The spring of March is like the childhood, when you understand the nature and enjoy it most.
The willows fly with catkins when you act wisely, and the branches of Taoism are naturally covered with flowers.
The gardens of Jinxiang are rich and noble, and the fairy courtyard is magical under the moonlight.
The sky is as long as spring in March, and I don’t frown when I am enjoying the world.
March in spring is the most beautiful scenery in the world.
The flowers planted throughout Rongguo Mansion have begun to announce spring, especially the two peach blossoms that decorate the east courtyard, which makes people feel good about admiring them.
Jia Cong welcomed the two brothers Liu Hong and Liu Shuo into the courtyard. They sat around several tables in the corridor, with a cup of tea and an incense burner, which was quite comfortable.
Liu Hong suppressed the suspicion in front of the door, looked at Jia Cong in Confucian clothes, and said with a smile: "You look a little less unruly and a little more bookish today, which makes me a little uncomfortable. . I don’t know what it would be like if you were wearing this Confucian uniform and beating someone up. It’s interesting to think about it.”
Jia Cong grabbed the snacks on the plate and gave one to Liu Shuo. He also took one and began to satisfy his hunger.
While clicking, he rolled his eyes: "Fourth brother, I am now the head of the case in Daxing County. I am half a scholar and a serious scholar. How can I beat someone?"
"Okay, you are a scholar. The future Liu Yuanlang will not hit anyone easily. Even if he wants to hit someone, he will change his clothes before hitting him."
Liu Hong winked, while Liu Shuo ate sesame seeds and grinned innocently.
Hehe, you are teasing me, right...
"I heard that the Empress Dowager and Empress Yang have chosen the princess for Fourth Brother. Which noble family is she from? Has Fourth Brother gone to see if she looks good-looking?"
"Brother Shuo, I heard that His Majesty tested your homework a few days ago and you were beaten again. Is the injury on your butt healed?"
hiss! Hurt each other?
Liu Hong's face and neck turned red. The shy young man had just started to have a crush on him. He was planning to find an opportunity to secretly take a look at the girl his grandmother had chosen.
As for Liu Shuo, his mouth dropped, and he couldn't help but touch his buttocks, wanting to cry but without tears.
"Ahem, don't say this, don't say this..."
Liu Hong coughed twice and laughed, then changed the subject and asked about today's poetry meeting.
Naturally, Jia Cong, Lin Ruhai, and Xu Jin's plan would not be hidden from Liu Hong. After all, one of the purposes of today's poetry meeting is to expand the influence of Prince Liu Hong among the newly promoted Jinshi and talented officials.
"Reciting poems and writing poems is indispensable, but today's highlight is a new play. At that time, I will invite my fourth brother to come on stage in person to talk about last year's disaster relief in the capital."
Um?
Liu Hong thought for a moment and understood the reason for doing so. It seemed that Xu Qingteng was obsessed with the issue of land annexation in Gyeonggi Province.
"Okay, but you have to tell me clearly first, what is the reason for doing this?"
Jia Cong looked up at the sun hanging in the sky and smiled: "Fourth brother, let's go to the theater. Fourth brother will definitely be surprised by today's show!"
"The north wind blows,
The snowflakes are flying,
The snowflakes are fluttering.
On the day when my father went out to hide in the tent for seven days in the new year,
I still haven't returned it that night.
The wind blew that snowflake,
Outside the door,
The wind blows at the door and the door opens by itself.
I hope daddy comes home soon,
Have a happy New Year,
Have a happy New Year..."
The tunes are very different from current operas, but the novel tunes still greatly increase people's interest.
Two stages in the front yard and the back house were staged at the same time. The theater troupe of Prince Zhongshun's Palace perfectly performed Jia Congmo's revised version of "The White-Haired Girl".
"My daughter wears flowers,
My dad doesn’t have enough money to buy it.
Pulled on two feet of red-headed rope,
Tie it up for me,
Prick it up, prick it up. "
The rhythm at the beginning was quite lively and cheerful, and the tune was beautiful and smooth. Jiang Yuhan, who played the role of Xi'er on the stage, vividly expressed her joy of looking forward to her father's return.
Whether it was the literati in the front yard or the ladies in the back house, they saw the lives of poor people on the stage for the first time. Some were novel, some were disdainful, and some were thoughtful.
Because this cheerful rhythm is extremely inconsistent with the background of howling north wind and heavy snowfall, especially the word "hiding from debt" in "Xi'er"'s mouth, many people noticed something strange.
