Chapter 125:

The branches that have been frozen for a quarter have sprouted new buds and flower bones, blooming tremblingly on the branches.
People on the street have also changed into spring clothes. After the excitement on both sides of the Xue family and Zhu’s house, Miss Xue married the Zhu family and moved into the champion’s mansion with Zhu Hanshan and Mrs. Zhu. Mrs. Xue felt sorry for her and sent many servants to her. Xu was the first prize winner, or she was worried about Miss Xue, but Zhu Hanshan did not object.
Zhu Hanshan entered the Hanlin Academy for editing. Ning Lang knew he would be the champion, so it was a good day to send things over. The gift of the champion and the gift of Huiyuan came before and after, and there was no difference between them. The previous gift of Huiyuan was a piece of torn fox skin. This time the gift of the champion is different from before. It was actually his special gift. I consulted the scholars in Qingzhou and found some rare books in Qingzhou.
After he and Yang Zhen returned to Qingzhou, they began to prepare for the Enlightenment Academy. Yang Zhen also attached great importance to this. Qingzhou's progress was even faster than the capital city. The capital needed to build a house, but Qingzhou didn't use it. Yang Zhen directly took the General's Mansion as the location of the Enlightenment School.
The General's Mansion is large enough to be used as a school, Yang Zhen and Ning Lang don't mind. After finding a place, the two went to find a scholar in Qingzhou, and specially invited Master Zhang, who was a man of merit, to come and sit down. Yang Zhen's reputation in Qingzhou is not low. She greeted her, and soon many people sent the children over.
The first students of this Enlightenment Academy were the bandits in Qinglong Village.
Because even his own affairs were handed over to Yang Zhen, Ning Lang was completely idle. Seeing that these bandits had to come to the Enlightenment Academy every day, he volunteered to come by relying on the fact that he had also tested a talent before. Supervise these bandits. There was nothing else about him, so Yang Zhen let him go.
For this reason, Ning Lang actually became friendly with the scholars in the school. When he was troubled with the gift to Zhu Hanshan, it was also the opinions of the scholars, and even the rare books were all the scholars who bothered to find him.
Zhu Hanshan received this gift and liked it very much. After hearing that he was busy in school, he specially sorted out his previous reading methods and sent it to him.
On the capital side, Chu Fei gave some more money, and the craftsmen worked hard enough to even build the Enlightenment Academy some time earlier than previously expected.
Chu Fei had already found a teacher a long time ago, and as soon as everyone was looking forward to it, the Enlightenment Academy finally began to recruit students!
The people in the capital waited for a long time, but finally, when they saw a notice posted outside the school, they immediately brought their children over to sign up.
This school can't be registered after signing up. A special person will register the name information. In addition, someone will be sent to investigate the origin of these students. If they really meet the standards, they can enter the school. On the day of registration, all the masters recruited by the school came, and all the people looked at them with admiration and awe.
And Chu Fei also took Ning Nuan and walked around. Many people recognize him because of his publicity. When the people saw him, they were very excited, although they still don’t know if they can join. , But he was grateful on his face, even more excited than seeing those masters.
With Ning Nuan by his side, he could even more feel the sight these people cast on him. She turned her head, looked at the complacent look on Chu Fei's face, couldn't help but smile.
Soon, everyone's attention fell on the man who came with An Wang.
The third prince was a little uncomfortable to avoid the eyes of these people. He dodges to avoid a person passing by, frowning and saying to Chu Fei: "Uncle Emperor, what are we doing here?"
"Today's school registration, but it's time for the most people. If it's not this time, how can you see so many people on weekdays?" Chu Fei smiled and said, "His face is better, so that they can see you clearly."
The third prince frowned: "Uncle Emperor, there are so many people here, what should I do if there are assassins?"
"Didn't you bring someone here?"
The third prince said anxiously: "But if something happens..."
No matter how many Chu Fei is, his people are hiding in the dark, even if there are assassins, they will rush out to protect him and A Nuan in the first place. As for the third prince, the third prince also brought people over.
Chu Fei pulled the three princes to a clearing, then cleared his throat, and raised his voice to attract the attention of everyone in the school.
"His Royal Highness An?"
Chu Fei pointed to the three princes: "This is the three princes of the current sage. This time the establishment of the Enlightenment Academy is because he has helped this king a lot."
When everyone heard the words, their gazes were eager for a while, and their gazes towards the third prince also showed the same gratitude and awe as they did when they saw Chu Fei.
The third prince coughed, not knowing what to do.
