Chapter 3 It’s Too Hard for Me

"Your Highness, please have your meal. Read М"

Luan'er put two bowls of red date porridge on the table and stood by.

Her eyes were glancing at the rice porridge in the bowl and she swallowed her saliva.

Feng'er and Luan'er had become accustomed to taking care of Zhao Xu on weekdays. When she remembered that he hadn't had breakfast yet, Luan'er went to ask the kitchen to prepare.

"Your Highness has just recovered from a serious illness. Didn't the kitchen prepare something good?"

Feng'er looked at the two simple bowls of red date porridge on the table, her pretty face full of dissatisfaction.

If it were usual, she wouldn't say anything. She knew that the palace was in financial difficulties.

But the Prince of Yan finally recovered, so he should eat something rich to replenish his body.

"There's nothing else. The kitchen said that there was only rice and red dates left in the palace, and there wasn't much rice left. They also asked when they would be given silver to buy rice?" Luan'er had a bitter face.

Feng'er sighed, worried that Zhao Xu would blame Luan'er, so she explained the situation in Yan County.

"The northern barbarian cavalry plundered every year, and the people were killed and looted. The food stored in a year was often robbed clean. The people were starving and freezing, and they suffered terribly."

"The nobles in Yan County not only did not help the people, but took advantage of the situation and used a few steamed buns and two or three bowls of porridge to induce the starving people to exchange their land, making the people their vassals, servants and slaves, and farming for them."

Zhao Xu nodded.

Before the age of thirteen, Zhao Xu received formal palace education.

The scholar who was in charge of teaching him at the time told him about it.

This situation is not a matter of one state or one county, but a problem currently faced by the entire Dasong.

Due to historical reasons, the local forces within the Central Plains dynasty in this world are deeply rooted.

Those with small power are called nobles and control the power of counties and prefectures, such as the current nobles in Yan County.

Those with large power control the power of one state or even several states, and their power is huge, and they are called powerful families.

These powerful families were suppressed by the royal family during the heyday of the dynasty, and they also obeyed the rule of the court.

But as the royal family declined and lacked control over the states and counties, they had a tendency to become independent and compete with the royal family.

At the beginning of the founding of Dasong, it learned the lesson of the previous dynasty's demise by powerful families, so it attached great importance to the expansion of the royal family and allowed the enfeoffment of princes in order to fight against the powerful families.

This is why Dasong has been a national ancestor for more than 200 years, otherwise Dasong would not have lasted for a hundred years.

However, in recent years, the strength of the royal family has been constantly consumed in the fight against foreign races, and this balance has been broken.

And because Yanzhou, where he was, was located on the border, the emperor was far away, and there was chaos and war, the powerful families regarded the royal family as nothing.

In order to strengthen their own power, they also did their best to squeeze the people.

"Is it possible to collect taxes from the palace?" Zhao Xu pondered for a while and asked.

"How did your highness know?" Feng'er was slightly surprised.

"The people are hungry and can't pay taxes. The wealthy families are rich, and the officials of Yan County are all from the wealthy families. Naturally, they collude with each other and evade taxes." Zhao Xu stirred the porridge in the bowl.

The historical development trajectories of the two worlds are different, but human nature is still the same.

"Indeed, the palace has used the silver brought from Jinling for the past three months." Feng'er shook her head gently.

"Not only that, the wealthy families in Yan County deliberately raised the price of rice in order to force the people to sell land to them, so that the people who could have eaten could not eat. Forcing them to sell land, our palace was also affected. If it continues, we will not have rice to eat." Luan'er added timidly.

In the picture of Zhao Xu's memory, after arriving in Yan County, the people in the palace gradually became thin and yellow.

It is probably related to the fact that the palace is not well-off.

If the tax revenue cannot be collected, there is naturally no money. Moreover, even if there is some tax money, it must first pass through the hands of Yan County officials and finally reach Zhang Han's hands.

And Zhang Han, this bastard, would definitely embezzle the money, so how could he leave it to the palace.

"Liu Fu, bring the account book of the palace."

Zhao Xu drank the rice porridge and decided to take over the affairs of the palace.

