The three of Bai Shan and the others did not participate in their conversation, but stood aside and watched the shops on this street talking.
Wei Yu shook his head, "It's too extravagant."
No wonder his father's tone of speaking about the emperor was not very good recently, and he was very worried that he would become extravagant after a long time in Jian'an.
Like Wei Zhi, the ministers in the court are worried a lot, especially the Minister of the Household Department, so they have been crying poorly recently, with only one purpose.
Emperor, don't look at Guotai Min'an as if it is very rich now, but in fact the country still can't stand the toss. We are still very poor. You have been the emperor for more than 20 years, and the national treasury is still gone after spring. money.
Supporting farming and mulberry requires money, building water conservancy projects requires money, disaster relief in some places also requires money, and the Ministry of War needs money, and building imperial mausoleums also requires money, and we need to save some money to prevent unexpected accidents, just in case it happens like the year before last Need to conquer the west, the treasury is not allowed to allocate military use
So emperor, we are still poor, don’t even think about constructing buildings, making big rewards, or getting extravagant tributes…
Some officials even wrote a letter saying that the dowry for the two princesses greatly exceeded the etiquette system. Even if it was not paid by the treasury, it would not be allowed, so the extra part should be taken back...
The emperor accepted remonstrance humbly, but he didn't hear about things like taking back the extra dowry.
Now even the crown prince has objections, and privately told Zhan Shifu, "These officials are also bullying and fearing hard. Back then, the father gave the third son so many things. Didn't it exceed the etiquette system early? Why didn't I see them write a letter to recover it?" ?”
"Mingda and Changyu are princesses, so I caught them bullying them, hmph, they will pick soft persimmons."
Guo Zhanshi couldn't help but said: "Your Highness obviously only cares for the princess, so why bother bringing up Prince Gong? It is said that your majesty only thinks that you are not friendly to your younger brother. You must never say such things again."
The prince was silent.
Wei Yu is currently working in Yushi Taizhong, and what he does is the job of a speech officer, but because the matter involves Princess Changyu, and Wei Zhi also told him privately, the past is over, and he has already been impeached, so it is meaningless to pursue this matter , On the contrary, it will annoy His Majesty, it is better to look forward and only advise His Majesty's current and future behavior, so that he will not forget to be thrifty.
But when he really saw the shop that the emperor gave Princess Mingda, Wei Yu couldn't help but said: "It's really too extravagant."
However, Bai Shan curiously invited the steward and village head of Huangzhuang to ask, "Where is the end of the shop?"
"That's outside the city of Xincheng," Li Chang said with a smile, "It's the Huangzhuang that His Majesty gave to the princess."
Bai Shan squinted his eyes, leaning against the Huangzhuang in Xincheng.
He asked, "How is the distance from the former Yueyang Ancient City here?"
The steward of Huangzhuang was stunned and said: "It's not very far, but there is no road, so we need to make a detour, and it will take about an hour by car."
Bai Shan asked: "What if the road is from Huangzhuang?"
The steward of Huangzhuang laughed, "That's much closer, and we can arrive in less than three quarters of an hour."
Bai Shan smiled and nodded, turned around and talked to Man Bao about it.
So Man Bao's eyes lit up, and he suggested that when he went back, he would go to Huangzhuang, cross Liyang County to Wannian County, and return to the capital from the east gate.
In the past, when they came out of Yongzhou from the capital, they had to go to the south gate, take a detour and then go north to Yongzhou.
The steward of Huangzhuang couldn't help reminding in a low voice: "Princess, most of the roads connecting Yueyang County to Wannian County are small roads, not as wide and flat as the official road, so I'm afraid it will be bumpy.
When Mingda heard this, his interest turned up instead, and he immediately said: "Then let's go back from Wannian County and visit the farm by the way."
Man Bao nodded approvingly, and said to her: "My fief is on the other side, and I want to visit my fief too. Would you like to visit my workshop?"
Now Changyu nodded, she wanted to take a look.
So after visiting the shops in Xincheng, they went directly to Huangzhuang.
Changyu was riding on the horse, and Mingda was not happy seeing the horse, so he also rode on the horse, feeling at ease and happy with the spring breeze blowing on his face.
It was the end of February, when the earth returned to spring, and there were many green grass sprouts on the ground. Both Mingda and Changyu followed the emperor to plow and tried farming, so they were not ignorant of grains.
But now the weeds and the rejuvenated wheat seedlings really look alike.
Mingda looked at it for a long time but couldn't tell the difference, so he had to turn his head and ask Bai Erlang in a low voice, "Is this piece of land weed?"
Bai Erlang just glanced at it and shook his head, "No, it's wheat seedlings."
Mingda pointed to a tunnel on the opposite side and said, "So this is also a wheat seedling?"
Bai Erlang glanced at it and was silent for a while, "No, it's a weed."
Mingda: ...
She frowned, "Why do weeds grow better than wheat seedlings? And it's all land, why don't we grow wheat seedlings here?"
Bai Erlang glanced at it and said, "That side is close to the water, so it should be reserved for spring rice planting, and this side is farther away from the water, so we planted wheat."
The steward of Huangzhuang, who followed quickly, had cold sweat on his forehead, nodded repeatedly, trotted forward and said, "Exactly what the son-in-law said, Huangzhuang has kept this side near the water all these years for spring transplanting and planting rice. The other side is to grow wheat, and after harvesting, it depends on the situation and grows rice or beans.”
As for why the weeds grow better than the wheat seedlings, Bai Erlang glanced at the manager and said, "Last winter was relatively cold, and there was a snow disaster in the Central Plains. It should be because of the ineffectiveness of the disaster resistance here, and many wheat seedlings were frozen to death."
Man Bao nodded approvingly, and complained to Ming Da: "Last year, the three workplaces of my family were hit by disasters, and the straw and wheat straw that were left before were scattered in the fields to keep warm, but just like this, many people died of freezing. , this year’s summer harvest is definitely not as good as next year’s. We have to reduce some rents.”
Mingda was taken aback, and asked, "Then shall I reduce the rent for my tenant farmers?"
Man Bao smiled and said: "If you have such a kind heart, you will lose it."
The steward behind hurriedly said: "Your Highness, there are not many tenants in our Huangzhuang, and most of them are palace slaves working here."
That is to say, long-term workers, or the kind of long-term workers without wages. Huangzhuang includes food and housing, and they are responsible for farming.
Man Bao glanced at the fields on both sides of the road, and nodded slightly. Sure enough, it was the work of people without wages. If it was her father, he would make the weeds in the field grow taller than people, not just taller than wheat seedlings.
After walking out of Huangzhuang, Man Baocai said to Mingda: "If you want to take good care of this Zhuangzi, then you can't let it go like this. If there is no benefit, who would be willing to work hard for you?"
She said: "If a talented person has talent, even if he wants to sell it to the emperor's family, the emperor must be able to afford the corresponding price. Otherwise, the talented person would rather go back to the mountains and forests than bow down and serve the king."
Mingda understood this metaphor at once, she nodded thoughtfully, "You're right, it's time to take care of it."
After leaving Huangzhuang and going down the road, there is a fork in the road. One road leads to Yueyang County, and the other road leads to Wannian County. The border between the two counties is Zhouman's fiefdom.
Let's go and see together.