"Work relief? Great! That's wonderful!"
Zhou Wencheng looked on with admiration and repeatedly praised Xie Yuan's good deeds.
He was a pure scholar with Confucian ideals of "loyalty to the emperor and love for the people".
Forced to come to Lingnan, Zhou Wencheng must have harbored resentment towards Helian Jue.
Consequently, he also had some misunderstandings about Xie Yuan, the princess who represented Helian Jue in handling various affairs of the palace.
He mistakenly believed that Xie Yuan and Helian Jue, even if not birds of a feather, were at least acting as accomplices to evil.
But he never expected that Princess Xie, a mere woman, would have such a broad mind that was "for the country and for the people".
The initial signs were already evident when we helped the villagers in the small fishing village with post-disaster reconstruction some time ago.
Now, there's another act of kindness: hiring ordinary people to work for the Prince's Palace...
Oh, what a kind person! And an extraordinary woman with a profound sense of righteousness!
Zhou Wencheng was incredibly impressed, and when he returned home, he couldn't help but talk about it to his family.
Hearing Zhou Wencheng praise Princess Xie in such a way, Madam Su couldn't help but feel a little regretful: she should have let her daughter follow the princess.
With Princess Xie's reputation for benevolence, her position as a "lady official" would also be viewed with more respect.
Zhou Jiao'e, the eldest daughter of the Zhou family, was filled with bitterness. Alas, she had missed her chance!
I just hope there will be another chance in the future!
"Winning people's hearts! Xie is so cunning, she must be winning people's hearts for Helian Jue!"
Cui Boyong was thoroughly roasted by Xie Yuan.
He stormed back to the government office.
"What kind of reconstruction did they do before? They had the Prince's guards help the people build houses and clear farmland. Humph, all pretense and empty talk to gain fame!"
"The common people are ignorant and don't understand anything at all. They say Helian Jue 'loves the people like his own children.' If he were really that benevolent, would he have been deposed?"
"Now it's even better; they're actually paying people to build a royal palace. Three or four hundred people are vying to work there—"
Besides the people on the construction site, there are also matters related to building the Prince's Mansion, such as the mining and sale of timber, stone, flowers, etc. It is estimated that one or two hundred people will benefit from this!
The Wangfu project in Crescent Moon Village is almost becoming a new industrial base.
In total, nearly a thousand people can make money through the Prince's Mansion.
Behind these thousand individuals are a thousand families.
The entire Yuezhou region has fewer than 20,000 households, while the vast He County has a maximum of five or six thousand households.
With just one project—the construction of the Prince's Mansion—the Xie family helped Helian Jue win over nearly one-sixth of the population of He County!
What exactly is she trying to do?
Do you really want Helian Jue to establish himself in Yuezhou and become a king?
Although Cui Boyong always complained that Yuezhou was wild and remote, not a good place to be an official.
However, as the prefect, he was practically a local tyrant in Yuezhou.
Moreover, being far from the emperor's reach, he amassed a huge fortune in just a few years.
In Yuezhou, his word was law; if he stomped his foot, the entire land of Yuezhou would shake!
Now that a Prince of Yue has suddenly appeared, and Helian Jue is a powerful and tyrannical deposed crown prince, his power as the governor of Yuezhou will definitely be affected.
Cui Boyong's actions against the King of Yue were not only for the sake of the Second Prince, but also for his own sake.
But the current situation is that, let alone dealing with the King of Yue, Cui Boyong couldn't gain the slightest advantage against Xie Shi, a mere woman.
Cui Boyong felt frustrated and angry, and was eager to find a way to make things difficult for the Prince of Yue's mansion.
"Imperial estates! Your Excellency, according to the regulations for vassal kings, the Prince of Yue can designate two more imperial estates!"
Seeing their master so angry, Cui Boyong's advisors quickly jumped out to offer advice.
Awakened by this revelation, Cui Boyong excitedly asked, "You mean—"
Could they make an issue of the imperial estate?
Hexian County is very close to the sea and is affected by typhoons every year.
There isn’t much fertile land that’s truly suitable for farming.
Instead, mountains, beaches, and wastelands are everywhere.
Logically, when allocating imperial estates to vassal kings, the best fertile land should be the first choice.
However, the fertile fields in He County and several other counties were occupied by Cui Boyong and several powerful clans.
Having already eaten, Cui Boyong and the others would never willingly spit out what they had already ingested.
"Princess Xie is the most kind and benevolent; she would certainly not seize someone's land!"
The aide said ominously, "Ordinary people are 'citizens,' but your family and the powerful clans are also 'citizens'!"
The advisors' strategy was simple: use their own weapon against them.
The Xie family wanted to buy a good reputation for the King of Yue, so they simply let the King of Yue's palace destroy this reputation of "loving the people like his own children".
Such a good reputation is actually a double-edged sword.
Hypocrisy, hypocrisy! Your "goodness," even if it's fake, even if it's just an act, has to be presentable on the surface.
Cui Boyong could have taken advantage of this and refused to give up the best land.
"That's right! You're right!"
Yes, isn't Xie eloquent and fond of playing word games? This time, let her taste what it's like to be taken advantage of.
"Fertile lands must not be seized and turned into royal estates, and those wastelands that can be cultivated into fertile fields must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Prince of Yue!"
The aide stroked his two beards and said smugly, "Give us the beach land, the barren mountains, and some wasteland. If the land isn't of good quality, we'll give us a few more acres!"
Since they're all worthless and rotten land anyway, what's wrong with giving them an extra thousand acres?
Cui Boyong's eyes lit up as he listened, and he nodded vigorously, "Yes! Yes! That's exactly right!"
"Her Highness the Princess is virtuous and kind, and His Highness the Prince loves the people like his own children. They will surely understand the plight of the people and the poverty and desolation of He County!" (Reading by Shuluo)
...
"Understanding?"
When Xie Yuan heard Cui Boyong's feigned reluctance, he stared at him intently before saying coolly, "Aren't Your Highness and I, the Princess Consort, understanding enough?"
"If we don't have a royal palace, we'll build one ourselves! If there's no suitable location in the inner city, we'll find one in the countryside!"
"Governor Cui, His Highness has already made concessions time and again; you must not push your luck!"
Upon hearing Xie Yuan bring up old grievances, Cui Boyong knew that Xie Yuan must be angry because of the imperial estate.
It's good that you're angry!
Cui Boyong was just waiting for Xie Yuan to lose his temper.
The incident at the Prince's Mansion last time failed to anger the couple.
If Xie was forced to act out because of the imperial estate, then Cui Boyong would have grounds to impeach the King of Yue and his wife for seizing farmland and competing with the people for profit!
Of course, even if Cui Boyong wanted to stir up trouble, he couldn't be too obvious about it.
He also had to feign a helpless and pitiful state, and desperately try to find a way to "compensate" the Yue Prince's Mansion—
"Your Highness, you flatter me! I should never have been so disrespectful to Your Highness!"
"Alas, Yuezhou is really remote, and Hexian County really doesn't have any contiguous tracts of good farmland."
"Your Majesty knows this is inappropriate, but there is truly no other way. How about I take the liberty of designating the imperial estates at double the acreage?"
Xie Yuan raised an eyebrow: Oh wow, so this is what they call making up for poor quality with quantity?
The original imperial estate, which was only 2,000 mu, can now be given 4,000 mu.
Beaches, mountains, and wastelands... Haha, it's like my wish came true!
Xie Yuan feigned indignation, but inwardly he was overjoyed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
