activa-t Chapter 57: Her childhood name was Daiyu, and the national treasury was in dire need of funds.
Chapter 57: Her childhood name was Daiyu, and the national treasury was in dire need of funds.
On March 12th, the Lin family celebrated their daughter's one-month birthday with a banquet for guests.
The Prince Zhongzheng's family, the Jia family, and Lin Ruhai's relatives and friends all came to congratulate the Lin family on the birth of their daughter.
Xia Chengzong and the others followed the princess and finally met the Lin family girl as they had hoped.
Her skin was almost transparent, and you could see the blood vessels under her skin.
The eyebrows are sparse, almost nonexistent.
Her appearance was very similar to Jia Min's; although she was just an infant, one could vaguely see that she would become an unparalleled beauty in the future.
She slept peacefully, a trace of drool escaping from the corner of her mouth.
Xia Chengzhi whispered, "The Lin family's younger sister is so beautiful, but why isn't she breathing?"
Jia Min was startled by what she heard and quickly put her finger to her nose to test it.
After a long while, he withdrew his finger and breathed a sigh of relief.
The princess scolded, "Zhi-ge'er, stop talking nonsense."
"Yes, Mother."
The princess then asked, "Sister Jia, have you chosen a nickname yet?"
Jia Min smiled and said, "We've chosen her. Her childhood name will be Daiyu."
The princess smiled and said, "Daiyu? That's an excellent name. Judging from her appearance, she'll grow up to be an unparalleled beauty, just like my younger sister!"
Jia Min quickly replied, "Sister, you flatter me. It's not like that at all!"
The princess took out a silver longevity lock that she had prepared beforehand and gave it to Daiyu.
Jia Min thanked her and accepted the gift.
After a few more words, just as everyone was about to leave, Daiyu woke up and started crying loudly.
His voice, however, carried a hint of weakness.
The wet nurse rushed over and took her away, and the crying gradually stopped.
The princess asked, "Sister Jia, judging from Daiyu's crying, she seems somewhat frail?"
Jia Min said helplessly, "Sister doesn't know, I accidentally had a miscarriage when I was pregnant with her, and she was weak when she was born."
"We consulted a doctor, who said the only treatment option is gradual recuperation. What will happen in the future?"
The princess advised, "It's alright. In a family like ours, and since it was discovered in time, we can recover with proper care."
At this moment, Xia Caiwei suddenly asked, "Auntie, when can Daiyu play with us?"
Jia Min smiled and said, "In another year or two, when she can walk, she'll be able to play with you all!"
The princess said, "Caiwei, as the older sister, you'll have to look after your Lin sister!"
Xia Caiwei patted her chest and assured her, "Auntie, Mother, you can rest assured. With me here, I guarantee no one will dare to bully Lin Daiyu!"
His words made everyone laugh.
……
Days passed by, and the weather gradually got warmer.
Xia Chengzong has focused his attention on martial arts, and recently he has been practicing archery.
In the era of cold weapons, the bow and arrow was the most efficient way for a single soldier to attack from a distance.
The Great Qian Dynasty already had firearms, but their range was still inferior to that of bows and arrows, their operation was cumbersome, and their overall efficiency was not as good as that of bows and arrows.
Therefore, although firearms became more widespread, they still could not replace the bow and arrow.
Xia Chengzong advanced his archery skills to the second level, and his archery progressed extremely rapidly.
Now, he can hit the bullseye every time he's fifty paces away.
Of course, he is still hiding his true abilities.
Because during practice, the target he aims at is not fixed.
Therefore, outsiders would think that his archery skills were very poor.
In reality, his accuracy rate is 100%.
His strength was still increasing; the boost from his copper skin and iron bones was enormous.
He felt that his strength was at least 200 jin, which was beyond the strength of an average adult.
His swordsmanship and spearmanship have also improved somewhat.
Now, he finally has some ability to protect himself.
……
The Prince Zhongzheng Mansion and the Lin family are close friends.
After Jia Min gave birth to her daughter, her relationship with the princess became even closer, and the two families visited each other more often.
Lin Daiyu changed almost every day, becoming more and more beautiful as she grew older.
The princess also grew increasingly fond of this girl and adored her.
Prince Chung-cheng said privately, "Since you like the Lin family girl so much, why don't you just adopt her as your goddaughter?"
The princess rolled her eyes and said, "What does the prince know? This girl is quite lovely; I'm even planning to marry her someday!"
"If they become godparents, it will be difficult to marry her into the family!"
Prince Chung-mae laughed and said, "Since you have this plan, why not arrange a marriage for them now? Who do you think would be a good match for her?"
The princess shook her head and said, "It's still early. Although this girl is pretty, she's a bit weak."
"Besides, we don't know what the future holds for Lin Tanhua, so there's no need to rush into a decision. We can wait until they're older before making any plans."
Upon hearing this, Prince Chung-jung realized that the princess wanted to marry the man because he was so beautiful.
They were worried that she was physically weak, and that Lin Ruhai would not become a high-ranking official in the future, making them an unsuitable match.
They really want both.
Prince Chung-mae chuckled and said, "You..."
Then he dropped the matter and stopped arguing about it.
As Jia Min visited the Prince's mansion more often, the children naturally had more opportunities to meet.
The little ones loved to tease Lin Daiyu the most.
Every time it made her laugh, the little ones were very happy.
Xia Chengzong was the only one who didn't need to be teased. As soon as Lin Daiyu saw him, she stared at him intently and soon burst into laughter.
This made the little guys quite jealous, contributing a wave of negative emotions to Xia Chengzong.
This time, even Xia Chengqian contributed negative emotion points to him.
This surprised Xia Chengzong.
Life at the Prince's Mansion was happy and warm.
However, the entire Great Qian Dynasty was plagued by disasters and calamities.
The Northwest is experiencing another severe drought, while the Jiangnan region is suffering from severe flooding.
Not only should disaster relief be provided, but taxes in both regions should also be reduced or exempted.
The borders are still unstable, with the barbarians on the northeastern, northwestern, and southwestern borders all stirring up trouble.
Within the imperial court, the national treasury's silver had long been exhausted.
Nothing can be accomplished without money; from the emperor down to the high-ranking officials of the court, everyone is troubled by the lack of funds.
Some officials proposed increasing taxes, which would make the people suffer even more.
However, it was opposed by most officials.
Because taxes are already quite high, if they were to go any higher, something bad might happen.
Ultimately, some officials proposed to collect the outstanding debts owed to the national treasury.
The national treasury owes a huge amount of money, probably amounting to tens of millions.
The Zhen family in Jiangnan alone has millions in debt.
If most of the debt can be recovered, not only will the silver shortage be resolved, but there will also be a considerable surplus.
It enables the imperial court to do many things.
This proposal received the support of the vast majority of officials.
Emperor Yonglong was unwilling to collect the national treasury's debts during his reign, fearing that the debts would eventually fall on his own shoulders.
However, there are currently no other solutions, and most officials support this.
The few who oppose it, without a doubt, are those who owe the national treasury money.
Their argument was weak and their voices were quickly drowned out.
In the end, Emperor Yonglong had no choice but to agree to the proposal.
The next issue is who should take the lead and shoulder this important responsibility.
This is no easy job; it's a job that will offend people.
Moreover, the people he offended included members of the royal family, nobles, and powerful clans—none of whom were easy to mess with.