Datang New Giants

Chapter 80
Under the leadership of Cheng Chuliang, Lu Ting visited the kitchen of Chengfu. The kitchen is very large and has many utensils. In addition to common people’s vats and cans, there are also exquisite cooking utensils such as tripods, woks, stews, retorts, and cauldrons, some of which are bronze. Made with high-quality materials and exquisite workmanship, it looks beautiful and exquisite enough to be collected. However, Lu Ting doesn't like any of these cooking utensils.

It looks useless, has never been used, and it is not easy to use. For a person who likes cooking pots, a large iron pot for cooking is very important. This is the early Tang Dynasty, and iron pots have not yet appeared.

The rich families all have craftsmen. Cheng’s mansion not only has carpenters and masons, but also its own blacksmith. There are many precious iron pieces in the storeroom, just in time for them to be used. Draw it out, mark the size and requirements, the two iron pots in Cheng's house looked at it for a while, and said that the thing is not complicated. can be built.

It's just a dish, not a beauty pageant, so Lu Ting asked them to do it right away.

Soon, two blacksmiths and two disciples made a large piece of iron and began to jingle it. It is not difficult to make a semicircle, but it is difficult because Lu Ting requires it to be as smooth as possible. Put a lot of effort into it.

Seeing all kinds of iron pieces and iron plates stored in the workshop, Lu Ting was a little surprised and said: "Brother Chu Liang, I didn't expect there are so many iron objects in the house."

In the early Tang Dynasty, ironware was a rare item, and ordinary people could not find a few pieces of ironware in their homes. Unexpectedly, there were so many hidden in Cheng Yaojin's mansion.

Cheng Chuliang said disapprovingly: "The guards in the house often have to repair weapons. My father practiced martial arts, and he damaged a lot all year round, so I prepared some. There used to be a weapon shop in West Market, but it was a pity that Wei Hei impeached it and couldn't open it. Now, let’s move some leftover materials back to the mansion, it’s not a big deal, there’s still a big pile in the cellar.”

"It's a bit noisy here, Brother Lu Ting, let's go out first, they will come to report when they finish building." Cheng Chuliang said while pulling Lu Ting out.

The tinkling sound was a bit noisy, and it sounded annoying, and there was still a smell of sweat in the air, if it wasn't for Lu Ting's pulling, Cheng Chuliang wouldn't come to this kind of place.

Lu Ting nodded: "Okay, let's see how the Youxia Chicken is doing, and we have to build a small stove in a while."

Cheng's blacksmith's workshop was very lively, tinkling non-stop, and the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace was also very lively at this time.

Today is not only the Yuanzheng Dynasty Meeting, nor the Shuowang Dynasty Meeting, but an ordinary regular meeting. The Dynasty Meeting is held in the Zichen Hall. However, there are more civil and military ministers participating in the Dynasty Meeting today than the Shuowang Dynasty Meeting. Even Cui Minggui, Minister of the Household Department who had not been to court for almost a year, also went to court with illness. Although he didn't need someone to carry the couch to court, he still needed an eunuch to support him.

Both the government and the public know that today is the day when Du Ruhui, the official of the Qin Palace, and Wei Zheng, the prince of the Prince's Palace, agreed to compete.

Old Shangshu Cui hadn’t been on duty for more than half a year due to illness, and the servant of the household department had been suspended all the time, resulting in a backlog of a large number of official duties in the household department. Prince Li Jiancheng took advantage of Li Er’s personal expedition and parachuted Wei Zheng to the household department by means of secondment. Assist with official duties.

Wei Zheng is talented, capable, and conscientious in his work. He has seen results within two months of taking office. It is Li Yuan who appreciates him and intends to assign Wei Zheng to take charge of the household department. At the critical moment, the king of Qin stepped forward and pointed out that Wei is not worthy of the position. Du Ruhui compared Wei Zheng is more suitable for the position of servant of the household department. After a round of debate between the two sides, they decided to see the truth.

It is difficult to convince the public when dealing with official affairs. Different people have different standards. The most troublesome thing for the household department is the settlement of taxes and money. There are more than 360 states in the Tang Dynasty. The counter-insurgency has huge and messy expenditures, and the treasury yearly balance has not yet been calculated. This is also the reason why Li Er accused Wei Zheng of being incompetent. This time the comparison is the ability of both parties to settle accounts.

There are not many things to play in the front, and everyone present knows that the main event will be in the back.

Soon, the imperial guards and eunuchs moved desks, stools, pens, inks, papers and inkstones, etc. In order to make room for them, the ministers all retreated to both sides of the hall. According to the agreement between the two parties, Wei Zheng and Du Ruhui divided into two teams, each with ten members Participate in the competition.

After some etiquette, Du Ruhui and Wei Zheng each took their seats. The eunuch presented Li Yuan with a lottery tube with different years engraved on it. Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, and a team of professors from Guozixue Mingshu in the side hall are also calculating, so it is easy to check the calculations.

