Chapter 20

From the second day onward, Da Wang's carefree days of playing whenever he wanted were over.

In the morning he studied with Xu Taifu; in the afternoon he practiced martial arts with Zhao Chuan, learning horseback riding and archery.

At night he still had to set aside time to study the Youzhou map, for example, exactly how many bandits were on Yanque Mountain. Da Wang magnified each mountain peak for observation, counting heads one by one. Even when he was fondly playing with his little Bai Ze, he had to keep an eye on the time; when busy, he would leave the little Bai Ze with Zhao Bao for safekeeping.

Who would have known this little thing was also picky? It only ate fresh vegetables and fruits and fresh fish and meat; it refused pork, mutton, and grain; as for beef, it was unknown, and Da Wang himself had none to eat. Zhao Bao said it was fortunate like its master, having grown a wealthy belly. But if Da Wang hadn't picked it up, it would have starved to death in this Youzhou territory.

The fortunate Da Wang lived each day fully and busily, with main and side tasks completely halted.

It wasn't that he didn't want to quickly build the prince's mansion; it was that Youzhou was so poor he hadn't yet decided on what pretext to announce the need to reclaim a large tract of land and rebuild the You Prince's Mansion anew.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed inappropriate; he felt embarrassed to bring it up as a problem, and the undecided location was also a reason.

If within Youzhou City no households were to be relocated, there simply wasn't any vacant land large enough to accommodate the You Prince's Mansion, so all his tasks came to a halt together. Da Wang sighed daily, and Zhao Bao still thought he was merely suffering from another bout of aversion to study.

That evening, after finishing dinner, Bai Li Jing personally took stock of his property.

If he didn't check, it wouldn't matter, but once he saw the numbers on the account, his proposal to rebuild the prince's mansion became even more bleak.

"Zhao Bao, how did my money get spent so quickly?"

"Your Highness, could it be that the account book has problems and doesn't balance?"

Just being able to balance it is what's frightening.

He had only raised three thousand soldiers and over five hundred horses, and the money was spent this quickly. Some in the personal guard were just filling numbers; he still thought about weeding out the old and weak by pulling out some skilled ones, then replenishing with a batch of able-bodied men.

After looking at this account book, he didn't dare to move.

Da Wang pondered hard for several days; sitting and consuming the mountain's resources was not an option! That morning he rose and ordered Zhao Bao to procure a larger estate for him outside Youzhou City.

The reasons were already at hand: to settle the miscellaneous people.

For example, the six children he had bought.

The You Prince's Mansion had no tasks suitable for such young children, and he still wanted to dismiss the personal guard; they all needed a place to be placed, so let them go to the estate to work.

Zhao Bao handled affairs swiftly; in just two days he delivered several deeds, and the estate purchase was complete.

Just outside Youzhou City, near the Fu Family Estate, he bought three adjacent estates and merged them into one large estate. An estate of over a thousand mu, in Chang'an City his household's wealth would never dare to dream of such a thing; at this moment everyone finally discovered one advantage of Youzhou: land was cheap.

Da Wang enthusiastically arranged a martial arts competition among the personal guard, adopting a last-place elimination system. One month later, squads would compete once, and the last place would be eliminated.

Those eliminated would be sent to the estate to reclaim land; if they disliked farming, after strengthening their bodies they could still return to serve in the personal guard; the main idea was survival of the fittest, while also giving people a glimmer of hope.

Know that the personal guard of a princely lord has military registration and grain stipends; though they left behind the comfort of Chang'an, the personal guard guarding the princely lord enjoys far better treatment than those lingering in the capital's suburbs. If eliminated and sent to the Highness's private estate, would they not become tenant farmers? The atmosphere in the personal guard camp immediately tightened; those who, like Da Wang, wanted to lie flat suddenly could not lie still.

Da Wang went to inspect the rear personal guard camp, returning with the corners of his mouth turned up.

The personal guard atmosphere having been set, even looking at the account book balance no longer felt so vexing.

In his spare time from studying, Da Wang would open his warehouse to feast his eyes. The reward for the side task of building the You Prince's Mansion had already been placed in the warehouse, but currently it is in a non-withdrawable state; as soon as he clicks to start construction, he can receive the work attire, work fees, and work meals—this is a substantial sum of money, and for Youzhou it is simply an extremely abundant welfare.

