Don't be a prince

After another arrow hit the prey, Changsun Chong laughed and said, "This is because I didn't bring my hunting dog with me, otherwise, none of these rabbits would be able to run away. If you hit the prey, there is no need for someone to pick it up."

After taking Changsun Chong's hunting bow and trying it out, Li Chengqian reluctantly gave up.

Although he is confident that his strength is more than twice that of ordinary children, he is still powerless against this kind of strong bow.

Seeing that the prince was a little depressed, Chai Zhewei comforted him: "Chengqian, you are still young, and when you are a teenager, you will be able to use this bow like us. I heard that your swordsmanship and boxing skills have been taught by two generals." , is really enviable."

Niu Jinda came over and knocked on it alone: ​​"The crown prince's achievements are all the result of his own hard work, and have nothing to do with Lao Tzu. You guys have to hurry up if you want to play. When the construction of the Chongwen Museum is completed, you all have to go in and study!"

As soon as they heard that they were about to study, Cheng Chusi and others complained endlessly.

Although they are literate at the moment, they don't have much in-depth study of knowledge.Before that, they were more learning at home.Every family has its own way of doing things, and this way of doing things needs to be carefully studied by the son-in-law.

The team advanced over two hills and finally met the big guy.

A wild boar covered in dirt jumped out of the grass.

Finally seeing the big guy, Chang Sun Chong and the others were extremely excited.

Whizzing

One arrow came from Changsun Chong, and the other arrow came from Niu Jianhu.

Since he was able to walk, Niu Jianhu has come back to life completely. Not only has he regained his lost body, but he has also honed his skills.

The bow is like a full moon, the strings are like thunder, and the arrows are like lightning.

Can....

The arrow hit the boar's body, but it just bounced a bit and failed to go in at all.

Niu Jinda explained on the side: "Your Highness, don't think that the wild boar is stronger than the domestic pig. If you really want to deal with it, one or two people will definitely not do it. In midsummer and autumn, wild boars will leave their territory to find food. Roll it all over your body with pine tree oil, and then cover it with a layer of soil, and it won't be able to break through it in a short time like arrows."

Li Chengqian nodded, stretched out the red command flag forward, and waved it down three times in a row.

For this dispatch, Li Jing handed over the command to him, wanting to see his ability to mobilize troops.

In this era when communication was basically by word of mouth, Li Chengqian simply compiled a set of semaphores for the convenience of command.

Seeing the signal, Liu Mang, who had long been impatient, rushed out with howling members of his attacking brigade.

The character of the captain determines the character of the team members. The members of the attacking team are all muscular men, all of whom are extremely brave. Although the armor is still old-fashioned and tattered, it cannot prevent the wild boar from colliding at all, but they still pick up a stone and rush up.

The wild boar was not brainless, seeing such a large group of people rushing over, he ran away without hesitation.

Liu Mang and others were not afraid of the influence of the terrain at all, running and jumping in pursuit.

After a while, the people who disappeared from sight came back carrying the wild boar.

A big guy weighing three to four hundred catties had his fangs broken and his head was bloody.As for the attacking team, none of them seemed injured.

Seeing this scene, Yuchi Gong's eldest son, Yuchi Baolin, clenched his fists excitedly, walked to Li Chengqian's side and begged, "Your Highness, if you meet wild boars again, can you let me go out with them too?"

"not good!"

Li Chengqian refused his request without hesitation. If ordinary soldiers were injured, it would be easy to deal with it. If the legitimate sons of these state officials were seriously injured, it would be troublesome.

When Liu Mang led the team back, he asked the players to return to their positions, while he entered the center of the team and ran in front of Li Chengqian.

"Report to the prince, when I was chasing wild boars, I found a camp in the dense forest, and there was still smoke coming out of it, it should be inhabited."

"Is there anyone else in Qinling?"

Li Chengqian was taken aback, what a brave person he must be to settle down in this place, Robinson didn't have the guts.

Unlike the last round of hunting, they really went deeper into the Qinling Mountains this time.Judging from the previous experience, there is no shortage of beasts like tigers, leopards and bears in the Qinling Mountains. What is the difference between living here and dancing on the tip of a knife?

