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◎The Little Princess Asks About Politics◎
Regardless of whether his eldest brother wanted to be regent or his third brother was willing to stay in the capital, Qingyang was very happy to be able to accompany his father on the southern tour.
She still remembered the promise her father made to her when she was nine years old, that he would take her on a tour of the country. The last time her father went on a northern tour, he took her with him, and this time he did not leave her behind.
What really surprised Qingyang was that his father actually asked his mother to go with him.
On the eve of his departure, Qingyang came to Xianfu Palace to see how his mother's luggage was packed. His mother was still uneasy about his father's arrangements: "Your father is on a southern tour to inspect local government affairs. You have the talent to share his worries, but I can't help. This will only make the emperor's southern tour bear the stigma of enjoying pleasure with his favorite concubine. Why bother?"
Qingyang smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Father has been on the throne for sixteen or seventeen years. His vast harem consists of only Mother and the Imperial Concubine. In terms of purity and abstinence from women, Your Majesty is one of the wisest rulers of all time. There's no way he would be stigmatized because of a single southern tour. Mother, please relax. Besides, with Your Majesty's close care, Your Majesty eats well, sleeps soundly, and is more energetic during his tours. How can this not be Your Majesty's credit?"
Concubine Li was immediately convinced by her daughter.
Qingyang: "Or is it that Mother can't bear to leave Third Brother and would rather stay in the capital to spend more time with him and his wife than be with me and Father?"
Concubine Li: “…”
The emperor works hard in his official duties, and his daughter works hard on her errands. Either one of them deserves her more care than her lazy son, let alone the two of them together?
"Alright, alright, stop teasing Mother. I'm going with you."
"Mother, your tone sounds as if you're being coerced by me and my father. Think about the beauty of Jiangnan. My father clearly wants to take you there to enjoy the good life."
Concubine Li's face turned red. She didn't think about enjoying herself, she just wanted to take good care of the emperor's daily life. After all, he was 56 years old and could not be like when he was young.
The next morning, civil and military officials respectfully saw the emperor off from the capital.
Since ancient times, emperors have had their own ways of inspecting the country. Some emperors mainly inspected government affairs, while others simply went sightseeing under the guise of inspection. They ordered various places to build magnificent palaces before leaving Beijing, which was a waste of money and labor.
Emperor Xingwu was obviously not the latter. He did not even issue the decree of his southern tour to various states. He only greeted a group of officials in the capital before setting off, and then temporarily dispatched sentries to inform local officials to prepare to receive him before arriving in a city. In addition to cleaning the official inn that had been built long ago for the emperor and preparing to be questioned, the local officials only needed to take out some food and grass from the official warehouse to supply the 3,000 cavalry brought by Emperor Xingwu.
In this way, Emperor Xingwu and his entourage traveled light, carrying only enough food and fodder for two or three days' journey. If the official granary in a county was short of food or the quality of the food was too poor, the one who should be worried would not be Emperor Xingwu, but the local officials who neglected their duties. This was exactly the significance of Emperor Xingwu's southern tour.
Although he said he was on a southern tour, the emperor actually headed east along the Yellow River after leaving Beijing, intending to inspect the construction of river embankments on both sides of the Yellow River. He would then officially head south after arriving at Jinan County, the seat of Qingzhou.
The emperor set out on the fifth day of March and arrived at Xingyang City, which was also part of the capital, at noon on the seventh day. Xingyang was also an important eastern place that protected the capital.
Shang Chibai, the county magistrate who was in his forties, led local officials and waited outside the city gate early to welcome the emperor. They wanted to walk a few more miles to welcome the emperor, but Emperor Xingwu had the sentries tell them clearly to wait here and not to mobilize a large force.
Shang Chibai transferred the best chefs in Xingyang City to the official inn and carefully prepared a sumptuous banquet to entertain Emperor Xingwu and his entourage.
