On the sixth day of August, Li Xia returned to Chang'an from Fengli Canal and immediately summoned his ministers to discuss the construction of Guanzhong Water Conservancy.
Since the war in the late Tang Dynasty, the management of water canals in Guanzhong has gradually been neglected. There are currently two water conservancy problems.
The first is the water problem in Chang'an City. The water source in the city is insufficient, and the water obtained from digging wells is often bitter and salty water. In the past, the population was not large, and it could be dealt with. However, as the King of Qin moved to Chang'an, the population gathered and it became very difficult to use water.
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The second is the irrigation problem of Guanzhong's cultivated land. During this inspection of Fengli Canal, Qin Jiushao's record was that "the river bottom is low and deep, the canal is high, and the water cannot flow. It has been idle and blocked for hundreds of years."
Among them, Li Yong, Wu Pu, and Xi Jihu all received Wu Qian's experience and guidance after building Tashan Weir. Although they are not water conservancy experts, they can still be responsible for this matter.
After the war, everything was in ruins, and there were too few talents under Li Xia's command. They had to deal with far more things than these. In short, they were asked to "work harder and bear more responsibility."
This matter is definitely not something that can be discussed in a day or two. The entire system of water diversion, water distribution, and water transportation through various channels, as well as the planning of Chang'an City, need to be considered.
Sun Deyu also participated in this discussion, because he was responsible for supervising the manufacture and supply of gunpowder and various instruments needed to dig the canal.
I don't know how many yawns I yawned during the meeting. Finally, Li Xia ended the discussion and Sun Deyu was able to leave the office and return home.
Exit Chang'an City from Yongning Gate, take a carriage and travel two miles south to the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, and then walk more than ten miles southwest before arriving at the ruins of the Tang City Wall.
This shows how big Chang'an was in the Tang Dynasty.
There was a large temple in front of them. As the carriage approached, they saw that the plaque on it clearly read the three characters "Gewuyuan". The handwriting was sparse and elegant, and it was written by everyone.
It was almost dusk when we entered the Gewuyuan, and there was a busy scene inside.
Because a group of people were transferred from Hanzhong to the Chang'an branch not long ago. At this time, the yard was still full of boxes containing books, drawings, materials, and samples, and people were sorting them out.
There are also all kinds of people, Taoist priests, monks, literati, old people, women, disabled people. Basically, the only requirement to work in Gewuyuan is to be read and literate.
As soon as Sun Deyu entered the door, he put his hands up, raised his head slightly, put on some posture, and then walked inside.
"The dean is back."
"Dean..."
Every time someone called, Sun Deyu smiled and nodded. In the end, he couldn't hold back his pride and laughed completely.
He already had a baby face and fair skin, and his smile looked even more childish, but everyone who passed by kept calling him "Dean".
"The dean is back. Wasn't it a hard trip?"
"Although it's a bit hard, I'm already tanned on such a hot day." Sun Deyu said with a smile: "But isn't that all I can do for my talk? If you guys finish the job, I'll ask the King of Qin for your reward.
.”
Compared to his dull uncles and brothers, Sun Deyu may not be the best at refining gunpowder, but he is the best at interacting with people. Therefore, whenever anything happens in the Gewuyuan, he is usually in charge.
The main thing that Gewuyuan did before was to develop various military and medical weapons or tools based on Li Xia's principles, mostly to cooperate with the army.
After following Li Xia on this trip, Sun Deyu knew that in the future, the Gewuyuan would also cooperate with officials in charge of agriculture to develop and find ways to mass-produce agricultural tools to increase Guanzhong's grain production.
In Li Xia's words, "We must promote the development of agriculture and animal husbandry as soon as possible to promote the establishment of a foundation for industry and military industry."
Sun Deyu understands this kind of strange words very well, which is why he can stand out at such a young age.
Back at Gewüyuan, he was able to convey it to others accurately.
He was drowsy when discussing matters in Prince Qin's Mansion, but when he returned to his own territory, he was able to explain the matter clearly with a smile.
"King Qin sent us more work..."
~~
"Okay, that's all for today. The royal capital has just moved to Chang'an, and everything is complicated. Please do your best. After this busy period, everyone will go to Liyang wine to eat stir-fried vegetables."
After coming out of the hall, Sun Deyu could finally go back to his room to rest.
"I'm so tired." He lay down on the bunk and said, "I don't know when Mr. Hao will come to Chang'an. I have to take care of all these things. I'm exhausted."
Living with Sun Deyu was his senior brother Yu Dechen. As soon as he entered the house, he rearranged the futon that had been kicked into pieces by Sun Deyu.
