Chapter 2556 - 2530: Guidance

By rights, the imperial estate isn’t allowed to conscript corvée labor; corvée men are supposed to serve only public works of the state, like building roads and bridges, digging canals, shoring up riverbanks, or hauling provisions for the army and the like.

But if everything in this world really followed "by rights," the world wouldn’t fall into chaos, dynasties wouldn’t keep changing, and those in high positions wouldn’t be replaced batch after batch.

Whether it was Bai Shan, Bai Erlang, or Manbao, most of what they knew of the world still came from books.

The books never mentioned that corvée laborers would also have to plow and harvest for the imperial estate, so all of them were surprised.

Especially since they even had to bring their own food to work on the imperial estate; that was going a bit too far. When serving corvée for the County Governmental Office or the prefectural office, at least they were given three meals a day, watery as they might be.

Mingda was also rather curious. "The imperial estate has so much land—why is there no one farming it?"

The steward said, "His Majesty is benevolent and kind; he can’t bring himself to do things like Emperor of Sadness did, directly seizing commoners to make them slaves."

Mingda: ... Compared to Emperor of Sadness, is that really something to be happy about?

Bai Erlang felt his answer missed the point, so he simply asked outright, "If there aren’t enough household slaves, why not let tenants rent the land to farm?"

"There are too few tenants," the steward sighed. "The imperial estate recruits tenant farmers every year, but few people come to rent the land. There’s nothing this small one can do."

Mingda couldn’t help looking at Bai Erlang.

Bai Erlang stared steadily at the steward for a while, then nodded. "All right, I understand. You may withdraw for now."

The steward hadn’t expected the matter to be dropped so easily. He froze for a moment, then asked, "Prince Consort, about this road-building... should we hand that over to the County Governmental Office as well?"

As long as the princess said a word, could County Magistrate Xun possibly refuse?

Bai Erlang, however, felt one ought to keep one’s word. They had agreed that each side would handle a section. If they now ran off and dumped this stretch of road in County Magistrate Xun’s lap as well, what would he think of the Princess’s Residence later?

Bai Erlang waved his hand and said, "You may go down first. The princess and I will discuss this further."

The steward couldn’t help looking toward the princess.

Princess Mingda waved her hand. "You may go."

Only then did the steward droop his head and back out.

After Manbao and Bai Shan finished inspecting their corvée workers, a burst of gong-clanging sounded from the rear. The foreman in the middle heard it as well, pulled out a gong and banged it, shouting loudly, "Knock-off time—"

The sound rolled on and on. The hundred men at the last stretch of road heard it, immediately dumped the dirt from their baskets, slung their tools on their backs, and bolted this way.

The foreman didn’t even have time to talk to Zhou Man and Bai Shan. Hoisting his hoe, he said as he ran, "Young Lord, we’re off to eat..."

Before he finished, they had already sprinted off, kicking up a cloud of dust that almost flew straight into Manbao and the others’ mouths.

Manbao and Bai Shan: ...

After the frantic confusion of the first day, Zhou Wulang was now very experienced. There were three groups of men, so he had built three cooking hearths. Only now the three groups of people weren’t very far apart, and he had to manage everything uniformly. On top of that, he’d only hired six old women to work. The vegetables all had to be washed together, the meat all chopped together; that was the only way to be faster. So all three hearths were gathered in one place.

But his eyes were sharp. He immediately pointed at one man and said, "You’re from that other group. Don’t line up here. Next time I catch you, I’ll deduct one flatbread."

The man obediently shuffled back.

Zhou Wulang snorted in annoyance. There were always people trying to take advantage the moment he wasn’t looking.

Six old women, one stationed at each hearth, with the men lining up. At the first old woman, they received a flatbread and a ladle of one dish; at the second old woman, a bowl of soup and another dish.

Manbao and Bai Shan rode back covered in dust. Seeing that everyone was queuing in fairly good order, they both let out a breath of relief.

Once Zhou Wulang saw that they were all queuing honestly, he came over to Manbao and urged, "You two go home now. I’ve got things in hand here."

"Fifth Brother, when are you coming back?"

Zhou Wulang said, "I’ll head back after they’ve all finished eating. Don’t worry, I’m experienced now; I’ll definitely get back before the city gates close."

Manbao nodded and returned to the city with Bai Shan.

