The struggle of the reborn prince

On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the taste of the new year has become stronger and stronger, and the carts between the mansion and the capital are becoming more and more common. They will sell the last two batches of vegetables before the year, buy back all the items for the New Year, and escort them to the mansion. The family members of the Chinese New Year.

"My lord, the people in charge are here, waiting for the discussion, let's go too!" Huang Jingchen said to Zhao Tun in the side hall of the main hall.

"Uncle Huang, do you think the things we discussed are feasible?" Zhao Tuo had long talks with Huang Jingchen in the past two days, explaining his thoughts to Huang Jingchen one by one, hoping to gain his support.

"My lord, this old slave has already said that my lord is the head of the mansion, and we are all servants. You can do whatever you want, and you can do whatever you want, even if you do something wrong, it's just a loss of money. It won't hurt our bones, the prince can do it without worry, and the old servant will support it with all his strength!"

"Okay, Uncle Huang, let's go!" Zhao Tong stood up and walked to the big study room next door. He saw that Huang Jingchen's expression hadn't changed much. Accept yourself.

The three stewards in the inner and outer yards of the study stood up and saluted when they saw the two of them coming in. Zhao Tun sat down at the head seat, Huang Jingchen sat next to him on the right hand side, and Jian Xi stood behind him. Come to the door and stand at the door.The rest of the people in the house are the managers of all aspects of the mansion. It can be said that this is a high-level meeting in the mansion.

"Boss, please tell me about the income and expenditure of the mansion this year!" Huang Jingchen said.

"Yes, this year the mansion has a total income of 23 guan, of which the prince's salary is 150 guan, 18 guan is enshrined in the food city, 450 guan is added, 19 guan is rewarded in the palace, [-] guan of rice is rented, and [-] guan of wheat is rented. Stone...; repairing the mansion cost [-] guan and [-] guan, and the prince spent [-] guan... the balance is [-] guan!" Zheng Fu, the chief steward, explained the various expenses in the mansion one by one.

"Well, second steward, tell me about the situation of Zhuangzi in the mansion!" Huang Jingchen nodded and said.

"Yes, my lord, Chief Manager. At the beginning of the year, there were two Zhuangzi in the mansion, with two hundred hectares of land, three tenants of 510 households, and seven people of Ding830. Among them, there were 110 hectares of high-grade farmland, [-] hectares of medium-grade farmland, and [-] hectares of low-grade farmland. Five hectares have been planted with wheat, and twelve hectares of mulberry fields have been cultivated. There are now [-] cattle and more than [-] draft horses. There is a big house..." Zheng Lu, the second manager, explained the situation.

"It's your turn for the third steward. Tell me about the situation in the mansion!" Huang Jingchen said to Zheng Shou, the third steward. Zheng Shou stood up and staffed the inner and outer courtyards of the mansion. He said that the personnel in the inner courtyard were assigned by the palace, and he had no control over them.

After the three stewards finished their reports, they sent the account books and rosters they were in charge of. Jianxi took them and handed them to Huang Jingchen, but he didn't take them and said, "Give the account books to the lord. In the future, major events and expenses in the mansion must be paid." It can only be implemented with the consent of the prince, you can report to me for small matters, and I will let the prince know, you all know it!"

Several people in the hall looked at each other, stood up and bowed at the same time and replied: "You guys understand!" They understood the meaning of Huang Jingchen's words, and the matter in the mansion will be decided by the prince himself. .

"Third steward, suddenly there are a lot of servants in the mansion, are you buying new ones?" Zhao Tang asked, taking a sip of tea from his teacup.

"Second Lord, we didn't buy it. This is... it's from the village we bought, and it's all debt!" The third steward took a peek at the chief steward, Zheng Fu, and said.

"Ahem, what's the matter with the second master..." Zheng Fu took over the conversation and answered Zhao Tong's question. It turned out that Chen Tang had worked so hard to get so many lands in the past few years, but he didn't expect to do it for Zhao Tong in the end. The wedding dress, which made him feel unwilling.It was obvious that he 'sold' all the land to Zhao Tun, but secretly searched all those debtors thoroughly.During the handover, they persuaded them to "buy" the children of the tenants who could not afford to exchange their debts as quality servants. At that time, the chief steward thought they were the old people who used the house, thinking that someone must take care of the garden, so he didn't think too much about it. Just bought those people.Unexpectedly, it was Chen Tang's trick of "eating the golden cicada out of its shell" to transfer the debt to them. When he understood what was going on, he couldn't get angry again.

"Those are children, and it's useless to stay in the mansion. Let their family members use the principal to redeem them!" Zhao Tuo didn't expect that he would become 'Huang Shiren' right after he took over, and wanted to give them a discount. It’s okay for the family to take it back. Although I suffer a bit, the reunion of their family may be considered a good deed.

"Hehe, Second Lord, we have thought about this method, but only a few people were taken back, and there are more than 60 left. They said they have no money to redeem!" The chief manager said with a wry smile. Finally, I also thought of this remedy, but no one 'appreciated'.

"These people's parents are really cruel. Seeing their children suffer, they are reluctant to give up a few dollars!" The third manager said bitterly. He was very embarrassed that there were so many free food in the mansion.

