Chapter 78 Because we had a sweet night last night, the next day…
Because of their sweet night together, Liu Qingyue went back to ancient times with Qin Ren the next day.
He was going back, so naturally he would take the child with him.
Liu Qingyue and Qin Ren did trust Qin Lianrui, but she was the only person they could trust.
Liu Qingyue was worried that if she and Qin Ren left, she wouldn't be able to take good care of the child on her own.
Liu Qingyue thought it would be better to bring the child along, since he wouldn't be staying back for long this time anyway, and even if the weather in the ancient fiefdom wasn't very good, it wouldn't have any effect on Su Su's health.
Since the whole family went to the ancient times, there's no need for anyone to cook here.
He then gave Qin Lianrui and the nanny a three-day holiday each.
They've had a tough time lately, so this is a good opportunity for them to take a break.
Before, SuSu was too small, so she needed to eat several meals during the day and several meals at night.
Neither Qin Lianrui nor the nanny had a proper rest.
Now that Liu Qingyue is going back to her "hometown," giving them three days off is already a benefit.
The young couple, together, took their child back to ancient times.
This is the first time Liu Qingyue has brought her child back since giving birth.
When Kaho saw the young master, she wished she could hold him in her arms forever.
Because there were many servants in ancient times, many of their indentures were held by their masters, so Liu Qingyue trusted them more than she did in modern times.
Besides, even if he doesn't trust others, he still trusts Kaho completely.
After handing the child over to Xiang Sui and the wet nurse, Liu Qingyue followed Qin Ren out of the city.
These past two days, Qin Ren has been busy manufacturing gunpowder.
Whether it's cement, rubber, gunpowder, or firearms, all these items are stored in workshops built outside the city.
The town they live in now is too small and not suitable for running such a large workshop.
Large workshops require many laborers and artisans.
Some of these people are locals, but most are from other places.
The influx of so many people from other places into the county town will cause some inconvenience to the local residents.
Qin Ren then decided to set up the workshop outside the city.
Once the county's population grows, we can expand the county seat outwards.
The old county town was the former town area, while the newly expanded town area is the new town area.
If these outsiders all settle down, they will gradually become familiar with each other, and the people will not have too many conflicts.
Actually, at this time, the population of their county had increased considerably.
The previous population increase was due to low commercial and land taxes.
There are also two workshops here, and many people come here to find work, so they naturally have to move to live nearby.
Now that their county has another blacksmith shop, even more people are coming here looking for work.
Including the population that flowed in before, the number has now increased by more than two thousand.
This number is a significant blow to the surrounding counties.
Because this is only the result of one or two years, if the population continues to be drawn away from here, it won't be long before there are fewer and fewer people around, and the population of Qin Ren's fiefdom will increase dramatically.
Ancient times were different from modern times; modern transportation is highly developed.
A developed area can attract people from all over the country.
However, things were different in ancient times, when transportation was inconvenient.
The population attracted to Qin Ren's fiefdom mostly came from the surrounding areas.
The surrounding areas are unremarkable, and there is no reduction in commercial or land taxes.
Under such circumstances, the population can only be drained away unilaterally.
A significant loss of population will not only affect local tax revenue, but over time it will also have many other consequences.
So when they saw their population constantly shrinking, officials in the surrounding areas became very anxious and began writing letters to Qin Ren one by one.
On the way to the workshop with Liu Qingyue, Qin Ren read through all the letters.
Seeing that he was sneering after reading it, Liu Qingyue moved closer to him and took the letter from him.
Qin Ren: "These people are ridiculous. Instead of thinking about changing the status quo and attracting the lost population back, or attracting people from other places, they want me to accommodate them. They are really shameless. If those people couldn't survive in their hometowns, how many of them would really be willing to leave their homes? In the end, the problem lies with themselves."
Liu Qingyue didn't reply immediately. She read through all the letters before smiling and saying to Qin Ren, "My husband is right. We don't need to pay attention to them. Those people who came here to make a living are not wrong. Wherever they can live well, they will naturally go there."
