The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 740: win people’s hearts
Chapter 740 Winning People’s Hearts
She remembered that Xiao Rongyan once said that Yanwo relied on the Guanghe Canal to become a fertile land. When Yan State built the Guanghe Canal, it lacked manpower and financial resources. The water conservancy expert Sima Sheng was worried that floods would harm the people, so he made ingenious plans when building the canal. The Guanghe Canal would only have abundant water during the flood season of Niuliang River, but this method of building the Guanghe Canal could only last for twenty years at most.
In order to ensure the benefits of the Guanghe Canal for thousands of years, it is necessary to renovate and rebuild it after 20 years and expand and extend it to the Changhe River.
If Bai Qingyan could persuade the prince to rebuild the Guanghe Canal and connect it to the Chang River… and turn Yanwo into fertile land again, and then let Shen Tianzhi govern it, it would be equivalent to holding the granary in his own hands.
If Bai Qingyan remembered correctly, after the spring examination, it was time for the officials to be assessed.
“Three years of performance evaluation, three evaluations, promotion and demotion…” Bai Qingyan moved the lampshade away and burned the message Ji Tingyu had sent back. “Our Bai family has come to this point, and we can already arrange our own people in various grain routes, granaries, and fertile fields.”
Bai Jinxiu tightened her grip. Her elder sister had soldiers at her disposal, and she also wanted to control the important roads, granaries and fertile fields. There was no need to make it clear what her purpose was. Bai Jinxiu and Bai Qingyan already knew each other through their tacit understanding over the years.
The royal family of the Great Jin Dynasty is foolish and treats the people as straw dogs. The king is unkind and the crown prince is unvirtuous. It is time for a rebellion!
Hearing the sound of Shen Qingzhu beating his chest after choking on his snack, Bai Qingyan looked outside the screen and said, “Ask someone to bring another pot of tea to Qingzhu. It looks like he’s choked!”
Shen Qingzhu felt choked and pounded her chest hard. She burped and felt much better. She bowed and said, “Miss, it’s not necessary. I’m fine now…”
“You must have been delivering the letter day and night. Go to the warm room and take a nap. I’ll ask the kitchen to prepare a bowl of hot noodle soup for you. Eat it and then take a nap!” Bai Qingyan said.
Shen Qingzhu was indeed tired and hungry. She nodded and was about to go to the warm room to rest. Then she remembered Dong’s instructions before she left. She bowed to Bai Qingyan and said, “Miss, Madam asked me to tell you something. If you are injured again, don’t go back to Shuoyang City to see her.”
Bai Qingyan: “…”
Bai Jinxiu, who had a solemn expression at first, saw her eldest sister was stunned. She raised her hand to cover her lips and laughed softly: “This… sounds like what Third Aunt and Little Fourth would say on weekdays. I didn’t expect that the eldest aunt would ask Qingzhu to say such words to the eldest sister!”
Later, when the kitchen prepared hot noodle soup and brought it to Shen Qingzhu, they were unable to wake Shen Qingzhu up.
After Bai Qingyan wrote a letter and asked the Bai family guards to send it back to Shuoyang and hand it to the prefect Shen Tianzhi, he went to see Shen Qingzhu, tucked in the quilt for Shen Qingzhu, and instructed everyone in Qinghuiyuan to move lightly so as not to disturb Shen Qingzhu’s rest.
The news that the Crown Princess had given birth to the Emperor’s grandson had already been known to all the noble families in the capital. In order to prevent strangers from visiting and disturbing the Crown Princess’s rest, the Crown Prince even sent someone to inform her family, asking them to allow their own family members to visit her and not to bring anyone else with them.
The Crown Princess’s mother received the news and went to the Crown Prince’s Mansion early this morning.
Others could not go to the Prince’s Mansion to visit the Crown Princess, so they naturally thought of Bai Qingyan, who was respected by the Prince. Just as Bai Qingyan and Fu Ruoxi said last night, many people came to the Bai Mansion to visit Bai Qingyan today, and Second Madam Liu was busy socializing in the front yard.
