Chapter 49
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Xue Yao hurriedly got up and checked the Sixth Prince’s arms and legs. “Aiyo! Your Highness, it wouldn’t matter if I fell, but if I were to damage your precious body, I’d lose my head. Why risk following me?”
The Sixth Prince deliberately denied, “Who said I was following you? I was just standing here watching Second and Seventh Brothers spar. You suddenly flew over, and I couldn’t dodge in time, which is why I fell. Consider it my carelessness. I’ll definitely avoid it next time.”
He said this to ensure Xue Yao wouldn’t have a psychological burden, but Xue Yao clearly understood his intentions and couldn’t help but feel touched.
The Sixth Prince had always been a warm and caring child, gentle, and considerate. What was even more remarkable was that he did all this without expecting anything in return.
Xue Yao had always wanted to know what kind of divine matriarch the Sixth Prince’s mother consort was, to be able to raise such a child.
Originally, Xue Yao had intended to learn a couple of tricks from the Divine Mother Consort to guide the Long Aotian cub towards a more affectionate character. So, after becoming acquainted, Xue Yao went to the Divine Mother Consort’s palace with the Sixth Prince several times.
However, it was quite surprising for Xue Yao.
The Mother Consort of the Sixth Prince was Noble Consort Hua. On the few occasions they met, she wore a cold expression, and her attitude towards the Sixth Prince was far from loving. She couldn’t even compare to the palace maids. She didn’t seem like a real mother.
Noble Consort Hua often immersed herself in her own pain due to the Emperor’s indifference.
Her self-pity did not earn her the Emperor’s compassion, but it brought endless troubles to her child.
Unable to wait for Father Emperor to console the Mother Consort, the young Sixth Prince had to use all his charm to make her happy. However, more often than not, his efforts resulted in the Mother Consort’s irritation and shooing him away.
It was said that before Consort Xi was offered to the Emperor, the Sixth Prince’s Mother Consort was the most favored concubine, basking in unparalleled glory.
Everyone knew what happened next. Consort Xi’s arrival led to Noble Consort Hua losing her favor.
The Emperor, stealing moments from his busy schedule, only visited the Qingqiong Hall. The stark contrast in attention left Noble Consort Hua profoundly changed.
Xue Yao visited Noble Lady Hua’s palace several times to quietly observe. He noticed that this woman often remained in a detached emotional state, resisting external interaction for extended periods. Occasionally, she would suddenly break down, as if overwhelmed by sorrow.
It was highly likely she was suffering from depression.
The Sixth Prince, not comprehending why his formerly gentle Mother Consort had become so distressed, always believed that if he were more obedient and sensible, she wouldn’t be so unhappy.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t mend the damage Father Emperor had inflicted on the Mother Consort.
Over time, the Mother Consort’s tearful face and rejection deeply burdened the Sixth Prince.
With a persevering determination tinged with despair, the Sixth Prince continuously strived to do better.
He was a child with a people-pleasing personality.
Throughout these years, Xue Yao always took special care of the Sixth Prince. His attention and emotional support for him were no less than for the chubby cub.
It was all to help the Sixth Prince rebuild his confidence and not blindly sacrifice himself to please others.
Most people wouldn’t remember the Sixth Prince’s sacrifices and compromises. Instead, they would grow accustomed to his patience and maturity.
In contrast, when the Sixth Prince occasionally acted willfully, it would earn him the displeasure of others.
This displeasure, keenly detected by the Sixth Prince, who had been cold-shouldered by his mother, made him even more apprehensive. He feared the recurring nightmare of not being good enough and being disliked.
Gradually, the Sixth Prince became the little sunshine in everyone’s eyes.
Perhaps only Xue Yao couldn’t take this warmth for granted, the painful warmth the Sixth Prince gave by burning himself out.
So, despite the occasional competition for affection from the chubby cub, Xue Yao never held back his love for the Sixth Prince throughout these years.
At this moment, as he watched the Sixth Prince pretend not to be hurt from the fall, Xue Yao didn’t say much. He approached him and carefully checked, pinching the warm baby’s wrist and arm, asking if he was in pain.
The chubby cub, who had won a resounding victory, didn’t even notice that he had just knocked down hisbsecond brother and sent his old father flying. Now, he was happily rushing to Second Brother’s horse to free the rabbits.
All eight rabbits were claimed by His Highness!
