Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 491 Leaving the Palace
It would be very easy for Zhao Xing to investigate the issue of empty salaries, and there was no need to make any big fuss.

That alone is enough.

However, Zhao Xing did not intend to start a war this time.

Zhao Xing did not agree with the saying that the law does not hold everyone responsible, but sometimes he had to admit it.

The phenomenon of drawing a salary without doing anything has become a tradition, and military generals are all informed participants, whether they are willing or not.

Apart from anything else, doesn’t the British public know about this situation?
Of course he knew, but it involved too many things and it was an unspoken rule, so he couldn't say it.

And those generals in the army who were drawing salaries without doing any work might not have done so intentionally.

This is how the officialdom works. If you don’t go along with the corrupt officials, you will be ostracized.

If others take it but you don’t, will you tell on them?

Of course, whether it is out of greed or because of some unwillingness to go along with the crowd, wrong is wrong and cannot be exempted from punishment.

But Zhao Xing couldn't punish all the officers in the army.

This incident can be regarded as a chance given to them by Zhao Xing.

He did not track the number of old and young people laid off from the military, which did not match the number of people who needed to be resettled.

All we need to do is ask those generals to report the number of people left after the disarmament, and then make up the difference for them.

The original shortfall in the number of soldiers in the army was more than 20%, and after adding the part that was actually cut, the actual shortfall is now about 30% to 40%.

However, the difference reported by most generals was only more than 10%.

In other words, they still want to keep the 20% difference to collect empty salaries.

Less than one-third of the generals reported the actual difference.

"I gave them a chance, but they thought I didn't want to investigate further?"

Zhao Xing sneered and said, "I want their other evidence of guilt!"

"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang replied.

"By the way, how is the investigation into the counterfeit currency issue going?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Your Majesty, we have found a lot of clues. We can get to the bottom of the matter within two months at the latest." Yin Hanzhang seemed to be hesitant to speak after he finished speaking.

"Just say whatever you want to say. The Imperial City Bureau is my eyes and ears. What do you have to worry about?" Zhao Xing said unhappily.

Yin Hanzhang hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Funing's husband seems to have also participated in the minting of counterfeit coins."

"like?"

Zhao Xing heard this and said coldly, "You don't dare to check, right?"

Upon hearing this, Yin Hanzhang lowered his head and dared not refute.

Zhao Xing was right. When he found out that Li Jie might also be involved in the minting of counterfeit currency, he gave up immediately.

Li Jie has a special identity. He is not only the cousin of the retired emperor, but also his son-in-law and brother-in-law.

If anything was really found out, it would put Zhao Xing in a difficult position.

Therefore, he did not dare to investigate further on this matter, and even did not know whether he should tell Zhao Xing.

"Forget it this time. Remember, no matter what I tell you to do, no matter who is involved, you just need to do it. You should not consider other things."

Zhao Xing also knew Yin Hanzhang's concerns, so he just gave him a warning and did not pursue the matter.

"Yes, I understand!"

"Go."

"My minister retire."

After sending Yin Hanzhang away, Zhao Xing rubbed his head in pain.

He just wanted to kill all those people who lied, but he couldn't do that.

We can't even punish them for drawing a salary without doing anything.

Once he did this, it would be hard to justify him if he didn't investigate further.

That's why Zhao Xingcai said that he needed other evidence from those people.

Li Jie's participation in the minting of counterfeit currency also gave him a headache.

It’s not that Zhao Xing cares about family ties, but he is worried about his father.

The late Empress Dowager, Zhao Xing's grandmother, had no children. After my father was born, it was announced to the public that he was born to Empress Dowager Liu.

Although many people knew about this matter, no one dared to discuss it.

It was not until Empress Dowager Liu passed away that someone told my father.

The person who told the emperor was Prince Yong’s grandfather.

Zhao Xing even suspected that in the original drama, his father chose Prince Yong out of a desire to repay his gratitude.

Otherwise, everyone knows that Prince Yong is mediocre and Prince Yan is capable.

It is possible that Prince Yan deliberately promoted it, but did Prince Yong not know how to promote it?
Everyone knows his ability and no one doubts it, which shows that there is indeed a big gap in ability between the two.

The drama did not explain why Prince Yong was chosen. It seemed that it was because Prince Yong had more heirs, while Prince Yan had fewer heirs.

Zhao Xing felt that this was untenable. Less does not mean nothing.

Until the time when dealing with Prince Yong and Prince Yan, my father was finally lenient towards Prince Yong's lineage and allowed them to continue their bloodline.

His father told him only after Zhao Xing asked.

When my father learned that he was not born to Empress Dowager Liu, his biological mother, Li, had already passed away.

