Dressed as a young lady, she became rich by relying on Pinxixi

Chapter 151 A Thief Has No Guilty Feeling

Xu Siyu still felt a little guilty when she spoke, after all, there were people making weapons and firearms on her hands.

She was not a militarist, but she had been taught that "dignity lies only on the edge of the sword, and truth only within the range of the cannon."

Her city must have both civil governance and military might.

The most basic thing is to have the ability to defend yourself.

To be honest, it was only after she became the lord of a city that she began to understand why warlords fought for separatist power and why border generals secretly accumulated powerful troops.

In this era, no one is truly worthy of trust.

Once you are involved in power, you cannot avoid suspicion and retaliation.

She had to protect herself as much as possible.

"Tell me, what do you want?" Xu Siyu didn't argue with Pingxiang. As long as she acted frankly enough, nothing would happen this time.

Pingxiang definitely didn't come to settle accounts with Xu Siyu.

He was a straightforward man, so he was naturally happy to speak directly: "Food, medicine, as much as you can get?"

"Are you short of food too?" Xu Siyu was surprised.

Pingxiang had allocated a lot of land to her from Xu Zhuang, and with the large output of potatoes and sweet potatoes, even if they couldn't be supplied this season, the stored grain should be enough.

The people sitting in the upper seat felt that Xu Siyu was too indifferent to state affairs.

"Do you think only the southwest is suffering? The snow in the northwest and northern borders is even thicker than in the southwest, and the ground is still frozen, making it difficult to plant. Elsewhere, city-wide epidemics have broken out. Jiangling Prefecture alone lost 50,000 people. 'Every family is mourning corpses, every room is filled with wailing. Some families have lost their entire families, others entire clans have lost their entire families.' Even the capital of Yanping is no exception... The only exception in the entire Ming Dynasty is probably your small but sturdy city of Lezhou."

Xu Siyu knew whether this was a compliment or not, so she responded, "Haha, the entire city of Lezhou has less than 15,000 people, so it can't compare to the difficulty of governing the major prefectures."

Pingxiang drank the ginseng tea that Xu Siyu prepared for her, took a deep breath, and said, "There are 30,000 people in Yicheng, don't you take care of them?"

"Your Highness, please don't misunderstand me! I didn't interfere in the affairs of Yicheng County. If Your Highness is talking about the fact that colleagues from neighboring counties gave money to buy food and medicine at the beginning of the epidemic, they took the initiative to ask for it. I also gave some away because I saw that my family had enough money. If I had known that the city would be closed due to the epidemic later, I would not have sold it. You don't know that we in Lezhou also managed to survive until there was not a single cow or chicken left in the city. Alas, I originally planned to transport some cattle and sheep from my Siye Ranch back to Lezhou to supplement the meat supply in the city, but who knew that the ranch replied that they were requisitioned by the border army at the beginning of the heavy snow and have not yet been settled. How can I return them?"

From the recent to the distant past, Xu Siyu not only explained her situation in Lezhou, but also timely talked about the losses suffered by her northern ranch.

To be honest, Xu Siyu was still a little angry that all the cattle and sheep were dragged away by the border troops.

If she had known this would happen, she would have returned the Siye ranch to the court when she dealt with the assets last time.

How could she raise thousands of cattle and sheep when she couldn't even eat a single one?

In the end, Pin Xixi bought a hundred calves and lambs, pretending that they were bought from the north, and put them on the ranch in Lezhou to raise them again.

Pingxiang knew about the forced conscription by the border troops.

Not only did he know this, but some of his subordinates also did the same.

Still, it was a bit awkward to be pressed on how to repay the debt. "Well... I will write to my father and ask him to compensate you."

"Well, since you don't want the land, let's just calculate the money." Xu Siyu spoke directly.

She was really afraid that Emperor Ming would give her another pasture, which would nominally be hers but would actually be used to help the army raise cattle and sheep for free.

Ping Xiang, however, threw her another offer: "Yicheng, do you want it?"

Hearing this, Xu Siyu asked in astonishment: "Your Majesty, do you know that you ceded land on his behalf?"

"This isn't ceding land. Even if it's given to you, it's still Ming territory. Besides, if the output from your jurisdiction can be paid to the court, I believe my father will approve."

Xu Siyu: ...

Pingxiang also took into consideration Xu Siyu's ability and his troop deployment before proposing to use the city to compensate Xu Siyu.

He had 30,000 elite soldiers under Changjia Prefecture and 20,000 under Jincheng Prefecture, keeping an eye on Lezhou from the east and north. Lezhou was surrounded by mountains to the west and south, so there was really no need for him to set up a 2,000-man camp in Yicheng just to monitor whether Xu Siyu would rebel against the Ming Dynasty.

In Pingxiang's personal opinion, Xu Siyu is not the kind of person who has the ambition to dominate.

Earlier, when my father ascended the throne, my third brother Pingchi suggested that Xu Siyu be brought to the central court and empowered, saying that she had the power to change the world.

The Crown Princess also agreed.

However, my father and elder brother did not agree.

They were worried about her loyalty and rewarded her with a remote place, but they didn't know whether it was right or wrong.

Hearing Ping Xiang's suggestion, Xu Siyu was very calm: "Back then, I donated more than 400,000 taels of materials to be granted the title of Lezhou. Now, with 2,000 cattle and sheep, I am given a city. Isn't this too bad? Yicheng County is even bigger than Lezhou."

Now, Xu Siyu's mentality is no longer as simple and happy as when she first heard Feng Decheng.

She was already worried enough about Lezhou City, so how could she have the energy to take over another city?

"This is not a fiefdom, it is just under your jurisdiction."

"Haha, forget it. Gold and silver are the most practical." Xu Siyu understood that Pingxiang wanted her to work for nothing.

She doesn't want to.

At this moment, Xu Siyu's eyes were rolling up to the sky. Pingxiang felt that he should let his father and elder brother take a look. Even so, you are still afraid that such a person will rob your country of its destiny.

"Only gold and silver? Isn't the gold in your back mountain enough?"

"Well, the more the better. After all, you can't give me what I want."

Insult, this is an insult!

Ping Xiang was secretly angry and said, "Tell me, what compensation do you really want?"

Seeing Pingxiang's sincere question, Xu Siyu asked him, "Can we increase the number of troops stationed in Lezhou to 1,000?"

"Why do you need so many soldiers?"

"Look at the hundred soldiers stationed in Lezhou now. They all serve as the city guards. Guards are stationed in all four directions, with only twenty men rotating in each direction, leaving twenty for patrols. The guards at my City Lord's Mansion and the city's granaries are all men chosen from the people. Not to mention the salt wells and coal mines, which require oversight, and there are no soldiers available.

Lezhou clearly needs military guards, but they haven't provided any. Since the court is wary of me, why not just stop talking about letting me govern myself and take over the military supervision?"

Xu Siyu only realized that many things were unreasonable after taking over.

Rather than being a reward, the court gave Xu Siyu Lezhou City, which was actually a way of getting something for nothing.

With Xu Siyu's help, he gained a good reputation by being stingy.

Oh, he was still plundered. The salt wells and gold mines hidden by the former officials offset Xu Siyu's previous efforts.