hsntnovel Chapter 2333 Arrangements
Chapter 2333 Arrangements
Xizhou City is now covered in white, and the streets are empty.
Li Shen's 10,000-strong army marched on the streets. At this time, Li Shen was riding on his little white dragon, like a general returning from a victorious battle.
It’s a pity that there was no welcoming ceremony.
Pei Ziyu, the chief officer of Xizhou, led a group of Xizhou officials out of the city to welcome Li Shen and took him all the way to the office of Prince Ji's Mansion.
Li Shen did not go to the Xizhou government office. It was so cold and his own home was warmer.
Upon learning that Prince Ji had returned, the servants had already prepared the stove and heated the kang for Li Shen.
Li Shen ordered people to prepare all these things after he arrived. He knew that he would spend the winter here, so of course he had to prepare in advance.
After bathing and changing clothes, Li Shen brought his people to his study and lay on the kang. Li Shen felt comfortable all over.
"Has anything happened in Xizhou since I left?" Li Shen asked the officials standing there while eating the dried apricots he brought back.
"To your Highness Prince Ji, nothing major has happened in Xizhou Prefecture since you left for the border.
In accordance with the order given by His Royal Highness Prince Ji before his departure, Xizhou Prefecture continued to search for and encircle the rebels, and wiped out several small-scale rebel forces.
Furthermore, according to the order of His Royal Highness Prince Ji, no prisoners were killed. Everything is subject to His Royal Highness Prince Ji's decision."
Pei Ziyu, as the chief secretary, stepped forward to report.
In fact, for them, after Li Shen left, Xizhou became peaceful and returned to its former tranquility.
Prince Ji is back again this time, and no one knows what will happen in Xizhou Prefecture next.
These past few months have been incredibly torturous for them, with bad news coming one after another. They were even imprisoned and nearly killed.
The root of all this lies in His Royal Highness Prince Ji in front of us.
"Well, I'm glad nothing happened. I heard that His Majesty sent someone here. What did you say about the king going to the border?"
There was a hint of coldness in Li Shen's lazy voice. What these people said was related to whether he would be beaten when he returned.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, we dare not hide anything from the people sent by His Majesty, so we can only tell the truth." Pei Ziyu saluted.
"Oh? What's the truth?" Li Shen asked.
"The truth is, His Royal Highness Prince Ji has discovered that the rebels are connected to the border, which is related to the safety of our Great Tang.
That is why His Royal Highness Prince Ji risked his life to investigate the truth and protect the border."
"Hahahaha." As soon as Pei Ziyu finished speaking, Li Shen burst into laughter.
"Well, you are right. This is the fact. I am going to the border to investigate the collusion between the rebels and the border guards. I must ensure that the border of the Great Tang Dynasty is not lost.
Pei Changshi, you are quite good. No wonder His Royal Highness the Crown Prince thinks so highly of you. You are indeed a talented person."
"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Ji, for your compliment." Pei Ziyu bowed with a smile.
"It's snowing. Let's get those soldiers out there back. There's no need to continue to suppress the rebels. We can wait until next spring."
Li Shen's tone became much gentler. Pei Ziyu is still a very good person.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, we recalled the soldiers outside the city the day before yesterday. The weather is cold, especially at night. The soldiers are afraid of frostbite outside, so..."
General Li, the Sima of Xizhou Prefecture, came forward to report that their equipment was not that good and that winter was still very difficult for them.
Li Shen waved his hand:
"That's fine. This is also what the king meant. The soldiers have worked hard for months, and we cannot let them get hurt due to the weather.
However, we still have to send people to notify the tribes to be more careful as there is no food in winter and they should be wary of rebels stealing food.
They don’t dare to come to Xizhou to rob the charity granary, but they dare to rob the common people’s food.”
"Yes, I will send people to notify all places as soon as I return." Pei Ziyu accepted the order.
"By the way, have you found the Coal Mountain that I asked you to look for?"
Li Shen suddenly thought of coal. How could he survive without coal in winter? He would freeze to death.
According to his memory, there are rich coal resources here.
"Your Highness, Prince Ji, we have found a coal mine that is easy to mine. We don't need to dig a hole to enter as Your Highness said.
The coal there is just below the surface and can be mined directly.”
After hearing this, General Li quickly reported back that he was responsible for the matter and dispatched soldiers to search everywhere.
"Can we dig directly? Is it an open-pit mine?"
Li Shen was delighted after hearing this. An open-pit mine would be great. It would save time and effort, and could be mined in large quantities.
"Your Highness, it can be described as open air."
When General Li heard Li Shen mention the word "open pit mine," he nodded immediately. "It's just digging, just like open pit mining."
"Where is it? Is it far from Xizhou City?" Li Shen asked again.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, it's not far, only a dozen miles from Xizhou. I've already had some dug up.
It was stored in the military camp.”
"Only ten miles?" Li Shen was a little surprised after hearing this. He didn't expect it to be so close to Xizhou. Then why didn't he discover it before?
"In that case, then send people to dig. We have captured so many prisoners, so escort them over.
We can't keep them around for nothing, we have to let them do some work.
Also, let them build their own houses. I will give you a blueprint. Don’t let them freeze to death, or you’ll have captured them in vain.”
Li Shen now felt a little regretful. He should have escorted the captives back to Chang'an. He thought he was smart at the time.
He was afraid that after the prisoners were sent back, their money would be embezzled by his father and not given to him.
So he stayed in Xizhou Prefecture.
Now we have to build houses for them. Food doesn’t matter, because it comes from the court anyway.
"Yes, I'll take note of it." Pei Ziyu saluted and accepted the order.
Digging coal in the middle of winter, it is unknown how many of these people can come back alive, as these rebels have no warm clothes.
But Li Shen soon gave the answer. He looked at Wang Xuance:
"Xuan Ce, have Wang Hongfu's supplies arrived?"
"Your Highness, it has been more than half a month. I have just inquired about the cotton supplies, which are 35,000 sets.
There are only a thousand furnaces," Wang Xuance reported.
"The stove is useless. The coal has not been processed and cannot be burned directly. It will kill people.
There must be a kang, including in the military camp.
Alas, I was negligent and should have renovated the barracks earlier."
Li Shen sighed. He only thought about the cold-resistant supplies, but forgot about the renovation of the military camp.
Li Shen had no idea how the soldiers had survived the winter before, but since he was here, he couldn't let them have a hard time.
Otherwise, he would be warm in the house every day while the soldiers outside were shivering with cold. Li Shen always felt uncomfortable.
It would be fine if he couldn't see it, but now he is the governor of Xizhou, right under his nose.
What we can do now is to hurry up and build a big kang, while it has just snowed and is not yet so cold, and the ground has not yet been completely frozen.
(The open-pit coal mine I'm talking about actually exists. It's located at the former site of Xizhou and is now a large group.)