Chapter 229 Brewing
When Mrs. Wang heard this, her face darkened. Although she was impatient and often acted stupidly when meeting Lin Xiaoniang, it did not mean that she was really stupid.
Kang Wang came to see her a few days ago and talked about Ru Lan.
After Rulan went to the East Palace, she was worried all the time, so she complained to Prince Kang.
Kang Wang volunteered and said that she would go to the East Palace to see Rulan on her behalf.
Mrs. Wang was moved when she heard this. In fact, she also wanted to go to the East Palace to visit Ru Lan, but she was lectured by Sheng Hong.
Sheng Hong said that Ru Lan had only been to the East Palace for half a month, and she was anxious to go visit, as if she was worried that Ru Lan would be abused in the East Palace. We would talk about it after a while.
As soon as Mrs. Kang mentioned it, she could no longer restrain herself, so she asked Mrs. Kang to go.
As a result, after Mrs. Kang went there, she came back and told her that Rulan was living well in the East Palace, but Minglan was only given as a dowry, and Rulan was even favored.
Kang Wang also said many bad things about Minglan, which shows that Lan is scheming and Rulan is simple-minded, so she is no match for Minglan.
Compared to Minglan, Mrs. Wang naturally trusts her sister more.
In addition, when Minglan was poisoned, His Highness the Crown Prince was so caring, which left a haze in Mrs. Wang's heart. Under the preconception, Mrs. Wang believed it even more.
After Rulan came back, she also asked about it. Although Rulan didn't say anything, she seemed to have a very good relationship with Minglan during her words. Mrs. Wang felt that her daughter had been deceived by Minglan.
As for her asking Ru Lan to do something, Kang Wang just mentioned it casually.
Madam Wang was thinking about her daughter and didn’t think much about it, and she didn’t think it was a big deal.
But after what Minglan said, she realized that this matter was not a trivial matter.
Asking His Highness to help arrange an errand is nothing.
However, among the entire East Palace concubines, no one has ever begged His Highness, or it may be said that they have asked but His Highness did not agree, so outsiders don’t know.
If His Highness the Crown Prince agrees, what will the other concubines in the East Palace, including the Crown Princess, think?
If His Highness does not agree, it will leave a bad impression on His Highness.
No matter which way it is, it is not a good thing for Ru Lan to ask His Highness the Crown Prince.
Minglan smiled to herself when she saw Mrs. Wang's uncertain expression.
If you want to make Mrs. Wang stupid, calling Mrs. Lin is the most effective way.
If you want to make Mrs. Wang more rational, mentioning her child is the most effective way.
Given Madam Wang’s temperament, no matter how she explains it, in Madam Wang’s opinion, it is all quibbling.
But when it comes to Ru Lan, Mrs. Wang will think rationally.
"Minglan, let's go."
At this moment, Rulan walked out of the room.
She didn't notice anything was wrong in the atmosphere. She looked at her mother and said, "Mom, it's getting late. Minglan and I will go back to the East Palace first. We will come back to visit my mother when I have time. My mother is fine. You can also go to the East Palace to visit your daughter. I asked Your Highness, it’s okay to go once a month.”
“Yes, I understand.” Mrs. Wang glanced at Minglan, looked away, and said with a smile. "Don't forget what mother told you."
"I know." Ru Lan replied impatiently, pulling Ming Lan out.
"Mom, let me go and talk to dad."
"What's the rush? Mom will see you off." Mrs. Wang quickly got up and followed her.
…………
Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen entered the palace, had dinner with their father and queen, and admired the moon until late at night before leaving the palace.
He felt that it was actually good not to hold a banquet. The Mid-Autumn Festival was originally a day for reunions, allowing officials to spend time with their families at home.
Celebrating the festival as a family is more comfortable and you don’t have to be so pretentious.
Getting on the carriage, Zhang Guifen said: "Husband, the queen mother asked me to go to the palace for an hour every afternoon to talk to her."
Zhao Xing heard the words and smiled slightly: "The queen asked you to I went to the palace to teach you something. Although the queen is not an orphan, she will treat her as her own child and will not embarrass you." Zhang Guifen nodded, relieved. He came and said: "Husband, the weather is getting cooler now. In a few days, I want to go to Jinmingchi Villa to play polo."
Speaking of the latter part, Zhang Guifen was a little nervous and worried.
She is a princess now, so she can go to the Wu family polo field, but playing polo there is a bit inappropriate.
Beyond Jinmingchi is the Royal Courtyard, but it’s not that big of a deal.
But she was a little worried that Zhao Xing would not be happy.
Women playing polo are considered a different kind of thing in the eyes of men. Zhao Xing didn’t care before, but not now.
"Okay, I haven't played polo for a while, so I will go with you then," Zhao Xing said.
…………
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the wheat in the Central Plains area gradually matures, and the people are busy with the autumn harvest.
This year in the Central Plains, the weather is good and the harvest is good. Although the people are tired, their faces are filled with happy smiles.
At this time, the people actually did not have high demands.
As long as you can have enough food and clothing, work hard for a year, and have something good to eat during the Chinese New Year, that is enough.
