Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 481: Locust Plague and Tractor (8K)

The sun was high in the sky and the weather in early summer was unusually hot.

The farmers bent over in the fields, wielding sickles, and beads of sweat rolled down their muscle lines on their naked backs.

The women and children did not sit still, but helped.

The women rolled up their sleeves and helped bundle the cut wheat straw and then loaded the bundles onto the cart.

The short children relied on their agility to move around in the fields, picking up scattered ears of wheat on the ground.

With everyone's joint efforts, the wheat seedlings in the wheat fields were harvested at a speed visible to the naked eye, and one piece of wheat field after another was shaved bald.

Even the village chief, Duan Xiucai, came to the wheat field himself and bent over to do farm work.

As the sickle was swung, wheat awns swept across his body, making Duan Xiucai feel itchy all over, but he still gritted his teeth and worked on it.

Before he knew it, his clothes were soaked with sweat.

I don’t know how much time had passed, but Duan Xiucai really couldn’t work anymore, so he straightened up and prepared to take a break.

But he had just straightened up and didn't even have time to drink a sip of water.

When I looked up, I saw a dark cloud suddenly appearing in the distant sky, and along with the dark cloud, there was a very obvious buzzing sound of insect wings flapping.

Duan Xiucai stared into the distance, and soon the expression on his face changed drastically.

"Oh no! The locusts are coming!"

“The locusts are coming!”

Mr. Duan couldn't help but yell at the top of his voice.

The farmers who were busy working around heard the shout and subconsciously looked up.

Then they all saw a swarm of locusts flying towards them from the sky.

“The locusts are coming!”

"Everyone, work harder and collect as much as you can..."

Mr. Duan continued to shout, and then he bent down and continued to cut the wheat.

When the farmers saw the locusts really coming, they seemed to be instantly energized and worked even harder, with the sickles in their hands almost smoking.

But locusts fly really fast.

It took less than half an hour from the time they noticed the locusts appearing in the sky to the time they swooped down and appeared in front of them.

When the locusts flew over the wheat fields, they swooped down immediately and began to frantically eat the golden wheat seedlings in the fields.

In an instant, locusts were hanging all over the wheat seedlings, and the stalks were bent.

In the blink of an eye, all the wheat seedlings were eaten up, and most of the straw was also eaten.

Wherever the locusts passed, the greenery on the roadside disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the trees and bushes were eaten bare...

When farmers saw locusts coming to destroy their crops, they subconsciously waved their sickles to drive them away, but it was completely ineffective.

There were so many locusts.

The black mass of locusts swarmed over at once, and even people would be knocked to the ground by them...

Some people were even knocked to the ground by locusts and suffocated, with their clothes and hair eaten away bit by bit.

As chaos and panic spread, farmers had no choice but to leave their wheat fields and flee towards their homes.

Mr. Duan returned home with the help of several young and strong men in the village.

As soon as he got home, he closed the door.

People huddled in the house, listening to the thumping sounds of locusts hitting the door and roof, and Mr. Duan was filled with panic.

They received the message too late!

Even though he organized the villagers to go to the fields to harvest grain as soon as he received the news, they only managed to collect a small portion.

In addition, the locusts came suddenly this year, so we had to rush to harvest the wheat before it was fully mature.

Therefore, this year's harvest is destined to be much worse than in previous years.

By then, I’m afraid we won’t even be able to pay the taxes to the court!
It might even starve people to death!
As the village chief, how should he explain this to his superiors and his ancestors?

……

As locust plagues rage across the country, the disaster continues to expand.

News continued to converge towards Kaifeng Prefecture and was delivered to Liang Feng, the current governor of Henan Province of the Tang Dynasty.

[Kaifeng Prefecture was hit by locusts, Xiangfu, Chenliu, Zhongmu and other counties suffered disasters, locusts blocked out the sun, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland were destroyed, and 39 people were killed or injured. ]

[Guide Prefecture was hit by locusts, affecting Ningling, Shangqiu, Yucheng and other counties under its jurisdiction, and most of the harvest was lost. Wherever the locusts passed, houses collapsed and all the plants and trees were destroyed.]

[Xuzhou, Chenzhou, Ruzhou and other prefectures all encountered locust plagues. Farmers rushed to harvest the fields, but the harvests were still mostly eaten by locusts. ]

【…】

Looking at the reports sent in from below, Liang Feng couldn't help but frown.

