Chapter 2435 Liyang (Reward for the book friend "Liang Yi")
Manbao took great pains to explain to Old Zhoutou Qian the difference between titles and official posts. In order to help them understand better, she mentioned Prince Gong as an example.
"Prince Gong doesn't hold any real position now. He was once a prince, and his fiefdom in Luozhou is quite large. All taxes and other levies within the fiefdom belong to him. Although he has no jurisdiction, since the land is his fiefdom, if he has any ideas, he can still speak to the local magistrate." Man Bao said, "For example, he can ask for tax exemptions or reduce donations, etc.
"Later, he became a prince, and part of his fiefdom was taken back. The people in that part no longer paid taxes to Prince Gong, but instead paid to the court."
Old Zhou was stunned. "Are you a prince now?"
Manbao: "...Dad, I'm just a fifth-rank village chief, with a fief of 500 households, which is equivalent to six of our villages, or three Dali villages."
Qian was also stunned. "That's also very impressive, even more impressive than your father. I'm talking about your biological father."
Old Zhou came back to his senses and immediately turned to ask Madam Liu, "My dear, Shanbao also has that so-and-so town, right? How many households does he have?"
Madam Liu smiled and said, "Yes, there are, just like Manbao, also 500 households."
Old Zhou immediately asked, "Where is it?"
He also turned around and asked Manbao, "Where are the five hundred households in our family? Do you know whose family is whose?"
"It's in Liyang," Manbao said. "I'll ask the Liyang County Magistrate later. Bai Shan's fiefdom is in Longzhou, not here."
Manbao finally realized what was going on and exclaimed, "Your Majesty, why did you place my fiefdom in Liyang? It should be in Luojiang County."
Madam Liu smiled and tapped her forehead, "Silly child, it's not so good in Liyang. It's easier to make a living under the emperor's feet, and they pay more taxes."
Liyang belongs to Yongzhou and is very close to the capital. Wannian County used to be Liyang, which is less than a hundred miles away from the outer city of the capital. It can be reached in one hour by fast horse, which is closer than their farm.
Of course, Liyang is not small, and it depends on where the 500 households are divided. If they are divided into another corner, it is possible that it will take a whole day to get there on horseback.
However, Old Lady Liu didn't think that would happen. She smiled and said, "You are currently enjoying a favorable patronage. The Ministry of Rites and the Magistrate of Liyang County won't make things too difficult for you."
Not only will there be no embarrassment, but when Liyang received the imperial edict, because the emperor did not specify a specific place, but only gave the title of Liyang, the Liyang County Magistrate had a strange feeling, and was afraid that he would be promoted after Zhou Man.
So he studied the official document carefully. After thinking about it for a long time, he finally confirmed that the Ministry of Rites had not specified a place, so he took out the map of Liyang County and started to study it.
Half a day later, they enclosed a small area near Wannian County, intending to allocate the 500 households from here to Zhou Man. If she was promoted in the future, they could continue to allocate her in this direction.
The magistrate of Liyang County thought happily that Zhou Man was just an outsider anyway, and she could at most be promoted to a county lady in the future, with a fief of a thousand households. It would be just right to give her this piece of land as her fief.
At the same time, County Magistrate Guo was sighing to his advisor.
Master: "...Sir, what's wrong with you?"
County Magistrate Guo said, "I'm afraid we won't be able to seize the places we wanted to seize from Liyang."
Master: ...Why does his master always want to seize territory from Liyang?
However, he still hurriedly asked, "Did the Ministry of Revenue explicitly refuse?"
"No," Magistrate Guo said gloomily, "Your Majesty has appointed Zhou Man as Lord of Liyang Township."
The lawyer was puzzled. "What does this have to do with my seizure of the territory in Liyang? Is Lord Zhou going to make the decision for the Liyang County Magistrate?"
His family wouldn't be scared by this, right?
What are you afraid of? Just go for it!
County Magistrate Guo glanced at him and said, "If Your Majesty does not specify the specific location of the fief, Liyang will most likely give the areas bordering Wannian County to Zhou Man."
