Xuan Ge'er was conscripted by King Liu Xun of Lu. He worked day and night without sleep and food, and his eyes were red from working so hard.
Liu Zhao was heartbroken.
He pointed at his son Liu Xun and cursed him, saying that Liu Xun was heartless and exploited the child.
Xuan Ge'er is at the age of growing up, how can he stay up late every day?
Liu Xun was so confused by the scolding that he sought comfort from his mother.
"Father has a grandson but no son. He is truly too partial."
Gu Jiu couldn't help laughing, "Your father has always been partial."
This is so heartbreaking.
Gu Jiu continued to rub salt into his wounds, "You are not as likable as Xuan Ge'er, and you are already an adult but still cling to your parents. It is inevitable that your father is partial to you."
King Liu Xun of Lu wanted to vomit blood.
"Does the Queen Mother also dislike her son?"
"Of course I don't dislike you, but if you don't return to the capital, your father will personally come out and drive you away."
"My son wanted to show his filial piety to his father and mother, but he was rejected by his father. He is truly too picky."
"Having Xuan-ge'er by our side to show his filial piety is enough! As for you, you're certainly not as considerate as Xuan-ge'er."
King Liu Xun of Lu had tears soaking his clothes.
So pitiful!
So unfair!
So helpless!
He was disliked by his father, the emperor, and his mother, and was not as lovable as his nephew.
Oh, oh, oh!
Prince Lu Liu Xun shamelessly stayed for another month despite the cold gaze of Emperor Retired Emperor Liu Zhao.
There are still two months before the Chinese New Year, and I finally have an idea.
He ran to his father, the emperor, and his mother, the empress, and said, "I want to spend the New Year with you, and then I'll set off back to the capital in the spring."
Liu Zhao was particularly disgusted and waved his hand, "Hurry up and leave, hurry up and leave! If you have any problems next time, just write to me and don't show up suddenly again."
Being rejected again.
Liu Xun looked at his mother eagerly.
Gu Jiu said with a smile: "Business is more important. There will be opportunities to travel and enjoy the scenery in the future. When you have achieved results, your father and I will return to the capital to celebrate for you."
"My son is waiting for my father, the emperor, and my mother in the capital."
King Liu Xun of Lu packed his luggage and set off back to the capital.
Xuan Ge'er escorted him out of the city.
"Have a bon voyage, uncle!"
"Respect your grandparents and don't be naughty."
"Nephew listens to uncle."
After seeing off Prince Liu Xun of Lu, the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren began to get busy preparing for the New Year.
Various cured meats are hung under the eaves in rows, making the house look particularly luxurious.
There are many of them.
Over a thousand kilograms of cured meat were made.
All the butchers in the city know them.
With so many people, and they can still eat meat every day, what else can they be but rich?
After the Chinese New Year, Qingming Festival comes in a blink of an eye.
Xuan Ge'er personally fried two pots of tea to honor his grandparents.
With the Mingqian tea, Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao decided to set off for the border to take a look.
When he heard that they were going to the border, Xuan Ge'er jumped up excitedly.
He has always had the idea of going overseas to fight.
Continue south along the official road.
The road is all mountainous.
It is not easy to open an official road in such a place that can accommodate three carriages side by side.
The amount of money spent is astronomical.
The most obvious benefit of the opening of the road is that there are more pedestrians and vehicles passing by, making the flow of goods more convenient.
Many merchants selling southern and northern goods take the initiative to purchase mountain products locally.
The local people sold their own dried goods and mountain products to merchants, and the family finally had some income, which was enough to buy two taels of salt and three feet of cloth to make a new piece of clothing.
Xuan Ge'er asked curiously, "Doesn't Sihai Meat and Vegetable Shop have a local branch? Why are all the mountain products being bought by traveling merchants?"
Gu Jiu told him, "Si Hai Meat and Vegetable Shop has two locations at the toll station. The output here is limited, so the guys usually go into the mountains once every six months. You see, there are so many mountains here, and it's not easy to go into the mountains every time. It takes at least one month, and up to three months to get out of the mountains."
Not everyone wants to wait for the Sihai Meat and Vegetable Shop's staff to pick up their goods. Furthermore, the agricultural and sideline products market can't be monopolized by the Sihai Meat and Vegetable Shop; other vendors must be given a way out. In any industry, monopolizing the market will only lead to resentment. You have to learn how to distribute the benefits.
