Chapter 99 If you are poor, you will want to change.
Author: Fengze Fangfei
Chapter 99 If you are poor, you will want to change.
Mr. Zhang noticed the hem of the skirt exposed in the corner of the corridor not far away. He took a closer look and said with a smile on his face, "Princess, you are here."
Hearing this, everyone else followed Mr. Zhang's gaze and looked over.
It was the first time for Quan He and the yamen to meet the female family members of the palace. When they heard Mr. Zhang calling her princess, they were surprised.
King Qian has reached the age where he knows his destiny, and the princess they imagined should be similar. Unexpectedly, when they met now, the naturally beautiful woman standing in the corner of the corridor turned out to be the princess.
The officer standing in the back row turned around and quickly glanced at King Qian's appearance, then looked at the princess, tsk tsk, it was really a flower stuck there.
In fact, King Qian's facial features are not ugly, and he is tall. It is just that he gained weight in his middle age that made him what he is today.
Being fat will ruin everything.
The princes in the palace are handsome, and none of them is shabby. We can trace the shadow of King Qian in them, which shows that King Qian was also a handsome boy in his youth.
Seeing everyone looking at her, Xia Jing raised the corners of her lips slightly and smiled at everyone, "A heavy rain knocked down so many flowers and plants. I stayed in the house in the sweltering heat. I just happened to go out for a walk to see the scenery of Lingnan.
, you continue to be busy, don’t pay attention to me, I am just looking around casually."
Quan He said with a smile: "Although Lingnan is a remote and remote area, the scenery is still good. Princess can walk around if she has the opportunity."
"According to Mr. Quan, Lingnan is very poor?" Xia Jing pretended to be an ignorant housewife and walked out from the corner of the corridor slowly.
"For a long time, Lingnan's taxes have been almost only poor agricultural taxes. It has been unable to make ends meet all year round, and no officials are willing to take office here."
As he spoke, Quan He sighed, "If you are poor, you want to change. People in Lingnan also want to change. However, because they are on the border, there are wars from time to time, so the population cannot grow, and there are banditry troubles all year round. In the early years, there were even more banditry troubles due to wars.
The families who were killed were unknown, and the remaining families were so frightened that they had no choice but to move their families to escape."
Otherwise, why would Lingnan Fucheng be so dilapidated!
As King Qian said, the government office is in a dilapidated state, worse than the ruined temples in the mountains!
Xia Jing pondered for a moment, raised her head and glanced at King Qian, then looked at Quan He, "After listening to your words today, I have a general understanding of Lingnan. Not only is Lingnan's economy depressed, but it is also plagued by wars and bandits all the year round. There are so many internal and external troubles.
It’s not easy to manage it well!”
As she said that, she changed the topic, "However, now that the prince is here, Lingnan will be the prince's fiefdom from now on, and the situation will definitely change. Whether it is for the people or the country, the prince needs to work hard and can no longer be willful. The prince can no longer be willful.
, do you think what I said is right?"
King Qian: "."
King Qian, who is standing here as a tool, has said everything by you, what else do I have to say?
I originally listened to your chat with great interest, but I didn't want to end up being roasted by this woman on the stove.
King Qian was quite self-aware of his abilities at times. He did not have the talent to govern the world, so he left Lingnan in his hands. With the help of his subordinate officials, he could at most maintain the governance of Lingnan as it was.
"As the princess said just now, Lingnan's economy is in depression, with internal and external troubles. It is not easy to manage this place well. It will not be effective in ten or twenty years. Everyone wants to witness the changes in Lingnan, but I am afraid that we will have to wait until
It’s been rare since ancient times.”
His entire face was trembling, and even his most meticulously trimmed beard stood up.
He considered it for a moment, then stroked his beard and said helplessly: "Your Majesty, I have just passed my thirties only two years ago, and it is still early to be seventy years old."
King Qian looked back at Quan He's dark face and sighed: "Master Quan, why are your skin so rough and dark when you are so young?"
Quan He touched his rough face and said, "It's because the sun in Lingnan is too strong. There's nothing we can do about it."
King Qian patted him on the shoulder and said, "Master Quan, you can't neglect to take care of yourself because you are busy with official duties. You have to take care of your own face. Seeing that you look so anxious, I am worried for you."
Thirty looks like fifty. Standing together, they thought they were the same age.
Quanhe: "."
He glanced at the superficial King Qian and rolled his eyes inwardly. Although he was a little rough on the outside, he was powerful on the inside. He didn't need a test to know that he couldn't compare to King Qian.
Xia Jing's head was full of black lines, and she originally wanted King Qian to work hard and diligently, but the two grown men got distracted while chatting!
She had to stand up and bring the topic back to business, "Master Quan, I have nothing to do. Can you look at the government's account books?"
"Ledger?" Quan He was a little unsure of Xia Jing's meaning, but as soon as he saw the ledger, he instinctively became wary.
