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  The official uniform was torn open, the sleeves were ripped apart, and there were blood clots at the corners of his eyes. Magistrate Gu Tongshan of Wan Nian Prefecture limped along on crutches, wearing only one wing of his black hat, walking on the main road outside Anping City that led directly to the various government offices. The low-ranking officials who saw this scene were all stunned, and a few acquaintances tried to approach him to ask what had happened, but they only saw Gu Tongshan's face reveal an expression of choosing people to bite, scaring them so much that they didn't dare ask more questions. But the more it was like this, the more officials gathered around, and the whispers among them gradually grew louder.

  "Gu Tongshan, what are you doing?! Chen Yonghua, who had rushed to the scene, was also taken aback, but seeing the subtle glances of the surrounding officials, he had no choice but to step forward and loudly rebuke him. "Look at your appearance, it's a shame to be an official! Why don't you go back and tidy up instead of losing face here?!"

  "It's Lord Chen, the Chief Commissioner!" Seeing Chen Yonghua take personal charge, Gu Tongshan sneered coldly and put back on his official hat, which had lost its shape. He bowed deeply and asked in a tone that made one feel suffocated, "Your subordinate asks for instruction, Chief Commissioner: embezzling official land and beating up incumbent officials - what crime should be punished?"

  "Have you been beaten by someone?" Chen Yonghua was taken aback, and then flew into a rage. "Who is it? Who has the audacity to assault a fifth-rank official of this prefecture! Do they want to start a rebellion or something?"

  "It's not someone else, but the three nobles: Shouning Bo (Zheng Ming), Minqing Bo (Zheng Zhi) and Jianning Bo (Zheng Rou)!" Chen Yonghua and the officials on the side took a cold breath, and then heard Gu Tongshan continue. "The three nobles have occupied 4,000 mu of official land in the state, and when the state's servants went to investigate, they were bitten by vicious dogs from the nobles' households. I personally went to stop them, but was beaten up, and the three nobles said that this is their Zheng family's territory, and we are just like hawks, dogs, and slaves, daring to bite back at our masters, it's not acceptable if we don't teach you a lesson." These words were hurtful, and for a moment, there was an uproar on the side. "I, as a lone official, cannot resist the power of the nobles' servants, so I had no choice but to humbly seek help from the Grand Governor, if the Grand Governor cannot uphold justice, then I will have to resign."

  Looking at Gu Tongshan standing there with his hat off and his head bowed, waiting for him to respond, Chen Yonghua felt that one head had three big ones. Since the matter involved Zheng's son, the problem was not so simple after all. After all, they were flesh and blood brothers with Zhu Jin, and Dong Guotai was also there, Zhu Jin would never hurt his relatives by taking drastic measures.

  But if the emotions of the officials are not comforted, then people's hearts will be scattered and it will be difficult to lead the team.

  Chen Yonghua was thinking of a countermeasure while secretly regretting, if he had known earlier, he would not have come out to publicly accuse Gu Tongshan's wrongdoing. But now it's too late, he has already implicated himself. Since Gu Tongshan has already made his plea to the public, Chen Yonghua can no longer shirk responsibility and had to try to mediate first.

  Someone came and went to invite Shouning Bo, Minqing Bo, and Jianning Bo to have a conversation. Also, let the imperial physician treat Gu's injury.

  ??”

  Chen Yonghua originally wanted to give Zheng Ming and others a step down, as long as they returned the official land, he would apologize to Gu Tongshan on their behalf, and this matter would be settled. However, Chen Yonghua did not expect that Zheng Ming and others did not take him, the Dongning General, seriously at all. Not only did they refuse to attend, but they also made a statement that those 4,000 mu of official land were theirs for sure, and it was impossible to return them. If Chen Yonghua wanted to go and report to Zhu Jin, he could just go ahead.

  "Too arrogant!" Chen Yonghua was also furious. "Come, take my military token and order the brave guards to deploy immediately, and dig up all the sugarcane on the official land occupied by Shouningbo and others. If any of the three officials' slaves dare to block them, kill them without mercy!"

  "Stop!" Yang Xian was originally discussing with Chen Yonghua about using cement to repair the two state schools, but at this moment, he heard Chen Yonghua's decisive decision after his sudden anger and immediately loudly blocked him. "Nonsense!" After scolding this sentence, Yang Xian waved his hand and let the listening servant retreat. "Kill without mercy? What if Shou Ningbo and others are also there? Should they be killed too?"

