Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

When Wang Dan came into the palace, Zhao Heng was in a rare good mood and was studying Taoism scriptures.

Even if he was disturbed, he was not annoyed, but greeted Wang Dan with a smile: "In recent years, I have never seen Wang Xiang so anxious."

Wang Dan couldn't laugh, and after saluting silently, he presented Lu Ci's memorabilia with both hands.

"It's that little glutton again?"

Zhao Heng glanced at the name of the person who wrote the memorial, smiled before taking it, but only flipped it a few times, and his expression quickly became serious after touching the shocking word 'locust plague'.

Just like what Lu Ci said in the memorial, the Zuo Zangku fire destroyed countless treasures. Such a heavy loss, how can it be easily recovered?

If there is another locust plague, even if it only affects a few states, the relief that needs to be allocated will be an extremely heavy burden.

After Zhao Heng finished reading the memorial almost holding his breath, he was already terrified and helpless.

In the memorabilia, Lu Ci never said a single word, but Zhao Heng and Wang Dan knew it well, and it was another point to feel guilty about it.

First came the raging fire that came suddenly, and then the terrible locust plague that was ready to go...

The two came one after another, and there were endless twists and turns. Could it be that the gods really have spirits and expressed their anger at his vigorous and blasphemous acts in recent years, so that they brought disasters one after another?

When the Zuo Zangku was on fire, Zhao Heng was able to breathe even though his heart ached.

As half a year passed by, it was almost forgotten.

But the locust plague, which has changed people's faces, has fully aroused the previous fear and made a comeback.

Seeing that Zhao Heng was in a trance, Wang Dan spoke up: "In my opinion, although Lu Zhizhou's words cannot be completely believed, it must be believed."

It took Zhao Heng a while to come back to his senses, nodded weakly, and said: "Tomorrow I will prepare for the opening of the altar, and pray for God's blessing."

Wang Dan frowned fiercely.

He could hardly believe that the emperor was so confused and stubborn.

He clearly controlled the farce of "The Book from Heaven" with one hand, but he still insisted on opening the altar, praying for the protection of gods who do not exist at all.

If there are no gods, this is just a waste of financial and material resources, making the already poor people's strength worse; if there are gods, and openly open an altar to sacrifice, wouldn't it be a stubborn provocation and blasphemy!

How can it be such a trifling matter when it comes to the national system!

Wang Dan suppressed a cough.

There were 1 disapprovals in his heart, but he also knew how frightened the emperor was at this moment, so he couldn't hear the slightest veto.

If he speaks harshly, it is tantamount to pushing the emperor to Wang Qinruo and other villains who are good at flattering and don't care about the life and death of the people.

Wang Dan quickly calmed down, and softly said: "Your Majesty's words are very true. However, in everything, you need to ask yourself first, and you can only ask gods and Buddhas for help if you have no plan. It is only a few days into winter, and everything is still early. You might as well take the advice of Lu Zhizhou first." As mentioned in the memorandum, I ordered all places to conduct investigations to see if there are any migrating locust eggs buried in the soil, and then make a strategy."

Zhao Heng hesitated for a while, but nodded in consideration of the serious consequences of locust plagues.

Seeing that the official agreed, Wang Dan didn't follow suit.

Before he left, he gave another pat on the back.

But when he saw that the official's face was calm and he really wanted to feel relieved, he changed the subject and emphasized the disaster again and again, so that the other party could not feel contemptuous.

After repeating this several times, Wang Dan left with the matter.

Watching Wang Dan leaving in a hurry, the officials were still upset, so they recruited Wang Qinruo, who can often speak his mind, to talk about the locust infestation reported in the memorial instead of talking about it.

Why is it Lu Ci again?

Everyone has gone to the small Fenzhou, where there is no need to set up a connected party, and their ability to make trouble has not diminished at all.

And when he presented his memorial, how could he be Wang Dan again?

Wang Qinruo's thoughts turned, but he didn't show anything on his face.

After listening to it, Bian said relaxedly: "The so-called locust plague is coming, it is just the words of Zhizhou Lu. He is young and vigorous, and he is the first time to serve as an official in a foreign country. It is inevitable that his words are not true."

Zhao Heng retorted subconsciously: "Although Yu Yu is young, he has a steady temper and will never scare people."

Hearing His Majesty's obvious intention of defending, Wang Qinruo continued to smile, but secretly swallowed back the words of continuing to attack Lu Ci, and suggested instead: "Even if there are locusts, it will be a matter of early summer next year. Your Majesty really doesn't have to worry about it." It's too early. It's better to report to the heavens when the altar is opened around New Year's Eve to pray for the relief of this disaster."

Only then did Zhao Heng nod his head: "That's what Wang Xiang proposed just now."

However, Wang Qinruo's focus is to use the power of gods and Buddhas to quell the locust plague, while Wang Dan's idea is purely "In any case, we have to sacrifice to the heavens during the Chinese New Year, so it is better to do it together, and save the money and manpower that would be wasted by doing it alone." .

Hearing that his own suggestion coincides with Wang Dan's, Wang Qinruo can't help feeling suspicious.

However, without waiting for him to ask a few more questions, Zhao Heng, who talked to him on the phone but didn't hear anything new, lost his patience, waved him casually, and dismissed him to leave.

If Wang Qin is not reconciled, he can only step back temporarily.

After returning home, he lowered his face and explained some things.

——The fact that Lu Ci offended Wang Dan was widely rumored in the capital before and that he was relegated from Beijing. I'm afraid it was a complete misunderstanding.

After these two rounds, he was blind enough to see that instead of targeting Lu Ci, Wang Dan completely appreciated him and escorted him over and over again.

During the morning court the next day, Wang Dan formally raised the matter, which immediately caused an uproar.

