Chapter 1322: Do You Want a Princess?

"Consulting Aide Wang, this is the mansion the Prince of Jin gave you. Over there is the East Market, and over here is the Inner City; it is convenient to go anywhere. Two storefronts were given to you, one in the East Market and one in the West Market. The farmstead outside the city has 130 acres of fertile land, with 19 tenant families and 113 people."

His Highness has arranged servants and maids for you, and a carriage was also given, along with two old horses for rough work, and a groom was arranged. However, His Highness did not make arrangements for a coachman or a steward. The coachman knows where the farmstead is, and everything has been arranged there. In this box are the deeds for the mansion, storefronts, farmstead, and servants."

"The things from the Prince's mansion for the Consulting Aide will be sent later. The Consulting Aide and Madam can look slowly; I will take my leave first."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile and sent away the steward from the Prince's mansion. Then he turned around and shook the box in his hand at Xiao Mei: "The Prince of Jin is truly generous. I, this mud-legged person, must definitely work hard in the future to repay His Highness's kindness of appreciation."

"That is exactly as it should be, husband. If it weren't for His Highness, we wouldn't know what our fate would be." Xiao Mei also smiled happily and understood Wang Yan's meaning very well.

Both of them were saying this for the maid who had followed them all the way from the Chen Kingdom to hear. Needless to say, this maid would definitely report their actions. Even in this mansion, among the servants Yang Guang sent, not to mention all of them, there must be some who were Yang Guang's eyes and ears.

Looking at the dozen or so servants waiting anxiously at the door, there were men, maids, old women for rough work, and the coachman and groom were also on the side.

Wang Yan smiled at them and greeted Xiao Mei: "Let's go, let's see our future home."

Xiao Mei smiled brightly, took Wang Yan's arm, and entered the mansion through the main gate.

This could be considered a mansion with two and a half courtyards. Entering the gate and going around to the side, there were stables and a place to park the carriage, and the residences of the groom and coachman were also here.

Going straight in, it was the front courtyard, with a well against the wall, two rows of side rooms, places for servants to live, as well as housing and storage rooms. Then, passing through the second gate, it was the main hall of the master, where they ate and received guests. Passing through a small garden, it was the three main rooms of the master's family.

The area of the mansion was very large and spacious, especially in the position close to the Inner City. Such houses were priceless; you couldn't buy them even if you wanted to. Many officials couldn't afford to live in houses on this side.

Although Huang Chao hadn't done anything yet, officials all had power and background, but not everyone was that wealthy. There were also two storefronts and a farmstead; Yang Guang was truly a generous and good boss.

He knew Xiao Mei had money, but he still gave so much, fully demonstrating his importance to Wang Yan and passing on the signal of "follow me, there is meat to eat." He gave much more than Dou Huan...

After looking around the mansion, Wang Yan nodded with satisfaction and gathered the servants to chat. In a few words, he opened up the scene and livened up the atmosphere.

Afterwards, he talked about some family rules, such as doing their own jobs well, not going outside to talk about the family's rights and wrongs, not causing trouble outside, not being afraid if bullied by anyone, keeping their hands clean when working, and saying directly if men and women liked each other, and the master would help arrange the marriage, and so on.

He also made it clear about the punishment for doing things wrong, what should be beaten, what should be killed, and drew a red line.

When the happy atmosphere dropped to freezing point because of these words and the servants were all uneasy, Wang Yan announced a raise in monthly wages, 20% more than the original.

So everyone was happy, and one by one they expressed their loyalty.

Afterwards, Wang Yan didn't care anymore; from now on, these people were all arranged by Xiao Mei. Xiao Mei had come out of proper palace fighting; playing with these servants in the family was simpler than playing with ants. After all, playing with ants, she still had to worry about killing them, but these servants who sold themselves wouldn't.

Xiao Mei even wanted to teach the servants etiquette; in this aspect, she was absolutely professional. In her concept, hierarchy and etiquette were still very important. To put it another way, she could not abide by them, but others had to.

Wang Yan didn't stop her, but just repeated the issue of the rebellion route, telling her not to oppress these servants too much. Having rules didn't mean oppression.

Exploitation was certain; if he didn't exploit surplus value, how could he, Wang Mou, hoard money and grain and secretly store private soldiers? How could he carry out large-scale construction and allocate resources nationwide in the future?

It was just that he took from the people and used it for the people, not putting silver into his own pocket.

The lecture session ended, and the whole family began to clean up. The family fortune that had been in the Prince of Jin's mansion was all moved over, and under Xiao Mei's command, it was placed in different places.

Everyone had work to do, only Wang Yan had nothing to do. So he idly asked people to get a set of woodworking tools and a pile of wood.