Zhou Wulang also went to collect a flatbread, ladled a bowl of vegetables and a bowl of soup, then squatted on the ground and ate with the others.

The three foremen crowded around him, still rather unable to make sense of it all. "Master Fifth, your family is so wealthy; how is it you still need to personally come do such drudge work?"

Zhou Wulang took a bite of flatbread, glanced at him, and said, "Who said my family is wealthy?"

The foreman chuckled. "Listen to you. These five hundred households are all Young Lord’s food fief. If that isn’t wealth, what is?"

Zhou Wulang said gloomily, "And you’re only paying taxes after this autumn’s harvest. Right now we haven’t eaten a single grain from you lot."

He lifted the flatbread in his hand slightly. "At the moment, it’s you who are eating ours."

The foremen: ... A wealthy household actually nitpicks over this?

Zhou Wulang went on, "And my family can’t be lumped together with ’wealthy.’ Who hasn’t come up from hard days on the other side?"

The three foremen all wore expressions of total disbelief.

Zhou Wulang took a sip of soup. "Don’t believe me? I’ve done corvée too. There are six brothers in my family; which of us hasn’t gone out to serve labor? I’m not bragging, but even under the best magistrate in the world, what he gives corvée laborers doesn’t match ours in quantity or quality."

On this point, everyone agreed. Among the corvée workers present, those with brothers at home would only be called up once every several years. But these foremen were long-time hands; coming to serve meant things would be a bit easier, and they could earn a few coppers as a management fee, so they showed up every year. No one knew better than they did what the food and drink were like. They all raised their thumbs at Zhou Wulang and said, "Just judging by the meals these past few days, we can tell what sort of people the Young Lord and Master Fifth are. In future, if Young Lord ever needs us for anything, just say the word."

Zhou Wulang laughed and said, "No need for such politeness. Your forebears have all farmed this land; no one understands it better than you. We’re not about to meddle too much. It’s just that my family has built a workshop here—if the villagers could give it more support in future, that’d be enough."

"You can rest easy on that. With the Young Lord’s workshop built here, if any riffraff dare come looking for trouble, we villagers will be the first not to stand for it."

"Master Fifth, I heard the Young Lord is a divine doctor, that the smallpox was cured by her. We became the Young Lord’s food fief because of that, didn’t we?"

At this, Zhou Wulang immediately puffed up with pride. He could talk for three days and three nights about his little sister’s exploits, so he held his bowl and began telling them stories.

Not far from this stretch of road was another, extending from the county seat out toward the imperial estate and the fork to the ancient city. It branched like a tree, and the shorter twig was the section for which County Magistrate Xun was responsible.

Their corvée workers were also eating. Catching a whiff of a faint aroma in the air, one man couldn’t help squatting down to tighten his belt, and as he ate his porridge he said, "Smell that? Wheat. They’re definitely eating flatbread or steamed buns again."

"Maybe they’ve got meat too."

"Enough, stop dreaming. This is the very lean season between harvests. The porridge the County Governmental Office gives us is already this thick; that’s pretty good."

"Exactly. These last two years have been decent. Back in the years we had disasters, even just after autumn harvest, when we came out on corvée the porridge was so thin you couldn’t keep a pair of chopsticks standing in it, and they only gave two meals a day. You should be content."

Beside them, a strapping youth slurped down his bowl of porridge, patted his stomach, then fished out a hard, dry bun and began gnawing on it. That was something he’d brought from home.

The foreman next to him saw this and cuffed him. "Eating buns at night? Save that for tomorrow morning and midday—those are when you’ll need your strength."

"I—I’m hungry..."

"Don’t get mad, Brother Lu, don’t get mad. This kid’s here for the first time; he doesn’t know how things work. Kid, the foreman’s doing this for your own good. You should eat solid stuff in the mornings and at midday. It’s nearly bedtime; what are you eating that for?"

"If I’m hungry, I can’t sleep."

"Drink a few more gulps of water and you’ll feel full. Don’t ignore advice. If you run into heavy work during the day and you’re so hungry you’ve got no strength, then you can cram a bite into your mouth. Otherwise, if you fall from up there, you might not be able to get up again."

Someone at the side said, "Even if you can get up, you’ll be crippled."

The young fellow stared, dumbfounded.