will immediately draft an imperial decree and have the Imperial Household Department study the matter of establishing additional pastures in Mobei."

Cheng Zhijie grinned. He loved eating mutton, and he actually had some selfish motives in making this suggestion.

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, may I continue?"

Li Zhi was stunned for a moment and said, "Aren't you finished?"

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Planting apricot trees is just the beginning. It is said that a tiger knelt down to seek medical treatment. Doctor Sun used the 'tiger support' method to cure the disease caused by a golden hairpin stuck in the throat. The tiger is spiritual and is protecting the apricot forest as a way of repaying the kindness."

Sun Simiao hurriedly said, "Your Highness, this is a false rumor. I only treated a mountain cat, not a tiger."

Wang Fusheng smiled slightly and said, "Although it's just a rumor, it shows the gratitude the people have for Dr. Sun."

After a while, everyone had almost finished eating.

Li Zhi clapped his hands, stood up and said, "Fu Sheng, go prepare some clothes. I want to go incognito to take a look at the nearby villages. Mei Niang, do you want to come with me?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone's expressions changed.

Cheng Zhijie knelt on one knee and said with a folded hand, "Your Majesty, your safety is related to the lifeblood of the country. This place is too far from Chang'an. If something goes wrong, there may be an accident. Please think twice."

Wang Jishan, Sun Simiao and others also spoke out to dissuade them.

Li Zhi frowned and said nothing.

Wu Meiniang said softly, "Your Majesty, you want to visit the village to find out whether the land system reform has been implemented locally, right?"

Li Zhi said: "That's right."

Wu Mei Niang said, "Since that's the case, why not let me go on your behalf? I can achieve my goal without you having to take any risks."

Li Zhi said, "Mei Niang, you're a woman, so I'm afraid it might be a little inconvenient, right?"

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "It is precisely because I am a woman that others will not be on guard against me, and it is easier for them to get information."

Li Zhi was silent for a while, then sighed, "Forget it, Mei Niang, I'll trouble you to investigate for me."

(End of this chapter)