Zhang Guanghe had some impression of Sun Yannan, the young lady of the Shi family who came to visit him, but not much. He knew that she bought the big house of the former Duke of Fuguo's Mansion, and then... nothing more.
Thinking of this, Zhang Guanghe looked at Sun Yannan with a smile. She was holding a box. Snacks? Was she here to see my wife? My wife finally had a place in the circle of noble ladies?
It was not until he entered Zhang Guanghe's house that Sun Yanan understood why his father used Mr. Zhang's family as an example in the letter. This probably meant that he could only sit in the yard.
Zhang Guanghe sat down first and motioned Sun Yannan to sit down as well. The tea table and chairs used in the yard were originally given by Wang Lingyi. They were of very good quality. Although a little old, they were definitely well-made and very sturdy.
After they sat down, without waiting for Lord Zhang to ask, Sun Yannan opened the box in his hand and said to Lord Zhang, "I want to present this to Your Majesty, but I don't know if it is suitable. I would like to ask Lord Zhang to take a look first and help me judge it.
Thank you for your help, sir."
When Zhang Guanghe took it and looked at it, his smiling face changed. He looked at it carefully again and couldn't help but look at the young lady in front of him again.
The next day, Zhang Guanghe brought the box to court. After the court was dismissed, Lord Zhang stayed in the court and presented the box to Xuanyuan Hao, and also reported its origin.
Xuanyuan Hao looked and asked, "Where is the person?"
Zhang Guanghe said, "They're waiting in the carriage outside the palace gate."
"Xuan."
When Sun Yannan came in, the 107 maps of Taichang County, the fiefdom of Prince Guanghuai, that she had brought were already on the floor of the imperial study, arranged by the young eunuchs according to the serial numbers marked on them.
What was presented to everyone was a huge and complete distribution map of Taichang County's population and the locations of various facilities.
Xuanyuan Hao had a geographical map of Taichang County, showing where the mountains, rivers, lakes, and plains were. This was one of the maps of counties across the country that the imperial study had kept before he ascended the throne.
However, it has been more than 20 years since Prince Guanghuai was granted the title of Taichang County, and the Xuanyuan Dynasty has always been vague about the layout of the traffic roads, residential areas, commercial areas, colleges and clinics, government offices, bridges, villages and fertile fields within the county.
Because King Guanghuai implemented a very strict household registration policy in his fiefdom.
He divided Taichang County into 107 districts. The old county divisions were only used when reporting taxes, population and grain to the Xuanyuan Dynasty.
The actual internal management is based on 107 districts. The household registration management in each district is extremely strict, and severe penalties will be imposed if any problems arise.
For example, if relatives or friends from other counties come to visit, they must be declared by the residents of this area before they come. They must clearly state the number of people coming, whether they are male or female, old or young, what is their relationship with the local residents, how long they will live there, and what they are here for. Only after approval can these relatives and friends come.
Moreover, once they come, their scope of activities will be limited according to the level of approval. Those holding iron signs can move throughout the entire area, those holding wooden signs are limited to no more than three villages within the village and neighboring villages, and those holding bamboo signs are limited to the village itself.
Because something went wrong, the punishment from top to bottom was extremely severe. In order to avoid trouble, officials in Taichang County basically only issued bamboo cards.
After Xuanyuan Hao ascended the throne, he faced internal and external troubles. On the one hand, people's livelihood was difficult, and on the other hand, foreign tribes invaded. After the war, when people were developing their livelihood after the disaster and the war, there was a circle of power that had quietly formed in Yangzhou. After passing one checkpoint after another, he turned his attention to the fiefdom of King Guanghuai. Xuanyuan Hao first asked Jiangyan to build a dam in the upstream counties to control its lifeline river.
It was during the construction of this dam that Jiang Yan brought people into Taichang County under the imperial order to build water conservancy projects, to explore the geology and geography of the Taichang County's major river basins and the scope of previous floods.
Jiang Yan discovered that he and his people were followed by different people for different reasons throughout all their activities in Taichang County, and were restricted from going out at night for safety reasons.
When Xuanyuan Hao learned about this situation, he could only focus on the national strength and let Jiangyan build water conservancy projects first. Before there was a powerful weapon, Emperor Mingzheng did not want to intensify the conflict with Prince Guanghuai. If a war broke out, the people who had just recovered and recuperated would fall into suffering again.
After the construction of Xiaba, King Guanghuai was intimidated by the dam and behaved himself for a while. However, after he got a group of ghost soldiers, he became restless again and seemed to be sure that Xuanyuan Hao did not want to flood Taichang.
Xuanyuan Hao really didn't want to do it unless it was absolutely necessary.
When Zhang Baiyi was in charge of the Yinbing affairs, Xuanyuan Hao officially sent spies into Prince Guanghuai's fiefdom, but it wasn't easy. Officials were escorted throughout the process, while private citizens were only allowed to enter through the fiefdom's relatives and friends, who had to apply first. This restriction limited one's age, gender, range of activities, and length of stay.
The people sent in had limited information. Therefore, Xuanyuan Dynasty was also thinking of other ways.
Xuanyuan Hao asked Sun Yannan: "How did you get this?"
Sun Yannan said, "Your Majesty, the Shi family has eight roving merchant cavalry units in Pingchang County. Because they are roving merchants, each cavalry unit is approved to enter one district each time. Over the past six years, each cavalry unit has been able to complete the mapping of approximately two to three districts per year, depending on the size of the district."
Xuanyuan Hao said, "Although your cavalry is a traveling merchant, it must not be easy to obtain permission to enter the country and then obtain permission to operate throughout the region."
Sun Yannan said: "It should have been very difficult before, but after Taichang County closed its entire county for twenty years, because the industry development in the county was extremely single, mainly agriculture, and there was a huge demand from the outside world, it became easier.
The county had abundant grain and vegetable production, and its rivers and lakes produced a certain amount of fish. Each household raised pigs and chickens, which was enough for self-sufficiency. But that was all.
In the past, there was plenty one year and famine the next, but evenly distributed, it was just enough. Since the floods ended, there has been an increasing surplus since the past few years. Large agricultural counties, with their own production being the sole source, have had a significant surplus in recent years, creating an opportunity for the itinerant merchants and horsemen.
The Shi family's cavalry, starting with buying up the stale rice that flowed out of the fiefdom, then expanded to border trade and then to commerce, gradually establishing connections with various districts within the fiefdom. Perhaps for this reason, they were less conspicuous than those sudden visits of "relatives and friends."
The Shi family had made considerable efforts to open up trade routes for the cavalry in Taichang County. Everyone in the fiefdom was delighted to see the cavalry bringing a variety of gifts: exquisite hairpins and jewelry, sharp knives, fashionable fabrics, rare fruits, exquisite porcelain, fine writing brushes and ink… After the arrangements, everyone was willing to make concessions.
The Shi family cavalry was led by the Lu family cavalry who broke into the five border countries. It is still possible to take Taichang County."
After hearing this, Xuanyuan Hao asked directly, "Young Madam, what do you want by presenting this painting?"
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