Xuan Ge'er seemed to be lost in thought.
Liu Zhao interjected, "You're right to listen to your grandmother. When it comes to the distribution of benefits, your grandmother is second only to you. No one in the world dares to claim first place. Every shakeup in the court is, in the final analysis, a redistribution of benefits. Why give it to the East family and not the West family? Why give it to the Li family and not the Zhao family? Are they inferior to others? Not at all! Giving it to the East family and the Li family maximizes benefits, benefits more people, and is more conducive to the promotion of the system."
Xuan Ge'er suddenly understood.
Gu Jiu was very straightforward and immediately assigned him an assignment: "Write a policy paper on the word 'interest'. Submit it within two weeks."
"Grandson obeys!"
When we arrived at the border town, we realized that it was already a bustling commercial center.
Merchants, scholars, people of unknown identity, people fleeing lawsuits, and soldiers and troops coming and going, all kinds of people gathered here.
A small border town with a population of only a thousand people was forcibly transformed into a major border trade center due to the opening of a cement road leading to overseas.
The fruits were just coming on the market, so Xuan Ge'er ate and ate every day.
You are indeed a little brat, you are eating me to death.
With this amount of food, a poorer family simply cannot afford to feed it.
Even a small landlord family would feel weak when faced with such a large amount of food.
Xuan Ge'er was not satisfied with just buying fruits at the market, so he took his people to the orchard and climbed directly onto the trees to eat fresh fruits.
When I came back in the evening, I brought back some wild game.
After the guards reported this, Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao realized that this kid not only climbed trees to eat fruit, but also went into the mountains to hunt game. He killed three poisonous snakes in a row and brought the game down the mountain, looking very proud.
Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao were shocked when they heard that they had encountered a poisonous snake.
"This kid is so wild! He's so much wilder than his father."
"He dared to chop the venomous snake casually. It's really infuriating."
Liu Zhao was furious and ran to teach Xuan Ge'er a lesson. He was also worried about Xuan Ge'er's well-being.
Xuan Ge'er bowed his head and admitted his mistake, and Liu Zhao immediately softened his heart and told him not to go into the mountains to hunt wild game in the future, and there would be no other punishment.
Gu Jiulian rolled his eyes, an old man who said one thing and meant another.
He was so fierce before, but when he saw his eldest grandson, he immediately became unnaturally gentle and was reluctant to punish him.
Gu Jiu would not be soft-hearted. "Reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors for half a month and think carefully about where you went wrong."
"oh!"
Xuan Ge'er went back to his room and reflected on his mistakes.
Liu Zhao was heartbroken when he saw this.
"I've been ordered to reflect on my mistakes for half a month. Isn't that a bit too harsh of a punishment?"
Gu Jiu stretched out her finger and poked him on the head, "Are you old and confused? You're making a lot of noise but doing little. You didn't discipline Xuan Ge'er, and you even dared to say I was too cruel. Believe it or not, I'll punish you too."
Believe it!
How could Liu Zhao dare not believe it?
We must never disobey the decision of the Empress Dowager.
"I'll do whatever you say. If you want to punish him for half a month, then that's half a month. If you want to punish him for a month, then that's a month. I have no objection."
Liu Zhao was very timid.
Gu Jiu laughed, "You just dote on him too much. You can't do this in the future."
"That won't do! One of us should play the good cop and the other the bad cop. We can't all be mean. That will hurt Brother Xuan."
Gu Jiu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "That's not what you said when you were teaching the kids back then."
"That's different. Brother Xuan is a grandson, not a son. How can those brats compare to Brother Xuan?"
have to!
This is my biological father, there is no doubt about it.
Liu Zhao despised his own son but treasured his grandson.
Typical double standards!
I stayed in the border town for a month before officially leaving the country.
As the Empress Dowager and the Retired Emperor came out of seclusion, an imperial edict from the Empress Dowager was sent to the branch of the Shaofu in the provincial capital.
A few days later, the provincial governor's branch went out in full force, and led the Embroidered Uniform Guards to the small town checkpoint, where they rounded up all the border staff, captured them all, and interrogated them.