Concubine Li refused to accompany the emperor to entertain officials, and Emperor Xingwu did not force her. He only took Qin Bing, the Qingyang siblings, Fan Zhong, Zhang Su and others to the banquet. After eating and drinking, Emperor Xingwu told his two children, "I am tired. For the next two days, you will inspect the military and political affairs of Xingyang on my behalf. If there are any omissions, I will hold you accountable."
Both the brother and sister were a little surprised. When their father went on a northern tour, he always did everything himself. What happened this time?
After a brief surprise, the brother and sister accepted the order at the same time.
Emperor Xingwu then asked Fan Zhong to allocate one hundred personal soldiers to each of the brother and sister.
After finishing his instructions, Emperor Xingwu went to the back to find Concubine Li. While hugging Concubine Li for a break, Emperor Xingwu smiled and said, "There are three or five good places to visit in Xingyang. Since we are staying here for two days, I will take you to visit them all."
Concubine Li was almost scared to death, and asked in panic: "Is the emperor not going to inspect government affairs?" He spent both days sightseeing. This is the behavior of a tyrant monarch!
Emperor Xingwu said, "As for the Second and Lin'er, I have already taught them once during the Northern Tour. I will let them handle all the hard work this time. I will take a good rest."
Concubine Li didn't dare let him rest: "Prince Jing is fine, Lin'er has only been serving for a short time. The emperor should take the trouble to check on such important matters for them."
Emperor Xingwu: "Don't worry, I know everything. But you, don't always treat Lin'er as a child."
Concubine Li was undoubtedly a loving mother, but she was overly cautious and humble. She was used to using tolerance to avoid trouble, so when someone wanted to cause trouble for Lin'er, Concubine Li's first thought was often to ask Lin'er to be patient and give in. This was not acceptable. This time, Emperor Xingwu specially brought Concubine Li with him so that she could see with her own eyes just how powerful their Lin'er really was.
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His father had gone on a slack, and Qin Bing, who had temporarily taken on the heavy responsibility of inspecting the military and political affairs of Xingyang, was a little confused. Inspection? How to inspect? He had wanted to be a general since he was a child, and his greatest interest was training troops and fighting. For the past three years in the Ministry of War, he had been responsible for troop movements and military equipment manufacturing innovations. Suddenly he came to Xingyang, a strange place, and the officials around him were all unfamiliar faces...
As the County Magistrate Shang Chibai looked at him respectfully, waiting for his orders, the 24-year-old Qin Bing subconsciously looked at his 16-year-old sister.
Shang Chibai and other officials exchanged glances quickly, and then looked at the little princess together.
Qingyang knew very well that the status of prince or princess only made the brother and sister superior to local officials, forcing these people to show respect on the surface. Once the brother and sister were unable to intimidate these officials and these officials developed a contempt for them, the brother and sister's inspection of government affairs could only be superficial.
In fact, it is not only the local officials who are like this, but also the officials in Beijing. Otherwise, how could there be so many weak emperors and strong ministers in previous dynasties?
The weak are bullied. Even if you are an emperor, if you cannot control your subjects, you will be bullied by them.
So, seeing that his second brother had no idea, Qingyang immediately took over the responsibility and made arrangements directly: "The emperor will only stay in Xingyang for two days, and time is limited. I will be in charge of civil affairs and will go to the county governor's office to inquire about government affairs in the afternoon. Second brother will be in charge of military affairs and will go directly to the Xingyang Guard Patrol Camp later. How do you think?"
With a specific task, and the military camp he wanted to manage the most, Qin Bing naturally understood what to do and said with a smile, "Okay, I'll come help my sister after I finish my work there."
Although he was not very concerned about civil affairs, Qin Bing understood that local civil affairs, which covered a county's fields, household registration, grain taxes, commercial taxes, and even lawsuits, were much more complicated and tedious than the military affairs of a guard.
The brother and sister walked out of the official post station with a dozen civil and military officials. The two hundred personal soldiers selected by Fan Zhong were already waiting outside.
Qingyang said to Zhang Su, "Huaizhong will follow me, and you will go with the prince."
The second brother is an outstanding martial artist but not careful enough, so he may not be able to see the real problem of Xingyang Wei.
