As Yan Lide set out for Hu County, he wonders why the Emperor sent him out. After arriving he realized that it was Li Yuanying who asked  for him. Playing host, Yuanying welcomed him warmly and share the whole story.

“Are you really going to spend your own money to refurbish Taihe Palace?” Yan Lide shared his opinion without waiting for a response. Even if Li Yuanying had money, this is too showy. Even if you pay for the renovation, there is no guarantee that the government will be willing to pay for maintenance in the future. Furthermore, you will be criticize for squandering money even when the funds came from your own pocket.

“Can’t I build a place for the Emperor to escape from the summer heat?”

“You can’t do it yourself, can you? You need to recruit people. Everything you do affect people and furthermore his Majesty did not order for this so you can’t force people to help you. If you do so, someone will definitely say that you are wasting manpower and money!”

The twists and turns were really troublesome.

Yuanying thought for a while and said: “Anyway, just help me by proposing how best to repair the place. I have my own thoughts for the rest.” Yuanying drew a simple sketch of the Palace for Yan Lide and requested that he design a pavilion that has good view of beautiful scenery. Cost didn’t matter as long as it allows for one to take in the whole view of Taihe Palace.

Since Yan Lide is already here, he can’t just turn around and leave. He rested for the night and went on an on-site inspection the next day.

After making arrangements to get Yan Lide, Yuanying told Dai Ting to secure cattle and horses for manpower. Horses were easy to arrange as he only need to send them to the pasture of Taihe Palace and the side rooms can be used by it’s handlers for lodging.

But cattle needed to be properly placed. Li Yuanying waved his hand and park them under the responsibility of the Hu County Government. He told newly recruited officials to go check out a good land  and to understand the temperament of the cattles while rearing them. When the time comes, we will can plant watermelons and grapes here to generate money for the county!

There is no restriction when it comes to reclaiming wasteland. As long as the county has enough manpower, you can dig up the entire place and no one will object. However, Li Yuanying specifically warned that the mountains and forests should not be demolished casually but should be reserved for water and soil use. Only areas that could not be cultivated due to manpower limitations should be reclaimed.

Residents who want to repurpose their land near their houses for the purpose of growing grapes are also invited to participate in this operation. As long as they prepare their land a day ahead, they can form a team to pick up grapes branches from Sunflower Garden. Here, grape growing experts will also explain and guide them on the planting process.

Sunflower Garden is located not too far from Hu County and many have heard that they specializes in making wine. They were both surprised and happy when Prince Teng offered them grapes branches as these were rare and exotic fruits. Of course you can find wild grapes in the mountains but they are all small and sour. But the grapes of the Gaochang people are big and red and by just looking at it your mouth will water! It is even better if you know how to brew wine because wine made from grapes is so fragrant that just smelling it is intoxicating!

The first decree after the change of county government quickly spread throughout Hu County: Work with government to reclaim wasteland and we will teach you how to grow Gaochang grapes.

These are grapes that only the nobles could afford. Normal citizens can only look at them from a distance! Big and red, juicy and sweet! If you can plant them and it’s harvesting time, you will wake up to the smell of grapes every day, wouldn’t your life be wonderful?

If you have no idea how to plant them, it’s okay to just forget about everything. But now experts will be teaching you so how can you not take the opportunity to learn? The government will also be sending out manpower so cultivating a small piece of land won’t take much effort!

Within a few days, the wasteland identified were all gradually reclaimed and the county was in full swing. Anyone who became a naturalized citizen was given land according to the law and they were even helped when they needed to build houses. Everyone wanted to give “face” to  Li Yuanying, the acting magistrate and so the naturalization of stateless households were carried out as quickly as possible.

Originally, people who lived in seclusion had to return to their original place of birth and be converted to citizens there to prevent overcrowding in wealthy places, however Li Yuanying didn’t pay that much attention to the details. Since people are already here, how could he let them go? We need manpower to do great things!

Yuanying told Wu Mei to not worry too much. As long as people approach them, she would absorb them into Hu County and give them land to make a home. What if the population suddenly increases? That’s fine, just treat it as the birth rate shot up in our county.

After Yuanying and Wu Mei were done discussing, they also encouraged Di Renjie to take a walk around the border to identify stateless household that were displaced. If they were drove out, Hu County will take them in. Our county is big enough so we can absorb them in and give them land.  

Li Yuanying was robbing so blatantly that he quickly caught the attention of many neighbouring counties. This angered the magistrates of neighboring counties as everyone wanted more citizens. With more people come more taxes and more manpower to do things! But didn’t the imperial court instruct that people should return to their place of origin? Now that this matter is a hot topic, they can only act strictly according to rules!

Several neighboring counties became angry and jointly filed a lawsuit. The purpose is very simple. Does the imperial court care about this matter? If they don’t, we will follow suit! If more people settle in their county, the year end report would look better!

