My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1682: Don't judge a person by appearance (rolling around asking for monthly tickets)
Neither the Ninth Prince nor the Thirteenth Prince responded.

The young prince continued, "We in the Wengniute tribe are different from other tribes. We don't lack water. In addition to millet and buckwheat, I heard that the emperor is trying to grow rice in the capital. I also want to try rice in the Wengniute tribe. If we can grow rice, we will offer it to the emperor so that he can taste the rice from outside the Great Wall."

Seeing that he was very excited, the Ninth Prince obviously had this idea in mind. He said vaguely, "Reclaiming wasteland is a big deal. If the pasture is destroyed, it will take ten or eight years to grow again. By then, people will die. Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious. Slow down and you'll be fine. Let's see what the court thinks first."

The Thirteenth Prince didn't know what to say, so only the Ninth Prince could speak.

As for whether it would offend anyone, the Ninth Prince didn't care.

The Thirteenth Prince knew the good intentions of the Ninth Prince, but he did not hide behind them. He said, "It's a good idea, but the risk is also great. The Wengniute tribe belongs not only to the prince, but also to other princes and noble families. If the prince wants to reclaim wasteland, will the subordinates be willing?"

The young prince looked unsure and said hesitantly, "Mother and I are looking forward to this, but the people below us have our own concerns."

The Thirteenth Prince said, "The Prince is in charge of government affairs, so he shouldn't take big steps. He should take it step by step."

The Ninth Prince also said: "If food was so easy to solve, other tribes would have taken action long ago."

The young prince nodded and said, "Thank you, Lord Beile and Lord Thirteen for your advice. I will think about it carefully again."

The topic dropped here and a few people started talking about other things.

After eating and drinking to his heart's content, the young prince was a little tipsy, so he was helped by his long-time attendant to get in the carriage and go back to his residence.

The Ninth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince looked at each other.

He seemed like an honest man before, but I didn't expect he was so careless.

The Ninth Prince asked, "Isn't that too ambitious?"

Unlike other Mongolian princes, he does not seem like a traditional lord, but rather seems to be trying to manage the place well.

The land hasn’t even been reclaimed yet, and they’re already talking about growing rice!
The Thirteenth Prince frowned slightly and was a little worried.

The status of a young prince has reached the top and there is no room for advancement. Being too ambitious may not be a good thing.

For the powerful, keeping to one's lot and observing the law is the only way to win without losing.

The Thirteenth Prince thankfully said, "Fortunately it's not too far from the capital, and it's close to the Balin tribe."

In this way, it would be easier to find out the news about the Wengniute tribe.

As it was getting dark, the Ninth Prince went back to the next yard with Shushu.

The Ninth Prince mentioned to Shushu that the young prince wanted to reclaim wasteland, and said, "It seems that he has thought about it carefully. He is probably afraid that the court will stop him. He even used Khan's father's trial to grow rice to talk about it. He plans to grow rice in Wengniute. He is really bold!"

Shushu calculated the geographical location of the Wengniute tribe in his mind, which was the Hongshan area in later generations.

Not to mention growing rice here, even further north, as far as the Ningguta area, it later became a rice base.

Shu Shu said, "As long as there is no shortage of water, we should be able to give it a try. However, how to plant and how much to plant will depend on the imperial court."

The Ninth Prince nodded and said, "Yes, if we enclose a small piece of land and grow some food for the palace, the court will not care. However, large-scale reclamation is another matter."

If the grassland is damaged and farming cannot provide enough food and clothing, the majority of the work will still be done on grazing. If the cattle and sheep have nowhere to graze, there will be chaos.

The young prince mentioned it today in private, which might be considered as testing the court's arrangements.

With the Thirteenth Prince around, he just acts as a messenger.

The Ninth Prince was only attending the banquet to make up the numbers, so he didn't worry about this.

"The hair algae is great for making soup, save some for the county princess." The Ninth Prince remembered the gift the young prince had given him before, which included the hair algae, a specialty of Wengniute.

Shu Shu said, "Keep it, and send some to the queen later."

The Ninth Prince said, "The Queen doesn't like vegetarian dishes, but this one can be made with meat and fried with minced chicken, and it will taste good."

The birthday gift from the young prince included valuable items such as gold, silver, and jade, as well as local products such as hair algae and dried bracken. It looked more pleasant than ordinary gifts, like a gift between relatives, showing a bit of intimacy...

*
The Thirteenth Prince is intelligent, and he naturally thinks of what the Ninth Prince can think of.

There is no trivial matter when it comes to dealing with the vassal state.

These young princes have just come to power. They are full of youthful vigor and courage than they appear. We must make sure they do not cause any more trouble, and we must not let them become alienated from the court. We need to be careful.

