Ma Erniang's Splendid Pastoral

Chapter 172
Xia Zhen lowered her head and saw that the little daughter-in-law was in a good mood and was not frightened, so she raised her eyes, her eyes were light, and looked at the man in black who was arrested, her eyes dimmed, and she walked slowly towards him.

The man in black curled up on the ground. When he saw Xia Zhen approaching, his eyes were bulging, "You cruel wolf, I can't kill you today. One day, you will be struck to death by lightning!" He bit his tongue and killed himself, the action was fast and ruthless, which made people unable to guard against exhaustion.

Jing Mo seemed to know the result, calmly withdrew his sword, and raised his eyes to look at his master.

Xia Zhen lowered her head, her gaze was cold: "Shock—"

"The humble position is—"

"I can't believe it anymore. A commoner who hates me has such skills. Check it out for me and see who is doing the tricks."

"Yes, the king of the county, I will do it right away." Jing Mo turned around and disappeared in front of everyone in the blink of an eye.

Ma Min'er stepped forward, holding Xia Zhen's arm with both hands, and leaned slightly towards him, feeling a little scared.

Xia Zhen stretched out her left hand and patted him lightly, "Let's go back."

"Ah."

Xia Zhen and Ma Min'er quickly got into the carriage and disappeared into the street, but the soldiers on the street did not follow them. Search all kinds of shops, teahouses and restaurants.Many people who had no identity and customs clearance documents were arrested.

"Why did you arrest me..."

"Why did you arrest me..."

"I'm not an assassin, I'm just a civilian."

……

The entire city of Liangzhou stayed up almost all night, and the newly built Liangzhou Prison was full of arrested people. They were noisy, but there was nothing they could do.

At night, Huang Junyao was brought in front of Xia Zhen, "Greetings to the lord—" he knelt down on one knee.

Xia Zhen raised her eyes: "I'm not disturbed."

"My... I'm dereliction of duty..." Huang Junyao's forehead was dripping with sweat. It was his dereliction of duty that caused the prince to be stabbed in his own jurisdiction. He changed from kneeling on one knee to kneeling on both knees. body to the ground.

Xia Zhen smiled lightly, "Master Huang, I don't mean to blame you."

Huang Junyao raised his head, "My lord, I know that Liangzhou City is a mixed area, and the new urban area has just been built, so I really didn't do a good job in the population identity document."

Xia Zhen said: "I know you are not free, so I helped you."

"My lord..." Huang Junyao looked at Xia Zhen in surprise.

"The new yamen has been put into use. Now that Liangzhou Prefecture has a new look, we will show others with a new look."

"My lord..." Huang Junyao turned from surprise to confusion, "Excuse me for being stupid, I don't know what my lord means..."

Xia Zhen grinned, "Mr. Wei—"

"The humble position is—"

"The specifics are up to you."

"Yes, my lord."

Xia Zhen got up and left the room, ready to comfort the frightened little daughter-in-law. When she walked to the door, she suddenly turned around and said, "Mr. Wei, please confirm the tax estimate of Shanglai Bazaar with Mr. Huang to see how much the difference is."

"Yes, my lord." Mr. Wei saluted again.

After Xia Zhen left, Wei Ren helped Huang Junyao up with both hands, "Master Huang, please sit down—"

"Thank you, Mr. Wei." Huang Junyao said, "I would like to ask Mr. Wei to enlighten me!"

"I don't dare to teach you, but it's true to discuss with Master Huang."

"Mr. Wei, please go ahead and say—"

In the corridor outside the door, Jing Mo stood in front of Xia Zhen, "The identity of the assassin has not been found."

"Is there anything else you can't find out?"

"Yes, the king of the county."

Xia Zhen raised her head with narrowed eyes, looked at the stars in the night sky, and said calmly: "It's okay, it's only one night, I'll give you time to check."

"Thank you, Prince." Jing Mo raised his hand.

Huang Junyao and Wei Ren kept talking until midnight before they left. When they got home, the old father stood at the door worriedly, "Son, why did the lord ask you to go?"

Huang Junyao said to his old father: "Father, it's almost dawn, why don't you go back to sleep?"

"The king of Beijun was assassinated. I'm afraid he will blame you. I don't worry about you. How about it?"

Huang Junyao shook his head: "Father, the prince didn't even mention the word assassin."

"Then he told you to go..." Mr. Huang was puzzled.

"Father..." Huang Junyao smiled wryly, "This is a business matter, it's not convenient for me to say it at home, after tomorrow, you will know what it is."

"After tomorrow..." Mr. Huang's heart was lifted. What's the matter? If the son doesn't say it at home, everyone will know it tomorrow.

