Work overtime

Chapter 760

At the end of a year, it is time to discuss plans for the coming year.

Nowadays, there is basically no war, and the main task is to develop production. The most important thing at present is to develop agriculture and handicrafts. The seeds sown last year had a bumper harvest and a high yield. In addition to being eaten, a large number of them were used for breeding.

The male sterile wild rice in Hainan has not been found yet, and the search is still ongoing. But the super rice planted in other places, especially in Jilong, is growing very well. The rice plants are very tall, and the grains are large and numerous. It is almost like sorghum. The natives of Jilong say that this is rice given by the gods.

Because the Ming army occupied Vietnam, the Champa rice there could be transported inland. Li Beichen gave a 30% down payment to the Japanese minister who claimed to be very knowledgeable about agriculture, and asked him to go to Annan to train and do agriculture for two years. If it really worked, he would make up the remaining 70%.

The basic agricultural system in the country still guarantees that those who till the land have their own land, encourages the reclamation of wasteland, and rewards farming. It cracks down on land annexation and the transfer of land to nobles to evade taxes and labor. In terms of planting technology, farmers are encouraged to plant multiple crops and rotate multiple crops.

Silk, tea and porcelain were exported overseas, earning a lot of foreign exchange, and the trade surplus was huge, becoming an important source of national finance. It is planned to follow the example of Zheng He's voyages to the West this year, send a fleet to sail overseas, open up new routes, and strengthen multicultural exchanges.

It is necessary to further strengthen the management and exchange and integration of the southwest region and send envoys to Tibet. It is planned to send Kang Shou, a thousand-householder of Hezhou Guard, to Anding and other guards to pacify the tribes and their chieftains.

At this time, the snow region was not unified, and the Tibetan tribes of different sizes were governed separately, including Duozacu, Maerzacu, Sinangricu, Panguancu, Harun, etc. The purpose of sending Tibetan envoys was to meet with the leaders of various tribes, to subdue new tribes that were willing to submit to the court, and to appease and deter the wavering tribes that had already submitted.

The emperor ordered Liu Zhao, He Ming and other Shaanxi commanders to set up post stations in Xifan, Dogan, U-Tsang and other places, build and maintain roads, and comfort the military and civilians.

The snow disaster in the Mongolian region this year is more serious, and the conflicts between the Tatars and the Oirat and among the Tatars themselves have intensified.

The Yellow Sect temple, which had taken shape at this time last year, has been completely built this year and has absorbed more Tatar young men to become monks. It has become an important refuge and relief center during disasters.

The Anbei Protectorate provided economic and material support, and the two sides cooperated to help the herders overcome difficulties. It was planned to build markets and residential houses around the Yellow Sect temple to form a community. It was planned to start building a new Yellow Sect temple in the central region of Tatarstan, which would be larger than the current one.

Border trade was further expanded, and the Market Supervision Department cracked down on unfair trading practices and restricted transactions between the two sides. The Anbei Protectorate encouraged herders to settle in the Central Plains and intermarry with people in the Central Plains through propaganda.

At the end of the year, a border family became famous for using their stored grain and buying grain from other merchants to provide free porridge, rice, pickles, and ginger soup to help the poor people affected by the disaster on the border. The daughter of the family fell ill from overwork and collapsed in the street market.

The court officials wrote to commend her, thinking that the emperor would call her into the palace because of her virtue. Unexpectedly, Li Beichen announced that he would marry her to the prince, the King of Anbei, and station her in the Anbei Protectorate to use her expertise to appease the people of both sides.

Jiang Yuebai smiled after hearing this.

It was the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. Because the next day was the New Year's Eve, there was a state banquet and a family banquet, so it was not a big event. The concubines in the palace just had a good time.

Concubine Xie Hui recovered well and became much more beautiful after giving birth. She was a bud before, but now she has bloomed.

The fourth princess was as beautiful as a porcelain doll, and Li Beichen held her in his arms the whole time. This made the eldest and second princesses jealous and they rushed over to hug one of their father's legs, "Hold her, I want to hold her!"

The family dinner on New Year's Eve was as lively as last year. But this year, it was almost entirely arranged by Concubine Lu. After Concubine Qing had a miscarriage, she became emo and didn't talk much. Concubine Nian was pregnant now. Concubine Lu was the only one on duty. But she was the equivalent of three people. After a set of plans was made, Jiang Yuebai was asked for his opinion. After Jiang Yuebai took a look, he only had one opinion, "We didn't prepare sunflower seeds last year, but we will prepare them this year. It's better to prepare a few more flavors."

