Using the army to dig canals and divert water for the people was an experience Li Qinzai learned from his previous life.
Although the army of the Tang Dynasty had no concept of serving the people at all. They belonged to the army of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and they would not admit that they were soldiers of the people. However, Li Qinzai still issued an order in the form of a military order to turn an army into a labor force and put it into the army.
folk.
During disaster relief, every labor force is precious.
The farmers looked at this wolf-like army without armor, grabbing various tools and starting to dig ditches without saying a word. After being stunned, they immediately felt grateful to Li Qinzai.
The older man held his hand and murmured his gratitude while crying. The young men in the village quickly joined the canal digging team.
The women and children were not idle either, and went to the mountains to collect wild vegetables one after another. Each family contributed their remaining game meat, which was boiled together with the wild vegetables into a thick broth.
The simple and honest farmers were grateful and went out of their way to salute and thank every soldier who participated in digging the canal. The soldiers went from being lazy at first to being stunned.
Seeing the children of several years old carrying water clumsily and stumblingly handing it to the soldiers, everyone's cold hearts seemed to soften.
The soldiers were originally border troops under the jurisdiction of the Ningshuo Governor's Mansion. Because it was not far from Bingzhou, they were urgently transferred here by the imperial military department to dig canals.
At first, the soldiers didn't understand. They were just soldiers who went into battle to kill the enemy. The military's duty was not to help the people dig ditches and provide disaster relief. They were inexplicably transferred by the Ministry of War and were not allowed to wear armor. They worked hard for nothing.
If there is no benefit, who can be happy?
However, seeing the grateful expressions on the people's faces, the women and children wiped their tears and kept bowing and saluting, as if this was the only way to repay the kindness of the soldiers.
The atmosphere in the army changed unconsciously.
The soldiers suddenly realized that doing something to help the people was not so difficult to accept.
We are all soldiers from various villages, and their roots are actually ordinary farmers. Although they eat military rations, they can still feel the disaster when they see it.
Li Qinzai watched the soldiers busy with a smile, and a cloud of smoke and dust rose up from the construction site. In just half an hour, the ditches in the village were already extending in all directions, gradually extending towards the Fen River.
It is indeed an army, with ten thousand people working together, and the progress is indeed very fast.
The old man in the village knelt down and bowed to him tremblingly, but Li Qinzai quickly supported him with quick eyes and hands.
"What a great benefactor! You saved the people from all over the country. I really don't know how to repay you..." the old man choked with tears.
Li Qinzai smiled and said, "You're welcome, old man. This is my duty."
The old man said: "Last time I heard from my benefactor that you are an official in Bingzhou City. I wonder if you can tell me your name. We will set up a longevity tablet for you in the ancestral hall. We will offer incense every day every year and pray for God to bless you.
Increase longevity and live a hundred years.”
Li Qinzai shook his head: "My name is Li Qinzai. I am the newly appointed governor of Bingzhou. I have been ordered by the emperor to come to Bingzhou to deal with the drought. Don't try to offend me, let alone setting up a memorial tablet. I'm so scared."
The old man and the people around him knelt down and worshiped again: "It turns out that it is Governor Li. Bingzhou is lucky, and the people of Li are lucky, and they can meet the blue sky."
He helped the old man, but could not stop other people. Li Qinzai had no choice but to bow down and said with a wry smile: "The ditch will be dug before the autumn harvest. This year's harvest is not good. The emperor has issued a decree to exempt all farmers in Bingzhou from paying taxes."
, after the autumn harvest, I will also raise food to help everyone tide over the difficulties."
All the farmers were overjoyed. They all knelt down and bowed three times towards Chang'an, praising the emperor's benevolence, justice and kindness.
Li Qinzai supported the old man with a low but firm voice: "Don't worry, old man, this year is indeed not easy, but I will do everything possible to help you get through it. I just hope that no matter how difficult it is, you will not leave your hometown. After all, being displaced is not as good as your homeland. I believe in the government,
We will provide appropriate relief to the people."
After looking at the busy construction site, Li Qinzai called the captain who was leading the army, handed him the drawings he had drawn, and ordered him to dig ditches according to the drawings all the way to the Fen River to divert the river water into various villages.
After the instructions, Li Qinzai returned to Bingzhou City with his tribe.
On the way back, Liu Asi couldn't help but clasped his fists at Li Qinzai: "This action of the Fifth Young Master is indeed of great merit and has accumulated great virtues. From now on, every meter and millet eaten by the people in Bingzhou will be worshiped by the Fifth Young Master."
Grant."
Liu Asi had a look of reverence on his face. He really admired Li Qinzai very much. He used to follow Li Qinzai and Liu Asi had done a lot of things. Whether it was beating people or setting fires, there were not many things that humans could do.
However, this time, Liu Asi was really admired.
Digging canals to divert water and building reservoirs and embankments have been great meritorious deeds from ancient times to the present. It is not an exaggeration to say that local people built ancestral halls and offered memorial tablets for longevity.
"Stop it, don't praise me. When you praise me, I'll get carried away. Once I get carried away, I can't help but want to do something stupid to calm it down. Otherwise, I'll always feel weird in my heart." Li Qinzai sighed while riding on the horse, squinting his eyes.
road.
Liu Asi grinned: "Fifth Young Master wants to do something stupid, I will help you do it properly, and I am willing to accompany you to do it."
Li Qinzai blinked and said: "How about... you gather all the grain merchants in Bingzhou City, have them line up, stick out their faces, and I will use the sole of my shoe to pump all the way down the line, and enjoy the silky smoothness.
, what a pleasure.”
Liu Asi actually took it seriously. He immediately clasped his fists and said: "Fifth Young Master, wait a moment. I will go and do it now. I will let Fifth Young Master enjoy the smoothness in two hours."
Just as he was about to hit the horse and move forward, Li Qinzai grabbed the reins and sighed: "You people live so rigidly that you can't tell the truth or lies..."
"If I really have such a refined taste, wouldn't it be more pleasurable to be a grain dealer and have all the brothel girls in the city line up in front of me while I moan and groan all the way?"
Liu Asi wondered: "This... I'm afraid it might be a bit harmful to you. Fifth Young Master, please think twice."
"You're in better shape than me, so let the grain merchants take off their clothes and stick them out in a row, and you can help me hum along the way?"
Liu Asi's old face darkened: "Young women in brothels, yes. Grain merchants stand in a row, no. Scholars can be killed but not humiliated."
…………
It was already evening when we returned to Bingzhou City. Before we arrived at the Governor's Mansion, we saw countless people blocking the city gate.
This was the first time that Li Qinzai saw the huge crowds of people on Bingzhou Street since he took office as the governor of Bingzhou.
It's a pity that the people came for him, and it was obvious that he came with bad intentions.
Hundreds of people knelt on both sides of the street. When they saw Li Qinzai and his troops entering the city, the people touched their heads to the ground. Some old people, women and children even cried and wailed.
Li Qinzai got off the horse and his face suddenly turned cold: "What's going on?"
Liu Asi and his subordinates became nervous and immediately surrounded Li Qinzai in the center. Liu Asi held down the hilt of his knife and shouted: "You dare to stop the official driving, aren't you afraid of being held accountable?"
An old man kept kowtowing and cried bitterly: "Yesterday, the governor asked the grain merchant Zhang Cunjin. Today, the price of grain in the city's grain shops has risen to fifty cents per liter of millet. We and other people have no way to survive. I beg the governor to show your kindness."
, don’t get into trouble with the grain merchants, and leave our people like me a way to survive.”
Li Qinzai's face instantly turned pale, and a surge of anger lingered in his chest.