The Prodigal Son’s Happy Life - Chapter 580

[Chapter 580 This is still the case under the emperor’s feet]

Combined with the previous conversation between the village chief and Fang Xiu, Emperor Chu understood everything in just a moment.

He looked at the village chief who was sitting down and Fang Xiu who was standing aside, with mixed feelings. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

After a while, he took a deep breath, looked at the village chief, and asked: “The village chief’s son is in the four northern states?”

The village chief responded with a smile: “To be honest with Mr. Zhao, he has been here for several years. Well, in these years, we have never heard of barbarians from the grassland attacking us, but the city walls in the four northern states are constantly being built. It

stands to reason that if we can go to the four northern states to build city walls for the imperial court, this is also to protect the imperial court from the barbarians. This is It’s a great honor, but hey.”

At this point, he sighed, but didn’t know how to continue.

When Emperor Chu saw this scene, it was like seeing an endless icy lake on the road in the cold winter. He felt even colder, not only his body, but also his heart.

“The imperial court stipulates that those with only one son in the family can be exempted from hard labor. Who conscripted your son to the north?”

He looked at the village chief and asked with a gloomy expression.

When the village chief heard this, he was slightly startled and asked subconsciously: “Huh? The court has such a rule?”

His tone was very surprised, obviously he had never heard of this matter.

I glanced at Emperor Chu and saw that his expression didn’t look like he was lying to me, and then I seemed to understand something.

He shook his head, with a look of helplessness on his face, and said: “Actually, it’s all the same. Whether or not there is such a regulation, the final result is the same.

When the city wall is being built in the north, there is no levy, and when the city wall is being built in the south, levy is also required. If there is no time to levy, it will be the same if there is a war someday.

Your Majesty is a good man and knows how to care about us ordinary people, but how can the people below take care of this?

If the old man’s son does not go to the north, their son will go to the north. , The old man is alone, how can he fight against them? He fights and fights, but in the end it’s the same.”

As he spoke, he seemed to think of something sad, his eyes became a little red, and he was about to shed tears.

Not to mention Emperor Chu, even Fang Xiu, who had always been hard-hearted, felt a little uncomfortable when he saw this scene.

“I’m just pitiful for the old man’s son. He has been building the city wall for five years and he doesn’t know when he will be able to come back.”

The old man wiped away his tears, adjusted his mood, smiled again, looked at Emperor Chu, and said, “I don’t know what happened to the old man now .”

Okay, let Mr. Zhao see the joke.”

When Emperor Chu heard this, he waved his hand to indicate that he didn’t care.

“Oh, I was so busy talking that I forgot to make tea for Mr. Zhao and Mr. Fang.

Our village is too remote. It’s neither close to Jingji Prefecture nor Beiwang Prefecture. It’s far away from any city. It’s not easy for these two distinguished guests to come all the way.”

At this moment, the village chief seemed to have remembered something. He slapped his forehead and stood up from his chair. As he spoke, he picked up a teapot and boiled water for them both. .

When the Emperor of Chu saw this, he naturally refused again and again.

The village chief waved his hands repeatedly, burned firewood, and then returned to them.

“Old man, you talk a bit too much today.”

“No, no, I just like chatting with people, and I also learned a lot from you.”

When Emperor Chu heard this, he responded with a smile.

“Hahahaha, what Mr. Zhao is saying is really embarrassing this old man. This old man has never read a book and cannot read a word of Chinese characters. How can he learn anything from a rich man like you, Mr. Zhao?”

The village chief heard him say this .

He said, smiling and waving his hands.

Emperor Chu also smiled and said very seriously: “There must be a teacher from me when we are walking together. Although you are illiterate, you have a lot to learn from me in other aspects.”

After a pause, he said again: “Let’s Let’s talk about the crops.

To be honest, my ancestors also grew crops, but you grew wheat, while my ancestors grew rice in the south.

“Then what did Mr. Zhao make his fortune? ”

Planting rice?”

When the village chief heard this topic, he became interested, looked at Emperor Chu, and asked the question proactively for the first time.

When Emperor Chu heard this question, he felt a little embarrassed.

It can’t be said that it relies on rebellion, right?

After thinking about it, he still lied and replied: “What a farmer can do is to use these methods. First go to the city and open a small stall, and then eat more people and make some money.” , I opened a restaurant.

First in the small town in my hometown, then in Fucheng, and then in the capital. “

That’s really what Emperor Chu said.

After hearing this, the village chief showed an expression of envy on his face and said with emotion: “Mr. Zhao’s ancestors are also really smart people. Unlike the old man, our ancestors have been growing crops for eight generations and can’t think of any other way to earn money.” The way to make money

is to grow crops for the next few generations.”

At this point, he seemed to think of something and stopped.

When Emperor Chu and Fang Xiu saw this scene, they naturally understood what he was thinking.

The village chief looks to be in his fifties or sixties, and no matter how young his son is, he must be in his thirties or forties.

In his thirties and forties, even in this era, it is difficult to find a wife, not to mention being conscripted to the four northern states to work as a coolie.

There is only one of them in their family. From now on, whether there will be another generation is a question.

You must know that there are three types of unfilial piety, the greatest of which is not having offspring.

When I think about my son still suffering around the north, not even a son and a half, my heart feels like needles pricking me.

Regarding this matter, no one has more say than Emperor Chu.

After all, there is a throne to be passed down in his family.

It was precisely because of this that Emperor Chu felt even more sympathetic to the village chief’s pain.

Most importantly, his suffering could have been avoided.

In order to avoid such a situation, the imperial court had discussed this issue many times during court meetings.

Moreover, he also discussed with several bachelors in Nuan Pavilion, and finally decided that if a family has only one son, he can be exempted from any form of corvee and labor.

But

he didn’t expect that no one in the court would know about the rules that the princes had discussed for who knows how long before they left the court.

It was originally meant for the suffering people in the world, but in the end, the people who were kept in the dark the most were the people who were supposed to benefit!

He could imagine that if the old man’s child did not receive the benefits of the court, the labor that should have been exempted would fall on whose head

it was simply unscrupulous!

Moreover, this place is at the feet of the Emperor!

It only takes two or three hours at most to walk from your own Heart Cultivation Hall. If you ride a horse, you can get there in the blink of an eye.

It’s a place like this that something like this can happen.

He could no longer imagine what it would be like in a more remote place, not to mention the Southeast Road, not to mention the Southwest Road, or even the Central Plains Road!

(End of chapter)