Tianliangyuan

Chapter 242 No soldier is defeated without a fight.

Money is easy to deal with, since Xu Zhaozhao is not short of money now, but people are a more troublesome issue.

Where is she going to find people to recruit?

The population of the Daxing Dynasty is not particularly large, so since the late emperor, the country has been encouraging childbirth.

The current emperor has intensified efforts to encourage childbirth and has even repeatedly advocated for widows to remarry.

Even so, the population of Daxing is still not very large.

"You don't need to worry about the money. What are your thoughts on personnel?"

"Your Highness, if you need people, and you're not in a hurry to fill our estate, then you can hire people to do the work first."

"Yes, you can hire people to work in Lantian County or the surrounding counties. No matter who comes, you must settle their wages normally and not bully them."

"Yes, little one understands."

Yan Shu came from a humble background and had experienced hardship himself, so he was unwilling to make things difficult for the poor.

When Yan Shu left this time, the guards of the Marquis's mansion escorted him along the way, carrying a considerable amount of copper coins.

If you want to hire someone to do work, you have to pay them; that's only fair.

Moreover, the only thing that ordinary people could access was copper coins.

If the family could save up a string of cash, the adults would be happy to eat an extra bowl of rice; their expectations were quite low.

As for Lantian County, things are still the same for now. Xu Zhaozhao will only go there to take a look once the main house is completed.

But right now, she's encountered another problem.

More accurately, Fu Pei ran into trouble.

After her rebirth, Jiang Ning kept an eye on Fu Pei. Although she didn't have the opportunity to contact him directly, it didn't stop her from trying to win him over.

The Jiang family has been frequently contacting Fu Pei recently, hoping to marry their daughter to him.

Fu Pei is currently just a poor scholar who has achieved the highest rank in the imperial examinations, and her official position is not high. Even if the Jiang family tries to win her over, they won't need to make too many sacrifices. She is just a concubine's daughter, which is enough to make many people envious.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Jiang family, Fu Pei should be grateful that they were willing to marry their illegitimate daughter to him.

But reality is quite different from what they imagined.

Fu Pei showed no gratitude to the Jiang family, and even seemed inclined to avoid the marriage.

Is this okay?

The Fu family was naturally angry.

The reason the Fu family wasn't in a hurry to win over Fu Pei was because the Jiang family didn't care about a mere top scholar at the time.

Later, the Jiang family encountered a series of misfortunes, and now, Old Master Jiang's health is clearly not as good as before, so the Jiang family has to make a long-term plan.

At this time, a promising top scholar from a poor family naturally caught their eye.

Being from a poor family means they are easy to control and easy to entice.

But Jiang Yanping never expected that Fu Pei would be so ungrateful!

This is too much.

In the eyes of the Jiang family, we are already doing you a favor by accepting you, a poor man, as a relative, but you dare to be ungrateful. Then you can expect the Jiang family's revenge.

After that, Fu Pei indeed encountered many setbacks in his official career.

Some people tried to trip him up, his memorials were suppressed, and other officials recommended him to the emperor several times, but the Jiang family interfered with those efforts...

In short, anyone the Jiang family cannot acquire is an enemy.

This action thoroughly enraged Fu Pei.

He may come from a poor family, but that doesn't mean he's easy to bully!

Fu Pei naturally took action as well. Moreover, he had a mentor when he participated in the scientific expedition. In addition, he also had his former teachers, colleagues, and so on, who could all become his helpers.

However, it was clearly not enough to deal with a behemoth like the Jiang family.

On this day, Xu Junting invited Fu Pei into the Marquis's residence.

"We all know that you've been criticized by your superiors and made things difficult by your colleagues these past few days. We invited you here today, Brother Fu, simply to ask what your plans are?"

Fu Pei sighed, "I have done my best. If I still can't beat the Jiang family, I might as well resign and go back to my hometown to farm. It would be better than suffering their wrath."

"This is acting impulsively!"

Xu Junting clearly disagreed with this statement.

But Fu Pei remained resolute: "I will not marry a woman from the Jiang family, and I will not side with the Jiang family. Do you think the Jiang family can control everything in the court?"

In the past, the Jiang family would never have dared to make such a big move, because Fu Pei and Xu Junting were on good terms, a fact known to everyone in the capital.

However, now that Marquis Xu is leading his second son on a distant expedition, and most of the people Marquis Xu associates with are military generals, there are few people who can stand up to protect Xu Junting at this time, let alone Fu Pei, who has no family ties with him!

It was obvious that Fu Pei had also realized this, which is why he had not sought help from the Marquis's mansion until now.

But Xu Junting saw it all. As a friend, how could he stand idly by?

"Listen to me about this. We can discuss it. Even if we're not as smart as you, there's always strength in numbers. Why do you have to shoulder this burden all by yourself?"

"The Jiang family is clearly targeting me, so I naturally can't drag you all into this. Now that the Marquis is away, almost half of the military officers in the court who are on good terms with him have gone to the battlefield. At this time, I can't let the Marquis have to worry about family matters. There's no room for error on the battlefield. I appreciate your good intentions, but I, Fu Pei, am not the kind of ungrateful person who would do anything to forget your debts!"

If it weren't for my virtuous brother's helping hand, I would probably have starved to death on my way home, and how could I have had the opportunity to become an official? Now, I've achieved the highest rank in the imperial examination, bringing glory to my family. Even if I resign and return home, I'll have done right by my ancestors."

"Then how can you face the Marquis's mansion that lent you a helping hand?"

This sound stunned Fu Pei on the spot.

As the person outside slowly entered, Fu Pei stiffly stood up and bowed, saying, "This humble official greets the County Princess."

"No gift."

Xu Zhaozhao took her seat, and a relaxed expression appeared on Xu Junting's face. With his sister taking charge, any trouble could surely be resolved.

Don't ask, the answer is that I have an inexplicable confidence in my younger sister!

Fu Pei was still a little nervous in front of his sweetheart.

Coupled with the aura of authority emanating from Xu Zhaozhao, he didn't even dare to raise his head.

"Fu Pei, you have studied diligently for twenty years, and now that you have finally entered the court as an official, are you only thinking of resigning and returning to your hometown when you encounter difficulties? If so, why did you become an official in the first place?"

"It was a moment of misunderstanding on my part. I just felt that this matter was troublesome, and I was unwilling to bow down to the Jiang family, nor did I want to involve any other innocent people. That's why I had some thoughts of giving up on myself. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

"As men, we fight on the frontier to protect our borders; as scholars, we assist the ruler in governing the country and protect our people. Our Xu family has no soldiers who are defeated without a fight, only the spirits of the Xu family who fight to the last moment and die in battle!"

Fu Pei was deeply moved, and Xu Junting was even more excited.

"I have learned a lot! I made a slip of the tongue today, and I hope the county magistrate will forgive me."