Qin Bing was about to object, thinking that it would be more reassuring to let Zhang Su protect his sister, but Zhang Su actually agreed and stood beside him.
Seeing his sister instruct the prefect Shang Chibai to lead the way, Qin Bing had no choice but to accept her arrangement. On the way to Xingyangwei, he said to Zhang Su, "I'm a martial artist myself, and I have a hundred personal guards to protect me. Why do I need you to protect me? You're really stupid. You still listen to my sister like you did when we were little. Aren't you afraid that she'll be left alone and fooled by those cunning civil servants?"
Qin Bing felt that with Zhang Su, the future son-in-law, standing behind his sister to give her courage, officials like Shang Chibai would be more likely to listen to her. Just like last year, his sister was able to confidently refute Yan Xizheng and Nie Ao in the hall, it was because they had the support of their father and their three brothers. Otherwise, how could a teenage princess have the confidence to go against the civil and military officials in the court?
Zhang Su: "With the princess's wisdom, no one can fool her unless she is willing."
First, he believed in the princess. Second, even if he had different ideas, he should not express his opposition in public and damage the princess's prestige among the officials.
Qin Bing did not doubt his sister's intelligence, but intelligence and courage were two different things, and his eldest brother was the best example.
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We have arrived at the county magistrate’s mansion.
Shang Chibai received the news yesterday. In order to respond to the emperor's investigation and questioning, Shang Chibai ordered people to dig out the county's land, household registration, grain tax and other account books for the past three years overnight, and arrange them neatly according to categories.
After the little princess got off the carriage, Shang Chibai led the way for her and asked her if she wanted to go check the accounts first. Behind the two of them followed the county magistrate's office's county magistrate, chief clerk and other officials. The total number of officials, big and small, was almost the same as a small court, except that the jurisdiction had changed from Da Qi to a county that governed more than a dozen counties.
Qingyang: "You can look at the account books tomorrow on your way back from the dike inspection. I'll visit the prefectural governor's office first."
Shang Chibai smiled and said yes.
The prefectural mansion was huge. Qingyang said as he walked around, "Xingyang County governs thirteen counties. Your Excellency, please tell me about the performance of each of these thirteen county magistrates since taking office."
Shang Chibai's subordinates' achievements were his own, so of course he had to speak well of his thirteen subordinates. However, just as he was praising the first magistrate, Li, the little princess picked out a fault. "Last year, the Dali Temple overturned a wrongful murder case. Wasn't that his wrongful conviction? I remember the old woman died from a fall, and her youngest son falsely accused his sister-in-law of being unfilial and pushing his mother-in-law to death. The only witnesses were the youngest son and his father."
Shang Chibai was startled and said hurriedly, "Yes, it was him. However, he didn't intentionally frame the woman. It was simply that the woman often insulted her mother-in-law, and there was a four-year-old child as a witness. Who would have thought that a four-year-old would lie? However, I have already severely criticized him..."
Qingyang: "A four-year-old child can't lie? It seems that Lord Shang has raised his children well. None of his nephews or nieces dare to lie. Only adults would believe this as easily as Magistrate Li."
Shang Chibai immediately broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead. He no longer dared to speak up for his subordinate, the county magistrate, and sincerely admitted that both of them had made the mistake of negligence.
Qingyang paused, noticing that Shang Chibai and the other county officials behind him were all tense. He then spoke, "No one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. Your Majesty has never demanded that all officials be perfect. He only expects them to be pragmatic, to strive for excellence, and to correct their mistakes. Now, I'm asking you about the realities of Xingyang County's governance on your behalf. If you only see the county magistrates' achievements but ignore their shortcomings, how can Your Majesty trust you to correct their mistakes in a timely manner?"
Shang Chibai bowed in shame and said, "I am too ambitious. Princess, rest assured. From now on, I will report the truth and will not dare to gloss over my mistakes in the slightest."
【Author’s words】
[Poor] I don’t dare to promise to update twice, how about we continue with a single update today?
100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow~
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