Because Concubine Lu was so thoughtful and knew the temperaments and hobbies of the concubines. She knew who liked what dishes and who didn't; who had a bad relationship with whom, and they might throw vegetable leaves at each other when they sat together; who was particularly close to whom, but if there were people between them, they would spit in the face of that person.

With Jiang Yuebai's red comment, the theme is still the same as last year: Happy New Year's Eve. After the emperor and empress left the table, it was time for them to let loose. The grievances of the past year seemed to be settled, and drinking was considered a happy conversation. Although looking back, they would still settle the accounts in their hearts.

On New Year's Eve, the five little ones refused to go to bed and insisted on watching the fireworks in the early morning, just because Concubine Sun told them that last year's fireworks were particularly beautiful and they would miss out if they didn't watch them.

The little ones didn’t know what it meant to lose a year, but while wearing new clothes, receiving lucky money, pulling each other’s muscles, and eating all kinds of delicious candies and snacks, they just didn’t want to go to sleep.

Especially the second prince Ji'er, who has recently become obsessed with Kongming locks. He is so young, but he just likes to poke here and there, trying to open it. The second princess is a fan of the eldest brother. She lay aside and watched her brother play, while picking the eyes on the third brother's jade flute with her hands, and she was very excited. She picked it up from time to time to blow it, but it didn't make any sound.

The other three chased each other around the house and the streets, snatching each other's toys. If they were dissatisfied, they would tear each other's clothes and pick at each other's mouths.

But they still didn't make it to midnight, and went to sleep after feeding. Yes, they are still feeding. They can feed whenever they want. They are only one year and one month old.

Only Jiang Yuebai and Li Beichen were left to celebrate the New Year.

Jiang Yuebai said, "Why not call Lady Sun in? She's so lonely all by herself."

Li Beichen hugged Jiang Yuebai and kissed her, his eyes full of affection, "It's up to you."

So he called Concubine Sun to come in and play Landlord.

It’s real money, playing with it.

At the beginning, Jiang Yuebai was invincible and won three games in a row, but she ended up losing all the time. Then Li Beichen became the local landlord and always beat the two of them.

Li Beichen said with full energy, "Give me the money!"

Jiang Yuebai and Concubine Sun paid the money obediently.

Jiang Yuebai grumbled in dissatisfaction, "The Emperor always wants to win when he plays with us~"

Concubine Sun responded with a smile, "That's right~"

"I want to get ahead." Li Beichen looked at Jiang Yuebai ambiguously without blushing or beating his heart.

Because they were so engrossed in playing cards, the three of them even watched the fireworks through the window.

In the end, Concubine Sun won the most. She went back happily with the silver in her hands, saying that this year would definitely be a good year.

Jiang Yuebai and Li Beichen smiled at each other.

It's the first month of the lunar year again. It's a holiday, but the emperor has to work overtime as a gigolo and give benefits to his concubines to show that they are equally treated. It would have been fine if there were only a few people in the harem before, but now there are more than 20 people. I'm afraid they will be exhausted. Of course, it's just symbolic. It doesn't mean that he really has to sleep with every one of them.

Concubine Ye was the first to sleep with him. She was a typical person who was addicted to sex. Jiang Yuebai felt that the emperor probably had no feelings for her. He was already very ill, but he still had sex with her.

In the end, Li Beichen told Jiang Yuebai that he was the one who suffered the most. Concubine Ye cried and asked to sleep with him. He was so exhausted that he had to force himself to do it.

This is probably like a moth flying into a flame. I don’t know if it’s because it knows it won’t live long, so it desperately demands more.

Li Beichen was silent for a long time before telling Jiang Yuebai that Concubine Yi was also like this after she had a miscarriage. Her body was very weak, but she always wanted to grasp the slim hope and refused to let go. At the same time, because of her illness, she was particularly eager for love and care.

Jiang Yuebai stopped asking. Perhaps everyone has their own obsessions. I didn't expect that Sister Jing'er was like this before.

The Spring Festival, which was supposed to be a happy one, has been made quite sad by this wave of events.

When eating hot pot with Jiang Yuebai, Lu Jieyu said that not everyone is rational, and many people just follow their feelings without considering the consequences. Moreover, she has seen Hua Fei's family. Ye Xiang is the kind of person who has no opinion, favors his wife and kills his concubines, favors sons over daughters, is a hands-off boss at home, and is too lazy to discipline his daughters. Therefore, the daughters of the Ye family are all wild, and the men of the Ye family are all beaten.