Li died only one year earlier than Liu.

This means that his father's biological mother was clearly alive and in the palace, but he had never known about it.

It is for this reason that my father felt full of guilt towards the Li family. He was grateful to Prince Yong’s grandfather for telling him the truth and has been compensating the Li family.

Not only did he confer the title of Xianggong on Li's brother, he also conferred a title on the Li family and married his daughter into the Li family.

After Princess Funing married Li Jie, the couple had trouble getting along, and Li Jie even beat Princess Funing. Even so, her father did not investigate further.

This shows the emperor's favor to the Li family.

Since Li Jie made counterfeit money, Zhao Xing naturally wanted to deal with him according to the law.

Even if she was executed, it would not matter. There was no restriction on widows remarrying anyway. As a princess, it would be easy for her to remarry even if she had been married.

But my father would definitely not agree. He would allow him to do whatever he wanted, but he would not let him touch the Li family.

"Let's take it one step at a time." Zhao Xing shook his head.

…………

Western Xia sent envoys to the Liao Kingdom and also sent envoys to the Song Dynasty.

Generally speaking, someone would be sent to inform in advance before sending an envoy, but this time the situation was urgent, and by the time Xixia sent someone to inform, the envoy had already set off.

By the time Zhao Xing received the news, the Western Xia envoys were already not far from Bianjing.

Not only did Xixia send envoys to the Song Dynasty, but Zhao Xing actually sent envoys to Xixia and Hehuang after the Liao envoys left.

Therefore, Zhao Xing knew the purpose of the Western Xia envoy without having to guess.

Zhao Xing summoned his ministers to discuss the matter and waited for the arrival of the Western Xia envoy.

…………

"Why doesn't the Queen eat? Is it not to her liking?" Zhao Xing asked in confusion when he saw Zhang Guifen was in a daze.

"Nothing...nothing." Zhang Guifen shook her head.

Zhao Xing put down his chopsticks, looked at Zhang Guifen and said, "Do you look like nothing's wrong? We are husband and wife, is there anything we can't talk about?"

Zhang Guifen hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, do you remember the time when we came back from the polo field and saw someone drowning a baby?"

"Huh?" Zhao Xing was stunned when he heard this, and soon remembered that Zhang Guifen was talking about the time when she came back from Mrs. Wu's polo field and encountered a drowning child.

"Of course I haven't forgotten, what's wrong?"

Zhao Xing nodded and said, "Are you blaming me for not taking any action since I ascended the throne?"

"No."

Zhang Guifen shook her head and said, "After that incident, I had someone check and found that in addition to those who drowned, many people could not afford to support their children and abandoned them. I had someone buy a house in the south of the city to take in those abandoned children."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Zhao Xing didn't expect that Zhang Guifen had been adopting orphans over the years.

"I can't bear it, so I'll just consider it as a good deed." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.

"How many people have you adopted?" Zhao Xing asked.

"There are 331 brothers and fewer sisters, 216 in total. The oldest is only five years old," said Zhang Guifen.

It seems incredible that brothers have so many more than sisters.

After all, the ancients valued blood inheritance.

In fact, the reason for this situation is that the boy was abandoned because the people could not afford to raise him, and they abandoned him in the hope that he would be adopted by kind-hearted people.

Even if one cannot afford to raise a girl, one can just keep her for a few years and then sell her. Some people will even drown her.

But my brother was too young and no one wanted him, which is why there is such a huge gap in the ratio of male to female orphans adopted.

"You told me that you have no money?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Yes." Zhang Guifen nodded and said, "There are still very few cases of abandoned children near Bianjing. As long as someone brings an abandoned child to me, I will ask them to pay a sum of money."

It actually doesn't cost much to raise more than 500 children.

But placement and care cost money, and the people who send the children have to pay a fee, which puts increasing pressure on them.

Although Zhang Guifen was the queen, she had no worries about food and clothing, but she actually did not have much money to spend.

She did have quite a bit of dowry, but the money was all in the palace and it was difficult to take it out.

The money for raising these children came from her savings when she was in the boudoir, as well as the income from the farms she received as a dowry over the years.

As the news spread, more and more children were sent here, and many parents even traveled hundreds of miles to send their children, and the cost became increasingly high.

The several houses that Zhang Guifen had people buy have gradually been filled up.

If you want to receive it again, you have to buy a house.

Because there are too many people living there, no one is willing to rent, so they have to buy.

She just wanted to tell Zhao Xing to allow her to take the dowry out of the palace, buy a house, and house the orphans.

"I am the emperor. I should have done these things. It is because I am incompetent as an emperor." After listening to this, Zhao Xing grabbed Zhang Guifen's hand and said.