Judging from the current spread of the locust plague, almost the entire Henan Province has been affected by the plague.

The locust plague is even spreading to provinces surrounding Henan, including Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Hubei.

The locust plague has affected at least tens of millions of people...

The consequence is really too serious.

Taking a deep breath, Liang Feng made comments on the report.

On the one hand, they requested to report to the court for help and request the court to allocate various materials to Henan for disaster relief.

On the other hand, it also requires the state governments under it to immediately organize personnel to kill locusts and prevent the continued spread of the locust plague.

Locust control and disaster relief work must be carried out together!
Liang Feng has been serving as the governor of Henan for more than three years. According to the rules of the court, the next two years will be a critical period for him.

If he performs well in the next two years, he will be promoted, or at least transferred to a lateral position.

But if he doesn't perform well, he might even be fired.

Liang Feng doesn't want any trouble to arise in the last two years of his term.

Therefore, Liang Feng really attaches great importance to disaster relief and locust control work.

After giving the instructions, Liang Feng called his secretary.

A young man named Lin Song.

"Lin Song, you will have to work harder for the next period of time."

"Go to the various state capitals on my behalf and supervise their disaster relief and locust control work. Make sure there are no mistakes."

Upon hearing this, Lin Song just nodded.

"Don't worry, sir. I understand."

Liang Feng nodded slightly upon seeing this, and continued.

"Also, submit this report to the capital immediately..."

While reviewing and replying to the reports sent by his subordinates, Liang Feng also wrote a plan for locust control and a plan for disaster relief, preparing to submit them to the court.

He hoped that the imperial court could give him some support so as to stabilize the current situation in Henan as soon as possible.

Upon hearing this, Lin Song just nodded again.

……

The outskirts of Beijing!

Datang First Tractor Manufacturing Plant.

There are banners hanging outside the factory.

There was a line of big words on the banner.

[The Datang First Tractor Manufacturing Plant warmly welcomes His Majesty the Emperor to visit and inspect. ]

That's right, a tractor factory, not a car factory.

Below the banner stood staff members from the tractor manufacturing plant and related technicians.

These people stood together, looking towards the end of the road, waiting for the emperor to arrive.

Just yesterday, Li Yi received a report from below.

Datang's First Tractor Manufacturing Plant produced the first batch of experimental products and wanted Li Yi to review them personally.

Li Yi did not hesitate or delay at all. The next day, he put down his work and led a team to inspect the tractor factory.

Li Yi attaches great importance to the research and development work of the tractor factory.

On the one hand, if tractors could be put into large-scale production, then the Tang Dynasty could use the power of tractors to develop the Great Northern Wilderness.

In later generations, the Great Northern Wilderness became the Great Northern Granary.

The most important objective reason is that the large-scale use of tractors has reduced the cost and difficulty of land reclamation to a minimum.

Making the development of the Great Northern Wilderness possible!
In the agricultural era, it was undoubtedly impossible to reclaim the Great Northern Wilderness.

Li Yi, who is well aware of this, naturally attaches great importance to tractors.

Furthermore, the tractor chassis, to some extent, is compatible with the tank chassis.

During World War I and World War II, a considerable number of tanks of the great powers were produced in tractor factories.

The tank is a revolutionary weapon that can actually change the pattern of war.

How could Li Yi not attach importance to the tractor?
He also wanted to see the Tang Dynasty's iron torrent sweeping across the world during his lifetime!

Xu Qiang, director of the tractor manufacturing factory, stood in front of the factory gate, pacing constantly, looking somewhat anxious.

According to the time notified from above, His Majesty the Emperor should have arrived half an hour ago.

But why hasn’t he come yet?

Xu Qiang couldn't help but feel uneasy. What could have delayed him?
Or was the emperor simply dissatisfied with them and turned back halfway?
Although Xu Qiang is a tech geek, he has low emotional intelligence.

However, no matter how low his emotional intelligence is, he will still be nervous when facing someone who can decide his fate.

But at this moment, accompanied by the roar of an engine.

I saw a convoy coming from a distance.

The moment he saw the convoy, Xu Qiang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Here comes, finally here!
The convoy stopped in front of the tractor factory, and fully armed guardsmen got off the vehicles.

