On the fifteenth day of the lunar month, the flavor of the New Year has become stronger and stronger, and the big cars between the capital in the house are becoming more and more ordinary, they want to sell the last two batches of vegetables before the year, buy back all the items used for the New Year, and escort the family members who come to the house for the New Year.

"Lord Wang, the stewards have arrived, waiting for the discussion, let's go over too!" In the side hall of the main hall, Huang Jingchen said to Zhao Ta.

"Uncle Huang, do you think what we discuss is feasible?" Zhao Ta had a long talk with Huang Jingchen every day for the past two days, and handed over his ideas to Huang Jingchen one by one, wanting to get his support.

"Lord, the old slave has already said, the prince is the head of the house, we are all subordinates, you can do what you want, even if you are told, even if you do it wrong, it is just a loss of money, and it can't hurt our bones, the prince can rest assured to do it, the old slave will support it!"

"Okay, Uncle Huang, let's go!" Zhao Ta stood up and walked to the big study next door, he saw that Huang Jingchen's expression had not changed, as calm as before, Zhao Ta understood that he still had reservations about himself, but at least he had begun to accept himself.

The three stewards in the outer courtyard of the study saw two people come in and got up to salute, Zhao Ta sat down in the main seat, Huang Jingchen sat next to him on the right hand, saw Xi standing behind him, and after the handyman in the tea room brought the tea, Feng Xi took the door and guarded the door. The rest of the people in the house are all in charge of all aspects of the house, and it can be said that this is a high-level meeting in the house.

"Chief Steward, first tell me about the income and expenditure of the government this year!" Huang Jingchen said.

"Yes, this year, the government has a total income of 230,000 yuan, of which 4,800 yuan is the prince's salary, 150 yuan is enshrined in the food town, 4,000 yuan is added to the money, 180,000 yuan is rewarded in the palace, and 8,000 stone of rice and 5,000 stone of wheat are rented... It cost 3,200 guan 450 wen to repair the mansion, and the prince's expenditure was 2,600 guan... The balance is 192,000! Zheng Fu, the chief steward, explained the various expenses in the house one by one.

"Well, the second steward said about the situation of Zhuangzi in the lower house!" Huang Jingchen nodded and said.

"Yes, Lord Yu, the chief manager, at the beginning of the year, there were two Zhuangzi in the house, 200 hectares of land, 513 tenants, 837 people, of which 110 hectares of high-grade fields, 60 hectares of medium-class fields, and 15 hectares of low-class fields, all of which have been planted with wheat, and 12 hectares of mulberry fields, all of which are made of finished timber, and there are 1004 ploughing cattle and more than 50 pack horses; At the end of the year, he bought more than 200 hectares of land in the nearby Chen Village, two Zhuangzi, and a set of mansions..." Zheng Lu, who was in charge of the second office, explained the situation.

"It's your turn to be in charge of the three things, tell me about the situation in the house!" Huang Jingchen said to Zheng Shou, the third steward, Zheng Shou stood up and staffed the outer courtyard of the house, the personnel of each division and the post to stay, and said that the personnel of the inner courtyard were deployed in the palace, and he couldn't control it.

After the report of the three stewards, they sent the account books and rosters in their respective charges, and saw that Xi took it and handed it to Huang Jingchen, but he didn't take it, and said: "Give the account book to the prince, and the big things and expenses in the house in the future can only be implemented with the consent of the prince, and the small things can be reported to me, and I can inform the prince, you all know the way!" ”

Several people in the hall looked at each other, stood up and bowed at the same time, and replied, "The little ones have learned the truth!" They understood the meaning of Huang Jingchen's words, and the affairs of the palace would be personally handled by the prince in the future.

"The three in charge, there are suddenly a lot of small people in the house, are you new to buy them?" Zhao Ta picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea and asked.

"Second master, we didn't buy it, this is... The Zhuangzi we bought are all debt-paying! The three stewards peeked at the chief steward Zheng Fu and said.

"Ahem, that's what happened to the second master..." Zheng Fu took over the conversation and answered Zhao Ta's question, it turned out that Chen Tang had worked hard to get so much land for several years, but he didn't expect that he would make a wedding dress for Zhao Ta after the most difficult time, which made him unwilling. Obviously he 'sold' all the land to Zhao Tan, but secretly he completely searched those who owed debts. At the time of the handover, he persuaded them to 'buy' the children of the tenants who could not afford to pay their debts, and the chief steward thought that they were old people in the house, thinking that the garden had to be taken care of, so he did not think so much, so he bought them. Unexpectedly, this was Chen Tang's 'golden cicada shelling' strategy to transfer the debt to them, and when he understood what was going on, he couldn't attack, so he could only eat Coptis chinensis dumbly.

"Those are all children, and it's useless to stay in the house, let their families redeem them with the principal!" Zhao Ta didn't expect him to become 'Huang Shiren' as soon as he took over, thinking that he would give a discount to let their family take it back, although he suffered a loss, maybe their family reunion would be considered a good deed. ,

"Hehe, second master, we have thought about this method, but only a few people have been taken back, and there are more than sixty left, they say there is no money to ransom!" The chief steward said with a wry smile that after they found out about the problem, they also thought of this remedy, but no one 'appreciated'.

