Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 77 Let’s put aside the love between young men and women and pretend to be powerful first.

Eloping? What kind of talk is this from a high school girl? A love-brain is a love-brain, but if you tell her what "love without material things is like a pile of loose sand, it doesn't need wind to blow, it will scatter after two steps", she will definitely not understand.

"You're right, eloping. I'll have to secretly send you to where the prince is staying."

The little princess looked up at Xia Lin, her eyes flickering with confusion: "Then why did you drag me away? I thought you wanted to elope with me..."

"Not running? Little sister, didn't you see the state of your father and your second brother? If I don't run, I will be pinned to the ground and beaten by the two men in your family. Do you think I can beat your second brother or dare to fight back and beat your father?"

The little princess thought for a while and it seemed to be true... So she nodded silently, feeling a little disappointed.

"It's all your fault!" The little princess started to grumble, "You didn't even come to see me for two months."

Xia Lin didn't explain, he just stood up and stretched out his hand to the little princess: "Come."

The little princess held his hand and stood up, and the two of them came to the Cape of Good Hope. Xia Lin pointed at the big rock and said, "Come, I'll carry you up."

The moment she stepped onto the huge rock, the little princess couldn't help but exclaim. The town in front of her was like a glowing lake. Thousands of lights converged into a river. The surroundings were as dark as ink, but the small town was bright enough to make people feel relaxed and happy.

People holding lanterns and torches use their faint fluorescent light to echo with others, forming this magnificent night scene, its beauty is no less than that of poetry.

The little princess stood there for a long time and was speechless. Xia Lin leaned down and said, "Some people paint with watercolors, some write poems with ink, but I prefer to use the mountains and rivers as paper to paint. You think I didn't look for you because I was too busy."

These words sounded so noble that the naive little princess was stunned by them. She was filled with emotion at that time. She admired Xia Lin, who used the country as his paper, so much that she even felt that her visit to him was a delay for him to paint.

As for whether it was true, of course not. But what could he do? Could he really elope with the little princess?

Moved by this, Xia Lin sent the little princess back to the prince's residence safely, but he did not dare to go in to meet him. If she was caught by her second brother and beaten to the ground by his father and son, the little princess would probably not be able to do anything except shouting "Stop hitting me" at the side.

The next morning, Xia Lin had to pay his respects to Shangguan as usual. He actually didn't want to go, but he had no choice but to go there timidly. As soon as he entered, he saw Lao Guo dancing with a sword in the yard. One could not tell that this old man was quite agile despite his age.

Xia Lin said nothing and just stood by waiting for Lao Guo to finish his morning exercise. Then the girl next to him quickly handed him a towel to wipe Lao Guo's sweat.

"You boy."

When Lao Guo saw Xia Lin coming, he didn't blame him. He just wiped his sweat and smiled, "Why bother with that old man for no reason?"

"Master Guo, I am really wronged. Please judge for me. Can I be blamed for this?"

"Isn't it strange? Go and coax your old Taishan by yourself, and don't tell me." Lao Guo sat on the stone bench next to him and started to eat breakfast: "If you don't say anything else about your place, the food here is really good."

"It's OK... After all, people from all over the country have very picky tastes, so they still need some variety."

Lao Guo hummed and nodded: "Let's eat together."

Different from the prince's attitude towards Xia Lin, the wild boar, Lao Guo was extremely satisfied with this kid. He went to the military camp to take a look yesterday. He didn't know whether this kid really didn't understand or was pretending to be confused. He was obviously raising death squads instead of local militia. But after hearing that he almost didn't do anything but give money, Lao Guo felt relieved. Then, seeing that those young soldiers were trained in an orderly manner, Lao Guo, who came from the camp, naturally approved of them.

But after coming back that night, I heard the old man angrily talking about Xia Lin kidnapping his daughter, and I thought this young man was interesting. But they are young people, isn't this human nature? And the old man also knew that when he was young, he had slept with the princess of the enemy country, but he was a father after all, so it was normal for him to be angry, so let him vent and it would pass.

"This time, the prince and I came here, firstly to see the situation in your Xinping Township, and secondly, I have something to tell you."

"Master Guo, please speak."

Old Guo took a sip of rice wine, twisted his beard and said, "Next spring, His Majesty will tour the south to inspect water conservancy projects, and will mainly come to the south of the Yangtze River. There will be civil and military officials, foreign envoys, and celebrities and scholars accompanying them. I have discussed with the prince, and this place is a good place to stay. You can arrange it when the time comes. I think that with a person as arrogant and extravagant as you, there shouldn't be any mistakes, right?"

Xia Lin was stunned for a moment and then muttered softly: "The emperor's southern tour? There is no such plot..."

"what?"

"Nothing...nothing...I was just thinking that my village is not up to the standard of hosting the emperor. Moreover, it will cost a lot to receive His Majesty and all the officials. The village finances are not enough to cover the expenses. Oh...Mr. Guo."

Xia Lin was making faces and pretending to be pitiful. Lao Guo slammed the bowl on the table and said, "You little bastard, you are talking nonsense again. I heard yesterday that your village earns one million taels of silver a year, and after paying taxes, you have a surplus of more than 500,000 taels of silver. Oh, I asked you to do something, and you are pretending to be pitiful? You have a ready-made palace! How much more money can you spend?"