Under the attention of a large group of servants coming and going, he spent the afternoon manually crafting a reclining chair, a large round table, and several chairs, all brushed with tung oil and waiting to dry.

The work efficiency was directly off the charts.

The servants, including Xiao Mei, looked at Wang Yan with different eyes.

The servants actually all knew the master's identity, and Wang Yan didn't hide it, directly telling them about his past, of course not forgetting to mention Yang Guang's promotion.

But they didn't expect that Wang Yan actually had this skill, and even if he didn't have martial arts, with this woodworking skill and such high work efficiency, Wang Yan could also live very well.

But they didn't dare to ask, only Xiao Mei asked in surprise: "Husband, you can also do woodworking?"

"There are many things I can do." Wang Yan smiled, then pointed to the table and said, "From now on, we will use a round table to eat and sit on Hu chairs. Eating at one table, the family will kneel less. I am a crude person and really don't like those."

"Good." Xiao Mei nodded with a smile, and then let the cook prepare dinner; it was also time for dinner.

Yang Guang also sent a lot of food and drink, while melons, fruits, and vegetables were bought by people sent out in the morning...

That night, in the new home, after Wang Yan and Xiao Mei were loving, they lay on the bed and talked.

Xiao Mei lay on Wang Yan's chest: "Husband, now we can be considered to have taken the first step. What arrangements are next?"

"Tomorrow, let's look at the storefronts in the East and West Markets, and the day after tomorrow, go out of the city to see our farmstead, reduce the rent for the tenants, let them raise chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs, and plant some vegetables. After doing these, we will find some people for weaving and printing and dyeing, and ponder some new printing and dyeing formulas."

"That's fine."

Xiao Mei said with a charming smile, "Husband's woodworking is so good, we can also make money by selling furniture in the storefront."

"You also come from a wealthy family; don't you know there are carpenters in the family? What I made just has a bit of novelty. Old carpenters only need to look twice, and they can make it themselves, and other people's materials are better than ours. Ordinary families can't afford it, so this kind of business can't be done."

"I didn't expect my husband to be so proficient in business."

"I'm just used to pondering. If I didn't even understand such simple things, how could I do great things?"

"Husband, to achieve great things, one must first have heirs. With heirs, others can rest assured to follow." Xiao Mei looked at Wang Yan eagerly, "Husband, you have to work harder."

"Isn't it enough?"

"In this kind of thing, where is there enough?" Xiao Mei breathed like an orchid, "Now our days are stable, we still have to have children. And with heirs, Yang Guang can also rest assured. Otherwise, husband, you have no relatives, who can rest assured to use you?"

"Madam's words are reasonable, then I will work harder."

Wang Yan was already used to Xiao Mei's jumpiness and changeability, and Xiao Mei was very knowledgeable about interest. Sometimes she was Concubine Xiao, sometimes she pretended to be Empress Xiao, and sometimes she had a girlish heart and pretended to be heartless, which gave Wang Yan a very good feeling.

So, Xiao Mei got what she wanted and received the infusion of life.

For the next few days, as they said on the bed, the two of them looked at the storefronts and farmstead Yang Guang gave.

After looking at the storefronts, Wang Yan had to sigh again at Yang Guang's generosity. It was said to be a storefront, but it was actually two large storefronts connected together, with a courtyard behind. The existing shop business could be done, and there was space. In the storefront, Wang Yan even felt the generosity radiated by Yang Guang.

Yang Guang listened to his subordinates' reports in the Prince of Jin's mansion, listening to the sighs of this mud-legged Wang Yan—do you understand the gold content of the future emperor?

The farmstead didn't have any big surprises. Although the house there was not small, it was not very luxurious; only the steward's family of the farmstead was enjoying happiness.

Wang Yan checked the accounts with Xiao Mei, then asked Yang Guang for instructions. The latter sent his subordinates over and very decisively killed the steward's family, so Wang Yan also established his prestige.

He announced a reduction in rent and asked these tenants to raise poultry and pigs, gaining the deep gratitude of the tenants, who swore they would never hide a grain of food from the master.

Wang Yan also chose a reliable person to be the steward, although not very reliable, but this person knew a few characters. At the same time, he arranged for these people to build a school, and later he would find some scholars from poor families to come and teach the children to read and write. This time, what he gained was the loyalty of the tenants.

After all, knowledge is precious. In such an era, being able to read and write, no matter what, one's life would not be too bad; this changed the fate of their family.

If the children of this generation mixed well, the starting point of the next generation would be high. After a few generations, it was not impossible for someone to be a small official or do some small business, and from then on, the family would rise.

This instead became the first thing Wang Yan implemented; he found a down-and-out scholar from a poor family and sent him to the farmstead.