In the establishment of the Enlightenment Academy this time, he really did a lot of effort. The bulk of the silver was from him, and the master was also found with great effort. Although other princes also helped, no matter what happened to King An Regardless of the problem, the first one is to find him first, and he naturally did his best.
Sure enough, most of the credit for the establishment of this Enlightenment Academy now fell to him. As for the other princes, they were those who would not even mention their names.
The third prince stood up, thinking about what Chu Fei said on weekdays, and said to the people that he was worried about them and wanted everyone to read. Seeing the people’s expressions of excitement, he retired with satisfaction. go back.
"Uncle Emperor, I understand." The three princes said: "What you mean is to win the hearts of the people. If all the people are facing me, it can also provide a lot of help. If I hadn't been here personally, these people would also They won’t see me. If they can’t see me, they won’t remember me as they do now."
Chu Fei raised his eyebrows.
"When this school is set up, many scholars are still talking about it, and they wrote articles to praise the emperor, even I was swayed by the emperor."
Chu Fei said, "This king is the one who has touched your light. If it were not for you, this enlightenment school would not be able to run."
"Uncle emperor must not say this. If it were not for emperor, nephew would not be able to think of such an idea." The third prince was ashamed: "It is also emperor who cares about the people of the world like this and cares about whether they can read. My nephew is really inferior to the emperor's uncle."
Chu Fei took a deep look at him, "What are you talking about? I'm not doing all this for you? Don't let me live up to my expectations."
The third prince was touched again.
Only the two of them understood the calculations in the hearts of the two of them, but they pretended to be very good, and no one could pick something wrong. After walking around in the school, when the school finished the registration, the affairs of King An and the third prince spread throughout the capital, and everyone praised them.
The third prince used to be very low-key, this time it is rare to walk to the bright side, the eldest prince and prince also put their eyes on him. Listening to the rumors in the capital, it can be said that when King An’s reputation in the capital became better, how jealous the two of them were against King An, but now how jealous they are of the three princes.
But no matter how unwilling the first prince and the prince were, the third prince was still gaining momentum, especially when the emperor confessed to him a few things. After he completed all of them perfectly, even the attention of many ministers in the court fell on him. Many people began to observe the three princes.
For a while, the eldest prince, prince, and three princes were in the same situation.
...
Qingzhou.
Ning Lang stepped out of the enlightenment school in Qingzhou, and listened to the sound of reading inside, and he was immediately satisfied.
In these reading sounds, most of them were the thick and vigorous voices of the bandits, suppressing the tender voices of the children sent by the people of Qingzhou. Qingzhou is vast and sparsely populated. The enlightenment school is not as complicated as the capital when it is run. There are even some people who would rather ask their husbands to teach at home than send their children here because of suspicion. They are naturally not reluctant, so most of the students in this school today are still bandits in the cottage.
Although Ning Lang is not learning and skillful, he has been tested by Ning Yanting as a talent before. Now, even though he has forgotten most of his knowledge, he can already be very good at being a talent. Others admire him.
Not to mention that he has a friend who has just passed the No. 1 pick, or Sanyuan who hasn't appeared in many years!
These days, Ning Lang is very beautiful. Not only the bandits on Qinglong Mountain treat him with great courtesy, but even the masters in this school are also very good at him, making Ning Lang proud.
He raised his head and glanced at the plaque at the entrance of the General's Mansion, which has now become Qinglu Academy.
Ning Lang touched the purse in his arms and walked out quickly.
He helps in this school, but he doesn’t need to read or teach. In the end, he helps with some chores. He doesn’t know how to sweep, but he can arrange purchases. People in Qingzhou City recognize him. No one dared to kill Yang Zhen because of his face.
Meat is prey from the mountain. Every day, bandits send their prey down the mountain. There are also many fruits and vegetables grown in the yard of the General's Mansion. Although it can’t fill the stomachs of all the students, it also helps a lot. , And Ning Lang is responsible for buying the rest.
He drove his donkey cart to the rice shop and asked for 100 shi of rice as usual. Although the number is large, all the bandits in the school have stomachs as big as cows, and they can eat five or six bowls for a meal, and Ninglang buys a lot of rice at a time.
When Ning Lang paid for the money, he heard the rice shop owner embarrassedly say: "Ning Xiucai, the price of this rice has increased."
"The price has increased?" Ning Lang frowned, and the action of digging out the money paused: "This rice was not only increased at the beginning of the month? Why did the price increase again? Are you deliberately wronging me?"
