Chapter 140: The Border City is Home
For the next two days, Jin Sui deliberately avoided Yan Jiu, turning and walking away whenever she saw him from afar. If she heard he was going to a certain area, she would absolutely not go there.
Gu Changxiao quickly noticed this, but he didn’t ask anything. Daoist Ji’s reluctance to see Yan Jiu was something he was most happy to see.
Yan Jiu’s frequency of eating at Grandpa Ling’s stall increased. Jin Sui didn’t believe that a pampered young master would come to like eating hodgepodge.
She quietly told Grandpa Ling to be careful of Yan Jiu trying to pry information. Grandpa Ling scoffed, “Who can get any information out of me?”
Jin Sui quickly flattered him, “That’s right, that’s right. My grandpa has seen all sorts of great storms and met all kinds of people. Grandpa is the most tight-lipped.”
Grandpa Ling stroked his beard and smiled, flicking Jin Sui’s forehead. “Mischievous.”
The grandfather and granddaughter exchanged a smile. Grandpa Ling then asked seriously, “What is that Yan family head trying to do?”
Jin Sui shook her head, “He’s not a bad person. I’m not clear on what he’s trying to do specifically, but he’s become suspicious of our identities, so he’ll definitely try to get information.”
Jin Sui found Jin An and gave her a thorough briefing. Jin An patted her chest and said, “Don’t worry, sister. I’m best at pretending to be foolish in front of smart people. I guarantee he won’t get anything out of me.”
Jin Sui looked at Hei Hu, who was smiling in the distance. “You play with Hei Hu every day, you don’t need to pretend to be foolish at all!”
Hei Hu saw the Prince looking at him and quickly strode over. Jin Sui teased, “How much money have you won? Enough to marry a wife?”
Hei Hu’s face immediately turned red. Twisting his fingers, he said, “Your Highness, don’t tease me. I haven’t won much, only enough to buy Miss Bai a gold hairpin.”
“Win a few more matches, and it will be enough to tailor new clothes for the two of us.”
Jin Sui smiled and nodded, “Good, good. Wedding clothes and bridal gowns should be of good quality.”
Hei Hu actually covered his face shyly.
Jin Sui: …
What the heck! Yan Jiu, do you need to observe for a while longer? The reason I appear smart in the border city is because the people around me aren’t very intelligent!
If I really worked for you, I would immediately become ordinary.
At this moment, Han Xing waved from a distance, calling Hei Hu and the soldiers of the Black Feather Team to training.
Hei Hu grumbled, “Brother Han worries too much. So what if the Yan Cloud Team has a new instructor? We can still beat them soundly.”
Jin Sui quickly asked, “New instructor? Who is it?”
“The Yan family head. Yan Shiyi Lang clung to him like melted maltose candy and insisted he become the instructor.
The Yan family head was very skilled at polo in his youth. Brother Han told us to train more, in case we lose to them and embarrass the Prince.”
Jin Sui really wanted to say that Yan Jiu was also very young now. But the youth Hei Hu spoke of was probably around fifteen or sixteen, a period of youthful vigor.
She originally wanted to go to the training ground to see how Yan Jiu, who put on airs of a noble young master even when living in a small wooden hut, played such a wild sport as polo.
But the thought of having to engage in a game of charades with him again after they met made her feel exhausted. Turning around, she encountered Gu Changxiao and told him about Yan Jiu becoming the instructor for the Yan Cloud Team.
Unexpectedly, Gu Changxiao was very interested, not in Yan Jiu, but with the same worry as Han Xing: the Black Feather Team must not lose to the Yan Cloud Team!
“I’m also good at polo. I’ll go and watch Han Xing and the others train.”
So it turns out I’m the only one who can’t play! Jin Sui waved, “Then you go! I’ll go find Cheng Yu to discuss matters.”
Originally, the polo match was just a spectacle to attract outsiders, but now everyone is more invested than the other.
Cheng Yu had been very busy lately. To be precise, both he and his wife were swamped. Wei Assistant Secretary had left, and the new Assistant Secretary had not yet taken office.
Han Xing was busy with the ball game, and Liu Xiaowei was busy with East Sea infrastructure. All the miscellaneous tasks in the border city were dumped on Cheng Yu.
Jin Sui laughed, “You spent years drinking, singing, and slacking off every day. Being this busy now is punishment for those years.”
Cheng Yu didn’t complain. He was very open-minded. Having married Chen Yunniang, he felt that even if he worked himself to death, he couldn’t repay the Prince’s great kindness.
The two discussed and formulated a plan for refugee household registration. Recently, there had been a large number of refugees applying for registration, but Jin Sui insisted that they must complete basic work points before their registration could be processed.
“I’ve been thinking about a question: why is the population loss in the border city so severe? Is it because of excessive taxes and levies?”
“But the taxes for the people in the Central Plains are just as heavy. Is it because of frequent invasions by external enemies? Rampant banditry? Government inaction?”
“For hundreds of years, the people have been like rapeseed seeds. When this land is fertile, they drift here to settle. When this land has a slight problem, they hide away.”
