Chapter 626: Understanding
“Your Highness, the road is safe. We can set off now.”
Mu Yangling threw away the soil and got up to walk to the carriage. As she walked, she asked, “The soil here is a little acidic. What do you usually plant?”
Was soil categorized into sour1 and spicy?
A little embarrassed, Xu Zhi paused for a moment before saying, “With regards to grains, we mainly plant rice and wheat. For non-grain types, there are rapeseed, soybeans, and things like that. The commoners are free to choose what to plant.” Xu Zhi paused for a moment and said, “However, most would grow tea plants and fruit trees on the mountain. For instance, the previous magistrate loved to plant tea leaves. The harvest is not bad.”
Mu Yangling sneered. “Considering he was the magistrate, I suppose he could earn a lot of money even if he planted sweet potatoes, let alone tea leaves.”
Xu Zhi’s face was a little red as he lowered his head.
The previous magistrate was an official of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and his subordinates like Xu Zhi were all left behind from the Great Zhou Dynasty, too. When the new dynasty was established, Ju Prefecture had only dismissed one magistrate. Most likely by now, said magistrate had already been beheaded for his crimes.
That magistrate had exploited the Miao people too much, causing them to rebel. Coupled with the lack of defense, they only realized when the West Xia army was already at their gates that Prince Rong had kidnapped the magistrate to the capital. At the time, the new Emperor had yet to even ascend the throne. This was why the position of the Ju Prefecture magistrate was currently vacant.
However, no one had dared to offend the magistrate. This was because everyone knew that Prince Rong was backing him up. Not long ago, Prince Rong had led the army to chase the West Xia army out of Ju Prefecture and subdued all the Miao stockades. Their morale was high, so who would dare to mess with them at the time?
Therefore, even if he was reluctant, Xu Zhi could only go easy on the allocation of the stipend land and give preferential treatment to the Prince. Even if it went against his upright character, he was willing to take a step back for the sake of everyone’s lives and a peaceful environment for the commoners.
However, the truth was much more surprising than he had imagined. Xu Zhi stole a glance at Mu Yangling and felt that this Princess Consort was quite upright.
Mu Yangling stopped in front of Xiao Ting and said, “Get up.”
Xiao Ting got up and stood at the side with his head lowered. He knew that the Princess Consort had not forgiven him, but she did not have the time to deal with him at the moment. He couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Mu Yangling, on the other hand, went to see the terraced field.
Mu Yangling glanced at the people working on it and asked, “Do all these belong to the commoners?”
“Yes, they all belong to the commoners.” Xu Zhi pointed at the terraced field on another mountain and said, “That belongs to the Lu family, the gentry family whose house you’re living in now.”
Mu Yangling nodded slightly. Seeing that there were water wheels moving at the foot of the mountain and on the mountain beam, she said, “I think terraced fields are excellent. Considering Ju Prefecture has many mountains and little land, why don’t we convert the land into terraced fields? Based on my observations from the past two days, the mountains are either desolate or filled with trees. Most of it is undeveloped. These are the only terraced fields I’ve seen so far.”
Xu Zhi said worriedly, “Your Highness, you might not know this, but the cost of building terraced fields is too high. It’s not something ordinary people can afford. Moreover, terraced fields aren’t something that can be built on every mountain. We have to investigate and do the measurements before beginning construction. If anything goes wrong, the terraced field will probably collapse or leak. If we can’t preserve the soil and water, the terraced field won’t be considered a success.”
In short, terraced fields might seem like a good idea, but the cost was too high.
Not to mention anything else, just piling the soil and constructing the terraced field was not something ordinary people could afford. It required a lot of manpower and resources.
“What about these terraced fields?”
“These are all developed by a few squires in the city to be subsequently sold at a high price. Those squires have long-term workers and tenant farmers, all of which represent a free source of labor. As such, they only need to pay for the tools and mountains. After the terraced fields are constructed, they’ll sell them at a high price to wealthy folks who want to buy land. This is a very profitable venture for them.”
Mu Yangling nodded. “That’s why the people who know how to build terraced fields are in their hands.”
