In an inner hall of the Daming Palace, Jia Lian and three others went in to have a meal under the guidance of the eunuch.
Although the eight or nine kinds of meals were all exquisite, they were all side dishes and snacks and did not appear extravagant. It was obvious that Emperor Ningkang was usually frugal and not a man who indulged in pleasure.
"Why don't you eat?"
The fourth prince Xu was really hungry. After sitting down, he ate a few mouthfuls, and then he saw that neither his royal sister nor Jia Lian touched the tachyon. Not only did they not move the tachyon, they were still there, looking at me.
Looking at you, your eyebrows and eyes convey a message.
Jia Lian heard this and held up his hands: "Princess please come first."
Princess Zhaoyang was not polite, she immediately picked up the silver chopsticks, picked up a piece of bamboo shoot tip and put it into her mouth, then nodded and said: "The royal chef in the palace is very good at cooking. This fried pork with autumn bamboo shoots tastes good. Marquis Zhenyuan should also try it."
.”
"Really, let me try."
The fourth prince stood up and opened his mouth to pick up vegetables. Princess Zhaoyang frowned when she saw his vulgar behavior. She calmly picked up the fried venison with autumn bamboo shoots and placed it in front of Jia Lian, and smiled at Jia Lian.
. Turning around, he saw the fourth prince with a look of astonishment on his face, and he took a chicken leg out of the soup and put it into his bowl.
"snort."
The fourth prince was like a wronged little daughter-in-law who dared to be angry but dared not speak out. He sat down and directly picked up the chicken drumstick with his bare hands and started to bite it fiercely.
Jia Lian watched coldly from the side, and could not express his inner thoughts on his face. He could only sigh secretly that the siblings were enemies. These four princes were not afraid of anything and would dare to fight with anyone they met, but they were helpless against Princess Zhaoyang.
Jia Lian alone has seen him crumble in the hands of Princess Zhaoyang several times.
In order to prevent the fourth prince from hating him because of a plate of side dishes, Jia Lian did not immediately pick up the dishes and taste them. He thanked Princess Zhaoyang and then changed the subject: "This time, Her Royal Highness the Princess took the initiative to invite you to talk about the clan, courage and filial piety."
That's admirable. I dare to ask, does your Highness have any good ideas in mind?"
Sure enough, when the fourth prince heard that Jia Lian asked about this matter, he was no longer angry and turned his eyes to his imperial sister.
Although he didn't care much about political affairs, he also knew that the people in the clan were very conservative and very philistine. It would be very difficult to get them to cooperate with the court in paying land taxes.
However, Princess Zhaoyang took a bite of the dishes in a leisurely manner, and then Fang Xiao asked Jia Lian: "Master Zhenyuan, do you not believe in the little girl's ability, and are you worried that I will mess up this matter?"
"No, I have long been aware of Your Highness's bravery, determination, and resourcefulness. If Her Highness the Princess cannot take on this responsibility, I'm afraid no one can relieve Your Majesty's worries."
"Hehehe, Mr. Hou is still so good at talking...but, I really don't have any good ideas, I just want to deal with this matter first.
On the other hand, the Marquis of Zhenyuan has always been very clever and resourceful. If he has any strategies to teach me, I am all ears, and I will definitely repay him in the future."
"Hey, can you two stop bragging each other so much? I can't stand listening anymore!" The fourth prince always felt that his sister's words were weird when Jia Lian was around. How should I put it, hypocritical!
"Sister, you are the same. Since you are not sure, why did you take on this thankless job just now? There are so many capable ministers and cadres under my father's command. If you just send one to do this, it will be fine.
You tried to be brave, but now you regret it."
The fourth prince's tone was slightly mocking.
Princess Zhaoyang glanced at him and felt that she and Jia Lian couldn't understand each other with this bastard around, so she gave Jia Lian a look, stopped talking, and concentrated on eating.
…
After dinner, Jia Lian was summoned by Emperor Ningkang again.
The person who did it was just asking about the progress of firearms and...
"It is rumored that your Jia family has thousands of hectares of fertile land in the north and south, which exceeds the imperial limit of 100,000 acres for each duke's house. Is this rumor true?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, it is indeed true. Since Taizu, our Jia family has been favored by the emperor and has a long history. Our ancestors in the past generations did not know how to manage the family business better. Whenever we have savings, we use it to buy land.
To this day, including the rewards from saints in the past, the total acres of mountains, forests and farms owned by my Jia family totals nearly 300,000 acres. Even after deducting the clan sacrifice land, there are still more than 250,000 acres."
Emperor Ning Kang originally asked casually, but he didn't expect Jia Lian to immediately answer the specific number.
