Chapter 369 Duqudong Village
Yuan Chao's uprising was caused by the fact that the imperial court exploited Jianghuai and Jiangnan areas too harshly during the Anshi Rebellion.

In addition to Yuan Chao, there were also rebellions in the south by Liu Zhan, Kang Chuyuan and others, but the southern army was not as strong as the border army and was quickly suppressed.

However, suppressing the rebellion does not mean that the problem has been solved.

Now that Yuan Chao has appeared, Li Heng has once again been warned.

Li Yan pondered for a moment and said, "What kind of test did Yuan Chao take?"

Wang Wei said: "He knows poetry, but he is not proficient in it. This time he came to take the test on agriculture, and he said he is good at rice planting."

"Oh?" Li Heng was slightly surprised and said, "Then I have to meet him. Today is worse than tomorrow."

Wang Wei was very happy to see that Li Heng attached great importance to agriculture, and said, "I will go and inform him."

Li Ying said, "No need. I haven't left the palace for a long time. I'd like to go out for a walk and see the students."

After Li Heng finished speaking, he turned to the eunuch Baifu and said, "Let the queen go with me. If other concubines are willing to go, bring them along as well. Oh, and call the crown prince along."

"Yes." Baifu took the order and left.

When Wang Wei heard that Li Ying wanted to take Yang Yuhuan with him when he went out, he hesitated to say anything.

Li Ying noticed Wang Wei's expression and asked with a smile, "Is Wang Youcheng afraid that I will favor the harem too much?"

Wang Wei hurriedly said, "I dare not."

Li Ying smiled slightly and said, "I heard rumors among the people that there are four great powers in the Tang Dynasty."

Wang Wei seemed to have never heard of this and said, "Your Majesty, please enlighten me."

Li Heng laughed and said, "It is said that the eunuchs have great power, the generals have bad tempers, the queen is ambitious, and the emperor loves arrogance."

Wang Wei was startled and quickly stood up, saying, "I...I have never heard of it."

"Maybe it's because the rumors haven't spread far enough." Li Heng stood up. "After staying in the palace for too long, it's easy to forget what the outside world is like. It's not a bad idea to take them out to see it."

"Your Majesty is right." Wang Wei replied respectfully and said nothing more.

……

Duqudong Village, south of Chang'an City, is very lively at this moment.

The reasons for the bustle were, firstly, that all the scholars came to Chang'an to take the exams, but most of them could not afford to live in the city and could only live in the villages outside the city; secondly, Du Fu also lived in Duqu East Village.

Although Du Fu was now the Left Censor-in-Chief, Li Heng did not grant him a house. With his salary level, he would have to suffer for several more years if he wanted to live in Chang'an City.

The scholars knew that Du Fu was a close minister of Li Heng, and they were all willing to build a relationship with Du Fu. Yuan Chao also quietly followed to join in the fun.

I heard a scholar ask: "Du Shiyi is a close minister of the emperor and is deeply trusted by His Majesty. Hasn't His Majesty granted Du Shiyi a house yet?"

Before Du Fu could answer, a craftsman said, "Your Majesty is clear about rewards and punishments. He will never give rewards arbitrarily just because of personal relationship."

The scholar glanced at the craftsman and saw that the tool was a man in his forties dressed simply, so he asked back, "From your tone, it seems that you and His Majesty are familiar with each other."

The craftsman smiled proudly and said, "I am honored to have met your Majesty a few times."

"You are just bragging." Another person stood up to refute, "Look at your appearance, you must be a high-ranking official, how can you meet His Majesty?"

The craftsman was anxious. He carefully took out a bronze medal from his arms, held it up to show it off, and said, "This is a reward from His Majesty himself."

"Really?" Everyone expressed doubt, "Why didn't we know?"

The craftsman said, "This was a gift from His Majesty himself when I was making a curved plow in Anxi. His Majesty saw my good craftsmanship and gave it to me personally. Not long ago, I helped him make new tools for mining salt, and Minister Liu said that His Majesty would give me another gift."