Sure enough, the next day, people in Liangzhou Prefecture were discussing the notice posted at the gate of the yamen, "What does this mean?"

"The meaning is so obvious, you still don't understand!" Someone laughed disdainfully.

"Take money to redeem people, that's what it means."

"That's not what they said in the notice, but the cost of processing the ID card."

"Half taels of silver, that's too expensive."

"Hehe, this is the money for coming to the Yamen to apply for an identity document. If you are caught, it will be like last night, asking for five taels of silver."

"God, isn't this a money grab?"

"Fuck you, five taels is still a robbery. Is that you? We are about some yamen. If you are caught, you are not a few dozen taels. Can you come out?"

"This..." The listener felt as if something was wrong there.

It's right if something is wrong, Huang Junyao sat in his office room and asked the civil servants to help him calculate an account. At noon, "My lord, the account is out."

He asked, "About how much?"

"Return to your lord, if the king of the North County handles the papers like this, everyone in the entire Liangzhou government will do it, and there will be nearly tens of thousands of taels of silver."

"Hiss..." Huang Junyao took a breath.

The clerk happily whispered: "My lord, could it be that the king of Beijun knew that our yamen has no money, so he gave us money?"

Huang Junyao laughed, "How come our yamen has no money."

"Ah..." The clerk was puzzled: "Where is the money from us?"

Huang Junyao said: "The future princess has already estimated the business tax."

"Ah, have you figured it out?"

"Ah."

"But... but as much as the money came in, it was used for miscellaneous things, and there was no balance at all." The clerk smiled wryly.

"Why don't I know." Huang Junyao sat behind the table, his hair almost turned gray with worry, "In any case, I thank the king of the county."

"My lord, next, let's..."

Huang Junyao cheered up: "It's still the same as before, spending the money where it should be spent."

"My lord, if we don't build some public lands such as roads and drainage ditches, we must have more than enough money."

"Then how can it be done? Since it has been built into the largest prefectural city in the west and the largest concentration of markets, how can these public facilities be sloppy? This is a matter of great importance for generations to come."

The official curled his lips and murmured softly, "Maybe one day, the crater on Beishan burst into flames, and the whole city..."

Huang Junyao raised his eyebrows coldly, "What did you say?"

"No...it's nothing..." The civil official ran away in fright.

At the end of March, the weather turned warmer, and the snow and ice on the mountain had almost melted. There were woodcutters and mountain people moving among them. Liu Zaili found a local guide and had been wandering on it for four or five days.

The guide couldn't help asking: "My lord, you look like you're looking for century-old ginseng?"

Liu Zaili didn't answer, but still climbed up the stairs step by step.His entourage glared at the guide, "Know it and say it."

The guide grinned: "Hehe, I have lived near Beishan for many years, and I have also met a century-old ginseng, which looks like a spirit and can run. It takes a few people to step on its tail to catch it."

"Isn't it just ginseng, how can I say it looks like a fairy."

"Isn't it just a goblin?" The guide said with a big smile.

There were a few middle-aged men beside Liu Zai, and I saw that the sticks in their hands knocked on the rocks from time to time, or some people took advantage of the fact that the guide was not paying attention, lowered their bodies, and picked a mossy stone and put it to their mouths. I paid it off, and then threw it away after paying it off, over and over again, and wandered around the mountain for several days.

Shan Xiaosan walked quickly to the small wooden courtyard and came up to Ma Min'er, "My little master, the golden concubine is the prince's cousin Ling Ruya."

"I already know this, I want to know, how did she get to the Kingdom of Jin, and how did she become a princess?"

Shan Xiaosan said: "Going back to Xiaodong's house, according to the news from Pingding, she sneaked out of the house behind her mother's back, and she didn't know where she was going, but was captured by the thieves to the Kingdom of Jin, and was paid tribute to Prince Jin by the people of the Kingdom of Jin. She is beautiful, won the favor of the golden crown prince, and was made a concubine."

"It's really..." Ma Min'er didn't know what to say.

Shan Xiaosan said: "And Ling Ruya gave birth to a son in Pingding."

"What? There is a child?" Ma Min'er was really surprised, "Where is the child?"

"Beside her mother, I heard that Mrs. Ling took the child to find relatives."

"Dear one?" Ma Min'er said, "Could it be Xia Zhen's mother?"

"This little one didn't find out." Shan Xiaosan said again: "My little boss, during my follow-up and investigation these few days, I discovered one more thing."

"What's the matter?"

"His girl went to Lingqiu to buy several farmers."

"Buy farmers?"

"Correct."

Ma Miner frowned, "What does she want to do?"

