Chapter 619: Thoughts
Fan Zijin raised his eyebrows slightly and said with a smile, “Her Highness is very considerate.”
At night, Qi Haoran came back smugly and kissed Mu Yangling. “I know I’m constantly on your mind. Don’t worry, although I don’t like vegetarian food, as long as it’s made by you, I’ll eat it all.”
Mu Yangling pursed her lips and smiled. The next day, she did not mix all the dishes together. Just like Fan Zijin’s, she placed them separately; there were four dishes and a soup. However, Qi Haoran had three meat dishes and one vegetable dish, while Fan Zijin had two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes. Moreover, Qi Haoran’s dishes were all made by Mu Yangling’s slightly crude culinary skills, while Fan Zijin’s dishes were meticulously prepared by the chef.
After cooking for a few days and learning seriously from the chef, Mu Yangling’s culinary skills, which had not improved for many years, actually became better and better.
Seeing how lovey-dovey the couple was, Fan Zijin gritted his teeth. He turned around and found something for them to do. “This is an invitation sent by the Miao stockade. Now that Ji’an’s eldest son and son-in-law are back, he’s inviting us over for dinner.”
Qi Haoran waved his hand and said, “You can just go by yourself. Otherwise, send your subordinates.” Although Qi Haoran did not have a Grade 2B general under him, there were several Grade 3 generals among them. They were more than qualified to represent him to attend the Miao stockade’s banquet.
However, Fan Zijin said, “The Han Chinese comprise one-third of Qiannan, and the Miao people nearly two-thirds. The remaining few are from the Yao tribe and other ethnic groups who don’t pose a threat. However, we have to build a good relationship with the Miao tribe.”
“Though the conflict between the Han and Miao people has been going on for a long time, I’m just a soldier. I’m only responsible for training the soldiers and guarding the southwest and northwest borders. Maintaining good politics with the Miao tribe should be the local officials’ concern. Didn’t Big Brother send Teacher Liu to be the magistrate of Ju Prefecture? When will he take office?”
Back then, Teacher Liu did not pass the jinshi examination, but Mu Yangling asked Fan Zijin to get him a County Deputy position. That county was in the north, so Teacher Liu naturally joined Qi Xiuyuan. Or, it should be said that because of his ties with Mu Yangling, he had long been labeled as being under Qi Haoran’s wing.
In just two to three years, he was promoted from a County Deputy to a County Magistrate. Less than half a year later, after Qi Xiuyuan ascended the throne, he made him the magistrate of Ju Prefecture.
Ju Prefecture was very poor, but no matter how poor it was, a magistrate was still a magistrate. Teacher Liu was extremely grateful and was rushing over at the moment.
Fan Zijin was more involved in political affairs than Qi Haoran. When he heard this, he replied, “He’ll be here in four to five days.” He said, “Why do you think Big Brother let Teacher Liu come to Ju Prefecture? Isn’t it because he’s one of us? Big Brother clearly wants you to improve the relationship between the Han and the Miao.”
Qi Haoran pondered. During Emperor Shizong’s time, the Imperial Court treated the minorities and the Han Chinese the same way. Due to the remote and barren land where the minorities lived, Emperor Shizong even gave them tax cuts and exemption policies every year. It could be said that at that time, everyone was united. Although Qi Haoran did not like to read, he was familiar with history books.
Later on, when Emperor Gaozong ascended the throne, the few Emperors after him were a little extravagant. In addition, war began in the northwest, north, and northeast. The wealth accumulated by Emperor Shizong was gradually depleted, and the treasury eventually became empty. As such, they could only increase taxes. Most of the officials in the imperial court suggested imposing heavier taxes on the minorities in Qiannan, the northwest, and the north.
For nearly a hundred years after Emperor Shizong, the lives of the minorities became more and more difficult, and the taxes became heavier and heavier. The Han people were already taxed enough, and the minorities’ taxes were three times heavier than the Han people’s. If not for the fact that they were united as a tribe and helped each other out, more than half of them would have starved to death.
