Father can be an enemy to the country

While he was talking, everyone gathered around Zhu Zhen and entered the mat camp.

As the name suggests, mat camp is a workshop for weaving and producing mats.

Mats are extremely useful in this era, and everyone can use them. Whether it is military households or civilian households, or soldiers on the march, they always have to sleep. You don’t need a bed to sleep, but you must at least put a straw mat on it and don’t lie directly on the ground.

Especially in warm subtropical areas like Yunnan, you can sleep on mats all year round. In addition, there are storage mats, drying mats for storing and drying grain, as well as shrouding mats for burials, etc., which have many uses and are used in large quantities.

Therefore, a special workshop was set up in the army to produce mats, and they were made wherever the army went...

"The prince is here to visit everyone!"

When Zhu Zhen entered, he saw that the ground was evenly covered with broken reed strips in the huge courtyard.

Some craftsmen sprinkled water in the front, while someone behind them dragged the bamboo poles and rolled them back and forth in order to smooth the bamboo strips. Until the bamboo strips are held in hand and can be whipped like a whip.

Only such soft and smooth bamboo strips can be used to weave mats...

"The prince has come to see everyone." Peng Zhixian shouted.

The craftsmen hurriedly knelt on the ground, and the lively work scene came to an abrupt end.

"Why don't you let everyone have a rest on the first day of the new year?" Zhu Zhen had just apologized, but he was ready to fall out, faster than flipping through a book.

Peng Zhixian was so sweaty, he quickly and carefully replied, "Your Majesty misunderstood, they voluntarily worked overtime."

"Oh, really?" Zhu Zhen looked at the craftsmen. "Are you really voluntary? Don't worry and tell the truth. No one will dare to retaliate against you."

"Back, back to your lord, we really volunteered to work overtime." A middle-aged craftsman who looked like a leader stammered: "Come on, we have already rested in the morning, and everyone doesn't want to waste time in the afternoon."

"Why, are there too many tasks given by the superiors to be completed?" Zhu Zhen asked.

"The task is quite heavy," the leader of the craftsmen said timidly, "but we all want to finish the work early so that we can return home as soon as possible."

"Yes, we haven't caught anything to celebrate the New Year in two years." The other mat craftsmen also agreed: "The magistrate said that if the task of 500,000 mats cannot be completed this year, no one can go home."

"Did you say that?" Zhu Zhen looked at Peng Zhixian. "Are you going to tire them out?"

Peng Zhixian, sweating profusely, explained in a low voice: "His Majesty, the ministers are also bothered by them every day, so they set such an outrageous number. It's just to let them settle down and work, don't always think about going back." Home comes home.”

"Listen, are these human words?" But his words were still heard clearly. As expected, a citizen was hiding behind the crowd and said unceremoniously:

"We still have our father, mother, wife and children at home. It's not like some people whose whole family is dead..."

In front of the prince, Magistrate Peng dared not speak out in anger, and did not even dare to raise his head.

"Keep your mouths clean!" Pan Yuan scolded, then smiled bitterly at Zhu Zhen and said, "Is Wei Chen right?"

"If you don't do people's business and don't speak people's words, you should be scolded." Zhu Zhen didn't take it seriously. He cupped his hands at the craftsmen and said: "I am here to pay New Year's greetings to the young and old gentlemen. By the way, I also want to apologize to everyone. ...I declare that the tasks assigned to you by Peng will not count!"

"Great, thank you, Your Majesty, for making the decision!" The craftsmen cheered and knelt down to kowtow to Lao Liu. They all said, "We also wish your Majesty a happy new year. I wish your Majesty a thousand years and a thousand years!"

"Hahaha, if I really live to be a thousand years old, wouldn't I become a big bastard?" Zhu Zhen's humorous self-deprecation caused the craftsmen to burst into laughter. The slightly tense atmosphere just now relaxed in an instant.

Zhu Zhen also ordered Deng Duo to lead people and distribute the rewards to the craftsmen. He prepared a pot of wine, two kilograms of meat, a pair of cloth shoes for each of the craftsmen, and half a basket of new year's money wrapped in red paper.

These four gifts are not considered rich, but if each of hundreds of thousands of people has such a gift, it is still a huge expense.

And for the craftsmen who had been working hard for nothing, this was already a very generous reward. Naturally, they were all grateful, and they were more pleased with this tall and powerful prince.

~~

The guards over there were handing out rewards, and here Zhu Zhen sat directly on the mat that the craftsmen had just woven, and called the leader of the craftsmen and a group of craftsmen who had received the rewards to sit down and talk to him.

After his repeated urging, the craftsman leader and other craftsmen sat down cross-legged tremblingly, feeling that they didn't know where to put their hands and feet.

"Don't be nervous, I don't eat people." Zhu Zhen smiled and asked everyone to relax. After they relaxed a little, he asked them kindly what their names were and where they were from.

"Your Majesty, I am Chang San, a native of Suzhou Prefecture." The leader of the craftsmen straightened up and answered.

"The villain Liu Ping is from Jinhua Mansion, Zhejiang..."

"The villain Zhang Qian, from Jiujiang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province..." The craftsmen also introduced themselves.

Zhu Zhen listened patiently to their introduction, and from time to time commented on the customs and customs of their hometown. His words were all to the point, which surprised the craftsmen.

"Your Majesty, have you been to our hometown?"

"Been there..." Zhu Zhen smiled and nodded, thinking that he had just been there in his previous life... Fortunately, it was enough to use it to talk to the common people:

"Your place is really a great place..."

"Haha, the prince thinks so too? Sure enough, who doesn't say good things about my hometown!" The villagers were very coaxing, and suddenly felt that the prince was really kind.

Just sucking up to their hometown is risky. Especially today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. People who have not gone back to celebrate the New Year in two years can easily feel homesick.

Those with shallow eyes have begun to sob...

"What's going on? Why are you crying after a good chat?" Zhu Zhen seemed confused.

"My lord, forgive me, it's not easy to get homesick during the Chinese New Year..." Chang San explained for them: "When everyone came out, they never thought they would stay for so long..."

"It's just that we miss home." The craftsmen wiped their tears and said, "I miss my parents..."

"I received a letter from my family years ago. I've become a father, but I haven't seen the baby yet." A craftsman kowtowed to Lao Liu and begged: "Your Majesty, please do me a favor and let me go... "

It doesn't matter if he takes the lead, the other craftsmen also follow suit, kowtow to Lao Liu, and beg hard: "Your Majesty, please show mercy, let us go back..."

"What are you doing? Get up and talk." Zhu Zhen raised his hand to signal everyone not to kneel.

"If the prince doesn't agree, we won't get up!" The craftsmen lied.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. It's really the imperial court that is cheating. How long has it been overdue and still not letting us go back?" Chang San took the lead and said loudly: "Please give us an accurate answer, Your Majesty!"

"Oh, then I, the king, should tell the truth..." Zhu Zhen slowly glanced at the common people, sighed and said:

"You can't go back."