Li Jing sighed, and said: "It should be refugees from the end of the Sui Dynasty. In fact, there are indeed many refugees in the depths of the Qinling Mountains. In order to escape the war, they can only seek refuge in the mountains. There are many refugees in the Tang Dynasty. Don't say it is Almost everywhere in the Qinling Mountains, there are people living in seclusion in the wilderness."

"Refugees who escaped the chaos of war."

Li Chengqian remembered the records in "Miscellaneous Notes of Shixi".Compared with Zhan Luan, the beasts deep in the Qinling Mountains are indeed nothing.These people were originally peaceful farmers, but they had to leave the land they depended on for survival and went to the deep mountains to seek a way of life.

I haven't experienced it, so I don't feel it.But judging from the choices of the refugees, we can know how terrifying the war is.

Chapter 125

"Now that we're here, let's take a look. I'm also very curious about the refugees. But, Wei Gong, it's obviously peaceful now. Why don't these people choose to go down the mountain to become naturalized? ?”

Li Jing sighed, and said helplessly: "Your Highness, all ordinary people not only have to pay taxes, but also do hard labor, etc. These refugees have been hidden in the mountains since the end of the Sui Dynasty. Now that they are born, they are short of the taxes and labor of the Tang Dynasty for about ten years. , It stands to reason that they are guilty. According to the normal law, they can only be naturalized as citizens if they repay the arrears."

After listening, Li Chengqian curled his lips helplessly.

The relationship is due to the arrears of taxes and labor to the court, these talents dare not leave the mountains.

Speaking of it, Qinling is indeed a good place to hide from the world. First of all, it is desolate enough. Except for a few commercial roads, it is full of wildness.Even if any stupid emperor wanted to conquer them, he would not enter the Qinling Mountains.The Qinling Mountains are really too big. While those wild beasts threaten the refugees, they are actually one of their barriers.

Chang Sun Chong couldn't help but said: "Chengqian, it's better for us to avoid it. After all, we are in the uniform of the officers and soldiers. After meeting them, it's pretty good if we don't fight. You still want to go in? Once inside this camp There are enough people, but we never return."

Chai Zhewei also nodded in agreement.

This is the case when following the prince, any possible danger must be avoided as soon as possible.

Glancing at the wild boar carried by Liu Mang's team, Li Chengqian smiled, and said to Li Jing and Niu Jinda, "Wei Gong and Niu Gong, are you two willing to go in with Gu? Bar."

Li Jing glanced at the prince and frowned. With his character, he would never suggest that the prince contact these refugees.However, after such a long time of contact, he also knows that the prince is actually very stubborn.

You don't need many people to go in, just ten people is fine.With him and Niu Jinda around, it would be no problem to protect the crown prince.

Thinking of this, Li Jing opened his mouth and said: "Yu Tai, Liu Mang, Changtian Monkey, Fang Shuo, Zhao Xing, Tie Hammer, Dongfang Su, you seven will go in with His Highness and me. Remember that if there is any danger, you must take the Crown Prince Send it out first."

Niu Jinda laughed out loud. He had experienced the famine in his early years, so he could empathize with these refugees. Now that the crown prince obviously wants to contact the refugees and speak out for them, he naturally fully supports them.

After confirming the candidates to enter, Li Chengqian was forced by Li Jing to put on a set of gold silk inner armor before he was allowed to leave.

Let Tie Hammer and others carry the wild boar. Under Liu Mang's guidance, everyone went down the hillside and finally reached the front of the camp.

Seeing the defense of this camp, Li Chengqian couldn't help feeling that human beings are really the most ingenious creatures in the world.

Although they didn't want to bury wooden piles for the wall like ordinary bandits, these refugees also cut down a lot of trees, using normal growing trees as piles, and stacking them horizontally one by one to form a defensive wall.

The wall is about seven or eight meters high, which is the height at which wild animals cannot jump.The cross-section wall of the cylindrical tree trunk is also filled with wooden thorns, which makes bears and other beasts that are good at climbing helpless.

The wall is very strong, but the gate of the village is a bit weaker, but the gate with a width of two meters looks a bit flimsy.However, considering that there will be people on duty, if there are unlucky beasts that really attack the gate of the village, if there are enough people, they may also give nutrition.

Pressing down on Li Chengqian, Li Jing ordered Sky-Changing Monkey to come forward and call for the door.

Without knowing whether there was any hostility, Li Jing did not allow the prince to take risks.