  Ginger is still old and spicy, being slightly lenient with Yang Xian, Chen Yonghua immediately discovered his own mistake. That's right, hurting others doesn't matter, but if he unintentionally hurts Zheng Ming and the others, a basin of unavoidable treacherous water will be poured on his head immediately. Even if he didn't hurt Zheng Ming and the others, it is originally a taboo for a powerful minister to arbitrarily deploy troops.

  "Yang's reminder is still valid." Chen Yonghua sincerely thanked Yang Xian, but soon furrowed his brow again. "Shou Nianbo has nothing to fear, and even if he were to be brought before the Emperor, it's unlikely that he would be reined in. This can be tolerated, but what's worrying is that it might add to the Emperor's concerns about the instability of Dong Ning while he's preoccupied with the Western Expedition. This is where we, as officials, have failed."

  "Yes, I can't share your worries, and on top of that, I have to worry about everything for the emperor. It's really not the way a minister should be." Yang Xian also had a headache. "But if we let Shou Nian Bo and others occupy the national treasury and official land, first, the national treasury will suffer losses, and second, it won't look good for the officials either." This was exactly where Chen Yonghua was having trouble, just as Chen Yonghua was sighing in frustration, Yang Xian suddenly had an idea. "Fuzi, I have a plan, since this matter was caused by Yuanzi, why not let Yuanzi take charge of it?"

  ??”

  Zheng Kezang was of course aware of the situation with Gu Tongshan. Although Zheng Ming's occupation of official land was not his doing, he was pleased to see it happen. The first harvest of newly planted sugarcane requires eighteen months, and Zheng Ming would not have had so much patience to wait for the sugarcane in their fields to grow slowly. In order to obtain excess profits and make up for the loss of a year and a half, they would inevitably take drastic measures to expand the planting area, and occupying official land was the fastest and most direct way. As long as they took this step, the development of subsequent events had a good chance of falling into his predetermined track.

  He naturally showed a difficult expression when Chen Yonghua came to the door: "Mr. Chen should know that Yu Zhuan is only 14 years old, how can he be the master of several uncles? It's better to go directly to his grandmother."

  Go find Empress Dowager Dong? Zheng Kezang's words were just a cold joke. It must be known that although Zhu Jin was still quite respectful to Empress Dowager Dong in daily life, he would absolutely not let her interfere with state affairs. The reason for this was naturally clear to Chen Yonghua: Who has ever seen an emperor who likes the empress dowager to continue handling state affairs after taking power? If so, how could Chen Yonghua, as Zhu Jin's important minister, possibly go through the trouble of laboring Empress Dowager Dong without going through Zhu Jin first? Isn't this choosing political suicide?

  "It's better not to bother the Empress Dowager with such trivial matters." As it involved the power struggle within the palace, Chen Yonghua couldn't speak clearly to Zheng Kezang and had to take a detour. He rejected Zheng Kezang's proposal on the grounds that Zheng Rou was Zhu Sheng's concubine-born son. "Besides, there's also the Marquis of Jianning, it's not good for the Empress Dowager to handle this."

  Zheng Kezang listened and shook his head slightly: "What's wrong with handling it properly, a bowl of water can be balanced."

  Chen Yonghua smiled lightly: "If we really want to share a bowl of water evenly, then Fu Ningbo's sugar mill should be shared with other brothers."

  "Mr. Chen's words are unreasonable." Zheng Kezang shook his head. "I've heard people say that it doesn't matter if you're fast or slow, but the one who gets there first shouldn't have to be humble and courteous in order to get along with their family and neighbors. If that were true, then Father King's title of Prince of Yanping could also be given up." This remark left Chen Yonghua speechless, and just as the situation was about to break down, Zheng Kezang cleared his throat. "Actually, I think Mr. Chen has gotten things backwards in this matter."

  "Putting the cart before the horse?" Chen Yonghua was taken aback. "Please speak clearly, young master."

  The current biggest problem in Taiwan is the lack of official income, which cannot meet the needs of the Western Expeditionary Army and the officials above and below. Therefore, it had to be widely opened up for official fields, imitating the Emperor Taizu's Wei Suotun Tian.

  As the saying goes, "when you are desperate, you will see the light at the end of the tunnel." At this time, Zheng Kezang put his own intentions on stage. "The official fields guarantee the needs of Taiwanese officials and troops. Once they are embezzled, it will inevitably affect the use of official funds. Is that right?" Chen Yonghua nodded, and then Zheng Kezang continued.

