Tianliangyuan

Chapter 221 The Emperor is Too Cunning

Xu Zhaozhao was quite unaccustomed to suddenly becoming rich.

Wang Ruolan and the other women in the Marquis's household were even more unaccustomed to it.

Why were they suddenly granted fiefdoms?

Moreover, this treatment is even better than that given to Princess Anhe, a proper member of the royal family!

It should be noted that Princess Anhe was the daughter of a prince, and her fiefdom consisted of only eight hundred households.

So what is the Emperor really thinking?

Is it really not afraid of being criticized by the imperial relatives for giving such a generous reward to a county princess who is not related by blood?

Xu Zhaozhao had already made inquiries over the past few days.

She hadn't expected Lantian County to be so poor.

It's not far from the capital, after all.

When she came to her senses again, she realized she was wrong. In her previous life, seventy or eighty miles was indeed not far; it would only take an hour to drive there.

The problem is, this is ancient times!

If you were to take a horse-drawn carriage, it would probably take most of the day to travel.

If ordinary people were to walk, they would have to set off very early in the morning and it would take them a whole day to get there.

In addition, transportation is not very convenient nowadays, so seventy or eighty miles is really not a short distance.

Xu Zhaozhao's eyes suddenly widened as an extremely bad thought popped into her head.

Would the emperor really want her to build roads?

That won't work!

These days, road construction not only requires manpower, but also money.

The problem is that the road is difficult to repair.

What others saw as a generous reward from the emperor was actually a secret to the emperor.

But in reality, in Xu Zhaozhao's mind, the Emperor was deliberately using her as a laborer, offering her high salaries as bait, but actually making her do a job that five or six people might not be able to complete.

Tsk, the emperor is too cunning!

But in any case, it's true that they had a fiefdom, and it's also true that they had a estate.

Next, a thousand households depend on her for their livelihood, so even if she harbors great resentment, she has to resolve this matter first.

Fortunately, there were still capable people at Baiguoyuan, otherwise she would have really had to run errands herself.

"Let's inform the magistrate of Lantian County first that building the county magistrate's mansion is not urgent. What's important is to arrange for people to build some houses on the estate first. We can't have all of my thousand households living in the open, can we?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there are some houses over there, but they are clearly not enough to house everyone. Moreover, the construction of the county magistrate's mansion is His Majesty's decree, so even if we go to the county magistrate, I'm afraid it won't work."

Xu Zhaozhao sighed; she had forgotten about this.

Fortunately, Emperor Yong'an did not simply want Xu Zhaozhao to help raise the depleted troops, so he still sent some capable people over.

Xu Zhaozhao summoned several people, including a middle-aged man with a missing arm named Yan Shu, who seemed to be quite capable.

Xu Zhaozhao ultimately kept Yan Shu and another young and valiant guard, Li Sheng, behind, intending to arrange for them to temporarily take charge of the specific situation in Lantian County.

“Uncle Yan, the land that the higher-ups have arranged is all in one place, but I think most of it is wasteland. Although there are a thousand acres of fertile land, my fiefdom is for a thousand households. If all the people are gathered in the future, those thousand acres of land will not be enough to support them.”

Now that I am the county princess and have received His Majesty's favor, I cannot simply be a hands-off manager. All those who follow me must be provided for with food and clothing; otherwise, I would be betraying His Majesty's trust.”

"Please give your instructions, Your Highness. Although I have lost an arm, it will not hinder my work."

“Uncle Yan, there’s no need for that. I’ve never been to Lantian County before, and I’m planning to have you and Mr. Li go there first, at least to choose a location for the estate. Also, the master’s residence doesn’t need to be too luxurious; comfort is the priority. Not many of my men know about this, but I’ve heard that you used to work in the Ministry of Works, so I think it shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

"I did work in the Ministry of Works before, and building houses is no problem for me. Don't worry, I will arrange it properly."

"Alright, you'll be in charge of those matters. Li Sheng will be your assistant. If there's anything you can't handle, just let me know, and I'll arrange a few capable young men to run errands for you. As for the money, don't worry about it. Once you've made all the selections, I'll have someone send the money over."

"Yes, Master, rest assured, I will arrange everything properly."

Before leaving, Xu Zhaozhao had Dingxiang give each of them a silver ingot and a box of copper coins for them to take to Lantian County.

The two men were slightly pleased; as long as their master was willing to pay, they were naturally willing to put in the effort.

They will be settling down in Lantian County in the future. Sending them there now is not only to serve the county magistrate, but also to provide them with a more stable home.

Therefore, one should do one's best.

"Go and fetch Changsheng and Gao Shouxin for me."

"Yes, ma'am."

Xu Zhaozhao knew that the people the Emperor and Cui Xuanzheng had sent, besides some wounded veterans, included more than eighty able-bodied men who could serve as her personal guards.

As for the rest, take your time, there's no rush.

After Changsheng arrived at the Marquis's residence, he was quite diligent and learned to recognize more characters, but overall, he was not good at studying. What he liked most was wielding swords and spears.

Xu Zhaozhao saw that he had been well-fed and raised, and he did look quite heroic, with a guard-like demeanor. So she let him join the guard team for the time being, and then she would find someone to teach him slowly.

As for Gao Shouxin, Xu Zhaozhao thought he might be able to become a manager in the future, but for now, he should just be a gofer.

"Meet the Master!"

After waking them up, Xu Zhaozhao asked them a few questions about their plans for the next few days, and then began assigning them tasks.

"You all go to Lantian County together. I'll have Uncle Zhong assign a few more people to you. Your main task is to check if the houses on the estate are habitable, and if so, how many people they can accommodate. Also, go to the county government office to confirm the location of the county magistrate's residence."

"Yes, master."

"After you've finished all that, go find a man named Yan Shu and a man named Li Sheng. They were assigned to me by higher-ups and will be on my side from now on. After finding out the specific costs of building the houses, you also need to find a way to arrange for people to plant corn in the fertile fields first, so that these fields can't be left idle."

"Yes, please rest assured, Master, I will certainly handle it properly."

The thousand acres of fertile land in Lantian County were not left empty last year, but were now given to Xu Zhaozhao, because these thousand acres of fertile land were once the private property of the Deng family.

Later, due to a mistake, he was taken back by the imperial court.

There aren't many people left on those thousand acres of fertile land now. Most of them are members of the Deng clan. Now that the Deng family has run into trouble, the fertile land no longer belongs to the Deng family, so they left with them.

This saved Xu Zhaozhao some trouble.

However, fertile land must be put to use first; it cannot be left idle.