34 I believe him
◎“The Crown Prince is not Emperor Jingkang”◎
After leaving the Shen residence, the two were supposed to part ways on East Street, but Shen Suqin suddenly asked Xiao Pingchuan a question.
"If you're not busy today, General, please come with me."
Where to?
"You'll see when you get there."
Xiao Pingchuan: "Okay."
Just as the two were about to board the carriage, Shen Suqiu suddenly appeared and called out to Xiao Pingchuan, "General, may I speak with you in private?"
Xiao Pingchuan did not agree immediately, but turned to look at Shen Suqin, probably seeking her opinion.
Shen Suqin nodded: "Go ahead, to make a long story short, we need to leave the city, or we might not be able to get back in time."
Xiao Pingchuan then responded to Shen Suqiu and followed her a few steps toward a quieter place.
"What do you want?" Xiao Pingchuan spoke first.
"I heard from my subordinates that you refused the money from Jinyunfang?"
"yes."
"reason."
Shen Suqin's private donation of military funds to the Black Flag Army was not made public. Xiao Pingchuan also did not want her to know that Shen Suqin was rich, so he said, "The Crown Prince said that after the Black Flag Army and the Liangzhou Army merged, all military expenses would be paid by Liangzhou."
Shen Suqin slowly narrowed her eyes, "Didn't you say that the merging of the armies would take a long time?"
Xiao Pingchuan shook his head, "I don't know about that. As you know, I have no authority right now and haven't been to the palace for several days."
"Hmm, you're not going to the Crown Prince's palace either?"
The Crown Prince hasn't asked her for money for quite some time.
"No comment," Xiao Pingchuan said coldly.
Although Shen Suqiu knew that Xiao Pingchuan had private contact with the Crown Prince, she did not know the extent of their relationship.
Now everyone in the court knows that the Crown Prince has taken away his military power, so it's no wonder the two are at odds.
"It was I who overstepped my bounds."
"Is there anything else, Miss Shen?"
Shen Suqiu thought for a moment, "Do you know if Shen Suqin has any connection with the Su family of Jiaozhou?"
"I don't know."
"You two are already married? And she hasn't told you anything?"
Xiao Pingchuan looked at her calmly, "What exactly are you trying to say?"
Shen Suqiu took a deep breath. She really disliked the man in front of her; he was cold, hard, and difficult to talk to.
"I want to say that your wife is no ordinary person. She has a large sum of money in her hands, but she is unwilling to spend a single penny on you. Don't you think that's going too far, General?"
Xiao Pingchuan interrupted her, "So?"
Shen Suqiu: "So the general should also be wary of her, lest he be deceived by her."
"What does Miss Shen mean?"
"Please, General, do not interfere in her feud with the Shen family."
"I'm sorry, I can't. She's my wife now, and I'll help her with anything she asks."
Shen Suqiu's eyes turned cold. "General, won't you consider the Black Flag Army's situation a little more?"
"It's no longer needed, is it?"
"Is the general going to abandon us after we've served our purpose?" Shen Suqiu asked, displeased.
"I can grant you one request. As long as it doesn't violate morality, I'll help you if I can. After this, we'll be even."
"are you serious?"
"yes."
"Then please remember today's promise, General."
Back in the carriage, Shen Suqin didn't ask any questions, but simply instructed the driver to continue the journey.
Xiao Pingchuan spoke up first: "She asked about your relationship with the Shen family and knows that you have money."
"What did you reply?"
I can't explain it.
Thank you.
"No need."
The two fell silent, the only sound the wheels rolling around them, creaking and groaning, making the carriage exceptionally quiet.
"A divorce agreement," Xiao Pingchuan spoke first.
"What?"
"When do you want the divorce papers? If you're not in a rush, I'll give them to you after we're safer back in the North, how about that?"
Shen Suqin: "Okay."
“You don’t need to be afraid of the Crown Prince’s side, including the Pei and Shi families. Although I have lost my military power, the Crown Prince is on my side. As long as he doesn’t fall, neither of us will be in trouble. Besides, I’ve already told him that he won’t push you out on his own initiative. Unless something unexpected happens, no one will know that you are secretly helping the Crown Prince.”
Shen Suqin was not optimistic, because on the day of her wedding, Pei Tingfeng, the eldest son of Prime Minister Pei and her cousin, somehow learned about the equal-field system.
If the Crown Prince and the Pei family are in cahoots, how will she be able to deal with Shi Yunzhu with a clear conscience in the future?
She glanced at Xiao Pingchuan, wondering whether she should tell him these things.
But what's the point of saying anything? Getting him involved won't do any good.
Before long, the carriage left the city and stopped at a village of refugees.
Daliang is now full of refugees who have fled their hometowns and the wealthy capital is their first choice.
However, the city guards never let refugees in, and even if some managed to sneak in, they would be beaten up and thrown out quickly.
Over time, these refugees would simply build makeshift shelters outside the capital and live by begging from people coming and going from the city.
Later, the city guards felt that it was too unsightly for them to be blocking the city gate, so they drove the people to a place more than ten kilometers away from the city gate and settled them in several villages. This is the place where Shen Suqin is coming today.
The two got off the carriage and were greeted by people dressed in rags.
They seemed to know Shen Suqin well; some greeted her with smiles when she arrived, while others ran to call her over.
"Who are they?" Xiao Pingchuan really didn't know there was such a place outside the capital, as he didn't often return to the capital.
“The refugees who fled from other places are not only in the capital, but also outside the cities of larger counties,” Shen Suqin replied.
How did you know?
Shen Suqin looked at him seriously, "Xingyuan Restaurant is not just a restaurant."
As they were talking, a respectable-looking man who resembled a village chief jogged up to greet them, saying, "The boss is here."
