Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 279 The Frightened and Heartbroken Scholars
"Any objections? Then reduce it to 70%!" Sure enough, as the noise in the hall rose again, Zhu Zhanhe's cold and authoritative voice suddenly rang out, once again reaching the ears of the many scholars.

"what?"

"Your Highness." The hall erupted in noise once again.

"Shut up!"

"Quiet!" Compared to the noise from some people, there were still some astute students present who immediately whispered to their classmates who were making noise. But obviously, it was already too late.

"Insolence!" Just as the Chengyun Hall was once again in an uproar, a voice like a dragon's roar suddenly resounded throughout the hall, echoing in the ears of countless scholars.

In an instant, countless people in the hall felt their minds buzzing, instantly losing their ability to think, their eyes filled with terror, and some were even so frightened by the sudden sound that they fell to the ground, helplessly looking around.

"Your Highness, please calm your anger!" As the dragon-like voice fell, Xiao Xizi, Mu Sheng, Xia Yuanji, and the others, who had witnessed the majesty of the alligator dragon, knelt down one by one in the main hall facing Zhu Zhanhe, begging him to stop his anger. After all, the pressure was really quite frightening.

"Your Highness, please calm your anger!"
"Your Highness, please calm your anger!" As Xia Yuanji and the others finished speaking, the princes who had been intimidated by Zhu Zhanhe gradually came to their senses and immediately knelt down, kowtowing loudly to Zhu Zhanhe and begging for forgiveness. At the same time, countless people tightly closed their panicked and helpless eyes. How many of those who had come here were fools? They knew perfectly well that the awe-inspiring dragon's roar had definitely come from His Highness the Crown Prince of Han!
His Highness the Crown Prince of Han is no ordinary man! This is the sentiment of countless scholars!
"Scholars, this time Annam's land distribution has been reduced to 50%!"

After reading out the land distribution regulations, Minister Xia dismissed the court session immediately!
"The farewell banquet tonight is hereby cancelled. Tomorrow morning, officials from the Six Ministries will see you off to Annam!" Zhu Zhanhe, dressed in the robes of a crown prince, stood on the high platform of Chengyun Hall, looking down at the crowd below, delivering the final punishment to the scholars for their disturbance. Furthermore, Zhu Zhanhe cancelled the farewell banquet originally scheduled for tonight. Having said this, Zhu Zhanhe ignored the scholars' terrified, astonished, and helpless gazes, and simply turned and left!

Seeing that His Highness the Crown Prince had already left, Xiao Xizi hurriedly followed. Before leaving, she glared fiercely at the many scholars before rushing towards Zhu Zhanhe's direction.

"Respectfully seeing off His Highness the Crown Prince!" Led by Xia Yuanji, the scholars bowed in farewell to the departing Crown Prince, heading in the direction Zhu Zhanhe had gone. The other scholars quickly echoed their greetings.

"You lot, sigh~!" After Zhu Zhanhe left, Xia Yuanji looked at the group of scholars who remained and couldn't help but sigh deeply. He didn't know what to say to them, so he just frowned and stared at them with a look of disappointment.

"Lord Xia, Duke Mu, we are ignorant and have caused this disaster, enraging His Highness the Crown Prince. We do not know how to remedy this. We humbly request your guidance, and we will be eternally grateful." Seeing that the Crown Prince had truly left, all the scholars tensed up instantly. Finally, Zhang Dazhu, who had ranked first in the examination, stepped forward nervously and respectfully sought advice from Xia Yuanji and Mu Sheng.

“You are new to officialdom and unfamiliar with the rules of the court. I suppose His Highness won’t hold it against you too much. His Highness is furious this time and may have reduced your share of Annam, but he has at least left you with 50%, which is a reasonable concession. You should first hear what consequences your reckless actions have led to.” Xia Yuanji knew that his son-in-law’s outburst was partly due to anger, and partly to teach these newly appointed officials a lesson. Xia Yuanji agreed with this and didn’t object, but he felt sorry for the scholars before him, for the land they had lost!
"Please enlighten us, Lord Xia." After hearing Xia Yuanji's words, although they didn't know whether what Xia Yuanji said was true or false, the scholars could only choose to believe him, after all, they had no other choice.

