The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 283 Volume : Don't be ashamed to ask questions

"What does the emperor mean?"

Jia Xu followed Liu Xie's train of thought and said jokingly, "Could it be possible that arithmetic can increase grain production?"

But Liu Xie looked at Jia Xu seriously and said, "Okay."

Jia Xu stopped talking.

This is considered that Jia Xu has a good temper.

If a troll Confucian scholar had been in front of Liu Xie, he might have put a hat like "absurd and misleading the country" on Liu Xie's head.

Liu Xie didn't care either, he just smiled and said: "Wenhe, let me ask you another question, which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Jia Xu:?
Jia Xu knew that the emperor was actually very eccentric on a daily basis, but at least he could still keep up with Liu Xie's thinking.

But what Liu Xie said today made Jia Xu unclear about what Liu Xie wanted to say.

So Jia Xu could only talk about the matter at hand: "Of course the egg came first."

"What if I say, which came first, the chicken?"

"..."

Jia Xu immediately changed his words: "Your Majesty said the chicken came first, so the chicken must have come first."

"..."

The king and his minister were both speechless about each other.

Liu Xie trembled a few times and said, "Wenhe, can't you be more prepared to die if you hear the truth, and have a good argument with me?"

Jia Xu smiled modestly and said, "I don't know whether you have heard of it or not, but if I offend the emperor, I will really die."

"Since the emperor said the chicken came first, then the chicken must have come first!"

"..."

Liu Xie opened his mouth, thinking that Jia Xu was a little too cautious...

"Wenhe, you weren't like this when the Grand Tutor was here."

Although Jia Xu was also trying to protect himself at that time, at least it had not reached the point it is now.

Liu Xie stretched out his palm, and it seemed as if there were two big words written on it:

that power.

And it is an unreasonable power.

From Jia Xu, Liu Xie truly and clearly felt the changes brought about by this power.

Liu Xie waved his hands in boredom and helplessness, and suddenly a sentence came out of his mouth -

"Wenhe, don't spoil me like this. Even I can get spoiled."

Jia Xu: “Yes!”

"I've already told you, don't spoil me..."

Liu Xie shook his head, suppressed the strange emotion, and continued to discuss with Jia Xu the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first.

"I said the chicken came first because the eggs laid by the chicken must be eggs."

"But if there is only one egg, no one can guarantee that it will hatch into a chicken."

"In this world, corresponding things must appear first before corresponding theories and doctrines can appear."

"If there are only theories and doctrines first, no one can guarantee that they will develop into corresponding things."

Liu Xie gave another example:

"Confucian scholars like the Three Dynasties' rule the most, but if the Three Dynasties' rule is really applied to the present, the whole world will be in chaos... Wang Mang's rebellion actually happened in this way."

"Confucius advocated teaching everyone without distinction because the nobles at that time were unwilling to impart knowledge to the poor and humble."

"And self-discipline and restoration of propriety... It must have been after the collapse of propriety and music that Confucius proposed such a solution."

"same."

"If I were to say without any basis that arithmetic can strengthen a country and enrich its army, it would be nothing but nonsense, like duckweed without water."

"So, what I want to do is not Emperor Xiao Zhao who held the Salt and Iron Conference, but Emperor Xiao Wu who implemented the Salt and Iron dictatorship."

"I will do it first, and future generations will judge what happens next!"

This descendant is not just ten years later, fifty years later, or a hundred years later.

It is more likely to be five hundred years, a thousand years, or even two thousand years later.

Although Sang Hongyang lost the Salt and Iron Conference at that time, later generations were all impressed by Sang Hongyang's thoughts in the Salt and Iron Conference.

As for what Liu Xie wanted to do and what he wanted to do, as Liu Xie said, it will be up to future generations to judge.

Therefore...

"Wenhe, do you want to do this with me?"

Jia Xu's eyes dodged left and right, then he asked in a low voice: "Can we not do it?"

Liu Xie raised an eyebrow: "Why?"

"Didn't Your Majesty tell me not to spoil Your Majesty?"

"..."

Liu Xie suspected that Jia Xu was deliberately trying to anger him, but he had no evidence...

However, Jia Xu quickly proved that he was just trying to piss off the emperor.

Because Jia Xu quickly straightened his posture and said: "If your majesty is willing to do it, I will do my best to serve you!"

Liu Xie smiled and said, "It doesn't even require any effort."

"Just find me some farming books, some experienced farmers, weavers, and craftsmen."

“I learned a lot, but now I have given most of it back to the teacher.”

Jia Xu was slightly suspicious of Liu Xie's words: "Teacher?"

"It's Grand Tutor! Wenhe just heard it wrong!"

Liu Xie said calmly, "What I just said to Wen He was all taught to me by the Grand Master."

Jia Xu instinctively wanted to complain about this, but seeing the sudden dimming of the emperor's eyes, he didn't say anything in the end.

After mentioning Dong Zhuo, Liu Xie looked at the cold palace and suddenly became dazed.

"Wenhe, do you know what the Three Immortals are?"

The Three Immortals. From Zuo Zhuan.

That is, to establish virtue, to achieve merit, and to make words.

