Chapter 2623 - 2596: Coming Back to His Senses

Why is the court trying to redeem these lands back? Because the price they were sold for was far too low back then.

Some of these lands were sold at only one-third of the market price, while others were sold at one-fifth or even less.

This all happened when Qizhou experienced a natural disaster or faced large expenditures, and the Governor’s office claimed a shortage of funds in the treasury as the reason for selling them.

Now the court redeems them at the original price.

What’s infuriating is that the Ministry of Revenue wants them to use the land to offset debts, but not directly at the current market price, rather at the price each parcel was redeemed for.

This essentially means that Qizhou is reselling the selected lands to the Ministry of Revenue at one-fourth, one-fifth or even lower prices.

Can Governor Yu agree to this?

Of course not.

He’s practically exploding with anger, isn’t he?

However, such vast official land cannot all be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue. Must he report every allocation of individual fields after each autumn?

Not to mention how much work that would delay, it essentially exposes Qizhou’s internal affairs under the Ministry of Revenue’s eyes. As the paternal official of Qizhou, can Governor Yu agree to this?

Naturally, he can’t agree.

Thus, Bai Shan saw a memorial at the Central Secretariat, cursing Minister Liu three hundred times.

Bai Shan looked through it, tossed it aside, and classified it as a worthless memorial because these memorials don’t reach the emperor’s hand; the Central Secretariat can directly respond to them.

In the spirit of camaraderie, Bai Shan wrote a letter to Governor Yu advising, "Why not negotiate the price?"

This isn’t a battlefield confrontation where insults might provoke the enemy into rash acts, making it easier to defeat them. This is the court; such verbal warfare is ineffective and merely stirs up animosity.

Since the Ministry of Revenue has set a price, Qizhou can counteroffer if they’re interested. If they’re dissatisfied, they should propose another solution, or they’ll always be led by the Ministry of Revenue.

Bai Shan handed the letter to his household guard, saying, "Deliver this to Qizhou as fast as possible, stay an extra two days, and bring back any reply. If there’s no reply, don’t bring back anything."

Manbao asked curiously, "You’ve become friends with Governor Yu?"

Otherwise, why get involved in the dispute between Qizhou and the Ministry of Revenue?

Due to this incident, they only fought through memorials, with other ministers remaining aloof, so it didn’t even reach the status of a major court assembly. If Bai Shan hadn’t been at the Central Secretariat, she wouldn’t have known about it.

Indeed, she, as an imperial physician, naturally wouldn’t be involved in such state affairs, nor was it necessary to know.

Bai Shan chuckled, "This not only helps Governor Yu but also helps Minister Liu and the people of Qizhou."

He said, "Governor Yu’s concerns are correct; Qizhou’s affairs should be handled by Qizhou. If individual fields need to first pass through the Ministry of Revenue, the back-and-forth could delay the autumn sowing of wheat, which isn’t beneficial to the people. I think Minister Liu also has no intention of controlling Qizhou’s affairs, but the conditions are a bit harsh, making the price need to be lower."

"But perhaps Governor Yu is too enraged to consider this."

Indeed, after the memorial was sent out, Governor Yu didn’t think about it for two days. His anger subsided, and he began to reflect.

The historical clerk came to remind him, "Sir, since the Ministry has set a price, we might as well offer a counterprice. I’m sure His Majesty will side with us."

But his previous memorial had already cursed Minister Liu’s ancestors...

Just then, Bai Shan’s letter arrived, and Governor Yu let out a sigh of relief after reading it.

The historical clerk looked at him with concern, "Sir..."

Governor Yu waved his hand, saying, "It’s fine, go write a memorial saying that we can offset debts with land, but at the current market price, set the price higher, it’s good for negotiations."

The historical clerk was delighted, bowing and retreating after seeing his advice taken.

The deputy general came over, "Sir, about the memorial you wrote last time..."

He had stood by and watched; he felt if someone cursed him that way, he wouldn’t bother negotiating, but instead would make things as unpleasant for the other party as possible.

Governor Yu said, "The memorial was intercepted by Bai Shan and didn’t reach the Emperor."

He stroked his beard, "This time, I owe him a small favor."

The memorial was intercepted at the Central Secretariat; the official responsible for responding glanced at the entire text, found it to be useless cursing, and decisively marked it with a small red cross before sending it to the Imperial Secretariat.

The Imperial Secretariat reviewed it, confirmed it was without issue, and tossed it into the wastebasket.

Memorials in the wastebasket have two destinations: one is directly stored in the archive room and destroyed when past its retention period; the other is sent back to the individual, letting the writer know how useless their memorial was, not even making it through the Central Secretariat.

Now that Bai Shan is frequently moving between the two departments, he understands some of the tricks. If a place is nearby, and memorials are frequently exchanged, with low transmission costs, they send it back.

If far away, with few memorials exchanged, it’s directly stored in the archive room.

If not for the rule requiring memorials to be archived a certain time for future reference, such useless ones would be directly destroyed.

So Minister Liu never knew there was ever a memorial cursing him and his ancestors. Two days later, he simply received Qizhou’s counteroffer.

He was delighted, finally feeling the matter was on the right track, and started to happily negotiate with Qizhou.

After all, ginger seems to grow spicier with age. Liu Huan remarked while meeting during their day off, "My grandfather has been happy these past two days, walking with a certain flair."

Zhou Man said, "His Majesty has been quite happy lately too. Despite the heat, he can eat three large bowls in one meal."

Bai Shan smothered a laugh and asked, "Then did he summon you to check his intestines and stomach?"

Manbao replied, "Nothing major, I prescribed him sour plum soup, just drink a bowl each afternoon and evening."

Mingda said, "I’ll go visit Father at the palace tomorrow."

A familiar voice called from downstairs, prompting Zhou Man to rush to the window and look down. Seeing Lord Tang help Madam Tang out of the carriage, she happily waved to them, "Senior Brother Tang, we’re on the second floor."

Tang He glanced up, smiled slightly, and accompanied Madam Tang upstairs.

Seeing the room full of people, Tang He was momentarily speechless. Wasn’t he invited for a meal, but ended up with so many people?

Bai Shan happily welcomed them; everyone was familiar, so no introductions were necessary; after exchanging greetings, they sat down.

Madam Tang sat on the other side of Princess Mingda and said with a smile, "Why didn’t the Princess go to Princess Danyang’s summer banquet?"

Mingda smiled, "I suffer a little in summer, and Aunt knows, so I didn’t go."

However, Princess Changyu and her husband did attend.

Madam Tang also found summer banquets less enjoyable and found an excuse not to go.

Lord Tang sat next to Bai Shan, shook his head and whispered, "You’re quite cunning, clarify—is it really you treating, or are you all treating together?"

"Naturally, I’m treating," Bai Shan said, "Senior Brother Tang, do I look like someone who would use someone else’s money to host a gathering?"

Lord Tang thought for a moment and agreed, then laughed.