After getting off the car, these soldiers immediately stood on the periphery to set up defenses, their eyes full of vigilance.

The colonel officer in charge walked up to Xu Qiang, saluted him, and then said.

"Director Xu, His Majesty will be here soon."

"Please cooperate with us and check the security work again as soon as possible to make sure there are no problems."

In fact, as early as when Li Yi decided to come to the tractor factory for inspection, the Imperial Guards had already sent people to the tractor factory to take over the security work.

Now, it’s just a matter of checking it again and adding more manpower to ensure everything is correct.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qiang nodded immediately.

"Of course, we will fully cooperate with your work."

The colonel nodded, and then began to arrange personnel to check the defense work of the tractor factory again.

……

In the back seat of the car, Li Yi frowned.

He was reading a memorial at hand.

There were a few big words written on the cover.

[Brief report on the disaster in Henan in the fifth year of Kaitai]

This morning, Li Yi got up early and prepared to go to the tractor factory for inspection.

But just as he went out and got into the car, Wang Zhong brought him this briefing.

This is also the reason why Li Yi arrived at the tractor factory half an hour later than the scheduled time.

Flipping through the briefing in his hand, Li Yi looked slightly calm.

The main area affected by this locust plague is Henan.

Henan is one of the most important grain producing areas in the Tang Dynasty today.

The disaster in Henan will inevitably lead to a significant reduction in the grain production in the Tang Dynasty.

By then, the food gap will inevitably be an astronomical figure.

This really made Li Yi worried!
After thinking for a moment, Li Yi turned to Zhang Zhidong who was sitting in the front row and said.

"Xiaoda, go to the Ministry of Agriculture later and ask them to calculate the food shortage caused by the disaster in Henan, and then report to me as soon as possible."

"In addition, we will send a message to the states bordering the disaster area, ordering them to do a good job in preventing and controlling the locust plague and not allow the impact of the plague to expand again."

Zhang Zhidong, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and said when he heard this.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand!"

Hearing this, Li Yi closed his eyes slightly, nodded gently, and said nothing more.

At the same time, he was thinking about how to fill the food gap in the Tang Dynasty.

……

Soon, Li Yi's royal convoy drove to the outside of the tractor factory.

As the convoy stopped, Li Yi stepped out from the back seat of the car.

Xu Qiang, the person in charge of the tractor factory, came forward and bowed.

"Your Majesty, may your Majesty be blessed!"

The kneeling ceremony has been abolished in the Tang Dynasty today.

Unless it is a grand occasion such as a court meeting or a worship ceremony at the Taimiao, in general, you only need to bow.

Li Yi stretched out his hand and lifted Xu Qiang up, then said.

"No need to be polite, my dear family!"

After Xu Qiang straightened up, Li Yi continued.

"I came here today because I heard that the tractor manufacturing plant has made some achievements. I am very curious."

"I wonder if you could take me to see it?"

Hearing this, Xu Qiang swallowed and said.

"It is my great honor to lead the way for Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, please follow me. Everything is ready at the tractor factory!"

Li Yi nodded, and then, under the leadership of Xu Qiang, walked into the tractor factory.

Seeing this, the entourage also hurried to catch up.

The group soon entered a factory.

There are several items displayed in the factory.

One is the engine of the tractor, one is the chassis of the tractor, and one is the integrally formed tractor.

In order to show Li Yi their research results, the tractor manufacturer disassembled the tractor for display.

The first thing Li Yi looked at was the tractor's engine.

Xu Qiang pointed to an engine in front of him and began to introduce it.

"Your Majesty, this engine is named the Kaitai 4th Year Diesel Engine."

"The engine was finalized last year and has started mass production."

"The engine weighs 1.2 tons, has a fuel tank capacity of 70 liters, and can output 400 horsepower stably..."

"Compared with previous gasoline engines, our new diesel engines have the advantages of strong power, higher thermal efficiency and economic efficiency."

“The disadvantages are that it is noisy, fuel-intensive, and requires frequent maintenance.”

After introducing the engine, Xu Qiang began to introduce the tractor chassis and various data of the whole machine to Li Yi.

Li Yi nodded repeatedly as he listened.

Then he continued, "Nowadays, how much does it cost for Datang to produce a diesel tractor?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qiang was silent at first.

After he silently calculated the account, he looked up and said.