I don't know if I had expected him to ask this question, or if he really served the emperor and was loyal and sincere.
But even if he had expected that he would ask this question, he could answer it so simply and neatly, which was considered fair and honest.
After all, if someone like King Zhongshun can only hesitate and make vague statements, how can he dare to come up with a specific number?
"Oh? If that's the case, what do you think of the court's newly revised tax laws?"
"Nature is the work of a thousand years and a good recipe for hundreds of generations. On behalf of the family, I am willing to fully support the imperial court in achieving the great success of reforming the tax law."
Jia Lian has studied politics, but he dare not say anything else. As for the high-level speaking skills, most people who want to flatter him in this era cannot even flatter him.
"Seriously? If according to the New Deal, the extra 100,000 acres of land of your Jia family will cost you thousands of stone grains every year, which is equivalent to your ten years of rice, you won't feel bad at all, or in other words, you won't be afraid of your family members.
complain?"
Jia Lian said solemnly: "A gentleman likes wealth and gets it in a wise way. Not to mention that my Jia family enjoys the best treatment in the country. Even if my Jia family is just an ordinary citizen under the rule of Wei, as long as it can benefit the court,
It is beneficial to the people of the world, and the Jia family should give their full support.
Family is the smallest country, and country is the largest family. Without a big country, how can we have a small family?
Therefore, Your Majesty does not need to worry about the humble ministers, not to mention that our Jia family does not have such people who do not understand the righteousness. Even if there are, the humble ministers will teach and control them, and they will not be allowed to become the slightest obstacle to His Majesty's new policy!"
Thousands of stones of grain were indeed equivalent to his ten years of salary and rice. However, in total, it was only a few thousand taels of silver!
How to choose between thousands of taels of silver and Emperor Ningkang's favor? Can Jia Lian hesitate?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Moreover, although the Jia family's two mansions have exceeded the limit, Jia Lian does not believe that the tax rates for fertile land, mountains, forests, and manors will be the same! If fertile land is included in the limit
Within the country, forests, manors, etc. are used to pay taxes. It is expected that the amount will be greatly reduced on this basis.
Besides, others don’t know that he doesn’t know that Emperor Ning Kang promised to make up for this part of the loss to the clan members from the annual reward.
In other words, Emperor Ningkang did not intend to steal benefits from people like the clan members. What he wanted was to make the clan members no longer be the protective umbrella of the small and medium-sized landowners below, but become the hiding place for thousands of small and medium-sized landowners.
, a haven for tax evasion.
It is conceivable that if Emperor Ning Kang can accomplish this matter, not to mention it is completely accomplished, even if it is only implemented simply, from the clan, to the descendants, the wealthy families, and the masters will be eager to hand over the "origins" in their hands.
Donate land "unidentified" and throw it back...
Thinking about it, this is what Emperor Ningkang and the courtiers really care about.
Although Jia Lian felt that once the clan members paid taxes, perhaps the palace would make up for the losses in the first few years, but as the matter became a foregone conclusion, the so-called subsidies would definitely be difficult to guarantee...
Perhaps this was what Emperor Ning Kang had originally planned. Otherwise, why didn't he write down the regulations and just let the lobbyists make the promises? In this way, even if he no longer fulfills his promises in the future, he can shirk it. Alas, my princess, I have to take care of myself.
It was time to be betrayed by her father again.
Alas, just take the blame. If you want to get power from the emperor, how can you make sense if you don't help take the blame? Isn't he the same?
So Jia Lian said in a bachelor's manner: "So, if Your Majesty needs it, I can even take the initiative to set an example among the honorable ministers. After the new tax law is implemented, I will be the first to take the initiative to declare the land and pay the tax in full every year.
Be the vanguard of His Majesty’s new policy!”
Emperor Ning Kang looked at Jia Lian and said for a long time: "If everyone in the world is as loyal to the emperor and the country as you are, why worry about the world being unstable and the officials not being able to govern! I can feel much more relaxed..."
Uh, Your Majesty, you are just dreaming. Let alone you, even in the next three thousand years, the world will not be like what you said.
Moreover, I dare not tell you that as long as there are more people like me who travel across the world, it will be a matter of time before the world becomes unstable, the government becomes unclear, the mountains and rivers are broken, and all life is devastated.
Emperor Ningkang didn't know Jia Lian's fucking thoughts. He was very satisfied with Jia Lian's words, encouraged Jia Lian with a few words, and let him go out of the palace.
…
Returning to Rongguo Mansion, perhaps because of the distance, the farce on the long street did not bring any turmoil to Jia Mansion.
