Underworld brat

The emperor's lunch was served, a total of nine dishes.Chao Fan didn't know whether it was extravagance or ordinary, but looking at Qin Yingzhi's distressed expression, he felt that maybe it was thrift.

He only ate two pieces of dim sum for breakfast, and when the dishes were ready, Chao Fan started to eat without any hesitation.Because he was so hungry, he didn't bother to pick it up with chopsticks, so he simply picked up the plate and drove half of the eight-treasure duck into his rice bowl.Mix it with sauce-colored soup, minced meat, garlic sprouts, etc., well, it tastes delicious.

Mu Xingyuan didn't dislike it either, he felt that the food in the little god's bowl was not good-looking, but also quite appetizing, so he imitated the example and poured himself a bowl.

The corners of Qin Yingzhi's mouth twitched as he watched from the side, feeling that he had witnessed the beginning of a generation of emperors' degeneration.

"This is my favorite dish, you have to try it..." The fallen emperor began to add food to Chao Xiaoguan.

Chao Xiaoguan glanced at the willow-leaf fish that had been fried until golden, and shook his head with a mouthful of rice in his mouth: "Well, Wo Zui doesn't like eating fish anymore. Don't... don't pinch it for me!"

"Oh." Mu Xingyuan put down the willow leaf fish calmly, and asked him, "Then what do you like to eat the most? I'll ask Yushanfang to make it for you."

"Duck!" Chao Fan swallowed the rice, "Duck is the best!" He has been eating this since he was a child. Ordinary people think it is difficult to cook duck. He loves it the most, especially braised pork. The duck neck duck feet, duck tongue duck collarbone, and salted duck sold in the store are all his lifeblood.

Mu Xingyuan fell silent. After finishing the willow-leaf fish in the bowl, he began to nibble on the white rice.Take a bite, take a look at Chao Fan, then take a look at Babao Duck, and the cycle goes on and on.Qin Yingzhi didn't know what his master was thinking, coughed anxiously twice, and after attracting Chao Fan's attention, he began to wink at him wildly.

Work fine!Chao Fan slandered, and condescendingly gave His Majesty the emperor a piece of duck breast.

Mu Xingyuan smiled, put it in his mouth and chewed it: "It's really delicious. I now think that eight-treasure duck is my favorite dish."

Qin Yingzhi: "!!!!!!"

How about some principles?Although Chao Fan's expression was full of disgust, for some reason, there was a trace of happiness in his heart that he hadn't noticed.

After eating and drinking a big bowl of sweet soup, Chao Fan touched the round belly of "three months pregnant" and stood up.There is also a study room in the bedroom, where Mu Xingyuan sometimes reviews papers, the desk is placed under the window, and you can see the bamboo forest outside the window when you look up.

"It's so quiet here. In broad daylight, how come there aren't even cicadas singing?" Chao Fan walked over, picked up a book and flipped through it. It was written about the laws of the Red Kingdom.

"For fear of disturbing His Majesty's peace, they have already been arrested." Qin Yingzhi replied for His Majesty.

"Wow, can you still operate like this?" Chao Fan was speechless, glanced twice and felt disinterested, and put down the book again.

"Are you literate?" Mu Xingyuan came over with his hands clean and asked him.

"Of course." Chao Fan deliberately picked up a memorial in front of the emperor and read it, "However, I don't know how to write." The characters here are different from Chinese characters. Work hard.

Small officials without rank are not allowed to enter His Majesty's study, so only Qin Yingzhi saw this bold scene.With trembling hands, he said: "You! How can you read the memorial? Neither the Tai nor the Taijun can read..."

"Shut up!" Mu Xingyuan's face darkened again, "Just look at it, Qin Yingzhi, don't mention it to the outside world!"

Qin Yingzhi opened his mouth, but closed it unwillingly, his heart was full of concern for the country and the people.God!An official who cut off his life, why should he worry about this?

"Do you understand? Do you want me to teach you?" Mu Xingyuan pulled Chao Fan to sit down, and there was a chair behind the desk. The emperor's intention was obvious, and he wanted the little official to sit on his lap.

Chao Fan was speechless, closed the memorial and patted the emperor's dragon's head: "You, don't be like a foolish king, reading the memorial will not only punish me, but also teach me? You can easily destroy the country like this."

"Want me to punish you?" Mu Xingyuan's complexion changed, showing the aura of a superior, and he slapped the desk, which startled Qin Yingzhi and Chao Fan, "How dare you be so coquettish and harassing me? State affairs, I punish you to sit down immediately!"

At first, Chao Fan really thought that the emperor had turned his back on him, and the barrage of accompanying the king like a tiger just flashed through his mind, and then he saw him slapping his thigh without being shy.He simply sat down on the desk, crossed his legs and said, "I can understand it, so I don't need you to teach me. This letter is about taxation, right? I interrupted the meal just now, so why don't you talk about it?"

Mu Xingyuan felt that Chao Fan should sit on his lap at this time, and then the two held hands and taught each other how to write. Talking about state affairs was too disappointing.However, Chao Fan wanted to hear it, so he had to explain the cause and effect: "In the corvee service of the Chi Kingdom, there is a rule that all adult men in every household must perform three years of forced labor. The conflict between me and the ministers happened in the In terms of the regulations on forced labor, I want to change it."

Chao Fan raised his eyebrows, motioning for him to continue.