Wei Zheng went to court early in the morning and found people looking at him differently. With his many years of experience,  he knew something will happen in court today!

Sure enough, not long after the session began, Tang Jian reported about the happenings in the county. Tang Jian had been addicted to vices lately and have long stopped taking care of things. He is a low-key person but lately his appearance rate has increased significantly!

Many took a second look at him.

But Tang Jian had no choice. His contribution lately has all been Li Yuanying’s fault. If he hadn’t revealed the Yin family’s crimes to the household department, he wouldn’t have gotten involved. Now it’s the same. Li Yuanying has been secretly taking in stateless household and offended neighbouring counties and now people are complaining!

Do you really want to be so shameless?

Why are you so shameless?!

It’s not like you are having an emergency, so why did you interfere at the border to recruit people? !

Tang Jian felt that his approach was super shameless and he had to help the neighbouring magistrates to complain about this guy’s shameful behavior.

His Majesty listened calmly and did not express any opinion on Li Yuanying’s cross-border robbery and just pretended not heard it.

As soon as Wei Zheng saw His Majesty’s actions he knew he wanted to brush this aside with ignorance. He quickly raised his hands indicating he has something to say.

Seeing Wei Zheng’s “I have something to say” action, the Emperor instantly had a headache. But since he has endured him for so many years, he cannot let his efforts go to waste.

Li Er could only motion for Wei Zheng to speak.

“The fault of this issue do not lie with Prince Teng but your Majesty.”

Everyone was shocked. This old man wants to protect his future grandson-in-law so he is picking on the Emperor?

Wei Zheng didn’t care about the opinion of others and said eloquently: “If you didn’t appoint him as the acting magistrate, he won’t have a chance to do such things.  In the past few years, we saw the results of letting Princes act as governors. It is not feasible for young people to be leaders yet. Why didn’t you learn your lesson? Less than half a month and something like this is happening. Several county magistrates are already dissatisfied, how can the citizens be satisfied?  If things goes on like this, there will be grievances and people’s resentment will boil. Chaos will arise even under the Emperor’s feet!

Therefore, this matter is fundamentally wrong. They should not have allowed  teenagers to manage the affairs of a county in the first place! We were desperate in the beginning but now that the investigation is almost done,  please send qualified people over to replace Prince Teng and his party!

Wei Zheng’s proposal was faultless and it made sense. The problem indeed lies with the Emperor’s decision to send his brother to Hu County. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been so many problems.

Many immediately agreed with Wei Zheng’s opinion. Although the county magistrate’s official rank is not high, he has to take care of a county. This is an important position related to tens of thousands of households. How can it be treated as child’s play? Many started criticizing Li Yuanying saying that it is not right for him to take such a position and should be recalled quickly. According to their opinions, it would be better for Li Yuanying to move to his fiefdom and do nothing.

Hearing everyone criticizing his decision, Li Er became furious. He stood up and cursed: “Can’t I even make decision about a county?!” After saying this, he walked away angrily.

Wei Zheng stayed at his spot looking blankly. After the others dispersed, he walked out of the hall, took his meal, returned to his duty station, and ate slowly. When Li Yuanying was eating at his house, he would always talk to him, saying that he should eat slowly and chew slowly so as not to hurt his stomach and intestines and to live a long life.

When he was around, Wei Zheng found the kid annoying. Now that he’s gone, he kept thinking about his words and they suddenly became clear. He needs to eat and chew slowly to live a long life, otherwise this unruly child will be bullied by God knows who!

While Wei Zheng ate alone, others took advantage of the collective mealtime to discuss the commotion that has happened.

After a discussion, everyone realized that they had fallen into Wei Zheng’s trap. It is now the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, which means His Majesty has been on the throne for seventeen years. He is no longer the same Prince Qin who works together and eats with his subordinates. He tolerates Wei Zheng probably because he had endured him all his life and was used to it. However he will not  tolerate others for provoking his authority for no reason!

When they united to say that Li Yuanying was not worthy, they offended the Emperor!

Everyone guessed the Emperor’s thoughts accurately.

Li Er stayed in the meeting hall and sulked.

If he cannot even let his brother be an acting county magistrate, does this world truly belong to the Li family? He didn’t even give him an entire state! He hasn’t even complain that the place given was too small but everyone wants him to send his younger brother away and not let him out ever again.

Among all his brothers and sons, this is the only one living happily and most comfortable, yet they still wanted to persuade him like this! Didn’t he exile enough brothers and sons for his kingdom already? To prevent Qingque and Cheng Qian from fighting, he has already sent away his beloved Qingque!

This time, he will not give in!

Notes from the Author:

His Majesty Li Er: I was not a good person to the brothers and sons in the past so I will have to overcompensate my youngest brother.

The young prince:?