  "My father conquered the mainland, occupied several provinces, but many of them were repeatedly attacked, and the position was not stable after all. In the end, it still had to rely on Dongning's corner to support it. Is that right?" Chen Yonghua nodded again.

  "If so, why not focus on managing Taiwan? Taking advantage of our large army dominating the mainland, why not take more people to Taiwan to consolidate the foundation? At first, no taxes were added for one or two years to benefit the people, but three to five years later, wouldn't it be like adding a county? The more civilians are settled, the more official income there is, and the military source can also be sufficient.

  ??”

  "The source of soldiers is sufficient, and this vassal state will not need to rely on the newly attached army." Chen Yonghua was a civil administration expert, so he naturally understood Zheng Kecang's reasoning. "The young master speaks very reasonably, I will report it to the emperor, but," Chen Yonghua after all was an old hand in politics and wasn't led astray by Zheng Kecang's words. "However, the matter of official land has not been resolved yet."

  "How could that be?" Zheng Kezang chuckled like a sly fox. "How are mainland immigrants organized when they come to Taiwan? Who is chosen as the head of the village? Who is the first in command? And who is the leader of the card? Generally, the head of the village, the first in command and the leader of the card are all selected from the town's residents and officials. Isn't it that the original land has to be returned to the government? Doesn't this mean that the official land is regained? Moreover, among the ten households under one card, only the leader of the card is an old Taiwan resident who is not in a favorable position to control the local area, so we can't help but insert another household or two."

  "The young master's plan is indeed brilliant." Chen Yonghua also wanted to understand that this was actually a trick to get something for nothing, in other words, it was an exchange, using tax exemptions and giving more wasteland to get fertile land from the original tenants, creating a time difference. As for how to operate, he even had a plan in mind immediately. "However, immigrating to Taiwan, on the one hand, costs a lot, on the other hand, farming tools and seeds are still good to prepare, but how can we get cattle, horses, and houses? In addition, expanding outside the settlements will inevitably lead to conflicts with various tribes, and now that Taiwan's military is insufficient, how will we respond at that time?"

  "The cattle and horses will find a way to transport from the mainland, as for the houses, aren't there cement? Can build a kind of prefabricated house."

  As soon as Chen Yonghua heard this, a thought flashed through his mind: could all of this be manipulated by this teenager in his early teens? Otherwise, how could it be so coincidental that Zheng Kezang had just exchanged the cement manufacturing process and then suddenly came up with the idea of migrating to Taiwan.

  "With cement, we can build strong forts at the fastest speed to defend against the enemy, which should be enough to hold out until the arrival of reinforcements. As for the huge expenses, just plant sugarcane on the newly allocated official land."

  Chen Yonghua's doubts grew more and more serious, but following Zheng Kezang's line of thinking, it couldn't be denied that it was a solution. Moreover, considering the threat from the Pingpu barbarians, mobilizing troops and officials from various towns also seemed reasonable: "Where will the grain come from?"

  "With the money to go to Annan and Siam to buy, it is said that grain is quite cheap there. The money to buy a ship of grain in Taiwan can buy two or three ships there, so even if the road is a bit far and there are risks at sea. But within one or two years, it may be possible to make up for the deficiency of Dongdu."

  "What if Wan Yi Shou Ning Bo and his men continue to occupy the official land?"

  "Mr. Chen's words are somewhat tactless."

  Zheng Kezang looked at his opponent with a seemingly smiling yet not quite smiling expression, as if to say, "Your little tricks are already transparent to me."

  "Sugarcane cultivation requires a lot of manpower, the government can mobilize civilians for labor service, but do those few uncles have so many hands? So even if their appetite is big, they will be stuffed for a while"

  ??”

  "What?" Chen Yonghua was speechless.

  "Alright, alright!" Zheng Kezang stood up from his seat. "Mr. Chen, where is that Governor Gu? I'll apologize to him on behalf of my uncles and we can consider this matter settled."

  Although he knew that Zheng Kezang was trying to buy people's hearts, Chen Yonghua refused to accept it and instead pretended to be very pleased: "The young master has a good heart."

  "As long as you don't mention my name, it's fine." Zheng Kezang brought up the old topic again. "Right, in Mr. Chen's memorial to the emperor, be sure not to mention my name, just say it's your own idea."

  "What?" Chen Yonghua looked deeply at Zheng Kecang, and it wasn't until now that he truly realized the maturity of the young man in front of him. Thinking that this person was the future heir of the principality, he hastily bowed his head. "I dare not disobey!"