"Where is the little one, but the little one is telling the truth with Ning Xiucai. The price of this rice has indeed risen, and it has risen two days ago." The owner of the rice shop said: "Ning Xiucai doesn't know. Now this rice is one day. One price, fortunately you are here today, if tomorrow, maybe you will have to increase it again."
Ning Lang frowned and looked at the wooden sign next to the rice noodles. The price written on it was indeed what the boss said. He looked at the other people again, the people who entered the store were all sad, but they did not object like him.
The price actually increased?
Ning Lang took an extra silver coin from the purse and handed it to the owner of the rice shop.
He watched the rice shop workers put the rice on the donkey cart, then drove the donkey cart to the street, and packed all the vegetables in the small stall he patronized on weekdays.
When he was about to pay, he heard the stall owner embarrassedly say: "Ning Xiucai, the price of this dish has increased."
Ning Lang moved for a while and couldn't help being surprised: "Why have you also increased the price?"
The stall owner said: "It's not just me, but the prices of all the things on this street have gone up."
Ning Lang didn't believe in evil, so he glanced suspiciously, and then ran to the stall far away and asked, it was actually more expensive than the little stall owner just said.
He ran back with a dazed face, hesitated when he paid out his money, and couldn't help asking: "What's wrong with this? How good is it? The price of rice has increased, and even your food has increased?" The meat eaten in the school is prey on the mountain, otherwise he really can't draw out the extra money.
"Ning Xiucai, all the things in Qingzhou City have gone up in price, not just mine." The stall owner said, "Don't you know, the weather is getting hotter and hotter recently, even the water level of the river is low. For the first time, ours is pretty good. I heard that the price of rice in Yaocheng is three times that of our Qingzhou!"
three times!
Ning Lang couldn't help but slap his tongue.
The price of rice has risen a lot now than before. What is the concept of triple? That's a sky-high price!
Ning Lan drove the donkey cart back to the school with great anxiety.
Recently, the weather is getting hotter and hotter. He originally wanted to buy some watermelons to distribute to the students in the school, but now it's okay. The extra money he brought out has also been spent, but he didn't buy any of the watermelons. Ning Lang originally wanted to buy an osmanthus cake for Yang Zhen, but it turned out to be good, and even the price of osmanthus cake increased!
This is too strange!
In the evening, he returned to the cottage and told Yang Zhen about the matter.
Yang Zhen heard the words, nodded, and said: "I feel it too."
"What?" Ning Lang was blank: "What did you find?"
"There used to be a spring on the mountain, you know, I took you there last time. The water from that spring flowed up to the mountain and merged into the river. In recent days, the spring water is much finer than before. It may not be too long. The spring is dry."
"Did it?" Ning Lang was startled, and suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility, he immediately retorted: "Impossible..."
"What is impossible?"
He had never heard of any drought in Qingzhou in his previous life, and if there was such a major event, he would probably not forget it.
Ning Lang shook his head hesitantly: "Is it really my memory?"
"What did you remember wrong?" Yang Zhen was curious.
"It's nothing."
"But An Wang has reminded us earlier, let us prepare early, and this is what I want to say." Yang Zhen said: "According to An Wang, in the coming days, we should pay attention early and beware of the recent Are there any more people in Qingzhou?"
Ning Lang nodded, then wondered: "Wang An told you this?"
If even Wang An remembers him, is he really the one who remembered it wrong?
"Wang An has never said this, he just told me that there will be riots in Qingzhou next."
"Then is this riot serious?"
"Listening to him, it doesn't seem to be serious." Yang Zhen said, "Qingzhou also had this kind of weather in the past. It was unusually hot and the water level of the river dropped. It was just luck and there was no drought. I don't know what will happen this year."
Ning Lang let go of his heart.
Although Wang An asked them to prepare earlier, he did not say that it was preparing rice or the like, and the drought did not happen. As for the Qingzhou riots, people from other places should have ran over.
He knew that he didn't even remember that there was such a thing, and it wouldn't be too serious to think about it.
It was only reminded by Yang Zhen that in the following days, when Ning Lang went down the mountain, he became vigilant.
Although he bought rice grains that could last for several days in one go, Ninglang still went to the rice shop every day, watching the price of rice noodles slowly rise, he also went to the small stall he usually patronizes, the price of vegetables It is also rising day by day, the time has been long, and even the time when the stallholders appear is irregular.
Ning Lang asked him about it.
"It's not that the weather is getting hotter and the water level is lowering, but people are alive, and the crops in the ground have to be taken care of. If the ground is dry, it is necessary to water more and run more times than before. It’s not as good as before.
The stall owner frowned,
If the weather gets hotter, I’m afraid this dish will be dried in the ground.

