After they have completed this first step, Yu Zizhen will arrange for Wen Xiaoman to form a trading team that travels back and forth between the north and the south, selling furs and medicinal herbs in the north and silk, porcelain, grain, seafood, etc. in the south, while secretly helping her collect information from various places.
As for the Lu family, the southeast also has mountains and rivers, which can easily support some bandits. When the time is right, Yu Zizhen plans to let them subdue those bandits step by step.
For those who are extremely cruel and have committed numerous crimes, some of them will be killed as a deterrent, and some will be recruited into the army. They will be disciplined by military regulations and once they are obedient, they can be attacked wherever they are directed.
As for those who became bandits just to find a way to survive, Yu Zizhen did not intend to force their lives.
If there are people who are willing to join the army, they will select them to see if they are suitable. If not, it doesn't matter. Anyway, farming, breeding, textiles, house building, water conservancy and fortification construction... these jobs also require a large number of laborers.
Of course, that’s a story for later.
At this time, Yu Zizhen was still far from achieving what she had expected, which was to control the "battlegrounds" in various places within the territory of Da Qi and infiltrate her tentacles into all states and counties of Da Qi.
The only thing she could do now, apart from extending her tentacles little by little, was to continue to spread her new method of composting, which she claimed to have "independently developed" but was actually exchanged from the system mall, through various channels she could think of.
***
She sent away most of the Lu family members. This matter could be hidden from other people outside the mansion, but it could not be hidden from Mr. Jiang and others who lived in the Zhenbei Palace.
On the one hand, Mr. Jiang was shocked that Yu Zizhen had such ability that he could send all the Lu family members except Wu Shun and Wu An away safely under the watchful eyes of countless eyes outside the mansion. On the other hand, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Frankly speaking, in his opinion, the Lu family was a pile of hot potatoes. If they stayed in the Zhenbei Palace, the Zhenbei Palace would inevitably be watched by more people all the time, which was really inconvenient for him.
Now, Yu Zizhen finally decided to send these people away.
In addition, Yu Zizhen did something that made Mr. Jiang happy.
On the day of her longevity, the first thing she did after coming out of the palace was to pull out a booklet from her sleeve pocket and hand it to Mr. Jiang, asking him to send a fast horse to send it back to the Zhenbei Palace in the northern border.
The new method of composting was a birthday gift that Yu Zizhen presented to the emperor, and she was reluctant to share it with others before then. Mr. Jiang could fully understand this, so he did not dislike Yu Zizhen for giving it late. Instead, he was particularly pleased that Yu Zizhen thought of sharing this thing with the Zhenbei Palace as soon as she left the palace.
This made him feel that although Yu Zizhen's behavior was strange in some small matters, he was still able to distinguish between inside and outside, and to distinguish the important from the unimportant. This was enough for him.
Mr. Jiang was satisfied, and naturally he would praise Yu Zizhen in his letter to the King of Zhenbei.
Prince Zhenbei was also very happy to receive the new composting method and Mr. Jiang's letter. He took the letter and went directly to the Princess Zhenbei's courtyard for dinner in the evening.
Princess Zhenbei was very happy that Prince Zhenbei came to her, and as usual she also called her beloved son Yu Zicheng over, but she was not very happy that Prince Zhenbei came to praise Yu Zizhen.
But now she has learned her lesson. Even though she is unhappy in her heart, she shows her motherly love for Yu Zizhen without hesitation. Then she takes the opportunity to fully exploit the good mood of King Zhenbei because of Yu Zizhen.
Fortunately, Yu Zizhen didn't care about these things at all, otherwise, when she knew about the Princess of Zhenbei's outrageous actions, she would probably be furious to death.
Not long after the New Year gifts from the Zhenbei Palace were sent away, Yu Zizhen and his companions went on holiday. However, this was not the winter holiday of Yu Zizhen's previous life, but the "New Year holiday" of this era.
Of course, this "New Year holiday" is no shorter than the winter vacation in Yu Zizhen's previous life.
According to Xiao Yuanjin, the "New Year holiday" of the Imperial College and most academies lasts from the late twelfth lunar month to the early February of the next year, a total of fifty days.
Yu Zizhen and his classmates who were studying in the Southern Study had always been referring to the holiday schedule of the Imperial College, so their vacation lasted from the end of December to the beginning of February next year, a total of fifty days.
It's rare to have such a long period of time without going to school, so Yu Zizhen must create opportunities for Xiao Yuanjin to practice martial arts diligently.
She greeted the emperor, and then, under the pretext of asking Xiao Yuanjin for advice on her studies, she brought Xiao Yuanjin, who had been out of the palace many times, back to the palace.
Since Xiao Yuanjin was not just taking a short rest in the palace this time, but was going to stay here for a while, Yu Zizhen asked the chief steward Yu Tong to arrange people to decorate the small courtyard next to Lu Mingxuan.
"This is the temporary residence I had arranged for you. Do you like it? If there's anything that needs changing, I'll have someone adjust it for you right away."
Xiao Yuanjin shook his head. "No need. It's already very good like this."
Xiao Yuanjin was not picky about his living environment. Moreover, he left the palace this time in order to concentrate and hone his martial arts under the guidance of Yu Zizhen.
As long as he does this job well, he doesn't care about other things, such as food and accommodation, whether they are good or bad.
In this way, Xiao Yuanjin settled down in the Zhenbei Palace.
During this period, except for the Little New Year, the Big New Year, the first, fifth and fifteenth days of the New Year, he returned to the palace accompanied by Yu Zizhen to participate in various traditional activities that are indispensable during the New Year, such as family reunions, ancestor worship, large palace banquets, lantern viewing and riddle guessing. For most of the rest of the time, he stayed in the Zhenbei Palace and practiced hard.
It is worth mentioning that Xiao Yuanjin’s birthday is also in the first month of the lunar year, but neither the Empress Dowager Da Lu nor the Queen Xiao Lu have any interest in celebrating the birthday of a younger generation, especially a younger generation who has no blood relationship with them at all.
So, Mrs. Lu directly deprived Xiao Yuanjin and his two siblings of the right to celebrate their birthdays on the grounds that "the children are still young, and a grand birthday celebration may easily shorten their fortune and lifespan."
Every year on the three people's birthdays, Xiao Lu, who was in charge of the imperial kitchen, would simply ask the kitchen to add two more dishes for them, and then, as a token of appreciation, she would give them some rewards together with the empress dowager and the emperor.
Of course, these things were not arranged by Dashi Lu and Xiaoshi Lu personally. They didn't even have to bother to remember the birthdays of Xiao Yuanjin and his two siblings.
At that time, the palace servants around them would naturally remind them. They only needed to give an order and set a standard, and the palace servants around them would naturally handle the rest.
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