The current village chief of Mashui Village, a young leader of Zuo Wu Guard, never expected that his shouting on the side of the road would actually attract the general of Zuo Wu Guard Li Cunzhong.

Speaking of which, he just wanted to prove in front of the villagers how powerful the troops he had stayed in those days were. Of course, the reactions of these juniors of the Left Wu Guard did make his face look glossy.

But it was absolutely surprising to see General Li Cunzhong.

Seeing the villagers saluted him cleanly and asked several questions again, Li Cunzhong felt relieved. The other party was indeed a soldier from the Left Wu Guard in the past, because he could accurately tell the information of the officers of the Right Army of the Left Wu Guard at that time, and the senior officials were easy to check, but the leader of the Fifth Battalion and the commander of the First Wave were all killed in battle, so it was unlikely that outsiders would know their names.

The Empress wanted to see such a person and claimed to be a former soldier of the Zuo Wuwei, so he naturally wanted to come and inspect it.

"What?" When he heard that it was the Empress who was going to summon him, Ma Liyong, who stood straight in front of Li Cunzhong, suddenly felt his legs weak and his whole body was sifting up his chaff.

Li Cunzhong was both angry and funny, and grabbed him: "You are quite brave in front of this general. Why did you become so timid when you heard that the Queen is so timid? Zuo Wuwei does not have a coward like you."

"General, you are, you are our general. I am following you to fight, so I am not afraid, but, but..." Ma Liyong said tremblingly.

After hearing this, Li Cunzhong felt sober and laughed: "Don't worry, the Empress also led troops to fight in the past and was a general. When it comes to fighting alone, she is even more powerful than me! The Empress has always been a martial artist, clean and neat, and has no airs, so there is no need to be afraid."

Ma Liyong was stunned: "Better than you? Isn't this possible?"

Li Cunzhong laughed again: "Good boy, he is really good at talking. This flattery is good, but Mr. Li doesn't tell lies. The Queen is indeed better than me in fighting. Let's go, I'll accompany you to see the Queen. Remember, if you know, say what you don't know, don't talk nonsense."

"I understand, General!"

As soon as he stepped into the carriage, Ma Liyong dared not move.

The carriage could not be seen from the outside, except for being bigger, and there seemed to be nothing special, but as soon as the door opened and when it came inside, the low-key luxury immediately came to my face.

Of course, this is Li Cunzhong's feeling.

As for Ma Liyong, he naturally didn't understand everything inside. I'm afraid he couldn't afford one after working hard for several years, but he still recognized the whole carpet on the floor. And this was just the first room in the carriage, with a thin curtain in the middle, separating the second room. On both sides of the first room were two strong women wearing armor, and on the other side were two pretty young women sitting.

Looking at the colorful and almost spotless carpet, and looking at the dirt stains on his straw sandals, Ma Liyong couldn't take any steps.

A new ice cube was just replaced in the carriage. As soon as the door opened, cold air whizzed out. Li Cunzhong, who had entered the carriage, turned around and looked at Ma Liyong, and waved his hand: "Come in!"

Ma Liyong rubbed his hands in embarrassment and said, "General, his shoes are dirty."

"Then take off your shoes." Li Cunzhong said.

"Feets smelly!" Ma Liyong said again.

Li Cunzhong couldn't speak for a moment, and the four women also smiled. It could be seen that they were coming from behind the curtain. However, after the curtain, Liu Ruyan's laughter came: "General, let him come in directly."

"The Empress lets you in." Li Cunzhong reached out and pulled Ma Liyong in and went straight to the second room.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw a young woman in a wooden hairpin sitting in the middle, with a man who looked like a high-ranking official sitting next to him, but the man looked like a Tubo person, and Ma Liyong's nerves suddenly collapsed.

"Hello!" Li Cunzhong's voice came to his ears.

Ma Liyong's legs were weak and he was about to kneel down.