“That’s not the case.” Xu Zhi said, “Registrar Wei of Liang County under Ju Prefecture is most proficient in exploration and construction of terraced fields. He’s the best not only in Ju Prefecture, but in the entire Qiannan. Anyone who encounters issues in constructing a large terraced field will have to hire him to inspect the land.”
Mu Yangling’s eyes lit up. When Xu Zhi saw this, he praised him even more. “Moreover, Registrar Wei is a good person. When hired by squires to inspect the land, he would charge them some silver. Whereas at the request of the less rich, he would just accept the treat of a meal. Because he takes benefits according to the person’s level of wealth, he is very loved and respected by the people.”
“Why is such a person only a registrar? Even if the construction of terraced fields is costly and ordinary people can’t afford it, the government office can always step in. Not to mention anything else, the annual labor conscription quota is rather high, isn’t it?”
Xu Zhi smiled bitterly. This Princess Consort was familiar with politics, but how could she know about the chaos in the previous dynasty?
Seeing his bitter smile, Mu Yangling did not ask further. A plan was slowly developing in her heart.
Xu Zhi was too embarrassed to tell Mu Yangling how chaotic the bureaucracy of Ju Prefecture was in the previous dynasty. He could only sigh in front of her servant girl and say what he could not say, hoping that she would relay it to Mu Yangling so that the Prince’s estate would help out the commoners more.
He subconsciously knew that this was not right because Mu Yangling was a woman, and women were usually not allowed to get involved in politics. But on the other hand, as someone who was born and raised in Ju Prefecture, he didn’t have the heart to stand by and do nothing while the commoners suffered. Now that he vaguely sensed an opportunity, he was unwilling to let it go.
Hence, Mu Yangling still eventually found out the things that he was too embarrassed to say. “…Most of the laborers in Ju Prefecture are used by the officials for their private matters, such as helping a certain official build a house and garden, helping a certain official build terraced fields, helping a certain official plant tea, fruit trees, and so on. Everyone in the prefecture knows that public resources are being deployed for private use.” Spring was indignant at this point. “There are actually not many officials in Ju Prefecture who are uncorrupt. Your Highness, why isn’t His Majesty replacing them?”
“If he were to replace all of them, who would he appoint to be the officials all of a sudden? Moreover, it would also cause panic. If the court thinks that His Majesty doesn’t tolerate the officials of the previous dynasty and falls into chaos again, the gains won’t make up for the losses.” Mu Yangling pondered and said, “The most important thing that makes or breaks the establishment of a new dynasty is stability. Just wait. The Emperor and the Prince aren’t people who can allow such injustice to perpetuate. It’s only a matter of time before they get rid of those corrupt officials.”
Mu Yangling snorted and said, “His Majesty and His Highness can’t tolerate sand in their eyes, and neither can I.”
Spring lowered her head, knowing that she was talking about Xiao Ting.
Upon returning to the residence, Xiao Ting consciously knelt outside the door. Mu Yangling asked, “Do you know what you did wrong?”
“Yes, I should not bully others and forget my duty!” Xiao Ting kowtowed.
Mu Yangling said, “Go find your teacher. I can’t punish you.”
Tears streamed down Xiao Ting’s face as he kept kowtowing. “Your Highness, please spare me. If I commit the same mistake in the future, I will not make a sound even if you skin me alive.”
“Go see your teacher first.”
Seeing Mu Yangling’s insistence, Xiao Ting could only wipe his tears and leave.
When Fei Bai returned at night, he entered the house with his eyes half-closed in exhaustion and nearly tripped at the door. Furious, he was about to kick out when he realized that the person who tripped him was kneeling. He bent down to take a look. Under the dim moonlight, he saw that it was a tearful Xiao Ting. He snapped angrily, “Rascal, what are you doing here? You almost scared me to death.”
Xiao Ting sobbed.
Fei Bai said impatiently, “Alright, alright. Why are you crying when I’m not dead yet? Come in and talk.”
Xiao Ting served Fei Bai a cup of hot tea. After drinking a mouthful of hot tea, Fei Bai felt a little more awake. Only then did he ask, “Tell me, why were you acting like your biological parents died?”
Source: NovelFull.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co