Anseong, inside Li Shimin's study.

Li Shimin and Yuan Tiangang sat opposite each other.

"Your Majesty," Yuan Tiangang bent down and said to Li Shimin, "Until mid-June, I am afraid that there will not be half a drop of rain falling in this Chang'an." And not only Chang'an, but also Qilu, Henan, Yizhou, and Shudi, are also the same, this year is a big drought. ”

Yuan Tiangang cautiously told Li Shimin about the conclusions he had deduced from observing the celestial phenomena in the past few days, natural disasters and great droughts, which were the results that everyone did not want to see.

"Mid-June? Wouldn't that be two and a half months?! Li Shimin couldn't help frowning, stood up and took two steps back and forth.

As early as half a month ago, officials had already reported the drought situation in various places, the rivers were nearly exhausted, the ditches had dried up to the bottom, a large amount of fertile land had no water for irrigation, and large areas of crops began to slowly dry up and dry up.

Two and a half months? Won't all the crops be a pile of dead grass?

However, in the face of this natural disaster, although Li Shimin is the son of heaven, there is nothing he can do.

"Then, does Yuan Aiqing have a good way to teach me?" Li Shimin stopped and turned to look at Yuan Tiangang.

Yuan Tiangang is a volcano order, and what he is good at is the study of feng shui and the mysteries of observing the heavens, and in this regard, Li Shimin first thought of asking him for advice.

"Back to the emperor, Weichen is incompetent, and he has no ability to forcibly change the will of heaven, for today's plan, I can only ask the emperor to worship God in person, in order to ask God to have mercy." Yuan Tiangang also stood up and bowed to Li Shimin.

"Sacrifice to the sky?" Li Shimin muttered a sentence and nodded lightly, for the sake of today's plan. Manpower is no longer possible. That's all I can do to pray to heaven. Although, he Li Shimin does not believe in any providence, but at least. It can also be used to reassure the people.

"Li Ran!" Li Shimin straightened up, opened his mouth to summon the chief attendant into the room, and whispered to him: "You go to the Ministry of Rites, Xuan Zhen's message, and let them go to prepare for the sacrifice to the heavens, the day after tomorrow." I opened the altar and sacrificed to the heavens. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Ran bowed, and then bent down and retreated lightly.

"Yuan Aiqing should also step down first." Li Shimin waved his hand to Yuan Tiangang and instructed: "Also, don't tell the third person what our monarchs and ministers say today, I don't want too many people to know about this matter." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Weichen knew that the minister retired. Yuan Tiangang bowed to Li Shimin, then got up and retreated.

"Well, okay. Come out," Li Shimin walked back to the bookcase. He sat down lightly, turned his head to the side behind the screen, and said, "When you slipped in, my father had already seen you, don't hide anymore." ”

"Uh, hehe, my son's retainer greets my father." Princess Yuzhang gently walked out from behind the screen, bent over and blessed Li Shimin, and then walked quickly around Li Shimin's back, stretched out two small hands, and gently patted Li Shimin's shoulders.

This is the only magic weapon for her to curry favor with Li Shimin after she did something wrong.

"Hehe, you girl," Li Shimin turned his head and glanced at Yu Zhang, and said with a smile: "It's such a big girl, why don't you have any rules?" It seems that it is time for Father to find someone to discipline you. ”

"Father," Princess Yuzhang said in a coquettish voice: "The sons don't want anyone to discipline them, it is enough to have the father and mother to discipline the sons and ministers." ”

"You!" Li Shimin bowed his shoulders, called Princess Yuzhang to the front, rubbed his brows lightly, and said softly: "You also heard the words of my father and Yuan Huoshan just now, now nearly half of the land in my Tang Dynasty is in drought and water shortage, and there will be no sign of rain in the next two months. Alas, if we don't think of a way as soon as possible, in a few months, I don't know how many more people will die. ”

"Father," feeling Li Shimin's annoyance, Princess Yuzhang put her hand on Li Shimin's shoulder, gently rubbed him, and said: "Father, don't worry too much, as the saying goes, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, is it difficult to guarantee that Yuan Huoling is miscalculated, maybe tomorrow there will be a torrential rain, and God will definitely bless our Datang." ”

"Heaven forbid? Let's hope so. Li Shimin patted Princess Yuzhang's hand and said to her: "Okay, Ru'er, my father wants to be quiet, so you should go to your mother first." ”

"Well," Princess Yuzhang put down her hand, bent down and saluted Li Shimin, and said, "The minister will retire first." ”

Yuan Pei jumped off the donkey cart and, with the help of several tenant farmers, fixed the waterwheel on the well where Liu Yiyi and Su Chen were sitting just now. And then he did it again

The car went back to haul the second water wheel.

