Chapter 645: Persuasion

Editor: Atlas Studios

Seeing his son’s reaction, Qi Xiuyuan laughed out loud again. He even picked him up and placed him on his knees.

Seeing that he was in a good mood, Li Jinghua asked with a smile, “What’s the happy occasion today, His Majesty?”

“Qiannan’s gift list is here.” Qi Xiuyuan took out the letter and showed it to Li Jinghua. He said with a smile, “Tell Sister-in-law later that I’m afraid it’s very difficult to sell the local specialties she chose. Even if I work hard to eat them, the other officials will only try a little for a period of time out of novelty. It’s better for them to set their sights locally if they’re looking to profit from this.”

Puzzled, Li Jinghua opened the letter and read it. After a long time, she sighed. “Ah Ling is kind-hearted. She’s concerned about the people, but she thinks too simply.”

Mu Yangling and Chief Ji’an negotiated to come up with the gift list.

Meanwhile, Qi Haoran and Chen Jiacai watched with awkward expressions.

Although Chen Jiacai was talented and smart, he was not involved in politics after all, so his knowledge in this area was limited. He did not know about the “local specialties”. He only wanted to build a good relationship with the Imperial Court and curry favor with the Emperor. When he went to look for Qi Haoran, he’d already thought of what the Miao stockade had to offer.

However, he had just started speaking when Qi Haoran rejected him. Although Qi Haoran was talented in war, he was aware of political issues and his political acuity was not inferior to others. Using Yongzhou and Fuzhou as an example, he told Chen Jiacai that it was not a good idea to offer exquisite “local specialties”. If the Miao stockade wanted to express goodwill, they might as well offer the Emperor a precious dagger or something.

“In order to produce the tribute yams that enter the capital every year, Yong Prefecture has forced almost all the commoners in Lipu County to plant yams. Unlike normal yams that grow in the wild, the yams in Lipu are delicate and need to be grown meticulously. A farmer spends almost the entire year planting these things, but the harvest yield is low. Moreover, the government forbids the farmers from selling the yam elsewhere and forces them to sell it to the government at a low price. Therefore, although Lipu has world-famous tributes, the citizens’ lives aren’t easy.”

Qi Haoran continued, “Fu Prefecture’s local specialty is the precious Eastern Pearl. Every year, the roundest and largest pearls are chosen to enter the court as tribute. In order to pluck the Eastern Pearl that can be used as tribute, countless pearl divers have lost their lives in the sea. If they die, it’s fine if they did find a suitable Eastern Pearl, for the Imperial Court will leave a sum of compensation for their families. If they didn’t…” Qi Haoran shook his head slightly, the meaning behind his words self-evident.

Chen Jiacai’s face turned pale.

“It’s partly because of the previous Emperor’s muddle-headedness, but it’s also in line with the ways of the world because the Emperor’s preferences have always been sought after. Through a continual process of introspection and moral self-assessment, my brother developed the fine virtues of diligence and thriftiness. However, because Great Qi is too big, there are regions where the Emperor can’t take care of, let alone Qiannan. Therefore, once you offer ‘local specialties’, the subsequent officials will inevitably mistreat the people to please the Emperor and the higher-ups.”

Chen Jiacai was a little discouraged. Where could he find a precious dagger when the Miao stockade was so poor?

Chen Jiacai hesitated for a moment before glancing at Qi Haoran’s expression. “How about presenting a beauty?”

Qi Haoran said with a smile without changing his expression, “Brother doesn’t like beauties. Besides, after Brother ascended the throne, he said that he wouldn’t consider new additions to the harem for two years. If Brother Chen presents him with beauties, my brother can only give them to me. Should that happen, things could turn quite ugly.”

What a joke. How could a Miao girl appear in his brother’s harem?

He had heard that the Miao people were good at using the Gu poison. For the sake of the safety of the Qi family’s descendants, they couldn’t allow a Miao woman in the harem.