The accounts of the household department are in triplicate, one is kept by the household department, one is presented to the emperor, and the other is kept as a deposit, which happens to be one for each person.

Li Yuan moved the lottery in the bamboo tube left and right to show justice, and then he casually drew a lottery and handed it to the eunuch beside him.

The eunuch looked at it, and while showing the lottery, he shouted loudly: "Wu De Wu De was born in October of the seventh year of Wu De."

After shouting, he put the bamboo sticks on the tray and passed them to Prince Li Jiancheng and King Qin Li Shi, both of whom expressed no objection.

A month is divided into upper, middle and lower [-] days. This time, [-] days are randomly selected, mainly for the sake of fairness. The accounts that have not yet been settled are all drawn. The accounts of a country are too large. If the accounts for one month are calculated, It is estimated that the results may not be available in a month. Now only one ten-day is counted, or only cash is counted, and items such as silk, cloth, and silk are not counted.

Otherwise, I don't know when I will be able to retreat.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Li Yuan looked at his eldest son Li Jiancheng with a stern face, and then at his second son Li Shimin with a blank face. For some reason, he felt inexplicably irritable, and said impatiently: "Since there is no objection, Pei Sikong, I leave it to you."

They all said that family and everything prosper, Li Yuan persuaded them several times, but none of the brothers would back down, the palm of the hand is flesh, the back of the hand is also flesh, being a father can't make a choice, turn a blind eye to many things, and retreat as much as possible, It's a pity that it didn't work. The two brothers have turned against each other.

Even the most beloved youngest son stood by Li Jiancheng's side and got mixed up.

From an emotional point of view, Li Yuan prefers Li Jiancheng, who is sensible and caring, and should be inherited by the eldest son, but Li Shimin contributes the most to the family business of the Li family, and he himself promised to pass on the throne to him, but he did not expect things to develop to this point.

Li Yuan knew that if the two brothers continued to fight, it would be detrimental to Li Tang Jiangshan, so he must continue to suffer from it. The problem is that Datang has not yet gained a firm foothold, and he cannot do without Li Shimin, just like this battle at Wulongban, or Li Shimin Going out in person will definitely not solve it so quickly.

Now I can't control it if I want to, forget it, let the brothers fight, as long as they don't go out of line, anyway, the right to decide recently is still in their own hands.

"My minister complies with the order." Sikong Pei Ji responded hastily.

Pei Ji saluted, and quickly asked people to find out the account books of the relevant years, and piled them up in front of Du Ruhui and Wei Zheng respectively.

A ten-day account does not sound like much, but when we moved here, the books of accounts were almost piled up into a hill.

The account books were all ready, Sikong Peiji looked left and right, and quickly frowned and said to Du Ruhui: "Du Zhonglang, the competition is about to start, please get ready."

The calculations required bead chips or lottery chips. Wei Zheng prepared them early and started grinding the ink on his own initiative, while Du Ruhui didn't move at all. They all sat calmly, no one was setting up chips, and there was no one else. Grind ink.

He wouldn't wait for himself, the host of the competition, to prepare the chips and grind the ink for him.

"Pei Sikong, our team can start at any time." Du Ruhui said confidently.

He said to start, but Du Ruhui still sat still, Pei Ji's old face twitched, and he didn't say anything else, anyway, he did the task of reminding.

"Doctor Xiao, what do you think of this match?" A censor surnamed Zhang asked Xiao Yu standing in front in a low voice.

Xiao Yu thought for a while, and said with some hesitation: "The old man likes Wei Xima, Zhang Yushi, which side do you like?"

After Wei Zheng was seconded to the Household Department, he has already proved his ability. The people under his command are also good players transferred from the Household Department. It can be said that they are familiar with the road. The accountant of Prince Qin's Mansion was transferred, and from the obvious point of view, Wei Zheng had the upper hand.

"Of course it's Wei Xima." Zhang Yushi lowered his voice and said, "Settling accounts is not just lip service, it's based on real skills. How can ordinary accounting be compared with those old people who have been in the household department for decades? I'm afraid I won't be able to please you."

While the two were talking, Pei Ji loudly announced the start of the game.

As soon as the words fell, Wei Zheng and his team members each picked up an account book, first registered the number of the account book, and then counted nervously with lottery sticks or bead sticks. When the crisp sound.

This competition is about the ownership of the Ministry of Households. Both the Prince's Mansion and Prince Qin's Mansion are determined to win, and they promised a lot of rewards. Seeing Wei Zheng and his team members flying up and down with their hands, without stopping for a moment, you can see how hard they are working.

Xiao Yu nodded secretly, and when he turned his gaze to Du Ruhui, his pupils shrank, as if he couldn't believe his eyes, he blinked and then looked a little more precisely, that's right, Du Ruhui's team members neither took out counting chips nor rubbed ink , but sat quietly, Du Ruhui, who was the leader of the team, seemed to be very interested in the dim sum in the palace, and even picked a piece and threw it into his mouth.

Isn't this a game, what is he doing?
(End of this chapter)