Chapter 7: Old Accounts, the Young Marquis Wants to Discuss Serious Matters
On the Yatai Avenue outside the Governor's Mansion, a large number of people and horses came.
The person in the middle is riding on a tall horse, wearing a golden jade crown on his head, dressed in a navy blue, green and white silk dress, black leather boots with gold trim, and jade pendants jingling around his waist.
This guy, who looks so lively and handsome, and seems to want to have the words "prince and noble son" hung all over his body, who else could it be but the newly-crowned young marquis of Xiguan?
The young Marquis of Xiguan acted so imposingly that if you didn't know him, you would think he had picked up a marquisate out of thin air, instead of being a marquis who was stripped of his royal title and demoted to a marquis and exempted from the court salary for three years!
What kind of good person, after being stripped of his kingship, can still be so arrogant and show off his status as a marquis?
There were also dozens of imperial guards and palace soldiers following behind him.
Only Iberi and the two officials of the Governor's Mansion knew what was going on. If you only looked at the momentum, you would really think that these were the private soldiers of the Marquis' Mansion to protect the young Marquis!
Relying on the original owner's muscle memory, Liu Ziye quickly adapted to riding a horse after the initial attempt.
They rode straight to the steps in front of the governor's mansion, and Iberi and several officials let go of the reins and dismounted five feet in front of them.
Yi Boli saluted politely and said, "Xiguan Governor Yi Boli greets the Marquis of Xiguan. I didn't know the Marquis had arrived, and I apologize for not coming to greet him."
He was very pretentious, and what he wanted was to make it impossible for the ancestor in front of him to find a reason to act.
However……
I was expecting to see Iberly, who was so angry that he had nowhere to vent his anger, but instead I saw Xiguan Hou with a smile on his face.
Looking at the person standing closely behind him, it turned out to be Du Hui, the former chief secretary of the Xiguan Palace, and Du Hui also had a smiling face.
How could these two people live peacefully and stand together in such harmony?
I'm afraid the sun will really rise from the west today! !
Liu Ziye nodded at Yi Boli and asked cheerfully, "Why, Governor Yi won't invite me in for a seat? After all, I'm a newly-crowned marquis. It's not too much to ask Governor Yi for some good fortune, right?"
Iberly: ...
You lost the title of king that you had clearly obtained, and even the title of marquis is in name only.
It would be fine if you don't mind being embarrassed, but anyone with a little dignity wouldn't say anything about celebrating or asking for good luck!
Iberly put on a businesslike smile and said, "Young Marquis, what are you talking about? Of course, it's not excessive. I will host a banquet at your house tonight to celebrate your title of Marquis!"
Liu Ziye looked at the sky and said, "Okay, it's just past noon. Lord Yi should have everyone prepare everything well. The banquet should start at twilight hour at the latest."
After saying this, he turned to Pan Yi, the captain of the Imperial Guards, and said, "Captain Pan, you see, when I came here, I didn't expect Governor Yi to be so straightforward, and I wasn't able to prepare well..."
Pan Yi and Iberly looked at the young marquis of Xiguan together.
Could it be that the young marquis wants to ask people to go back to the mansion to prepare gifts?
Then Liu Ziye said, "Captain Pan, please go back and call all the servants and maids who can move around. Governor Yi is hosting a banquet, and the entire Marquis of Xiguan will be there!"
"Oh, yes. If you really can't leave for something, remember to ask them to arrange their shifts. Those who finish eating first should go back early to take their place!"
Just today, Liu Ziye walked around the Xiguan Marquis' Mansion and saw the mansion's predicament at a glance.
Only the original owner, the young marquis, could wear gold and silver every day. The rest, even his two personal maids, had half-worn clothes and dust in their hair. It was obvious that daily washing and replacing new clothes were not easy for them.
Looking at the servants and cooks in the palace, two out of three had pale faces. It was obvious that for the lowest level of servants in the palace, even having enough to eat was a problem.
But look at the soldiers in the governor's mansion, look at the governor Yiberiyi in front of him, and several of his officials, all of them have slicked-back hair and rosy faces, and it is obvious that they are eating and drinking very well!
