Chapter 709: Come to the Center

Chapter 709: Come to the Center

Chapter 709: Come to the Center
It's Laba Festival again.

Shao Xun ignored Lu Zhi for a few days, and finally invited him to the newly built Lingbo Hall to eat red bean porridge on this day.

The red beans were planted by Shao's mother on the wasteland reserved for Mingde Palace. Cao's guards and servants in the palace helped, and they harvested more than 600 kilograms in total.

Mother Liu said happily that she was lucky enough to have harvested some grain, fruits and vegetables before her son destroyed the fertile fields.

The dining place arranged by Shao Xun was in a brick and stone courtyard by the lake.

Lu Zhi arrived early, and with a lot on his mind, he simply stood by the lake to enjoy the scenery.

Actually, there is nothing much to see. In the middle of winter, there are mostly dead branches and fallen leaves, rustling and rustling. What is there to see?
But this bleak scene was in perfect agreement with Lu Zhi's mood, and it made him deeply moved.

"Zidao." A hearty voice came from not far away.

Lu Zhi looked back and saw Shao Xun, who had arrived here surrounded by guards. He hurried forward to salute.

Shao Xun looked up at the leaden clouds and the faintly falling snow particles and said, "It's going to snow."

"Yes, it's going to snow." Lu Zhi whispered.

"Snow is not without its benefits." Shao Xun led Lu Zhi into the yard and asked, "Has the wheat in Hebei been planted?"

"We have planted it." Lu Zhi said, "The autumn millet harvest was a mess. We have no choice but to plant wheat next."

Shao Xun nodded.

Disasters - whether natural or military - "guide" human agricultural management methods and planting cycles.

Twenty or thirty years into the Little Ice Age, more and more people have come to realize the benefits of the two-year, three-harvest system.

Of course, this requires a lot of supporting facilities, such as relevant knowledge about wheat planting - even though people have been planting wheat for a long time, it is not mainstream and relevant knowledge is not popular enough.

For example, three crops in two years will increase the consumption of soil fertility. At this time, composting technology should be promoted.

More than ten years ago, Shao Xun started doing this in Sanwu, Yiyang, and later promoted it to Sanyuan, Guangchengze and other counties in Luoyang and Luonan.

Later, it began to spread to Xiangcheng, Nanyang, Chenjun, Liangjun, Yingchuan and other places.

In recent years, it has continued to be promoted and popularized in Yuzhou and Yanzhou counties.

Shao Xun could only remain speechless about this matter.

A small composting technology has not been rolled out throughout Henan for more than a decade...

In addition, composting alone is not enough. At this time, it is necessary to leave the land fallow or rotate the crops. Fortunately, there are many idle fields now, so it is not impossible to do so.

Not long after Shao Xun and Lu Zhi entered and sat down, Lu Xun came over with Huan Lang.

"Uncle." Lu Xun bowed to Lu Zhi.

Lu Zhi returned the salute and then looked at Huan Lang.

Huanlang had received his mother's signal long ago, so he bowed to Lu Zhi respectfully - in public, Lu Zhi was the right military commander of the shogunate, so there was no problem with bowing; in private, his mother and Lu Zhi were related, which meant they were real ancestors, so there was no problem with bowing.

"Serve the porridge." Shao Xun clapped his hands and ordered.

Lu Zhi's mood became slightly better.

Today, there are only nieces and nephews, no other outsiders, which explains a lot.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn't too bad.

The palace servants quickly brought red bean porridge.

Lu Zhi looked up and felt a little upset because he saw familiar faces: the women of the rebellious Zhongshan Liu family and Boling Cui family - the once gentle ladies and elegant young ladies, now became slaves doing rough work, which made him sigh secretly.

He calmed himself down and ate his porridge in silence.

Shao Xun ate two large bowls in a row and then stopped eating.

