539 Had dug a hole for themselves

Xiao Hanzheng was not surprised by what Prince Yi said.

“Your Royal Highness should have given him a push as well, right?” he said with a smile.

Liang Yulin chuckled. “Prince Jin’s people suggested that you go directly to the Northern City to be the prefect. Firstly, they wanted to test the imperial brother’s attitude. Secondly, they wanted to draw hatred for you.

“As expected, many people are against it. They say that your promotion speed is too exaggerated. It’s improper at all for one to go from the seventh-rank to the fourth-rank.”

“So I gave it a push,” he continued. “I stood up and said that it’s a waste of talent to put you in a small county like Heyang County. The northern border is lacking talents like you to run it.

“If your position is too low, it will limit your development and make it difficult for you to execute many government decrees.

“So I suggest that after the previous magistrate posted out, you can be the acting magistrate. You will have all the authority of a magistrate, but your official position will only be secondary to the fifth rank.

“When you’re done, you can be promoted to fourth rank after becoming the magistrate.”

His eldest son was indeed smart and could guess it right.

At that time, he could tell what Prince Jin’s people were up to with a single glance.

He just wanted to use Xiao Hanzheng as an excuse to make the ministers in the imperial court object, and then take the opportunity to push his people to the position of a magistrate.

Then, he would transfer Xiao Hanzheng to a civil official to assist that magistrate.

This would allow Prince Jin to pull some strings with Xiao Hanzheng, and he could also let his people take credit for Xiao Hanzheng’s efforts.

For someone like Prince Jin, even if he wanted to rope in Xiao Hanzheng, he would be very cautious and would more likely take advantage of him.

Since Prince Jin wanted to cause trouble, he would fulfill his wish.

“Did you succeed in the end?” Xiao Hanzheng asked with a sneer.

Prince Yi rarely expressed his opinions in court, and others would always guess that his words were the emperor’s intention.

Liang Yulin laughed. “Of course I did. The three high dukes all stood out to support it. The Fei family, who represents those with high virtue, also took the lead in supporting it.

“This was suggested by Prince Jin’s people. Even if they wanted to object, they couldn’t slap themselves in public.

“More than half of the court officials agreed, so my royal brother also granted it.

“Northern City magistrate’s transfer order will be issued soon. Once he leaves during the new year, you can take up the position.”

Only the position of a magistrate could restrain Prince Jin.

Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo wanted to do more for the people, only then would they enjoy more flexibility.

Prince Jin and his men had dug a hole for themselves this time.

It was also a coincidence that he had been actively attending court during the few days he had stayed in the capital to ask for marriage.

He happened to meet Prince Jin’s people who brought up this matter, so he pushed them away on purpose.

If he didn’t go to court, Prince Jin’s people would probably succeed.

After all, his royal brother had to balance the opinions in court and it wasn’t good for him to bring this up.

The main thing was that he could not be too biased towards Xiao Hanzheng, as it would make Prince Jin even more fearful.

However, it didn’t matter to him.

After all, Prince Jin definitely knew that he was pursuing Xiao Hanzheng’s mother.

Wasn’t it only right for him to maximize his eldest son’s benefits?

Xiao Hanzheng also knew that Prince Yi had done a lot in this matter.

Of course, the public administrative houses and the Fei family had also helped, and he would remember these favors.

He raised his teacup to Prince Yi and said, “I’ll toast you with tea in place of wine, Your Highness. Thank you!”

Prince Yi took a sip of the tea and said with a gentle smile, “We’re family, no need to thank me!”

Xiao Hanzheng was speechless.

Prince Yi really didn’t want to let go of any opportunity to shine.

In the following days, Prince Yi hovered between Heyang County and the small town, and spent most of his time in Heyang County.

He had gone to the Xiao family’s house for free meals almost every day. When Xiao Erlang came back from school, he would personally teach and train him.

When Xiao Erlang took a break, Prince Yi would bring him and Xiao Baili out to draw or to ride horses.

On one hand, he had satisfied the addiction of being a father.

On the other hand, he had also let Xiao Erlang and Xiao Baili experience the benefits of having a father.

Prince Yi was also very concerned about Xiao Hanzheng, but unfortunately, his eldest son was too independent and smart, so there was not much room for him to display his abilities.

Prince Jin had also received the news from the capital.

After finding out that their plan had been ruined by Prince Yi, he had cursed Prince Yi several times.

Prince Jin could not understand why his brother, who was as handsome as a new moon, would fall for a divorced woman.

He even went to court and fawned over her all day long, and even openly sided with Xiao Hanzheng in the imperial court.

If he were him, he would have just taken her in and pampered her, why waste the position of a princess consort?

However, he couldn’t do anything to Prince Yi, so he had to change his original plan.

It was only the end of October, but the first snow had already fallen in Heyang County.

Thanks to the considerable profit of the canned food workshop, Xiao Hanzheng not only led his people to repair the houses of the poor in the county but also went down to help with the repair works in a few villages.

As a result, there weren’t any houses being crushed by the snow this year, and the residents had not frozen to death yet.

Shi Qingluo still felt cold as she sat beside the iron stove.

She couldn’t help but miss the modern heating and air conditioning even more.

In such cold weather, there were still many poor people in the northern border.

It was difficult to even wear warm clothes, let alone buy a stove and honeycomb briquette to keep warm.

Hence, Shi Qingluo recalled the experience she had when she was exploring the Northern regions.

She only had a sketchy idea, so she took out the time-traveling encyclopedia and flipped through it.

As expected, there was a detailed process of building a heated brick bed.

Hence, she copied it down and gave it to her little husband.

“Make this heated brick bed. It’ll be very warm when you sit or lie down on it. After the snow melts, get some people come to the county office to build a few.

“After we succeed, we’ll be able to promote it in Heyang County,” she said with a smile.

Xiao Hanzheng put away the paper and held her in his arms with a smile. “Okay, once this brick bed is ready, as long as every village and household can get it, nobody should freeze to death in Heyang County this year.”

He had checked the records over the years and found that there were many people who froze to death in Heyang County every year, which made him very worried.

The cost of furnaces and honeycomb briquette were relatively high and not suitable for mass production.

Moreover, it was much colder here than in Nanxi County, and the heating effect of the honeycomb briquette was limited.

This heated brick bed was still the best.

Before the weather became colder, he had already asked the bailiffs to inform all the villages and families to gather more firewood and dry the wild vegetables for storage.

Therefore, after setting up the fire pit, unless it was a lazy family, the firewood collected when the weather was warm should be enough.

When the sun came out, he could also get everyone to collect more firewood to store.

Shi Qingluo nodded. “I think so too.”

When the snow melted and the sky cleared up, Xiao Hanzheng asked a craftsman to make a heated brick bed at home.

It also attracted a lot of audience.

When the brick bed was ready for use, Xi Rong and the others came to experience it.

The women followed Shi Qingluo to one room, and the men followed Xiao Hanzheng to another.

After all, they had to take off their shoes to get on the bed, and it was not suitable for men and women to get together.

After Xi Rong got on the brick bed, she found it warm and lay flat.

“Luoluo, you’re still the best. I’ll be saved from the winter at the northern border this year. Otherwise, I’ll be trembling in front of the iron furnace every day.”

Shi Qingluo also lay down and smiled. “Me too. After I have a heated brick bed, I don’t think it’s so difficult to stay at the northern border anymore.”

She was basically inseparable from the iron stove on a day-to-day basis, but she still felt cold.

Now that she had a brick bed, she could sit and write, and she wouldn’t feel cold while reading.

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