I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 797 - Chapter 797 Battle for Position

Chapter 797: Battle for Position Chapter 797: Battle for Position Editor: Atlas Studios Qi Shan was here to find out what he planned to do with the three Imperial Plantations.

He suspected that the Emperor was short of money and wanted Fan Zijin to cash out the three Imperial Plantations.

Everyone knew that the national treasury was short of money.

Now that it was almost time for spring plowing for the new year, plenty of money was needed.

Usually, other than giving it to the royal family, the Imperial Plantations would be handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to manage.

Fan Zijin suddenly taking away the title deeds made him suspicious.

If his guess was true, he felt that he had to stop this matter no matter what.

The Imperial Plantations concerned the face of the royal family.

How could the Emperor take these to convert into cash?

Fan Zijin understood what Qi Shan meant.

He rolled her eyes and said, “Uncle, you ought to have greater faith in me.

Would I sell His Majesty’s Imperial Plantations?

Even if the national treasury is short of money, I can still make up for it with my businesses.” Qi Shan hesitated.

“Then why did you take the title deeds?” “Of course it has other uses.

Don’t ask anymore.

His Majesty agreed to this.” Fan Zijin served tea and sent the guest off.

Qi Shan hesitated for a while, but he ultimately didn’t dare to ask Qi Xiuyuan.

Reason being, Qi Feng had gone overboard back then, and the Qi family had always turned a blind eye to the two brothers.

Therefore, although Qi Xiuyuan hadn’t put the children of the Qi clan in important positions after he became the Emperor, they didn’t dare to enter the palace to ask for that.

As an example, the Emperor’s two step-brothers had been living with their heads lowered and had never been assigned an errand.

Qi Shan left hesitantly.

In less than two days, the Emperor officially issued a decree to bestow an Imperial Plantation each in Jiangnan and Baoding to Mu Yangling to thank her for her outstanding contribution to the royal family.

Only then did everyone know that the Emperor had taken over the cattle farm and nursery in the north to be run by the royal family.

Be it the cattle farm or the nursery, from the moment they were established until now, the Emperor and Prince Rong had always been behind the two entities.

However, the Emperor did not hand control over to the Imperial Court.

Instead, he tasked the royal family to manage them, which many found unacceptable.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs would never get involved in such matters, and in the officials’ opinion, it was obvious that the Imperial Court should be responsible for this.

Whether it was the cattle farm or the nursery, the benefits involved were rather significant.

Hence, many covetous officials were unwilling to give up.

Meanwhile, the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs perked up and wanted to snatch the job for themselves.

Fan Zijin, who was sitting at home, sneered when he saw this.

The Emperor had already announced that they were to be managed by the royal family, not the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the imperial family.

How many people were in the royal family now?

Clearly, those people could not understand what the imperial edict implied.

Surprised that everyone couldn’t even understand a simple imperial edict, the Emperor carefully read the imperial edict from top to bottom.

He felt that he’d stated his intentions very clearly.

Other than the fact that the adjectives used to praise Ah Ling were a little reserved, the rest were clearly written.

To think everyone could misinterpret his intentions in spite of that!

If it wasn’t his fault, then it was someone else’s fault.

Seeing his expression darken, the Empress said with a smile, “This is inevitable.

After all, in the past dynasties, there have never been matters specially classified to be managed by the royal family.

It’s usually either handed over to the Imperial Court or the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” Qi Xiuyuan snorted.

“I think they only didn’t notice because they were blinded by benefits.

Anyone can build a cattle farm, but only the royal family can run the nursery.

If they want to run it, they can build one themselves.

They’re quite good at reaping the fruits of others’ labor, huh.” Qi Xiuyuan was not in the mood to watch them fantasize about controlling those two entities.

He directly issued a decree asking them to read ‘Shuowen Jiezi1’.

Then, he officially issued a decree for Mu Yangling to manage these two places.

He clearly announced that anyone could build a cattle farm, but they were not allowed to harm the interests of the commoners.

Once they were discovered, offenders would have all their assets confiscated.

Also, a nursery could only be built with the royal family’s help or approval.

The chaotic battle subsided in an instant.

Although the officials felt that it was a pity, they did not have any objections.

