Chapter 643: Submission

Editor: Atlas Studios

True to his words of giving Jinhua all that he had, Liu Dahei stuffed all his assets into the boxes of betrothal gifts and carried them to the Miao stockade.

There were 120 boxes containing expensive items like gold, silver, and jewelry (snatched), ordinary fabrics, and daily furniture. One of the boxes even contained Liu Dahei’s silver, banknotes and account book.

Seeing that he dared to give this as a betrothal gift, Ji’an knew that he was sincere. His prejudice against him decreased a little, but he still didn’t look very happy.

He handed the box to his youngest daughter and planned to give it to her as her dowry. This way, Liu Dahei would become a pauper and had to rely on his daughter to make a living.

At the thought of this, Ji’an was even more satisfied.

He gave most of the betrothal gifts to his daughter as dowry, but he kept all the books.

Liu Dahei didn’t expect his rough father-in-law to actually like books. He had a lot of books. Back then, when bandits entered the city to plunder, the wealthy families in the city either fled or submitted, and he took the opportunity to snatch a lot of books. He’d originally wanted to leave them for his descendants, but now, he decided to use them to curry favor with his father-in-law.

Liu Dahei hurriedly got someone to pick out one copy each of the books that he had more than one copy of, which was the case for most of the titles. Back then, because everyone was illiterate and knew that he liked books, his underlings snatched a lot of them and gave them to Liu Dahei. In the end, he actually managed to fill up five big cases. Hence, not long after Liu Dahei sent the betrothal gifts, he carried over five more cases of books for his father-in-law.

This immediately pleased his father-in-law and brother-in-law, who had a lot of say.

Books being hard to come by in this era, Chen Jiacai happily entertained Liu Dahei.

Never mind if the Ji’an family was wealthy or not, even if they had the money, it would be difficult to buy so many books. Therefore, compared to the gold and silver jewelry, these books were even more valuable to him.

When Qi Haoran heard this, he asked Fei Bai to get someone from the bookstore to print a batch of books and send them to the Miao stockade. He said that it was a gift from the Prince’s estate to the Miao stockade.

Fei Bai asked, “Master, which titles do you want to print?”

Qi Haoran said, “‘The Analects’ and ‘Law Codex’ are the main ones. Print more books on indoctrination. This way, the Miao people won’t have to fight to read the books.”

When Mu Yangling heard this, she hurriedly said, “Also, print more books on farming, medicine, carpentry and water conservancy. Since you’re printing books on water conservancy, they won’t be able to understand this without reading up on arithmetic. So, also print arithmetic books.”

“Although what you said is practical, it’s unpopular. I’m afraid the cost of printing it is high.” Qi Haoran asked, “Do we still have money at home?”

“Don’t worry, I can still afford this bit of money.” Mu Yangling said, “Besides, it’s fine to print a little more. When the time comes, we can also distribute some to the Han Chinese academies. These books are very practical. What’s the use of just reading history books, and the four books and five scriptures? People have to read more of these other books.”

Qi Haoran rubbed his nose. He didn’t even read the four books and five scriptures much, so why would he read up on something like farming?

“Just print 20 volumes of each book. Send 10 to the Miao stockade and send the remaining 10 copies to the other academies. Go and discuss with the bookstore and come up with a book list for the Princess Consort to peruse,” Qi Haoran instructed.

Fei Bai agreed.

Qi Haoran sent books to educate the Miao people, hoping that they would submit to Great Qi from the inside out. Only by learning the teachings of the sages could one have a sense of belonging to Great Qi, which was ruled by the Han people. Therefore, he sent educational books like ‘The Analects’.

On the other hand, Mu Yangling wanted to take this opportunity to improve the abilities of the Miao people in all aspects, so she attached various technical books.

Not to mention anything else, because the Miao people did not recognize all the herbs in the mountain, they usually only picked a few that they were familiar with. By giving them a herb book, Mu Yangling hoped that they could identify the herbs according to the drawings on it and not let them go to waste in the deep mountains.