"That's not the case, whoever's children don't hurt, but when they go back, they will have more mouths at home, and they can still make a living in our house!" Zhao Tang said with a sigh.

"Okay, since this is the case, let's stay here for now, let them learn the rules, find out the details of the family, and then make arrangements, what do you think, my lord!" Huang Jingchen said.Thinking about it, Zhao Tun had nothing good to do now, so he nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it's all according to the chief executive's order!" The third steward replied.

"Although we bought Zhuangzi, Chen Tang searched too hard. The tenants all want to quit their tenants and find new owners. Then our land will not be cultivated next year. What can you do?" Zhao Tang asked.

"Right now, each family has a tight control over their tenants, and it's not easy to find someone, unless it's a time of famine..." said the second steward.

"Second Master, after the spring, we go to the south to find some tenants. There are many people and less land, so we may be able to find some people!" said the chief executive.

"Do you know why the tenants want to quit their tenants?" Zhao Tong asked.

"I don't know, maybe the land rent is too high, but it's the same everywhere, [-] or [-] percent!" said the second steward.

"Actually, the problem still lies in the land rent. What we implement here is sharing rent. If we harvest more grain, they will have more leftovers. However, years of famines and water conservancy failures have caused the grain harvested in the top-notch fields to be harvested in addition to seeds and rent taxes. If there is not enough food for the family until the end of the year, let alone those inferior fields, where only one season of wheat can be grown each year, and the harvest is not enough to pay the rent and tax, why don’t they run away? Even if you recruit people again, I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep them! "Zhao Tong said.

"This...Second Lord, why are you so clear?" Zheng Lu, the second steward, immediately understood what the prince said was reasonable. After a year of busy work, he couldn't even fill his stomach, so he had to run away.

"These two days you followed me around Zhuangzi for nothing, you really went to see the scenery!" Zhao Tong said, "You are in charge of Zhuangzi's fields, let me ask you, there have only been two snowfalls in winter this year, if What do you plan to do if there is no rain in spring and there will be a spring drought?"

"Second Master, I haven't thought about this, but we won't be afraid of drought if we guard the two rivers!" Zheng Lu said vaguely with sweat on his head.

"Hmph, what do you use to lure the water there? Do you use your shoulders to carry your hand? The ones near the water may be okay, but what about the ones far away?" Zhao Tama asked repeatedly.

"Then...then we can only wait for the rain, and there is nothing we can do about it!" The second steward said awkwardly.

"My lord entrusted you with all the affairs of the mansion. Is that how you do things? Has the mansion paid you less wages? Did your lord beat and scold you when you did something wrong? You can't go back. Home for the New Year, the prince sent someone to bring your family to reunite, and also gave you a new year's salary increase, and made new clothes, you just repay the prince like this, are you worthy of the old prince?" Huang Jingchen slammed the book case hard, stood up and sternly asked.

"The little ones have the trust of the duke, and the trust of the prince!" The three stewards stood up and bowed their heads and said with shame on their faces. They didn't do any of the things the prince said. I can't hold on anymore.

"It's good to know, use your brain more in the future, don't just see the things in front of you!" Huang Jingchen waved his hand to let them sit down.

Zhao Tuo looked at Huang Jingchen and was grateful, knowing that he was sincerely pushing him to be in the position and teaching them a lesson. Huang Jingchen turned his face and smiled knowingly. Don't underestimate the prince, even asking a few questions knocked out the chances of the stewards. There are also many eyes!

"These few things have not been handled well, and there are also problems with your respective authority. Today we have to discuss these things and come up with a countermeasure, otherwise our life will not be easy next year!" said.

"Yes, it's all according to the second master's order!"

"You all come here!" Zhao Fu ordered Jianxi to spread the map on the table, and asked the three of them to get closer.

"Look, the Baishui River runs through our village. If it is used well, it can irrigate our farmland and relieve the worry of drought!"

"Second Lord, but the depth of this river is less than two feet, and the water surface is less than ten feet. The water volume is too small. It may not be possible to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of land!" The second steward shook his head and said.

"So we want to build a dam to store the water. I asked the old people in the village, and they said that a dam was built here many years ago to store water. I also went there to inspect it carefully. The old site is still there. If the dam is built , can form a water surface of more than 200 mu, which should be enough, and we can also use the water surface to raise fish and ducks to increase income!"

"Second Lord, if we build a dam, we need a lot of manpower, but where can we go to recruit now?" Zheng Shou, the third steward, asked again.

"I've thought about this too. The two Zhuangzi have more than a thousand mouths, and many people have nothing to do now. As long as the price we offer is right, I think they will do it, and we can also pay them a month's wages in advance. It not only solves their urgent needs, but also solves our problems!" This idea is just a variant of work-for-relief commonly used in later generations, and both parties can benefit.

"Well, the second master has a good idea. We built dams and dredged the canals. The low-grade fields in the past can be turned into high-grade fields that guarantee harvests during droughts and floods. At that time, they will not leave when they are driven away, and more can be recruited. People!" The chief manager stroked his beard and said approvingly.