This was Mu Yangling’s dowry to begin with, so there wasn’t anything objectionable about having her manage it.

On the Qi clan’s side however, everyone’s thoughts were a little subtle.

Many elders and descendants of the clan looked for the patriarch, Qi Shan, and asked, “Wasn’t it said that two large Imperial Plantations were given in exchange?

Then those plantations should belong to our Qi clan.

How can we let an outsider manage them?” “That’s right, that’s right.

Maybe our clan’s children aren’t capable of entering officialdom via the Imperial Examination because they’re not good at studying, but they’d have no problem managing the cattle farm and nursery.” “Look, our Qi family’s descendants only occupy a few spots in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

So many of our children are idle at home.

We’ve got to find something for them to do.” Qi Shan was able to remain as the patriarch even after Qi Xiuyuan ascended the throne because of Qi Xiuyuan’s support.

Hence, he knew what not to think or do.

Hearing their demands, he shouted angrily, “An outsider?

The outsider you’re talking about has aided His Majesty and Prince Rong in their conquest of the country and gave birth to Prince Rong’s eldest son.

Stand in front of the Emperor and see if he acknowledges you or Madam Mu!” “He already said that these two entities belong to the royal family, not the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and definitely not the imperial family!” Qi Shan glared at them and said, “Are you part of the royal family?

Are you?

If you’re not, stand aside.

Not to mention you people.” Qi Shan pointed to the southwest and snorted coldly.

“As long as His Majesty doesn’t acknowledge them, those two aren’t considered royal families either.

Go back and stop misbehaving.

If you want a good position, go back and study for the Imperial Examination.

If not, just wait for a position to open up in the Ministry of Internal Affairs!” Seeing that some people were still unconvinced, Qi Shan sneered and said, “If you’re not convinced, you can submit a memorial and enter the palace to seek an audience.

Speaking of which, His Majesty can be considered your clan brother.” The few of them lowered their heads in fear.

The twenty-something-year-old young men present had bullied Qi Haoran a lot when they were young, especially those who were now almost 30 years old.

When they were young, they had even ganged up to beat up the Emperor.

Considering they were young at that time, the Emperor would not settle scores with them over the fighting.

But in addition to the bullying, they’d also said all sorts of nasty things to his face.

Unsure if the Emperor remembered this, who would dare to enter the palace to look for him?

Mu Yangling acted quickly as well.

Almost as soon as she received the imperial edict, she informed Mu Bowen and the cattle farm to officially put up the royal plaque.

Then, she publicized it in the north and got Mu Bowen to contact the magistrates of the Xingzhou Prefecture and Jingzhao Prefecture.

She first experimented with opening two additional nurseries in these two regions.

Other than the plaque being changed, the people working there and the rules remained unchanged.

After two days of worry, the children and employees were relieved to see that everything went on as normal.

As spring plowing was about to begin, Mu Yangling first sent out nearly 3,000 cows to be divided into various prefectures.

Other than the three prefectures of Jingzhao, Hanzhong, and Xingzhou, Tongchuan Prefecture benefited the most.

Mu Yangling told Qi Xiuyuan that there was a limit to the number of cows in the cattle farm, and they could only slowly herd them from the north to the south.

It was impossible to bring them to the south all at once.

Qi Xiuyuan also understood this logic.

He suppressed his anxiety and let Mu Yangling make the decision herself.

The cows in the cattle farm were not given to the local people for free.

They had to exchange things or pay money for the cows.

In addition, they could also rent them.

Unlike in the past, when the cows were only rented out during peak farming periods, this time, the cattle farm directly contacted the local officials and rented the cows to them for a period ranging from two to five years.

After the period, they could pay for the rent with grains, money, or calves.

In total, they only had to pay two pecks1 of rice a year.

It was ridiculously cheap.

However, in order to prevent the regional officials from profiting from the cows, they had strict rules about where the cows went.

The cows were only to be rented to poor farmers, and richer families also had a chance to rent them.

However, landowners who raised cows to begin with could forget about it.

It was not that Mu Yangling discriminated against them, but Qi Xiuyuan was expanding the cattle farms for the benefit of those poor farmers.

If the cows were to be rented to the landlords, why was she working so hard for it?

a Chinese dictionarya peck equivalent to 2 dry gallons

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