"Three years of forced labor are too hard, I want to change it to one year, and the content also wants to be changed." Mu Xingyuan unconsciously became serious, "Since Emperor Taizu, this rule has been in use until now. Young people in each city will be concentrated in the nearby mines, oil fields and other places after they become adults, and they will mine for free for three years. It was no problem before, because the Lipo tree gave birth to a lot of children, and the labor force in various places is becoming saturated, but now? See for yourself, This is the statistics of the number of births in Chi Country every year—" He took out a stack of papers from the pile of books and threw it to Chao Fan.

In the first year of Kaitai, the number of people born in Chi Country: [-], [-] people, of which [-], [-] people were born in Recheng...

In the second year of Kaitai, the number of people born in Chi Country: seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand two hundred and ninety-three people, among them, Recheng...

……

In the third year of Tianyuan, the number of people born in Chi Country: [-] people, among them, [-] people in Recheng...Tianhuo City...

In the fourth year of Tianyuan, the number of births in Chi Country...

The data shows that the number of births in Chiguo is declining every year, and it is very dangerous to drop all the way to the current level of just over 20 per year.But Chao Fan didn't want to talk about this. He put the question aside for now, and looked at Mu Xingyuan with some surprise: "What did you just say? Mine? Oil field?"

"Yes, mines, oil fields." Mu Xingyuan nodded, not understanding why Chao Fan had doubts about this.

"You... slow down, tell me, what mine? What oil?" Chao Fan asked after taking a deep breath.

"This..." Mu Xingyuan frowned and turned over the table, as if he didn't find what he was looking for, "I remember that there is an account in the household department, wait, where is it? Let me tell you about it, Chi The most common mines in the country are iron mines and coal mines. There are about 2000 mines. In addition, there are copper, gold, silver, etc. There are many types. I can’t remember. I will show you when I find the account. As for the oil field, It’s the Black Oil Field, you should know that, right?”

Chao Fan felt a little breathless: "I'll go! You all have so many industrial resources, why haven't you dominated the world yet?"

Mu Xingyuan was stunned for a moment, then thought for a while and said, "What is industry? As for your hegemony, it may be...because what Chi country has, other countries also have it? No one is better than the other."

So I came to a country that is full of mines and needs to mine all over the country?How many years have they been digging?It has been hundreds of years, and more people are needed to dig?Oh my God!Chao Fan regained his composure, and murmured, "I know what I'm going to do..."

"Huh? What are you going to do?" Mu Xingyuan felt that Chao Fan was a little dazed, and secretly led him, but he didn't respond at all. Very good, we must continue to maintain this point.

"I—" Chao Fan swallowed his saliva and said with bright eyes, "I'm here to promote the industrial revolution!"

In an instant, fireworks bloomed, drums played, and Chao Fan seemed to see himself at the pinnacle of his life!

Eh?Where is the applause?

Chao Fan looked down, and both Mu Xingyuan and Qin Yingzhi looked at him with puzzled faces, as if they were listening to a scripture.

This feeling of pretending/forcing no one's attention is just like telling a bad joke, so embarrassing and suffocating.

"Well, forget it, let's talk about the population." Chao Fan held the respect for himself awkwardly, picked up the stack of papers and turned it over, "Your birth population is getting smaller and smaller, what's going on? ? Hey, there are [-] more births in Tianyuan in five years than in four years, and it didn't fall..."

Not only was Mu Xingyuan not happy, but he frowned: "That's because of the national teacher."

"what?"

"That year, he practiced the method of the Binpo tree, and the birth population did not decrease but increased. That's why the late emperor rejected all opinions and regarded him as the national teacher." Mu Xingyuan was full of sarcasm, "Look carefully, after that Although the number of births every year is also decreasing, the number of reductions is much smaller. Nowadays, who doesn't treat him as a baby? Hmph!"

So the national teacher is the guarantee of the birth rate of the Chi country?Chao Fan felt a little sympathetic to Mu Xingyuan. He obviously hated the Imperial Teacher and the Taijun, but this enemy was too powerful, and he couldn't move at all. If he moved, he would destroy human beings in advance.

"Let's talk about forced labor." Mu Xingyuan sighed, "In the past, there were a large number of births, so it was no problem to do this. However, now the number of young and middle-aged people who can be used has been reduced. No one farms the fields, and since I came to power, there have been three famines. If the corvee is not reduced, the consequences will be disastrous." The emperor was almost dying of worry.

"Did the ministers not think of this problem?" Chao Fan was puzzled, "You didn't develop industry, why did you dig so many mines? Pile them up to look good? Of course, you need to send people to farm the land!"

Mu Xingyuan lowered his head and said nothing.

Seeing that his master was in trouble, Qin Yingzhi interjected: "Lu... Chao Jintong, this matter... is really difficult. Every year, two-thirds of the ore dug by the whole country is allocated to feed the Bingpo tree. So if you allocate If people go to farm, the number of births may decrease. But if people don’t go to farm, more people will starve to death every year, Your Majesty—he’s also in a dilemma!”

"I'm different from them. What I want is for the living people to survive!" Mu Xingyuan raised his head, with the determination and compassion of an emperor shining in his eyes.

Chao Fan's heart trembled. He didn't want to see such a light disappear from Mu Xingyuan's eyes, so he said, "How about... let me give you a magic weapon?"

"What magic weapon?" Mu Xingyuan was stunned for a moment, "Can it solve the problem of forced labor?"

"Yes!" Chao Fan smiled, "Steam engine, can you find out more about it?"

The author has something to say: steam engine: pickme! pickme!

(You are so hard, it turned out to be this direction!)