In an inner hall of the Daming Palace, Jia Lian and three others went in to have a meal under the guidance of the eunuch. Although the eight or nine kinds of meals were all exquisite, they were all side dishes and snacks and did not appear extravagant. It was obvious that Emperor Ningkang was usually frugal and not a person who indulged in pleasure.
"Why don't you eat?" The fourth prince Xu was really hungry. After sitting down, he ate a few mouthfuls, and then he saw that his imperial sister and Jia Lian didn't touch Kuai Zi.
Not only did Kuai Zi not move, but the two of them were still looking at me, and I looked at you, as if they were sending a message.
When Jia Lian heard this, he cupped his hands and said, "Princess, please go first." Princess Zhaoyang was not polite. She immediately picked up the silver chopsticks, picked up a piece of bamboo shoot tip and put it into her mouth. Then she nodded and said, "The imperial chef in the palace is very good at cooking. This autumn." The fried meat with bamboo shoots tastes good, Zhenyuan Marquis should also try it."
"Really? Let me try." The fourth prince stood up and opened his mouth to pick up vegetables. Princess Zhaoyang frowned when she saw his vulgar behavior, and calmly picked up the fried venison with autumn bamboo shoots and put it on the table. He came to Jia Lian and smiled at Jia Lian.
Turning around, he saw the fourth prince with a look of astonishment on his face, and he took a chicken leg out of the soup and put it into his bowl.
"Hmph." The fourth prince was like a wronged little daughter-in-law who dared not speak out in anger. He sat down and picked up the chicken drumstick with his bare hands and started to bite it fiercely.
Jia Lian watched with cold eyes, unable to express his inner thoughts on his face. He could only sigh secretly that the siblings were enemies.
The fourth prince was fearless and dared to fight with anyone he met. He was helpless against Princess Zhaoyang. Jia Lian alone had seen him crumble in the hands of Princess Zhaoyang several times.
In order to prevent the fourth prince from hating him because of a plate of side dishes, Jia Lian did not immediately pick up the dishes and taste them. He thanked Princess Zhaoyang and then changed the subject: "This time, Your Highness the Princess took the initiative to invite you to talk about the clan, courage and filial piety." That's admirable. May I ask, does your Highness have any good ideas in mind?" Sure enough, when the fourth prince heard Jia Lian ask about this matter, he was no longer angry and turned his eyes to look at his imperial sister.
Although he didn't care much about political affairs, he also knew that the people in the clan were very conservative and very philistine. It would be very difficult to get them to cooperate with the court in paying land taxes.
However, Princess Zhaoyang took a bite of the dishes in a leisurely manner, and then Fang Xiao asked Jia Lian: "Master Zhenyuan, do you not believe in the little girl's ability, and are you worried that I will mess up this matter?"
"No, I have long known your Highness's bravery, determination, and good decisions. If Her Highness the Princess cannot take on this responsibility, I'm afraid no one can relieve Your Majesty's worries."
"Hehehe, the Marquis is still so good at talking...but, I really don't have any good ideas, I just want to deal with this matter first. But the Marquis of Zhenyuan has always been very resourceful. If you have any strategies to teach me, the little girl is all ears. , I will definitely repay you in the future.”
"Hey, can you two stop bragging to each other like this? I can't stand listening anymore!" The fourth prince always felt that his sister's words were weird when Jia Lian was around. How should I put it, hypocritical!
"Sister, you are the same. Since you are not sure, why did you take on this thankless job just now? There are so many capable ministers and generals under my father's command, so just send one to do this. You tried to be brave, but now you regret it." The fourth prince's tone was slightly sarcastic.
Princess Zhaoyang glanced at him and felt that she and Jia Lian couldn't understand each other with this bastard around, so she gave Jia Lian a look, stopped talking, and concentrated on eating.
...After dinner, Jia Lian was summoned by Emperor Ningkang again. The person who did it was just asking about the progress of firearms and...
"It is rumored that your Jia family has thousands of acres of fertile land in the north and south, which exceeds the imperial limit of 100,000 acres for a duke's house. Is this rumor true?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, it is indeed true. Since Taizu, our Jia family has been favored by the emperor, and the holy scrolls are excellent. Our ancestors in the past generations did not know how to manage the family business better. Whenever we have savings, we use it to buy land. To this day, including the rewards from saints of the past dynasties, the total acres of mountains, forests and farms owned by my Jia family totals nearly 300,000 acres. Even after deducting the clan sacrifice land, there are still more than 250,000 acres." Emperor Ning Kang originally asked casually, but Jia Lian immediately answered the specific number.
