The domestic guard is a little sweet

Zhao Jin cheered and jumped up and down a few times while holding An Shier's hand, wishing he could jump directly onto this person, hug him tightly, and give him a few more loud kisses.

However, it is now in ancient times, and his identity is really not suitable for doing such a thing. He can only cough a few times in embarrassment, and grab An Twelve's hand, but those beautiful phoenix eyes are full of tears. It's a smile.

The two silently looked up at the fluttering red silk on the tree view, with smiles on their faces.

In the afternoon, Zhao Jin wanted to eat the newly made dim sum, so he sent An Shier down the mountain to buy some local specialty dim sum in Muhua City not far away.

It was rare for him to sit by himself under a big willow tree outside the courtyard at this moment. There was a stone table there. Zhao Jin waved away the servant who brought the tea, poured a pot of tea happily, and drank by himself, which was quite enjoyable.

The breeze rustled the face, and the sound of willow leaves being blown was particularly refreshing.

Daoren Zhang, dressed in a blue Taoist robe, walked slowly under the willow tree and saluted Zhao Jin slightly.

"I don't know who I am, can I ask the prince for a cup of tea to drink?"

Zhao Jin shook his head and stretched out his hand as a gesture of invitation.

"Master doesn't dislike drinking tea with me, a layman. I am naturally happy. Please sit down."

Daoren Zhang laughed, and sat across from Zhao Jin, looking at the Muhua Temple not far away. On the way up the mountain, good men and women in twos and threes walked devoutly to the temple to offer incense and pray for blessings.

Zhang Taoist looked at Zhao Jin and said with a smile: "What do you think they are asking for?"

Zhao Jin personally poured a cup of tea for Taoist Zhang, put it in his hand, and looked sideways at those praying people.Suddenly remembered a sentence in the movie of the previous life, and said with a smile: "Maybe what they worship is the desire in their hearts."

"Hahaha, the lord really has the root of wisdom, he is a wonderful person." Zhang Daoren laughed loudly when he heard the words, his eyes and eyebrows were full of joy.He lowered his head and took a sip of tea, looking directly at Zhao Jin with dark eyes: "Then what are you asking for here?"

Zhao Jin looked at Zhang Daoren's eyes that could see through everything in the world, his heart skipped a beat, and he took a sip of the tea in his cup as if he didn't care.

"Naturally, I came to Guangdong and Guangxi to supervise agricultural affairs, and to send good seeds to ensure the next year's harvest."

Hearing this, Zhang Daoren smiled inscrutablely, and didn't ask any further questions.

"In the past few days, there has been almost no rainfall for more than ten miles around, and even the streams in the mountains have dropped a little bit. I watched the stars at night and felt that there might be a severe drought this year. I heard that the prince brought new crops suitable for planting on dry land. Fortunately, heaven has the virtue of loving life, otherwise all living beings will suffer.”

Hearing this, Zhao Jin couldn't help but become more serious. Although he said that he couldn't be sure whether this Taoist man really had any supernatural powers, he knew something about astronomy and geography to be a Taoist priest in ancient times, and he still had a good understanding of physical chemistry. Watching the sky at night must be similar to weather forecasting.

Zhao Jin put down his teacup and let out a long sigh.

"In the past few days, we have been traveling all the way, and there is almost no rain. It can be seen that the hundreds of miles from the capital are already showing signs of drought."

Zhang Daoren also frowned, his eyes full of worry.

"The heavy rain this spring delayed the spring planting. Now if there is a severe drought, I'm afraid the harvest will drop sharply, and even the grains will not be harvested."

Although what this Taoist said is possible, Zhao Jin knows that the mighty power of nature is helpless under the circumstances of such advanced modern technology, let alone the ancient times with low productivity.

If it is really a severe drought that has never happened in a century, I am afraid that there will be no crops and starvation everywhere.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jin lost all thoughts of drinking tea.

Sweet potatoes are drought-tolerant plants, and the fruit ripens in a short period of time. Generally, they can be harvested within 130 to 145 days. If they are planted earlier, they will be harvested sooner.

He bowed his hands to Daoren Zhang and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Xiao Wang is going to Muhua City to find the magistrate to talk about something, so we can't drink tea together.

"

"My lord is serious. You must have something important to do. It's the Taoist, I'm bothering you." Zhang Daoren returned the gift to Zhao Jin, looked at Zhao Jin's back, his black eyes were full of deep thought, and muttered to himself: Star generals will bring blessings to all people, is it a blessing or a curse that the generals of the four fields will rise? Master Patriarch, disciples can’t figure it out, can’t figure it out!”

After Taoist Zhang went back that night, he ordered his disciples to exchange all the remaining money in the temple for grain, store it in the cellar, and reclaim wasteland in the mountains to grow drought-resistant grain.

On weekdays, Taoist priests, big and small, in the Taoist temples are self-sufficient in farming and vegetable cultivation. For the faithful men and women who go to the mountains and the countryside, or lay Buddhists who want to clean up, they will also come forward to help cultivate and reclaim the fields for free.

Everyone was not too surprised at the sudden reclaiming of wasteland by Muhuaguan. Instead, they notified their relatives and friends to go up the mountain to help.

