Steel Dynasty - Chapter 3

[Chapter 3 The landlord’s family has no surplus food either]

“Your Highness has just recovered from a serious illness. He should stay in bed and rest.”

There was a rush of footsteps, and Xiao Ming saw an elderly man with a round head and big ears, wearing a blue round-neck gown, trotting over to him. He bowed in front of him and said.

This person is Qian Dafu, the steward of the palace. In his palace, he basically takes care of all matters, big and small.

Xiao Ming had great trust in Qian Dafu. Before he came to the fiefdom, Qian Dafu was the most trusted bodyguard of his mother, Concubine Zhen. Concubine Zhen sent him to Xiao Ming in order to have a servant who could handle him with peace of mind.

“It’s okay.” Xiao Ming waved his hand, “Prepare the carriage, I’m going to Qingzhou City for a walk.”

“This…” Qian Dafu hesitated, but he knew in his heart that this prince had always had a surly temperament and did not dare to disobey. , called the servants to prepare a carriage for Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming went straight to the main entrance of the palace. A slightly old carriage had stopped at the door. The carriage on the carriage was very small, like a box.

Such a shabby carriage was a bit out of place compared to the status of King Qi, but Xiao Ming knew that the current financial resources of the palace could only go so far.

His current fiefdom governs a total of six states, namely Qingzhou where the governor’s office is located, Laizhou and Dengzhou on the peninsula to the east, Yizhou to the south, Cangzhou to the north and Yanzhou to the west.

The land of the six states seems to be a lot, but in fact the territory is not large. The fifth prince Xiao Quan’s Shu territory has jurisdiction over sixteen states. Relatively speaking, he is a poor peasant.

Moreover, none of these six states are rich. According to the division of Shangzhou, Zhongzhou, and Xiazhou in the Great Chongqing Kingdom, only Qingzhou, where his palace is located, is counted as Shangzhongzhou, and the rest are lower states.

There is a big difference between the upper, middle and lower levels, which is basically the same as the difference between municipalities, prefecture-level cities, and counties and cities.

Especially Cangzhou in the north is visited by barbarians on the grassland every year, and some barbarian cavalry even penetrate deep into the fiefdom. Three years ago, the barbarian cavalry did not stop plundering until Dengzhou.

The people in the fiefdom were poor and weak and could not farm with peace of mind. Naturally, they could not collect taxes. In addition, he still had troops and officials in six states to support, so it went without saying that the finances of the fiefdom were not in question.

Although Xiao Ming was naughty in the past, he also knew the situation of his fiefdom. If Concubine Zhen hadn’t rewarded him with a little silver every year, he might have really fallen into the northwest wind.

After leaving the palace, the carriage moved slowly along the streets of Qingzhou City.

Xiao Ming opened the curtains of the carriage and carefully examined his fiefdom…

Qingzhou City is twenty miles from north to south and twenty miles from east to west. There are four gates in total. The city is divided into thirty-six square districts, with two gates on the east and west sides. There are two markets, namely East Market and West Market.

This square is similar to the structure of the current community, with a wall and some residential buildings scattered inside. However, each square is the same size, like tofu cubes placed in a square box.

“King Qi is here, let’s go, let’s go.”

The carriage passed by a private village, and the three young men who were sunbathing were so frightened that they slipped back into the village.

Xiao Ming gave a bitter smile, these are the people who were bullied and feared by Xiao Ming in the past.

But now he was not paying attention to that, but to their worn and patched clothes.

Through a modern person’s perspective, the common people he sees are basically the same as beggars.

When he arrived at the East Market, Xiao Ming stopped the carriage and walked towards the market with his hands behind his back.

Qian Dafu immediately followed him cautiously when he saw it, and patrolled the surroundings vigilantly.

The East Market and West Market are similar to modern vegetable markets. Walking along the way, Xiao Ming saw very few products in the East Market.

Basically, they are wheat, soybeans, millet, clay pots, cloth, bamboo baskets, etc., which are completely different from the dazzling array of commodities in Chang’an City.

After wandering around the East Market for a while, Xiao Ming went to the West Market again, which was basically the same. Generally speaking, people’s livelihood here is in decline.

And this is the most prosperous Qingzhou City in his fiefdom.

After walking around all morning, Xiao Ming basically walked around Qingzhou City. At noon, his stomach started growling.

I had to go back to the palace for dinner.

“Your Highness, I have specially prepared vinegar-coated celery and white-flour steamed buns for you.”

After clutching his stomach and being hungry for a long time, Xiao Ming finally waited for lunch. In his memory, such a meal was good.

Just by looking at Qian Dafu rubbing his hands and rolling his Adam’s apple, you can tell how greedy he is.

This is the reality of his fiefdom. Living materials are severely lacking. It’s not that he has no money, but that he can’t buy them even if he has money. Being able to have enough to eat is happiness.

Eating this kind of food once in a while is fine, but eating it every day is fatal. In fact, even though Xiao Ming is a prince and very arrogant, his living standard is really not as good as a modern one.

Xiao Ming is hungry now. He usually eats boiled amaranth and spinach. He wants to eat stir-fried vegetables. Sorry, there are only vegetables and no oil.

Today’s vinegar-coated celery is rare, otherwise Qian Dafu would bring it over as if he were taking credit for it.

“It’s rare, it’s rare.” Xiao Ming pretended to be very happy, took the steamed bun and ate vinegar celery with tears in his eyes.

In modern times, what he hated was vinegar-coated celery, but now eating it is a luxury.

I thought it would be a pleasure to travel through time, but I didn’t expect that the landlord’s family would have no surplus food.

In the next three days, Xiao Ming was not idle and visited the counties near Qingzhou City. There were basically a few thatched houses surrounded by an adobe wall.

Not to mention the common people, there are many people who don’t have enough to eat, but I can still eat steamed buns leisurely, which is already quite tall.

On the way back and forth, he often saw people digging wild vegetables in the fields to satisfy their hunger.

Arriving in Dayu overnight, Xiao Ming didn’t have any lofty ideals. It was just that his land was in such a difficult situation that it was not as good as the contemporary slums that made him very unhappy.

When he was in school, he liked to play territory-building games. It was a spiritual enjoyment to watch his territory grow from desolate to prosperous little by little.

But now that he has a real fiefdom, how can he bear it when this fiefdom is still in such a state of decline?

What’s more, the local wealthy families are running rampant and the barbarians from the northern grasslands can invade at any time, which is a threat to him.

Driving away the prairie barbarians was a big deal to him now, but he still had to do the work of building fiefdoms, fortifying cities, refining troops, and hiding wealth among the people, otherwise the local wealthy families would be enough for him to drink from.

Besides, even if it wasn’t to get rid of the wealthy family and stabilize the fiefdom, he still had to work hard so that he could eat eggs every day and grill kebabs occasionally.

Otherwise, wouldn’t he have come to suffer the consequences?

The three-day inspection gave Xiao Ming a basic understanding of the situation in his fiefdom, and he also clarified the first problem he needed to solve…that was the farming problem.

Most of the common people will no longer farm land for the wealthy families. This will weaken the power of the wealthy families and unite the people’s hearts.

(End of chapter)