If Yan County continues to develop like this, in addition to Xiliang, Beidi and local nobles, I am afraid that the people will also rise up.

By then, he can only lie down and wait for death.

Liu Fu went away for a while and brought an old man with half white hair.

This is Qin Accounting House of the Palace.

"Your Highness, I am also coerced by Zhang Han. Please spare my life, Your Highness, spare my life..."

Zhang Han was detained, and the news spread throughout the palace. The old accountant naturally understood who was the real boss now.

"As long as you tell the truth, I will spare your life." Zhao Xu came to the old accountant.

These little people are people who do things. Naturally, they will do whatever Zhang Han asks them to do. There is no need to kill them all.

"Yes, Your Highness." Qin Accounting House trembled and held the account book to turn the pages to Zhao Xu.

Seeing that Zhao Xu's words were just like those of an ordinary person, he dared not lie.

"In the three months since arriving in Yan County, the palace has received a total of 50 taels of tax silver from the Yan County government office, all of which were taken away by Zhang Han in the name of repairing the palace."

"Zhang Han sold the 3,000 acres of good land under the palace on the grounds that the palace was in financial difficulty and needed silver, and sold each acre for one tael of silver, and the money was also taken away by Zhang Han." said the old accountant.

"What!" Zhao Xu almost fainted after hearing this.

These 3,000 acres of good land were his private property assigned to him according to the royal system when he left Yan County.

The purpose was to not pay any taxes, and the palace could live comfortably on the rent of these 3,000 acres of good land.

Zhang Han actually sold it to him directly, and at such a low price. I don't know how much kickbacks this bastard took.

"Is Zhang Han awake? If he is awake, beat him up." Zhao Xu wanted to kill someone.

Dare to sell the royal land, this alone is a capital crime.

"Yes, beat him hard." Liu Fu immediately ordered two servants to go over.

Zhao Xu was still heartbroken.

No taxes, no good land, no income at all, how to support the people.

After scolding, he looked at the old accountant hopefully and asked, "How much silver does the palace have now?"

"Less than 40 taels. The price of rice is expensive now. If you use it sparingly, it will be enough for the palace to use for another five or six days." The old accountant didn't dare to lie.

After hearing this, Zhao Xu sat down.

These 40 taels are okay for one person, after all, one tael of silver is enough for an ordinary family to live for a month in Dasong.

But his palace's slaves, servants, and staff officers all have to pay for meals.

In addition, there are a hundred guards who came from the capital to protect him.

These dozens of taels of silver are not enough to do anything.

What's more terrible is that the palace has no income and now only spends money.

No wonder Luan'er was greedy for two bowls of porridge.

If this continues, he will have to dismiss the slaves, and he will not be able to afford a big bowl of porridge even if he eats dirt.

With a long sigh, Zhao Xu asked the old accountant to go back.

He walked out of the bedroom and looked at the dilapidated walls, roofs, and corridors of the palace due to years of disrepair.

He frowned and thought hard.

Obviously, his current situation is quite bad.

He can't count on the nobles of Yan County.

These bastard royals don't care about him, a powerless and downtrodden prince. It's more to their liking for him to starve to death.

If he wants to control Yan County, he has to rely on the people of Yan County. They are the cornerstone of Yan County.

However, if he wants to make these people return to their hearts, he can't just rely on his mouth.

After all, in their eyes, he is no different from the Yan County nobles who exploited them.

Only by letting them have land to farm and food to eat can he get their support.

To do this, the premise is that the palace must have land to allocate to them. After all, in ancient times, land was the lifeblood of the people.

But now, the land is in the hands of the Yanjun nobles, which seems to be a dead cycle.

The only way to break this dead cycle is to fight poison with poison. The palace purchases a large amount of land, makes the people dependent on the palace, and becomes the largest noble family in Yanjun.

When he is fully grown, he will completely control Yanjun, eliminate the forces that disobey him, and control Yanjun.

"Silver!"

Zhao Xu had a preliminary plan in his mind. No matter what he did, he had to have a lot of silver first.

Looking up at the scorching sun in June, the scorching sun made him feel hot.

Suddenly, a way to make the Yanjun nobles willingly give him silver came up.

And he used only a little knowledge of chemistry.