The custom of eating red bean porridge on the twelfth lunar month started with him in Liang State. It can be traced back to the time when refugees from Chen County harvested the first batch of red beans and everyone sat together to drink porridge.

Whether others like it or not, they just follow the trend passively. Maybe it will become a custom over time.

After rinsing his mouth, the palace servants came to clean up the dishes. Shao Xun changed to another room, sat down, and said, "Zidao, you have worked hard. Do you remember the first time we met?"

Lu Xun sat next to Shao Xun and signaled his son with his eyes to sit to the side.

When Lu Zhi mentioned this, he smiled and said, "It's been more than ten years. At that time, I went from Luoyang to Yiyang with Yu Yuangui and met you at Jinmenwu."

"Zidao has a good memory." Shao Xun said with a smile, "It should have been at the fighting field in Jinmenwu, and I was practicing archery."

Lu Zhi said nothing.

Are you practicing archery? You are practicing archery while holding the Concubine Taidi.

No, it’s more like playing around and making women happy than practicing archery.

Besides, what did Lord Liang mean by this? Did he see that I had been drifting away from Madam Le over the years?

Yes, Mrs. Le did not attend today's porridge banquet. Instead, his niece Lu Xun attended.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhi couldn't help but sigh secretly, Liang Gong saw everything, he knew everything. The two then talked about some happy things in the past, and Lu Xun said a few words to make the atmosphere more lively.

"All the counties in Hebei have been pacified..." Lu Zhi knew that some things could not be avoided, so it was time to get to the point, so he mentioned the situation in Hebei. He only said: "Hua Jingze (Hua Heng) may have had some involvement, but after the rebellion started, he commanded well, dispatched effectively, and governed the people with skills, which has already made up for his crime."

"Zidao." Shao Xun looked at him seriously and said, "If he made a mistake, how can he not be punished? He was not touched before because the rebellion in Jizhou had not been quelled. Now that it has been quelled, Hua Jingze should move to another position."

Lu Zhi was silent for a moment, then said, "Ming Gong is right."

"Let him come back and be the governor of Yingchuan." Shao Xun said, "Pengcheng Liu Wang Qiao Ke can be the governor of Jizhou. What do you think of him, Zidao?"

"Liu Wangqiao is a man of outstanding talent and learning, and is also familiar with military affairs. He is also a member of your hometown, so he is a very suitable candidate." Lu Zhi said with a bitter heart.

The main purpose of requesting an audience today is to preserve the power of the Hebei faction as much as possible. Unfortunately, the most important governor of Jizhou was not retained and was replaced by Liu Chou from Xuzhou.

Liu Chou had a shallow foundation in Hebei and was certainly unable to do things well, but correspondingly, the Hebei nobles could no longer act as conveniently as they did in the past. The two sides were restraining each other.

He also thought of the same idea when Duke Liang sent Pei Xia, the military supervisor of the General's Office, to serve as the governor of Qingzhou after the Tianshi Dao rebellion was put down.

Of course, there are some differences.

Lu Zhi heard that originally Lord Liang intended to let Wang Clan of Langya help manage the situation in Qingzhou, but Wang Xuan became the Minister of Agriculture, so there was no suitable candidate. So Pei Xia was sent. This person had a special identity. He was the son-in-law of Taiwei Wang Yan and a member of Pei family. In the current situation, it was really difficult to judge his inclination. Perhaps only Lord Liang himself knew clearly.

"When Youzhou returned to the right path, Xu Shi and Xu Yizu made great contributions and have made great achievements in governing the local area for several years. Let's go to Bianliang and become the Yellow Gate Minister." Shao Xun said in front of Lu Zhi, and then asked: "Zi Dao, do you understand my intention?"

Lu Zhichu was confused at first, but when Shao Xun asked him this, a flash of light flashed in his mind, and he understood, and said: "Yan State Liu Han has always been an elder. When Jizhou was in turmoil, he suppressed the restless bandits in the state, and also sent food and weapons to support Gaoyang Internal History Yang Dan, and clamped down on Liu Yueshi, preventing the turmoil from spreading. You may want to make use of him."