"Hao Laodao will not come to Chang'an for the time being. He plans to go to Tubo to debate Buddhism again... Here is the letter. You can read it for yourself."
"Huh."
Sun Deyu stood up and took the letter from Hao Xiuyang.
Hao Xiuyang simply told him that he would take care of the Gewuyuan, but he didn't say much about what he was going to do. He only mentioned that he was going to take the old Taoist priests of the Quanzhen Sect to the Tubo Jokhang Temple.
After reading the letter carefully twice, Sun Deyu said: "Does the old Taoist master want to use the hands of the Tubo Bald Donkey to wipe out the Quanzhen Sect?"
"Don't talk nonsense."
"How courageous. I heard that Tubo Bald Donkey has been conferred as a national teacher by Kublai Khan. Since he is a national enemy, why is there any need to debate Buddhism and Taoism? Also, Hao Laodao is so old and can walk.
so far away?"
Yu Dechen shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Sun Deyu said: "Hao Laodao wants to be the national master. I think the reason why he left the Gewuyuan to me is so that he can devote all his attention to the Congsiyuan."
When the Quanzhen Sect was besieged, Li Xia gave Sun Deyu two choices, one was "faith" and the other was "gwu". This is the origin of today's Zongshiyuan and Gwuyuan. Hao Xiuyang originally took care of both academies, but since
After Sun Deyu was able to take care of the chores in the Gewuyuan, he became less and less involved here.
"I know very well what Hao Laodao is thinking. He just thinks that if he can persuade Tubo to surrender to the King of Qin, if the King of Qin becomes the emperor, he cannot be made a saint. But how old is the King of Qin? How old is Pa Siba?
How old are they? But they are all young people in their twenties. How can he, Mr. Hao, accompany them to continue to unite the world's trend of vertical and horizontal alliances? He is so old and still goes up to the mountains of Tubo."
When Sun Deyu said this, he shook his head.
He lay back on the couch again and said: "If it were a person like me, maybe it could be done, but it would be too tiring, and it would be too dangerous to enter the enemy's country. It is better to play with small objects in this Gewuyuan
Better……"
Yu Deshen sat there meditating and didn't answer, letting Sun Deyu mutter.
At the end, Sun Deyu said: "Senior brother, are you listening? It's really boring."
"She's listening. By the way, she said that we'll get together when you come back with her."
"who?"
"Well...brother Zhaocheng."
~~
In the evening of the next day, in the west of Chang'an City, in Li Zhaocheng's mansion.
"Try my rotten steamed lamb."
Seeing several plates of stir-fried vegetables being brought up, Sun Deyu's eyes lit up, his chopsticks flew like flies, and he did not forget to mutter: "Li Dalang's cooking skills are really amazing."
"It's still fun to treat the little Taoist priest to dinner."
"Little Taoist priest? Everyone calls me Dean."
"Have you really taken up the post of dean?"
"Other people don't know about Mr. Hao, don't you? He's not willing to take care of this business. So I have no choice but to take over."
"Yes, the old Taoist priest wanted to go to Tibet. My father and I tried to persuade him for a long time, but he still didn't stop him." Li Zhaocheng was quite worried about this.
In the past, Li Zhaocheng liked to go to Hao Xiuyang. In the past two years, he still went to Gewuyuan frequently.
Others thought he was Li Xia's elder brother. He avoided suspicion, fawned, and kept a respectful distance when interacting with each other. There were not many people who could get along with him as comfortably as Sun Deyu, so Li Zhaocheng liked to associate with Sun Deyu.
"Let him go without stopping him. In fact, if you don't tell me how old he is, he looks healthier than my master."
Li Zhaocheng felt much more relaxed now and said with a smile: "What Dean Sun said makes sense."
At this time, someone was entering the hall. Hearing the words, he responded: "Dean? Where is the chief jailer here?"
The voice was clear and crisp, but it was that of a woman.
Li Zhaocheng turned around and saw that it was indeed Jiang Di and Jiang Cang. He pointed at Sun Deyu and said, "If you didn't tell me, I almost forgot. The jailer is called 'Dean', and it is this Dean Sun."
"Little Taoist priests are accustomed to being good at personal matters. It is normal for them to be promoted."
Jiang Di pulled out the chair, sat down calmly, and said, "It smells so good. I'm not late, am I? Linsan Yamen has been delayed by some official duties."
"You're late. As a punishment, you'll treat me to a meal tomorrow."
"What a greedy and stingy little Taoist priest."
"..."
