Chapter 222 The King of a Lost Country 22

He has no power to influence the court for the time being, and has no way to stop the court's tyranny of conscription and taxation, but, give him a few years... give him a few more years...

he will do his best to continue writing a few pages of history. Let these pages of history face up to the suffering of the people and sing praises to the glory of the people.

This is his awareness.

Or rather, this is the awareness that a king should have.

Nan Liujing stood in the persimmon forest for a long time, so long that the guards came in worried that something was wrong, and he put the Emperor's Sword back into the sheath.

The guard reminded: "Your Highness, we should go down the mountain."

Nan Liujing did not reply, raised his right hand, and gently touched the persimmon flower with his fingertips.

The petals were wet by the rain and trembled and drooped. Nan Liujing tapped with his finger, and the raindrops dripped from the tip of the petals, hitting his warm cheek.

Nan Liujing smiled gently.

The guard suggested: "If you like this flower, you can pick it and take it away."

"No, let it stay on the branch and grow freely."

Nan Liujing shook his head, deeply imprinted the appearance of this persimmon flower in his mind, turned around and strode out of the persimmon forest.

Back to the village, Nan Liujing went to see the village chief again.

The village chief was talking to other villagers. He saw Nan Liujing's figure out of the corner of his eye and quickly stood up to greet him: "Sir, you are back."

Nan Liujing said: "Village chief, I have something to say to you alone."

"Okay, please come in."

The village chief led Nan Liujing into the inner room, and the guards stood at the door.

Nan Liujing got straight to the point and said, "I have two suggestions, the village chief can choose by himself."

"The first suggestion is that I take action and directly help Qingshui Village escape the conscription and tax increase this time."

The village chief showed a happy expression on his face, but he did not agree immediately: "I wonder what your second suggestion is?"

"The second suggestion is that Qingshui Village pays taxes and joins the army in accordance with the laws of the court."

After a pause, Nan Liujing said, "Have you heard of the Northern Shop, village chief?"

"The Northern Shop is a business under my name. Now is the time for rapid development and we lack manpower."

"After I go back, I will say hello there and let the Northern Shop provide some money-making opportunities for the villagers. In this way, the villagers will not go hungry because of paying more taxes."

"I will try to keep the soldiers who were conscripted from the village together and prevent them from dying on the battlefield for no reason. I will also try my best to ensure that they can communicate with their families and ensure that every subsidy issued by the court can fall into their hands."

"I will also try to find out the whereabouts of the villagers who were conscripted before. Whether they are dead or alive, at least their families will know the result."

The village chief has never heard of the saying "It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish", but he knows this truth.

The nobleman in front of them is of noble status and can help them once or twice, but can he help them every time?

Even if this nobleman can help them every time, they cannot take advantage of his kindness and make more money.

"Sir, I plan to choose the second one." The village chief only pondered for a few breaths and made a decision, "But this way, I'll trouble you."

The second suggestion was much more troublesome than the first one.

"You're welcome. Since I've brought it up, I can certainly help you do it." Nan Liujing smiled. "Speaking of which, I still have something I want to ask the village chief for help with."

The village chief patted his chest and promised: "You have helped us so much. If there is anything I can help with, just ask."

"The situation of other villages should be similar to that of Qingshui Village. I hope the village chief can help me contact other villages as soon as possible, so that I can make arrangements together."

The village chief was surprised: "This is not a big deal. Don't worry, I will contact other villages early tomorrow morning and I will be able to get this done the day after tomorrow." After

Nan Liujing finished communicating with the village chief, he got up and returned to the yard. He happened to see a little boy and a little girl of six or seven years old sitting by the straw shed eating green dates.

The brother and sister were very happy eating, and the little girl was shaking her head while eating.

Nan Liujing touched his sleeves, took out a purse full of preserved honey, and called the little boy.

The brother and sister turned around together.

The little girl timidly shrank behind the little boy, only revealing a pair of round eyes staring at Nan Liujing.

