Yang Nong stood on the fields facing Chaoyang, looking at the lively scene in front of him, his eyes were full of excitement. He saw that in the open space of this field, many craftsmen were busy building a large house under the command of some officials. Behind him, there were other officials busy measuring and recording in the corn fields, which was also their daily homework.

But at this moment, Li Xiu walked quickly from the riverside, then looked at the busy construction site with a puzzled look on his face, then looked at the excited Yang Nong, and asked in confusion: "Shangshu Yang, what are you doing? Do you want to build a house here?"

After hearing Li Xiu's words, Yang Nong, who was excited, realized his arrival. He laughed and came to Li Xiu and said, "Li Jijiu, you are finally here. After discussing with Wei Xima yesterday, I thought that promoting corn and sweet potatoes is not something that can be accomplished overnight, and we cannot do without a unified organization. So after reporting to Your Majesty, we decided to take part of the power of the Sinong Temple, specifically for promoting corn and sweet potatoes."

"Sinong Temple? Isn't that an institution responsible for warehousing and distributing Lumi?" Li Xiu couldn't help but ask strangely when he heard this. Although Sinong Temple has the word "agricultural", it mainly manages grain storage and does not have any authority on other aspects of agriculture. In addition, it also distributes Lumi to officials, and its power is very limited. Sometimes, because some officials are picky about the distributed Lumi, the officials of Sinong Temple have to explain with a smile. It can be said that it is an unpopular government agency.

"Yes, Sinong Temple is now divided into two parts, and the Warehouse Department and the Ministry of Agriculture have established the Warehouse Department. The Warehouse Department is the original responsibilities of the Sinong Temple, and the Ministry of Agriculture will take over more agriculture-related matters. Of course, the main thing is to promote corn and sweet potatoes. Look at the officials behind, they have been included in the Ministry of Agriculture Department of the Sinong Temple to do things." Yang Nong explained with a smile. After not seeing him for a few days, his body has completely recovered, his face has become much rosy, and he can't tell at all the serious illness he had at the time.

"So that's it. What are you going to build here? Do officials from the Ministry of Agriculture have to handle official duties here?" Li Xiu pointed to the busy construction site in front and asked. Judging from the scale of the building, it seems to be quite large, and it doesn't look like it is used by people, but it looks very similar to ordinary government offices.

"Yes, the Ministry of Agriculture will be located here in the future. In the past few years, it mainly promotes corn and sweet potatoes. These two crops will be planted in Princess Pingyang's fiefdom, so it is more convenient for us here." Yang Nong nodded and replied that Wei Zheng had served as the Minister of the Siong Temple, while he was in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture. Although it was a bit dissatisfied to serve as such a small official in his capacity as the Minister of Shang, he enjoyed it.

However, when Li Xiu heard this, he shook his head helplessly. Unexpectedly, Wei Zheng and Yang Nong were really determined to move a government department outside Chang'an City, and they were across the river from his house. It would be easier for Wei Zheng and Yang Nong to find him in the future.

Unfortunately, Li Xiu could not say the above words, while Yang Nong was very enthusiastic about talking to him. After chatting for a few gossips, Li Xiu suddenly thought of something, hesitated for a moment and finally spoke: "Shangshu Yang, isn't it a bit too condescending to be Wei Xima's deputy in your identity?"

"Haha~, there is nothing to be condescending or not. Speaking of which, I have lived at such an old age, most of the others have already seen it. The only thing I can't let go is the word "name". Especially since I am so old, I may not be able to open my eyes one day, so I want to leave something for future generations to boast about." Yang Nong laughed at this time, and at the end of his speech, he himself was a little moved.

After hearing this, Li Xiu became silent. The more he contacted Yang Nong and others, the more he could feel the ancients' emphasis on personal reputation, especially among scholars, even if they paid a great price, they wanted to leave something for themselves that could be passed down to future generations, such as articles, political achievements, and these would eventually be transformed into invisible and intangible things like fame.

Yang Nong was very interested. After chatting with Li Xiu for a while, he took him to the cornfield and asked Li Xiu to help him introduce the growth of these corns. Li Xiu had already introduced them to Wei Zheng and others last time, but Yang Nong was not there at that time. Although he could read some records, it was far worse than listening to Li Xiu's introduction with his own ears. This made Li Xiu very helpless and could only patiently introduce him.

In the following period, Yang Nong came to the Ministry of Agriculture to inspect the government offices of the Ministry of Agriculture almost every day. Sometimes he couldn't go back at night and would stay at Li Xiu's house for a night. This was better than the old-fashioned guy Wei Zheng. However, the only thing Yang Nong didn't have is that he liked to chat with Li Xiu, especially at night, he would pull Li Xiu until midnight. It was probably because the old man had less sleep, but Li Xiu had to sleep. Every time Li Xiu yawned, Yang Nong let him go back to rest.