"Wait a minute! This initial allocation plan has already been finalized, and you people have already caused such a scene, enraging His Highness. If, during the second revision of the allocation plan, His Highness reduces the quotas for the entire civil service, you will be guilty of a grave offense." Seeing Xia Yuanji playing the good guy, Mu Sheng, as the military representative, felt obligated to play the bad guy. After all, Mu Sheng knew that His Highness's allocation standards for civil officials were far lower than those for military officials. This meant that His Highness intended to lower the allocation standards for civil officials, and now was a perfect opportunity!

Upon hearing Mu Sheng's words, the scholars were startled. If their mistake led to the loss of the entire civil service system, they would find it difficult to maintain their positions among the Yunnan civil officials in the future! In an instant, all the scholars' eyes were focused on Mu Sheng.

"Lord Mu's words are not without reason. After you take office, you must perform your duties diligently and avoid making any more mistakes. There is still hope for things to turn around." After hearing Mu Sheng's words, even Xia Yuanji was stunned for a moment, because Xia Yuanji knew that what Mu Sheng said was true. Although he did not know the reason, his son-in-law did not want the civil service system to have too much influence!
"Let's get back to the main topic." Although he knew Mu Sheng was telling the truth, Xia Yuanji could only continue to comfort the scholars. He then quickly changed the subject, steer the discussion towards the details of land development and allocation.

"Regarding Yunnan's land allocation plan for external development."
In each newly developed area, the civil service system allocated land as rewards, with each county receiving 20,000 mu of land! All land was allocated to the prefectural government, where it was distributed in stages by officials at various levels.
"The clerks and servants hired by the prefectural government itself will be provided by each government office." Xia Yuanji clearly told everyone that a county could be allocated 20,000 mu of land, while a county only had about ten official officials, with the rest being mostly hired personnel. Even if 10,000 mu of land were allocated to hired personnel, the remaining official officials would still each receive at least 1,000 mu of land! That's a full 1,000 mu! No more than 1,000 mu! Because no one would give that much land to hired personnel!

In an instant, countless scholars were filled with remorse. Only now did they realize what they had missed out on due to their momentary recklessness. Even a thousand acres of land would make them substantial landowners! And if they had a thousand acres, they wouldn't be poor scholars anymore; they would be undoubtedly from wealthy families! Yet, because of their momentary mistake, they had actually lost a thousand acres of land! How heartbreaking!

No wonder the Crown Prince of Han said that every position was extremely valuable; it turns out he was going to allocate land to every official employee. That is indeed very precious!
Even more serious is the possibility that this might cause His Highness the Scholars to become dissatisfied with them, the civil officials, and reduce the amount of land granted to them, even if it's just a reduction of 10%, that would be an unbearable consequence for them!

Seeing the scholars' heartbroken and frustrated expressions, and their self-pity, Xia Yuanji gently shook his head.

"You should all do your jobs well. After Annam, there are countless other places to develop. You have only been exempted from some of Annam's land share. If you work hard in the future, you will make up for it in other places to develop." Xia Yuanji looked at the scholars who were saddened by the land and gently comforted them, even though Xia Yuanji knew that such comfort was somewhat inadequate.

"Go back and prepare, everyone. We'll be setting off for Annam early tomorrow morning. There are countless surprises waiting for you!" Mu Sheng had just recovered from Xia Yuanji's reading of the land distribution rules. He hadn't expected the Crown Prince of Han to be so generous, giving away so much land to everyone.

However, Mu Sheng also knew that in the future, no one would be able to shake the position of the Crown Prince of Han, not even the Crown Prince himself! So, he spoke up to comfort the somewhat heartbroken scholars, telling them to focus on their work.

At this moment, Mu Sheng could only say that these scholars were still too young! The saying goes, "Both thunder and rain are expressions of the emperor's grace!" These young people simply don't understand!

(End of this chapter)