"This is a thank you gift for leading me on the way." Nan Liujing stuffed the preserved honey into the little boy's hand.

The little boy glanced at the village chief, and only took it when he saw the village chief nod.

Nan Liujing asked, "Can you read?"

The little boy shook his head.

"Is there a school near your village?"

"There is a scholar who opened an enlightenment school in the next village. When my friends and I went to herd cattle, we eavesdropped on his class outside. But we were discovered and he kicked us out."

Nan Liujing asked, "Do you want to study?"

The little boy pursed his lips and said, "No."

Nan Liujing touched the little boy's dry hair and did not expose the boy's hypocrisy: "When I was your age, I hadn't read much. At most, I knew a few more words than you." The

little boy widened his eyes in surprise, and even the little girl behind him stared at Nan Liujing in disbelief.

Nan Liujing asked, "I plan to open a free school near the village and provide a free meal every day. You and your friends will go to school, and when you have achieved good results, you can come to help me. How about that?"

"Can...can I?" The little boy stammered.

This afternoon, he saw that the nobleman agreed to arrange a job for Brother Yang Zhen, and he was envious at the time. If he was not still young, he would have learned from Brother Yang Zhen and kowtowed to the nobleman, begging him to accept him.

"If I learn well, then I can."

The little boy nodded vigorously, his round eyes showing admiration: "Don't worry, sir, I will definitely study hard!"

As if thinking of something, the little boy scratched his head, and a shy look appeared on his dark face: "Sir, can you also ask my name?"

Nan Liujing was stunned, and then asked with a smile: "What's your name?"

"My name is Yang Tie."

"Okay, Yang Tie, I'll remember you."

Nan Liujing looked at the little girl hiding behind Yang Tie again.

When the little girl heard that her brother could go to school for free, her face was full of envy, but she was very obedient and didn't speak or make any requests.

"Girls can also go to school."

"In addition to teaching literacy, the school also teaches needlework, medical books, arithmetic... No matter what you learn, as long as you listen carefully, you can learn a skill."

The little girl opened her mouth in surprise: "But the old scholar said that his private school does not accept girls. I know his granddaughter, and his granddaughter is also illiterate like me."

Nan Liujing smiled: "I am different from the old scholar. The private school I opened will accept girls."

In this era, education was almost completely monopolized by the nobles, and knowledge was only circulated among the upper class. Ordinary people had to pay a very high price to read and learn literacy.

He wanted to break the almost completely solidified class and wanted to give the lower-class people more opportunities to succeed.

The first step is to break this educational monopoly and let more people, both men and women, read books and understand the truth.

The little girl was stunned for a few seconds, and suddenly whispered: "Sir, can you remember my name too?"

"Okay." Nan Liujing asked seriously, "What's your name?"

"My name is Yang Le. Safe and happy Yang Le."

"Yang Le, I hope I can hear your name again in a few years."

***

After leaving Qingshui Village, Nan Liujing immediately went to see Li Guanqi.

In this world, the most profitable business must be a monopoly business. With soap, perfume, glass and other things, Li Guanqi's business is getting bigger and bigger. In

the past six months, Li Guanqi has been very busy, but he has also lived a fulfilling life. He has gained some weight, his face is rosy, and he is in high spirits.

After listening to Nan Liujing's plan, Li Guanqi responded: "No problem, leave it to me, I will send someone to take over as soon as possible."

Nan Liujing trusted Li Guanqi's ability to do things: "Second Brother Li, I'm going to trouble you again."

"Don't say such nonsense." Li Guanqi patted Nan Liujing on the shoulder, "If you think I'm having a hard time, just find me more help. The business is expanding too fast, I've been recruiting people, but I'm always short of people."

Nan Liujing smiled and said: "I met a very stubborn kid named Yang Zhen, how about I keep him by your side to help you?"

"Yang Zhen?" Li Guanqi recalled, "Is it the thin boy who followed you here?"

"It's him."