Changtian Monkey is timid, so it is trembling when it goes up to call the door.

But fortunately, there was no scene of thousands of arrows piercing the heart. After the sky-swapping monkey hopped and explained, the gate of the village opened.

An old man in tattered sackcloth came out with two little girls in scantily clad clothes.

Following the Tiantian Monkey to the crowd, the old man knelt down to Niu Jinda without hesitation, and burst into tears immediately: "Master Guan, please do me a favor, we came to this deep mountain to survive the war, you want Conscription and war, the young and strong are gone, and the orphans and widows of us will have no way to survive! Please do me a favor, and I will give you two of the most beautiful girls in our village, so I will give them to you for fun."

As the old man's voice fell, the two girls wept and knelt down on the ground as if resigned to their fate.

Seeing this scene, Li Chengqian felt a little sad.It's not that he thinks this old man is weak and deceitful, it's that the world was really chaotic before.

These refugees lived in the mountains for a long time, and at this time they didn't even know that the battle outside was over.

Niu Jinda couldn't stand this kind of scene the most, so he passed the two little girls, walked up to the old man and helped him up.

After sighing, Niu Jinda said: "Old man, you misunderstood. We are not here to recruit soldiers, but to know how you live. The war around Chang'an ended ten years ago. Now, there is no melee between warlords. .You haven’t been on the mountain for a long time, so you don’t know about this.”

"Really?"

As soon as he heard that he was not here for the conscription, the old man's eyes suddenly shone with hope.

Tie Hammer chuckled and said, "Old man, look, we have brought gifts here, why don't you hurry up and let us in? These wild boars weighing three to four hundred catties are too heavy to carry!"

After glancing at the wild boar and then at the team of ten, the old man finally felt relieved.

Arching his hands, the old man said: "It's Shanren Jian, everyone, so let's enter the village. Old man Liu Yang is the head of this village."

After speaking, Liu Yang respectfully led Niu Jinda inside.Based on his stature and armor, he took Niu Jinda as the leader as a matter of course.

Li Jing and the others also saw through but did not tell the truth, and they were happy to see the crown prince hidden.

After stretching out the green command flag and waving it three times in a row, Li Chengqian followed into the cottage.

The location of the Zhaimen is actually the same as the city gate, and there are traps every few steps. If Liu Yang hadn't instructed, even Li Jing would not have noticed any difference between this place and the normal ground.

Years of living in the deep mountains allowed them to naturally master a lot of hunting skills.With these traps in place, the gate really doesn't need to be strong.

After passing through the Zhaimen Cave, you can see the inside of the Zhaizi.

Now that autumn is coming, many people are busy hoarding food for winter.

The so-called food is some grass seeds and the like.The only thing I have seen is probably all kinds of meat.

Because of the storage, many people are carrying the meat and smoking it on the fire.

It looked like a picture of a good harvest, but after seeing these residents clearly, Li Chengqian didn't know what to say.

Naked!

A lot of men are wearing hemp trousers like shorts, and their exposed flesh has long been tanned.Women, on the other hand, wear short one-piece skirts that look like later generations, with hems that don't even reach the knees.This is in the mountains. If it is outside, such attire will be soaked in a pig cage.

The two little girls who were given away as gifts disappeared after entering the village, and when they reappeared, they also changed into sackcloth like dresses.

Walking to a wooden house and taking a look, Niu Jinda sighed, not knowing what to say.

Such a house is very poorly protected from the cold. In winter, it can only be warmed by lighting a fire, but lighting a fire in a wooden house also risks being burned to death.Judging from the coke under many new wooden houses, such tragedies have already happened.

Seeing that the group of people didn't know what to say for a long time, Liu Yang knew that they were shocked by the scene in front of them.

With a helpless smile, Liu Yang said: "That's it. Although life in this mountain is very hard, don't worry about being involved in the chaos of war. Once a village near us refused to send food to the army. They were slaughtered overnight. When I arrived at the old man’s village, the old man persuaded the neighbors to hand over the food, and moved into the mountains together before they came to ask for food.” Recommended reading../../

Speaking of the past, Liu Yang's eyes were a little moist.

The wild boar carried by the hammer was sent to the vicinity of the bacon fire under Liu Yang's guidance.