I don't know if I had expected him to ask this question, or if he was really serving the king and being loyal and sincere. But even if he had expected that he would ask this question, he could answer it so simply and neatly, which was considered fair and honest.
After all, if someone like King Zhongshun can only hesitate and make vague statements, how can he dare to come up with a specific number?
"Oh? If that's the case, what do you think of the court's new tax laws?"
"Naturally, it is the work of a thousand years and a good recipe for a hundred generations. On behalf of the family, I am willing to fully support the imperial court in achieving the great success of reforming the tax law." Jia Lian has studied politics and dare not say anything else. For high-level speaking skills, it is The vast majority of people in this era who want to flatter themselves are not as good as flatterers.
"Seriously? If according to the New Deal, the extra 100,000 acres of land of your Jia family will cost thousands of kilos of grain every year, which is equivalent to your salary for ten years, you won't feel bad at all, or in other words, you won't be afraid of your family members. Complain?" Jia Lian said seriously: "A gentleman likes wealth and gets it in a wise way. Not to mention that my Jia family enjoys the best treatment in the country. Even if my Jia family is just an ordinary citizen under the rule of Wei, as long as I can deal with it, It is beneficial to the court and the people of the world, and the Jia family should give its full support. The family is the smallest country, and the country is the largest family. If there is no big country, how can there be a small family? Therefore, your majesty does not need to worry about the humble ministers, let alone my Jia family There is no such person who does not understand righteousness. Even if there is, the humble ministers will teach and control them, and they will not be allowed to become the slightest obstacle to His Majesty's new policy!" Thousands of stone grains are indeed equivalent to his ten years of salary and silver. Lumi.
However, all in all, it is only a few thousand taels of silver! How to choose between thousands of taels of silver and Emperor Ningkang's favor? Can Jia Lian hesitate?
Moreover, although the Jia family's two houses have exceeded the limit, Jia Lian does not believe that the tax rates for farmland, forests, and manors will be the same!
If fertile land is included in the quota, and mountains, forests, manors, etc. are used to pay taxes, the amount will be greatly reduced on this basis.
Besides, others don't know that he doesn't know that Emperor Ning Kang promised to make up for this part of the loss to the clan members from the annual reward.
In other words, Emperor Ningkang did not intend to snatch benefits from people like the clan members. What he wanted was to make the clan members no longer be the protective umbrella of the small and medium-sized landowners below, but become the hiding place for thousands of small and medium-sized landowners. , a haven for tax evasion.
It is conceivable that if Emperor Ning Kang can accomplish this matter, let alone complete it, even if it is only implemented briefly, from the clan, the descendants, the noble families, and the lords will be eager to put the things in their hands.
Donating land of "unknown origin" and throwing it back... Come to think of it, this is what Emperor Ningkang and the courtiers really care about.
Although Jia Lian felt that once the clan members paid taxes, perhaps the palace would make up for the losses in the first few years, but as the matter became a foregone conclusion, the so-called subsidies would definitely be difficult to guarantee... Perhaps this was what Emperor Ningkang had originally planned. , otherwise why didn’t he write this regulation down and just let the lobbyists make promises on his behalf?
In this way, even if he no longer fulfills his promise in the future, he can still shirk it. Alas, my poor princess will be betrayed by her father again.
Alas, just take the blame. If you want to get power from the emperor, how can you make sense if you don't help take the blame? Isn't he the same?
So Jia Lian said in a bachelor's manner: "So, if Your Majesty needs it, I can even take the initiative to set an example among the honorable ministers. After the new tax law comes into effect, I will be the first to take the initiative to declare the land and pay the tax in full every year. Become the vanguard of His Majesty's new policy!" Emperor Ning Kang looked at Jia Lian and said for a long time: "If everyone in the world is as loyal to the monarch and the country as you are, why worry about the world being unstable and the officials not being able to govern! I can feel much more relaxed..." Uh, Your Majesty, you are just dreaming. Let alone you, even in the next three thousand years, the world will not be like what you said.
Moreover, I dare not tell you that as long as there are more people like me who travel through this world, it will only be a matter of time before the world is at peace, the government is unclear, the mountains and rivers are broken, and all life is in ruins.
Emperor Ningkang didn't know Jia Lian's fucking thoughts. He was very satisfied with Jia Lian's words, encouraged Jia Lian with a few words, and let him out of the palace.
...Back to Rongguo Mansion, perhaps because of the distance, the farce on the long street did not bring any turmoil to Jia Mansion.
However, in the study room of Dongkuoyuan, Hu Yuanyao received a message from Princess Zhaoyang, asking him to meet outside the city tomorrow.