But Zhao Jin didn't know about these things, he shut himself in the study when he returned to his small courtyard, wrote a long memorial, and prepared to hand it to his cheap emperor brother.

Zhao Jin reported to the emperor what he saw and heard about the lack of rain along the way, and suggested that the emperor send more sweet potatoes as improved seeds, so that he could distribute some in the passing counties and plant them on the spot.

If there are not enough sweet potatoes, he is willing to donate some of the sweet potatoes he eats at his farm in the suburbs of Beijing as seeds, hoping that the cheap emperor brother can be prepared for the drought.

After writing this, he even dried the ink, sealed it in the envelope, and wrote his name squarely. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief for the current situation. He is just an ordinary prince with no real power, but he can do his best, and the rest depends on the destiny.

Zhao Jin wrote several letters separately and sent them to his farms in different places, reducing the planting of vegetables and fruits, as long as they are enough to eat, and stepping up the planting of drought-tolerant crops such as sweet potatoes and corn, and digging deep in the farms. Cellar, properly store food.

As for the secret guards sent by Zhao Jin, as well as Feng Ruiyang, Zhao Jin also wrote a letter, but only said something about the hot weather and little rain these days, pay attention to the food storage and did not say much. I think these smart people can understand and take precautions .

Zhao Jin handed over these letters to the trustees, sent them out overnight and sent the memorial to the emperor, and sent them to the capital at high speed. After finishing these matters, An Twelve happened to come back from outside the house.

Zhao Jin recruited someone and hurriedly said: "You change your clothes and follow me into the city to visit the county magistrate's office."

"Yes." An Twelve didn't ask too much, handed the food box in his hand to Sun He who was next to him, went back to the room, changed his clothes, mounted his horse again, and went to the county magistrate's office where Muhua City was located with Zhao Jin.

The waist card was just delivered here, and the gate of the county magistrate's office will be opened tomorrow.

From inside, an old man with gray hair who was over 50 years old walked out quickly, and when he saw Zhao Jin, he immediately saluted with a smile on his face: "See the prince, I don't know that the prince has already arrived in Muhua City. It's a sin, a sin." .”

Zhao Jin smiled indifferently, stepped forward to support the elder who was going to bow down, and said with a smile: "Master Wen, after half a century, you can still be so energetic and strong, which is really enviable to Xiao Wang. You don't need to be too polite. "

The gray-haired Master Wen was also a little surprised that Lord Rui was such a virtuous corporal and so close, so he smiled, and the two went into the yamen chatting with each other.

Along the way, Zhao Jin asked about the number of strong laborers in the local area, the amount of cultivated land, and the grain tax situation in the county. Although this old man was over half a hundred years old, he was thoughtful and organized. He had been working in Muhua City for many years. To manage the people in a place can be said to know the local area like the palm of the hand.

Although his rating can be promoted long ago, the old man thought that this is the place where he was born, and he didn't want to leave his hometown because of his age, so he stayed here all year round.

Regardless of his age, he is also vigorous and resolute in his actions.

The two walked hand in hand to the Yamen's study room, and spent half a cup of tea along the way.

The old man has already explained the agricultural affairs of Muhua City clearly.

The two came to the study and served tea, Zhao Jin waved everyone away, leaving him, the boss, and An Twelve in the study.

It is said that people are mature and stable. Mr. Wen has been an official for many years. Although he is upright and not evil, he is not a fool. When he saw the prince, he came under the sun this afternoon. Naturally, he had something important to do, so he got up and saluted and asked.

"I don't know what the lord has ordered me to do?"

Zhao Jin nodded, motioned Mr. Wen to sit down, and after pondering for a while, he said, "You must have heard about the fact that there has been little rain in the area recently, and the water level outside the city has dropped. I wonder if such a situation has happened in Muhua City in recent years? "

Master Wen took the order to sit down and heard the words. He also sighed and twirled his gray beard. He said with some worry, the official did notice that it has arrived. In the past ten days, except for a light rain, there has been no more There was no trace of rain, and according to reports from subordinates, more than half of the water in the streams outside the city had already fallen. If God did not rain again, the streams outside the city would dry up, which would be bad.Although Menghua City is not a dry area with little rain, the weather was also like this 20 years ago. It was a severe drought and no harvest. "

Zhao Jin frowned even more after hearing this, and tapped his index finger on the table lightly, which was exactly what he was worried about.

"The imperial court recently planted a plant called sweet potato. The roots and fruits of the plant can be eaten, and can reach more than 400 jin per mu. It is also drought-resistant. This thing is not a rare commodity, but we rarely plant this kind of plant in our banners, so we don't care about it. There was no big promotion.”

Lord Wen's eyes lit up instantly, and the hand holding the teacup trembled a little, and he asked in a low voice, "Is what the lord said true?!"

Zhao Jin nodded: "I have some sweet potatoes here. After they are cultivated with water to form buds, they can be planted. You might as well give your lord some as a proof to find out if there are sweet potato seedlings planted in the surrounding counties. They can be harvested in about 130 days. This king has Shangzuo, Brother Huang thinks that in the near future, sweet potato seedlings will be sent one after another until they are planted in various places."