Xia Jing didn't seem to be aware of his vigilance, Yingying said with a smile: "Yes, I want to see how much cultivated land there is in Lingnan. You also know that our palace's properties are basically located in the Gyeonggi area. Now that I have come to Lingnan, I
The concubine wants to buy some land in Lingnan as soon as possible, as there are hundreds of thousands of people in the house who have to eat."
The tension in Quan He's heart eased slightly, and he smiled and made a gesture of invitation, "Then Princess, please come with us."
In the government office, the boss calculated the total number of acres of land in Lingnan Prefecture and presented it to Xia Jing.
Xia Jing turned to the last page, which recorded the recorded cultivated land area in Lingnan. The cultivated land area in Lingnan as a whole was less than that of a county in Jingzhou.
"Your Majesty, look at this data."
King Qian was forced to take it. The last page recorded a long series of numbers, but he was a little confused. He didn't know whether the data was normal or too low.
Xia Jing glanced sideways at Mr. Zhang, who immediately understood and took the account book from King Qian.
When he saw the numbers above, he took a breath and said, "Quan, Mr. Quan, is this the cultivated land area of the entire Lingnan? Are you not mistaken?"
"These are the recorded cultivated land areas. In previous years, taxes were collected based on this. How could there be a mistake!"
Quan He cursed in his heart. According to his wishes, he would like to collect more taxes. How could he make a mistake in such a matter?
King Qian frowned and looked at Mr. Zhang, "Sir, what does this data mean?"
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang tried his best to respect his prince, "My lord, you have been staying in the capital, and the emperor has never let you handle political affairs. You must not know the cultivated land in one state. The total cultivated area in Lingnan is less than that in Jingzhou."
It is equivalent to the area of a county in Jingzhou."
When King Qian heard this, he felt angry and said, "As for Lingnan, I am actually saying that it sounds like a state, but inside it is not as good as a county in the Central Plains?"
Then when he comes to Lingnan, he not only has to take care of the people of a state, but also always be on guard against the tribes in the southwest. The tax revenue is not as high as that of a county.
No!
It is really not as good as a county, maybe on par with a county, because the main source of tax for counties in the Central Plains is commercial tax, followed by agricultural tax.
Unfortunately, Lingnan was raised by a stepmother and only had agricultural taxes.
Although the fiefdom did not have to pay taxes to the court, like a small court, it had to support many people.
Nowadays, it is very difficult for him to raise a large family. Now that he sees this account book, King Qian knows the cause and effect relationship even if he is not familiar with general affairs.
How can a state support its officials and soldiers with low taxes and consecutive deficits?
King Qian felt unprecedented pressure at this moment!
Seeing that the purpose of coming to the front yard was achieved, Xia Jing took the maid back to the back yard.
As soon as he returned to his yard, the eldest lady came looking for him.
"Mother, here are the cards, ledgers and warehouse keys from all over the palace."
As soon as she finished speaking, the maid behind her placed the tray with these items in front of Xia Jing.
The palace's assets have shrunk severely. The supplies that once occupied more than a dozen warehouses now have less than two warehouses left.
Nowadays, there is a lot of pressure to be in charge of the royal palace, so the eldest lady feels that it is better to return the power of the palace to the original owner.
"When I was in the capital, you were always in charge of the palace. Later, my daughter-in-law had no choice but to take over. The daily affairs were complicated, and my daughter-in-law's ability was limited, so it was a bit difficult to manage. Now that we have settled down in Lingnan, it's time for you to renovate the palace.
Now that I’m in charge, my daughter-in-law still needs to learn a lot from you about her shortcomings.”
Xia Jing is the oldest person in the palace and sits at the top of the pyramid. How could she be so stupid and work so hard in taking charge of the back house of the palace?
The people in the back house who often deal with are the female relatives of each house. They have nothing to do all day long and all they have to deal with are trivial things.
How could Xia Jing let herself get stuck in such a thankless thing?
She pushed the tray back and comforted her with a smile: "You don't need to belittle yourself. Your ability is obvious to all. Managing a palace is not worth mentioning to you who are capable. You will still be in charge of the palace. I am now old.
Now that I am older, my energy is not as good as before, and I am really unable to manage such a large mansion. You should take these things back, and the palace will be entrusted to you in the future."
"Mother concubine."
The eldest lady's face looked troubled, her brows furrowed tightly, she didn't want to be bullied like this!
Nowadays, the palace can be said to be only an empty shell. There are hundreds of people to support in the palace alone, not including the guard camp in charge of the outer courtyard.
I heard that my father is responsible for all the soldiers, horses and officials in Lingnan. Just thinking about it gives the eldest lady a headache.
How can she manage the inner house well in such a miserable situation?
Of course, Lingnan's soldiers and horses, the officials' salaries, and the inner palace had nothing to do with it, but the eldest lady still felt uncertain.