What the work attire specifically looks like cannot be seen, only the quantity; but the work fees and work meals he can see the numbers for.

The work meal standard is two dou per day; this Da Wang has no concept, but he feels it is certainly enough to eat.

As for the work fee of 300 wen per day, a laborer completing the side task could earn 27 taels, not counting other food and provisions; just the wages alone in the Jin Dynasty are among the highest. Once the You Prince's Mansion is completed, Youzhou will directly have five thousand families lifted out of poverty.

For this, Da Wang diligently drafted a , revising it daily.

For example, allocating quotas evenly among the villages and towns surrounding Youzhou City, recruiting only one person per household, prioritizing households with active-duty military personnel and prioritizing impoverished households. Da Wang swore to elevate the status of Youzhou's military personnel: one person enlists, the whole family gains honor.

For example, taking the village as a unit, mutual guarantee. If one person makes a mistake, the whole village is expelled, which can effectively constrain the unruly customs of Youzhou people.

Da Wang would think of a point and then revise it; every time he looked at his little notebook he couldn't help but turn up the corners of his mouth.

One month hurriedly passed; at month's end, the first personal guard martial arts competition eliminated three hundred people, and Da Wang, true to his word, sent them to the estate to farm.

At the morning court in the front hall, Da Wang formally proposed to re-recruit three hundred able-bodied youths, and after they passed training they would be incorporated into the personal guard camp. The personal guard camp is funded by the You Prince's private stipend; the officials had no objections, so it was directly approved, and Zhang Tu received the imperial edict to supervise this matter.

Da Wang was blissfully content.

The next day's morning court, Xue Xiang proposed that every ten days five hundred personal guard be rotated to assist in guarding the Youzhou city gates; Da Wang agreed without even thinking.

He truly could not rely on those old, weak, sick, and disabled under the command of the Colonel of the Guard; currently lacking conditions to replace them, it was better to draw some of his own people to assist. The Da Wang who was being fleeced agreed, and thus the matter was settled.

Da Wang continued to be blissfully content.

The military and political affairs of Youzhou had thus seemed to get on the right track, finally having straightened out the direction.

Youzhou City North

The July weather in Youzhou was not yet scorching, and the common people had finally finished spring plowing and were now idle.

No matter how unruly the local customs, there were still honest, hardworking families.

The You Prince's land reclamation decree had already been issued for several months; now that the idle families had come to rest, they could not help but feel stirred.

The old man Yu of the Yu shop was just such a case; his grown sons numbered six. Two had gone to the border prefecture of Shanggu Pass, and the remaining four sons, along with three adult descendants, had finished the busy farming season and were now idle at home.

Seeing that his neighbor's household had all gone out to reclaim land, even the two widowed daughters-in-law, the old man could no longer sit still.

The old man had thought for several days; regardless of whether the wasteland would ultimately be granted a land deed, at least the wheat planted these two years could be subsidized, for his household had so many mouths to feed!

He tried not to think about whether the cost of the wheat seeds could be recovered; idling like this was no solution, after all, finding odd jobs in Youzhou was truly extremely difficult.

Even knowing that Da Wang had been here for several months, everyone in Youzhou knew there were only three ways out: farming, fishing, or joining the army.

If one didn't want to do any of those, there was a fourth option: risking one's life to become a bandit. Such people were indeed not few, and had already become a major headache for Da Wang.

Old Man Yu having understood, he took his sons and grandsons to the largest wasteland in Youzhou, Youzhou City North.

What had been a barren wasteland day after day was now unexpectedly lively.

The Prince's Mansion had even built a temporary office here, specially for dividing wasteland among the common people.

Many shared the same idea as his household; previously, when there were tasks at home they had been watching and waiting, but now that the busy farming season had truly ended, the idle, diligent common people began to put their plans into action.

As long as they could make a living, to prevent the whole family from starving, diligent common people would not spare any effort.

Old Man Yu took his household registration to the minor clerk at the Prince's Mansion to register, and that very day, in the planned area, he was allocated a plot of five mu of wasteland.

On both sides of the boundaries there were people; some were exchanging pleasantries, some had already begun work.

"Which village are you from?"

"At the family shop! My Shanzui Village..."

"Uncle, you say this matter is reliable?"

"At worst it's just spending some effort, my family has many children..."

Everyone comforted and encouraged each other; even true idlers couldn't stand aside, for a time the northern wasteland of the city presented a bustling, lively scene.