Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 83 Fishing
After dinner, Zhao Xing returned to his bedroom, washed up, and lay down on the bed.

After the palace maids turned off the lights and left, Zhao Xing did not feel sleepy at all.

He had always thought that the biggest drawback of the Song Dynasty was the three redundancy problems. Now it seemed that the problem of land annexation was no less serious than the three redundancy problems.

Nowadays, a large amount of land is in the hands of landlords and officials, so even if land reform is implemented, it will not be of much use.

After much thought, Zhao Xing came up with the practice of allocating land tax to each household during the Qing Dynasty.

As the name suggests, it means abolishing all exorbitant taxes and levies, converting them all into money and spreading them evenly among the fields across the country.

In this way, those with more land need to pay more taxes, those with less land need to pay less, and those with no land do not need to pay taxes.

The elimination of exorbitant taxes and levies can also prevent local officials from adding layers of taxes when collecting them and exploiting the people.

Of course, everything has its pros and cons, and the land-based tax system is not without its drawbacks.

If the landlords and powerful people pay more taxes, they will exploit the people even more, and the situation of hidden land will become more serious.

Zhao Xing only knew the general situation of the land-based tax system, but he had no idea how it was implemented in detail or how to prevent its drawbacks.

Zhao Xing was lost in thought until dawn, when he fell asleep.

When Sanshui woke me up the next day, I was still a little listless.

Because I was not in good spirits during class, Hai Wenyou gave me a lecture.

After school in the afternoon, Liu Sanshi came to report that Kaifeng prefect Chen Tingwen wanted to see him.

Zhao Xing asked Liu Sanshi to invite Chen Tingwen over.

"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you." Chen Tingwen bowed.

Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite, please sit down and talk, Mr. Chen."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

After Chen Tingwen thanked him and sat down, he bowed and said, "Your Highness, I came here to ask you, what should we do with the person you sent over yesterday?"

"How should we deal with it according to the laws of the Song Dynasty?" Zhao Xing asked.

"Your Highness, according to the laws of the Song Dynasty, this man is not guilty," said Chen Tingwen.

"Not guilty?"

Zhao Xing was furious when he heard this: "He wanted to burn a child to death in public, and he is innocent?"

"Your Highness, please calm down. According to the law, parents who kill their own children should be exiled. But this person did not succeed, so according to the law, he is indeed not guilty." Chen Tingwen said.

According to the law, if someone murders someone, they will be punished even if the person does not die.

However, if parents attempt to murder their own children, there is no such thing as attempted murder, and if they succeed, they are simply exiled.

"What if I want to make him guilty?" Zhao Xing said.

Chen Tingwen said in embarrassment: "The man's family and his concubines have come to the government today to seek justice for him. The matter has spread. If we force a verdict, it will damage your reputation."

"Do you mean that the people think he is innocent?" Zhao Xing asked.

Chen Tingwen fell silent after hearing this.

His silence was the best answer. Zhao Xing said with some dismay, "Let's just do what we have to do."

"I understand," Chen Tingwen replied.

"You can leave now." Zhao Xing waved his hand.

I was angry about this matter, but it turned out that in the eyes of the people, this was not a crime.

Then why bother yourself?
……

"Miss, Madam asked you to go to the main hall quickly." Cui'e walked into the room hurriedly.

"Did mother tell me why she called me?" Zhang Guifen asked.

"It seems like someone has come from the East Palace." Cui'e replied.

Zhang Guifen was startled when she heard this and said, "Quick, help me change my clothes."

After changing her clothes with the help of her maid, Zhang Guifen came to the main hall.

When I entered the main hall, I saw Liu Sanshi talking to her mother.

"Hello, Miss Zhang!" Liu Sanshi hurriedly stood up and saluted when he saw Zhang Guifen coming in. Zhang Guifen bowed slightly in return and saluted to her mother.

The Duke of England asked her daughter to sit down beside her and said, "Eunuch Liu, my daughter is here too. What do you want to see her for?"

