Cheng Qianye, Zhang Fu and Xiao Jin were sitting in a carriage heading out of the city.
"When will that Weibei Hou go away? He doesn't want to stay in our Bianzhou for the New Year, does he?" Cheng Qianye said unhappily.
"I hate him so much, but I still have to put on a smile for him. Zhang Fu, find a way to make him leave quickly."
Zhang Fu was slightly surprised: "My Lord, do you think I can do this?"
Cheng Qianye patted his shoulder with a smile: "In my heart, Mr. Zhang is omnipotent."
Do you think you are still a white lotus in my heart? This kind of thing is suitable for a black-bellied man like you to do.
Xiao Jin thought: The day before yesterday, Weibei Marquis only bullied Mo Qiaosheng, and the lord has been brooding over it. It seems that the slave is indeed very important to the princess. I just wonder if he... already knows the princess's identity.
Xiao Jin glanced at Cheng Qianye who was lifting the car curtain and looking out the window.
Her fair face shines brightly under the warm winter sun, and is so beautiful.
Although the princess was a woman, she was free and easy, and her manners were generous. She seemed to be born without the restraint and delicateness of ordinary women. These days, she gradually adapted to her status as the master, and she became calmer and more stable day by day.
For such a long time, no outsider discovered their secret of replacing one thing with another.
Xiao Jin thought like this: If Mo Qiaosheng is really favored by the princess and becomes her close friend, it is not impossible. However, the princess must keep an eye on his character.
Cheng Qianye looked out the window at the endless barren fields, turned around, and pointed at the table beside him, attracting the attention of Xiao Jin and Zhang Fu.
"I want to implement a policy to abolish the existing well-field system and adopt a land grant system."
"Land grant system? What is the land grant system?" Xiao Jin and Zhang Fu asked in unison.
In fact, it is not called the land grant system. I have already told the history teacher what it was called. I just have a rough impression of this system. Cheng Qianye felt ashamed in his heart.
She dipped her finger in some water from the teacup and drew a small circle and a large circle on the table.
"Bianzhou is here, and Jin is there. If we want to continue expanding our territory from Bianzhou," Cheng Qianye drew a few lines with his wet fingertips and spread his five fingers. "We must continue to recruit soldiers from Jin and transfer food and grass from the country. It's a long journey, and the loss is huge. If the people come to fight, there will be a shortage of manpower to grow food, right?"
Zhang Fu pondered for a moment, stretched out his slender fingers, and lightly tapped the small circle.
"Yes, that's what I think. We can distribute the wasteland to those refugees based on the number of people to encourage them to open up wasteland." Cheng Qianye leaned forward slightly, "We can issue a notice. As long as they are willing to register as residents of Jin State and not migrate at will, no matter which country they are from, they will be granted a certain amount of land. In the first year, I can also exempt them from taxes."
She retracted her hand and said, "This way, our warriors of Dajin will expand our territory in the front, and there will be a steady supply of logistical support in the rear."
Zhang Fu's eyes lit up slightly. "This is indeed feasible, but many details need to be carefully considered. For example, at what age can men be granted land, how much land each person is granted, whether part of the good land is fixed to the state, and part is allowed to be traded privately..."
Cheng Qianye was very happy to see that he and Zhang Fu hit it off immediately.
Xiao Jin frowned and raised an objection: "Land originally belongs to the nobles and the country, and common people have never been able to own it privately. This move will damage the interests of the aristocratic families, and I am afraid that it will lead to resistance from the scholars and officials in the country. The lord is new and his foundation is still unstable. You cannot talk about changes lightly. I hope the lord will think twice."
Cheng Qianye knew that the two people's completely different opinions were caused by their different attitudes towards themselves.
Xiao Jin is more loyal to him, so his priority is the stability and safety of Cheng Qianye's personal status.
Zhang Fu valued the growth and strength of Jin State, so he supported Cheng Qianye in making this risky reform.
In any case, these two people do have keen political talents, and they were able to point out the key points of the problem in just a few words from Cheng Qianye.
Cheng Qianye, who has absorbed the essence of knowledge and culture for thousands of years, does not seem to have much advantage in front of these two great talents.
Cheng Qianye patiently explained and discussed with Xiao Jin: "Xiao Sikou is right. At the beginning, we can leave the fiefs of the nobles in Jin as is. Bianzhou is newly conquered by us, and there are unowned lands everywhere. I want to make a pilot project in Bianzhou."
"If it is feasible, in the future, whenever our Great Jin expands its territory, we will implement this system. From now on, those who have made contributions to our Great Jin will no longer be granted land, but will only be rewarded with gold, silver and titles. As for the existing fiefs, you are right, we can keep them unchanged for now and plan them slowly."
Xiao Jin hesitated for a moment and said, "Bianzhou is in a state of disrepair and the lord has a high reputation here, so... it is indeed worth a try."
Zhang Fu remained silent, but thought to himself, "I can't believe I've made a mistake. Now it seems that my lord is also an ambitious person, and his ambitions... are not small."
When the carriage reached the Bianshui River, Cheng Qianye jumped out and the maid Biyun, who had been bought on the roadside, hurried over to serve him.
Following behind her was her younger sister Xiaoqiu.
Biyun is relatively stable. Although she looks ordinary, she is thoughtful and considerate.