However, in the study room of Dongkuoyuan, Hu Yuanyao received a message from Princess Zhaoyang, asking him to meet outside the city tomorrow.
This was also expected. Jia Lian agreed and went home.
It was September, and it was a cold autumn at home. But under the eaves, Jia Lian saw a lot of fruits and vegetables, such as pumpkins, eggplants, etc., there were quite a lot of them!
Jia Lian took a second look and didn't pay much attention. He went straight into the house and saw Ping'er sitting alone in the house doing needlework. "The second master is back."
Ping'er always looked so peaceful. When Jia Lian came into the house, she was neither cold nor flattering. If it weren't for the fact that she was more warm and considerate than her master's grandmother in bed, Jia Lian would sometimes doubt this.
Did Nizi commit herself to him simply out of etiquette?
Jia Lian said "Hmm" and walked to Ping'er's previous seat to sit down. He picked up her needlework and took a look at it. It was a tube top with yellow gold threads.
"Your own?"
"Made for the second grandma. The former grandma burned two old ones, and I was afraid that she wouldn't have enough to replace them, so I made two more new ones for her."
Ping'er stood beside Jia Lian and explained in this way.
Jia Lian pulled her to sit on his lap, and put his hands into her arms. After a while, he said very seriously: "There are so many maids in the courtyard, whoever does it for her is not the same. Look, your own is also old.
Why didn’t you know to make yourself two new ones?”
Ping'er, who had already been touched by Jia Lian, was blushing. After hearing this, he explained seriously: "Second grandma is not used to wearing clothes made by others. Besides, I am old. This dark green one was made by me half a month ago."
As for the upper body..."
Women in this era were basically women workers, so apart from not being too demanding about their outer clothes, they basically made their own personal belongings.
Naturally, the people in his courtyard are no exception.
It's just that Sister Feng doesn't have much free time and is too lazy to do such small things. Therefore, Ping'er does most of her underwear.
And like Jia Lian, most of the details on him are the masterpieces of Qingwen. Xiangling is not a good worker, she likes to read.
Having said that, when Jia Lian heard Ping'er's words, he immediately asked curiously: "Dark green? Let me see if you lied?"
Seeing that Jia Lian was really grabbing her collar to take a look, Ping'er was helpless and amused, because he covered his chest and advised: "Second master, please stop making trouble. There are guests here today. Don't let others see the joke?"
"Oh? What guest?"
"It's not that he's an important guest. He's a countryman. He has an ancient relationship with Second Grandma. He visited Second Grandma once that year, and she didn't treat her badly. He promised her some money.
Now Xu is living a better life, so he brought a lot of vegetables and melons to visit the Second Grandma. I didn’t want the old lady to hear it, so I had to ask her to come over and have a look. The Second Grandma also followed her, but she hasn’t come back yet.
I originally planned to sit down for a while and take a look, but the second master came back."
When Jia Lian heard this, he hugged his concubine and said with a smile: "Oh, this guest's surname is Liu?"
"It's Grandma Liu, how did the Second Master know?"
Ping'er sat upright, a little curious. If she remembered correctly, that year Grandma Liu came to enjoy the autumn breeze, and the second master was obviously not at home.
Jia Lian smiled and said nothing, and never took the matter to his heart. Ping'er, who was seventeen or eighteen years old, looked as pretty as a flower. He hugged her for a moment and couldn't help but want to do something bad.
Ping'er couldn't be persuaded, and her heart was aroused by Jia Lian, so she pressed Jia Lian's hand to untie her clothes, lifted her hair, and her eyes were clear.
"Second Master, you still remember that you owe Ping'er a promise."
"Oh, when did it happen?"
Jia Lian didn't think about it seriously. Seeing that Ping'er wouldn't let him undress, he turned to kiss his neck. He thought that this little girl was decent in appearance, but she was also an interesting person once she got interested.
"I knew that the second master didn't take this matter to heart, so he kindly reminded the second master. The first time Grandma Xiaorong came over, when the second master succeeded, she helped you to lie in front of the second grandma, the second master said
I just promised someone something."
Only then did Jia Lian remember that it was indeed true.
"That's what happened, what do you want?"
Jia Lian let go of Ping'er and sat on the stool, looking a little unhappy. Ping'er never asked him for anything, so bringing it up at this time was probably to persuade him to stop.
Ping'er stood up straight, seeing Jia Lian like this, he didn't understand Jia Lian's mood.
She smiled knowingly, without explaining, and continued to brush her hair that was messed up by Jia Lian. She put her ear next to Jia Lian and said with a smile: "Second Master, you still remember that year, before Second Mistress entered this door..."