No matter how down-and-out or poor, people still had persistence; it wasn't that they were willing to teach just because they were given money. It was Wang Yan who used Yang Guang's brand and promised to arrange an official position for him in the future, only then did he agree to go to the farmstead to teach, and at the same time help the steward keep accounts and manage. Wang Yan called it accumulating experience first; anyway, he just had to fool the person over.

Of course, it wasn't purely fooling, after all, Wang Yan always kept his word, but this kid had to be reliable.

Just when this matter was arranged and he intended to turn to find people for weaving and printing and dyeing, on this day, Yang Guang sent someone to find Wang Yan to go to the Prince of Jin's mansion.

Riding a horse all the way to the Prince of Jin's mansion, led by the servants in the mansion to find Yang Guang, he saw Yang Guang talking to a girl.

"Imperial Brother, Father is really, why must he let you go so far." The girl was complaining for Yang Guang.

Wang Yan watched from afar; the girl was Yang Guang's own younger sister, Princess Qionghua.

He only heard Yang Guang say: "Alright, Qionghua, Father also said that I am capable of both civil and military affairs, letting me go so far is also giving me a heavy responsibility. Go back to the palace quickly; when I arrive there, I will have people send you good things."

"Alright, then I'm leaving, Imperial Brother." Princess Qionghua left with some reluctance, and when she left, she looked at Wang Yan, then left under the service of the palace maids.

"Is she good-looking?" Yang Guang's gnashing voice sounded in his ear.

"Good-looking."

Wang Yan's mouth seemed faster than his brain. After reacting, he looked panicked, "Ah, no, no, Your Highness..."

"That's enough." Yang Guang waved his hand, "You kid are also lustful; you have one at home and are not satisfied? You still want to marry a princess?"

"I want to!" Wang Yan nodded with a silly smile.

"Damn it, you kid really have guts."

"If I didn't have guts, how could I join Your Highness's command?"

Yang Guang knew Wang Yan was talking about the Chen palace, but he didn't argue with Wang Yan. After a little pondering, he asked: "Do you really want to marry?"

"Can I really marry?" Wang Yan asked back as if very surprised.

Yang Guang chuckled: "Qionghua and I are own siblings, fifteen years old, and it is time to get married. Father and Mother are already selecting a son-in-law. You definitely can't now, but if you have great merit, I will definitely speak well for you before Father and Mother, and let Qionghua marry you."

"What are Your Highness's instructions?"

"In the Chen palace, you said you wanted to compete for the Crown Prince, so you must have great merit. Where do you say there is great merit?"

Wang Yan frowned and pondered, asking uncertainly: "Turks?"

"Exactly." Yang Guang looked like he was teachable, then changed his face like a dog, "The old thing doesn't agree to let me stay in Daxing, letting me set off today to go to the fief of Bingzhou."

"Your Highness should call him Father Emperor."

Staring at Wang Yan, Yang Guang said: "Now is the time to use you. You are the most capable and reliable person under my command. Whether you can marry Qionghua depends on this time."

"Your Highness, for me, killing is the simplest thing."

"Good!"

Yang Guang praised, "You also understand some military strategy, tell me first, how to act when you arrive in Bingzhou?"

"May I ask Your Highness, what is my position?"

"Commander of a hundred!"

Wang Yan pondered for a moment and said: "The Champion Marquis of the Former Han led troops to fight the Xiongnu, relying on elite soldiers and surprise attacks, well-versed in the way that military speed is precious. I can lead the soldiers under my command, one man with two horses, directly into the heart of the Turks, killing people, sheep, cattle, and horses. If I kill for a long time like this, I can make them unable to invade the south."

"Unable to invade the south?" Yang Guang laughed, "It will be autumn soon; perhaps the Turks are already sharpening their weapons."

"Your Highness, just one of my teams is certainly not enough. If there are ten, a hundred, the Turks will have to mobilize a large army to encircle and intercept these teams; where will they have the energy to invade the south?"

"Joke, do you think the Turks' territory is your garden? You want to go, you go; you want to leave, you leave? You want elite surprise attacks, do you know the way?"

"Your Highness, not knowing the way doesn't matter; everyone on the grassland can know the way. More words are useless; Your Highness, let me kill for a month, and then you will know."

"Are you really sure?"

"Your Highness, I never speak wild words."

"If it doesn't work?"

"If it doesn't work, I won't be able to come back to see Your Highness."

"Good!"

Yang Guang said, "It's settled then, go back and pack up, and leave tomorrow."

"Your Highness, rest assured, this trip will be successful; I still want to marry the princess and be a son-in-law."

"Get out."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Wang Yan saluted and took his leave.

Yang Guang watched Wang Yan walk away with a smile, laughed to himself for a while, and then changed his face like a dog again, with a look of anger.

He angrily stepped on the flowers and plants beside him.

"Damn old thing..." ===== CHAPTER 1323 =====