Waiting for Liu Yiyi and Li Dechen to equip everything together, the waterwheel can finally be officially operated.

Glancing at the hundreds of tenant farmers around the well, Liu Yiyi smiled and put on a ploughing ox that Li Dechen had just brought over, and let Li Dechen lead the ploughing ox and turn around the well.

"A virtuous nephew, I've come to see you for my uncle." At this moment, on the periphery of the crowd, a familiar voice was heard.

You don't need to look at it, Liu Yiyi also knows that this is the county of Sanyuan, and Li Zhide is here.

Today, Li Zhide specially wore a blue official uniform, led a few officials, and looked like he was doing business, so frightened that many tenant farmers near him retreated to the side as if they had seen a ghost. For a while, there were not many people going to the entire well.

—

Liu Yiyi chuckled lightly, disapproving, in this countryside, the people are afraid of officials, and the people are afraid of officials, this is normal, especially these tenant farmers who have committed crimes.

"Li County is invited." Seeing that Li Zhide was wearing an official uniform, Liu Yiyi also saw the opportunity to no longer be commensurate with him as an uncle, and stepped forward and bent down to give Li Zhide a serious salute.

"Virtuous nephews don't have to be polite," Li Zhide waved his hand to Liu Yiyi casually, but his two eyes drifted to the strange waterwheel on the well, he slowly walked closer, pointed to the waterwheel and asked Liu Yiyi: "This is the waterwheel that Yuan Fang said the day before yesterday that can be compared to the cylinder car?" Can it also draw out well water like a cart drawing river water? ”

Li Zhide couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in his heart, how could such a small thing be compared to a cylinder car? Yuan Fang's words are probably exaggerated.

"Li County Cheng Mingjian, what Uncle Yuan said, this is the car." Liu Yiyi nodded and replied: "But whether it can be compared with the cylinder car, after the water comes out, Li Xiancheng will have a clear idea." ”

After speaking, Liu Yiyi confessed to Li Zhide, raised his hand to signal Li Dechen, who had stopped due to Li Zhide's arrival, and continued to start turning the car.

The ploughing oxen pulled the waterwheel, and there was a squeak of wood.

Li Zhide retreated to the small circle where the ploughing ox turned, and said to Liu Yiyi: "The virtuous nephew is reasonable. ”

"If the virtuous nephew's waterwheel is really useful, then the virtuous nephew has done another great meritorious thing this time. At that time, Uncle Wei will definitely tell the emperor about this matter, and if you think that the emperor will be rewarded. Speaking of words, Li Zhide was more excited than anyone else, he leaned to Liu Yiyi's side lightly, and said softly to Liu Yiyi: "The virtuous nephew may not know that this year, in addition to us here, Lu, Henan, Yi, and Shu have not rained for four months, and in some places even the river has been cut off, and the emperor is very worried about this." ”

"If at this time, this kind of waterwheel will be dedicated to the emperor for the uncle and nephew," Li Zhide glanced at Liu Yiyi and said with a smile: "Not only will the virtuous nephew be rewarded, but even for the uncle, it will also be stained, and this promotion day, I am afraid it will be faster, and then the uncle will not forget the benefits of your virtuous nephew." ”

This, presumably, is the reason why Li Zhide is so enthusiastic, right?

Liu Yiyi looked at Li Zhide's very smug smile, shook his head slightly, being an official for the sake of being an official, and he didn't know how to cover it up, he was finally worse than Wang Zhihong, Liu Yiyi was not very optimistic about Li Zhide's future career.

"Out of the water! The owner, it's really out of the water! Li Dechen, who had been watching the outlet of the waterwheel, suddenly shouted, and at the bottom of the waterwheel, a slightly turbid well water came out of the ground, standing along the drainage pipe they had built earlier, and slowly flowed outward.

Out of the water?!

The tenant farmers, who were afraid of Li Zhide's official authority, immediately hugged him after hearing this, and looked excitedly at the increasingly turbulent well water, which was flowing outward, and it was really out of the water.

Liu Yiyi accompanied Li Zhide, as well as Su Chen, Su An stepped forward, looked at the turbid well water, and sighed in his heart, this, compared to those lowest-grade pumps, it is still far behind.

"It's really out! Uncle An, look, it's really out! Su Chen excitedly hugged Su An's arm and said to him excitedly.

"Yes, young master, it's really out of the water." Su An patted Su Chen's shoulder and said to Su Chen: "If the old lady knows, he will definitely be as happy as the young master, Mr. Liu has done a great good thing for the people of our Tang Dynasty." ”

"Uh-huh." Su Chen nodded, looking at Liu Yiyi, who was talking to Li Zhide, and there was an unprecedented emotion in his eyes.