Li Guanqi was speechless: "... He looks about the same age as you."

Nan Liujing laughed: "What do you think of him? He is from Qingshui Village. You can leave the affairs of Qingshui Village to him."

Li Guanqi naturally had no objection. Although he and Yang Zhen had little contact, Yang Zhen must have talent to be favored by Nan Liujing.

The two sat and talked for a while, had lunch, and then went about their own business.

A few days later, Nan Liujing received a letter from Li Guanqi, saying that the affairs of Qingshui Village were almost arranged, but the results would not be so quick.

Nan Liujing was relieved, put aside all distracting thoughts, locked himself in the study, and started writing the policy paper again.

This time, he almost finished it in one go.

When he began to finish this ten thousand-word long policy paper, the sycamore trees outside the window had already turned golden.

Nan Liujing opened the window and fed some food to the birds lingering in the yard before writing the last paragraph.

The breeze brought a cool breeze. Nan Liujing stretched his wrists, took out a new piece of paper and re-transcribed the policy paper to make his handwriting look neater.

After three years of practicing calligraphy, his handwriting was still not very good-looking, but the style of his words was the same as Yao Rongru's.

It took several days for Nan Liujing to finally finish transcribing.

He took the freshly-inked manuscript to Qu Jianbai's residence.

Qu Jianbai was sitting by the window reading a book. When he saw Nan Liujing coming, he casually took a fallen leaf from the window sill that had not been swept away and inserted it into the book as a mark: "I heard that His Highness has been staying in the study these days to write an article. Has it been written?"

Nan Liujing smiled slightly: "Thank you for waiting for a long time, Master Qu."

Incense was burning in the room, and Qu Jianbai poured a cup of tea for Nan Liujing.

Nan Liujing held the manuscript in both hands and handed it to Qu Jianbai respectfully: "Please take a look, Master Qu."

Qu Jianbai washed his hands, wiped the water stains on his hands with a white cloth, and then solemnly opened the manuscript and lowered his eyes to read.

To be fair, Nan Liujing's literary talent is not good, and his words are even more simple.

When Qu Jianbai taught students in Jiangnan, he was used to seeing brilliant articles, but this was the first time he saw such plain and simple words.

But Nan Liujing's writing was not bad.

On the contrary, there was a sincere feeling between the lines.

He wrote about Daye in his eyes from the aspects of people's livelihood, education, and political parties.

On people's livelihood, he wrote: "Ten miles of Zhuque Street are prosperous, and a thousand miles of the northwest border are barren."

On education, he wrote: "Confucius had three thousand disciples. He taught everyone throughout his life and focused on lowering the threshold of education. Today, Confucian classics are locked up between a few families, forming an educational monopoly that cannot benefit the world."

On party politics, he wrote: "Those who are loyal to their country are given poisoned wine, those who break the enemy's formation should be punished, and those who rebel against the superiors are made marquises and prime ministers."

...

When Qu Jianbai saw the sentence "Those who are loyal to their country are given poisoned wine", his breath suddenly stopped.

Loyal to their country, poisoned wine.

This is about Yue Fei Yue Pengju in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Breaking the enemy's formation should be punished.

This is the Yao family.

Rebellion, being made a marquis and appointed a prime minister.

This is the Ji family. In just three sentences, he described the disaster of the factional struggle in Daye and the emperor's stupidity and incompetence. Qu Jianbai took a deep breath and found that he had underestimated the third prince. It can be said that the third prince's understanding of the world has exceeded his imagination.

But if it only goes this far, Qu Jianbai can't say he is disappointed, but he does have some regrets.

It's hard for him to explain why this regret comes from.

Maybe it's because... Nan Liujing has done a good job, but he has more and deeper expectations for Nan Liujing, hoping that Nan Liujing can give him a more surprising answer.

Suppressing the thoughts in his mind, Qu Jianbai pinched the remaining manuscript with his fingers, a little surprised: It's still so thick?