"The palace?" Xia Lin looked around and was surprised. "Master Guo... this is just a brothel. You are not going to let His Majesty live in a brothel?" Oh, who said it was not? Xia Lin understood the truth but the old man didn't understand it. But now the old man has made a decision, and he can't say anything. So he can only sigh and say: "You can arrange this matter. After the southern tour order comes down in a few days, I will go to Beijing in person. Then I will propose to His Majesty to withdraw the township and set up a county. My plan is to assign Leping in the downstream and Qimen and Wuyuan in the upstream to you. But I haven't thought of the name yet. You are the most talented person in Wei. Do you have any good name?"

"Fuliang! In the poem "Xianju Fu" written by Pan Yue of the previous dynasty, it is said that Fuliang is dark and wide, and Lingtai is outstanding and high. This place is connected to the Gan River and Po River, and to the right is Suzhou and Hangzhou. Fuliang is a cross-country, and the light boat can lift itself."

Lao Guo smiled and nodded: "Okay, okay, you are really a talented person. Tell me more and I will write it down."

"what?"

"What? I said I'll take note and tell His Majesty later. I'm old, how can I remember everything just by saying it once?"

"Master Guo, a good memory is not as good as a bad pen. Please take a pen and copy it."

Then Lord Guo was seen chasing Xia Lin around the yard with a wooden sword in his hand, cursing as he ran: "You little bastard, no wonder this old man wants to beat you up, you really deserve it! How dare you tease your superior like this! Fortunately, your memory is not as good as your pen, today I will teach you a lesson about what it means to cause trouble with your mouth!"

Xia Lin ran with bounds and jumps, and from time to time he would be hit on the buttocks with a stick, which made him cry like a monkey on both sides of the river...

"yeah?"

The prince was also startled at this moment. He opened the window on the second floor and saw Lao Guo beating the monkey. He watched with great interest. When he was excited, he threw a few copper coins down: "A good life is a reward!"

When Xia Lin rubbed his butt and stood next to Lao Guo again, the prince also strolled down, put his hands behind his back, looked Xia Lin up and down, with disgust in his eyes.

"Ming Huai, when you go to the capital in the future, take this fellow with you, and let my brother kill him with a single blow."

"Don't be disrespectful, let's talk business." Old Guo was not someone who would pamper him: "This time when I go to the capital, that old beast surnamed Gao wants to audit my taxes. Little bastard, do you have the ledger here?"

"Of course there are. Without the account books, I would be killed even if I had ten heads." Xia Lin rubbed his butt and said, "But you can't just take the account books. I have two account books. One is called the Clear Account, which contains every industry in great detail. The other is called the Confused Account, which contains the correct total and the correct numbers, but it's just confusing. It's used to fool people who check the accounts."

Lao Guo looked at him curiously: "Why do you want to fool around?"

"Everyone in the world is here for profit. If someone knows which of our industries is the most profitable and which is the fastest growing, they will surely be jealous. If they come here to compete, I will welcome them. But if there are those who don't want to compete, and just think that if I don't have it, you can't have it either, then it will be a big deal. If they take the muddled accounts, they can't see the reason, and spread the tax on the passing merchants. Anyway, the total amount is not reduced, so they will be done. They will come to check the taxes, right? Isn't that a slap in the face of the prince and you?"

Xia Lin's words made Wang Ye and Lao Guo look at each other. They didn't expect this little bastard to think so carefully. But there is one thing he said that is true. There are many bastards in the court who can't stand others doing well. They are not afraid of thieves stealing, but they are afraid of thieves thinking about it, so the muddled account is really useful.

"There is also Jiangnan Jingji Province. They were outclassed this time. Except for a few large cities, there is no place that can surpass us. I remember that the economic power of Jingji Province is under the control of the Gao family. The prince and Lord Guo should know better than me what kind of person Prime Minister Gao is. BYD is narrow-minded and difficult to talk to. He will definitely not accept it." Xia Lin took out a stack of account books from the cloth bag he was carrying. "This is the spring tax of Xinping Township, 310,000 taels of silver."

"ah????"

Wang Ye and Lao Guo's eyes almost popped out: "You raised 310,000 in one spring???"

"No, actually. Spring is the off-season. I can't figure it out even if I die. I put last year's taxes into this year's account. This is more reasonable because many businesses settle their accounts for the previous year in spring. This is the money for land tax and house tax. I also made a mess of it."

Old Guo's heart was pounding at this moment, and the prince's eyelids were also twitching. This little bastard is not the most talented person in Wei, he is clearly the most profitable person in Wei. If the Ministry of Revenue knows about this, he will be transferred to Beijing to serve as an official in the Ministry of Revenue in August this year...

That won’t do…

"You won't squeeze the people's blood and fat, will you?" Old Guo narrowed his eyes and looked at Xia Lin: "Don't mess around, or you'll be beheaded."

"How can that be possible? Xinping Township has a three-exemption policy. Families with elderly people and children whose trading capital does not exceed 100 taels are exempt from tax. Families with only sons serving in the military are exempt from tax. Elderly people who have lost their sons, young people who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands are exempt from tax. If they are unable to support their families, the government will give them a stall to do some small business. Most of the people in the night market are such people."

Lao Guo turned around and glanced at the prince: "Look at this, look at this, what are you dissatisfied with?"

"Your son-in-law!"

"You really don't want to? If so, I have a niece in my clan who is just fifteen years old and still unmarried. She is pretty and well-educated. If you don't want her, I can help you."

"Go away, you old bastard, you are so annoying." The prince cursed and sat on the stool. He raised his head and glanced at Xia Lin: "Then what do you have to say about His Majesty's southern tour?"

(End of this chapter)