Chapter 814: Paving the Road

Haidian, Old Summer Palace.

The summer cicadas chirped outside the window, and the Fourth Prince was so quiet that his originally gloomy face became more and more dim. Su Peisheng, the eunuch who was serving at the door, was accustomed to looking at his face, took a few steps back, and called two servants in a low voice to pick up the sticks to stick the cicadas.

Because the master was in the study, everyone was slight.

After a while, the yard became secluded.

The fourth prince's expression was slightly soothing, looking at the official documents on the desk and the private newspaper of the mansion.

After the Sheng Jie left Beijing, he had been living in the Old Summer Palace. He went to Beijing the next day and sat in the Ministry of Revenue. At other times, he was in the study of the Old Summer Palace to handle official business.

When the Seventeenth Prince posted a message saying "Asking sick and recuperating", the Fourth Prince hesitated for a moment, not knowing what he was thinking.

At this time, someone at the door whispered: "I'll let the general manager report and say that Jin has something to do and asks you to see me."

Although Su Paisheng was a eunuch, he was the chief supervisor of the palace. He had served the Fourth Prince for many years, and even the concubine gave him some decent respect, let alone other people in the palace.

Before Su Peisheng came in to report, the fourth prince raised his head and said, "Let's go in."

It was Dai Jin who came. The fourth prince put down the private report in his hand and looked up and said, "What's the matter?"

Dai Jin entered the room, stepped forward a few steps, and whispered: "Master, the Fourteenth Master sent his confidant from Qinghai to the capital."

"Yeah." The Fourth Prince responded, with a little solemn appearance on his face. Dai Jin continued to report: "In addition to sending letters and things to the elder brother, the visitor also made a special trip to the Wu family in Shichahai." As he spoke, he took out two pages of paper from his sleeve and handed it to the Fourth Prince with both hands.

These are two orders, one marked with the Prince's Office and the other marked with the overseas house in Shicha.

On the one hand, there are the legitimate concubines who were married by the Ming media, and the concubines, the concubines, the princesses, and the princesses. On the other hand, there are the Han women who were convicted and fell into the family of music. It is clear which is more important.

Then, from this list, the items sent back by the 14th Prince traveled thousands of miles away were far away than the Prince's House.

Seeing this, the fourth prince showed a little sneer on his face.

Even if the fourteenth concubine who seemed "virtuous" was "not concerned", if the mother concubine knew it, she would not tolerate the Wu family. After all, among the items given to the prince, there was also the filial piety to the mother concubine.

As the youngest son of the mother's favored, the 14th Prince never misses any opportunity to please the mother.

Is this the "General King" appointed by the emperor's father? Such emotional behavior is not a person who can achieve great things at all.

The fourth prince put down the two gift lists and asked casually: "What about Wu's side?"

"It's still the same as the Fourteenth Master who is leaving the capital, usually staying in the door and eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddha's name, and praying for the Fourteenth Master." Dai Jin leaned over and said.

The fourth prince was silent for a while and said, "I will send this gift list to the 14th concubine."

"My mother-son love is deep"? The fourth prince's eyes were a little deep, and he felt so confused.

The Fourteenth Prince has been staying in the outer house for several years. During this period, Concubine De "unintentionally" and even scolded the Fourteenth Prince. I don't know what the Fourteenth Prince said, so it was left unresolved.

The fourteenth prince had several wives and concubines, and was not a reckless man who was ignorant of the matter, but he treated Wu very differently.

If such a person in his heart makes a "fault", will the 14th Prince still rely on the person in the palace wholeheartedly, and there will be no rift between the mother and son?

Suddenly, the Fourth Prince wanted to know what the result was...

Shichahai, the fourteenth prince’s house outside the house.

Although she fell into chaos in her early years, Wu did not have the habit of chaos. Since the Fourteenth Prince left Beijing, she has been closed and has never left the house again.

Half a year ago, she prayed in front of the Buddha every day, begging the Buddha to bless the Fourteenth Prince to win the flag and return safely.

Every month, the Fourteenth Prince will have two or three letters to tell him about his recent situation. Looking at these letters, Wu seemed to be walking with the army, witnessing the mighty power of the Fourteenth Prince and the scenery of the plateau thousands of miles away.

Two days ago, the 14th Prince sent someone back to Beijing. In addition to letters, there were also various northwest land rituals, food, clothing, and supplies. Wu didn't say anything in front of him, but cried seriously in private, and felt that he missed him to the core.

She brought a blue blue hairpin of Tibetan silver given by the 14th Prince on her head, and held a bowl of butter grass in her hand, imagining the 14th Prince in the general's camp thousands of miles away.

She is a Han Chinese and grew up in the south since she was a child. She was not as patient as the northerners. But now, it seems that the initial boredom is gone. As long as she thinks that the fourteenth prince drank this butter tea in the northwest, the unbearable fishy smell that used to be no longer there.