“The real core issue is that they don’t consider the border city their home! Their ancestors were not buried in this land, and their descendants were not born and raised here. This place will forever be just a stopover, with the intention of leaving at any time.”
“When I go out on patrol, I find that the farming methods of the border city’s people are very different from those in the Central Plains. It’s not that they don’t cherish the farmland, but they spend very little time on it and prefer to do other jobs to earn money.”
“Unlike the people in the Central Plains, who spend several hours in the fields every day of the year, there isn’t a single weed in their fields, the ridges are well-maintained, and the ditches are dug smoothly.”
“Why? Because the people in the Central Plains don’t think of abandoning their fields to flee. Their farmland is their life! After natural disasters or man-made calamities, they might hide for a while, but they will return to their homes afterward.”
“The people in the border city are different. They feel like they are just borrowing this land to farm. They don’t know if they can farm here next year after this year’s harvest. So they don’t need to put too much energy into the farmland, as long as they manage this year’s harvest.”
“Lord Cheng, if your ancestral home were to encounter external enemies, what would you do? If you were temporarily residing somewhere and it encountered external enemies, what would you do?”
Cheng Yu’s expression became solemn. The Prince’s ideas were always unconventional, and this was indeed a question they had never considered.
He answered honestly, “My own home, my own fields, I would fight to the death to defend them! For a place I’m temporarily residing in, I would naturally retreat.”
Jin Sui looked directly into his eyes, “Then would you fight to the death to defend the border city?”
Cheng Yu’s face turned pale. Jin Sui didn’t force him to answer, “I know that the current border city is not worth anyone fighting to the death for!”
“Heh, the city walls haven’t even been built yet, and I, the Prince, live in a thatched shed. More people live in tents. If you tell everyone to consider the border city their home and to defend it with their lives, they’ll just laugh!”
“Home? First, you need to have a home, right? If even we think this way, let alone the common people.
These refugees applying for household registration might be enticed by the generous treatment we’re offering, or they might be afraid of not surviving the winter in the mountains, or they might want to take advantage of the border city’s liveliness to get a formal identity and earn money.”
“But if the border city were to be attacked by Tartars again, they would undoubtedly flee back into the deep mountains without hesitation, and would never shed blood for the border city.”
“I don’t blame them, but I hope that with my efforts, I can make the people who register in the border city truly consider it their home. Perhaps it can’t be achieved in ten or eight years, so we’ll use twenty or thirty years to strive for it.”
“One day, the people of our border city will consider this land their homeland. When they encounter enemies, their first thought will not be to flee, but to defend their homeland and their families with their lives.
Our army will have sons of the border city, our officials will have household registration in the border city, there will be no gentry, no powerful people, no social hierarchy. Farmers, artisans, laborers…
Everyone will receive fair and just treatment in the border city, obtain civilian household registration, their children can attend the same school, they can eat in the same restaurant, and live in the same neighborhood.
Only then will our border city truly be a magnificent city.”
“This is also why I strongly requested that household registration be processed only after accumulating sufficient basic work points. Through the process of accumulating work points, they will participate in the construction of the border city and exchange them for food. After their hard work, they will cherish the farmland and housing plots allocated to them by the government.”
“People have this psychology: they never cherish what they get easily. The work point system for household registration must not be simplified; it must be strict from beginning to end. This way, all citizens who obtain household registration will know how hard-earned their registration is.”
Cheng Yu cupped his hands and bowed, “Your Highness’s foresight and great strategy are admirable! I understand. Your Highness, rest assured, the household registration system will be one of the fairest and most just systems in the border city.”
Jin Sui thought that she would soon no longer be the Li King. Perhaps Gu Changxiao would initially implement the rules she set, but it was hard to guarantee that one day in the future, if Gu Changxiao focused his attention on matters in Chang’an, he might not be able to adequately manage these trivial matters at the bottom level, and the system would change.
Her gaze was solemn as she patted Cheng Yu’s shoulder, “The superior issues directives, but the subordinates execute them. If the Prince forgets this matter one day, Lord Cheng must remind the Prince.”
There weren’t many intelligent people in the border city, and Cheng Yu was definitely one of them. Yan Jiu could guess the real and fake Li King, and Cheng Yu, who had participated in the Zheng Yun case from beginning to end, had also guessed some of it.
However, Jin Sui felt there was no need to tell him the truth now. She and the real Li King were not enemies. Once the Imperial Court’s edict arrived, the truth would be revealed, saving Cheng Yu from difficulties in his work.
After all, understanding something in your heart is one thing, but once it’s explained, having two Li Kings in the border city, who would people listen to?
Jin Sui felt like she was handing over work. After discussing the future development of the border city with Cheng Yu, she then discussed the East Sea infrastructure with Liu Xiaowei.
The importance of salt fields was self-evident. She focused on the construction of the harbor. Although there was no sign of it yet, they had to prepare in advance.
Thinking of Yan Jiu’s mention of cooperating with the border city on sea salt, she mentioned it to Liu Xiaowei again. The main point was to tell Liu Xiaowei that the technique for drying sea salt was actually very simple.