Qu Jianbai couldn't wait to turn to the next page.

When he saw the content clearly, Qu Jianbai's eyes lit up.

After describing Daye in his eyes, Nan Liujing suddenly changed his tone and began to describe his ideal Daye-

the court had light taxes and levies, the treasury was full, and the country was stable.

The people no longer have to worry about being displaced, the court no longer suffers from powerful officials in power, and the borders no longer have the chaos of foreign races.

After describing his ideal dynasty, he did not stop, but picked up his pen again, talking about some of his attempts in Qingshui Village.

...

Qu Jianbai's eyes fell on it, and he could not come back to his senses for a long time.

It was Nan Liujing's voice that called Qu Jianbai back to his thoughts: "Master Qu, would you like some tea?"

Qu Jianbai put down the manuscript, holding the teacup, with a complicated expression: "Your Highness's ambition is very far-reaching."

Although Nan Liujing did not say it clearly in the article, to make the court no longer suffer from powerful ministers in power, it is to eliminate the entire Ji family.

To make the people no longer worry about displacement, and to make the border no longer chaotic with foreign races, it is to create a prosperous era again.

After a while, Qu Jianbai took a sip of tea, and his usually clear voice became hoarse: "Your Highness, in your article, you mentioned the rise and fall of many dynasties. You said, the lessons of history are clearly there, but history repeats itself over and over again. Why is this?"

Nan Liujing was slightly stunned.

A familiar scene emerged from the depths of his memory.

Nan Liujing remembered that he had asked the teacher this question in his first class.

At that time, how did the teacher answer?

"History is created by people, and history repeats itself because human nature never changes. Their inner desires will drive them to do things that are beneficial to themselves and in line with the laws of history."

Qu Jianbai stared at Nan Liujing deeply and continued to ask: "If learning history still cannot avoid repeating the same mistakes, then why do we need to learn history?"

As time passed, countless scenes appeared in front of Nan Liujing's eyes.

The questions that he could not understand and could not answer at that time, he now has a definite answer.

"I wrote in my policy paper that although people suffer when a country prospers and when it perishes, living in a prosperous era is completely different from living in a chaotic era."

"Dynasties exist in cycles, so in a few decades or even hundreds of years, the old dynasty will fall apart and a new dynasty will emerge. Perhaps no matter how we fight, we cannot resist the historical trend, let alone stop the rise and fall of dynasties."

"But if a person can extend the duration of a prosperous era and shorten the duration of a chaotic era as much as possible in his limited life, how can we say that his struggle and his existence are meaningless? And how can we say that learning history is useless?"

Qu Jianbai was deeply shocked.

But the one who was more shocked than him was Yao Rong.

Extending the prosperous era and shortening the chaotic era...

It's easy to say, but how difficult is it to do it?

It turns out that in the original plot, her child, with the idea of ​​"If the prosperity cannot be prolonged, then shorten the chaos", burned himself in the Zhaixing Palace...

Outside the house, the sky was full of clouds, and Qu Jianbai and Nan Liujing finally ended their question-and-answer state.

Qu Jianbai finally confirmed that this young man with a childish face was the wise leader he had been thinking about.

"Your Highness should have heard of the Governor of Jiangnan's evaluation of me."

Nan Liujing smiled and said, "Of course I have heard of it."

Qu Jianbai's expression was gentle and relaxed: "At that time, I was the same age as your Highness."

"I used to be complacent about this evaluation and made supporting the country my lifelong ideal. But after the Yao family's case broke out, I felt ashamed every time I thought of this evaluation."

Nan Liujing opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Qu Jianbai raised his hand to stop him and said softly: "I said this not to let your Highness comfort me. But I want to tell your Highness that I see hope for Daye in you."

"--Your Highness, you are the talent and beauty of Daye."

[Congratulations to Nan Liujing for completing the fourth main task: Conquer Qu Jianbai and make Qu Jianbai loyal to you. Reward: 1,000 taels of gold and 100 points. ]