Chapter 113 Give it all to him!
That afternoon, Zhao Tong brought Fugui in a horse-drawn carriage to the Ministry of Revenue's Tuntian Division.
Zhao Tong brought Fugui into the Tuntiansi government office and found the corresponding classroom. He saw the clerk on duty dozing off with his legs crossed.
Fugui stepped forward and knocked lightly on the table. The clerk raised his eyes lazily and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Sir," Zhao Tong said politely, "my master has just acquired some land and would like to apply for Champa rice seeds for trial planting." If he could get the seeds normally, he would also like to get them in a decent way.
The clerk glanced at Zhao Tong in surprise. Not many people knew about this decree, so he couldn't help but flip through the rarely read "New Compilation of Agricultural Policies": "Only those with more than 30 mu can be allowed to plant."
He squinted at Zhao Tong's plain clothes and asked, "You guys? Do you have the land deed?"
Zhao Tong paused for a moment - where did they get the land deed?
Seeing this embarrassed look, the clerk closed the booklet and said sneerly, "Why? Are you here to cheat the government out of food?"
Fugui's eyes widened immediately, but Zhao Tong held him down and turned to the clerk, revealing his identity: "I am the deposed crown prince's personal attendant, and I am here on his orders."
When Zhao Tong called himself "the deposed prince's attendant", a bitter taste welled up in his throat. This was the first time he called himself that to someone.
But the clerk opposite him still didn't believe it and sneered, "Deposed Crown Prince? The deposed Crown Prince farms?"
It wasn't until he saw Zhao Tong slowly take out the bright yellow silk from his arms and saw the five-clawed golden dragon pattern clearly that the clerk slid down from his chair and knelt down: "This, this is..."
"Imperial edict." Zhao Tong calmly unfolded the silk scroll. "Your Majesty has personally granted me ten miles of land surrounding the palace." He gently tapped the vermilion seal. "Would you like to see it?"
The clerk's face turned pale and he kowtowed repeatedly: "I am blind! I will go get the rice seeds now!"
This was the Ministry of Revenue's internal office, a place bustling with activity, so naturally, this matter could not be concealed. It also happened that Prince An was in charge of the Ministry today, and someone had already gone to report it. Upon hearing that someone from the deposed Crown Prince had arrived, he straightened his clothes and came to the internal office with a few followers.
Prince An walked into the room, his hands behind his back, his python-patterned brocade boots making a crisp sound on the blue brick floor. His eyes swept over the clerk who was packing grain seeds in the back, and finally landed on Zhao Tong, a hint of scorn curving at the corner of his mouth.
He raised his hand to stop the clerk: "Wait!" He walked slowly to Zhao Tong and said condescendingly: "Although Sixth Brother is the son of the Emperor, he cannot occupy official property at will."
Zhao Tong's eyes flashed with surprise upon hearing this, followed by a hint of disdain. He saluted and said, "Your Highness, this is a request based on Article 7 of Volume 3 of the New Compilation of Agricultural Policies. How can it be said to be occupying the land?"
Prince An's face froze, clearly not expecting Zhao Tong to be so familiar with government decrees. Fugui promptly picked up the booklet on the clerk's desk and pointed to the relevant clauses for Prince An to review.
"Ahem..." Prince An cleared his throat awkwardly, then suddenly changed the subject: "Even so, Sixth Brother, you are our father's heir, yet you are competing with common people for such a small amount of grain. If this gets out, wouldn't it be disgraceful?"
This made Zhao Tong feel even more ironic - this decree had encountered many obstacles when it was formulated. Originally, Master Yao wanted to set the application threshold at five mu, but it was finally compromised to thirty mu. But which ordinary citizen has thirty mu of land?
How could a family with thirty mu of land lack these few kilograms of high-quality seeds? Therefore, two years after the policy was implemented, there were still very few farmers planting this rice.
Faced with Prince An's harassment, Zhao Tong remained neither humble nor arrogant: "Your Highness, you are wrong. My husband is now a commoner and needs to make a living to support his family. I beg Your Highness to show some mercy."
But the more he said this, the more proud Prince An became. He didn't want Zhao Tong to get the good seeds, so he lied with his eyes wide open, saying, "There are no more seeds. I still have dozens of acres of land in my farm, and I'm going to plant this this year."
Glancing at the sneer on Prince An's lips, Zhao Tong could no longer tolerate it - since he had no shame, why should he abide by the rules?
The next moment, Prince An saw Zhao Tong suddenly plop down on the ground, slapping her thighs and wailing like a common woman: "My husband, my husband has such a miserable life! ... My husband has fallen into this mortal world, and with great difficulty has acquired a few acres of land, hoping to make a living by farming... But he can't even do it!"
The classroom was already crowded with officials watching the excitement, and they were whispering to each other when they saw this. Prince An's face suddenly changed, and he shouted sternly: "How shameless!"
Zhao Tong cried even harder, hugging Prince An's calf. "Prince! My master said that he only came to An's house because he saw that you were in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. He said that you were his elder brother and he would definitely help him. If even his own brother refused to help him, then no one in this world would love him..."
Prince An was stunned by these words. When had he and Xiao Ji become so close? He even called him "a dear brother who loves him dearly"... It was obvious that he was deliberately trying to disgust him!
Prince An was so angry that his face turned blue, but he couldn't lose his temper in front of everyone, nor did he want to make a big deal out of it and let the emperor know.
Finally, he had to have his followers pull Zhao Tong away, and said with gritted teeth, "Give it to him! Give him all the rice seeds!"
Zhao Tong knew when to stop, and he and Fugui rushed to the back, carried two bags of good seeds and walked out.
After Zhao Tong and others left with the rice seeds, Prince An discovered that the corner of his robe had been torn at some point. When he looked carefully, he saw that his snot and tears were all over his body!
There were many officials in the Ministry of Revenue, and the news spread quickly. After hearing the news, several princes had different reactions, but they all showed sarcasm.
Inside Prince Ning's mansion, Prince Ning was playing chess with several of his staff. Upon hearing this, the black piece in his hand fell onto the board with a "pa" and he sneered, "The fourth brother is getting worse and worse. He can't even control a servant."
He picked up a white piece and said meaningfully, "But Lao Liu has really grown up and learned to play rogue."
The staff member beside him said jokingly, "I heard that Prince An's dragon robe was newly made. Now it's ruined."
Upon hearing this, Prince Ning roared with laughter and shouted, "Go, take this old dragon robe of mine to Prince An and tell him... tell him that I sympathize with him because he doesn't have enough clothes!"
At this time, Xi Qingtong was at Xi's house. He was well-informed. When he heard that the deposed prince had caused a commotion in the yamen over a few bags of grain, contempt appeared in his eyes, but at the same time, he felt relieved.
Fortunately, she didn't go with them, otherwise wouldn't she have become a peasant woman?
Thinking that someone would be the peasant woman for her, Xi Qingtong's heart, which had been suppressed for a long time, finally began to stir.
When she returned to the Song family, she suggested to Song Yunhe, "Cousin, how about we go see my sister tomorrow?"
Being able to see with her own eyes that her twin sisters were not doing well was the only way to confirm that the risk she took was worth it, and that changing her husband was - right.
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