Shen Suqin nodded. "Has the money for the restaurant been delivered?"
"It's here, it's here, not a single penny is missing."
"Yes, winter is coming soon. A batch of cheap coarse cloth will be shipped from the south in a few days. Have someone go and take a look, and I'll ask them to sell it to you at a lower price."
"well."
"This is my friend. Village chief, you go ahead and do your work. I'll show him around."
The village chief nodded repeatedly, "Come to my house for dinner after you're done looking around. I'll have your wife make you some stewed rice cake."
"good."
After dismissing the village chief, Shen Suqin led Xiao Pingchuan deeper into the village.
“You may not know this, but Xingyuan started out by selling bowls of rotten meat and vegetable rice. The meat wasn’t real meat; it was all offal that nobody wanted to eat,” Shen Suqin said as she walked. “We mainly served porters, farmers, and small vendors. The prices were low, the portions were large, and the service was affordable. We’ve been doing this for many years, and we’ve definitely built up a loyal customer base.”
"In recent years, farmers have lost their land, which has affected Xingyuan Restaurant's business to some extent. However, we can also support each other. Xingyuan will help the displaced people connect with small workshops that need workers or directly purchase from them so that they can do some work at home and earn a living."
Xiao Pingchuan was unaware of these things behind Xingyuan Restaurant. He suddenly asked curiously, "I remember Xingyuan is quite large. How many people can it help?"
“Tens of thousands, I haven’t counted. There are some very poor counties that we can’t help, and even most of them,” she said in a low voice. “Xingyuan has limited capabilities, and Daliang is rotten to the core.”
"So do you understand? It's not that I'm unaware of the people's suffering; on the contrary, I know it all too well. I also know very well that a Crown Prince with a shallow foundation can't do anything at all."
"Under these circumstances, if you bring me into this game, how can I compete with those aristocratic families that have hundreds of years of history?"
Shen Suqin said listlessly.
Where did the refugees come from? It was all because of the rampant land grabbing by powerful families.
Putting aside other matters, just take the Pei family of Hejian as an example. They seized tens of millions of acres of land in the surrounding counties. If the people wanted to have food to eat, they had to help the Pei family farm the land. Seventy percent of the grain produced had to be handed over to the Pei family, and the remaining thirty percent was not enough to feed themselves. On top of that, they still had to pay taxes.
The taxes in Daliang are collected per capita, and the taxes are very heavy. People can't even afford to eat, so how can they pay them?
Therefore, in many places, newborn babies were thrown into rivers to drown, thus reducing the poll tax payable. Others, in order to survive, fled to distant lands to avoid taxes, becoming landless and homeless vagrants.
In this situation, who can make the powerful families give back the land they have seized?
It should be noted that Emperor Jingkang was supported by the Pei family to ascend the throne, and the Crown Prince has to curry favor with the powerful families even more, because once he loses their support, it will only be a matter of time before he is replaced.
The refugees are beyond help.
Unless the crown prince is strong-willed and brings down the powerful families.
“However, the Crown Prince is not Emperor Jingkang. He is more farsighted and magnanimous than Emperor Jingkang, and he loves the people of Daliang even more,” Xiao Pingchuan said.
Shen Suqin hadn't had a deep conversation with the Crown Prince and wasn't aware of these things, so she asked, "How do you know?"
"When he traveled to Daliang in his early years, he worked in the Black Flag Army incognito, rising from a lowly soldier to a junior officer. He knew the suffering of the people."
Shen Suqin scoffed, "Is it because he agreed with your plan to destroy the Shatuo? Didn't he promise you that once he came to power, he would support you in crossing the Shule River?"
She was so smart and perceptive; the person in front of her was practically radiant.
After a moment of stunned silence, Xiao Pingchuan replied softly, "Yes."
"Then how can you guarantee he will keep his promise?"
"I believe him."
"On what grounds?"
"Because we fought the Shatuo together, ate grass roots together, and drank the water of the Shule River together, he is my brother."
At this point, Shen Suqin was speechless for a moment.
She didn't understand this feeling. If she were Xiao Pingchuan, she would never easily hand over military power and replace the crown prince.
The two stood facing each other, speechless for a long time.
The late autumn wind was a bit chilly, seeping straight into the seams of her clothes. Xiao Pingchuan took a half step to shield her from the wind and said, "I understand your concerns. You know more than I do, see further than I do, and are more carefree than I do. So I won't stop you. It was my fault regarding the Crown Prince. But as long as you want to leave, I will definitely send you away."
Shen Suqin remained silent.
She once said that she had never felt a sense of belonging to Daliang.
She came here with her memories intact, and unless absolutely necessary, she didn't want to live the same anxious life she had in her previous life again.
Moreover, the Great Liang was always an abstract concept to her; sometimes she would act like an observer, watching everything and everyone from a high vantage point with indifference.
But after arriving in the capital, Jiang Yao, Shen Jing, and Xiao Pingchuan's every move seemed to pull her down from mid-air.
It turns out that there is someone who truly loves this country, and this person happens to be incredibly forgiving of themselves.
Yes, she could see through Xiao Pingchuan's indulgence towards her. After learning that all her advances and sacrifices were calculated, he was the one who bowed his head first.
"Xiao Pingchuan, are you stupid?" Shen Suqin asked.
Xiao Pingchuan smiled.
He's not stupid. He's very clever when it comes to fighting, but he doesn't want to or can't bring himself to have any wicked thoughts about Shen Suqin.
Later, the two ate at the village chief's house before leaving, and Xiao Pingchuan even helped repair a few doors and windows.
On the way back, Xiao Pingchuan was intercepted by the Crown Prince's men, while Shen Suqin returned to her residence first.
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