She didn't know that this butter tea brought not only the favor of the 14th Prince, but also the royal wind sword and frost sword...

Changping, Caojiazhuangzi.

Looking at the 17th Prince with a red face in front of him, Cao Yong raised his lips and said, "Master Seventeen, you are in the 'rehabilitation'. Should you restrain yourself?"

The Seventeenth Prince did not hesitate half a month ago. He looked much more free and easy and said with a smile: "When it comes to Furuo's side, it is also 'renovation'. It has adjusted my appetite and mediated the mood of Fujin."

Since the 17th Prince's comment on "Please Retreat" has been approved, he and the 17th Prince have become regular guests of Cao's village.

The land occupied by his farm was also given by Cao Yong in his early years. It was four miles apart from this side, and it was only two quarters of an hour to take a bus.

The Seventeenth Confucians are one generation older than Chu Yu, but they are of the same age and have always had a good relationship. They are now living in Changping, and their relationships are getting closer than before.

In fact, Cao Yong was also welcomed by the Seventeenth Prince's frequent visits.

The Seventeenth Prince, who let go of his worries, returned to his previous open-mindedness. He was an extremely interesting person. He did not have the awareness of a dragon son and a grandson, and he hated the struggle for power and profit, and he was also unhappy with it.

Such a seventeenth prince has restored the youth's vitality and is actually expressing his opinion to the outside world. He really has no sense of power, and this has never been a way to protect himself.

The Seventeenth Prince was a regular customer. Cao Yong accompanied him to drink half a cup of tea, played a game of chess, and then stood up and said, "Let's go, take Seventeenth Master to my one-acre three-point land to take a look."

"What else?" The Seventeenth Prince stood up and said curiously: "You are also from a human being, and you have never suffered or been tired. Why have you been obsessed with this recently?"

"You always have to find something to do. The Seventeenth Prince has never done it, so I don't know. If you are a farmer for a few days, you will know the fun of it." Cao Yong said with a smile.

The so-called "one acre and three-part land" is actually about ten acres in size, just northwest of the Zhuangzi.

Half of them have opened up vegetable fields and planted various seasonal vegetables and vegetables; half are farmland, and now there are several common crops such as wheat, millet, sorghum, soybeans, and corn.

The two acres of land that were newly sorted out today are to plant potatoes.

The potato seeds bought from the city have been cut into pieces by several tenants who served the place.

Cao Yong had a lot of theoretical knowledge and did not have the hobby of doing it himself. He took the Seventeenth Prince to the farm just to see how the potatoes were planted, how other crops were growing, and so on.

In fact, in addition to the land in front of him, he also opened two acres of land in the back mountain facing the sun and the shade, and planted corn and potatoes.

After all, he has never been a farmer, and his understanding of agriculture is very general.

He only knew that hundreds of years later, this corn, that is, corn, had been used as national reserve grain for decades. In the arid areas of the north, the main crop was corn.

As for potatoes, it is because they know that they are not picky and are also highly productive.

It was mid-May, and the vegetables and crops in the fields grew differently. Some of them had just sprouted, while others were like rapeseed, leeks, water radish, etc., which could be eaten.

The Seventeenth Prince grew up in the deep palace since he was a child, but he followed his entourage out of the capital in his teens. He was not an ignorant person who knew Jiarong.

Looking at the orderly planned pastoral vegetable field in front of him, the Seventeenth Prince couldn't help but fall into deep thoughts except for his initial curiosity.

After knowing Cao Yong for many years, he knew that Cao Yong was not a diligent person. If it weren't for the emperor's urging him over the years, he wouldn't have come to this day step by step.

The Seventeenth Prince would not simply think that Cao Yong farmed and planted vegetables to pass the time.

At this moment, the sun is getting more and more.

When Cao Yong saw that the Seventeenth Prince was sweating on his head, he would not let him stay here. The two of them returned to the village for lunch.

The cabbage and radish on this lunch were all made freshly pinched from the vegetable field, and they ate several bowls of rice with vegetarian fried sauce and meat fried sauce.

After the meal, the seventeenth prince asked his question and said, "Furuo, to be honest, why do you think of serving the crops?"

Cao Yong was silent for a while and said, "Didn't I go to Henan Prefecture the summer of the past year? In addition to being in Luoyang, I also went to the county town below. It happened that Henan had a severe drought in the past two years. People bought children and sold their children in the city, and the countryside took their families to escape the famine. It was like locusts passing through the border, and all the wild vegetables and leaves on the road were eaten up."

The seventeenth prince frowned and said, "How could this be so? Isn't there any relief from the court?"

Cao Yong glanced at the Seventeenth Prince and said, "I don't know the local warehouses in Henan Prefecture. I only remember that when I was in Shandong in the early years, most of the local granaries had only accounts and no food. When the court needed to adjust grain, they just randomly transferred some to recharge the numbers."