Yuan Chao, who was standing by, couldn't help but be curious when he heard this, so he came forward and asked, "Can I get a reward just for making the tools?"

The craftsman said, "If it's done well, it will be fine."

Everyone was talking excitedly when suddenly a large group of imperial guards came through. Everyone was startled and curious about who it was.

As the imperial guards completed their alert, Du Fu saw Li Heng, Yang Yuhuan and others riding horses.

Du Fu hurried forward and bowed, saying, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

When everyone heard Du Fu say that this man was the emperor, they immediately followed suit and kowtowed.

Li Heng dismounted and said, "No need to be so polite, everyone. I heard that you all gathered here, so I came to see you."

Everyone thanked Li Heng and then stood up.

Wang Wei noticed Yuan Chao in the crowd and whispered to Li Heng, "Your Majesty, Yuan Chao is indeed here."

Li Ying nodded, came up to Du Fu, and said with a smile: "Surrounded by mountains and water, with many poplar trees in the suburbs, it would be pleasant for Zimei to live here."

Du Fu smiled and said, "I didn't know Your Majesty was coming here. I am sorry for not coming to greet you. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

Li Ying said, "I just felt like it at the time. It's okay. I'll just go to your house and have a seat."

"Yes." Du Fu responded, and quickly led the way, saying, "Your Majesty, please."

Li Heng was not polite and went with Du Fu.

Du Fu came from a family of officials. His ancestral home was quite large but dilapidated. There were three parts in the house: the central hall, the east courtyard and the west porch. There was a small path in the yard, and both sides of the path had been reclaimed into land.

Li Ying looked around and asked, "What are Zimei planting on these two plots of land?"

"The one on the left is chamomile, and the one on the right is cassia seed. These two can not only be appreciated, but can also be sold as traditional Chinese medicine." Du Fu replied respectfully.

Yang Yuhuan and other concubines who came with him were deeply touched when they saw how hard Du Fu's life was.

Especially Wei Xianyi.

Because Wei Xianyi's ancestors also lived nearby, but her family has been more powerful in recent decades, so they moved into the city.

After Li Heng chatted with Du Fu for a while, Wang Wei brought Yuan Chao to meet him.

Li Heng took a look at Yuan Chao and saw that he was about thirty years old, with an ordinary appearance but a strong body.

Li Ying asked, "I heard that you are quite knowledgeable about agriculture?"

Yuan Chao was flattered to see that Li Heng had heard of him, and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I live in Taizhou, and I grow rice. I have seen a lot, and I have some ideas, but I am not qualified to study them."

Li Ying said, "If you have any ideas, tell me."

Yuan Chao said: "I was fortunate enough to visit Lingnan once before, and I saw a special kind of rice planted in some fields there. It is drought-resistant and matures earlier."

Li Ying asked, "Is it a local variety?"

Yuan Chao said: "It seems not. I don't know whether it was introduced from Nanzhao or Champa."

"Really?" Li Heng was surprised.

Because what Yuan Chao said is somewhat similar to Champa rice, and according to historical records, Champa rice was introduced in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Li Heng thought about it carefully and found the blind spot.

According to historical records, the Northern Song Dynasty introduced Champa rice from Fujian and promoted it, but there is no consensus on when it was introduced to Fujian.

But looking back at history, the Tang Dynasty had close ties with South Asia very early on. During the reign of Wu Zetian, Champa began to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty. When Li Longji was in power, Champa's tribute was even more frequent.

Moreover, during the Tang Dynasty, Guangzhou was already a major port with frequent trade with Southeast Asia.

From this, we can see that Champa rice was very likely to have been introduced to the Tang Dynasty at this time. However, in history, the Tang Dynasty began to decline from then on, wars were frequent, and few people paid attention to this matter.

(End of this chapter)