This made her unable to tolerate it.
Pan Yi: ...
Iberly: ...
Du Hui held his stomach in the back: Don’t laugh! Hahahaha
As the lights began to light up, in the front courtyard of the Xiguan Governor's Mansion, the body of Eunuch Liu had been carried out of sight by the young Marquis of Xiguan. The atmosphere was bustling with activity, with nearly twenty tables of banquets set up in the courtyard, which was only ten feet wide.
While Liu Ziye was preparing the banquet at the Governor's residence, he dragged Iberi along and began to pick and choose from the menu, replacing any items he wasn't satisfied with. He arranged the feast for each table, filling it to the brim with both meat and vegetables, and was very busy.
When the confused people in the Marquis' Mansion were invited here in fear and trepidation by the Imperial Guards and the soldiers of the Governor's Mansion, thinking that they were going to encounter some unexpected disaster again, they suddenly saw the steaming banquet in the hall and exclaimed in disbelief.
Du Hui patiently explained to the people from the Marquis' Mansion who had gradually arrived at the table, "Everyone has suffered these days. This is a special treat arranged by our young Marquis as a reward for you all. It's all delicious!"
With the hot and fragrant sumptuous banquet in front of them, all the old people in the Marquis' Mansion were moved to tears.
Liu Ziye smiled as he listened to the system announcement: "Congratulations to the host, you have gained the initial trust of the former Xiguan Palace staff. Your power points have increased by ten points. Please keep up the good work, host!"
She was in a good mood and directly exchanged the newly earned points for one day's life value. Then she asked the old housekeeper and the steward of the mansion to take care of the food and drink for everyone in the palace. She herself stepped into the Qingsong Hall in the center of the backyard of the Governor's Mansion.
In the Qingsong Hall of the Governor's Mansion, which was specially used to entertain guests, there was also a table with an equally sumptuous feast.
Liu Ziye found the main seat in the middle and sat down. On his left was the governor Yi, who had a troubled look on his face, and several officials from the governor's office lined up in a row.
As the former chief historian of the royal palace, Du Hui was also invited to this table by Liu Ziye, and he was deeply impressed by the young marquis's actions.
Although it is still a little elusive, but, looking at it now, it is always different from the past -
Although he appears to be aggressive, he can never gain any advantage and always suffers losses in the end.
Let the young marquis come first.
If it doesn't work, he will take it back.
The old prince is gone, and the young marquis woke up after a serious illness. His princely title was stripped, and the emperor even exempted the marquis from his title and salary for three years. No one would be happy about this!
Liu Ziye looked at the full table of dishes. With her physical condition, she had been lying in bed for so long, and she had gone through so much trouble when she woke up today. Although she was indeed a little hungry, her appetite was not so big that she could eat a lot of chicken, duck, fish and meat.
She only picked up some plain dishes and stews to lay the foundation.
When she felt it was almost time, she put down her chopsticks without caring about what others said. She said, "Governor Yi, I didn't come here today just for a simple meal. I have something serious to discuss with you."
oh……
The official of the governor's office who was silently eating with his head down suddenly raised his head!
Oh? The young Marquis of Xiguan wants to have a serious conversation?
Liu Ziye paid no attention to their surprised looks. "You've been the governor of Xiguan County for so many years, and I'm afraid the Xiguan Palace is the place where you've handled the most daily government affairs. My uncle, thinking about my father's death, was worried that I would be left without anyone to discipline me, so he simply stripped me of my title and even deducted my marquisate's salary for three years! This small punishment from my uncle is meant to teach me to be polite and courteous. I, the Marquis, understand his painstaking efforts! As a direct descendant of the Holy Ancestor Emperor, I can certainly understand his deep meaning! From now on, I will also mend my ways so that my uncle can change his mind soon!"
“Pah—”
Someone dropped his chopsticks.
It was shocking.
This... could this be something that the bastard prince would say?