The next morning, the Thirteenth Prince entered the palace and went before the emperor.

Kangxi had just finished dealing with the memorials and was about to have breakfast when he summoned the Thirteenth Prince in.

"Have you finished your meal? Do you want to eat with me?"

Kangxi looked at his beloved youngest son with a very gentle attitude.

Among so many sons, there are four who are both talented in civil and military affairs. In addition to the crown prince, they are the third prince, the eighth prince and the thirteenth prince.

The dragon gave birth to nine sons, each of which is different.

Whether it is the Crown Prince, the Third Prince or the Eighth Prince, they all have character flaws.

As for the Thirteenth Prince, Kangxi had observed him over the past few years and found him to be open-minded and without those evil little thoughts, much better than the Third Prince and the Eighth Prince.

The Thirteenth Prince often accompanied the emperor and was much more comfortable in front of the emperor. He glanced at the dining table and said with a smile: "My son had the gold and silver steamed buns this morning, but he is still full and can have another round."

Kangxi also came of age at this age and knew that eating five meals a day was not too much.

He ordered the eunuch who served the food, "Bring bowls and chopsticks to the Thirteenth Prince."

After the dishes and chopsticks were set, the Thirteenth Prince leaned forward and sat on a small stool beside the kang.

In addition to millet steamed bread stuffed with wild vegetables, there were also diced meat cakes on the table, as well as red noodle soup and a few side dishes.

The Thirteenth Prince ate half a plate of diced meat pancakes, drank a bowl of noodle soup, and ate most of the side dishes.

He ate with relish, and even Kangxi's appetite improved, so he drank half a bowl of soup.

After the dining table was cleared away, the Thirteenth Prince brought up yesterday's banquet and the land reclamation matter mentioned by the young prince.

Kangxi listened and said thoughtfully: "The Wengniute tribe is located in the West Liaohe River, which is the former homeland of the Liao people. In the early years, the Liao people also cultivated wasteland there. Later, the Mongols occupied the West Liaohe River and abandoned the farmland and returned to grassland."

The Thirteenth Prince had never been to the Ongniute tribe, but he knew that the Ongniute tribe was next to Rehe.

Mulan Paddock was presented to the emperor by the Aohan, Kharchin and Ongniud tribes.

Since the young prince is considering farming, there will be no problem with specifying the water source.

What about the population problem?

The Thirteenth Prince considered and said, "If other tribes follow suit, then in the future, when the Mongolian tribes encounter white disasters again, will they no longer rely on the imperial court for food assistance?"

The imperial court also lost a means to control Mongolia.

Kangxi looked at the Thirteenth Prince and said, "Mongolia today is no longer the Mongolia of the Jin Dynasty. Even if he wants to manage the Ongniud tribe, it will be difficult to expand it."

During the Jin Dynasty, the Jin people implemented a "population reduction" policy against Mongolia to prevent the expansion of Mongolian tribes.

Today, the imperial court implements the "Banner and Assistant System" towards Mongolia.

A tribe is divided into two to six flags. Each flag has several lords who control pastures. The flagmen of each flag are also divided into captains, with one hundred and fifty captains forming one captain.

The entire Mongolia south of the desert was divided into more than 200 princely territories.

According to the "Da Qing Hui Dian", Mongolian princes and nobles were not allowed to cross the border to graze. Violators would be punished, and those who refused to change after repeated admonitions would be punished and stripped of their titles.

In this way, Mongolia became a big prison, with each prince confined to his own territory and pasture, unable to move.

One out of three bannermen were responsible for dispatching troops by the imperial court or maintaining the stability of the alliance banners. Most of these people were led by officials selected by the imperial court.

Although this part of Mongolian soldiers was not under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court like the Mongolian Eight Banners soldiers, the League Banner soldiers were drawn from both the northeast to guard against Tsarist Russia and the northwest to guard against Dzungar.

War is sometimes the main way to consume population.

The soldiers led by the flag owner himself only numbered a few hundred people.

The Thirteenth Prince understood the reason. This was a special favor given by the court to the Wengniu people, allowing them to reclaim wasteland and cultivate the land.

There are very few Mongolian princes as ambitious as the young prince, and they can't play any role.

After twenty or thirty years, he became wealthy and became an outlier among the princes and nobles. The court did not need to be on guard against him because the Mongolian princes and nobles would take care of him.

The Thirteenth Prince thought of the Thirteenth Princess. If her sister married the young prince and gave birth to a legitimate son, the title would be inherited by the royal grandson in the future. In that case, he still hoped that the Wengniute tribe would not make too much trouble...

(End of this chapter)