"Didn't Your Majesty say that we are one as husband and wife?" Zhang Guifen said with a smile.

"Haha, that's right, we are husband and wife."

Zhao Xing smiled and said seriously, "You are right to do this, but how much can you help by yourself? Have you considered how to arrange for them when they grow up?"

"I have thought about it, but I can't just ignore it. I can only think about it slowly."

Zhang Guifen was born into a noble family and was unaware of the sufferings of the common people.

If Zhao Xing hadn't stepped in to stop it last time, she wouldn't have known that such a thing actually happened among the people.

She naturally knew that the adopted children were fine now, and all she had to do was to make sure they had enough to eat.

But she can't raise these children for the rest of their lives; settling them down when they grow up will be a problem.

As the queen, she couldn't wait until they grew up and then sell them as slaves.

"I will think of a way to solve the resettlement issue later. I agree with what you said. I will tell Liu Sanshi about it later." Zhao Xing said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhang Guifen said with a smile.

"I should be the one thanking you. You are helping me share my worries."

"Your Majesty, I want to go and see them," said Zhang Guifen.

Before she became a mother, she just felt sorry for the children and had them adopted because she couldn't bear it.

But after she became a mother herself, she felt more than just pity for those children.

"I'll go with you." Zhao Xing said.

"Your Majesty is busy with state affairs, I can go by myself." Zhang Guifen said.

"No matter how busy I am, I don't lack this little time. I will accompany you to take a look and talk about their resettlement issue." Zhao Xing said.

"Ah."

Zhang Guifen nodded and asked, "How does Your Majesty want to place them?"

"They are still young, so let's ask someone to teach them to read and write. Those with talent can take part in the imperial examinations in the future. If they don't have talent, wait until they grow up and have someone teach them a skill so that they can make a living." Zhao Xing said.

Actually, Zhao Xing wanted to wait until they were older and then send them to the Firearms Department, or have someone teach them martial arts.

These people have been taught since childhood and have no family members, so you can use them with confidence.

But this arrangement is too utilitarian, and Zhang Guifen may not be able to accept it.

Zhao Xing could see that Zhang Guifen was now overflowing with maternal love.

According to Zhang Guifen, she has been adopting orphans for many years.

Normally speaking, it is impossible to adopt only this many.

It should be after she became pregnant that she increased her efforts to adopt.

Zhang Guifen did not treat the adopted children as her own, but in her heart, those children were not much different from her own children.

"Your Majesty has considered everything carefully." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.

At night, after Zhang Guifen fell asleep, Zhao Xing was still thinking about the orphans.

Zhu Yuanzhang hated corrupt officials so much. Besides the fact that he saw corrupt officials rampant at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, another important reason was that his parents were forced to death by those corrupt officials.

But few people know that Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a poor family, had a deep understanding of the sufferings of the common people. Therefore, after he became emperor, he was very concerned about the living conditions of ordinary people.

An orphanage was established to take in the elderly and orphans who had no one to rely on and to provide for the young.

However, the earliest orphanage was not established in the Ming Dynasty, but in the Song Dynasty.

The earliest government-run orphanage was established during the Song Dynasty, but that was the Southern Song Dynasty.

According to the "History of the Song Dynasty - Records of Food and Goods", there were 286 orphanages during the Southern Song Dynasty, which adopted more than 100,000 orphans.

In addition, my father also issued corresponding policies, stipulating that as long as a family adopts an orphan, they can reduce one person's corvée labor, and strongly advocated the adoption of orphans.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, in order to recuperate and multiply the population, the imperial court issued the "Fetal Care Order", which prohibited the poor from abandoning their children and provided government subsidies for those who could not afford to raise their children. After the child was born, they could also receive a "birth subsidy" to help families reduce the pressure of raising children.

How many people can Zhang Guifen support just by adopting them?
The policies designated by my father had little effect after implementation.

Raising a child is not proportional to reducing a person's corvee labor.

Ordinary people are already under great pressure to raise their own children, so how can they afford to adopt orphans?

Zhao Xing thought that the "Fetal Care Order" issued during the Southern Song Dynasty was very good, and planned to have someone draft it in detail and then promulgate it for implementation.

It is impossible to eliminate the problem, but it is possible to reduce the number of babies being abandoned.

However, government-run orphanages still need to be built.

I don’t know how long I was lost in thought before I fell asleep.

The next day, Zhao Xing dealt with some important government affairs, briefly told Zhang Qingzhi about the "Fetal Care Order" and the establishment of an orphanage, asked him to draw up a general charter first, and then left the palace with Zhang Guifen.

"It's been more than a year since I ascended the throne, and this is the first time I've left the palace." Zhao Xing sighed.

(End of this chapter)