When Li Lin came in, Yu Zhi had already rinsed his mouth three times and drank the whole pot of tea.
"Master Yu."
When Yu Zhi heard footsteps approaching, he quickly put down his water cup and stood up.
After seeing who it was, he quickly bowed, "Prince Yi."
Li Lin: "Master Yu, there's no need to be so polite. Please sit down."
Yu Zhi straightened his still rather messy clothes and hair, and sat down before Li Lin. It was not that he did not know the rules, but he was still very dizzy.
Anyone who is carried upside down on a person's shoulders and then jumped up and down will feel dizzy after flying for half an hour.
Li Lin was a meticulous person, so he would naturally not miss the slightly insignificant Yu Zhi, so he felt a little more guilty.
"My two guards have caused trouble for you, sir, right? I'd like to apologize on their behalf." Li Lin apologized shamelessly.
Yu Zhi “…”
He is already sitting here, do you need to ask again?
It was very strange that a prince with a fiefdom would apologize for just two guards and a fourth-rank official like him.
Yu Zhi is a bit stubborn, but he is not stupid. He knows without guessing that the two people who kidnapped him are not ordinary people.
No wonder he had previously thought that the two people's skin was too dark, as if they had been specially smeared with charcoal ash.
Moreover, he looked at the slightly taller man, whose appearance looked very familiar, as if he had met him briefly somewhere.
Li Lin didn't care why he was silent. The most important thing now was to pull people into their camp.
Li Lin interrupted Yu Zhi's reminiscence and asked, "Master Yu, what do you think of the current state of Daiyue?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Zhi's expression grew graver. He hesitated for a long time before speaking. "I'd like to ask, does Your Highness have any ideas?"
Li Lin smiled softly, "Master Yu, you are worrying too much. I simply want to discuss this with you. You are also aware of the current situation of my two brothers. They only want to fight for the imperial power and don't care about the life or death of Dai Viet."
Li Lin spoke directly and with a frank look in his eyes, which made Yu Zhi feel more realistic.
He took a deep breath before replying, "Your Highness, I believe that after more than a decade of continuous war, Dai Viet has suffered severe losses in both food and manpower. Whether it's the soldiers at the border or the ordinary people within the city walls, the most important thing right now is to recuperate and reclaim more land for crops."
The only two things that are indispensable for a country to be strong and prosperous are food and manpower.
The prosperity of the capital is just an appearance. The high-ranking officials have no shortage of food and silver and are extremely rich.
But now, nearly 70% to 80% of the people in Dai Viet are in a half-full and half-hungry state. They are just sitting in office and doing nothing, and they have never experienced the experience of the Dai Viet people who eat wild grass and gnaw tree bark.
To be frank, Dai Viet's food reserves are far from enough, and other countries and ethnic groups are eyeing the border covetously. Although there is no war at present, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not send troops to the northwest once the powerful Daye recovers.
In fact, what worries Yu Zhi the most is that the Northwest now has no strong general to lead it, and it is difficult to resist the attack of Daye.
At least there is General Qin in charge of the southwest, and the Qiang people are a small tribe in the border area. Although their people and soldiers are brave and strong, they are few in number. They have launched many sneak attacks before, but were counterattacked by the Southwest Army led by General Gu from the Southwest Palace, and many of their young and strong brave soldiers were killed.
If the Qiang people still want to have any ideas about Dai Viet, they will not have the strength to attack again unless they rest for ten or eight years.
Yu Zhi thought that if the Weiyuan Marquisate was still there, the last battle in the northwest might have kept the northwest border peaceful for at least another five to ten years.
But why did the late emperor believe that the King of the Southwest was planning a rebellion, and why did he imprison and exile him so quickly? Fortunately, when he was discovered, the Daye and Qiang people who had joined forces to besiege Dai Viet were pursued and severely injured by the armies of the southwest and northwest, and were unable to fight back. Otherwise, when they knew about it, they would definitely want to take the opportunity to attack the city.
By then, the border would be lost, the enemy would march eastward, and the people of Dai Viet, who had enjoyed a decade of peace, would be shattered again.
Yu Zhi could even imagine what a miserable state Dai Viet would be in by then.
Li Lin agreed deeply, thinking to himself that he had indeed made the right choice. "Master Yu is absolutely right. I share your thoughts. Dai Viet's grain production is extremely low, and the soldiers on the border cannot grow their own food. The people pay the grain tax, but they have to start tightening their stomachs and living on rice soup. However, I heard a few days ago that the emperor is considering increasing the grain tax to fill the treasury."
"What?! The emperor wants to increase grain taxes without any war?" Yu Zhi stood up suddenly. The emperor wanted the people of Daiyue to die.
Of course, Li Lin lied about increasing the grain tax, but he believed that his brother would definitely do so after he realized his mistake.
He knew his royal brother too well.
"Absolutely not, absolutely not." Yu Zhi suddenly regained consciousness, his dizziness gone, and said bluntly, "I'm going back to write a memorial to the emperor!"
The fish took the bait, and Li Lin continued, his face filled with sorrow. "The Emperor was inconsiderate in this matter. Lord Yu knows that my position is sensitive, and it's not easy for me to get involved in court affairs. And you're far away in Yizhou, so the Emperor won't listen to your opinions or ideas."
Li Lin's words were like a bucket of cold water poured on Yu Zhi's head. Yes, how could the emperor who was far away in the capital listen to his words? He was afraid that his memorial would be secretly intercepted before it could reach the capital.
