It was already afternoon when the lonely mountain Tanmei returned, Xu Jin finished freshening up under the careful service of the two twin pretty maids, changed into household clothes, and then comfortably made up for a nap, and only got up in the evening to deal with official business.

Due to the heavy snowfall and the severe cold weather, the Ming army's offensive against the thieves has also slowed down significantly, so there has been no good news in recent times, but Xia Yan, the deputy envoy of the Qin Mission, will summarize the results of the land clearing to Xu Jin every day.

Although the invasion of the thieves severely damaged the economy of the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, it also had the benefit of concentrating power in Xu Jin's personal hands. Governor Xu, who holds the military, political and legal power of many provinces, is gaining prestige, and now as long as he stomps his feet, the southeast coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty will also tremble. In this way, Xu Jin wants to promote the work of clearing the land, which place dares to touch the tiger whiskers of the governor? Xu's butcher's knife is not a joke, outside the city of Ningbo, the more than 2,000 human heads that landed at the same time are a lesson from the past.

Therefore, now the land clearance work in Nanzhili and Zhejiang is progressing extremely smoothly, and none of the local officials dare to violate the yang and the yin. Up to now, a total of nearly 300,000 hectares of land have been cleared in the two places, and most of the land where the local gentry and wealthy have hidden and avoided taxes has been dug up.

However, in order to avoid a strong backlash from local tyrants, the imperial court only gave a stern warning to the practice of concealing and avoiding taxes, but did not introduce measures such as recovery and punishment, but from next year, everyone will have to pay land taxes according to the new area of land. Therefore, it can be expected that there will be a marked increase in the tax revenue of the state treasury next year, and when the land of the whole country is cleared again, it is estimated that the increase in tax revenue by half will not be a problem, and the financial predicament of the Ming Dynasty will be effectively alleviated.

There are a lot of official documents submitted today, and Xu Jin slipped out to play for most of the day, so he didn't finish reading it until dinner, so he continued to fight after dinner.

Outside the window, the north wind blew the garden trees, cold and swishing, but the study was warm, and the three candles illuminated the room as bright as day. Xu Jinduan sat behind the desk and carefully reviewed the official documents, and the pretty maid stood beside the desk in early spring and carefully polished the ink, using the translucent crystal ink inkstone that the Persians won during the day today, and this thing is estimated to be worth more than a dozen taels of silver.

I don't have to say, the game designed by the Persian merchant is very pitiful, but the prizes are all genuine good things, such a large piece of natural crystal, if it is left in the future generations, it will be at least millions.

Finally, Xu Jin finished reading the last official document, took out his pocket watch and took a look, it was already nine o'clock in the evening, in the ancient times when the nightlife was monotonous, at this hour, most people had already fallen asleep. Chuchun yawned, his eyes were watery and cute, and he said softly: "Master, it's time to go to bed and rest, the bed has been warmed in early summer." ”

The two pretty maids have a clear division of labor, take turns to accompany the night, and if they don't accompany the night, they will sleep first to warm the old man's bed, in other words, in early summer, this little hoof is now sleeping on the big bed in the main room, and may still be waiting for the old man to go back to the room to do something dry firewood.

Xu Jin held a pair of small hands that were red from the spring freeze at first, brought them to his mouth and took a few breaths of warmth, and said dotingly: "It's too cold now, you can go to bed early, you don't have to accompany the lord to review the official documents at night, the lord has hands and feet, how can you be by your side all the time." ”

The pretty maid was full of happy red clouds, and smiled sweetly: "The master hasn't slept yet, how can there be a reason for the slave and maid to rest first, the master treats the subordinates well, but the subordinates can't be without rules." ”

After the pretty maid finished speaking, she took Xu Jin's hands and took a few breaths of heat, and then shyly lifted the placket of her clothes, and put the master's hand on her warm and soft chest to warm up.

Xu Jin couldn't help but feel hot in his heart, hugged the pretty maid and hugged her closely, pecked lightly on the bright red lips, and said softly: "Let's go, go back to the room and warm the bed for Master Ben." ”

Chu Chun's face turned even redder, and with a well-behaved hum, the two of them blew out the candles, locked the door with the lamp and left the study, preparing to return to the main room to sleep. However, as soon as he walked out of the study door, a cold wind blew in front of him, Xu Jin couldn't help shivering, and he vaguely heard the continuous chord sound coming with the wind.