"Hello, you were an officer of the Zuo Wu Guard? This time I was also a fight with the Zuo Wu Guard, and you are my subordinate!" Liu Ruyan picked up the cold drink on the table, took a sip, and said with a smile.

"Yes!" Hearing this sentence, for some reason, Ma Liyong stood up straight and gave a standard military salute to Liu Ruyan.

"Empress, Ma Liyong retired due to injuries after the Battle of Ganzhou!" Li Cunzhong explained.

"No, not bad. After so many years, the soldiers' grace is still there. The general is good at training soldiers!" Liu Ruyan smiled and pointed to the position opposite Senobud, "General, please sit down."

Li Cunzhong bowed his hand and sat down.

"Your name is Ma Liyong?"

"yes."

"You sit there too!" Liu Ruyan pointed to the opposite side of him and said, "You are not short, and wherever you stand, your head is facing the roof of the carriage."

"There is no seat for the grass people in front of the empress!" Ma Liyong said tremblingly.

"Do you want me to keep looking up at you like this?" Liu Ruyan said jokingly.

With a loud bang, Ma Liyong immediately fell to the ground, looked at Li Cunzhong's eyelids and twitched. Senobude coughed dryly, but Liu Ruyan burst into laughter again.

Amid the laughter, Ma Liyong gradually relaxed. As the general said, the Queen really had no airs.

"How are your life?" Liu Ruyan asked.

"Very good, very good!" Ma Liyong nodded repeatedly.

"Is it good? Didn't you suffer a disaster this year?"

"It was a disaster. Compared to last year, the harvest this year is definitely not good, at least 30% less. However, the court exempted this year's taxes, which was basically equalized." Ma Liyong said: "For the past six months, we have been building roads and ponds. We can do work, but the income is not small."

“Have the price of grain increased?”

"It's rising." Ma Liyong said honestly: "The fine grains have increased, like wheat and rice have increased by about 20%.

"It has increased by 20%? Can you afford it?"

"Affordable." Ma Liyong continued: "In fact, everyone has been chewed in recent years and will never go hungry. There are still many coarse grains, such as millet, beans, sweet potatoes, and some sorghum, but everyone wants to eat fine grains. Coarse grains are either sold or fed to animals."

Sinobud, who said this, had his eyes twitching and his mouth was pissed! He smiled bitterly in his heart. This is the Tang Dynasty, the rich Tang Dynasty, a place that suffered disasters, was so arrogant.

"How are officials doing to the common people?" Liu Ruyan asked casually.

When Li Cunzhong heard Liu Ruyan ask this, he became a little nervous. A very simple truth. If Ma Liyong talks nonsense, it would be a big deal. If there is something bad, I am afraid that even the governor of Shaanxi will follow him and he will not blame this guy at that time, but he will be responsible for the account. Who made Ma Liyong be his soldier?

Li Cunzhong was not nervous. With his experience, grassroots officials may not be as friendly to the people. On the contrary, the older the official, the more kind the ordinary people they are.

"The officials are pretty good." As soon as Ma Liyong spoke, Li Cunzhong immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm just too young, many of them are young men in their early twenties, and they are very angry. But they have no bad intentions and are honestly working for the people, so everyone thinks they are good." Ma Liyong said.

"It seems that the officials here have just graduated from the academy." Liu Ruyan smiled at Li Cunzhong and Senobude. He just graduated from the academy and naturally could not be a landlord official, but Ma Liyong was unlikely to meet the local official directly, most of whom were those who were doing practical things.

"Are there any corrupt officials?"

"Yes." Ma Liyong nodded heavily.

Li Cunzhong suddenly became nervous again.

"I was arrested a month ago. Unfortunately, I was less than 30 years old and I usually looked like a pretty good person. Later, I announced that I took the money I shouldn't have when I was building the road."

Li Cunzhong immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and it turned out that he had been arrested.

Suddenly, he felt very tired.