The master reacted and his expression turned cold, "Oh."
They couldn't seize it, as it was all Zhou Man's fief. It would be useless for them to seize it. They couldn't collect taxes or do anything else. Why bother with such a thankless task?
It was a pity for County Magistrate Guo. The Ministry of Revenue had already softened its stance and was about to agree to transfer the township adjacent to their Wannian County to their Wannian County. Who knew that the Lord of Liyang Township would suddenly appear out of nowhere?
If the magistrate of Liyang County was not stupid, he would definitely use her to separate the two counties, and then he would be unable to annex the territory of Liyang.
What a pity.
The magistrate of Liyang County was very happy and had the list submitted to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue the next day.
Just when Manbao sent Bai Shan to the reference office and turned around to see the wife of Duke Pi and returned to the palace, the officials from Liyang had already delivered the documents to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue.
Therefore, when Manbao finished her busy work in the palace and Xiao Yuanzheng announced that she and Doctor Lu would be given a six-day vacation, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue had already checked the documents and approved them.
Manbao was so happy that she left early. When she left the palace, she took a detour to the Ministry of Rites to ask about the specific location of her fiefdom.
The document from the Ministry of Rites hadn't been put away yet. He took it out and showed it to her. "Here's the list and number of people in the five hundred households. Please take a look."
Manbao flipped through the pages, first looking at the places they lived in, noting them down before looking at their names. He casually asked, "Is this the place His Majesty has marked?"
The official from the Ministry of Rites smiled and said, "No, this is the area designated by the Liyang County Magistrate. Actually, the Wutun Township where these villages are located is quite famous."
He said, "The ancient city of Liyang is right here. More than a thousand years ago, it was the ancient capital of the Qin State, but it has become quite deserted. During the time of the previous emperor, Liyang was incorporated into Wannian County, but was later divided into Yongzhou..."
Anyway, it’s just divided back and forth, so... we’re very poor.
Of course, this poverty is compared with the counties around the capital. It is still much better than Luojiang County, which is a medium-sized county after all.
The four villages allocated to Zhou Man were not bad, but because they were divided up one after another, the higher-level officials had not taken good care of them before, so they were a bit poor.
Because the Ministry of Rites was under the jurisdiction of the Crown Prince, and based on the perception that Zhou Man was the Crown Prince's person, the officials of the Ministry of Rites naturally had a good impression of her. After all, they were one of their own.
So the official from the Ministry of Rites who was being questioned by Manbao was very attentive to explain to Zhou Man, "This Wutun Township has an ancient city. During the previous dynasty, commerce was very prosperous. Many merchants traveling to and from Chang'an would stop there. Although it is called a township, it was actually more prosperous than Wannian County at that time."
The capital city had experienced war. When fighting broke out in the capital, many people moved to the nearby Xiang Village to take refuge. Over time, Wuxiang County developed better than Wannian County.
"So after the late emperor ascended the throne, seeing that Wannian County was deserted, he merged Liyang into Wannian County. The county magistrate at the time lured all the people and merchants from Liyang to Wannian County..." The official from the Ministry of Rites paused and continued, "But later, because the county was too large and difficult to manage, and Chang'an County and Wannian County should be the primary, and Yongzhou was to be the secondary capital, the late emperor returned Liyang to Yongzhou, making it a separate county."
However, the merchants, dignitaries, officials, etc. who had gathered in Liyang before had all fled to Wannian County. It was impossible for them to go back, so the ancient city of Liyang became more and more deserted day by day. Now it is no different from ordinary towns, and it even looks more dilapidated than them.
Manbao: "...I, I just want to eat a fief. Isn't this something the county magistrates should worry about?"
The official from the Ministry of Rites was stunned for a moment before nodding and smiling, "Yes, it is indeed something the county magistrates should worry about."
On the fifth day of ten thousand updates, I finally finished it, yeah
Good night
(End of this chapter)
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