Jiang Yuebai somewhat understood why the daughters of the Ye family were like this. The two sisters of the Ye family were seriously lacking in love, the hierarchy within the family was chaotic, and they lacked a sense of propriety. Their mothers, especially Hua Fei's mother, had never been respected as mistresses, and were too afraid of losing the favor of men, so it was difficult for them to learn to love themselves.

Jiang Yuebai finally couldn't help asking Concubine Lu a question. Although she wanted to check, she hadn't done so yet. "Sister Lu, what month is your birthday?"

"August 1st. What happened to the queen?"

Jiang Yuebai drank some wolfberry water and said, "It's okay. I'm fine."

So you are a Virgo. No wonder. She had long suspected that Concubine Lu disliked the emperor's "dirtiness" and had no intention of winning his favor by sleeping with him.

In the next few days, it was Cui Concubine, Bao Concubine, Xiao Zhaoyi, and Wu Cairen. Wu Cairen felt very abrupt, and Jiang Yuebai felt the same way, thinking that there was a reversal in the last plot of the rockery. However, there was no reversal. Everything was the same as before.

When the Lantern Festival comes, Li Beichen goes to enjoy the lanterns as usual.

Last year, the children were still young and didn't understand anything. This year is different.

Even though he couldn't walk steadily, he insisted on holding the dangerous goods with a lit candle in his hand, swinging back and forth like a duck, having a lot of fun.

A group of children were chattering about whose lantern was the most beautiful. Comparison is the first nature of human beings.

That night, Li Beichen stayed in Kunning Palace according to the rules. Without Jiang Yuebai's advice, he washed himself clean and fragrant, but still felt dirty. Then he slept in a small corner obediently, not touching Jiang Yuebai. After all, he felt that he looked like a duck.

Later, he couldn't help but hug Jiang Yuebai shamelessly, and said confidently, "Spring sows and autumn harvests. I am the Son of Heaven, and there is nothing I can do to pretend to be a hardworking old farmer for the people of the world."

"You can hold me next month. This month, you should just sleep wherever you want. I hate it."

Temporarily change disgust to dislike.

"I hate myself too. Let's not hate each other."

"."

"I can't help it. Honey, please don't be angry."

"."

In the following half month, he nominally attended court every other day, but in reality he was very busy every day as there were too many big and small matters to be dealt with in various departments.

For example, the plan for introducing high-level talents. Last year, there was only a framework. Now that the people have been brought in, there must be a system for how to arrange, use, manage, and evaluate them.

What if he took the reward but ran away two months later? In ancient times, the borders were not set up in a standardized and strict manner like today. He could just run away at will.

The simplest and most direct way is to arrange an office, a secretary, a carriage and a wife, and then distribute the bonus in installments. Notify the existing regular ports or ships that if foreigners want to go to sea by ship, they must have a document stamped by the Chuanlu Temple and the emperor, otherwise it will be regarded as collusion.

The establishment of rules and regulations like these is all about details, which need to be discussed and deliberated over and over again. In short, it is very busy.

Considering that last year's hard work was rewarded, despite the hard work, the year-end bonus was relatively generous, and the officials worked very hard.

In the next fifteen days, he summoned five more, but he could not summon any more. They included Xuan Liangyuan, Rui Zhaoyi, Lu Jieyu, Rou Wanyi, and Lu Guiren.

The tasks in the first month of the fifth year of Jingchang were successfully completed, a total of ten. Waiting for the prize draw in the next two months.

Starting from February, every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, Jiang Yuebai invited Ge Yuanpan to the morning meeting to feel the pulse of each person. After several times, only one person was named Rui Zhaoyi. When she learned that she had passed the imperial examination, she was so excited that she burst into tears and felt that the smoke from her ancestral graves was three feet high.

Li Beichen was confident because of his previous experience. He thought that after one operation, he would get three or four, or at least two. Who knew that he would only get one.

But thinking about how he had unprotected sex with Jiang Yuebai so many times and how she didn't get pregnant until September, he felt that this result was normal.

I asked Jiang Xian if the sequelae of the poison had any effect on that aspect. Jiang Xian said that the coldness was too strong and it was difficult for both men and women to get pregnant. This was rare nowadays.

Moreover, she had indulged herself too much with Jiang Yuebai in the past few months, which had caused her body to become colder and her vital energy to be insufficient. Plus, the woman had her own physical condition, so one in ten chances was normal.

In February, the Anbei King announced that his wife had given birth to a boy on the 16th day of the first lunar month. Both mother and child were safe, and the emperor was asked to give them a name. Li Beichen named him Li Cheng'an, sent a large amount of food and supplies, wished the little prince a safe and smooth life, and expressed his hope for peace on the border.