After entering the Chengdu Plain, Li Bing got out of the car from time to time to walk around and observe the conditions of the villages along the way.
Although the flood disaster occurred last year, many places are still covered with silt and have not been cleaned up in time.
The village destroyed by the flood was reduced to ruins. Farmers used thatch and wood to build their homes on the ruins.
Even so, farmers occasionally have a hopeful smile on their faces while they are farming.
"The seedlings are growing well. If the flood hadn't happened this year, maybe my family wouldn't have starved to death."
Their voices were nervous and cautious, as if they were afraid that if they spoke a little louder, they would scare away their hope.
Li Bing wanted to travel to more places with his newly recovered body, but was stopped by Zhu Xiang.
"You should hurry to Chengdu now, it will be more helpful to them than visiting them." Zhu Xiang said, "Although they will be happy to see you, the psychological comfort is far less than this year's harvest."
Li Bing said guiltily: "Duke Zhu Xiang is right."
Zhu Xiang patted Li Bing on the shoulder and said, "When you feel better, hurry up and go on your journey." He turned his head to look at the farmers and then looked away.
Li Mu prepared his guards, slowly transported the baggage, and prepared a cavalry force for a forced march.
"The county magistrate is ill and Zheng'er is young, so we have to ride to Chengdu as soon as possible. The county magistrate who will be handing over the work to us will understand." Zhu Xiang said, "If necessary, Zheng'er can be used as an excuse."
Ying Xiaozheng crossed his arms and said, "Don't worry, uncle." I am a good actor.
Li Bing hesitated to speak.
How old is Gongzi Zheng? Are ordinary noble children just beginning to learn at this age
Li Mu sighed and said, "I will stay to escort the baggage and luggage. You go ahead. Zheng'er, be careful."
Ying Xiaozheng raised his chin and said, "Teacher, you should tell this to my uncle."
"I'll tell you two." Li Mu rubbed Ying Xiaozheng's head and said, "Wear the dagger I gave you. When Zhu Xiang can't do it, you..."
Zhu Xiang quickly took his nephew into his arms and hid him, saying vigilantly: "Li Mu, I warn you, don't teach the child carelessly! Zheng'er is only a little older, how can you teach him to hurt others! Are you a guard just for show?"
Guard: “…”
Li Bing hesitated to speak again.
The education that these two new friends gave to Gongzi Zheng was a bit... I hope I won’t become like them in the future.
After giving the instructions, Zhu Xiang tied Zheng'er in front of him and switched to riding horses with Li Bing. They arrived in Chengdu in just two days.
While riding, Li Bing glanced to the side and saw Ying Xiaozheng snoring in front of Zhu Xiang, and was filled with admiration.
No wonder there were rumors in Xianyang that the King of Qin had already established the next three generations of kings. After meeting Zheng'er, how could an ordinary young man catch the eye of the monarch
The former governor of Shu County was still preparing a welcoming banquet. When he saw Zhu Xiang and Li Bing coming on horseback, he was shocked and thought he had done something wrong.
After much thought, he felt that he had done a pretty good job as the governor of Shu County, and that the next governor should not be so impatient to take over.
Even though he would definitely hand over power cleanly and efficiently, he still felt a little uncomfortable.
But of course he still put on an enthusiastic expression and asked Li Bing and Zhu Xiang why they were so impatient.
Li Bing coughed a few times and said, "I have caught a cold. I heard from an old farmer that it will rain in a few days. I don't want to suffer this. Chengdu is more comfortable."
He signaled to the former county governor with his eyes and looked at the child in Zhu Xiang's arms.
Ying Xiaozheng hugged Zhu Xiang's neck, looked back at the former county magistrate, and then buried his face in Zhu Xiang's arms.
Zhu Xiang said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, my nephew is too tired from the journey and cannot bow to you."
Nephew... The former county magistrate was stunned for a moment, then looked straight at Zhu Xiang's hair and immediately understood Zhu Xiang's identity.
