Chapter 166: Drunk Pills
Xiao Wan came to the market and strolled around casually, stopping and walking, and from time to time to look at the goods of the street vendors.
"Miss, what are you planning to buy?" asked Chunlan who was following behind her.
Xiao Wan glanced at her, and the coldness in her eyes made Chunlan lower her head and dared not ask any more questions.
Xiao Wan knew very well that Yang Xin's sudden deeper understanding of her must have something to do with Chunlan.
Finally, Xiao Wan stopped in front of a pharmacy.
"Wait for me here."
"Miss……"
Chunlan wanted to say something else, but was forced back by Xiao Wan's eyes. She had no choice but to wait at the door of the pharmacy and watch Xiao Wan walk in.
Chunlan couldn't go in, so she put her ear to the door and listened carefully to the conversation inside.
Xiao Wan stepped into the pharmacy and asked the shopkeeper directly: "Boss, do you have any drunken pills for sale?"
The drugstore owner looked up at her and asked her what she wanted to do with the drunkenness pills.
Xiao Wan refused to say anything and just took out a silver coin from her bosom.
She had heard that this drug, called the Drunken Pill, was harmless to the human body. After taking it, it would only cause a dizzy feeling like being drunk, which would naturally subside after one or two hours. The government did not prohibit this drug, but because of its complicated production process, it was also expensive.
Seeing Xiao Wan paid the money, the shopkeeper didn't bother to ask any more questions and turned around to look for medicine.
"Wait a minute, the drunken pills I want look like this." Xiao Wan took out what she had written before going out and handed it to the shopkeeper.
"What other appearances does the drunken pill have..." The shopkeeper muttered as he opened the paper, but was stunned for a moment and looked up at Xiao Wan again.
The shopkeeper hesitated and nodded, "Please wait a moment."
A moment later, Xiao Wan left the pharmacy with an exquisite porcelain bottle, and Chunlan hurriedly followed.
…
In the palace, Yan Yuze, who was exhausted from traveling, had not even had time to change into his court robes before he came to the imperial study with the account book in his hand.
It was clearly not yet early autumn, but Emperor Liang was wearing a cloak and was reviewing memorials at his desk.
Yan Yuze rode a fast horse from Long'an County day and night to rush back to the capital, and his noble face showed a bit of fatigue.
He had ordered people to tear open the pages of Yi Shen's Poetry Collection, and sure enough, he took out pages of account books from it.
"Brother, this is the account book. It contains not only the actual tax amount of Long'an County, but also the information about officials at all levels in Jiangzhou accepting bribes."
Yan Yuze paused before saying, "Most of them were promoted by Changwen."
Emperor Liang stroked the cover with his hand, his face thoughtful, but he did not open the book.
After a long time, he returned the account book to Yan Yuze.
"The court is in need of personnel right now, so I won't look at this account book. You can handle it.
As I said before, it’s up to you to decide the right balance.”
Yan Yuze smiled bitterly, knowing that his brother the emperor meant to punish some officials without directly implicating Prince Qi.
Internally, the situation in the court still needs to be balanced by people from Prince Qi's faction.
Externally, King Qi had a delicate relationship with the foreign tribes of Uzi, which was an important move.
The account books need to be checked thoroughly, but on the surface they cannot be checked too thoroughly, so who should check them becomes a big problem.
Logically speaking, this matter should be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue's Finance Department for settlement, but most of the officials in the Ministry of Revenue are from the Prince's faction. If they were to investigate, I'm afraid they would not stop until they got to the bottom of Prince Qi's affairs.
Yan Yuze thought for a while and asked, "Brother Emperor, I remember that Lord Zhao Qing was once the head of the Ministry of Finance. Can he be involved in this matter?"
"Well... this person has been away from the capital for a few years. If you want to use him, I will issue an edict to summon him back."
Yan Yuze nodded, and then bowed and said, "If we want to properly handle the account book, I have a bold idea, but I need your approval."
Then he spoke out what was in his mind.
Emperor Liang fell silent after hearing this. After a moment, he nodded and agreed, "It's just that you have been busy traveling back and forth these days. You have worked hard."
"Your Majesty, your words are very sincere. I will go and invite Lord Zhao Qing now."
…
Longan County.
As soon as Song Mian opened the door early in the morning, he saw Zhao Sicheng waiting outside.
"Sir Song, I am Zhao Sicheng, a student, and I have come to assist you in repairing the dam." Zhao Sicheng saluted.
Song Mian looked at the student in front of him who was not even twenty years old with some surprise, then shook his head and told him to go back.
The students in the academy have their heads filled with the Four Books and Five Classics, so how could they understand these things?
"I have already drawn a rough sketch of the reconstruction of the dam. Please review it."
Seeing him handing the thing in front of him, Song Mian had no choice but to take it and take a look at it.
Well, this painting method is quite rare. It seems to use tools such as carbon black.
As for the other content...
"What's shown in your drawing is nothing more than repairing the dike section that was destroyed by the flood. There's nothing special about it." Song Mian shook his head, handed the sketch back, and was about to leave.
Zhao Sicheng followed up with two steps, "Sir, the key to rebuilding the dam is the selection and amount of materials. It cannot be filled with sand and soil alone, but also needs to be reinforced with bamboo strips and other materials."
Zhao Sicheng held the drawing and pointed out to Song Mian the filling positions he had marked.
Song Mian then stopped and thought that it was rare for a student from an academy to think of this.
"What's your name?" Song Mian looked at him again.
"I am Zhao Sicheng." Zhao Sicheng stepped forward and said firmly, "I know a little about the repair of water conservancy dams, and I hope I can help you share your worries."
It was rare to meet a student from the academy who understood these things. Song Mian also became somewhat interested and nodded, saying, "Well, I'm going to the dike to investigate, so you can come with me."
Perhaps it was God's mercy that the heavy rain that had lasted for three months in Long'an County finally stopped.
After Song Mian's work over the past few days, the corvées had packed sand and gravel into sacks, and filled the breached embankment with bags of sand, gravel, bamboo strips and other materials, which barely stopped the water flow.
Song Mian brought Zhao Sicheng with him, and Qian Zhubu followed behind them. The three of them climbed to a high ground and looked out at the water situation.
Now that the opening of Luojiang River has been barely sealed, the next thing to do is to divert the water that has flooded the farmland to other places.
Zhao Sicheng said, "Sir, I have observed on the way to Long'an County that there is a waterway not far to the south, and the terrain is lower. We can dredge the section and divert the water there."
"Do you think I haven't noticed it?" Song Mian's face was a little worried. "However, there is a mountain road blocking the way from here to the river. It will take at least ten days to dig it open by manpower."
"How difficult is that?" Zhao Sicheng smiled slightly, "Just blow it up."
Before setting out for Long'an County, he had already considered this. After all, using explosives to open up mountains and roads is a common thing in modern times. Therefore, he specially asked Zhou Da to bring a batch of gunpowder, which was wrapped in layers of oilcloth to prevent moisture, and it came in handy at this time.
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