"In reply to your Majesty, we are currently working on building a tractor production line."

"Once the production line is built, the production cost of the tractor can be reduced to between 2300 and 2500 silver dollars per unit."

Li Yi was not happy when he heard this, but frowned slightly.

After all, today's diesel engine has just been invented, and the tractor is just an experimental product. The industrial chain is not yet perfect. Logically speaking, this price is not expensive.

Once the industrial chain is complete and all supporting facilities are complete, the price of tractors will naturally drop.

However, Li Yi was still not satisfied.

Because he knew that with the current price of tractors, there would definitely be no market for them.

After all, tractors are different from cars. Cars can be used by the powerful to show off, and as long as they look cool, they will not lack sales.

But to put it bluntly, a tractor is used for farm work.

And with the current cost of tractors, no matter how much farm work is done, it is still not enough to cover the production cost.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult to sell tractors.

If something has no market, there is no hope of reducing costs by building a mature and complete industrial chain.

This matter is a bit unsolvable!
After thinking for a while, Li Yi spoke.

"With the current cost of tractors, it is estimated that it will be difficult to support a mature and complete industrial chain just by relying on the civilian market."

"How about this? I will give the Military Affairs Council a note later and ask the Military Affairs Council and the tractor factory to jointly develop diesel engines and related matters for military use of tractors."

Since it is impossible to open up the market and establish a complete and mature industrial chain by relying on civilian use, it is impossible to do so.

Then, Li Yi prepared to use it for military purposes first!

Unlike civilian use, which still needs to consider costs, military use does not need to worry about this.

For the military, combat effectiveness is everything.

As long as the combat effectiveness of the army can be improved, the cost is the last thing to be considered.

As long as you can win the war, no matter how much cost you invest in the early stage, you will be able to recover it in the end.

Well, for example, when the Tang Dynasty went to war with Britain, the initial investment costs were certainly high.

But in the end, not only did it force Britain to cede Australia, but it also received war reparations of 4200 million silver dollars.

These are more than enough to cover the costs paid by the Tang Dynasty in the war.

However, what if the Tang Dynasty lost the war because of saving costs?

Then, the costs you save will become war reparations to the enemy.

Well, Karl Lagerfeld is being criticized here by name.

In order to celebrate his own birthday, he withheld military funds to build a garden and even ordered the fleet to use sand-filled shells.

The results of it?
The Beiyang Fleet was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894!

I wonder how many gardens I could have built for her with the money I paid as compensation!
So, for the military, cost is never a consideration.

This is also the reason why many things in later generations were first used for military purposes and then for civilian purposes.

Apart from the factor of technological confidentiality, there must also be the desire to take advantage of the fact that military use does not consider costs to spread the R&D costs and gradually complete the industrial chain.

After listening to Li Yi's instructions, Xu Qiang nodded to show that he understood.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand!"

Li Yi nodded slightly, then signaled Xu Qiang to have someone operate the tractor for him to see.

Xu Qiang nodded in agreement, then ordered an operator to go forward and operate it.

The operator picks up the rocker, plugs it into the tractor's engine, and starts turning.

As the rocker turns, the engine gradually starts to operate.

Unlike a gasoline engine, it needs to be ignited by a spark plug to start.

Since diesel has a lower ignition point than gasoline, you only need to shake the joystick to pressurize the air to ignite the diesel and start the engine.

As the engine started, a series of rumbling sounds echoed throughout the factory.

Black smoke began to billow from the tractor's exhaust pipe.

As a result, the tractor started to move slowly and moved forward...

……

Li Yi finished his inspection at the tractor factory and returned to the Old Summer Palace.

Then, he began to deal with government affairs.

The current political affairs facing him, apart from the locust plague in Henan, are the development issues in Australia.

After taking over Australia, the Tang Dynasty began to develop it.

However, the current population in Australia is limited and is still mainly composed of foreigners and indigenous people.

Therefore, the development progress of the Tang Dynasty was very slow.

If Li Yi wants to speed up the development progress in Australia, then he must first speed up immigration.

Fortunately, what the Tang Dynasty lacks the least at present is population.

As long as the imperial court can afford the expenses and materials needed for immigration, there is no need to worry about no one immigrating.

Suddenly, Li Yi, who was reviewing memorials, thought of it.