Damn it, if you dare to touch the tariffs, you must be prepared to die.
In order to take into account the difficult working environment at the border, the Shaofu offered high salaries to border workers and generous bonuses at the end of the year.
His annual income is equivalent to the annual salary of a first-rank official.
With such a high income, he still didn't forget to reach out for tariffs, and it happened to fall into the hands of the Empress Dowager. He deserved it!
After passing the customs, we met many caravans transporting supplies along the way.
Sanhe Express is the main force.
For overseas cargo transportation like this, in order to ensure safety, businesses usually entrust Sanhe Express.
Although Sanhe Express charges a high fee, delivery is guaranteed.
If the goods are robbed and cause losses, Sanhe Express will compensate according to the tax value.
"This cement road leading to the beach is much busier than I expected."
Gu Jiu thought that there would be few people walking on this road, and at most there would be some caravans.
Along the way, I found that there were not only caravans traveling back and forth from the south and the north, but also many local people and wealthy masters.
The closer you get to town, the more people you see hawking their wares on both sides of the road.
Gu Jiu sighed, "I thought the locals were full of hatred towards the people of the Great Zhou, but I didn't expect to see a scene of peace and prosperity."
Brother Xuan had been out investigating for several days, frequently coming into contact with local people, and he had found out a lot of things.
"Most of the people setting up stalls along the street can speak a few words of Chinese. They specialize in doing business with the people of the Great Zhou. The Overseas Branch has set up a free elementary school where local children can go to school for free. This move is quite popular."
"My grandson also heard that the Overseas Headquarters held its first imperial examination last year, and local scholars flocked to sign up. The Overseas Headquarters promised that anyone who passed the examination and became a scholar would be able to work at the headquarters and earn a living at the government's expense. Those with outstanding results would be recommended to study at the Shanhe Academy in the capital. These two reasons alone were extremely attractive to the local scholars."
"There's another thing. Following the orders of the Empress Dowager, the Sun family has been promoting Chinese culture in overseas camps for many years. They've achieved remarkable results and are highly respected by local scholars as saints."
After hearing what Xuan Ge'er had inquired about, Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao did not rush to the camp.
I found a town and booked an inn to stay in.
The couple dressed as traveling merchants and wandered around all day.
Markets, villages, farmlands, mines, schools...
The overseas branch has been operating for many years and its achievements are obvious to all.
"Given another ten years of hard work, once these children, educated in Chinese culture, have grown up, we can formally incorporate the overseas camp into the imperial court, establish an official office here, and appoint officials."
Liu Zhao nodded repeatedly, "We can set up five counties and twenty prefectures."
"You're taking too big a step. When it comes to establishing counties and prefectures, you shouldn't rush into it. You have to proceed slowly. First, establish one or two prefectures, test them for three to five years, and ensure they can replace the overseas headquarters before discussing establishing counties. However, this place is far from the capital, and in people's minds, it's considered a wild and barbaric place, a place of exile. I'm afraid no one would be willing to serve as an official here."
"Once your book 'Local Strange People and Weird Tales' is published, there will definitely be people who will be interested. You can also use the method of increasing salaries to attract a group of people."
Gu Jiu wanted to be stable and didn't want to cause any chaos here. "Let's think about this matter again. There's no rush."
They went to the camp.
This was the first time I took the initiative to visit a government office since I went out for a trip.
Everyone in the camp was facing a powerful enemy and treading on thin ice.
Why are the Emperor and Empress Dowager here!
Security work is of paramount importance. If something goes wrong, it will be a disaster.
Everyone in the camp was under tremendous pressure and worried about security.
The population of this area, originally close to the Great Zhou, had always been relatively close to the Great Zhou. After years of cultivation in the overseas camp, they gradually accepted the people of the Great Zhou and took the initiative to learn the Great Zhou dialect and etiquette. Scholars were also willing to work in the camp.
So as Gu Jiu and his companions traveled along the way, they saw scenes of peaceful times.
After passing the camp and continuing south, the closer to the sea we get, the more resistance we will find to the Great Zhou.
Half of the troops in the camp were sent out to quell the rebellion.
A while ago, some people created an atmosphere of terror in the town where the camp was located.
Three days before Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao arrived, the camp had just slaughtered a group of rebels. The smell of blood in the city had not yet dissipated.
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