As soon as Chen Jiacai received the books from the Prince’s estate, he opened them and took them down from the box. Seeing that there were 20 books in a row that were all indoctrination books, he immediately felt a little frustrated. Did the Prince have to be so obvious?

When he opened the other boxes, he realized that most of them were farming books, medical books, and so on. He immediately felt a little ashamed and felt that he had misunderstood the Prince. The Prince seemed to be eager about helping the Miao farmers improve.

Feeling a little ashamed, Chen Jiacai got someone to take out the books and arrange them. He said to the chief, “Father-in-law, although His Highness didn’t send as many books as Brother-in-law, they’re practical. It can be seen how much effort he put in.”

Chief Ji’an looked at the books for a while, but could only recognize a few words. He asked, “What books are they?”

“Agricultural books, medical books, and various other books. Not to mention anything else, just these two types are what our stockade urgently needs.”

Ji’an sighed and said, “We met a good Prince.”

Chen Jiacai said with a smile, “Father-in-law, you should say that we met a good monarch.”

Seeing Ji’an frown slightly, Chen Jiacai said, “The last time I went to see His Highness, I had a sincere talk with him about the future of the Miao stockade. From what he said, his actions were all instigated by His Majesty.” Chen Jiacai lowered his voice and said, “I heard that His Majesty is planning to legislate that we Miao people will pay taxes like the Han people. In the future, we won’t have to pay additional taxes.”

Ji’an’s heart skipped a beat and couldn’t help but jump up. “Really?”

“Father-in-law, speak softly.” Only then did Chen Jiacai say, “It hasn’t been finalized yet, but from His Highness’s attitude, His Majesty is advocating it. It’s just that the resistance in the court is a little strong, so it’s delayed for the time being. Now, the taxes are still levied according to the Great Zhou, but it will take at least two years or at most three years before the new tax system is implemented.”

After all, taxes were only being exempted for three years. Now that the country was named Great Qi, they could not very well stick to the Great Zhou tax law.

Ji’an’s eyes were bright as he said, “When I was young, I heard my grandfather mention the taxes during Emperor Shizong’s era. At that time, we paid the same taxes as the Han people. Although our lives were also tough, it wasn’t a problem to fill our stomachs. If, if His Majesty could treat our Miao people like Emperor Shizong, I’d definitely pledge my loyalty to Great Qi.”

Chen Jiacai’s eyes reddened as he said in a low voice, “Father-in-law, don’t worry. The current Emperor was a general and is very decisive. Since he has such thoughts, he will definitely implement it. We can afford to wait a little longer.”

Ji’an was delighted. “As long as I can see it in my lifetime.”

The impact that a Prince had was, after all, different from that of an Emperor.

With the support of Qi Haoran, they would at most have a better life during his term of office. However, with the support of the Emperor, it meant that the Miao people would be able to live well during his reign.

An official typically only served a three- or six-year term. Considering how in-favor Qi Haoran was, he wouldn’t stay here for more than two terms. However, Qi Xiuyuan was at the peak of his youth and had at least 20 to 30 years to live.

In 20 to 30 years, two generations of Miao people would have grown up. At the thought that the Miao people only needed to pay the same taxes as the Han people, and pay no extra taxes or double the labor conscription quota, Ji’an felt that he could wake up with a smile even if he died. He might even encounter the good days his great-grandfather had encountered.

Perhaps he would be even luckier. If the next Emperor of Great Qi was filial and did not change his father’s aspirations, the Miao people would have another ten to 20 years of good life…

Just thinking about it lit up a fire in Ji’an’s heart.

Ji’an asked excitedly, “Jiacai, it’s almost the new year. Do you think we should present a gift to His Majesty in order to forge better ties?”

After some thought, Chen Jiacai replied, “Let’s ask His Highness for his opinion.”

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