Chapter 204 After Discussion
"I just wanted to listen to the fetal movement..."
The King of Qi felt aggrieved, and the Princess of Qi patted the big paw that was stretched out again with amusement.
"What did you hear?"
"The little guy is cooing in there. I know he wants me to tell you to tell Princess Qi to be nicer to the King of Qi in the future!"
"If I treat you any better, you'll be in heaven? And are you sure that growling isn't because I'm hungry?"
"Wife, are you hungry?"
Li Chengxiu immediately stopped talking nonsense, turned around and got out of bed quickly, opened the door and instructed the servants guarding outside.
"Hongzhu Hongxiu, I didn't eat enough tonight, so I asked someone to bring some food over."
"Yes, Your Highness, please wait a moment. I will be right back."
Hongzhu bowed respectfully, then turned and winked at Hongxiu, telling her to stay here and obey her master's orders. She then turned around, picked up the lantern, and went to the kitchen with the little maid.
Jiang Wan also got out of bed and walked to the desk to sit down, taking advantage of the free time to look through the accounts. Li Chengxiu turned back and saw his wife busy again, so he hurried over.
"It's already night time, what are you busy with? The lights are dim and it will hurt your eyes if you stay here for a long time. You can just wait until tomorrow morning to watch it."
"It doesn't matter. I'm just sitting around doing nothing."
He picked up an account book and looked through it, then looked up and asked.
"How many people do you have under your command now?"
"You know the quota of 5,000 soldiers."
Since he could never persuade his wife, Li Chengxiu could only bring the bedside lamp over and use wick pliers to make the flame brighter.
"These five thousand are soldiers, but are there others who aren't? Aren't the elderly, the weak, the women, and the children behind them all registered under the name of our Prince Qi's Mansion? Have you counted them?"
"No, I haven't thought about it. Anyway, we try our best to arrange for each family to have someone who can earn a living and make sure they don't starve to death."
"Then take a look now."
Jiang Wan pointed to a thick stack of account books on the desk, which made Li Chengxiu's eyelids twitch. He took two of them and flipped through them, feeling a little stunned for a moment.
"I was wondering why there's a bottomless pit behind me. No matter how much wealth I have, it's still not enough to fill it. Why are there so many people eating after all this time?"
"Isn't it? There are so many people!
Let's not talk about the orphans, widows, and veterans of the past, let's talk about the present. We still have 5,000 soldiers under our command. Some of them have not yet married and had children, while some of them already have elderly parents and young children.
For those who are unmarried, we must find a way to help them start a family, so that they won't be burdened with old age. For those who have elderly and children, we must find a way to help them, so that they can't let the whole family starve to death.
There is another more pressing issue. I went to the farm below to check it out some time ago and found that there are many people there but too few living spaces. Several families are crowded in one yard, which inevitably leads to unnecessary disputes.
This all needs to be addressed, you know?”
"How to solve it?"
Li Chengxiu's frown could pinch a fly to death. If you ask him to fight in battle, he'll do it without hesitation. If you ask him to deal with trivial matters in the back, he'll immediately make a mess of it, with so many years of experience as a lesson.
Jiang Wan took out two more plans from the low cabinet behind him and handed them over.
"Take a look. This is a plan I've been working on recently. Take a look and see if it's feasible. Give me some advice."
Reaching for it, Li Chengxiu leaned over to the light and carefully flipped through each page. After a while, he put it down, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"It's a good plan, but the problem is that I don't have the money! I recently took some people to reclaim wasteland in the mountains and forests, and bought a lot of food and farm tools. I've already spent most of the money you gave me last time."
"You don't have to worry about money. I have a solution."
"What can you do? The little money I got from the capital has long been spent. Our family property is all in Dongling Mansion, and there is nothing particularly valuable. Do you want to..."
Suddenly, an idea came to his mind and he thought of what solution his wife would come up with. Li Chengxiu suddenly raised his head.
"No! You are not allowed to sell your dowry!"
This guy is such a double standard dog. When he was shamelessly following his subordinates to live off them, why didn't he say that people were not allowed to sell their dowries?
"Just shut up right now! I finally understand how you ended up being so disliked by women!"
Jiang Wan rolled her eyes at him angrily.
"Which of the girls under my command, including the ladies in our city, has not been tricked into selling their dowries by you and your clever men?
How come other people's wives can sell their dowries, but yours can't? And you dare to shout so loudly, are you really not afraid of being put in a sack and beaten by those women when you go out?"
"I……"
It is a good thing to be grateful for what you have received. With such a dark history on his shoulders, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi instantly felt guilty and didn't know how to refute it.
In the end, I could only hum quietly and embarrassedly.
"Although I spent their dowries, I also brought people to protect their safety, didn't I? And I supported them in every way and didn't allow men to live off their wives.
If you don't believe me, you can ask. Which woman would not feel more confident at home if she had an IOU written by me?
Especially for the families I help to connect with, I can guarantee with all my heart that there are absolutely no concubines, concubines, or illegitimate children. Every one of my people is a good person, just like me, honest, reliable, loyal, and responsible!
The more he talked, the more he felt it was right, and he almost believed it himself. His righteous expression made Jiang Wan laugh.
"Are you sure you don't have concubines or illegitimate children? Is it because you manage your people well, not because they can't afford to support them?"
“……….”
"Our current poverty is only temporary. We're already making some money from our snowflake salt business. We've also started growing medicinal herbs, and as for livestock farming, we should be able to nail it after a while.
"When our lives gradually get back on track and the economy of Dongling Prefecture prospers, and the people under you start to make a difference and no longer rely on my mother or my wife's dowry to survive, can you pat your chest and guarantee that they will still treat my wife with the same respect as they do now?"
Li Chengxiu was silent for a moment, but he was used to telling the truth in front of his wife.
"I can't guarantee everyone, I can only guarantee myself. Wife, I can only say that I will do my best to control them."
"So, we can't gamble on human nature."
There was clarity and openness in Jiang Wan's eyes.
"Life is already difficult for women in this world, and it's especially difficult for women in Dongling Mansion! Even you know that the dowry is my confidence, so how could others not understand?
You could say they spent all their dowries on you, or you could say they spent it on their husbands. But no matter how you look at it, they've sacrificed a lot, haven't they?
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