This was also expected. Jia Lian agreed and went home. It was September, and it was a cold autumn at home. But under the eaves, Jia Lian saw a lot of fruits and vegetables, such as pumpkins, eggplants, etc., there were quite a lot of them!
Jia Lian took a second look and didn't pay much attention. He went straight into the house and saw Ping'er sitting alone in the house doing needlework.
"Second Master is back." Ping'er always looks so peaceful. When Jia Lian comes into the house, he is neither cold nor flattering. If it weren't for the fact that he is more warm and considerate than her master's grandmother between the sheets, Jia Lian will Sometimes I have to wonder if this girl is simply committing herself to him out of etiquette.
Jia Lian
He said "Hmm" and walked to Ping'er's previous seat and sat down. He picked up her needlework and took a look at it. It was a tube top with yellow gold threads.
"Your own?"
"Made for the second grandma. Grandma Qianer burned two old ones, and I was afraid that she wouldn't have enough to replace them, so I made two new ones for her." Ping'er explained, standing next to Jia Lian.
Jia Lian pulled her to sit on his lap and put his hands into her arms. After a while, he said very seriously: "There are so many maids in the courtyard, whoever does it for her will be different. Look, your own is also old. Why don't you know how to make two new ones for yourself?" Ping'er, who had already been touched by Jia Lian, blushed. Hearing this, he explained seriously: "Second grandma is not used to wearing clothes made by others. Besides, I am old. The dark green one was made by me just half a month ago..." Women in this era are basically female workers, so apart from not being too demanding about their outer clothes, their personal belongings are basically made by themselves. .
The people in his courtyard are naturally no exception. It's just that Sister Feng doesn't have much free time and is too lazy to do such small things.
Therefore, most of her intimate clothes were made by Ping'er. And like Jia Lian, most of the details on him are Qingwen's masterpieces.
The female worker Xiangling is not very good, she likes to read. Having said that, when Jia Lian heard Ping'er's words, he immediately asked curiously: "Dark green? Let me see if you lied?" Seeing Jia Lian really picking up her collar to take a look, Ping'er was both helpless and funny, because Holding his chest, he advised: "Second Master, don't make trouble. There are guests here today. Don't let others catch the joke?"
"Oh? What guest?"
"It's not that he's an important guest. He's a countryman. He has an ancient relationship with Second Grandma. He visited Second Grandma once that year. Second Grandma didn't treat her badly and promised her some money. Now she's probably living a good life. Feeling better, I brought a lot of melons and vegetables to visit my second grandma. I didn’t want the old lady to hear this, so I had to ask her to come over and have a look. Grandma Fuji also went there and hasn’t come back yet. I originally planned to sit down for a while and go and have a look. Yes, the second master will be back soon." Jia Lian hugged his concubine and said with a smile, "Oh, this guest's surname is Liu?"
"It's Grandma Liu, how did the Second Master know?" Ping'er sat upright, a little curious. If she remembered correctly, that year Grandma Liu came to visit her to catch the autumn breeze, but the second master was obviously not at home.
Jia Lian smiled and said nothing, and never took the matter to heart. Ping'er, who was seventeen or eighteen years old, looked as pretty as a flower. He hugged her for a moment and couldn't help but want to do something bad.
Ping'er couldn't persuade her, and she was angered by Jia Lian, so she pressed Jia Lian's hand to untie her clothes, lifted her hair, and her eyes were clear.
"Second Master still remembers that he owes Ping'er a promise."
"Oh, when did it happen?" Jia Lian didn't think about it seriously. When he saw that Ping'er wouldn't let him take off his clothes, he turned to kiss her neck. He thought that this little girl was decent in appearance, but once she was tempted, she would be an interesting person. man of.
"I knew that the second master didn't take this matter to heart, so I reminded him kindly. The first time Grandma Xiaorong came here, when the second master succeeded, she helped you to tell the lie in front of the second grandma, the second master said I promised someone something." Jia Lian then remembered that it was indeed true.
"That's what happened. What do you want?" Jia Lian let go of Ping'er and sat on the stool, looking a little unhappy.
Ping'er never asked him for anything, so bringing it up at this time was probably to persuade him to stop.
Ping'er stood up straight. Seeing Jia Lian like this, he didn't understand Jia Lian's mood. She smiled knowingly, without explaining, and continued to brush her hair that was messed up by Jia Lian. She put her ear next to Jia Lian and said with a smile: "Second Master, you still remember that year, before Second Mistress entered this door..." …”
"I followed the second grandma to this house, and arranged a room for the second grandma to stay in the house. The second master came in a hurry to look for the second grandma, but unfortunately the second grandma went to see his wife, and I was the only one in the house at that time. inside."