Since Henan has suffered a disaster, can we take this opportunity to immigrate from Henan?

When Henan was hit by a disaster, people's hearts were in turmoil. At this time, the resistance faced by immigrants from Henan must have been the smallest.

Moreover, Henan is located in the Central Plains, which is a densely populated area.

If part of Henan's population can be moved out, it will definitely ease the local social conflicts and conflicts between people and land.

This will undoubtedly be of great benefit to the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

Thinking about this, Li Yi quickly picked up his pen to make an instruction, ready to hand the matter over to his subordinates.

At this moment, footsteps were heard outside again.

Soon, Zhang Zhidong came in from outside after being notified.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Agriculture has already calculated the food shortage in Henan after the disaster that you requested."

"Your Majesty, please take a look!"

As he spoke, Zhang Zhidong handed a report to Li Yi.

Li Yi took the report and began to read it.

[In the fourth year of Kaitai, the total grain output of the Tang Dynasty was 180 million tons.]

[As the cost of fertilizer production decreased, it was put into large-scale use. In addition, the amount of cultivated land in Liaodong and Nanyang increased year by year. According to estimates, the total grain production of the Tang Dynasty in the fifth year of Kaitai was about 190 million tons.]

[Among them, the grain output of Henan Province alone accounts for about one-tenth of the total grain output of the Tang Dynasty. After the disaster this year, the grain output of Henan Province alone is estimated to have been halved.]

[This year, the food shortage in Datang is about 800 to 900 million tons. ]

Looking at the numbers, Li Yi couldn't help but frown.

Eight or nine million tons, this number is really too exaggerated.

The gap was so big that Li Yi didn't know where to fill it.

After thinking for a long time, Li Yi spoke.

"This gap is really too big."

"It seems that the Tang Dynasty will have to increase its grain imports this year."

As for where to import from?

Of course, they are vassal states such as Vietnam, Thailand, North Korea, and Japan.

And India!
Anyway, the Mughal Khanate needs to pay back the Tang Dynasty.

That’s perfect, let them use the food to pay off their debts!
As for the fact that all the grain was used to pay off debts to the Tang Dynasty, would the Mughal Khanate itself starve to death?

Haha, this is not within the consideration of the Tang Dynasty!

However, importing grain from the Mughal Khanate alone is definitely not enough to fill the current food shortage in the Tang Dynasty.

By then, we might have to think of a way to get it from the British-controlled area...

Thinking about this, Li Yi looked up and said.

"Xiaoda, go and convey my order."

"Order the cabinet to immediately collect a batch of grain and ship it to Henan for disaster relief."

"We need to be efficient. Otherwise, the grain prices in Henan will soar to who knows how high it will go."

"By the way, order the Supervisory Department to keep a close eye on me."

"There must be no accidents with the disaster relief food. Whoever dares to lay his hands on it will be chopped off by me!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhidong immediately nodded in agreement, indicating that he understood. Then he turned and left to convey Li Yi's order.

……

Beijing, suburbs!
Datang National Safety Grain Reserve Warehouse, Warehouse No. 6.

After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, in order to ensure national security and to ensure that after natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, and human disasters such as wars and plagues, the Tang Dynasty could mobilize all kinds of materials to respond in the first place.

After Li Yi established the capital in Beijing, he ordered the establishment of a series of strategic reserve warehouses on the outskirts of Beijing.

A huge amount of food, medicinal materials, clothing, salt, sugar, military equipment and other related supplies were stored.

Warehouse No. 6 is one of the warehouses for storing grain.

Inside the office, warehouse manager Shi Chongrui was reviewing an account book in front of him, fiddling with the abacus beads from time to time to do calculations.

As one of the most important reserve warehouses in the Tang Dynasty, the reserve scale of Warehouse No. 6 is very large.

It reached an astonishing 500,000 tons!

For a reserve warehouse of this level, eliminating old grain and storing new grain every year is a huge project.

In this process, the account book is of paramount importance!
How to make profit from the warehouse depends entirely on whether you can keep accounts!
And Shi Chongrui is a master who is well versed in this.

He was even able to make a fortune, his boss eat well, and his subordinates drink soup to their heart's content, while there was no problem in the account book.

It is precisely because of this move that Shi Chongrui was able to secure the lucrative job of warehouse manager.