Most of the meat they store is pheasants and hares. Prey like wild boars are difficult to catch unless they are traps.

After witnessing a wild boar being used from head to toe without any waste, Li Chengqian didn't know what to say for a long time.

Reaching out to pat Li Jing, Li Chengqian said in a low voice, "Mr. Wei, ask me if they have any plans to leave the mountain."

Li Jing nodded, and asked Liu Yang, "Old Liu, you have had such a hard time living in the deep mountains, have you ever thought about leaving the mountains to become naturalized? Now that there is no war, if you leave the mountains, you don't have to worry about things other than life. "

Hearing this, Liu Yang shook his head again and again: "You can't go out of the mountains, you can't go out of the mountains. Not to mention that we refugees are in arrears with the court's taxes. It's gone, how can you survive!"

Niu Jinda couldn't help but said to Li Chengqian: "My lord...my son, according to the law, refugees who leave the mountains must be registered as low-level people. Naturally, low-level people cannot own land. Going out of the mountains and becoming a citizen, but the matter of land distribution is still not mentioned."

Seeing that Li Jing had chatted with Liu Yang and left here, Li Chengqian said: "How can this work? No wonder our Tang Dynasty has only 200 million households, and there has been no improvement after more than nine years of recuperation. I said, emotional statistics The refugees were not included in the statistics. Land? Now there is a shortage of land? You are also a person with land, tell me, in your fief, the land can be planted!"

After coming out of Chang'an, there are not only one or two barren fields.

It's so strange that there is land, but there are no people who cultivate it.Hundreds of years of continuous wars since the Han Dynasty have abruptly changed the original pattern of land being more valuable than people to people being more valuable than land.

Niu Jinda naturally knew that the law was incorrect, but he couldn't say anything.He is a general, so he can't worry about civilian affairs.

Fumbling in a sleeve, I found a crumpled piece of paper and a piece of charcoal.

These two things can't be submitted to the memorial, and he, the underage prince, doesn't have the right to submit the memorial yet.

Looking at Niu Jinda with malicious intentions, Li Chengqian smiled and said, "Well, Mr. Niu, take a look. Can you lend me the right to play for you?"

Niu Jinda also smiled, cupped his hands and asked, "What does the prince intend to do?"

Li Chengqian pointed to the stockade in front of him and said, "These people are the residents of our Great Tang territory after all. They escaped from the world due to the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty. I, Tang Dynasty, do not dare to start wars at will, and reduce domestic taxes one after another, just to restore production and restore national strength as soon as possible. Instead of encouraging more children, the fastest way is to gather refugees."

Niu Jinda smiled, but still said: "Your Highness is thinking a little too well. You are not the only one who has thought of such an idea. But why no one has implemented it? It is because the law cannot be changed at will. It can be changed at will. Laws are not binding. The existing laws of the Tang Dynasty have been iron rules since the founding of the country. We can only refine or add to them, but they cannot be changed by force. The precedent, what should we do in the future? Do we have to modify the law when encountering difficulties? Isn’t the law as an iron rule too cheap?”

"However, the law is dead, and people are alive. I don't know how to adapt. Is it possible that this stalemate will continue? Niu Gong, don't worry, Master Li taught me how to write the memorial. Believe it or not, as long as my Submit the memorial, and the law must be changed!"

"Hehe, such a big breath."

On the other side, Li Jing came over, and when he heard Li Chengqian's affirmative words, he was immediately very interested.

After walking to the fire and sitting down, Li Jing said: "Since Your Highness is so confident, I should be one of the old men to perform the performance. When the time comes, the two of you will jointly perform the performance together!"

On the issue of recruiting refugees, Li Jing himself is also very active.

It's ridiculous to say that when there is no war, he, the Duke of Wei, can't do anything except drink in the mansion and teach the prince and son.

It is because the emperor holds military power that he can compete with the prince without losing the wind.After ascending the throne as the emperor, how could he continue to keep this disaster.

Although Cheng Yaojin was still the general of Zuo Wuwei in name, he did not have the ability to directly mobilize Zuo Wuwei's army. If he wanted to send troops, he must have the emperor's imperial decree, military talismans, etc., all of which were indispensable.

In the past, when I was bored, I could go to the garrison to practice martial arts with my soldiers, but now, in order to avoid suspicion, who would dare to leave Chang'an easily.