Xiaoqiu was still young, and after staying with Cheng Qianye for a few days with good food and drink, he gradually regained his cheerful and lively nature, and his sallow little face became a little whiter and rounder.
Cheng Qianye likes these two little girls very much and often takes them with him when he goes out, so that the sisters can also go out and get some fresh air and not be overly restrained by the new environment.
She took Xiaoqiu's hand and asked, "Xiaoqiu, tell me, why did your parents not farm in their hometown but rather go into exile in Bianzhou?"
Xiao Qiu replied, "My family has no land to farm. All the good land has been taken by the nobles. Every year, we have to farm a large piece of public land for the nobles before we can farm the small piece of land on the hillside that is allocated to our family. My father has to do a lot of labor and cannot support the whole family. My youngest brother died of starvation."
Biyun continued, "My Lord, the lord of my hometown used to capture people to fight at any time, and only one in ten young people in the village survived. My father was the only adult man in my family. He was afraid that he would be captured as a soldier, leaving the whole family to starve to death at home, so he took us to escape."
Biyun lowered her head and said, "But after escaping here, we encountered war as well. My father and mother had no choice but to sell us sisters to support my brother."
"If I give your family a piece of land of your own and you only have to pay 30% tax every year, do you think your parents would want to move there?"
"Of course, not only my parents, but our whole village will want to move there. It's our own land, it's something we dream of. My father will definitely take extra care of it and make good use of every inch of land."
Cheng Qianye patted her hands and said, "It will be available soon."
Zhang Fu and Xiao Jin exchanged glances and saw a sense of relief in each other's eyes.
The newly appointed Bianzhou officials were already waiting by the Bian River.
Led by Wang Sili, the governor of Bianzhou, who brought with him the newly appointed local officials including the state chancellor, state lieutenant, and state military commander, they hurried forward to greet them.
Bow your head and pay homage to your master.
Wang Sili is a middle-aged man with dark complexion and short stature. He looks quite honest when he smiles.
He wore hemp shoes and rolled up his trousers, and walked in the mud, his feet were covered with mud. He looked like a capable official who worked hard and cared for the people.
But Cheng Qianye felt very uncomfortable because she saw the color that made her uncomfortable.
I told you to be passive and lazy some time ago, but you ended up getting such a guy as the governor of Bianzhou. Now I want to ask you if you are disgusted or not.
Cheng Qianye chatted with them for a while and asked about the situation of the Bianshui River.
This river is a tributary of the Yellow River and the water flow is fierce, so Xiao Jin has always attached great importance to the protection of the river bank and often comes to check it.
Wang Sili bent over and said respectfully: "My Lord, thanks to your wisdom and Xiao Sikou's ability, they have timely dispatched civilians to reinforce the river bank. Now that the autumn flood has passed, we can be sure that Bianzhou will not have to worry about floods this winter."
Cheng Qianye nodded symbolically and praised him a few times, but he was not very patient to deal with it.
She glanced at the crowd and pointed at an official standing at the end of the crowd and said, "Judging from your attire, are you the Sikong Ba in charge of construction? Tell me, are there any other problems with water conservancy?"
The man knelt and saluted, "My Lord, I am Cui Youyu, the governor of the state. The autumn flood has passed safely. But this winter came early and the water froze quickly. I personally feel that..."
Wang Sili coughed at the side.
Cui Youyu looked up at his superior, thought for a moment, and continued, "I think it is very likely to cause an ice flood. My lord, please dredge the river and reinforce the riverbank to prevent flooding. According to my investigation, the following river sections in Bianzhou are still severely damaged and urgently need to be reinforced."
He pulled out a roll of documents from his bosom and held it up with both hands.
Cheng Qianye unfolded it and saw that it was covered with dense text and also had cross-sectional drawings and topographic maps of the water conservancy field.
The state officials around all looked unhappy.
Cheng Qianye looked at Cui Youyu who was kneeling in front of him and didn't notice anything, and laughed in his heart: This is a young official. No matter where he is, he is probably hated by his superiors, but he is serious about his work and his professional skills seem to be very strong. Of course, the main reason is that his color is very beautiful, which made me see it at a glance.
"Okay." Cheng Qianye put away the documents, "Write a detailed plan for the overall management of the Bian River and give it directly to me... Uh..."
She remembered that she couldn't understand it either, so she changed her words.
"Give it directly to Xiao Sikou."
The group finished inspecting the river bank.
On the way back to the city, Cheng Qianye said to Xiao Jin: "That Wang Sili is terrible, find an excuse to replace him."
Xiao Jin was surprised and said, "Lord Wang was the governor of the state in Dajin for many years. He is experienced and has a good reputation. I don't know why the lord has such a bad opinion of him."
"Uh." Cheng Qianye made up an excuse on the spot, "I heard some bad things about him. Otherwise, Zhang Fu, come and help check this person carefully to see if it's true."
How would I know what's wrong with him, but it's definitely not good.
Zhang Fu, you will definitely be able to find it out.
Cheng Qianye glanced at Zhang Fu with an expectant look.
Zhang Fu had no choice but to accept the order.
…
When Mo Qiaosheng came back from the camp, the guard at the gate called him and pointed at a man standing by the door and said, "That man is looking for you and has been waiting for you for a long time."
Mo Qiaosheng took a look and saw that it was Ah Feng. He was wearing thin clothes, his face was pale, and he was standing motionless in the cold wind.