However, it was also because they were born from a tribe that they were more prone to rebellions. In the past 20 years, there had been constant rebellions by ethnic minorities in Qiannan. In fact, they contributed a lot to the destruction of the Great Zhou. If West Xia had not passed by Qiannan when they entered the pass and burned, killed, and plundered, Qi Haoran would not have been able to control them.
Could it be that Big Brother wanted to imitate Emperor Shizong and subdue the Miao people psychologically?
Fan Zijin said, “In the past two months, I’ve often walked around the city and seen that the Han people and the Miao people live separately. The Han people look down on the Miao people and other minorities, and the Miao people also hate the Han people. Although there have been no killings and plunderings, there have been many fights. Haoran, how can a weak scholar like Teacher Liu control the valiant Miao people? Eldest Cousin probably sent him to be the magistrate because of you. After all, he’s your guy and won’t stop you from doing anything.”
“But the military and politics have always been separated…”
“Of course, the military and politics have to be separated. However, if Teacher Liu asks for your help, you can help for the safety of the locals and the country.”
After some pondering, Qi Haoran wrote a letter to Qi Xiuyuan at night.
Mu Yangling ground ink for him at the side and said, “I’ve been walking around Ju Prefecture City for the past few days and realized that only a small number of merchants in the city know the common language. Most of them speak their own dialect. When the Han and Miao people trade with each other, they can only gesture with their hands. Even if the Imperial Court doesn’t give preferential treatment to the Han people and treat all races equally, there will be problems given the way they communicate with each other.”
Qi Haoran bit the tip of his pen and said, “Since Qiannan rarely communicates with the outside world, it’s normal for them to use the common language less often. They all speak the Ju Prefecture dialect.”
“But from what I see, there are very few people who know Ju Prefecture’s dialect. It’s fine for the Han people since most of them know the dialect. However, the Miao people tend to cluster together and rarely leave the Miao stockade. Almost none of them know Ju Prefecture’s dialect. I think if you want to control Qiannan well, the first thing you need to do is to open a school and let everyone learn the common language. The younger ones can slowly learn it, and children tend to pick up a new language very quickly. As for the older kids, they just need to learn the terms commonly used in daily life. The rest can be taught by their children…”
Frowning, Qi Haoran said, “Considering this is completely targeted at the Miao people, I’m afraid they won’t be willing. Besides, opening a school costs a lot. The Ju Prefecture government office seems to be very poor.”
That was indeed the case. The government office was in tatters. Although the wall in the backyard hadn’t collapsed, it was mottled. Also, the roof had been in disrepair for a long time. See, this was why Qi Haoran was temporarily staying in the squires’ house and wasn’t willing to live in the government office.
Mu Yangling coughed lightly. Clearly, she also knew this reason. She thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t we raise funds instead of asking money from the government office? We have a lot of money in our residence. When the time comes, we’ll pay the bulk of the money first. Once we take the lead, the officials and gentry will definitely follow. The children who enroll in the school don’t have to pay. They can just come in and study.”
Qi Haoran’s eyes lit up. “In addition to teaching them the common language, we should also teach them ‘The Analects’ and the ‘Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues…” Should all the Miao children learn ethics, in ten or 20 years, there should be much fewer instances of war, even if rebellions were not eliminated entirely.
Mu Yangling was tongue-tied. Her original intention was only to teach them Mandarin so that the Han and the Miao people would not have conflicts due to miscommunication. Who knew that Qi Haoran would directly do a ‘cultural invasion’?
Looking at Qi Haoran, who was excitedly writing to Qi Xiuyuan, Mu Yangling decided to go down and prepare supper for him. Otherwise, with Qi Haoran’s habit of writing everything that came to mind, he would probably go hungry tonight.
Indeed, Qi Haoran wrote more and more. By the time he was done, there was a thick stack of paper. He originally wanted to check if there were any mistakes, but when he saw that it was so thick, he no longer felt like doing it. He waited for the ink on it to dry before folding the papers and stuffing them into a large envelope.
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