Establishing virtue means creating laws and regulations, and benefiting the people.
To establish merit means to save people from disasters and difficulties and to contribute to the times;
To establish a statement means to get to the point and the logic is worth passing on.

"I have nothing to do lately anyway, so I might as well help the Grand Master write a good book and biography."

"For the first one, I will start with the military strategy that the Grand Master taught me."

Liu Xie stretched lazily.

"Most military books nowadays are obscure, so the one I compiled will definitely be easier."

"Wenhe, what do you think of the name 'The Thirty-Six Strategies of the Grand Master'?"

……

Jia Xu suddenly felt that the emperor spoke a lot today.

And no matter which way, he always follows the Grand Tutor.

What is "The Thirty-Six Strategies of the Grand Master"...

For some reason, Jia Xu always felt that this name sounded a little too clever.

But Jia Xu soon understood some things.

The emperor has no one else to confide in except himself.

It doesn't work for Dong Bai and Cai Yan, and it's even less work for Niu Fu and Lu Bu.

If I don't mention the Grand Tutor to the Emperor, the Emperor will probably be really upset...

Thinking of how the emperor had just told him not to spoil him anymore, Jia Xu smiled helplessly and shook his head, joining in the emperor's words.

"If the Grand Master were here, he would probably like this name as well... but how about calling it "Zhongying Military Book" or "Duke Yong's Military Strategy"? "

"No, Grand Master prefers something simple and direct!"

"Then the Thirty-Six Stratagems is too simple. I'm afraid it's not enough to summarize the exquisite military tactics of the Grand Master. How about changing it to the Eighty-One Stratagems?"

"Wenhe wants to tire me to death?"

…………

With the emperor returning to Chang'an, the court finally got back on track.

On weekdays, Liu Xie participated in handling government affairs in the morning, and went to Gui Palace in the afternoon to talk with some old farmers, weavers, and craftsmen found by Jia Xu.

At first, these people were very afraid of the emperor and were often too timid to speak to him.

After Liu Xie discovered something was wrong, every time he entered the Gui Palace he would take off his jewels and precious clothes, wear only coarse cloth clothes and sit in the middle of these people to talk.

After the change of clothing, these people were indeed less distant from Liu Xie, and every time Liu Xie asked them questions, they were happy to give advice.

In the evening, Liu Xie began to compile military books and review what he had learned in the afternoon.

A month later.

After Liu Xie finished writing the Empty City Strategy in the Thirty-Six Strategies, he began to organize the knowledge he had learned from the people.

"Now with the "Book of Fan Sheng" and the "Fourth Month Civil Order" as guidance, the level of farming has actually reached an extremely high level."

In particular, "The Book of Si Sheng" not only records the general theory of farming and cultivation and the specific theory of crop cultivation, but also describes in detail the methods of high-yield cultivation of special crops, namely the Qutian method.

The people of the Han Dynasty were already very familiar with the methods of crop cultivation, leaving Liu Xie no room for intervention.

"In this case, we can only start with tools and fertilizers."

As for the utensils, needless to say.

Although Liu Xie had never done farm work in the fields, he had seen curved plows several times in textbooks and in rural areas before.

At first, he did not understand the exquisiteness of the curved plow, but as Liu Xie learned from those old farmers during this period, he finally came to understand its value and was able to make it at will after finalizing some details.

The key is still this "fertilizer".

In fact, ordinary people discovered the importance of fertilizers very early on when farming and started using them.

Stable manure, silkworm droppings, pupa juice, bone juice, bean pods, river mud, etc. were fully utilized by the people.

By the Han Dynasty, many people had already raised livestock such as pigs at home and used their manure as fertilizer.

For example, the old farmers that Liu Xie called into the Gui Palace, regardless of whether their families were rich or poor, would raise a fat pig to provide fertilizer for farming.

But in Liu Xie's eyes, such fertilizer must always be somewhat unqualified.

"In addition to manure, soil fertilizer, mud fertilizer and green manure are actually the easiest to obtain and can also be mixed into fertilizers."

The so-called fertilizer soil refers to old wall soil, smoked soil, dust, burnt soil, pit soil, etc.

Mud fertilizer includes field mud, river mud, etc.

As for green manure, it is necessary to plant some crops specifically to provide fertilizer.

The more Liu Xie thought about it, the broader his ideas became.

Even bone fertilizer, straw fertilizer, or inorganic fertilizers such as lime and brine can be added to promote grain production.

"We can give it a try tomorrow after we get to Gui Palace."

Liu Xie was genuinely happy.

Compared to other things, things like this that can truly help the people always seem to make people feel inexplicably at ease.

On the second day, when Liu Xie was discussing ways to improve fertilizer with a group of old farmers, an uninvited guest suddenly broke into the Gui Palace.

Dong Bai covered his nose as soon as he came in: "It stinks!"

When Dong Bai saw Liu Xie, he was horrified: "Your Majesty! Are you playing with shit?"

Liu Xie refused to answer, but rolled up the newly made fertilizer in his hand into a ball, and threw it hard, drawing a beautiful arc in the sky.

"what!!!!"

Hearing Dong Bai's powerful shout, Liu Hui smiled knowingly.

"Bai finally survived."

……

"Your Majesty! I will kill you!!!"

"..."

(End of this chapter)