“But…”
Liu Ziye changed the subject and pointed at the twenty crowded tables of people in the front hall of the Governor's Mansion. "I have such a large mansion, with nearly a hundred people, young and old. Do you want to eat? Do you want to survive the winter? Do you want to live? Ah?"
Then he withdrew his hand and pointed at the officials of the Provincial Government and even Yiberi who were sitting at the table with him. "You are all so fat and bloated! I am the youngest grandson of the Holy Ancestor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Marquis of Xiguan of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and yet I have to live a life of hunger? My entire government is starving? If foreigners, those foreign grandsons who were beaten to tears by my Holy Ancestor, knew about this, how would the Great Zhou Dynasty and my Holy Ancestor still have any dignity?"
She looked at Iberi, whose eyes were wide with shock, and said with all her might, "This Marquis will not bully you. My father is gone, so today we will settle the old debt owed by the Governor's Mansion to my father."
Liu Ziye said this in one breath, then looked at Du Hui who was also looking at him in shock.
"Mr. Du, please explain to the Governor Yi that ever since my uncle ascended the throne and my father came to Xiguan County to establish his fiefdom, how much of the fiefdom and salary that my palace deserves has been lost by the two successive Governors of Xiguan County?"
"Yes, sir!"
Speaking of this, Du Hui slammed his chopsticks off the table.
Thinking of the late King of Xiguan, and the contempt and oppression he had endured over the years...
Du Hui took a deep breath and recited the account he was going to settle with the momentum of thousands of troops.
"The King of Xiguan is the youngest son of Emperor Shengzu. When Emperor Shengzu was still alive, he particularly doted on his youngest son, the King of Xiguan, and granted him the Great Zhou Dynasty's only first-rank prince title. Since the previous emperor granted the thousand-li border county of Xiguan to the King of Xiguan as his fiefdom and ordered the King of Xiguan to be established as a vassal, the King of Xiguan is the first prince in the Great Zhou Dynasty to be granted a fiefdom and established as a vassal!"
"The Prince of Xiguan is a fiefdom king, with a fiefdom of 10,000 households. All the 10,000 households in Xiguan County pay taxes to the court, except for one-third of the households' annual rent. The rest of the taxes belong to the Prince of Xiguan. The Prince of Xiguan strictly abides by the ancestral teachings of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the rules of the court. He never interferes with the tax collection of his fiefdom simply because he is a vassal. Instead, the Xiguan County Governor's Office collects the taxes on behalf of the court, and the court then transfers them to the court."
Du Hui glared at Iberi, who lowered his gaze and dared not look him in the face. "Yes, since the first year of Jianchang, when the Prince of Xiguan was enfeoffed, there has not been a single year in which the Xiguan Palace has received the full amount of taxes that our Governor's Office collected and then transferred to the Prince's Palace!"
He glanced at the officials in the room and denounced them, "For years, as the Chief Secretary of the Xiguan Palace, I have meticulously recorded every single tax owed each year! In the first year of Shengbao, the rent and tax revenue from millet, hemp, and other items in Xiguan County totaled 60,000 strings of silver. Excluding the 20,000 strings remitted to the court, our Xiguan Palace should have received 40,000 strings of silver. However, the Xiguan Governor's Office, citing the rebellion of the three Qingshou tribes and the difficulty of supporting the government, only paid 10,000 strings of silver! In the years since, floods, snowstorms, droughts, windstorms, and locust plagues have occurred one after another, and the taxes paid by the Governor's Office have steadily decreased, until today, they only reach a mere 1,000 strings of silver."
"Besides this, within the prince's fiefdom, whether it's local products, minerals, fishing and hunting goods, cotton and linen textiles, etc., the prince enjoys the privilege of trading and profiting from them. This is also in accordance with the imperial decree and is managed by our Xiguan Governor's Office. But tell me, my Lord Governor, has my Xiguan Prince's Office ever received even a penny? Even though our Xiguan border county is sparsely populated, the cod produced by Xisai Lake, the silver fox and sable furs of Qiansongling, and the century-old red pine and fir wood, which one is not a specially selected imperial gift?"
"Could it be that these provincial governors' offices don't even get a single cent besides the imperial supply?!"
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