…”
"I followed the second grandma through the house, and arranged a room for the second grandma to stay in the house. The second master came in a hurry to look for the second grandma, but unfortunately the second grandma went to see his wife, and I was the only one in the house at that time.
inside."
"That year, I was only thirteen years old..."
Ping'er's soft words easily brought Jia Lian's thoughts back to his memory.
Looking through the messy and bullshit memories of his predecessor, Jia Lian suddenly remembered them.
At that time, Jia Lian was only sixteen or seventeen years old, and the two families happened to be discussing the marriage between him and Sister Feng. Therefore, Sister Feng, who used to come here to play often, had not been to Jia's house for a long time.
When he came over that time, Jia Lian happily ran to find Sister Feng.
I didn't find Sister Feng, but I saw a maid with red lips and white teeth, handsome eyebrows, and a somewhat well-behaved appearance sitting in the room.
】
Of course he knew that she was one of Sister Feng's personal maids, so if he had taken it easy, he would not have had any evil intentions.
But by then, he knew that the great beauty Sister Feng would most likely fall into his hands. Once Sister Feng got married, as long as he wanted to, this little beauty would most likely be his.
Thinking of this, Jia Lian became emboldened. He didn't even look for Sister Feng, and just stayed in the room. After some probing words, he found that Ping'er had no intention of stealing from him, and actually intended to use some "forceful means".
”.
It's easy to understand what he was thinking at the time. As long as he succeeded at that time, under that background, Ping'er would have no choice but to obey. The most he could ask for was to give her a status in the future. This, Mr. Jia could still afford.
Who would have thought that this little maid looked so delicate and fragile that it was really hard to coax her. The other girl was not as half-hearted as he imagined other girls would be. Instead, she threatened to break up if she didn't show respect.
Just when Jia Lian was so angry that he was riding a tiger and was unable to dismount, his maid came to find him, but she relieved him and left in annoyance.
After that, he was still afraid, but after probing around, he learned that Ping'er had not told what happened that day. This made Jia Lian respect Ping'er, fear him, and even feel itchy.
It's a pity that Wang Xifeng is a powerful wife. After marrying into the family, she was not allowed to touch the people around her. This allowed someone who came after her to get a complete advantage.
Jia Lian didn't know, what was Ping'er's intention at this time? Was he deliberately trying to embarrass him?
If so, she might have made a wrong calculation, and this embarrassing thing was not done by herself. If it had been him, it would have been like that that day anyway, how could there be any reason to give up halfway? In one word, Yuan Jia Lian was still too cowardly!
Ping'er saw Jia Lian smiling and saying nothing, and when he recalled what happened at the time, his smile grew even wider.
"I'm not saying this for anything else. I just want to ask the second master, but are you still annoyed about what happened at the beginning?"
Now that the matter has come to this, what can Jia Lian say? He can only say sanctimoniously: "No, you were too young back then, and Jia could actually have such thoughts. Jia is indeed not a thing!"
Obviously, the Jia here refers specifically to the former Jia.
Ping'er smiled and said in a nostalgic way: "No, later Ping'er asked himself, if he hadn't stopped the second master that day, wouldn't it be true that Ping'er would have been the second master's woman already?
No need... no need to wait so many years later..."
Ping'er said, his face red, but Jia Lian suddenly felt a little unhappy. It took him more than a year after he came to this world to take down Ping'er.
Ping'er said that he had been waiting for several years. Obviously, there was an element of that lecherous person involved.
So he couldn't help but tighten his arms around Ping'er's waist, "Now that we're talking about what to do, haven't we already achieved righteousness long ago?"
Ping'er originally wanted to express her admiration, but she didn't know that the complexity was far beyond her imagination! When she noticed Jia Lian's arm strength, she just thought that Jia Lian liked her body, so she said "hmm" and whispered in her ear: "
If the second master is not annoyed, Ping'er would like to ask the second master if he is willing to give it a try. What will happen if no one comes to interrupt the second master that day..."
"Um!
"
Jia Lian didn't react slowly. He suddenly came back to his senses and looked at Ping'er in shock.
His quick reaction also made Ping'er more determined to play the game. Because he smiled and got out of Jia Lian's arms, he explained softly: "The second master will go out in a while, wait for a while and then come in again. Just pretend that Ping'er is still just the second grandma."
A little maid next to her. And Ping'er will only think that the second master is the second master of the Jia family. If the second master wants to do anything to Ping'er, Ping'er will not agree to it. He will resist and even shout. He can do it.
What, it all depends on the second master’s ability.
This is what Ping'er wants the second master to do, is the second master willing to accompany Ping'er for a while?"
Jia Lian calmed down, gave Ping'er a thumbs up, then stood up and went straight outside without saying a word.