Among them, the silliest and most timid little white rabbit was given to Xue Yao by His Highness. When he presented it, he kept asking, “Does it look like you?”
Xue Yao, burdened with humiliation, held the frightened little white rabbit in his arms, pouting and not daring to argue. At first glance, Xue Yao and the silly rabbit in his arms seemed to merge as one…
His Highness was delighted.
It was quite an unfilial fake Long Aotian cub!
The Second Prince, who had lost all his “property,” cried tears of despair. He swallowed his pride and asked Old Seventh, “Big Brother will inspect the results later. Can we put these eight rabbits on my horse for now and I’ll give you one more after we return to camp?”
The smug chubby cub wrinkled his nose and made a funny face to reject the offer.
The Sixth Prince, feeling helpless, patted his second brother’s shoulder. “I just caught five of them. You can take three to appease him.”
The Second Prince, with his pitiful fox-like eyes, immediately turned triumphant again and lightly touched the Sixth Prince’s forehead with his folding fan. “I didn’t suffer for nothing, little brother!”
Xue Yao, holding the silly rabbit, immediately perked up his ears and playfully nudged the Sixth Prince with his elbow.
The Sixth Prince turned around, puzzled when he saw Xue Yao wearing that expression that blamed him for being too generous. He grinned and said, “What’s so precious about a rabbit? Father Emperor hasn’t even finished the venison he hunted.”
“Our Sixth Brother is the sensible one, unlike certain chubby kids.” The Second Prince, carrying the three rabbits he had taken off Sixth Brother’s horse, cast a sidelong glance at Seventh Brother and turned to Sixth Brother. “After the autumn hunt, I’m going with Big Brother to procure grain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. We need someone like you who can get things done. Would you like to come with me, Sixth Brother? Not you, Seventh Brother.”
The Seventh Prince’s ears immediately perked up, suspecting his brothers were going to enjoy delicious food without him.
Procure grain?
These words sent a shiver down Xue Yao’s spine. Had the trial period for the reform, as described in the novel, already begun?
These years of comfortable living had almost made Xue Yao overlook the future’s dangers. He had always thought those perils would only emerge when the chubby cub grew up.
But unnoticed by him, the chubby cub had already turned twelve.
The Eldest Prince had been named Crown Prince four years ago and was now twenty-five, definitely at the early stage of reform as described in the original plot.
This realization sent a chill down Xue Yao’s spine.
He quickly tried to recall the events from the novel.
The Emperor assigned a certain impoverished county to the Crown Prince as a testing ground for reform.
The reform began with improving agriculture in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.
The Crown Prince, along with his advisors, had meticulously planned for seven or eight years, and finally, the reform they had been working on commenced its trial phase.
Recalling the details of the reform, it seemed to resemble Zhang Juzheng’s reform known as the “Single Whip Reform” and elements of Wang Anshi’s New Policies.
For instance, the unified conscription system, similar to the “Military Service Exemption System,” only began after the formal implementation of the New Policies.
During the trial phase, the primary focus was on establishing new government institutions to replace merchants and landowners. The aim was to buy grain from prosperous provinces at low prices and transport it to disaster-stricken areas. This was accompanied by low-cost sales and lending.
The primary intent of the reform was not only to compete with merchants for filling the state treasury but, more importantly, to benefit the people and reduce land consolidation.
Similar policies, with specific agencies for different dynasties and eras, aimed to purchase surplus grain at a fair price during abundant years, storing it in the state granaries, and then distributing it to disaster-stricken areas when needed.
However, the drawbacks of this relief model were well known to the court, and Xue Yao was acutely aware of them.
Even in the information-rich society where Xue Yao lived, various forms of donations often lost a significant portion of their value as they passed through the hands of multiple intermediaries before reaching the actual beneficiaries. This was even more pronounced in the ancient era where information could be easily concealed.
The amount of relief funds and grain that ended up in the pockets of officials, from the central government to the local authorities, was immeasurable.
Hence, the reform proposed by the Crown Prince had several differences from previous policies.
One key distinction was the creation of an independent regulatory department that directly connected with the court.
It aimed to avoid the involvement of court officials and bypass the provincial and county-level governors and magistrates, simulating transactions in the private market. It wouldn’t utilize the state treasury funds and didn’t require an application for public funds.
This new department had to sustain itself and meet the court’s annual targets for fund disbursement, substantially reducing the potential for officials at various levels to exploit the system for personal gain.