Sure enough, as the plot develops, the warm and cheerful scene takes a turn for the worse.
"Tian alone kills the single-rooted grass,
The flood completely covered the single-plank bridge,
I only have this one woman in my life,
I can't live without Xi'er! "
Some of the female relatives in the back house have already started wiping tears...
Especially among the women and maids in the Rongguo Mansion, some even forgot about their errands and cried silently on the shoulders of the people next to them.
"The wind and snow are blowing hard,
Nine out of ten houses are dimly lit.
Others celebrate the New Year and we celebrate the New Year.
It is unusual for the rich and the poor to celebrate the New Year.
There is wine and meat at the host's door,
There is no rice or noodles in the tenant’s house..."
The unscrupulous gentry Huang Shiren robbed a common girl, and Yang Bailao committed suicide on New Year's Eve. Xi'er was raped by Huang Shiren's daughter on the first day of the new year. Fortunately, he escaped from the Huang Mansion with the help of others...
The plot was unfolding on the stage scene by scene, and the spectators below had been aroused by Huang Shiren's evil deeds.
Compared to the reaction of the women in the backyard, the guests in the front yard were even more angry. Especially among the newly promoted Jinshi and young officials, some even picked up stools and rushed to the stage to beat the actor playing Huang Shiren to death.
The corners of Xu Jin's mouth raised slightly, and he looked at Lin Ruhai and smiled.
The passion of young people has not yet cooled down. Perhaps the reform and new policies that will change the world will officially start from the passion of these young people.
Xi'er became a "white-haired fairy" and lived on the incense and fruits offered in her grandmother's temple. Huang Shiren colluded with officials and businessmen. Without Xi'er, he still had Huan'er and Hua'er, and he still lived his life of being rich and unkind and oppressing the people.
Until Dachun, he braved life and death and begged all the way to Beijing, beating the Dengwen drum standing at the gate of the palace.
The emperor, who loved the people as his own son, sent Lord Qingtian out of the capital to follow the order and killed Huang Shiren and the county magistrate who had bribed and colluded with the emperor's sword. Only then did the people who were oppressed by this gloom get relief.
Xi'er finally met her sweetheart Dachun. Everyone originally thought that the miserable Xi'er would live a happy life with Dachun.
But after the imperial envoy left, other people's gossips repeatedly stabbed Xi'er's heart, which had already lost her "chastity".
Dachun had no choice but to sell his family's land and take Xier away from his hometown to seek refuge with relatives in Linxian County.
Unexpectedly, Huang Shiren died. After a bizarre flood, Dachun, who had just purchased a piece of land in Sussok, mortgaged the land to the village chief to ask for ten kilograms of millet in order to survive...
Xi'er finally became the "white-haired fairy" and died of exhaustion in the spring on the land of the Li Chang family, which originally belonged to his family.
call……
When the last line was sung, the front yard fell silent.
The guests no longer had the initial excitement and anger because this ending was something they did not expect.
If you kill one Huang Shiren, there will be a second one, a third one...
When there is a white-haired girl, there is a second one, a third one...
It seems that in my hometown, I often hear and see dirty things about people being forced to pawn their wives and sell their daughters. Often they just curse them or recite a few words from the saints.
Some families even hired tenants to farm their own land. Over the course of a year, their families had plenty of food and lavish food. But those tenants were thankful to God if they could survive.
Are you Huang Shiren? Do you also have a Xi'er at home?
When Prince Liu Hong walked onto the stage, everyone woke up from their trance.
"This drama should be both strange and familiar to you. At least I heard and saw a lot of it last winter..."
Liu Hong did not talk about what he had done during the disaster relief in Gyeonggi Province on the stage. Instead, he suppressed the words he had originally prepared in his heart and sighed: "
Everyone should know why Emperor Taizu Gao raised an army back then. In the previous dynasty, foreigners took over the Central Plains and oppressed the Han people. The great China is full of fishy smell, and the people are living in unspeakable misery. Taizu, Taizong and the imperial grandfather worked hard to restore the people's livelihood, and this was the Zhaoyuan era. But is this prosperous age really a prosperous age? "
"Mr. Ioto..."
"I'm here!"
Xu Jin stood up and bowed to Liu Hongzuo.
Liu Hong invited Xu Jin to the stage and said sadly: "Mr. Qingteng has traveled to every corner of the capital, and today I ask him to answer my questions. How are the people of Daxia living in this prosperous era of Zhaoyuan? Is it a prosperous age?"
