hotmtlnovel Chapter 201
Chapter 201
The team continued to move forward slowly, and Su Chen and Changle rode in the prince's carriage together.
"Brother-in-law, I didn't get any of the buns you sent to the palace."
Speaking of Li Shimin and his friends eating buns last night, Li Chengqian was very sad.
Because he was late for more than ten minutes due to something, Li Shimin and his friends finished eating the buns themselves and gave the remaining buns to the palace maids, eunuchs and guards.
Completely forgetting about the prince, Empress Changsun just smiled a little awkwardly.
When he left, he only smelled the residual fragrance of pork stuffing.
"Don't worry, the ingredients for making buns are ready. But it's only enough for us to enjoy, there are too many victims to take care of." Su Chen smiled and nodded.
"That's good." Then he asked Su Chen, "Are we really going to stay in Hua County tonight?"
Su Chen didn't need to think about it, and said to Li Chengqian with certainty:
"Of course, you are here to comfort the 'disaster victims' on behalf of His Majesty, so you should at least go to the four construction teams and meet the people!"
What Su Chen said was almost what Li Chengqian expected, and he nodded and said, "Well, I think so too!"
"Sister, what are you doing here in such a hot day?" Li Chengqian suddenly looked at Princess Changle and asked.
Princess Changle glared at Li Chengqian, her eyes rolling, "Your carriage is nice, and there is plenty of space inside. This lady will stay in this carriage tonight. Does His Royal Highness have any objection?"
"No objection, just do as you please!" Li Chengqian shook his head and forced a smile.
About ten minutes later, the carriage shook slightly, and then slowly stopped.
"Your Highness, we have arrived at the Huaxian toll station."
"Okay, I got it!"
The three of them got off the carriage, and Su Chen looked around and smiled.
"The location here is good and big enough, but this is not called a toll station but a "service area". The toll station is set in the middle of the road."
Su Chen said to the prince Li Chengqian beside him.
"Well, this square is wide enough to park a lot of carriages, which is convenient for businessmen and travelers to stop for a while."
Li Chengqian nodded and said that he participated in the construction of this cement road, so Li Chengqian knew the role of toll stations and service areas.
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
Wei Shuyu and Qin Huaiyu walked over quickly and saluted Li Chengqian.
They came from the construction site to greet Li Chengqian and his team. They were the closest to the four construction teams.
"Shuyu, Huaiyu, no need to be polite!" Li Chengqian held his arms with both hands.
"Thank you, Your Highness! "After thanking them, the two bowed to Princess Changle and Li Ke.
Since Li Chengqian was wearing the prince's dragon robe this time, he couldn't be as casual as usual, and he had to follow the proper etiquette.
"Su Chen, Rengui, long time no see!" Qin Huaiyu walked up to Su Chen and bowed and smiled.
"Brother, you are tanned!" Su Chen stepped forward and bowed and smiled.
After a few people exchanged greetings, Wei Shuyu bowed and said, "Your Highness, please move to the toll station first. It's spacious inside and not as hot as outside."
"Okay, Su Chen, let's go in first, and everyone please follow me." Li Chengqian nodded and said, and the latter sentence was said to the representatives of the noble families.
"Yes, Your Highness! "Six stewards of the noble families bowed and answered.
…
This 'toll booth' is very simple inside, with two tables made of wooden boards randomly put together, and a few large wooden boards that may be beds.
"Huaiyu, how far are the other three construction teams from here?" Li Chengqian asked.
"Your Highness, we have a construction team every twenty miles." Qin Huaiyu stepped forward and answered.
"If we want to go to the construction team at the farthest distance now, is the road convenient for carriages to pass?" Su Chen suddenly asked.
If according to what Qin Huaiyu said, they are now at least sixty miles away from the farthest construction team.
"Su Chen, you don't know, we have always divided the four-zhang wide cement road into two halves and adopted single-sided construction. First, it is convenient to transport construction materials, and second, every ten days, the noble families will transport food from Chang'an.
If the entire road is poured at the same time, it will greatly affect the transportation capacity. Therefore, even for the construction teams far away from here, the single-sided cement road has been connected. "Wei Shuyu answered patiently.
"Well, this is a good idea!" Su Chen understood after listening, and turned to Li Chengqian and said:
"Your Highness, I suggest that you order people to divide the materials brought from Changan into four parts, and the other three parts will continue to be sent to the other three construction teams.
And send someone to notify Changsun Chong and others to gather here tonight. "
Li Chengqian nodded and looked at the attendant beside him, "According to what the Marquis said, you pass the order down and do it!"
"Yes, Your Highness!" The two attendants turned around and left after receiving the order.
"Your Highness, Marquis Su, we have previously transported food here from Chang'an, and we are familiar with the people here. Let's go together to distribute the transportation. I wonder what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Marquis think? "
It is unknown which of the five surnames the person who spoke was. In addition to the servants who transported winter melons and mung beans, each of the five surnames and six clans sent a steward to come.
Li Chengqian thought for a while, bowed and said, "Then I will trouble you stewards."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is too polite, we dare not!" The six people bowed and bowed, and then left with the Crown Prince's attendants.
After the six stewards of the noble family left, Li Chengqian suddenly felt that he could let himself go.
"Shuyu, tell me what happened to those bandits of Tu Jiu."
Not only Li Chengqian was curious about this matter, but Su Chen was also very curious.
"Haha, Your Highness the Crown Prince, you will definitely not guess that those bandits were introduced by the villagers nearby. "Wei Shuyu is a little different from his father Wei Zheng. He will laugh.
Li Chengqian and Su Chen moved the broken stool and approached Wei Shuyu to listen to gossip.
"Old Third, Rengui, you guys can be more casual. There are no outsiders now." Li Chengqian suddenly found that Li Ke and Xue Rengui were still standing upright beside him.
"Commander Li, we don't have so many rules outside. Find a place to sit casually." Li Chengqian said to Li Junxian again.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Li Junxian bowed and thanked him respectfully.
Zhang Long, Zhao Hu and the other four were guarding outside the door as if they were in a manor, but there was no door here.
"Shuyu, tell me what happened in detail. This is the first time I have heard of bandits going down the mountain to work as laborers." Li Chengqian urged.
"Your Highness, don't worry! Let me tell you slowly. "Wei Shuyu stood up and straightened his clothes, and said in a serious tone:
"In fact, Tu Jiu and his men can't be called bandits, but more like swindlers. They never rob houses, and occasionally cheat passing merchants when they are short of money.
They ordered their younger brothers to pretend to be bandits to intercept merchants, and then asked others to play the role of knights who drew their swords to help.
Some merchants would give them some money out of gratitude, and they used this to obtain a source of income.
When they were unlucky, they would go down the mountain to help farmers do some physical work to make ends meet.
Tu Jiu and his men have been working here for almost a month, and they work very hard on weekdays. They never pick and choose what work to do, and they are very active in cooperating with the foreman's arrangements. "
Wei Shuyu told everyone everything he knew.