The efficiency of the Tang Dynasty court was really not built, especially those craftsmen were all from the Ministry of Works. They were not only skilled, but also urged by officials. So a month later, the official office of the Ministry of Agriculture had been built, and a road was built to connect with the original official road. Wei Zheng and Yang Nong also moved to the office inside immediately. Although the rooms were still smelling of tide and lime, no one cared about it. Even the permanent officials moved to the residential area behind to live.

The salaries of officials in the Tang Dynasty were still very generous, only a little worse than those in later Song Dynasty. So as soon as the official office of the Ministry of Agriculture was built, smart merchants immediately went to the vicinity of the government office to do business, selling some daily necessities such as needles and threads, and even hawkers came to sell some cooked food, Hu cakes and so on. Although the food was provided in the government office, the taste was not very good, which also led to the business of hawkers outside. Even a small market began to form outside the government office, which attracted nearby farmers such as Lijiazhuangzi to come and sell, and the market became more lively for a while.

Li Xiu did not expect that the establishment of the Ministry of Agriculture's official office would bring such an unexpected surprise. He often encountered such markets when he was a child. They usually only have fixed days in the villages. There are all kinds of things sold in the markets, and the surrounding villages will come to the market. That kind of life is really nostalgic.

Li Xiu happened to be fine that day, and Qi Niang clamored to come to the market again. Because there were many small accessories and toys she liked in the market, Li Xiu had no choice but to agree to take her there. As a result, Qi Niang and Xiao Ya went out and called Hener first. After a while, not only Hener came, but also Ma Master came together.

At that moment, Ma Ye and Li Xiu took Qi Niang and the others to the market. When the three girls entered the market, they kept chatting, looking at this and that, crawling around in the crowd like three little butterflies, while Li Xiu and Ma Ye were walking behind and chatting.

"This official office of the Ministry of Agriculture is really good. With a market, farmers within a radius of ten miles do not have to go to Chang'an City anymore." Ma Ye smiled as he walked. Although there are many villages in Princess Pingyang, the market has not been formed for various reasons. When I wanted to buy something, I had to go to Chang'an City all the way, and life was very inconvenient.

"Yes, not only the surrounding farmers, but now my family needs some oil and salt and other things to buy here, which is indeed very convenient." Li Xiu also said with some emotion at this time, but when he said this, he thought of the convenient living conditions in the future. Not to mention big cities, even small villages would have some small shops or even small supermarkets. Ordinary daily necessities were easy to buy, but in the Tang Dynasty, it was not so easy to buy things.

"By the way, something funny happened in the court yesterday. Do you want to hear it?" Ma Ye suddenly thought of something and said to Li Xiu with a smile. Looking at him, he seemed to really feel that this matter was very interesting.

"Oh? Why is it so funny?" Li Xiu couldn't help but show an interesting expression when he heard this.

"Haha~, you may not believe it when you say it. Yesterday, a guy actually wrote a letter saying that Empress Taimu has been dead for many years and there has been no one in charge in the harem. So after asking Your Majesty to re-establish, are you funny? "Master Majesty can't help laughing?" When Ma said the last, he couldn't help laughing. After all, this fact is too ridiculous.

"I'll go, is this guy's brain problem? He dares to mention such things. Don't he know how the word "death" is written?" Li Xiu couldn't help but say in shock after hearing this.

Empress Taimu is the biological mother of Princess Pingyang and Li Shimin, and is also the wife of Li Yuan. Because of this, Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin are both legitimate princes and have the right to inherit more priority than other princes. If Li Yuan re-establishes, then the identities of Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin will be embarrassing. Therefore, this proposal simply offended Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin at the same time. Isn’t this seeking death?

"Yes, after that guy brought up this incident, not only did His Majesty not expect it, but also the ministers below did not expect it. It was said that the whole court was silent, and even a needle could be heard. Then the prince and the King of Qin stood up to object, and then the unlucky guy was demoted to Yazhou as an official." Mr. Ma laughed again at this time. It was rare to encounter such an interesting thing in the court that had always been serious. After hearing this, he laughed for a long time before he breathed.

"Yazhou? It's really cruel, but no matter who ascends the throne, this guy will never come back." Li Xiu couldn't help but show a sympathetic expression when he heard this. Yazhou is located on Hainan Island in later generations. It was still a barren land in the Tang Dynasty. It was even more terrible than death when officials went there.

"A fool who is used by others is not worthy of sympathy at all, but behind him must be the favored girls in the harem who are making trouble. Unfortunately, these women don't know the situation. No matter how favored they are, they cannot replace Queen Taimu's position." Ma Ye couldn't help but shake his head when he said this.

After hearing this, Li Xiu nodded secretly, but at this moment, Ma suddenly pointed to the market and said in surprise: "Why are your people there? What are you going to do?" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!