Chapter 266
Yan Shujin looked weary and said, "I can't even protect myself, so why should I help you?"
These words didn't sound like something a powerful princess like Yan Shujin would say. For some reason, the village chiefs thought of Yan Shujin's daughter.
The chieftain asked, "Why does the princess say that? Does anyone dare to harm her?"
Yan Shujin's expression remained unchanged. She simply said, "If I had a choice, do you think I would willingly leave my newborn daughter to come here and clean up this mess? Even if things really get chaotic in Nanzhong, it has nothing to do with me."
The village chiefs looked at each other in bewilderment, as if they had prepared top-quality goods and were thinking about how to raise the price with the buyer, how to avoid being pressured to lower the price, but they hadn't expected that the buyer had no intention of buying their goods at all! What were they to do?
If Pang Bin hadn't already known Yan Shujin's plans, he would have thought that Yan Shujin had never intended to target Nanzhong and had always regarded Nanzhong as a major problem. However, seeing the anxious looks of those chieftains, Pang Bin found it amusing. This was good; only when the seller was anxious could the price be lowered, and they would cherish the hard-won opportunity.
Bai Yan had long been familiar with Princess Yongfu's ability to spout nonsense, so he remained calm and even felt a little smug.
The chieftain of Mu was also feeling particularly distressed, even somewhat sympathetic, and said, "It's not easy for anyone."
Chief Sha and Chief Duo exchanged a glance, but they understood another layer of meaning in Yan Shujin's words. Since Fuzhou was Princess Yongfu's fiefdom, Princess Yongfu would naturally settle things well in Fuzhou. As for Nanzhong, it had nothing to do with Princess Yongfu. In fact, although it was nominally Princess Yongfu's brother's fiefdom, the imperial court would ultimately benefit from it.
If it were them, they wouldn't want to work for free either.
But while they understood, they still needed to come up with a solution. If they relied on the imperial court, their families had been together for generations and had never become wealthy. Moreover, those officials looked down on them. They were just too used to a comfortable life to make a decision.
Yan Shujin said, "Even so, I've had someone organize the situation in Nanzhong. Pang Bin, you can talk to them about how to develop it better. But this is just a suggestion; the specifics will depend on yourselves."
Pang Bin replied, "Yes."
“I have visited many places in the south these past few days,” Pang Bin said. “However, I haven’t been able to see them all yet, and my knowledge is very limited. If there is anything wrong, please feel free to supplement and correct it.”
The chieftain quickly said, "Please speak."
Pang Bin said, “The situation in Nanzhong is completely different from that in Fuzhou. If you want to build it, you will probably have to rely more on yourselves. Back in Fuzhou, the seaport and the opening of shipping routes were the bait that attracted merchants. In the early stages, a lot of gold and silver were needed.”
Then Pang Bin gave a rough estimate.
Chief Mu, Chief Sha, and Chief Duo swallowed hard. Even if it were two zeros less, they still couldn't afford it. They had never seen so much silver in their entire lives.
In fact, these expenses are not to be paid all at once, but are intermittent and include the expenses of the surrounding villages. However, Pang Bin will not tell the village chiefs of Nanzhong about this.
Pang Bin stated bluntly, "The princess's residence doesn't have that much silver either. Moreover, the princess's residence sent a large amount of grain to the southwest, and the warehouse has already been emptied."
The implication was that the princess's residence was powerless to help the plight of the southern regions.
Seeing the bitter faces of the village chief and his men, Pang Bin wondered how much of it was genuine and how much was just a show for them, before continuing, "If Nanzhong wants to develop, first, it needs to build roads, at least to make it easier for caravans to travel. Secondly..."
They were all laid out, each one advantageous to Nanzhong, yet each one reeked of gold and silver.
Moreover, each point hits the nail on the head: the poverty of the mountain people.
After Pang Bin finished speaking, Yan Shujin continued, "However, I can use my private treasury to build a library in Nanzhong."
The village chief and the others all knew about the hiding place, and their expressions lit up with joy.
Yan Shujin continued, "I can also provide you with a batch of books, but you'll have to pay for the rest yourself. Alternatively, you can hand them over to the imperial court for management, but how it will be handled then will be none of my business."
"Will the imperial court start charging fees?" Chief Sha asked hurriedly. "Will they continue to provide new books for Tibet?"
Yan Shujin looked at them calmly: "I don't know."
The chieftain of Duo said, "I heard that the imperial court stripped a lot of money from us, saying it was to help us, but in the end we didn't see a single penny."
Yan Shujin placed her hands on the table and said, "These things have nothing to do with me anymore. If you want, you can manage them. However... you will need to prepare the expenses yourself, from the preservation of books to the supply of writing materials."
Pang Bin added from the side, "The annual expenses for the Tibetan Buddhist temple in Nanzhong are about 20,000 yuan, not including the cost of purchasing books."
Yan Shujin nodded: "Moreover, there are only a few literate people in Nanzhong. The existence of the library is not as meaningful as that of the academy. At least the academy allows more people to read and write, so that they can make further progress. The library exists more for those students who want to take the imperial examinations."
The village chief and the others were confused, but they felt that every word Princess Yongfu said was full of the flavor of money, and it made a lot of sense; this was money they needed to spend.
Yan Shujin smiled and said, "These are all expenses needed in the early stages. Neither the academy nor the library can show results in a short time. The most important point is that having someone in the court makes things easier. As far as I know, there don't seem to be any living scholars in Nanzhong."
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