Is there any need to think about who Changping Jun’s nephew is
The former county governor was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He had only heard that Lord Changping was coming to Shu County to teach farming and sericulture, so how come Prince Zheng was here too
"Ahem." Li Bing coughed dryly a few times and reminded the former county governor, "I have caught a cold. I wonder if there is any famous doctor in the city..."
The former county magistrate immediately came to his senses and did not reveal Ying Xiaozheng's identity.
He learned the "truth" from Li Bing's hint. It seemed that Prince Zheng was young and unwell, so they hurried to Chengdu.
"Yes, yes, my family's offerings are very powerful!" The former county magistrate immediately postponed the polite banquet and hurriedly took Zhu Xiang and Li Bing back to the county magistrate's mansion.
Ying Xiaozheng was not sick, just a little sleepy.
However, the famous folk doctor employed by the county magistrate's office said that Ying Xiaozheng had caught a cold, was tired from the journey, and evil spirits had entered his body, so he needed to rest.
Because Ying Xiaozheng was young and couldn't take too many medicines, the famous doctor prescribed some precious tonic herbs to make pills for the hens, and boiled the eggs laid by the hens into egg drop soup for Ying Xiaozheng to eat.
Although Zhu Xiang knew that there would not be much medicinal properties left in the eggs, he still gave all the eggs to Li Bing, who was really weak, for the sake of caution.
Ying Xiaozheng was holding a steamed egg with minced meat made from ordinary eggs: "Uncle, I'm used to eating garlic, and the food won't taste good without garlic."
Zhu Xiang said, "Eat it for now, and then your uncle will fry some golden and silver garlic sauce for you, and put some in all the dishes."
Only then did Ying Xiaozheng eat the steamed egg contentedly.
After successfully appeasing the former county governor, Zhu Xiang wanted to buy a house in the city and start raising his nephew.
Although Zhu Xiang did not reveal his identity, the wealthy merchants in Chengdu had already known about the arrival of Lord Changping. At one time, the county governor's mansion was almost trampled by people who gave gifts, and they all wanted to give their best houses to Zhu Xiang.
However, Zhu Xiang was very cautious in this regard because of his past life habits. Even if his "borrowing a place to stay" was not considered bribery, but rather a "good story", he did not want to be involved in any profit relationship with any wealthy businessman.
Seeing that there were so many people giving away houses, Zhu Xiang was afraid that if he went out to buy a house himself, he would be forced to give it to them at a low price, and it would be very troublesome to refuse. So he shamelessly asked Li Bing for a villa in the county governor's mansion.
"Zheng'er and I are just two people, so we can't live in a big place." Zhu Xiang said, "So we can just live in your house."
Li Bing held his forehead and said, "Do you still remember that your nephew is Qin Gongzi Zheng? It doesn't matter where you live, just don't treat Zheng'er badly."
Zhu Xiang was puzzled: "Why are your words similar to what Lian Weng always nags about? You probably don't know Lian Weng."
"If you're talking about Lord Xinping Lian Gong, I know him, but he doesn't know me." Li Bing couldn't help but complain, "We say similar things because what we say makes sense!"
Zhu Xiang patted Ying Xiaozheng in his arms and said, "Zheng'er, how big a house do you want to live in?"
Ying Xiaozheng said: "It will be fine if it's as big as Xianyang Palace."
Zhu Xiang looked at Li Bing and said, "Listen, we can't possibly satisfy Zheng'er, so a house that can accommodate my uncle and nephew will do."
Li Bing: “…” The gap from the Xianyang Palace to a house that can accommodate two people is too big!
"The previous county magistrate purchased many houses, and I will buy them all. If the money is not enough, you can pay for it." Li Bing knew that although Zhu Xiang was frugal, he was actually very rich.
Zhu Xiang lived in the King of Qin's place and ate the King of Qin's food. After running to the Xianyang Palace to contradict the King of Qin, he also took a few sheep back with him. The rewards that the King of Qin gave to him and Ying Xiaozheng were all saved and had no place to use them, so he didn't need the taxes from Changping to support him at all.
