Chapter 339 Dahe Village Returns to Peace
"Thank you for your imperial grace! Long live the Emperor!"
Zhao Dashan and his family knelt on the ground, kowtowed to express their gratitude to the emperor, and raised their hands to receive the imperial decree.
The gifts were distributed in two batches, in very large quantities: a hundred bolts of brocade, two chests of gold, two chests of jewelry, several chests of jade, as well as vases, screens, and other decorations. The officials unloaded them from the carriages, and the entire courtyard was instantly transformed into a dazzling spectacle. The sound of villagers gasping in astonishment echoed around the courtyard.
"Everyone, please rise." The prefect raised his hand. "The imperial court has reassigned a salt and iron commissioner to Dahe Village. This is Lord Wu. Please get to know him."
The villagers had just stood up when they immediately knelt down again: "This humble subject pays respects to Lord Wu!"
"Everyone, please rise!"
Lord Wu bent down and personally helped the old man at the front to his feet.
Regardless of his true nature, no one would dare to flaunt their official power so brazenly after witnessing the disastrous state of their predecessor.
Furthermore, news of this village's exploits has even reached the capital. He must be insane to act so arrogantly here... He had a premonition that his next promotion would definitely be related to Dahe Village.
"I will be staying in Dahe Village for a while, and I will see you all frequently. Do you expect me to kneel and bow every time?" Lord Wu said with a gentle smile. "After this time, you will not be allowed to kneel again. Let's all stand and talk."
The villagers exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief.
This Lord Wu is much better than Lord He. Whether his intentions are genuine or not, at least he's respectable on the surface, and that's enough.
The prefect paused for a moment before asking, "How is Madam Sui's health?"
Zhao Dashan wiped his eyes; the tears weren't from sadness, but from being too excited and bursting into tears.
However, his appearance led to a misunderstanding in the eyes of the prefect.
The prefect sighed deeply: "Madam Sui is too worried about the country and its people. She should take good care of her health. After I return to Huzhou, I will find a descendant of an imperial physician to treat Madam Sui..."
Zhao Ergou shook his head: "My mother's illness is psychological, and only psychological medicine can cure it. Now that Dahe Village is out of trouble, my mother will slowly get better."
"Cough cough cough!"
Suddenly, a violent coughing fit erupted inside the room.
Wu Huiniang quickly turned around and went into the house. A moment later, she came out with a stack of enlightenment papers, held them up respectfully with both hands, and handed them to the prefect: "Your Excellency, after hearing that the previous drafts were destroyed by the blood, Lady Sui insisted on drawing every time she woke up for a short while. Finally, she finished the drawing. Please take a look, Your Excellency."
The prefect was overjoyed; he had come to Dahe Village specifically for this blueprint.
But since Lady Sui was critically ill, he found it difficult to bring up this request.
Unexpectedly, despite her critical illness, Madam Sui managed to complete the drawing early on.
He picked up the drawing. It was a very well drawn drawing, with all the data and specifications carefully written on the side, making it a pleasure to look at.
"If Madam Sui needs any medicine, she can write to Huzhou, and I will spare no expense to find it." The prefect said with certainty, "Please tell Madam Sui to rest and recover. I will help Madam Sui promote these honeycomb briquettes so that they can benefit the people. Heaven will surely remember this merit for Madam Sui, and she will recover soon!"
After explaining the situation, the prefect led He Yan and his group away from Dahe Village in a grand procession.
Magistrate Shen had stayed in Dahe Village for many days and it was time for him to leave. He gave his son a few words of advice, chatted privately with the village head, and then reluctantly departed.
Wu Huiniang took out two two-tael silver coins from the house and handed them to the two messengers who were reading the imperial edict. After thanking them, the two messengers mounted their horses and left.
Lord Wu then led his officers to Coal Hill to assess the situation.
Once these people left, Dahe Village became lively again.
The entire courtyard was filled with luxurious and exquisite items bestowed upon them by the capital. Everyone's eyes couldn't take it all in, and they kept admiring them.
"This box of gold is so dazzling! I've lived for over sixty years and this is the first time I've ever seen so much gold."
"More than that, look at this box, it's full of jade jewelry, there are more than a dozen jade bracelets, as well as earrings and hairpins, much better looking than what's sold in the gold shops in the city."
“Aunt Dashan is now a seventh-rank lady, the same rank as the county magistrate, so of course she uses better things.”
"This mud-brick house is no longer befitting a seventh-rank lady's status. Shouldn't we rebuild a new house?"
"..."
"Alright, stop talking nonsense." Old Mrs. Zhao walked over and pushed away the hands that wanted to touch but dared not. "Dashan, Ergou, Sanniu, Sidan, quickly bring all these things inside, or they'll get damaged by the sun."
Everything was moved into the house and put away, while Wu Huiniang took the small seal and delivered it to Cheng Wanwan's room.
There was a small table on her bed, and a sheet of paper was laid out on it. She tried the seal on the paper, and the four characters "Sui Ruren Yin" were printed squarely on the paper, looking quite imposing.
Cheng Wanwan carefully put the seal away.
Although a seventh-rank lady is nothing special, she rose through the ranks from the ninth rank. It is not uncommon for men to be promoted in rank for meritorious service, but in this dynasty, there are basically no women who have been promoted in rank.
She, as Lady Sui, should have gained a little bit of fame in the capital and the imperial court.
Furthermore, now that she has the seal, it's like she has a protective shield. In the short term, no one should come to Dahe Village to cause trouble like He Yan did.
She achieved her goal.
Cheng Wanwan's "illness" gradually improved day by day.
After taking office, Lord Wu's first task was to recruit workers to build houses. One was the office building in Coal Hill, and the other was the dormitory for the officials. Both were brick and tile houses. Hundreds of thousands of bricks and tiles transported from the city were placed on the open ground, and hundreds of men started working at the same time.
Lord Wu offered a higher wage than the soap workshop, forty coins a day, with early mornings and late nights and no lunch break. He hoped to finish building the house as soon as possible, otherwise he would have to live in the villagers' homes, which was very inconvenient.
Cheng Wanwan's home also became busy.
With the arrival of spring, she has so much to do.
First, there was the lotus pond. First, fertilizer had to be made. Then, all the lotus seeds from the wild ponds on the mountain had to be dug up and planted. To avoid suspicion, she had to do the work herself, buying lotus seeds from the market from time to time to plant. It took quite a while to fill the two hundred acres of lotus ponds.
At the same time, she was planting cotton, something she had planned last year. Originally, she intended to set aside ten acres of land to plant cotton, but now, the imperial court had bestowed two hundred acres of fertile land that could be used directly for cotton planting. She would plant more in the first year, as it was a good cash crop that could earn a lot of money.
However, growing cotton is not simple. It requires first raising seedlings, and before that, a blacksmith needs to make a soil-making machine for the seedling pots...
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