Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 152: A Year of Plenty

Thinking of this, Emperor Longqing agreed to Cui Shu's policy.

"Lord Cui is worthy of being my right-hand man. I will immediately order your plan to be implemented!"

Upon hearing this, Cui Shu hurriedly grabbed Emperor Longqing.

"Your Majesty, wait a minute. Although this is a good idea, you cannot tell others that it was proposed by me. I need to personally guarantee it in your Majesty's name!"

Emperor Longqing was very confused after hearing this.

"Well, why is that?"

Cui Shu explained:
"My reputation is not even one tenth of yours. If I say that this policy was proposed by me, it will not impress the world. There are many jealous people in the court, such as the Imperial Tutor, who may say something to sabotage the policy, making it difficult to implement good governance. Only if your Majesty personally vouches for it can this be stopped. The people will also be grateful for your kindness and will pay taxes enthusiastically!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Longqing carefully thought about what Cui Shu said.

Cui Shu stood aside and waited quietly.

However, after a long time, Emperor Longqing was still in deep thought and remained silent for a long time.

The smile on Cui Shu's face gradually became stiff.

"Did you notice something?"

Cui Shu was thinking nervously in his heart, when Emperor Longqing suddenly spoke.

"My dear Cui!"

Cui Shu's heart skipped a beat and he said nervously:

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"

Emperor Longqing asked, "Since I am personally guaranteeing the payment, what do you think the tax should be called?"

Cui Shu didn't react for a moment.

"what?"

Emperor Longqing repeated: "I ask what name should be given?"

Cui Shu finally reacted and his brain started working rapidly.

"I think we should call it 'Year of Plenty Tribute'! What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Emperor Longqing clapped his hands and laughed: "Good, in a good year, we will have a good harvest next year. This is a good name!"

At this time, Emperor Longqing looked at Cui Shu and asked in confusion:

"Cui Aiqing, are you hot?"

Cui Shu said: "It's not hot."

Emperor Longqing asked: "If it's not hot, then why is there sweat on my face?"

Cui Shu wiped the sweat on his face due to nervousness and explained: "It is because I have been working hard for the country for many days, so I am weak inside and hot outside, which is why I look like this."

Emperor Longqing was deeply moved when he heard this, and he personally ordered the imperial physician to come and treat Cui Shu's health.

Such a loyal minister must not overwork himself.

Jia Mansion.

The gloom in the capital did not affect this place in the slightest.

It was a clear and cool autumn day, and Baoyu took his sisters to fly kites in the yard.

Baoyu flew a big fish kite, but felt it was not good enough, so he ordered his maids to add a big crab kite.

Yingchun flew a colorful butterfly kite.

Xichun flew a crane kite.

Xiangyun flew a wild goose kite.

Compared with Yingchun and Xichun's quiet personalities, Xiangyun's personality is more cheerful and lively.

She was still young at that time and didn't care too much about the etiquette constraints. She held the kite in her hands and flew it happily in the yard. Her little round face was red from tiredness, but she didn't feel tired.

"Look, my wild goose flies higher than your crab!"

Xiangyun said happily.

Baoyu looked at Xiangyun's innocent and lovely appearance and couldn't help but move closer to her. Suddenly, maybe the kite was too high or something else, and with a bang, Xiangyun's kite string suddenly broke, scaring everyone.

Looking again, I saw the wild geese flying far away to the south.

Baoyu shook his head and said:

"It's not even late autumn yet, but the wild geese have already flown south. How strange!"

Seeing this, Xiangyun said with a little dissatisfaction:
"Humph, the kite is broken, but Brother Ai is still here making sarcastic remarks about me!"

Baoyu heard this and coaxed Xiangyun:
"Sister Yun, as the saying goes, bad luck is written on a kite, and cutting the kite string means letting the bad luck go. Now, Sister Yun, you don't have to cut the string yourself, God will do the cutting for you, letting your bad luck go. Sister Yun, aren't you happy?"

Xiangyun laughed when she heard this, and found a pair of scissors and said:
"In this case, let me cut yours too, and get rid of your bad luck!"

Upon seeing this, Baoyu hurriedly tried to stop people and told Xiren and others to run away with the kite.

While they were playing, Jia Zheng's servant came and anxiously called Baoyu over.

It is said that after Jia Zheng returned home from work today, he received a letter from Lin Ruhai.

Since Daiyu did not officially marry Fang Yong in public, few people knew that Lin Ruhai had joined Fang Yong. Jia Zheng only knew that after the fall of Yangzhou, Lin Ruhai changed his name and now made a living by editing books and teaching, but he did not know that he was working for Fang Yong.

Now Lin Ruhai wrote to ask for some ancient books from the Jia family.

Now Lin Ruhai is engraving two books, "On Agriculture" and "On Industry", for Fang Yongxiu. The contents of the books involve major issues of people's livelihood and must be handled with extreme caution. The Jia family has some rare books, and Lin Ruhai wants to borrow them for reference.

After receiving the letter, Jia Zheng agreed without hesitation and ordered people to sort out the books. After searching, all other books were found except "General Examination of Things in the Daxi Region" compiled by Emperor Taizu.

This is an encyclopedia of Daxi, specially compiled by the founding emperor Taizu of Daxi. It records all kinds of things in Daxi, including astronomy and geography.

It is a pity that Emperor Taizu of Daxi died young, and the book was stopped after only half of the book was completed. It was never popularized until the end, and only some noble families at that time had it in their collection.

"Where is the book?"

Jia Zheng asked.

The servants were silent and answered cautiously:
"It seems, it was taken away by Master Bao!"

Jia Zheng slapped the bookshelf and said angrily:

"Asshole, why don't you call that evil beast over here!"

In this way, Baoyu and sister Xiangyun's happy time was interrupted by Jia Zheng.

When he arrived at Jia Zheng's place and asked about books, Baoyu was unable to answer.

He took the book just for fun at the beginning. Now so much time has passed, how can he still remember where he put that crappy book?

Jia Zheng has always attached great importance to books and culture. Seeing Baoyu's indifferent look, he suddenly got angry and beat Baoyu.

The matter soon alarmed Lady Jia, who rushed over to stop it.

Mrs. Wang also rushed over and hugged Baoyu and cried.

For a moment, the entire Jia Mansion was in chaos.

When Xiangyun heard about this, she hurried back to the Shi family.

The historian's family also had this book, so she borrowed it from her uncle.

However, when Xiangyun returned to the Shi family, Shi Nai said that Xiangyun was too old to visit the Jia Mansion, and on this basis, he forbade Xiangyun to leave the house.

No one knows the real reason why Shi Nai forbade Xiangyun to leave the house.

In short, in the end, Baoyu received a severe scolding from Jia Zheng.

In the court, as Emperor Longqing issued the order to promulgate the policy of "advance tribute in good years", all officials celebrated and praised the emperor for his wisdom.

Such good governance is truly a blessing for the people!

Among these officials who came to celebrate, some were Cui Shu’s accomplices, mainly officials from the Ministry of Revenue. They had the same interests as Cui Shu, so they naturally supported this policy in every way.

Just think about it, being able to collect the second year's taxes in advance means you can double your profits, which is simply a double happiness!

There were also many officials who were not Cui Shu's accomplices, but because Cui Shu's policies were good policies that "benefited the country and the people", they all expressed their support.

Although there are still some discordant voices, such as Yu Lian, no one cares about his opinion at all.

To be honest, in the eyes of Emperor Longqing, if Yu Lian had not been his former teacher and the original proposer of the new policy, he would have dismissed Yu Lian and sent him back home long ago.

(End of this chapter)