The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

Chapter 1106: Mission Completed

Compared to Xiao Han's side, which has a powerful evil cultivator as a capable minister and is developing steadily, Shui Wuhen's side faces far more difficulties.

Although he has taken control of the court and has not allowed the Tartars to penetrate deep into the heartland, the entire country is now in a state of utter poverty.

The only advantage was that he finally got the court in order and gained the power to make decisions independently.

What he needs to do now is to vigorously improve people's livelihoods and make the whole country prosperous and strong.

Otherwise, he worried that he would not pass the assessment.

At this moment, Shui Wuhen thought of everything he had seen in the later period of the Dayun Dynasty.

After he ascended to the God Realm and reunited with Xiao Han, he naturally learned about the tremendous changes in the later period of the Great Yun Dynasty. It was all thanks to Xiao Han's secret support for Empress Zhao Qinghe that such a prosperous dynasty was possible.

Shui Wuhen had traveled in the Dayun Dynasty for a year, so he naturally knew that the biggest support for this prosperous dynasty was the high yield of crops and the special workshops owned by the imperial court.

He decided that if the Great Chu Dynasty wanted to develop, it could start from these two aspects.

High-yield crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and double-cropping rice were ordered to be vigorously promoted.

At the same time, he also established workshops belonging to the imperial court.

Of course, Shui Wuhen scoffed at the idea of ​​some ministers competing with the people for profit.

The money earned by state-owned workshops would not go into his private coffers, nor into the pockets of officials; it was all taken from the people and used for the people.

Many things have both advantages and disadvantages.

The peasant uprising swept across most of the country. Although it took him a lot of effort to suppress it and stabilize the country, these peasants also reshuffled the power structure in various regions, overthrowing many gentry and aristocratic families.

At the end of each dynasty, the most serious problem of land annexation was greatly alleviated.

Shui Wuhen distributed all the unclaimed land to the refugees who had once been rebels, allowing them to regain their land and live a stable life.

These ordinary people at the very bottom of society don't care who is the emperor or who rules the country. As long as they have land to cultivate, food to eat, and don't starve, no one is willing to rebel.

By vigorously promoting high-yield crops and reducing taxes and corvée labor, the entire dynasty was revitalized in just two or three years.

The workshop that Shui Wuhen had set up initially focused on multi-spindle spinning machines, cement, and glass products. He and Xiao Han had chosen roughly the same projects to make money.

Xiao Han simply remembered the recipe and could make it directly. Shui Wuhen only glanced at the recipe while traveling in the Dayun Dynasty because he found it novel.

He has a photographic memory; even if many details are unclear, he can have people conduct experiments to verify what he has seen.

With these new projects, and by building more state-owned workshops, we can continuously supply the national treasury with funds.

In fact, his current dynasty is far behind the Great Yun Dynasty in every aspect of development.

Shui Wuhen greatly admired Xiao Han for this.

Therefore, Shui Wuhen believed that Xiao Han would definitely pass the assessment for managing the mortal kingdom smoothly.

Xiao Han, on whom Shui Wuhen had placed high hopes, was currently waiting in the main hall of Liucui Palace for the birth of a new life.

After enduring excruciating pain for a day and a night, Consort Liu finally gave birth to a baby girl.

Upon learning that she had given birth to a princess, Liu Lingxiao immediately fainted from despair.

Emperor Zhengde himself was not disappointed at all; on the contrary, he was quite pleased. After all, Consort Liu had given birth to a daughter, which relieved the Liu family of the thought of cultivating an heir.

While instructing the imperial physicians to save Consort Liu, he also bestowed a name upon the little princess on the spot.

Fortunately, Consort Liu's life was not in danger; she simply fainted due to exhaustion from the prolonged childbirth.

Three days later, Consort Liu was bestowed the title of Virtuous Consort, becoming the head of all the consorts. A grand full-moon banquet was also held after the little princess turned one month old.

Xiao Han truly believed that it would be best if Liu Lingxiao gave birth to a daughter.

Without a son, she wouldn't have been dragged into the succession struggle by the Liu family. And with a princess by her side, even if the Liu family fell, Emperor Zhengde wouldn't do anything to her.

Upon learning that Liu Lingxiao had given birth to a daughter, the Liu family was naturally very disappointed, but fortunately they had not given up hope and still pinned their hopes on Liu Lingxiao's next pregnancy.

However, Emperor Zhengde was actually a very lustful and heartless monarch.

The shrewd queen, for the sake of her child, quickly organized a second selection process.

She was not afraid that Emperor Zhengde would favor other women and have many sons.

As long as Consort Liu cannot give birth to a son, no one else is a threat.

Xiao Han didn't care about Emperor Zhengde's lustful nature. Just think of Cao Cao in Chinese history, who was a model of a good wife, but that didn't stop him from being a great hero.

Moreover, Emperor Zhengde slept with all his legal wives, so no one could criticize him, not even Xiao Han.

Because she was using Emperor Zhengde's identity to complete her mission, it would only affect important political affairs. She didn't want to change Emperor Zhengde as a person and make him no longer be himself.

However, in contrast to Emperor Zhengde, Pei Xueyan, the Duke of Liuyuan whom he had personally promoted, was a well-known romantic and remained unmarried to this day.

Aside from Xiao Han, who understands why Pei Xueyan created such a persona, no one else knows, including Emperor Zhengde himself.

Then this pair of ruler and minister left behind legends in later history, such as the wise ruler and capable minister who got along well, the lustful king and the devoted minister, and so on, which are still talked about with great interest by later generations.

When Liu was eighty years old, he finally had to retire from the court due to health reasons, and give way to the ministers promoted by Emperor Zhengde.

At this time, Pei Xueyan was still too young and not yet qualified to enter the cabinet.

When Pei Xueyan turned thirty, he was finally transferred back to the capital and became a second-rank official in the capital.

At the age of thirty-five, he was promoted to the second rank and officially joined the cabinet.

At the age of thirty-eight, he became the Grand Secretary, wielding immense power.

However, under Pei Xueyan's suppression, the Pei family never developed into a large family, and few of its members entered the court to serve as officials. The entire family never gained any real influence.

Pei Xueyan never married; instead, according to custom, she adopted a nephew to carry on the family line.

For later generations, the various stories and legends about Pei Xueyan are far more fascinating than those about the brilliant and ambitious Zhengde Emperor, who restored the dynasty.

When Emperor Zhengde was forty years old, Xiao Han gradually influenced him to cultivate the crown prince, teaching the prince how to handle state affairs.

When Emperor Zhengde was fifty years old, he voluntarily abdicated and passed the throne to his crown prince.

After all, Xiao Han influenced his views, making him think that being a diligent ruler was too hard, and that it was better to be an emperor emeritus and enjoy life.

Anyway, with Pei Xueyan as a capable minister, it doesn't matter if the Crown Prince is a little mediocre; as long as he can maintain the status quo, that's fine.

Since there are no dynasties that last for a thousand years, Xiao Han could only hope that the emperor during her mission would be a wise ruler, and she couldn't force the emperors who came after her.

Not long after she abdicated, Xiao Han felt that she might have to return to the realm of gods.

However, before leaving, she had to see Pei Xueyan one last time.