The seventeenth prince was annoyed and said, "Silkworm, after all, it's the emperor's indulgence..." But the second half of the sentence was indescribable, and he just patted the chair hard to express his dissatisfaction.

Cao Yong didn't want to say anything more about the corruption in the administration.

First, it is useless to say more. Kangxi has been in power for a long time and loves face and cares about his writings. He has made up his mind to be a "benevolent monarch"; second, he knows that in a few years, the fourth prince will come to power and make drastic rectification of the administration. The more ruthless the corruption now, the more miserable the consequences will be. It is just a matter of taking one's own actions.

"The northwest has been drought for nine years, and the southwest is a hilly place. Although this corn and potato are rough, it is not as picky as other crops, and the yield per mu is higher. Last summer, the hills and other places in Henan Prefecture had already been introduced by the government to promote the planting of corn and potatoes. According to the information reported to the Ministry of Revenue, it is quite effective. If this corn and potato can be promoted in the northwest and southwest, in the future, it will be less likely to starve a few people to death when they encounter famine." Cao Yong said.

After hearing this, the Seventeenth Prince said, "Why is it northwest and southwest? Didn't the Emperor Ama send the Renqin to return to the Northeast to cultivate farms? Why not promote it in the Northeast?"

Cao Yong replied: "In recent years, the emperor has been asking people to plant new rice seeds in Changchun Garden and Tianjin Wei, and also supervised and tried the seeds in several places in the Central Plains and Jiangnan. If the expected results are good, the emperor should want to plant rice in the northeast, so as to avoid the supply of the granary in the capital city. "

The rice of the Beijing official and the food of the Eight Banners officials and the people of the Eight Banners are all rice. These rice are transported through the canal, from Huguang to Jiangnan, from Jiangnan to Beijing.

If rice is widely planted in the northeast, the capital's dependence on canal transportation will be weaker. Corruption of canal transportation is also one of the problems that the imperial court has been troubled by decades. It is just that because rice in the north relies too much on canal transportation, it has been unable to move these years.

"The northeast is bitter and cold, can you grow rice?" The seventeenth prince was a little confused.

Cao Yong smiled and said, "Your Qi Qi didn't know that there were already rice fields outside the Rehe River a few years ago, but the area was not wide."

The seventeenth prince looked at Cao Yong for a while and said, "Now, I finally understand the intention of the Emperor Ama to transfer Furuo to the Ministry of Revenue. If Furuo was the Ministry of Revenue, the designation would be no worse than those Jingtangs."

"Seventeenth Master Miao Zan, I am just doing my best. Although I am not in his position, I have the grace of the emperor and enjoy several salary from the court. It is not easy to live a dull life," said Cao Yong.

In fact, it was just Cao Yong who found a way out for himself.

Thinking a small way to collect some money for a while is always a minor trick. If you succeed, you will just add some pocket money to the emperor, which is not considered a great contribution to the emperor; if you fail, you will become a useless person in the eyes of the emperor, and your family will lose its reliance on the rise, decline, honor and disgrace.

And in his position, he is in power, and there is no way out to support the portal.

He could only find another way and add a few more bargaining chips for himself. As for the benefit of the country and the sufferings of the people, he also thought in his heart, but he always felt that it was too far away. To say that he was completely selfless, just for the health of the people, he really didn't have that thick face.

After hearing Cao Yong's words, the Seventeenth Prince showed some shame and said, "Furuo seems to be casual, but over the years, he has been for the country and the people. Speaking of which, I am a waste of snack. I am a minister and a son, but I only seek to protect myself, and I have no intention of sharing my worries with the king and father."

The Seventeenth Prince has only been cheerful for half a month, and Cao Yong didn't want him to fall into trouble again and said seriously: "Seventeenth Master is not impatient. The Seventeenth Master is still young. Now he is watching more and listening more and talking less and doing less; in the future, there will always be a day for those who can work harder."

Seeing Cao Yong so serious, the confusion in the seventeenth prince's eyes slowly dissipated and he murmured: "How many years will you bear it? Well, I have endured it all these years, and it's not a short time..."

Inside Dongzhimen, Li’s House.

There are a few days left, when Li Nai married his daughter, the invitation has been sent out, and a wedding tent has been set up today.

Li Nai sat in the study, holding his father's reply. Seeing that his father mentioned that he had already sent a letter to Li and asked the Cao family to help Li Nai investigate Li Ding's affairs, Li Nai couldn't help but frown.

Although he had thought about asking Cao Yong for help earlier, this was a family matter of the Li family. Now that he even told his aunt and asked the Cao family's servants to get involved, wouldn't that mean "to make up family scandals"?

Li Nai did not agree with his father's intentions, but he was always used to being filial and could not have a sense of disobedience. He just left the letter and felt a little upset. It seemed that he would have to go to Changping after finishing his daughter's marriage.
Chapter completed!