Chapter 649: Credibility

Editor: Atlas Studios

Wei Heizi squatted in a corner as he listened to the people in the village arguing. He could not help but feel a little anxious.

Yesterday, the junior officer came to inform them that the Prince’s estate wanted to acquire their salted vegetables, dried prickly pears, and other small items. The junior officer advised them to accept a promissory note instead of cash because it was more cost-effective. When the Princess Consort returned from buying grains from the capital, she would first exchange the grains for the promissory notes before selling whatever grain remained.

However, the villagers did not really want to accept the promissory notes, for they were doubtful if the promissory notes could be exchanged for grains in the future. Money felt like a more reliable option. Sighing, the junior officer persuaded them, “Surely the Prince’s estate won’t cheat us of this small amount of money? Also, with the government office taking the lead, I believe they won’t default on payment.”

The villagers didn’t say anything and only thought to themselves, ‘It’s precisely because the government office is taking the lead that we don’t trust them.’

Should the Prince’s estate deny them the exchange later on, it would be hard for them to seek redress.

The junior officer could only sigh when he saw this. He was a respected elder in this area, which was why the government office asked him to speak with them. However, no one trusted the government office, and there was nothing he could do about it.

After everyone left, the junior officer stood up leisurely with his hands behind his back. Wei Heizi hurriedly ran over to support him. With his eyes narrowed, the junior officer looked at him for a long time before realizing who it was. “Heizi, it’s you?”

Wei Heizi smiled in embarrassment. “Sixth Granduncle, I’ll send you back.”

The junior officer nodded slowly. When they reached their house, Wei Heizi asked at the door, “Sixth Granduncle, is your family going to exchange your goods for money or promissory notes?”

“Promissory note,” the junior officer replied calmly. It wasn’t that he had great faith in the government office, but he was actually doing this with the mentality of taking a gamble.

When Wei Heizi heard the junior officer’s words, he immediately calmed down. After returning home, he said to his parents and wife, “Our family will accept the promissory notes.”

Mother Wei hesitated. “What if they go back on their word?”

Wei Heizi gritted his teeth and said, “That won’t happen. Even Sixth Granduncle is accepting the promissory notes. He won’t let himself suffer a loss. If they renege on this, we’ll just consider ourselves unlucky.”

Wei Heizi lowered his head and said, “Father, Mother, I’ve calculated. Our family’s goods are only worth 200 to 300 copper coins. With the current grain prices, we’ll only be able to buy a few catties of rice with that amount of money.”

“Didn’t they say that Her Highness’s grain prices are low?”

“Let’s accept the promissory notes first. Considering there are so many rich people in the city, we might not be able to snatch any of the remaining grains.”

After looking at each other, Father and Mother Wei agreed with their son’s decision. The same went for Wei Heizi’s wife.

In the Prince’s Residence, Mu Yangling flipped through the account book and sighed. “Everyone from the Miao stockades are accepting promissory notes. Not a single one of them wants money. On the Han side, it’s the opposite. The elders kept persuading them and even took the lead to accept the promissory notes. However, in the end, only a third of them were willing to take the promissory notes.”

Qi Haoran frowned. “Is the appeal of the Miao stockade chieftains so strong?” This was a threat to the country and the military.

However, what Mu Yangling was concerned about was, “The credibility of the government office is too weak. Haoran, we should think of a way to increase the credibility of the Imperial Court. They have to fulfill all their promises to the people. Only then will the people have a sense of belonging to Great Qi.”

“What’s credibility?”

“It’s the power of the people’s trust. The credibility of the Imperial Court refers to the people’s trust in the Imperial Court. This time, we’ve asked the government office to step forward and even gotten the respected elders take the lead. Even then, only one-third of the people are willing to believe us. It can be seen how poor the government office’s credibility is. We can’t rule out the possibility of incidents of coercion.”

After Mu Yangling finished explaining, Qi Haoran knew how important this thing was. He looked at Mu Yangling with bright eyes and asked, “How can this thing be improved?”