Xu Jin nodded, then shook his head, and finally let out a long sigh and had someone fetch a huge wooden box.
"You may be wondering why today's poetry gathering requires you to watch such a performance first?"
Everyone nodded subconsciously, but saw that Xu Jin had someone open the box and first took out a long scroll.
"This is the "Picture of Hungry for Thousands of Miles" painted by Tang Yin, a former conservator and editor of the Hanlin Academy. Gentlemen, the scene in this painting is what your Highness actually saw when he arrived in Fangshan County, the worst-hit area in Shuntian Prefecture, last winter. scene."
"Reciting poems and writing poems cannot satisfy the hunger of the hungry people. I cannot kill Huang Shiren who oppresses the people, and I cannot save the white-haired fairy Xi'er."
Everyone nodded subconsciously again, and then saw Liu Hong taking over Xu Jin's words.
"I have just seen the indignation of you benevolent gentlemen towards Huang Shiren, and I have also seen your righteous indignation. We are all the disciples of saints. Confucius said benevolence and Mencius seek righteousness. Today I will tell you about the relief work for the victims in the cold winter last year. Something..."
The poetry meeting seemed to have turned into a lecturing debate, at least in the front yard.
If the guests in the front yard of Rongguo Mansion today were mainly court officials, Youzi, the tear-jerking and outrageous "White-Haired Girl" might have been sung in vain.
But I can't stand the freshly minted new Jinshi and this group of hot-blooded young men with a full sense of justice.
The natural disasters caused by man-made disasters made everyone want to cut the Fangshan County prison official and Wang Qingtang and others into pieces. The disaster relief methods of Prince Liu Hong, Wen'an County Lord, Jia Cong and others also amazed everyone.
The work-for-relief model has been implemented in the imperial court for two years. Everyone is concerned about current affairs, so it is not unfamiliar.
Only the household contract responsibility system of Huangzhuang and Guandian that Daiyu presented to the prince refreshed everyone's understanding.
This kind of rent not only allows the landless people to live and work in peace and contentment, but also allows the court and the royal family to have stable taxes. It is indeed a good way to resettle the people.
However, these are only implemented in Gyeonggi and Nanzhili where Huangzhuang and official fields are abundant. I want to promote it...
Could it be that the prince intended to cut the local gentry with a knife? That's not okay!
Because most of them are from the families of gentry and wealthy businessmen.
On the one hand, his family's interests were threatened, and on the other hand, his conscience was being tortured. The atmosphere in the front yard fell into an extremely strange situation.
Lin and Xu did not express their attitudes. Liu Hong only raised the question of whether the local rent was too high and whether rent and interest should be reduced. Except for a few people who agreed, most of them were silent. part.
Liu Hong was not in a hurry, just smiled faintly, sat together with Jia Cong, and listened to other people's discussions.
Compared with the front yard, the atmosphere in the backyard seems to be more harmonious. As a person who has experienced the relief work in Gyeonggi Province, Daiyu also took the stage to talk about many of her experiences in Wangpingkou.
Including the poor people she saw, those children supported their big heads with slender necks and bulging but empty stomachs.
Until she talked about the relief method that the Emperor and His Royal Highness had allowed her to propose, as well as the support of the princes and princesses of the clan.
In front of the stage in the backyard, many ladies had already understood the meaning of Daiyu's words.
"Shuntianfu Refugee Relief and Resettlement Manual" became famous in the capital very quickly.
The new play "The White-Haired Girl" from the Rongguofu Poetry Festival is being shown in major theaters in the capital.
Jiang Yuhan performed three performances a day, and the audience was full every time.
Subsequently, word spread about the sagacity of the prince Liu Hong, the first-class son Jia Cong of Sishui County, and the lord of Wen'an County.
As well as those princes and princesses who participated in reducing rents and interest rates to resettle the refugees, when they are mentioned by the people in the capital, they will always be said to be kind and virtuous.
Enke's palace examination has passed, and the number of candidates in Beijing has not decreased, but has regrouped.
Jia Cong was sitting in the private room of the largest restaurant outside the Imperial Academy, listening to the angry speeches outside, and laughed helplessly.
"Brother Cong, is this too much? Although our court does not punish people with words, will it arouse the resentment of the princes in the court when scholars discuss politics and still gather people to write letters?"