Seeing that Qin Ren still seemed a little angry, Liu Qingyue smiled and helped him put the letter away.
"Alright, you're fine with this. Even if they take it to His Majesty, he won't blame you."
“I wasn’t worried about them causing trouble; I just felt indignant on behalf of those ordinary people. I’m just an ordinary person in my hometown, so it’s easy for me to empathize with them. Seeing their lack of ambition makes me very angry.”
"Don't be angry, don't be angry. My husband can't let those people upset him and ruin his health."
Qin Ren smiled gently upon hearing this, and then reached out to pull Liu Qingyue into his arms.
Liu Qingyue leaned against him, forgetting the unpleasantness from earlier, and asked what had happened in ancient times recently.
"By the way, how's the situation in the capital lately? Has anything major happened?"
Qin Ren's eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this.
A lot has happened in ancient times recently, and there are some things Qin Ren doesn't really want to tell him.
But when he lowered his eyes and met Liu Qingyue's gaze, he chose to tell her everything he knew.
"A lot has happened in the capital recently. The first thing is about the eldest branch of the Liu family. They just got married not long ago, and then some distant relatives of the Liu family came to visit."
The "first wife" that Qin Ren mentioned refers to Liu Yuze and Ke'er.
Upon hearing Qin Ren's words, Liu Qingyue's eyes were filled with doubt and confusion.
"Distant relatives? What distant relatives does the Liu family have now?"
“I don’t know exactly what kind of relatives they are, and my people haven’t specifically investigated. I only know that it seems to be a mother and son who found the eldest son’s new house and were taken in by the elder brother.”
"This... is not good news. I need to write a letter right away to ask what's going on."
Qin Ren now has a large number of men and has also trained a considerable number of private soldiers.
Qin Ren had planted many spies in the capital, all of whom were there to gather information for him.
Because the Liu family is currently small, he specifically asked someone to keep an eye on them, in case anything happens to Liu Yuze and his group.
"Besides the matter of the Liu family in the capital, there is something else I need to tell you."
"What's wrong?"
“Your other brother has been found by my men.”
"Another brother? Which one...? Where is he now?"
Qin Ren hesitated for a moment before speaking, "It should be your second brother, the eldest son born to your concubine. When my men found him, he was already dead, so I took it upon myself to find a place to bury him."
Liu Qingyue was stunned for a long time before she murmured, "Dead? He...he wasn't hidden away by Father..."
"His death is entirely his own doing. Do you still remember the Su family and Liu Qingyan?"
"Of course... I remember."
"After they parted ways with us that day, they went to look for your two older brothers, and they actually found them. The one they found was Su's eldest son, the one I discovered was dead. According to my people's investigation in the area, he died because he wanted to sell Liu Qingyan for money. Your aunt really doted on Liu Qingyan; she killed her eldest son for Liu Qingyan's sake."
Upon hearing this news, Liu Qingyue was quite surprised.
In his memory, Su was a woman who favored sons over daughters.
Although she also loved Liu Qingyan very much, it didn't seem to be as much as her two sons.
Now that she learned that she had killed her beloved eldest son in order to protect her younger brother, Liu Qingyue was indeed a little surprised.
"So, what's the situation with the Su family and Liu Qingyan?"
"The Su family committed murder and has been arrested by the authorities. Liu Qingyan has been sent to a manor to settle the Liu family. He was almost sold by his own brother. He does seem much more honest than before."
After that, they stopped talking about the Liu family and instead started talking about the gunpowder that Qin Ren was working on.
"By the way, how's your gunpowder coming along?"
"We found many alchemists; it's easy to make gunpowder."
Qin Ren could make it himself, but he really wanted to see how those alchemists refined pills.
It just so happens that he recently wanted to crack down on superstition, so he specially ordered people to arrest a lot of sorcerers.
While they help him make gunpowder, he can also take the opportunity to dispel some local superstitions about gods and ghosts.
This will prevent some people from getting sick and, as before, not seeking medical help but instead hiring charlatans to perform rituals at home.
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