"The parents of these people are so ruthless, they can't bear to pay a few dollars when they see their children suffering!" The third steward said hatefully, there were so many people in the house who ate for nothing, which made him very embarrassed.

"It's not like that, whose children don't hurt, it's just that when they go back, they will have more mouths at home, and they can still eat in our house!" Zhao Ta said with a sigh.

"Okay, since that's the case, let's stay for the time being, let them learn the rules, find out the details of the family, and then make arrangements, what do you think, Lord Wang!" Huang Jingchen spoke. Zhao Ta thought that there was no good way now, so he nodded and agreed.

"Yes, it's all at the command of the Grand Steward!" The third steward replied.

"Although we bought Zhuangzi, but Chen Tang's dog thing was looted too ruthlessly, and the tenants all wanted to quit the tenant and find a new owner, so our land will be planted next year, what can you do?" Zhao asked.

"Now that each family has a tight grip on the tenants, it's not easy to find someone, unless it catches up with the famine..." The second steward said.

"Second master, if we don't go to the south to find some tenants after spring, there are many people over there and there is little land, maybe we can find some people!" The steward said.

"Do you know why the tenants want to quit the tenants?" Zhao asked.

"I don't know, maybe the rent is too high, but this is the same everywhere, four, six or fifty points!" The second steward said.

"In fact, the problem is still in the rent, we are sharing the rent, the grain is harvested, they have more left, but the famine for many years, the water conservancy is in disrepair, the grain harvested in the high-quality fields is not enough for the family to eat until the end of the year, not to mention those low-grade fields, only one season of wheat can be planted every year, and the harvest is not enough to pay rent and tax, how can people not run, even if you find someone again, I'm afraid you can't keep it!" Zhao said.

"This... Second master, why are you so clear? As soon as the second steward Zheng Lu heard it, he immediately understood that what the prince said was reasonable, he had been busy working for a year, and he couldn't even fill his stomach, so he had to run by himself.

"In the past two days, you have followed me around the Zhuangzi in vain, you really should be looking at the scenery!" Zhao Ta said, "You are in charge of the Zhuangzi field, let me ask you, there have only been two snows in the winter this year, if it doesn't rain in the spring and form a spring drought, what are you going to do?" ”

"Second master, I haven't thought about this, but we won't be afraid of drought when we guard the two rivers!" Zheng Lu sweated on his head and said vaguely.

"Hmph, what do you take to bring water over, do you carry it on your shoulder? Maybe it's okay if it's close to the water's edge, but what about those who are far away? Zhao asked again and again.

"That... That's just waiting for the rain, and there's no way for the small ones! The second steward said curtly.

"The prince handed over the affairs of the palace to you, is that how you do it? Have you ever been paid less wages in the house? You have done something wrong, has the prince ever beaten and scolded you? You can't go home for the New Year, the prince sent someone to bring your family to reunite, and gave you a new New Year's gift, remake new clothes, you just repay the prince, are you worthy of the old prince" Huang Jingchen struck the bookcase, stood up and asked sharply.

"The little ones have the trust of the prince and the trust of the prince!" The three stewards stood up, bowed their heads and said with shame on their faces, they didn't do any of the things that the prince said, and the old face was a little unbearable.

"It's good to know the way, use more brains in the future, don't just see the things in front of you!" Huang Jingchen waved his hand and asked them to sit down.

Zhao Ta looked at Huang Jingchen and was grateful, knowing that he was really pushing himself to the top and giving them a lesson, Huang Jingchen twisted his face and smiled, don't look small, don't look small, even ask a few questions to beat the luck of the stewards, and there are a lot of eyes!

"These things have not been done well, and there are also problems with your respective permissions, today we have to discuss these things and come up with a countermeasure, otherwise we will not have a good time next year!" Zhao Ta saw that several people were honest, and said leisurely.

"Yes, it's all up to the second master!"

"Come here, all of you!" Zhao Fu instructed Jianxi to put the map on the table and unfold it, and asked the three of them to get closer.

"You see, the Baishui River passes through our village, and if it is used well, it can irrigate our farmland and relieve the worry of drought!"

"Second master, but the depth of this river is only two feet, the water surface is less than ten zhang, the water volume is too small, I am afraid it will not work to irrigate tens of thousands of acres of land!" The second steward shook his head and said.

"So we want to build a dam and store the water, I asked the old people in Zhuangzi, they said that many years ago they had built a dam here to store water, I also went there to carefully inspect, the old site is still there, if the dam is built, it can form more than 200 acres of water surface, it should be enough, we can also use the water surface to raise fish and ducks, increase income!"

"Second master, if we build a dam, we need a lot of manpower, but now go up there to recruit it?" The third steward, Zheng Shou, asked again.

"I've also thought about this, the two Zhuangzi have more than 1,000 mouths, and now many people have nothing to do, as long as we offer the right price, I think they will do it, and we can also prepay them a month's salary, which not only solves their urgent needs, but also solves our problems!" This idea is a variant of cash-for-work commonly used in later generations, and both parties can benefit.

"Well, the second master has a good idea, we have built a dam and dredged the canal, and the inferior fields in the past can be turned into the superior fields for drought and flood protection, and they will not leave at that time, and we can also attract more people!" The chief steward stroked his beard and said approvingly.