"Your Highness, are we left to watch the Emperor issue an order to increase grain taxes?" Yu Zhi felt heartbroken when he thought of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in Yizhou.
"Of course not." Li Lin raised the corner of his lips. "I believe Your Excellency knows that the reason why Daye's military is so powerful is because they have a kind of food called sweet potato that can produce a thousand kilograms per mu."
"I have heard that this grain can only be grown by the royal family of Daye and the farms that supply the border troops of Daye. The people of Daye are not qualified to grow it."
Therefore, even though Daye had sweet potatoes that could produce 1,000 kilograms per mu, the lives of the people of Daye had not improved much over the past hundred years.
"If I tell you that Dai Viet also has a grain yield of 1,000 kilograms per mu, what will you do, sir?" Li Lin asked again.
"Of course I would write a memorial and submit it—" Yu Zhi answered subconsciously, and only realized what he had heard halfway through.
He stared at Li Lin and asked in disbelief, "Your Highness, were you joking just now?"
Li Lin poured himself a cup of tea, lowered his head and took a sip, saying, "This king never jokes."
Yu Zhi could no longer conceal his excitement and asked in a trembling voice, "Then, how does this grain, which can produce a thousand kilograms per mu, compare to the sweet potatoes in Daye?"
Li Lin put down his teacup and replied calmly, "Equally matched."
Yu Zhi was completely upset now.
Speaking of which, when Li Lin first heard about the grain yield per mu of potatoes, he was not much more calm than Yu Zhi at this moment.
"Then when does Your Majesty plan to write a memorial and present this item to the emperor?" Yu Zhi gradually calmed down and finally remembered to ask this.
"To tell you the truth, sir, this thing was not discovered by me, and the person who discovered it has already planted it once in a place in Daiyue, with an average yield of more than 3,000 kilograms per mu." Although Li Lin had never seen what potatoes looked like, it did not stop him from learning from them.
These were all told to him by Gu Yanji, and he just repeated them to Yu Zhi.
"What?" Yu Zhi was shocked. "It's already been planted once?"
Li Lin nodded. "If I hadn't harvested it once before, how could I have believed that this crop could yield a thousand kilograms per mu?"
Even Yu Zhi reacted slowly. He took two steps back, sat back in his seat, and asked tentatively, "Could it be that the two who brought me to the prince's mansion are them?"
Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why a prince like him would treat the two of them so well.
Li Lin did not deny it. "As your Excellency guessed, this item was discovered by Guard Song."
He didn't give Yu Zhi much time to react and told him everything, "Guard Song is the eldest granddaughter of the former Marquis of Weiyuan, and Guard Gu is Gu Yanji, the former Young General Gu of the Southwest Prince's Palace."
Forced to know all this, Yu Zhi realized belatedly that he had been tied to a pirate ship by the other party: "..."
How could he be so blind as to think that Prince Yi was a simple-minded person?
"Also, there's..."
When Yu Zhi heard there was more, he immediately had a bad feeling. Then, he did the most inappropriate thing for his age. He covered his ears with his hands, avoiding Li Lin's sight, and shouted, "Your Highness, that's enough. I don't want to know any more."
Li Lin: "...I didn't know that Master Yu would behave so innocently at his age."
Yu Zhi lowered his hand slightly embarrassedly, looking at him with an awkward expression, making his position clear, "Your Highness, I do not wish to get involved in a power struggle."
He just wanted to be an honest official and do more planning for the local people. If he got involved in the struggle for imperial power, he would easily lose his original intention. If he did something against the will of heaven and harmed the world, how would he face his ancestors a hundred years later?
"Master Yu, you misunderstood. I don't have the same idea as you think." Li Lin sighed slightly. "Since Master Yu is unwilling, then I have no choice but to tell them that Yizhou City and the dozen or so villages and towns below it will not plant potatoes. Instead, they should send the potato seeds that can produce 1,000 kilograms per mu to Jinzhou."
Yu Zhi gradually became jealous.
Li Lin glanced at him and continued, "Oh, by the way, there's also Zezhou. I've already written a letter to General Yun of Zezhou, and he agreed."
Yu Zhi was completely overwhelmed. He hurriedly asked, "Since Jinzhou and Zezhou have already planted crops, how can Yizhou not plant them?"
If by then the people of Jinzhou and Zezhou can grow a thousand kilograms of grain per mu, while the people of Yizhou, which is sandwiched between them, have nothing and still have to go hungry, then he is no longer qualified to be the governor of this state.
"But Lord Yu, didn't you say that you didn't want to plant?" Li Lin pretended to be confused.
Yu Zhi was really anxious. "I was stupid and misunderstood the prince's intention. Plant in Yizhou! You must plant!"
Li Lin smiled, "Don't worry, Master Yu. I'm not interested in that position. I share the same thoughts as you. I just want the people of Dayue to live a good life."
Yu Zhi gradually calmed down and seemed to have figured things out. He probed again, "I'd like to ask, does Your Highness intend to use Miss Song's discovery to redress the injustices of the Song and Gu families?"
The discovery of a grain yield of 1,000 kilograms per mu was a great achievement for Dai Viet. Not to mention the crime of exile, even if it was a crime punishable by death, it would be understandable to spare it.
After being captured and brought to the palace, Yu Zhi went from being terrified at first to being forced to know too many secrets. Having given up hope, he dared to ask anything.
Li Lin discovered that Yu Zhi really loved to imagine things, but he was not wrong. He did have this plan, but he just thought about it one step further than Yu Zhi.
He wanted to change Dai Viet's surname.
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