“We can only take it one step at a time. First of all, aside from fulfilling the promises made to the people, the Imperial Court has to try its best to help the people escape poverty and prosper. The human heart is made of flesh. As long as the Imperial Court is honest and puts its people first, over time, the people’s trust in the Imperial Court and the country will increase. Once the country is in trouble, they won’t give up on the country easily.” Mu Yangling said softly, “Or give up on the royal Qi family.”

Qi Haoran’s eyes lit up. “I’ll write a secret memo to Big Brother and ask him to eat more cured pork and dried prickly pear…”

That was just a joke. Though, Qi Haoran did seriously write to Qi Xiuyuan a proposal about increasing the credibility of the Imperial Court.

Qi Xiuyuan kept the secret memo and did not show it to anyone. He knew what his brother meant. Not only did the Imperial Court’s credibility have to increase, but the royal family’s credibility also had to increase.

Not only did the people have to have a sense of belonging to Great Qi, but they also had to have a sense of belonging and trust in the Qi family, the royal family of Great Qi. This was because only in this way could the Qi family’s position remain rock solid, even if there were changes in the country.

This was not something that could be achieved overnight. It required the tireless efforts of several generations.

Qi Xiuyuan put away the secret memo and planned to pass it down to the future generations.

Right now, there was something that could be done to increase the credibility of the royal family. After Qi Xiuyuan hugged Little Treasure, he said to the Empress, “This time, Qiannan has sent into the palace many ‘local specialties’. Tell the imperial kitchen to use the ingredients sent by Qiannan for dinner tonight.”

Thinking of what was written on the gift list just now, Li Jinghua was stunned. “We’re going to eat those things?”

Qi Xiuyuan said with a smile, “Let’s just try it. Haoran said that he has eaten it before and it tastes pretty good.” With Little Treasure in his arms, he said with a smile, “Little Treasure, let’s try the food that Little Bear eats in Qiannan tonight, okay?”

Little Treasure nodded repeatedly.

Hence, just as the courtiers received the tribute convoy from Qiannan in the capital, before they could find out what the tribute was, there was news that the Emperor had eaten the “tribute” at night and even praised it.

Hence, all the ministers knew that the Emperor was very satisfied with the tribute this time because even a fool knew that it must have been the Emperor who took the initiative to release this news.

What a joke. The Emperor had ascended the throne for half a year and there weren’t many in his harem. The Empress had held the harem under tight control and ensured no news leaked. How did the news of the tribute entering the capital spread so quickly?

News of this spread immediately after the Emperor had his dinner, so it was obvious who did it.

Moreover, the news was half-hidden. It was only said that the Emperor liked the “tribute” given by Qiannan, but nobody knew what the tribute was, only that it was food. However, what precious food items did Qiannan have?

Could it be something like the “Lipu yam”?

They figured the Emperor only did this because he doted on Prince Rong so much that he was afraid that the courtiers would impeach Prince Rong tomorrow. Hmph, they would not do such a thankless thing. Although they did not agree with Prince Rong’s method of offering tribute and wasting the people’s money and efforts, there was no need for them to go against the Emperor over such a trivial matter.

There was really no need for the Emperor to eat the tributes in such a hurry to express his attitude.

However, this idea only lasted until the court meeting the next day. When Qiannan’s gift list was officially announced, the ministers were stunned. Why were the tributes so cheap?

Before anyone could question Qi Haoran and accuse him of deceiving the Emperor, Yan Du stepped forward and said, “What great news for His Majesty and the people of Great Qi. Although Prince Rong has offered tribute, he did not do so at the expense of the commoners. It’s truly a blessing for Great Qi.”

As he spoke, he cried bitterly and started to talk about the suffering of the Lipu citizens who were forced to plant tributes, as well as the dear price the Fuzhou citizens paid to harvest pearls. He cried until he was so agitated that he even knelt down and said, “In the previous dynasty, my father once advised Emperor Jingyan that we should abolish the practice of offering such tributes so as to ease the burden on the people…”

Chapter end