The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Jiao Tong: "Then go ask the Imperial Advisor and Xue Shao for money."

Song Hao: "...My lord, I don't have that kind of face, but you are Xue Jiaoyu's disciple and Xue Yushi's senior master. If you step in, Xue Yushi will have to make an exception and loosen his grip."

Jiao Tong glared at him and said, "If he were someone who would give me a break, would I still be standing here?"

Song Hao fell silent.

After Pan Yun appeared, the Guangzhou government's post-disaster relief work was carried out at an extremely rapid pace.

Following Guangzhou Prefecture, other prefectures also took Guangzhou Prefecture as an example, and the embezzled funds that had been stored in the Spirit Realm finally found a use.

Pan Yun sent a sum of money to each prefecture according to Xue Shao's bill to ensure that the follow-up work could be carried out in an orderly manner.

The most difficult task was actually to govern Chaozhou Prefecture.

Feng Hongde had been operating in Chaozhou Prefecture for twenty years and was deeply entrenched in the business.

The younger generation, from the time they can remember, are Feng Bancheng; they are meant to cultivate the land, sow the seeds, and reap the harvest for Feng Bancheng.
Feng Bancheng was their boss, and they all depended on the Feng family for survival.

But now that Feng Bancheng has fallen, the officers and soldiers who came said that they were military households and that their families used to own fertile land. So they were given land and farming tools, and suddenly they went from being tenant farmers of the Feng family to military households with land.

One merchant couldn't help but sneer, "You've just gone from being tenant farmers of the Feng family to being tenant farmers of the Ming Dynasty. The land you're cultivating now is military farmland, not your own, so you can't buy or sell it."

“I’d be happy to do that. Before, when I farmed for Feng Bancheng, I couldn’t even get enough to eat all year round. Now, when I farm for the army, I only need to pay one dou of military rations per mu, and the rest is all mine. If I reclaim wasteland myself, I’ll be exempt from military rations for the first three years, and I’ll only have to pay military rations after the land is cultivated.”

The young man spoke with a lot of grievances: "When we were farming for Feng Bancheng, we didn't want to clear the land, but he forced us to do so. He took all the grain we had worked so hard to grow. If it was land that we cleared ourselves, he wouldn't care for us for the first few years, but once it was cultivated, he would say that the land was originally his, but he just couldn't find a tenant farmer to cultivate it, and that's how he took away the land that we had cultivated."

Anyway, things are better now than before.

They'd love to!

The businessman shook his head, looking as if they were foolish and deserved to be ripped off: "Not everyone thinks it's good."

Indeed, some people do think this is a bad thing.

When Feng Hongde was arrested, they felt as if they had lost their pillar of support, and were extremely distressed.

Even after being allocated land, they were still unhappy. "What if we fail to cultivate the land properly? What if we can't deliver enough military rations? What if we get drafted to the garrison or sent to the front lines? With Commander Feng around, at least there's someone to hold us back. But if the court arrests him, they're trying to force us to our deaths."

Enraged, Shen Shukang tried to snatch the land deed back, but Shen Boxiu grabbed him and dragged him out of the house.

Pan Yun stood by the edge of the field, hands on her hips, enjoying the breeze. Hearing the noise, she turned around and glanced back.

Facing Shen Shukang, whose ears were red, she smiled and waved to him.

Shen Shukang awkwardly stepped forward, feeling ashamed. He dug his toes into the ground and lowered his head, saying, "Grand Preceptor, these people are ungrateful, but they are only a very small number. The military households of the rest of the military settlements in Chaozhou are very grateful to the Grand Preceptor and Imperial Censor Xue. It is truly gratifying that Feng Hongde has been arrested."

“I know,” Pan Yun said, “These are individual differences, and we cannot use individual cases to represent the whole.”

She said, "They can depend on people like Feng Hongde like dodder, but the country cannot fail to provide them with the most basic guarantees, and that land deed is those guarantees."

"But they don't appreciate it. You've done so much for them, Grand Preceptor, don't you feel wronged?"

“I don’t think so,” Pan Yun said. “They’re just foolish, they’ve been deceived. They’re naturally terrified now that they’ve lost Feng Hongde, the one who’s been keeping their minds in check.” “Then what should we do?”

“Just cover them up again.” With that, Pan Yun walked towards the low house. Without crossing the threshold, she looked directly at the middle-aged man inside, who was wiping away tears. Her gaze then swept over the woman and her two children sitting obediently beside him, their faces numb. She said, “Your element is water, while Feng Hongde’s element is earth. Earth controls water. The better he does, the worse you will do.”

The middle-aged man looked up blankly, momentarily forgetting to cry.

Pan Yun was facing away from the sunlight, making it impossible for anyone in the room to see her expression; they only felt that she was surrounded by a layer of golden light.

Pan Yun said, "Your benefactor should be your wife and daughter. Your wife is down-to-earth and has the appearance of being a good homemaker. You have gotten rid of Feng Hongde, who is a nemesis of you. If you treat your wife and daughter better and listen to her advice, not to mention the distant future, at least you will die peacefully in your old age and have filial children."

The middle-aged man listened intently, then stood up and asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's true!" Shen Shukang peeked out from behind Pan Yun and said, "This is the Imperial Advisor, the Imperial Advisor!"

The middle-aged man swallowed hard and stiffly turned to look at his wife.

His wife's face was even more stiff than his, filled with disbelief.

Pan Yun glanced at the little girl again, turned and left, leaving only one sentence: "The military academy is opening, send your daughter to study. She has the Wen Chang Nobleman and the Academy in her month pillar, and the Hua Gai in her hour pillar. It would be a pity if she didn't go to school."

The middle-aged man hurriedly chased after her out the door, only to find that Pan Yun had already disappeared in the blink of an eye. He could only grab Shen Boxiu, who hadn't had time to leave yet, and ask, "What do you mean?"

Shen Boxiu shook his hand away and said, "It means your daughter can become the top scholar in the imperial examination."

The middle-aged man glared: "She's a woman, how could she be the top scholar in the imperial examination?"

“Even if you don’t become the top scholar, there are other paths to take after studying. Isn’t the Imperial Preceptor a woman too?” Shen Boxiu said, “This is your own business. Whether you give it to me or not is up to you.”

The middle-aged man looked back at his daughter, hesitated, and finally slowly looked at his wife.

The old wife also looked at her daughter.

Only the twelve-year-old daughter's eyes showed pleading.

A resolute glint flashed across the numb mother's face as she said to the middle-aged man, "Here! The Imperial Advisor said that my daughter and I will bring prosperity to the family, and that you should listen to my advice on important family matters."

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and agreed.

With new things happening and new things to look forward to, the middle-aged man temporarily forgot about Feng Hongde, and the gloom and misery at home naturally disappeared.

The little girl secretly put away the land deed on the table, and only quietly slipped it to her mother that evening, whispering, "Mother, our family has land now."

Whether her father was happy or not, she was overjoyed.

His wife was also happy.

The mother and daughter were secretly delighted. A little while later, their fourteen-year-old son also sneaked in. The three of them snuggled together until they heard footsteps outside the door. Only then did the mother quickly put away the land deed and turn around to make the bed.

As Shen Shukang chased after Pan Yun, he happily reported, "This is the last one. The other families have all received their land deeds and been allocated farmland. It's too late this year, but next year, we must plant a lot of grain."

Pan Yun smiled and nodded, then asked, "What about you? You're still young; you can't spend all your time farming. Would you like to go to school?" (End of Chapter)