Chen Jiacai didn’t think too much about it. He had also heard rumors that the Emperor wasn’t expanding his harem for two years. At that time, Hanlan had even said that the Emperor and Empress were deeply in love.

Chen Jiacai returned regretfully. He was planning to pay a high price to find a precious dagger, but he didn’t know if he would make it in time.

At night, Qi Haoran went back and told Mu Yangling about this. He wanted to let her know how he had, with great foresight, prevented future troubles for the Qi family’s descendants. Although there were many people who used poison in the harem, they typically used the sort of poison that everyone knew. However, Gu poison was different. Qi Haoran had only heard of it but had never seen it before. He had always been afraid and worried about the unknown, so he felt that his actions were a huge contribution to the safety of his Big Brother’s harem.

How did Qi Xiuyuan and Li Jinghua know so much?

Because Qi Haoran had angrily expressed his dissatisfaction with Mu Yangling in the letter, that she was actually only focused on the “local specialties” and did not understand the key meaning behind his words.

Qi Haoran had always confided everything in his big brother, including back then when he wooed Mu Yangling. Hence, he wrote in the letter that small conflict he had with his wife. How would he know that his big brother would show the letter to his sister-in-law?

If he had known, he would have politely erased this part.

Qi Haoran was furious, but Mu Yangling was very happy.

Qiannan was so poor that many commoners could not even afford grain seeds. When Mu Yangling’s grain store finally opened, many commoners entered the store to look at the seeds of corn and Dry Rice No. 1, but only about 10% could afford to pay with cash upfront. The remaining 60% bought the seeds on credit while the remaining 30% decided to wait and see.

Only then did Mu Yangling truly realize how poor Qiannan was. It was even poorer than when they were at their most difficult time in the north.

It could not be helped. Although the North was located at the border, there was a lot of land. Although the land was not fertile, it was still flat land and there were many plots of land.

As for Qiannan, it was located at the border, and what little land they had was barren. At a glance, all they could see were mountains that reached into the clouds. There were mountains in the north, south, east, and west. Deeper into the mountains, there would be a thin fog and miasma. If they went even deeper, poisonous insects and snakes would come out to join in the fun.

Only hunters and Miao people dared to go into the mountains. However, many people died in the mountains every year. That was why Qiannan was poor!

There was silk in Jiangnan, cloth in Song Jiang, seafood and pearls in Fuzhou, leather goods in the north, and horses in the northwest. What was there in Qiannan that could be famous and profitable?

Nothing!

Therefore, in order to get rich, Mu Yangling could only target those ordinary local specialties. Hence, she urged Qi Haoran to send those authentic Qiannan specialties such as cured meat, the Liver Tonic Herb, and dried prickly pear to the palace.

Even salted vegetables and sunflower seeds were included. At that time, Qi Haoran laughed loudly to express his disdain and said with contempt, “Don’t we have salted vegetables and sunflower seeds in the capital? Even ordinary farmers know how to pickle and dry them.”

“Are those the same salted vegetables and sunflower seeds that an Emperor has eaten? The salted vegetables and sunflower seeds in Qiannan have entered the Emperor’s stomach before.”

“…” Qi Haoran could only respond with silence.

Ultimately, Mu Yangling wanted to make use of the Emperor to let the people of Qiannan earn a sum of money. At the very least, hopefully they could make enough to tide through next year’s deficit.

Seeing that Qi Haoran looked glum, Mu Yangling quickly softened her tone and said, “I’m just being considerate of you and Big Brother. You’ve seen the situation in Qiannan—their government office doesn’t have a single tael of silver. The people can still rely on the food relief given by the Imperial Court to survive for now. However, come March or April next year, no matter how sparingly they eat those rations, the rations will have been depleted. What will you do then? Take from the soldiers’ food supplies to help the people? Or watch them rebel again? Isn’t it better to organize a trade caravan to enter the capital so that they can make some money and bring back a batch of grains? As long as the people survive the difficult period next year, we won’t have to worry so much in the future.”

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