nashuaworldcup Chapter 245 Emperor Xia’s determination and Gu Jingzhi’s method of dealing with alien races!
Chapter 245 Emperor Xia’s determination and Gu Jingzhi’s method of dealing with alien races!
Capital City, Imperial Palace!
Emperor Xia held the memorial sent by Gu Jingzhi from the northwest, closed his eyes and pondered slightly.
Since going to Ningzhou, Gu Jingzhi has sent several reports to the capital, including suppressing bandits, asking for money, reporting on the situation in Ningzhou, and this time!
Emperor Xia never expected that Gu Jingzhi, a scholar who had only lived in books before, actually understood farming. With such a small place, he was able to turn the situation around after gathering hundreds of thousands of people.
According to the memorial, so much fertile land has been reclaimed. Although the grain production will not be abundant next year due to land problems, it can still meet the needs of the local population.
This is a great achievement for the entire Daxia.
After all, helping the imperial court to revitalize a provincial capital with a population of hundreds of thousands, almost from scratch, requires extraordinary governing ability.
Whether it's planning, decision-making... or governing the country, Gu Jingzhi is definitely not an ordinary talent!
Even his pampered eldest son's family and the Qiao family followed him to work in the fields. Gu Jingzhi is indeed a talent!
He still had some complicated feelings about Gu Jingzhi.
Because of the existence of Song Pu and the aristocratic family, he gradually began to be wary of civil officials. However, compared to Song Pu, he was both wary and had expectations of Gu Jingzhi.
What he was naturally on guard against was that a hundred years later, Gu Jingzhi would be the only one in power in the court. After all, Gu Jingzhi's talent was truly extraordinary.
What we are looking forward to is... Gu Jingzhi does not have the support of any aristocratic family that can threaten the imperial power, and he himself is now on the opposite side of the aristocratic family.
Each of his strategies has or will hit the weak points of the family.
There will be no possibility of compromise between Gu Jingzhi and the aristocratic family in the future.
Moreover, he also knew how Gu Jingzhi dealt with his cousins.
Although the widowed cousin had to rely on Gu Jingzhi's care in life, her status as a criminal remained unchanged for three years and she was still sentenced to forced labor.
As for his cousin... although Gu Jingzhi used his achievements and favors to save Gu Huanzhi from the death penalty, he was still exiled to the frontier.
Emperor Xia saw Gu Jingzhi's impartiality and compassion in this matter, which was what he appreciated most.
Being a human being, if one is wholeheartedly devoted to the public good, is indeed admirable, but for the emperor, it is always a hidden danger! Gu Jingzhi was able to find a suitable solution between public and private matters, achieving both national justice and his own well-being. This is compassion.
He had long known that Gu Jingzhi loved power.
Gu Jingzhi said that he also knew that with power one could change the rules and the current situation of the people of the world.
He was afraid of Gu Jingzhi before because he was afraid that Gu Jingzhi would do anything for power.
But now seeing his attitude towards his family, he felt a little relieved. If a person could not even care about his own family, he would have almost no bottom line!
He... can suppress Gu Jingzhi, but what about the others?
"Go and call the Minister of Rites, Wei Xuan, to come to me..."
After thinking for a long time, he felt that he had to find someone to ask about Gu Jingzhi's memorial.
As Song Pu was the prime minister, why didn't he ask for his opinion first... Mainly, Song Pu represented the aristocratic family, and in Emperor Xia's view, the answers he gave would always put the interests of the aristocratic family first.
Wei Xuan is different. As a representative of the poor, he considers things more from the national level, and his answer is more pertinent!
……
Not long after, Wei Xuan arrived at the Imperial Study. Emperor Xia handed Gu Jingzhi's memorial to Wei Xuan, "Your disciple has done a good job in Ningzhou. This is the memorial he submitted. Please analyze it for me..."
Gu Jingzhi?
Wei Xuan was slightly stunned.
Every report submitted by Ningzhou before was a major event. Could it be that this time it brings some bad news to the court?
Wei Xuan read on patiently.
Just one look at it made me shocked.
By reclaiming fertile farmland and managing winter paddy fields, Daxia added 300,000 acres of grain fields. How much grain can be produced in a year?
Although these newly reclaimed fields cannot produce much grain at present, in view of the actual situation in Ningzhou, the court exempted the newly reclaimed fields from one year's taxes.
In other words, after the autumn harvest, Ningzhou will be self-sufficient in grain alone.
What an achievement this is!
You know, Ningzhou was one of the poorest prefectures in Daxia. It was incredible that Gu Jingzhi could see such hope after only a few months there.
In addition, Wei Xuan thinks that Gu Jingzhi’s plan to vigorously develop commerce in Ningzhou is feasible!
Although the business skills are of the lowest level, if you calculate the items listed by Gu Jingzhi in the attached documents, the monetary taxes are not low!
Moreover, if this thing is accomplished, it will be a huge benefit for Daxia to have another prosperous state!
As for other things like repairing the city, they were all for local development needs, and Wei Xuan didn't think there was any problem with it.
Instead, they deployed troops to the northwest...
Wei Xuan was a little distressed!
Emperor Xia looked at him and knew what Wei Xuan had seen. He asked, "Tell me what you think!"
"Uh……"
Wei Xuan pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, Marquis Gu's achievements in agriculture are enough to save hundreds of thousands of lives. I believe that since he wants the assistance of officials skilled in agricultural work, the court should grant his request!"
"Also, the idea of developing businesses in Ningzhou is also very novel. If it succeeds, Ningzhou will be completely revitalized..."
"Is this what I'm asking you?"
Emperor Xia said angrily, "Both Gu Qing and the Lin family must be rewarded handsomely! Gu Qing is a marquis of Great Xia, so it's fine, but the Lin family is just a poor clan from Ningzhou, yet they put the people of the court first. Isn't this an act of loyalty and patriotism?"
"Although the Lin family wants to take your honor into consideration, the court is the one that benefits, so we must reward you!"
"Your Majesty is wise!" Wei Xuan flattered Emperor Xia happily.
Emperor Xia laughed and scolded, "Everyone says you, Wei Xuan, are upright and stern. How come you've also learned to flatter? I'm clearly asking you about trade and foreign wars!"
"This one……"
Wei Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I've just thought carefully about this. This trade can actually ease the wars on the border, especially the annual raids by foreign tribes!"
"Also, using some insignificant things from the Central Plains can indeed stimulate the extravagance of the grassland nobles. Although this strategy is somewhat... it can gradually disintegrate the grassland's warlike spirit and make it gradually become corrupt!"
He wanted to say that this matter was a bit too despicable, but he was not a pedantic person and he understood the principle that those who are not of the same race must have different hearts.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Xia laughed and said, "In that case, this mutual trade is feasible! However, our Great Xia is a superior country. Even if we want to use mutual trade to solve the problem, we can't rush to talk to them! So..."
"In this case, we must go to war..."