"Madam, I have something to say to Miss Zhang alone, please..."

The Duchess of England hesitated for a moment and said, "I just happen to have something else to do. You guys go ahead and talk."

After saying that, he stood up and left.

"I wonder what Eunuch Liu wants to tell me alone?" Zhang Guifen asked puzzledly.

"Miss Zhang!"

Liu Sanshi bowed and said, "I would like to ask you to go see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"What's wrong with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?" Zhang Guifen was shocked when she heard this.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has been very angry since he saw someone trying to burn his child to death on his way back from the polo field that day. Your Highness wanted to severely punish the man, but the prefect of Kaifeng told Your Highness that according to the law, the man was innocent. Even the people of Bianjing thought so. Since then, Your Highness the Crown Prince has not spoken much for several days. I have no choice but to ask Miss Zhang to go over and persuade Your Highness." Liu Sanshi said.

"But I don't know how to completely solve the problem, Your Highness." Zhang Guifen said in embarrassment.

After listening to Liu Sanshi's words, she could guess Zhao Xing's mood to some extent. Although she was worried about Zhao Xing, she didn't know how to persuade Zhao Xing.

"Miss Zhang chatted with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that day, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was in a good mood the whole time. All it would have taken was for Miss Zhang to go over and chat with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been feeling depressed like this, and I'm afraid he'll get sick from being depressed." Liu Sanshi said.

Zhang Guifen hesitated for a while and said, "I have to ask my mother for instructions."

"Thank you, Miss Zhang." Liu Sanshi said gratefully.

"Eunuch Liu, please wait a moment. I will be right back."

After saying this, Zhang Guifen left the main hall, went to the backyard, found her mother, and told her what had happened.

"Do you want to go over there?" asked the Duchess of England after hearing this.

"Yeah." Zhang Guifen nodded.

"Since you want to go, then go ahead," said the Duchess of England.

Although the two had not yet married and it was somewhat inappropriate for Zhang Guifen to go to the Eastern Palace, her daughter was much more cheerful than before and she really couldn't bear to stop her.

"Thank you, mother!" Zhang Guifen smiled when she saw her mother agreed.

"Since you are going, go quickly. The sooner you go, the sooner you can come back." said the Duchess of England.

"Yeah." Zhang Guifen nodded.

……

In the pavilion by the lake in the back garden of the Eastern Palace, Zhao Xing was lying on a rocking chair, fishing with a fishing rod in his hand.

Suddenly, the float on the water sank a few times and sank into the water.

Zhao Xing felt a pulling force from the fishing rod, and quickly sat up straight and grabbed the fishing rod with force.

"It seems that the fish here are not small."

Zhao Xing muttered to himself and began to pull the fish back. He did not pull the fish back until he felt the fish's struggling strength weakened.

"Sanshui, quickly grab the scoop net and catch the fish. Don't let it run away."

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I'm ready. I can't run away."

Sanshui held a scoop net and lay in front of the pavilion fence, ready to scoop fish at any time.

When the fish was pulled close, he seized the opportunity and scooped the still struggling fish into the net.

"Your Highness, this one must weigh three or four pounds." Sanshui said with a smile as he picked up the scoop net.

"Yes, I asked someone to make braised meat for lunch." Zhao Xing said with a smile.

On the shore not far away, Zhang Guifen turned around to look at Liu Sanshi, as if asking, "How can His Royal Highness the Crown Prince look like he's depressed and needs counseling?"

Liu Sanshi was also surprised to see Zhao Xing smiling at the fish in the pavilion. Facing Zhang Guifen's gaze, she quickly explained, "Miss Zhang, how dare I lie to you? Your Highness has been silent for a few days. Today, he even asked someone to take a leave and didn't go to class, so I went to ask you to come over."

"Since Your Highness is fine, I will go back." Zhang Guifen said.

"No, you're here now. If you leave like this, His Highness will blame me." Liu Sanshi said with a sad face.

(End of this chapter)