Don’t waste energy on concealing this technique. Instead, it would be better to open up more salt fields. When the number of refugees with household registration increases, some will definitely be assigned to the base to become salt farmers.
If we cooperate with the Yan family, it’s only a matter of time before they learn this technique. However, we have an absolute advantage over the Yan family: we can conduct business outside the region. Instead of preventing the Yan family from secretly learning, it’s better to explore new trade routes.
Liu Xiaowei seemed to understand but not understand. He suddenly felt useless, but he was indeed just a captain in charge of farming in the Tuntian Camp.
Compared to later generations, he was at most the village chief of a large village. His status suddenly changed, and the village became a town or even a county.
He, the ‘village chief,’ had to manage farming, new salt fields, and even commercial matters. He was under a lot of pressure!
Jin Sui felt that the only person who could comfort Liu Xiaowei was the village chief of Shijiazhuang back then. When a village suddenly became a provincial capital, the village chief’s pressure must have been even greater than Liu Xiaowei’s current pressure.
She patted Liu Xiaowei’s shoulder, “Don’t be afraid! Think about when you dared to lead your brothers to besiege the city and demand pay. The current difficulties are not as great as then!”
Liu Xiaowei was on the verge of tears. The difficulties were different! Back then, at worst, it was death. But now, it was like a sword hanging over his head, and he didn’t know when it would fall.
“If you have difficulties, find the organization, find Cheng Assistant Secretary, find me. Cultivate the people below you, train them harshly, read all thirty-six stratagems, and learn to deal with merchants. Don’t worry, we don’t lack silver now. With silver, aren’t things easy to handle!”
Liu Xiaowei originally wanted to stay in the border city to watch the polo match, but after being motivated by the Prince, he returned to the base overnight and threw himself into construction.
The last person she met was Captain Huang of the Scout Camp. Once the Imperial Court’s edict arrived, he would be Captain Huang.
Captain Huang’s signature was a black cloth bag hanging around his neck, inside which was the telescope he carefully cherished.
At the polo match, a young master from the gentry offered ten taels of silver to borrow his telescope for a look, but he refused.
Jin Sui cursed him for being a fool when she found out and quickly took ten telescopes from her space for the polo match rentals. Ten taels of silver per match was like picking up money.
Captain Huang had no regrets. Could the rented ones be the same as the one the Prince bestowed upon him?
Uh, they were indeed exactly the same!
“Your Highness, the matter has been handled. The bandit and horse bandit dens have all been cleared. The young and strong men have been sent for forced labor, and the women and children have entered the refugee camp. That bandit den is being renovated and will be our Black Feather Camp’s hidden stronghold in the future.”
Jin Sui nodded, “Well done! How is the matter of buying horses from the Northern Frontier herdsmen that I asked you to handle?”
Captain Huang seemed to suddenly recall something and quickly stepped forward, bowing his head to whisper, “Your Highness, speaking of which, I’ve inquired about something extraordinary.”
“I asked the herdsmen who previously came to the trade zone for transactions to secretly act as intermediaries. As a result, several herdsmen indicated that someone from our side was trading with them and demanded that they not trade with other Han Chinese.”
Jin Sui’s first thought was Yan Jiu, and she quickly asked, “Are they from Yanzhou?”
Captain Huang shook his head, “No, they are from Chang’an.”
A trace of shame crossed Jin Sui’s mind. Why would she suspect Yan Jiu? The Yan family doesn’t raise cavalry, nor do they plan to rebel, so how could they buy horses from the Northern Frontier people!
Really, Yan Jiu just wanted to poach talent, and you treated him like a bad guy?
Jin Sui felt she had to tell Gu Changxiao about this. Although it wasn’t the border city’s business, someone from Chang’an secretly buying a large number of warhorses from the Northern Frontier was clearly planning something bad!
“Buying horses can’t be rushed. We won’t be attacking far away for now anyway. What about the horse ranch matter?”
Captain Huang smiled, “The herdsmen are willing! They offer grain, salt, and sugar, and they are all willing to help us with proxy herding.”
Outside the border city, there was a large pasture. The hidden herdsmen were neither Northern Frontier people nor Great Xia people, and were somewhat similar to the refugees here.
They were small tribes of foreign races expelled by the Northern Frontier, forced to live in the border areas between the two countries. Anyway, the prairie was vast, and they would flee if the Northern Frontier attacked.
Jin Sui asked Captain Huang to find such small tribes for transactions, to proxy herd warhorses and cattle and sheep, and the border city would acquire them later.
Gu Changxiao returned angrily at dinner. Jin Sui had never seen such an expression on his face. Although he was not old, he looked like he was wearing a heavy adult mask.
He rarely showed the lively expressions of youth. Today, he looked like a young man who had lost a competition with his peers outside.
“What’s wrong? Is the Yan Cloud Team very strong?”
Gu Changxiao shook his head, “Yan Jiu is too arrogant! Never mind him. Brother Ji, can our polo match start?”