"Okay, there is a hot spring villa, right? I remember the Shu people said that there are hot springs everywhere in the mountains of Shu." Zhu Xiang, who had just said that he only needed a villa, immediately made a request, "Zheng'er, let's build a greenhouse next to the hot springs so that you can eat fresh vegetables in winter."
The hot springs in Mount Emei and Mount Luofu in Sichuan, where Zhu Xiang had bathed, are both below 1,500 meters. They were accidentally dug out during deep well exploration, but the technology is not available now.
However, there are many natural hot springs in the mountains of Sichuan. "Qing Bai Lei Chao" states that "there are hot springs everywhere outside the Sichuan Pass." The local wealthy families in Shu should have already taken advantage of the hot springs a long time ago.
After talking about hot springs, Zhu Xiang talked about summer vacation.
He wanted to bring Zheng'er to live comfortably in more villas in Mount Emei and Mount Qingcheng.
Ying Xiaozheng leaned in his uncle's arms, squinting his eyes as he listened to his uncle talk enthusiastically about how to enjoy life. He wanted to tell him a few ideas he saw in his dream, but thinking that he should not be too arrogant, he gave up regretfully.
Li Bing held his forehead again. Just listening to Zhu Xiang's words, he thought Zhu Xiang came to Shu to enjoy the mountains and rivers.
I don't know if Zhu Xiang will have the chance to live in all the villas he bought. Isn't this just a waste of money
Forget it, Zhu Xiang doesn’t care, so what should he care about
However, after listening to Zhu Xiang talk about his wonderful life in the future, Li Bing felt a lot more relieved.
"Okay, let's go to the hot springs together in winter." Li Bing said with a smile.
Zhu Xiang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the frown on Li Bing's brow gradually disappear.
That's the right way. No matter how heavy the burden is, you must enjoy life and combine work and rest, otherwise you will be overwhelmed before you finish your work.
Since entering Shu, Li Bing's brows have hardly ever relaxed, and Zhu Xiang looked anxious.
Ying Xiaozheng squinted his eyes, took a sip of the hot water, and let out a long sigh.
He said that his uncle had the personality of an old hen, and his uncle got angry and embarrassed, huh.
When Li Mu arrived, Li Bing had been busy with paperwork for several days.
Zhu Xiang also asked for files related to agriculture and sericulture in Shu. He held the heavy bamboo slips in his hands every day and felt that he was exercising very well.
He believed that the First Emperor must be a muscular man. It would be hard not to become a muscular man if he read dozens of kilograms of bamboo slips every day.
"No, there are so many bamboos in Shu. It would be a waste if we don't use them to make paper!" Zhu Xiang rubbed his arm and said, "I don't want to watch it anymore. I want to make paper first!"
While rubbing Zhu Xiang's wrist, Ying Xiaozheng said in a condescending manner, "Uncle, it takes several months from making paper to copying. Uncle, have you not read the documents in these months? How about I turn over the bamboo slips and read them to you?"
Zhu Xiang looked at his nephew's little arm, took a deep breath of the fragrance of the bamboo slips, and continued to flip through the documents with great difficulty.
Li Mu wanted to run when he saw this, but Ying Xiaozheng, who had short legs but was very agile, held his legs.
Ying Xiaozheng looked up: "Teacher..."
Li Mu: “…”
Li Mu: "Okay, I'll help."
So Li Mu also joined in the paperwork.
Finally, the three of them worked in the same house, and the documents they handled gradually became mixed, and the Shu County Prefect became three people.
After another day of paperwork, Li Mu could no longer bear it and bowed: "I have to take charge of the defense of Shuzhong. Goodbye!"
Li Bing and Zhu Xiang pointed at Li Mu's back as he fled, and cursed him for being disloyal.
Ying Xiaozheng stood with his hands behind his back, shaking his head and sighing. The three elders were so childish, couldn't they learn from him and be more mature
Time quickly entered July, the first crop harvest in Shu was about to begin, and the rainy season was approaching.
Li Bing prepared sandbags and gravel, ready for battle.
The farmer's hopeful face grew increasingly heavy as he looked at the dark clouds covering the sky.
(End of this chapter)