The prosperity of the people is suffering, and the destruction of the people is also suffering.
This sounds really cruel, but it is the truth.
But for many people in Kaifeng Prefecture, they are even more excited.
Just last year, they changed from being tenants of landlords to being tenants of the government.
Although the identity seems to have not changed, the rent collected for the official uniform is very small, only 20%. Although they still need to pay taxes, the total cost is almost 20%, and in the end they only get 60%.
Even so, it is much better than renting landowners.
Su Xun's "Tian Zhi" said: "In a rich people's home, the land is vast and connected by roads. We recruit floaters to farm among them, whip and drive them, treat them as slaves, sit down and look around, and command among them. Among the people who work in the fields, they work in the summer and harvest in the autumn, and no one violates their discipline to play in the fields. "
This passage tells the story. How do landlords treat tenants? Finally, the landlord rents land to tenants, and the landlord gets half of the output of the land.
And this is half of what is paid after taxes are paid. Adding in the rest of the messy taxes, the people will only get about 30% in the end.
The difference between 30% and 60% is half. You can imagine how grateful the people who rented government land will be when Kaifeng Prefecture completes the autumn harvest.
When the publicity spreads, people all over the world will definitely support the imperial court to measure the acres of land.
In fact, the people do not understand those big principles. They do not understand the meaning of reforms. They only see whether they get benefits.
Wang Anshi’s reforms in history were all for the benefit of the people.
However, the people did not receive tangible benefits. Instead, they were exploited even more because of the reform.
This led to a lot of criticism among the people.
Although the people are a little short-sighted, they are very simple.
Zhao Xing did not pay attention to these, but was paying attention to the situation in the court.
He felt that it was useless for his father to pretend to be angry in order to deter those who opposed him.
In fact it is of no use.
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, my father was furious and canceled the banquet. However, within a few days, many officials headed by Zhou Xianggong once again petitioned to recall Xianggong Yu and postpone the land measurement.
Whether it was last time or this time, they did not clearly mention the dangers of measuring acres of land.
After all, there is no actual harm in measuring the acres of land.
The target of their criticism was Mr. Yu.
Yu Xianggong inspected on behalf of the sky and went directly to Zhengzhou.
Although the official issued an imperial edict, it was stated that any official who did not cooperate or act could be directly dismissed from his post and investigated.
But Zhengzhou officials still disagree.
The officials are famous for their benevolence. In their view, the officials said this just to scare them.
And they don’t think Prime Minister Yu will use such strong methods.
However, Prime Minister Yu told them with facts, he dared!
It had only been two days since Mr. Yu arrived in Zhengzhou. He immediately resigned from the post of Zhengzhou magistrate and general magistrate, and personally took people to the fields to measure the acres of land.
The reason why Xianggong Zhou and others wrote the letter was that Xianggong Yu abused his power and caused cholera.
Some people even say that Mr. Yu is retaliating after failing to ask for bribes.
The official Lei Lei was furious, but because there were so many people reporting, he said he would send someone to check.
.........
"Do you understand what Gu said?" Zhao Xing looked at Yin Hanzhang and said.
"I understand!" Yin Hanzhang said respectfully.
“Go ahead and make it beautiful!” Zhao Xing waved his hand.
"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang saluted and hurried away.
"The show is about to begin. I don't know if this counts as treating the other person the same way he did." Zhao Xing murmured.
After Yin Hanzhang left the East Palace, he summoned the leaders of his subordinates in Bianjing, gave detailed instructions, and made the arrangements as instructed by Zhao Xing.
…………
“Have you heard that Xianggong Zhou had an affair with a concubine of his son, and they gave birth to a child not long ago.”
"I also heard that a child of a distant relative of mine was sold as a slave to Xianggong Zhou's house. He secretly told me that Xianggong Zhou was old and worried that the concubinage would affect his reputation, so he said that The concubine belongs to his son.”
"Then Xianggong Zhou is so old, how can he still let his concubine have a child? I think the child may be the son of Xianggong Zhou. I have heard before that the families of those officials are very chaotic."
In the corner of a tea shop, two men in their twenties were drinking tea and chatting quietly.
They deliberately lowered their voices when speaking, but they didn't know if their voices were loud. Even though the tea shop was very noisy, the guests sitting at the table next to them could still hear them clearly.
In their spare time, the people of Bianjing like to talk about gossip about the court and officials.
The guests at the table heard that someone was actually talking about the gossip of the current husband. Not only were they not afraid, but they pricked up their ears and listened carefully.
The two people who were talking revealed some exciting news, paid their bills and left the tea shop, disappearing into the vast sea of people.
Such similar things happen in many crowded places such as tea shops, restaurants, and Goulan tile houses in Bianjing.
Not only the gossip about Xianggong Zhou, but also many gossips about the court are spread by people.
The news is mostly the same, either he is hooking up with his son or his concubine, or he has an extramarital affair, or he is having an affair with a married woman.
If there is news that someone is corrupt, even if it is the Prime Minister of the day, the people may not be interested in talking about it.
Maybe it seems to them that this is normal and nothing to talk about.
(End of this chapter)