The person who got Wang Qinruo's instructions would not mention this matter as Lu Ci's alarmist talk.Instead, he loudly declared that the reincarnation of "Laihe Tianzun" after his majesty's wiseness and martial arts, and as the holy ancestor, is now nothing more than a mere locust plague, and it can be calmed down only by opening an altar to worship and sincerely worship.

Although Zhao Heng listened comfortably, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

Wang Qinruo has always been good at handling things, why is it that this time he is lifted to a high place, so he can't get down easily?

Wang Qinruo clearly knew how true his identity as "Laihe Tianzun" was.

It would be great if the plague of locusts could really be quelled, but if not, wouldn't it be self-defeating and ruin the reputation?

Zhao Heng hid his displeasure so well that Wang Qinruo and others couldn't see it.

And in this way, Wang Dan, who has never made friends with cronies, is very weak.

But Wang Dan is usually taciturn, and when the fate of the country is at stake, he will not back down no matter what.

Open the altar to sacrifice, yes.

But if you don't take other measures to prevent locusts, you will definitely die!

The privy envoy Kou Zhizhi frowned, looked around suspiciously, and couldn't make up his mind for a while.

In his opinion, Wang Dan, who drove Lu Ci out of Beijing, obviously had bad intentions and wanted to oppose him.

And Wang Qinruo and others are his out-and-out mortal enemies.

Normally, he would most likely have to oppose the opinions of both sides, but now that the two sides are directly confronting each other, he hesitates.

Kou Zhun made up his mind when he asked clearly that the person who presented the memorial was none other than Lu Ci.

That's it.

He pinched his nose and unswervingly stood by Wang Dan's side.

When Kou Zhun opened his mouth, not only Wang Dan was startled, but everyone else was also startled.

... When did this Kou old Xier change his temper?

Kou Xi'er, who looked at the stinky temper, agreed with Wang Dan's opinion, "disregarding the previous suspicions", so that Zhao Heng didn't react for a while, and agreed to Wang Dan's words in a daze.

Wang Qinruo's eyes were dark, but His Majesty had made up his mind, so he had no choice but to obey.

After the court was over, Wang Dan couldn't help but look at Kou Zhun strangely.

Kou Zhun didn't even look at him, snorted softly, and walked away.

Wang Dan withdrew his gaze lightly, and returned to Zhongshu Province calmly, and arranged the investigation of locust eggs in various places in an orderly manner.

When Lu Ci received the official document from the imperial court, he knew that the locust infestation mentioned in his memorial had really been heard, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

During the few days of waiting, he did not stay idle, but personally led people to the farmland outside the city. After digging and exploring, he indeed found countless locust eggs hidden in the ground.

After losing the last trace of luck, Lu Ci completely calmed down.

To put it bluntly, all he can do is three words.

——Do everything you can.

Lu Ci made a decisive decision and first issued a notice in the name of Zhizhou, ordering farmers not to rush to sow seeds after the ice melts in the spring of the coming year, but to dig out the insect eggs in the ground first, throw them into a deep pit, and burn them with thatch.

Those who dug up many insect eggs, regardless of men, women, old and young, were rewarded with beans, taro, mulberry and other grains that locusts do not eat; at the same time, the leftover rice seedlings in the hands of the people were purchased at high prices.

Lu Ci believes that rather than forcing farmers who may not understand the government's practices to plant some plants, it is far more effective to pay high prices for the remaining seeds in their hands, and then give them free "bean seeds" .

And the harvested rice seeds are not useless, they can be kept in the grain depot, and distributed as seeds for autumn sowing after the locust infestation in summer.

As soon as this order came out, the effect was really immediate.

When they heard that locust eggs were going to be dug and burned, most people were not interested, but when they heard that there was a reward, they were all eager to try and became energetic.

In addition to the growing competition to dig insect eggs, although bewildered by the high prices offered by the government, there were not many people who decided to sell their leftover seeds at first, but as time went on, and the people sent by Lu Ci When vigorously persuading and distributing all the good varieties of beans, more and more people followed suit.

As for the remaining farmers who were unmoved and insisted on planting rice with traditional concepts, Lu Ci did not force them, and let them go.

As for how to encourage people in Fenzhou to raise poultry...

After thinking about it, Lu Ci still suppressed his shame, went all out to save face, and reluctantly said, "Lu Zhizhou was bestowed with the nickname Taotie, and he likes to eat freshly cooked chicken, duck and geese. The news that people went around buying healthy live poultry at high prices was released.

This announcement was far more useful than he expected.

After all, during the winter solstice, he personally brought a bowl of wild duck meat for the store to cook in front of everyone's eyes.

When the news came out, everyone believed it.

Thinking that this might be a way to make a fortune, anyone with some ability would be moved by it...

Time flies by.

In February of the ninth year of Dazhong Xiangfu, the roads broke ice and the earth rejuvenated.

When business travelers arrived in Fenzhou, they were surprised to find that this time they did not hear spring birds singing, but only ducks were raised.

——Especially when you go to the outskirts of the city, you can hear the sound of ducks quack quack quack.

The author has something to say: Notes:

When the locust plague occurred, the courtiers got some dead locusts and put them in their sleeves. They showed them at the court meeting, thinking that the locusts were dead and the locust plague was over.Therefore, officials at the level of ministers will lead the ministers to "congratulate", only Wang Dan disagrees.The first prime minister disagreed, so he had to give up, but among the officials and Zhenzong, this matter was somewhat disappointing.But after a few days, when he was going to court, suddenly, locusts covered the sky, sweeping across the sky densely from the front of the hall.Seeing this scene, Zhenzong sighed and said: "If all the officials congratulated that day, and now the locusts suddenly come, wouldn't it be laughed at by the world!" ("The Great Song Empire 300 Years 7")