"Master, Miss Cuiqiao's internal injuries have only been healed for a few months, her body bones are already weak, and she is still playing the strings so late, which is not good for her health, and she fell ill again." Hatsuharu reminded softly.

Xu Jin shrugged his shoulders helplessly, Wang Cuiqiao's musical talent is extremely high, and his dedication to music is almost to the point of obsession, and he has been fiddling with those two Persian instruments since he came back today, and even Xu Jin was snubbed when he went to see her after dinner, which made the generous Governor Xu a little jealous of the Persian guqin she was holding.

"Let's go, let's go and see!" Xu Jin hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to go to the next yard to have a look.

So, in front of the lamp in early spring, the two walked out of the courtyard door one after the other, and came to the small courtyard where Wang Cuiqiao lived next door, where the intermittent string sound was heard more clearly.

As soon as the two of them arrived at the door of the house, the maid Qiu Yan greeted her, and when she saw Xu Jin, she couldn't help but say happily: "Lord Xu is here, come to the house." After speaking, he took the lantern in Hakuharu's hand and hung it up.

Xu Jin walked into the house, frowned and asked in a low voice, "Qiu Yan, it's so late, hasn't Cuiqiao rested yet?" ”

Qiu Yan shook her head helplessly, pointed to the inside and whispered: "Miss is like a demon, the maid has reminded her several times that it is time to rest, but she just didn't listen, and in the end, she thought the maid was annoying her, so she kicked the maid out." ”

Chu Chun said in a low voice: "Qiu Yan, is your young lady often like this?" ”

"Not very often, but once Mademoiselle concentrates on something, especially about music, she will leave everything behind, even if it is a landslide, until she understands it. In the last Jiangnan Oiran Competition, Miss only slept for two hours for several days in order to compose the song of "Funeral Flower Yin", and later vomited blood because she was too involved. Miss often says that a good song must first move yourself before you can move others! ”

Chu Chun couldn't help but stick out his tongue in surprise, if he changed himself, I am afraid that he would not be able to reach the realm of Cuiqiao girl in this life, no wonder people can win three Jiangnan Oiran, her talent is so high and she works so hard, who will take it if she doesn't take the Oiran?

Xu Jin frowned, although he admired Wang Cuiqiao's dedication to music, but the more amazing and brilliant people are, the shorter their lives tend to be, not because they are jealous of talents, but because these people are easy to overdraw their lives. For example, Wang Cuiqiao, she invested strong emotions when she wrote songs, and she was happy when she was happy with songs; The song was sad, and she burst into tears; The song is high-spirited, and she is in a high mood; The song is resentful, and she is sad. Over time, can the heart be able to bear it?

Xu Jin naturally doesn't want to see his woman die prematurely, but he can't simply and rudely deprive her of the freedom to pursue music, so this matter is a bit tricky.

Xu Jin pondered for a moment and then stepped into the inner room, Chu Chun and Qiu Yan glanced at each other, and they were very obedient and did not follow up.

At this moment, there are two candles burning in the room, and the peerless Wang family is sitting behind the desk, holding a zither in his arms, and a book is opened on the table, which is the Persian score. It should have been too engrossed, until Xu Jin walked behind her, Wang Cuiqiao didn't realize it, her eyebrows seemed to be frowning, she should have encountered a problem.

Xu Jin did not interrupt Wang Cuiqiao's train of thought, but stood quietly behind her, examining the open Persian sheet music on the table.

This Persian notation uses the four-line notation, which originated in the 11th century, while the modern five-line notation evolved from the four-line notation and did not reach China until the 18th century. So for now, even Persia uses a stave, and staves have not yet appeared.

Although Xu Jin can sing a lot of songs, he can't read staves, let alone the more ancient staves, but he still understands a little bit of basic common sense, such as the Arabic numerals on them, as well as high and low notes.

Xu Jin stood for a long time, but Wang Cuiqiao still didn't notice his existence, and the slightly injured Governor Xu had to cough lightly and called, "Cuiqiao!" ”