"We've been through thick and thin together for so many years, yet you don't even know what kind of person I am."
Song Jiuyuan had no rebuttal and awaited the judgment.
Luo Cuiwei tugged at Yun Lie's sleeve gently, then said to Song Jiuyuan with composure, "Actually, it's only natural that you would think that way; after all, I'm a daughter of the Luo family, and Your Highness is a prince who's short of money..."
Out of the corner of her eye, Luo Cuiwei caught Yun Lie secretly glaring at her. She turned and glared back at him, "What are you glaring at me for? What word did I say wrong?"
“Both are correct,” Yun Lie cleared his throat awkwardly, “Please, Your Highness, speak freely.”
"It's all your fault for interrupting me; I forgot what I was going to say," Luo Cuiwei said, giving him a reproachful look. "That's it then."
Yun Lie protested, feeling wronged: "I didn't say anything just now, how did that interrupt me?"
"You didn't say anything, but your gaze bothered me," Luo Cuiwei rolled her eyes and snorted, staring at the food Tao Yin had brought out. "I'm going to eat now, you can help yourselves."
Since Luo Cuiwei didn't mind, Yun Lie didn't make things difficult for Song Jiuyuan anymore. He just waved his hand dismissively and told him to come over to discuss matters the next day.
This little incident has now been resolved.
Before leaving, Song Jiuyuan secretly glanced at the two of them one last time and finally realized that he had been overthinking things.
He thought, "His Highness Prince Zhao must not know the way I'm looking at His Highness the Princess. Tsk."
They spoil people so much they could drown them.
If an unsuspecting person were to witness the couple's private interactions, they would likely find it hard to believe that these two were the new rulers of the six cities of Linchuan.
Such a heartless and carefree "virtuous couple" is exactly the kind of couple in storybooks who get married because they are blinded by love!
Scheming? Impossible.
When these two are facing each other, all they can think about is love and romance; it would be a miracle if they could even think about "calculation and weighing options."
****
The next day, Song Jiuyuan arrived at the courtyard early.
The early autumn days were always unbearably hot and humid, so Yun Lie simply had the table moved to the big tree in the courtyard.
Song Jiuyuan sat down at the table opposite him, and the two began to discuss the construction of the new city.
Luo Cuiwei sprained her ankle yesterday and was resting in her room. But then she suddenly remembered something and hopped out on one foot.
Hearing the sound, Yun Lie turned around, stood up angrily, walked over, and picked her up in his arms. "Why are you running around like that?"
Seeing that Song Jiuyuan politely turned his head away, Luo Cuiwei felt a little embarrassed and struggled to get down and stand on her own. "I remembered something and I was going to tell you about it."
Yun Lie carried her directly to the tree and placed her steadily on the chair he had been sitting on earlier. "Speak."
I poured her a cup of hot tea and handed it to her.
Luo Cuiwei took the teacup, no longer being coy, glanced at Song Jiuyuan, and went straight to the point, "Yesterday when I was on the mountain, I was thinking that Song Jiuyuan was right about something: the amount of money needed to build a new city is considerable, and our Zhaowang Mansion simply cannot do it on its own."
Although the Zhaowang Mansion nominally controls the six cities of Linchuan and has full control over military, political and financial power, in reality, the population of the six cities of Linchuan has been declining and the government has been paralyzed for many years, and the matter of finance and taxation is just empty talk.
After the princes took up their fiefs, they had to manage all affairs on their own. Unless there were natural disasters or man-made calamities, the court would no longer allocate money and grain on a regular basis as before.
Take the Linchuan Army as an example. In the past, although the Ministry of War often delayed the distribution of rations and pay, it would always make up for it later. But starting this winter, even the rations and pay that were often delayed will no longer be distributed.
“There are very few families in the world today that can afford this expense,” Luo Cuiwei said calmly with a slight smile, taking a sip of tea. “But even among these few families, none of them would dare to show off like this.”
Yun Lie's enfeoffment in Linchuan clearly signifies his withdrawal from the struggle for the throne.
Regardless of which family it is, pouring enough money to build a city into the territory of a vassal king who has no desire to compete for the throne—not to mention whether His Majesty would be wary of such a thing, the future crown prince would certainly be.
If the Crown Prince ascends the throne and the Prince Zhao's mansion is not powerful enough to protect itself, then whichever family pays the money for Linchuan will definitely be the Crown Prince's first target.
Song Jiuyuan nodded, looked at the sand table on the table, and sighed helplessly, "This is the most troublesome thing right now."
Without money, a new city cannot be built; without a new city, it will be difficult to quickly improve the impoverished livelihoods of the six cities of Linchuan in the short term.
If he could not make a quick move after taking up his fief, he would not be able to establish the prestige of the Prince Zhao's Mansion among the people of the six cities of Linchuan, nor would he be able to attract people with real talent and learning to improve the system of the prefectures and counties in his fief. The subsequent reform of the bureaucracy and the implementation of new policies would then become empty talk.
Luo Cuiwei turned her head and looked up at Yun Lie, smiling confidently: "I'm not good at political affairs, but I'm very good at money matters."
59. Chapter Fifty-Nine
Yun Lie and his advisors intended to use the construction of a new city as a starting point to rectify the chaos in Linchuan; this plan had been set several years ago.
The subsequent measures for establishing the feudal system and stabilizing the military, government and people's livelihood were planned, discussed and repeatedly deliberated over several years. All of them had relatively detailed plans and steps. Logically speaking, as long as the first step was taken step by step, everything else would fall into place.
However, two months have passed since Emperor Xianlong issued the edict to establish the fiefdom on the ninth day of the seventh month, and the huge sum of money needed to build the city has still not been secured, so this first step has not been taken.
They had hoped to persuade local wealthy families to fund the city's construction, but their attitudes were ambiguous; while they didn't outright refuse, they remained firm in their stance.
Hearing Luo Cuiwei bring up the issue of money, Song Jiuyuan sighed helplessly and rubbed his forehead, saying, "I heard that Her Highness the Princess Consort saved up some land for the Prince's Mansion in the capital earlier this year. Are you planning to sell it?"
He was well aware of how dire the financial situation of Prince Zhao's residence was.
After all, in the past few years, Yun Lie not only had to subsidize the Linchuan army's food and pay from time to time and help the families of his comrades in this village, but also brought many comrades who were disabled after being discharged from the army and unable to make a living, and who had no relatives to rely on, to the Prince's Mansion in the capital for care.
With such a huge burden on their shoulders, and not just for a year or two, the treasury of Prince Zhao's mansion had long been empty.
Even though Luo Cuiwei used amazing methods to achieve great success with small investments in the first half of the year, and made some land and savings for the Prince Zhao's Mansion by making a few small deals, it was still a drop in the ocean for building a city.
"How could that be? The treasury only has so much wealth right now. The Prince's Mansion in the capital and this place together have at least two or three hundred people to take care of. If we take it all out to build your city, wouldn't I have no choice but to lead everyone to beg for food on the streets?" Luo Cuiwei chuckled and scoffed.