I don’t have any food in my hands and I feel panicky!
Xia Jing raised her hand to stop her from continuing, "I know that the current financial situation of the palace is only temporary. If you believe me, I promise you that it will improve within a month and relieve your urgent need."
The eldest lady was dubious, "Really?"
Xia Jing laughed angrily: "Can I still lie to you despite my age?"
The eldest lady looked at Xia Jing, and her lips twitched slightly. She said that she was very old? It seemed that she was a few years older than her!
But her seniority is here. To be honest, the eldest lady really doesn't dare to show off in front of Xia Jing just because of her seniority.
"Since the mother-in-law said so, the daughter-in-law will not refuse, and will continue to manage the backyard for the time being. If there is anything wrong, I hope the mother-in-law will point it out so that the daughter-in-law can correct it."
Xia Jing smiled and nodded.
The eldest lady had a toothache, so she had to ask again: "We have just arrived in Lingnan, and the climate here is completely different from that of the Central Plains. It's time for the palace to cut summer shirts for everyone, but now the palace is short of supplies. What do you think should be done?
"
"There should be a batch of cloth among the materials shipped from the house this time. You can use this batch of cloth to cut summer shirts for everyone."
"When the pieces of this batch of fabrics suitable for summer shirts are used up, they will be gone."
"When it's used up, it's used up. The fabric is brought here just to make clothes for everyone. When our palace has established a foothold in Lingnan, are you still worried that there will be no fabric to cut clothes?"
Although the eldest lady didn't know where Xia Jing's confidence came from in this remote rural area, she was smart enough not to ask any more questions.
If the government's financial deficit can be alleviated in time in one month, it would be a good choice to let her take charge of the family affairs.
Rest for two days.
The aftereffects of traveling all the way finally disappeared.
After Xia Jing finished her breakfast, she led Li Chengmu and a thousand of her bodyguards out of the city.
Li Chengmu asked while fanning himself: "Concubine, where are we going?"
If it was near the outskirts of the city, the mother-in-law would not bring a thousand strong men with her in such a mighty manner, so the place she went to must not be nearby.
Xia Jing peeled off a lychee and threw it into her mouth. She looked at the golden sunshine outside and said vaguely: "I heard that you can see the sea if you go south."
"You want to go see the sea?"
Li Chengmu has never seen the sea before in his whole life. When he heard about the sea, his eyes were full of yearning and expectation.
"Well, that's right." Xia Jing looked at him and said with crooked eyebrows: "I heard that the sunrise on the sea is the most spectacular when the sea and sky are on the same line. If the weather does not change, we can watch the sun jump out of the sea level tomorrow."
Li Chengmu excitedly clapped his hands, "My son has only seen the sunrise on the top of the mountain. The sunrise on the sea is very exciting. If you had told me earlier, I would have asked the fourth brother to come with me. What he likes most is everywhere."
play."
After hearing this, Hongmei smiled and interjected: "Fifth Master, you have been busy with your own affairs these past two days, and you may not have paid attention to Fourth Master."
"What happened to my fourth brother?"
Li Chengmu wondered, has the fourth brother done something earth-shattering again?
Hongmei covered her mouth and chuckled: "Fourth Master only rested for one day, and he couldn't wait to take the guards and servants around the city. If you ask him about the city, he is definitely the one who knows the city best in our palace.
"
Li Chengmu didn't understand what was so interesting about the dilapidated city. "I visited the whole city in two days. That only shows that the city in Lingnan is too small, and it's not enough for the fourth brother to spend more days."
Xia Jing nodded: "Xiao Wu is right, Fucheng is too small."
"My mother and my concubine followed my father to Lingnan. Do you feel aggrieved?"
"What grievance is there? If we had not come to Lingnan and followed the emperor to Jiankang, what would we be like now? Although Lingnan is remote and backward, at least it is free."
Lingnan is very beautiful. It lacks nothing but the eyes to discover beauty.
Just like a thousand-mile horse meeting Bole, no one appreciates you, no matter how good you are, no one pays attention to you.
The sun was too strong at noon, so the team found a mountain forest to rest.
Xia Jing looked at the walking guards sweating, and turned to ask Li Chengmu: "Xiaowu, which place in Lingnan do you think has the most horses?"
Li Chengmu spoke without hesitation: "Military camps, barbarians, and bandit dens! Apart from these three places, I can't think of any other force with more horses."
Xia Jing felt that his analysis was right, "You are right. I heard from Mr. Quan that banditry is rampant in Lingnan. If we open a few more bandit nests, we might be able to equip five thousand households."
"Five thousand households? The mother-in-law wants to expand the army?" Li Chengmu was very smart.
"Well, I have this idea. On paper, the garrison in Lingnan is 20,000, and most of them are empty pay. The actual number is only 8,000."
If we want to maintain stability in all aspects of Lingnan, these 8,000 troops are far from enough, and team expansion must be put on the agenda.
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