Daiyu also came out with Jia Cong today. "Shuntian Prefecture Refugee Relief and Resettlement Manual" was completed by her and Jia Cong together, and she spent a lot of effort.
Just like raising a baby, whoever gives birth to the baby cares.
Jia Cong responded: "At the very least, most of the courtiers will propose sending out the Dragon Guards to suppress it."
The discussion outside seemed to have reached a climax. Through the thin door of the private room, Jia Cong and Daiyu heard passionate words of eagerness and kindness.
"The national thieves and ghosts don't care about the life and death of the people. They sit on thousands of acres of land, and the wealth of the people is the fat in their mouths. The resettlement policy has been spread for so long, but they are indifferent and even hindered His Highness the Crown Prince from implementing the new law. "
"Gentlemen, we are the true disciples of the saint, with benevolence and righteousness in our hearts and righteousness in our bodies. Should we continue to remain silent?"
"It's just a reduction in rent and interest. My family owns more than 2,000 acres of land in Dangyang County. I have already gone to Xin's house. Starting from this year, we will rent it as official land and reduce the rent and interest."
"Brother Fang is benevolent and righteous. Naturally, I cannot lag behind. According to His Highness the Crown Prince's proposal, the official land and the people's rent can still get preferential land tax from the court, and the tenants at home can fill their stomachs. Why not? It's just a few dozen less land rent. , who lives on land rent?”
Hearing this sentence in the private room, he nodded and whispered to Daiyu: "That's the point. In fact, according to the proposal of Your Majesty and Fourth Brother, if the rent is really determined by the rent of official land and private rent, it will be given to the tenants. By reducing rent and interest, the court will not only praise benevolence and righteousness, but also reduce the family's land tax. They can even use the fertile soil in Liaodong to replace the land and realize private land owned by the government."
well! Jia Cong helplessly shook his head: "It's a pity that families with large estates often don't live on rent at all, but they are so remote that they can't see through the reality. For this small profit, Your Majesty is forced to go under the knife."
The voices in the capital supporting the implementation of the "Shuntian Prefecture Refugee Relief and Resettlement" are getting louder and louder. Of course, this is promoted by the emperor, Xu Jin, Lin Ruhai and others, but more importantly, it is the excitement of the group of supervisors in the capital.
Many officials in the court wrote to the emperor, saying that the officials in the capital had no status and criticized the government, and soldiers should be sent to suppress them.
It's a pity that the emperor kept all the news without publishing it and allowed these officials to gather and discuss it. The Secretary of General Affairs had received emails from the officials for several days in a row. The first thing he did on duty every day was to go to the Cabinet and the Forbidden City. Send a new round of petitions from officials.
On the second day of April, the Shuntian Mansion Examination began.
A few days later, shocking news came out of this year's Shuntian Mansion Examination.
The policy topic for the third session was drawn up personally by Wei Qinghe, the chief minister of the cabinet - Land to the tiller.
For a time, the capital was in an uproar.
Jia Cong did not expect that Mr. Wei would suddenly express his position. Still, in this special way, the young officials were so excited that they began to give speeches around the capital on the day after the imperial examination, gathering people's hearts and planning to come. A vigorous plea for life for the people.
Among the enthusiastic officials all over the capital, there is also a group of people waiting hard for the Shuntian Prefecture to release the results.
The grading speed this time was extremely fast, and the Shuntianfu Yamen posted the list on April 15th.
There was no surprise this time. Jia Cong, who had written the "Relief and Resettlement Guide for Refugees in Shuntian Prefecture", once again took the lead in the Shuntian Prefecture Jinke Prefectural Examination.
The second place was a truly poor student named Zhou Baniu.
Zhou Baginiu and his sincere words impressed the chief and deputy examiners. If his practical strategies in policy discussions were not as good as Jia Cong's, maybe this was the case.
This is Brother Baniu who relied on the support of the whole village to enter the examination room.
This time Baoyu only finished at the bottom of the exam. After the test paper was posted again, the person who was hotly discussed by thousands of officials in the capital was not Jia Cong, the head of the case, but Jia Jue and Jia Baoyu, who had criticized China's thieves and ghosts throughout the policy discussion. .
When Jia Cong saw the posted test paper, he was stunned.
He stared at Baoyu, whose face was flushed, with wide eyes: "Brother Bao, you... you... you... no wonder you are unwilling to write down the strategy for the third game silently. It turns out that you are so courageous, you are not afraid of the second game." I’ll beat you to death with a big stick!”
?Monthly ticket??Recommended ticket?