Ning Lang was worried.
And Chu Fei also sent a letter at this time, saying that his staff had stored a lot of rice grains, and they were all handed over to Yang Zhen to dispose of them. He also mentioned Yaocheng in the letter. These rice grains were used Support Yaocheng.
Yaocheng was the worst affected place this time. I heard from the stall owner that the price of rice there was three times that of Qingzhou City.
At the same time, many new faces came to Qingzhou City.
Because Yang Zhen was deliberately paying attention, when those people appeared in Qingzhou City, they immediately noticed them.
It's just that these raw faces are not the thugs they originally imagined, but some businessmen. The merchants in Yaocheng heard that the price of rice was cheap here, so they rushed over here, bought the rice from here, and then transported it to Yaocheng for sale. Although it was a long journey, the profit would be doubled after changing hands, so it attracted a lot of money. People come.
Even more and more people come to Qingzhou Ben for relatives.
When Ning Lang was idle, he would run to Qinglong Mountain every day to observe the spring water on the mountain. Yang Zhen was right. The spring water was really thinner than before, but it turned out that the spring water was very thick, if it weren’t for Yang Zhen. Such a person with excellent eyesight can't see any difference. Ning Lang ran twice, and then took a measuring tape to measure the length every day. After a month, he finally measured the difference.
It was one-third thinner than the first time!
The skyrocketing price of rice in Qingzhou finally attracted the control of local officials and kept the price of rice at a suitable price. It's just that there are more people coming to Qingzhou City. Previously, they were businessmen, then they went to relatives, and then they became ragged beggers.
The beggars on Qingzhou Street suddenly increased.
At the beginning, when he saw children begging, Ning Lang was a little bit intolerable and bought steamed buns for them, but later on, more and more people, even if he bought a whole bag of steamed buns, he couldn’t tell. Ning Lang suddenly I have a headache.
He asked Yang Zhen, and found a ruined temple in Qingzhou City to take in the beggars, and the bandits who went to school to study often came over and wandered around, worrying that someone would beat the beggars.
Ning Lang also got a lot of news from these beggars.
"Yaocheng is in chaos now, rice is too expensive, everything is expensive, everyone can't afford rice." A beggar said: "My parents sold me for rice. There are several people in our family. I can eat for a long time. But I escaped and I don’t know what happened to my parents."
"My family is poor, they starved to death on the way to Qingzhou."
"Qingzhou City University, I heard that rice is also cheap, so we came here."
Ning Lang was in a heavy mood.
Things about Yaocheng naturally did not reach the capital. The emperor ordered people to bring rice grains to the disaster relief, but Yaocheng was farther than Qingzhou, and the journey took a lot of time.
Chu Fei had prepared for it a long time ago, but this was a natural disaster. Even if he knew it in advance, he couldn't make any changes. He could only store more rice and transferred grain from some rich Jiangnan areas early. But Yaocheng lacks water, so rice is good luck, but water is bad.
Gradually, there were many more ragged adults in Qingzhou City. There were people stopping by every well in Qingzhou City. Every Qingzhou citizen became nervous, not to mention wasting a bit of water.
Ning Lang became more worried.
Yang Zhen comforted him: "We were prepared, and His Royal Highness An also gave us a lot of things. Think about it, if there is nothing, it will only be worse than it is now. Now the price of rice in Yaocheng is also controlled. Live, you can rest assured, just wait for it to rain."
"But these days, it hasn't rained in the sky." Ning Lang said worriedly: "It has been a few times before, but it hasn't been long. The last rain was many days ago, and I don't know if it rained When is it, looking at the weather, it seems that it won’t rain these days. Aside from that, more and more people come to Qingzhou.

"I know, I watched it. If someone really wants to take the opportunity to make a bad idea, I won't let them go."
These days, all the mountain bandits have come down the mountain. All of them are tall, and they also fight beasts on the mountain on weekdays. They are fierce and patrol the city of Qingzhou with the soldiers of Qingzhou. The victims from Yaocheng wanted to occupy a well, but they found out first and stopped the riot first.
The city gate could not be closed, and it was impossible to stop people from entering, so the bandits wandered around the city more, and when they saw something wrong, they immediately rushed to stop it. Even in the school, there are only children left now, and all the bandits who learn enlightenment in it have also come out and are protecting Qingzhou City together.
Amidst Ning Lang's worries, Yang Zhen made preparations. They sent people to look at the city gate every day, until one day, a large group of ragged people went from Yaocheng to the outside of Qingzhou.