In order to show his appreciation for Bai Qingyan, the prince returned to his residence after the morning court session, changed his clothes, and visited the Crown Princess and the little grandson. He then asked Quan Yu to pick out some precious supplements and went to the Princess Zhenguo’s residence to visit Bai Qingyan.
When Bai Qingyan heard that the prince was coming to visit, he dragged his sick body to his feet and stood outside the Princess Zhenguo’s mansion to greet him. At this moment… everyone else also saw clearly Bai Qingyan’s pale face and his thin body that seemed like it would fall down with a gust of wind. Only then did they understand… the Princess Zhenguo was indeed seriously injured this time.
The prince helped Bai Qingyan up and walked into the main hall with Bai Qingyan.
At the morning court today, the prince has petitioned the emperor… to let Fu Ruoxi lead the patrol camp. The court officials all praised the prince for his tolerance.
The prince told Bai Qingyan about this matter. He was very satisfied with Bai Qingyan’s praise. Before he could be happy for a while, he heard Bai Qingyan ask: “Your Highness, do you know… the snow disaster in Yanwo this year?”
The prince paused while drinking from the cup, put it down and nodded, “I didn’t expect that the Princess Zhenguo also knew about it. I had received the report during the New Year, but the war in Daliang was tense, and Huayang City and Qinhuai City had sudden outbreaks of epidemics. The people in Yanwo had left Yanwo with their families due to the great famine last year. Later, when the King of Liang provided disaster relief, not many people returned, so I thought of leaving it for the time being.”
Bai Qingyan pursed her lips, stood up and saluted the prince.
“Princess Zhenguo, why are you so polite in front of me?” the prince asked hurriedly, “Hurry and sit down!”
Bai Qingyan nodded and sat down, saying, “There are many things going on in Jin this year. I know that the treasury of Jin is in a difficult situation, so I originally wanted to purchase a batch of grain… and send it to Huayang and Qinhuai. Although it is a drop in the bucket, it is also a token of my loyalty to Your Highness! Now that Yanwo has suffered a snowstorm, I thought… why not buy a batch of grain and send it to Yanwo in the name of His Highness the Crown Prince! It will also help win the hearts of the people for the Crown Prince.”
When the prince heard Bai Qing say that he would pay money to win over the people, he was moved: “How can I ask you to pay money? I will do it naturally!”
We have to wait for the prince to do it, but we don’t know how long we have to wait.
Bai Qingyan smiled and said, “This is a little gift from me. I hope the prince will not refuse it. In addition, the current governor of Yanwo is probably not a capable official. Otherwise, there was a snowstorm last year. Why couldn’t we take precautions this year? We should change someone. The current governor of Shuoyang, Shen Tianzhi… I think he is a useful person, but he has been the governor of Shuoyang for so many years. I don’t know why. This time, the officials are transferred according to their performance evaluation. It is better to let Shen Tianzhi clean up this mess and see how capable he is.”
The prince wondered in his heart whether the Shuoyang governor Shen Tianzhi had offended Bai Qingyan, otherwise why would Bai Qingyan send Shen Tianzhi to Yanwo, which was now severely affected by the disaster.
“Since Princess Zhenguo thinks that this person is capable, then transfer him to Yanwo!” The prince agreed with a smile.
“There is also the Guanghe Canal. I’m afraid that no matter how difficult it is for the national treasury, we still have to repair it. Yanwo has always been the place with the best grain production in our Jin State. Fertile land and good farmland, such a good place cannot be lost!” Bai Qingyan stared at the prince, “Prince, you can go back and discuss this matter with Elder Tongfang and Mr. Qin, and mobilize the people or the army to start repairing the canal. Otherwise… I’m afraid it will cause floods again. Our Jin State will lose fertile land and good farmland. Not only will the national treasury lose income, but we will also have to spend national strength and financial resources on disaster relief!”
The prince nodded.
Second update, continue to ask for monthly tickets…