Several young people were eating, drinking, and joking. Later, Jiang Di was a little tipsy, but she seemed quite happy.
Seeing that Yu Dechen remained silent, she asked, "Muyu hasn't spoken all night. Is there something on your mind?"
"My senior brother has always been like this."
"Ha ha ha ha……"
"I was shocked. Miss Jiang, why are you laughing suddenly? Are you drunk?"
"Hey, it suddenly occurred to me that in Qingfu County at that time, Muyu was dressed as a woman, and she was silent all the time, so quiet."
Yu Dechen was greatly embarrassed and hurriedly said: "Stop talking, you are drunk."
"No, no." Jiang Di was still smiling, holding the wine glass, shaking his head, and said: "What's the big deal about talking about interesting things from back then? It's embarrassing for you to dress up as a woman, and what I told you at that time is even more embarrassing. But.
It’s all over, isn’t it?”
"Sister, what did you say to Taoist Master Yu?"
"It's nothing. What's interesting is that when I saw Muyu again in Hanzhong the year before last, I was startled, and so was he. Then he said to me, 'Don't worry, Miss Jiang, I don't recognize you,' huh? Isn't it funny?
?He called my name and said he didn’t recognize me.”
"It's not funny."
"Well, I think that although Muyu is a killer, he has a good heart."
"Senior brother, that has completely embarrassed the killer."
"But does Muyu have something on his mind?"
"Senior brother, do you have it?"
Yu Dechen finally nodded and said: "I just feel that it is useless for me to stay in Gewuyuan."
"How could it be?" Sun Deyu asked in surprise, "Without senior brother, how could we have occupied that abandoned temple on the outskirts of the city? How could there be the current Chang'an Gemological Garden?"
"Stop talking. Brother Zhaocheng and Miss Jiang are both officials. If you keep talking, I will be arrested."
"Puch."
Jiang Di couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's rare to hear Taoist Master Yu say something funny."
"To be honest, I have a dull mind and only have some skills."
"Senior brother, you can become a policeman. Wannian County is recruiting policemen."
"Ha, it just so happens that I work with Dean Sun, the warden."
"However, having said that, I have long felt that my senior brother has a weak Taoist heart and always thinks about marrying a wife, so he is suitable to return to the secular world and become a policeman."
Li Zhaocheng asked: "Are you serious? I'll ask if there are any vacancies?"
"Actually, Secretary Lin also wants me to go over and do some work."
"Military Intelligence Department? Is that the most dangerous yamen?" Sun Deyu shook his head and said: "Our Gewuyuan is so good, don't pay attention to him."
"That's right." Jiang Cang said, "Even I want to go to Gewuyuan."
"Read your book...Muyu, don't listen to them. After all, you have to make your own decision."
"Yes, I'll think about it again."
"Senior brother, there is nothing to think about. We have so many secrets in the Gakushu Academy and we need skilled people to protect them."
"Ah." Jiang Cang said suddenly, "I remembered, I guessed what you and Daoist Master Yu said back then."
"You can guess it, it doesn't matter."
"So thick-skinned."
Jiang Di smiled, raised his glass casually, toasted others, and took a sip himself.
She is no longer the girl who only imitates Li Xia, she already has her own temperament. She doesn't feel that it is unbecoming of a lady like this now.
That night, in the presence of several friends, while drinking heavily, Jiang Di expressed her innermost thoughts.
"If an unattractive woman like me gets married under the orders of my parents, it is easy to imagine that it will be a very boring life. Fortunately, when I was fourteen years old, I met the King of Qin. Although he did not have a romantic relationship with me, , but taught me to live comfortably. Now I can use my talents and have three or five close friends. How nice it is."
"That's well said." Li Zhaocheng said: "Miss Jiang's style is unparalleled by that of an ordinary lady."
The atmosphere in the hall was just right, but Jiang Cang wanted to undermine them, saying, "Hey, I remembered that one time my father even wanted his sister to marry Mr. Li Dalang."
Li Zhaocheng choked before finishing his drink.
"Ha, Mr. Li Dalang wants to marry two wives..." Sun Deyu's voice became lower and lower, "Well, even I can't save the situation."
Just when he was a little embarrassed, Jiang Di raised his glass and said: "Now that it's in the past, here's a toast to the past."
Li Zhaocheng thought of that year in Xuzhou, smiled bitterly, and raised his glass.
"Respect the past."
"We respect today's enlightened atmosphere."
"Respect people to make the best use of them, and everything to make the best use of their talents."
"Respect...respect me for being successful in my studies and for having a bright future."
"We'll meet again next time. I'm leaving. I have official business tomorrow."