Ten days have passed, and the Golden Crown Prince Yelu Haorong's food exchange is almost done. The North County King has done things very quickly, and has transported nearly hundreds of thousands of catties of grain, so he can go back to the country.

"Lu Ya, you must dress beautifully tomorrow night, and you must be better than the woman of the North County King, you know, don't let the prince lose face."

Ling Ruya said with regret: "His Royal Highness, if the woman of the North County King doesn't attend the dinner, isn't the concubine dressed for nothing?"

"No, the post I posted clearly stated that he wants to take a woman, otherwise he will look down on me, and I will look down on Da Jin Guo."

Ling Ruya was overjoyed secretly, and bowed with her body upright, "Yes, Your Highness, if I know about it, I will definitely wear the most expensive clothes that His Highness bestowed on me."

"En." Yelu Haorong nodded, "How is your dance now?"

"Go back to His Royal Highness, after being trained by Jin Nai, I have danced pretty well."

"Don't be bad, you must dance the best, you know?"

"Yes, yes, I know." Ling Ruya nodded vigorously.

Xia Zhen quickly threw aside the post from Prince Jin, "I don't care."

Mr. Wei smiled: "My lord, you have to attend this dinner."

Xia Zhen raised her eyes dissatisfied.

Mr. Wei saluted, "This is an exchange between countries. If you don't go, it's not appropriate."

"He asked me to take a woman."

"My lord, in Jin, Liao, Mongolia and other countries, they have the habit of bringing women with them when they travel. For the sake of etiquette, we also have to bring female companions of the same level. But you don't have any other women except your wife, so you can only let the people of Jin take advantage of it. Our future princess will treat their concubines."

Xia Zhen raised her eyebrows helplessly: "Okay, I got it, you can arrange it."

"Yes, my lord." Wei Ren said again: "Your lord, there is still the matter of identity certificates, and on the surface, Mr. Huang is actively doing it. The people in Liangzhou City and the surrounding areas have all come to the yamen to register. A little farther away, Master Huang sent subordinate officials to register in person, and during this time, many businessmen in Liangzhou City left."

Xia Zhen smiled coldly: "Would you leave if you were a serious businessman?"

"My lord is right. Some of them are not businessmen from Liao, Mongolia, and Jin. They sneak in under the name of businessmen and want to take root here, and some of them are probably..." Wei Ren looked south, meaning It couldn't be more obvious.

"Tell Huang Junyao that after the construction of the city is completed, the next step is to build the city wall. Build it stronger and stronger. I want Liangzhou City to stand upright for hundreds of years."

"Yes, my lord, I understand."

Xia Zhen said: "As for the silver, tell him that it will be used from the business tax. If it is not enough, you can apply to me."

"Yes, my lord."

"And..." Xia Zhen thought for a while, "Has Huang Junyao ever engaged?"

"No." Wei Ren asked.

Xia Zhen said: "Mr. Tian has a daughter to marry. Tell him about the situation. If you want to marry, you can write to Mr. Tian. If you don't want to marry, choose one from my Xia family."

"Yes, my lord." Wei Ren knew that this was a marriage. One side valued Huang Junyao, and the other was to restrain each other. He raised his head: "I heard that Master Huang's sister is very close to the wife's steward. It's all to the point of proposing marriage."

Xia Zhen raised her eyebrows: "There is such a thing?"

Wei Ren nodded.

"Well, I see."

"The humble job went to work."

After Wei Ren left, Jing Mo appeared, "My lord, besides taking people to Beishan himself, Liu Zaili is also secretly inquiring about our personnel, and he has noticed Guanshi Mu."

Xia Zhen's face darkened.

"However, the form of the investigation is the same as that of other people. There is nothing special. It is just that someone bribed Guanshi Mu. It may be that Mu Guanshi is 'honest and honest' so he can start."

Xia Zhen lowered her eyes, "This guy is leaving Liangzhou City empty-handed."

Jing Mo looked at his master, but didn't say anything.

Xia Zhen raised her eyes, "But before he leaves empty-handed, he will definitely meet with me."

"Then have you seen him?"

Xia Zhen pouted: "This guy is very conceited. He won't ask for my permission. He likes to appear in front of me unexpectedly."

"My lord..." Jing Mo stared at his master.

"Don't worry, until the emperor still needs me, he won't do anything to me."

"Yes, my lord, I understand the humble position."

After more than ten days of preparation and discussion, Ma Min'er and Qiu Baiyan called all the shopkeepers, accountants, and potential stewards from more than a dozen shops in Liangzhou City, and held a meeting for them. Announced the implementation of the shareholding system.

(End of this chapter)