Chapter 2978 Birthday Banquet
What is there in Dajiawa?
Mr. Song was holding the teacup in his hand and thinking. There were two people in his mind who were constantly arguing with each other. One told him not to use his arms to fight his thighs; the other said that no matter who came, Longchi Salt Field was of vital importance to Beihai County, and Bai Shan would not give up the salt field, so the Song family still had a chance.
Just as the two sides were evenly matched, Chief Secretary Song hesitated for a moment before saying, "Uncle, I vaguely heard County Magistrate Dong mention that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is sending a group of soldiers to Beihai County. I'm not sure what they're for, but they're for the county magistrate."
Mr. Song's expression changed slightly, and the balance in his heart suddenly tilted to the other side.
He closed his eyes and said, "Last year was a turbulent time, and I didn't celebrate my birthday much. This year, I'm planning to have a grand celebration. The date is June 12th. I'd like to invite County Magistrate Bai, Lord Zhou, and other dignitaries from the county government to attend. I'll write you a few invitations later, and please pass them on to County Magistrate Bai for me."
Mr. Song’s birthday is in August, but moving it forward to June is too early, isn’t it?
However, Song Zhubu did not express any opinion. He agreed and said, "Who else do you want to invite, uncle?"
Mr. Song said, "I will invite everyone I can. I just wonder if Magistrate Lu and Governor Guo of Qingzhou City would be willing to do me the honor."
Song Zhubu understood what was going on. Mr. Song even wanted to invite County Magistrate Lu, which obviously meant he was planning to take another step back.
Song Zhubu agreed and finally took five freshly written invitations and left.
He first gave one to County Magistrate Dong and one to County Magistrate Fang, then went to Bai Shan and presented the three letters, "...My uncle didn't dare to invite the princess and her husband rashly, so he asked me to bring the invitations. I ask you to deliver them on my behalf. If the two nobles are interested that day, you can come to the Song family for a visit, and let the Song family show its humble intention."
Another invitation was for Zhou Man.
Zhou Man holds a high official position, so Master Song gave her a special invitation to show that he values her, but Bai Shan and Zhou Man think that he wants to collect more gift money from them.
Bai Shan accepted the invitation and took it home with him.
Zhou Man took Mingda to the medical office today and asked her to watch her treat patients. Now the two of them came back hand in hand to have lunch.
Bai Shan handed them two memorials and said, "Master Song sent these. It's about a birthday banquet. Do you want to go?"
Zhou Man said without thinking: "Of course I went."
She asked, "Master Song is the local boss of Beihai County, right? Will the village heads and wealthy families come to celebrate his birthday?"
Bai Shan: "I think they all will."
Zhou Man turned and said to Mingda, "Our chance has come. We should talk to the women who come to the birthday party. If we can convince these wealthy women, the common people will follow their example without us having to do anything more."
Mingda was also a little excited, "Can I help?"
"Of course," Zhou Man said, "You are a princess, so your words are more effective than mine."
She said, "There's no need to tell them what to do. Just tell them what the capital and the palace are like, and they'll rush to follow suit."
Bai Shan looked back and forth at the two of them and asked, "What are the capital and the palace like?"
Mingda blushed slightly and said, "This is our women's business."
Zhou Man was about to answer Bai Shan when he swallowed his words and nodded, "Yes, don't ask anymore, just do your own thing. By the way, do you want to threaten Master Song? Do you want us to cooperate with you in your play?"
"...That's not necessary," Bai Shan refused. "I'll just take County Lieutenant Dong and County Magistrate Fang with me."
He glanced outside and frowned slightly, "Why haven't Bai Er and Yin Huo come back yet?"
A guard returned and reported, "County Magistrate Bai, the Prince Consort sent me back to tell you that he and Master Yin are having dinner outside and won't be back."
Bai Shan couldn't tell whether she was envious or jealous. She waved her hand and waited for him to leave before saying to Princess Mingda, "Since Princess is so determined to do good deeds in Beihai County, why don't you ask your husband to join you?"
So that he wouldn't have nothing to do all day.
Mingda agreed with a smile, but did not refuse.
At this time, there were still nine days until June 12th, and Bai Shan still kept the matter of Dajiawa a secret. Song Zhubu tried hard for two days but still could not get any information.
Instead, Master Song vaguely heard some rumors from Qingzhou City that the salt fields in Dajiawa produced a lot of salt, but they did not use the traditional salt-boiling method.
Mr. Song couldn't find out any more. In fact, it's not that he couldn't find out. As long as he was willing to pay, there would be people willing to tell him the details.
Even if there is an imperial censor in Qingzhou city at this time.
But Mr. Song was unwilling to pay too high a price for such information, so the information he received was always vague.
During this period, the Qingzhou officialdom was completely clean, because most of the county magistrates in Qingzhou were newly appointed after the incident last year. They had been in office for only half a year, a few months earlier than Bai Shan, and were just now adapting to the new situation.
The prince suddenly came for inspection with the censor and Tang He, and they... were a little excited.
They had not had time to make mistakes, nor did they want to make any, so they were quite happy that such a high-ranking superior came to supervise the administration of officials.
Tang He checked the previous cases in various counties and found that most of them were fine, so he followed the prince's instructions and took a look at the population situation in each county.
He directly told the Crown Prince, "Your Highness, it is impossible for you to transfer people from other counties in Qingzhou to Beihai County. They don't have many people."
The prince said with disdain, "Lu's noble families are powerful, Qi and Wei are overcrowded, so why is Qingzhou so poor and so sparsely populated?"
Tang He didn't say anything.
The prince rubbed his forehead and said, "Forget it, let's go to Laizhou tomorrow to take a look. Isn't Baishan trying to compete with Laizhou for merchants and the ferry? Let's go and take a look at the ferry in Laizhou."
Tang He agreed.
Censor Xia couldn't help but ask, "What should Censor Ning do?"
The prince said nonchalantly, "He's still at the Dajiawa Salt Field, watching the salt drying. We'll meet up with him after we've finished our visit in Laizhou."
He said, "If Laizhou can be used, then the more places to dry salt, the better."
Censor Xia agreed and went to Laizhou with Crown Prince Tang He.
At this time, Bai Shan was dressed in new clothes and asked Daji to take the birthday gifts they had prepared to the Song family to celebrate the birthday.
This is the first time that Bai Shan has hosted such a grand banquet since he took office. The previous Dragon Boat Festival and welcoming banquets were not of this scale.
So Bai Shan was very concerned about this banquet. She specially put on a set of casual clothes that had just been made, and turned to find Yin Huo as soon as she walked out of the hospital gate.
Yin Huo was also ready, and when he saw him coming alone, he asked, "Where is Manbao?"
Bai Shan said helplessly: "She ran to find the princess early in the morning. She is probably waiting for us on the street. Let's go."
Yin Huo asked Changshou to hold the gift box and said with a smile, "I wonder if Mr. Song will regret holding the birthday banquet two months in advance after today."
See you at 7pm
(End of this chapter)
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