Fortunately, Liu Ruyan just asked casually, and she was really not interested in these things. Instead, she was more interested in Ma Liyong and the others' daily lives.

The village chief is paid for his salary, and there is also public money and school in the village. The government bears the expenses of the teacher. The middle-aged man who is not very knowledgeable is ambitiously preparing to take the villagers to build ponds, raise ducks and geese, and even plan to set up a carpenter's workshop. These expenses are all paid from kilometers, and the money earned is shared in the village.

Sinobud was shocked, but he felt that he had gained a lot. It was these small things that seemed insignificant that made the Tang Kingdom richer day by day, and also made the current court of the Tang Dynasty receive unprecedented support.

"You said that your wife not only knows literacy, but also works and plays the piano?" After all, she was a woman, and Liu Ruyan was immediately attracted by what Ma Liyong said casually.

"Yes, she went to the city last year and saw a piano. Unfortunately, it was too expensive and I couldn't afford it. But this year I have been saving money. By the end of the year, I could almost buy it for her." Ma Liyong said happily.

"Your wife was..." Liu Ruyan was full of curiosity.

"She is from Ganzhou. She used to be an official at home, her mother's family was a teacher from the school, but her husband's family was a county magistrate!" Ma Liyong said: "Didn't the Tubo people come here later? Everyone in her family died. I was injured in that battle, and it happened that she was taking care of her. Later, I couldn't fight anymore, so she was willing to come back with me."

Speaking of this, Ma Liyong looked up at the guy on the right who was obviously a Tubo. Sinobud turned his head slightly and avoided Ma Liyong's eyes.

It was indeed the daughter of an official family who was in trouble. Liu Ruyan sighed. Over the years, I don’t know how many wealthy families have fallen into dust, and how many princes and nobles’ houses have flew to ordinary people’s homes. However, it seems that Ma Liyong still loves his wife very much, which is a blessing in disgrace.

Thinking back then, wasn’t my father also a county magistrate?

"How much does this piano cost?"

"It costs fifty silver dollars, it's so expensive!" Ma Liyong said.

"General Li, go back and get fifty silver dollars for him." Liu Ruyan said, thinking for a while, he stroked a bracelet on his wrist and handed it to Ma Liyong: "I gave this to your wife."

Ma Liyong took the bracelet, but said, "Empress, I don't want the money anymore. I'll save money for the Tangke to buy it!"

Seeing this scene, Sinobud and Li Cunzhong tried their best to hold it back.

Speaking of which, the bracelet in Liu Ruyan’s hand was not worth thousands of silver dollars, so I’m afraid I can’t buy it. What’s more, this is rewarded by the Queen, so it cannot be described as money. This guy is better, but the bracelet is taken for granted, but he doesn’t want it for fifty taels of silver.

"Okay, very good, you can save the money for buying a piano yourself!" Liu Ruyan nodded repeatedly in admiration, "This makes more meaningful." At this moment, she suddenly remembered the purse she embroidered for Li Ze back then. It was a pity that her handwork was not good and her stitches were twisted, but Li Ze always carried it with her. Because it was her only embroidery piece. The hand holding the sword and the embroidery needle were always awkward.

When he saw Ma Liyong away, Li Cunzhong couldn't help but envy this guy's good luck. Speaking of which, Li Cunzhong's guests had never received such rewards as the Queen.

"This bracelet is a family heirloom, but I must not sell it." He warned.

"General, I remember it. No matter how poor I am, I will never sell it!" Ma Liyong nodded repeatedly.

When Li Cunzhong thought about it, he found it a little funny. Even if Ma Liyong didn't understand, he was a guest, a woman from an official family, of course he knew the preciousness of this bracelet.

"These money was rewarded by the Queen." With a wave of his hand, the two soldiers came over with the plate, full of silver dollars. I was afraid there were thousands.

"I don't want money!" Ma Liyong waved his hands randomly.
Chapter completed!