"That year, I was only thirteen years old..." Ping'er's soft words easily brought Jia Lian's thoughts back to his memory.
Looking through the messy and bullshit memories of his predecessor, Jia Lian suddenly remembered them. Jia Lian was only sixteen or seventeen years old at that time, and the two families happened to be discussing marriage between him and Sister Feng, so Sister Feng, who used to come here to play often, had not been to Jia's house for a long time.
When he came over that time, Jia Lian happily ran to find Sister Feng. I didn't find Sister Feng, but I saw a maid with red lips and white teeth, handsome eyebrows, and a somewhat well-behaved appearance sitting in the room.
Of course he knew that it was one of Sister Feng's personal maids. If he had taken it easy, he would not have had any evil intentions.
But by then, he knew that the great beauty Sister Feng would most likely fall into his hands. Once Sister Feng got married, as long as he wanted to, this little beauty would most likely be his.
Thinking of this, Jia Lian became emboldened. He didn't even look for Sister Feng, and just stayed in the room. After some probing words, he found that Ping'er had no intention of stealing from him, and actually wanted to use some of it.
"Strong tactics." It's easy to understand what he was thinking at the time. As long as he succeeded at that time, under that background, Ping'er would have no choice but to obey. The most he could ask for was to give her a title in the future.
This, Mr. Jia Er, can still afford it. Who would have thought that this little maid looks so delicate and weak that it is really hard to coax her.
The other party was not as half-hearted as he imagined other girls would be. Instead, she threatened to break up if she continued to show disrespect.
When Jia Lian was so angry that he was riding a tiger and was unable to dismount, his maid came to find him, but she relieved him and left in annoyance.
After that, he was still afraid, but after probing around, he learned that Ping'er had not told what happened that day. This made Jia Lian respect Ping'er, fear him, and even feel itchy.
It's a pity that Wang Xifeng is a powerful wife. After marrying into the family, she was not allowed to touch the people around her. This allowed someone who came after her to take a complete advantage.
Jia Lian didn't know, what was Ping'er's intention at this time? Could it be that he was deliberately trying to embarrass him?
If so, she might have made a wrong calculation, and she didn't do this embarrassing thing herself. If it had been him, it would have been like that that day anyway, so why give up halfway?
In one word, Yuan Jia Lian is still too cowardly! Ping'er saw Jia Lian smiling and saying nothing, and when he recalled what happened at the time, his smile grew even wider.
"I'm not saying this for anything else. I just want to ask the second master, but are you still annoyed about what happened at the beginning?" Now that the matter has come to this, what can Jia Lian say?
He could only say sanctimoniously: "No, you were too young back then, and Jia could actually have such thoughts. Jia is really not a thing!" Obviously, the Jia here refers specifically to the former Jia.
Ping'er smiled and said in a nostalgic way: "No, later Ping'er asked himself, if he hadn't stopped the second master that day, wouldn't it be true that Ping'er would have already been the second master's woman? No need... no need to wait for so many years..." Ping'er said, blushing, but Jia Lian suddenly felt a little unhappy.
It took more than a year after he arrived in this world to win over Ping'er. Ping'er said that he had been waiting for several years. Obviously, there was an element of the lecher in this.
So I couldn't help but tighten my arms around Ping'er's waist.
"Now that we are talking about what to do, haven't we already achieved perfection a long time ago?" Ping'er originally wanted to express her love, but she didn't know that the complexity was far beyond her imagination!
When she noticed the strength of Jia Lian's arms, she just thought that Jia Lian liked her body, so
"Yeah", he whispered in his ear: "If the second master is not annoying, Ping'er would like to ask the second master, if he is willing to give it a try, what will happen if no one comes to interrupt the second master that day? What about the scene..."
"Well! Jia Lian didn't react slowly. He suddenly came back to his senses and looked at Ping'er in shock. His quick reaction also made Ping'er more determined to play the game. He smiled and got out of Jia Lian's arms and spoke softly and slowly. Yu explained: "The second master will go out in a while, wait for a while and then come in again, just as if Ping'er is just a little maid next to the second grandma. And Ping'er will only think that the second master is the second master of the Jia family. If the second master wants to do anything to Ping'er, Ping'er will not agree to it. He will resist and even shout. What he can do depends on the second master. It's up to you. This is what Ping'er wants the second master to do. Is the second master willing to accompany Ping'er for a while? Jia Lian calmed down, gave Ping'er a thumbs up, and then without saying a word, he stood up and went straight outside.