"Zi Dao is good at taking advantage of opportunities." Shao Xun smiled and said, "Then let Liu Han come to Bianliang and serve as the Minister of the Court. Who can succeed him as the Governor of Youzhou?"

"This matter should be decided by you, my lord."

"How is Yuan Chong, the Grand Master?"

"The Yuan family has been a prominent family for generations, and they are more than qualified to be the governor of Youzhou."

"That's settled then." Shao Xun said.

After saying that, he looked at Lu Zhi again. After the conversation just now, he must have had an epiphany.

It is unsustainable to continue holding official positions in Hebei and appointing people based on personal connections.

He gave Lu Zhi some advice, meaning that if he wanted to get an official position, he should work hard in the central government.

Shao Xun would not feel at ease if the people of Hebei only had their eyes on the local officials in Hebei and targeted these local officials.

When we attacked Jizhou and Youzhou, we made a lot of compromises and allowed a large number of local powerful families to serve as officials in the local areas. Now we must slowly reverse this trend - don't just have the idea of ​​being a local tyrant in your minds, if you have the ability, come to Beijing and compete with others.

Lu Zhi had already understood this meaning. Thinking carefully, under the current situation, there was no other way.

There are too few people from Hebei serving as officials in the two central cities of Luoyang and Bianliang. If this continues, they will suffer sooner or later.

"I will inspect Yecheng next spring." Shao Xun added, "Zidao, you will have to work harder. You will spend the New Year in Yecheng and help me take care of all the affairs."

"But is it about attacking the Huns?" Lu Zhi asked.

"That's right." Shao Xun stood up, patted his son on the shoulder, and said, "Hulang will be ten years old next year, and Jindao will be twelve years old. Come with me to the north to gain some experience."

When Lu Xun heard this, his eyes seemed to be filled with both joy and sorrow. He wanted to say something, but he stammered and didn't dare to speak out loud.

She was born into a rich family and knew a lot. It was precisely because she knew so much that she was so entangled and worried.

Especially when she noticed the look Lu Zhi was giving her, she finally lowered her head and sighed.

"When attacking the Xiongnu, Hebei cannot stay out of it." Shao Xun said, "At that time, we will dispatch two armies, one from Tianchang Town to attack Jingxing Pass, and the other from Shexian County to attack Hukou Pass."

"The rebellion in Hebei has just been quelled, so there is no need to send out too many troops, but we still need to prepare food and fodder for 30,000 people to fight for a year."

"Zidao, don't frown. This amount of money and food is not much, we can squeeze it out. Besides, we may not need so much. Once we break through the Danzhuling Mountains, most of the troops from Hebei can be withdrawn, leaving a small number to Bingzhou to suppress the ground."

"This is what Zidao needs to do in the next few months. Thank you for your hard work!"

Lu Zhi cupped his hands and said, "I will take care of this matter myself."

When Mr. Liang said "thank you for your hard work", it was not a discussion but an order, which had to be done.

When he inspects Yecheng in the spring of next year, he will certainly watch these two armies attack Bingzhou. If they are short of food, fodder and equipment, a massacre will be inevitable.

After the meeting ended that day, Lu Zhi hurried to Yecheng.

Shao Xun led his personal army to Gaoping and Dongping for inspection. During the Spring Festival, he visited the grassroots and distributed gifts to the soldiers of the eight Longxiang prefectures in the two places to increase his popularity.

This matter continued until the end of the year, and Shao Xun only hurried back to Bianliang three days before the New Year.

Three days later, auspicious snow fell from the sky, covering the lush wheat seedlings in the fields, which seemed to indicate a good harvest next year.

The first month of the third year of Shengui (319) arrived unexpectedly.

(It’s the third update, please vote quickly if you have tickets, thanks!)

(End of this chapter)