Chapter 1262 Kangxi returns to Beijing to persuade

This day.

Su Mingzhe came to Prince Zhen's mansion and had a hearty conversation with Ruoxi, then told her the good news that Kangxi was coming back.

Ruoxi didn't respond to the man when she heard this. She continued to curl up in the man's arms and said lazily:

"What good news is this?"

She still can't forget the first time she met Kangxi and how she was almost scared to death.

Although her man is now the crown prince and holds great power in the government, this still cannot change the current situation of "living with the emperor is like living with a tiger".

Therefore, for Ruoxi, it would be better to stay away from the emperor. She didn't want to experience the risk of being beheaded again.

Seeing that the girl was unhappy, Su Mingzhe reminded her:

"These days, haven't you been saying that what we are doing is adultery? I can only ask for permission to marry you into the palace in a sedan chair carried by eight men when the old man comes back."

"How dare you say that!"

When Ruoxi heard the man's words, she was so angry that her body trembled. She pressed the man's chest, propped herself up, and scolded him:
"You already have so many women in the palace, why are you still messing with me? Do you know that if outsiders knew that we were living together in advance, I would be thrown into a pig cage!"

"You are different from the women in the palace!"

Listening to the woman's grievances and anger, Su Mingzhe could only shamelessly explain to her:

"For men, a beautiful woman is certainly important, but spiritual communication is also important. You should understand, right?"

"When I was with those women in the palace, I always felt like there was a barrier, as if I was wearing a small umbrella. I always felt unsatisfied..."

"Shameless!"

Ruoxi was completely speechless towards the man.

Su Mingzhe smiled and coaxed the woman a few times, but seeing that she was still angry and refused to lie back down in the bed, he simply got up, changed his posture, and started communicating silently again.

For some reason, Ruoxi doesn't like sleeping on a bed, but prefers sleeping on a couch.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, beds and couches were different types of furniture.

The beds of wealthy families were all placed in the bedroom. They were long and wide, with four or three sides of fences, and could be covered with curtains. They were exquisitely carved and gorgeously decorated.

The couch is different. It is usually placed in the hall and provided as a seat for the host and guests. People can also write, eat, etc. on it.

The flower hall in Ruoxi's room is connected to Ruolan's bedroom.

This resulted in Ruolan covering her head with a blanket and reciting Buddhist scriptures non-stop every time Su Mingzhe stayed overnight.

Because Kangxi was about to come back, Su Mingzhe thought it would not be convenient for him to leave the palace and stay overnight before Ruoxi got married.

So that night, the two of them almost stayed awake all night.

The next day, when Su Mingzhe left, the sisters Ruolan and Ruoxi had a pair of dark circles under their rosy and pretty faces.

The sisters looked at each other, one shy and the other annoyed.

However, the two sisters didn't say anything. After yawning, they went back to their room to catch up on some sleep.

Not a few days passed.

After Kangxi returned, the dignitaries in the capital came to pay their respects and asked him to lead the army to "go out" to attack Japan. Having been the emperor for more than 40 years, Kangxi had a very accurate grasp of the minds of these dignitaries and knew what their real purpose was.

If it were in the past, Kangxi might have given some instructions to a few people and let them lead the troops into battle because of their past friendship.

However, the Qing Dynasty had now experienced the factional struggles between Soetu and Nalan Mingzhu, as well as the battle for the throne among the nine princes, which led to rampant corruption throughout the Qing Dynasty and an empty treasury.

At this time, Su Mingzhe had finally found a way to make money without hurting the country's foundation, but Kangxi was unwilling to give it to these powerful people as a favor.

Therefore, faced with these dignitaries' requests for war, Kangxi simply declined, saying that he was not feeling well and that the power of government had been handed over to the crown prince. If these dignitaries had any problems, they could just go to the crown prince for handling.

Seeing that Kangxi was about to step down, these powerful officials did not dare to disturb him any further and came to the East Palace again to challenge Su Mingzhe.

Su Mingzhe had long anticipated the greed of these powerful people.

So, no matter what these dignitaries said, Su Mingzhe just smiled slightly, and then sent everyone away on the grounds that the court was already communicating with Japan.

Seeing that Su Mingzhe refused to budge, these dignitaries could only leave in embarrassment.

After the dignitaries left, the ministers of the court surrounded them again.

Zhang Yushu, Li Guangdi, Zhang Tingyu and other ministers of the Southern Study all surrounded Su Mingzhe and advised him gently:

"My Lord, a gentleman is concerned with righteousness, while a villain is concerned with profit. Japan was originally unwilling to obey the king, but now they have paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty and have become its vassal. If we attack Japan just because of a silver mine, it will terrify other vassal states!"

Su Mingzhe listened to what everyone said and just smiled coldly:
"The Qing Dynasty doesn't have many vassal states. If you count them, there are only a few such as Goryeo, Ryukyu, Nanyue, and Siam. Now Goryeo and Ryukyu have submitted to the king and started to establish provinces. I am not going to let go of places like Japan, Nanyue, and Siam!"

When the ministers heard this, they were shocked and were about to speak, but Su Mingzhe raised his hand to indicate that he had something else to say.

After all the ministers calmed down, he asked:
"Japan has silver mines, and a lot of them. Do you know what South Vietnam and Siam have?"

"I don't know!"

As the Central Plains imperial court, they have always looked down upon the surrounding small vassal states. Even if they occasionally get to know them, it is mostly to create the grand scene of "all nations coming to pay tribute" without being sincere and appreciating the specialties of the small vassal states.

Seeing that the ministers really didn't know, Su Mingzhe simply said:
"South Vietnam, Siam and other countries are rich in rice, and they can harvest three times a year!"

"And, as far as I know, South Vietnam, Siam and other countries combined have two to three million hectares of arable land!"

As soon as Su Mingzhe opened his mouth, he shocked everyone:

"Li Zhongtang, you used to be the Minister of Revenue. Tell us how many acres of arable land our Qing Dynasty has, and how many dan of output it produces per year?"

Minister of Rites Li Zhenyu did not dare to disobey the order and immediately said:

"According to statistics in the 20nd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the total cultivated land area in the Qing Dynasty was more than million hectares. If the weather is good, the total annual output can reach billion shi!"

After hearing this data, Su Mingzhe couldn't help but sneer:
"If we can produce 20 billion dan of rice, and each person consumes dan per year, then the total population of our Qing Dynasty is more than million, which seems to be more than enough!"

"However, everyone present here is a minister of the court. You should understand that this 20 billion shi is not the rice output, but the total amount of dozens of agricultural products such as rice, wheat, and sweet potatoes!"

"Moreover, the so-called good weather and good harvests are also an ideal state. Our Chinese land stretches 8,000 miles from north to south, and there is uneven moisture every year, so there are always places that will experience droughts, floods, and locust plagues! Once a disaster occurs, food production will be greatly reduced!"

"According to my research, in the sixty years since the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, the people have eaten each other more than sixty times, and the total number of disaster victims and refugees has exceeded 100 million!"

"My Lords, I ask you to calculate carefully now. If the Qing Dynasty were to include South Vietnam and Siam in its territory, and if their land were to be handed over to the people of the Qing Dynasty and cultivated carefully, how many famines could be solved in this way?"

"So, it's not that I'm greedy. It's really that the people of my Great Qing are crying out for food, and I can't reason with these vassal states!"

(End of this chapter)