Looking at the account book in front of him, Shi Congrui calculated and wondered how much he could make from it this time.

The summer harvest is coming soon. After the harvest, the grain in the warehouse will inevitably be rotated. The old grain will be sold and then filled with new grain.

If it is done well, the profits will be staggering.

Not to mention anything else, for such a large transaction, the kickbacks alone would be an astronomical figure.

But at this moment, a warehouse manager ran in from outside.

"Sir, there are orders from above."

"Please take a look!"

As he spoke, the administrator handed the document in his hand to Shi Chongrui.

Shi Chongrui raised his eyebrows, took the document from the administrator, and began to read it.

However, as soon as the document was opened, the expression on his face changed drastically.

Because there was a line of big words written on the official document.

[Order to transfer 500,000 tons of grain stored in Warehouse A6 to Henan for disaster relief. Warehouse A6 must complete preparations within three days and start shipping the grain.]

Shi Chongrui looked at the contents of the document and thought to himself that this was not going to happen.

Because, at that moment, there was not so much food in Warehouse No. 6.

As the summer harvest is approaching, the new grain will soon be stored in the warehouse.

Shi Chongrui had just resold a batch of old grain.

He thought that the new grain would be stored soon and the gap would be filled soon. Then he could complete the relevant procedures and there would be no problem.

The reason why Shi Chongrui wanted to sell the old grain at this time was that if he sold the old grain now, the price would be much higher than the price when the major granaries collectively sold the old grain for replacement.

Whenever he submitted his accounts, Shi Chongrui would report the price according to the corresponding selling price of the collective replacement of old grain.

Then the difference in price can go into his own pocket.

But the problem is that it is not yet time to eliminate the old grain as required by the court.

If the imperial court had not urgently needed to transfer grain, there would naturally be no problem with Shi Chongrui's operation.

When the new grain is stored in the warehouse, not even a trace will be left.

But the problem is that the imperial court now needs to transfer grain, but there is not enough grain in the warehouse.

Shi Chongrui knew that things were getting troublesome.

If I’m not careful, I might lose my head this time.

Although he was panicking in his heart, the expression on Shi Chongrui's face did not change. He just spoke to the administrator who came to report.

"Okay, I understand. You can leave first!"

Upon hearing this, the administrator clasped his fists, bowed, then turned and left.

After the person left his office, Shi Chongrui stood up from his chair.

He planned to go to his father-in-law's house to ask for help.

His father-in-law was once a loyal minister to the emperor, so many things were very important to him.

But to my father-in-law, it's nothing...

……

That night, Shi Chongrui left Warehouse No. 6.

He took some cigarettes, alcohol, sea cucumbers, bird's nests and other gifts, then got on a rickshaw and went to his father-in-law's house.

As the imperial court issued a ban on cattle and horses entering the city, the people in the capital were forced to change their living habits and no longer travel by ox carts or horse carts.

Rich and powerful people will naturally choose to buy cars and use them for transportation.

Cars are much more respectable than ox carts and horse carriages.

For the middle class who have no money or are not rich enough, rickshaws are their best choice.

Shi Chongrui is a typical middle-class person, or in other words, he is a typical middle-class person in terms of consumption.

However, he made a lot of money by reselling grain from the granary by relying on his identity as a warehouse manager.

However, this money cannot be seen in public!
There is definitely no problem for him to use it to meet his daily consumption, because daily consumption is too scattered and cannot be monitored.

However, if he used the money to buy a big item like a car, he would be exposing himself as a corrupt official.

Because he couldn't explain the source of his huge amount of funds!

The rickshaw driver pulled the rickshaw at full speed and soon arrived outside the residence of Shi Chongrui's father-in-law.

Shi Chongrui got out of the car, paid the fare, and then strode towards the gate of the mansion.

Shi Chongrui's father-in-law was a founding hero of the Tang Dynasty.

The house they live in was a gift given to them by the emperor after the Tang Dynasty entered Beijing.

It is located at the base of the city wall of the inner city of the capital, and almost all of the neighbors are high-ranking military or government officials.

To put it bluntly, this place is actually the Tang Dynasty version of the officials' family compound.

Those who can live in this place are not ordinary people.

……

PS: This is the fourth chapter of paying off debts. After paying off this chapter, there are still four chapters to be paid.

(End of this chapter)