In Xue Yao’s view, this reform appeared to be without fault. The new department offered greater flexibility and had to compete fairly with local merchants, as it couldn’t access public funds.
Its main advantage lay in the convenience of having access to national transport via the canal system and lower transportation costs.
If they priced their goods too high, the disaster-stricken populace would naturally turn to private merchants. Consequently, the department would fail to meet the court’s targets, forcing them to act with even greater integrity than private merchants.
Of course, this reform was just one of many.
Xue Yao, a science student with little understanding of policy and regulation, had never pondered the issues with the reform when he initially read about it. He only knew the end result was failure.
Why did it fail then?
Reading without critical thought led to a burial ground of knowledge.
Had he known what lay ahead, Xue Yao should have immediately consulted an economist after reviewing the reform content.
Throughout the journey, Xue Yao discreetly eavesdropped on the Second Prince discussing the details of the reform.
However, it seemed this Hermit God had a less comprehensive understanding of the reform than even a humanities illiterate like himself.
The Second Prince constantly praised the Crown Prince’s brilliance.
He was an unconditionally devoted brother, always singing the Crown Prince’s praises!
When the reform failed, this brother-devotee’s pride was likely to take a serious beating.
Thoughts of the reform’s failure troubled Xue Yao.
When he read the novel, he didn’t pay much attention to the part about the Crown Prince’s downfall. He vaguely recalled this virtuous and talented gentleman falling from grace and enduring the relentless backlash from the Third Prince’s faction. The parts of the story concerning the Crown Prince’s deposition were quite oppressive.
A hero’s downfall.
Xue Yao didn’t want to see his idol reenact such a tragedy.
But this matter… was unlike the Road to Shu project.
For the Road to Shu project, he had various means to hinder it from the beginning, and Consort Xi’s trust in him was a crucial aspect.
Consort Xi, belonging to a typical ancient family, lacked a strong opinion of her own. Convincing her wasn’t too difficult for Xue Yao, but trying it on the Crown Prince was a lost cause.
He couldn’t just tell the Crown Prince that the reform shouldn’t be implemented, could he?
If asked for the reasons, what could he say to the Crown Prince?
“Although I don’t know why, I just have a feeling, Your Highness, that you shouldn’t proceed with the reform.”
He feared he might receive a fatal dose of dynamic education from his idol on the spot.
Moreover, it was already too late to dissuade the impulsive Crown Prince. They had actually started the trial phase.
This time, for the grain procurement in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, according to the description in the novel, it seemed that they hadn’t used the state treasury’s funds. Instead, the Emperor had taken money out of his own pocket to support his son’s endeavor.
All in all, the hefty Emperor had invested quite a sum to support his son’s aspirations.
For the initial manpower and capital to set up this institution, the Emperor had provided one million taels of silver, with eighty percent of it allocated for purchasing grain and lending to disaster-stricken counties.
Eight hundred thousand taels of silver, based on the market price of grain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, could roughly purchase about 1.3 million stones of grain.
However, with such a massive transaction, it was bound to lead to fierce competition among grain merchants, with everyone trying to undercut each other.
Based on Xue Yao’s calculations and cost estimates, the Crown Prince should have been able to purchase over 1.7 million stones of grain in the end.
But he wondered if he had remembered it correctly because in the novel, the Crown Prince had managed to purchase only 1.2 million stones of grain on this grain-buying expedition.
This price was even higher than what the local commoners paid. Xue Yao suspected that his idol might not have known how to haggle.
How could he compete with local merchants if he conducted business like this?
Xue Yao believed that he might be able to outshine the Crown Prince in haggling.
After all, having been abandoned by his parents from a young age and receiving barely enough allowance from his two families to keep from starving, Xue Yao had honed his exceptional bargaining skills to make every penny count.
Thinking about how he could assist the Crown Prince, Xue Yao felt elated. He rushed over with the white rabbit in his arms, eager to ask the Sixth Prince, “Can I go with you to Jiangsu and Zhejiang for the grain procurement? My mother’s hometown is in Suzhou, and my maternal grandfather has great influence there. I’m sure he can be of some help.”
The Seventh Prince perked up his ears and looked at Xue Yao warily.
Silly Yaoyao wanted to take the rabbits given by His Highness and set off on an adventure with the Sixth Prince!
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