The error about "Laofu" has been revised in the previous chapter. As for the title of "Xiaozhuang", it is the author's statement with the reader. This title is not quoted in the dialogue between the characters in the text...

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"The elephant accidentally stepped on the ant's nest while walking, so the ants rushed out and crawled onto the elephant. The elephant shook its body, and the ants fell to the ground one after another, leaving only one ant left on the elephant's neck. After seeing it, the ants underground shouted: "Strike it to death"!... This joke is really interesting. Yuzhong, and you Made, your two wives are quite good at telling jokes."

Kangxi summoned old man Fei, Yu Zhong, and Ma De in the study room. However, the three of them did not expect that Kangxi's first words when they saw them were actually this. Therefore, Yu Zhong and Ma De did not dare to answer after looking at each other.

"The Empress Dowager likes your two wives very much and left them in the palace. So, you can only meet again after a few days after the Empress Dowager agrees to release the person..." Kangxi continued.

"Ah?...Master, this is not good, right?" Yu Zhong said anxiously. The palace is a tiger's den, and his wife stays inside. Who knows if there will be any danger? Although Ma De didn't speak, he also had the same thoughts and the same expression.

"Why isn't it good? They are very pleased by the Lord Lady. In order to have a happy chat, Lord Lady even bombarded me with Cining Palace. Isn't that good? Could it be that when they instigated Lord Lady to bombard me with the Forbidden City?" Kangxi said.

"Indeed, that's fine." Yu Zhong and Ma De nodded in their hearts, but they could not say this even if they were beaten to death.

"Yu Zhong, you have done a good job in Heilongjiang in the past two years." After a little mention of the matter in the palace and fulfilling your meaning, Kangxi began to ask about the serious matter again. Anyway, Yu Zhong and Ma De could not enter the palace to pull their wives back. In fact, Kangxi himself is now unable to pull Mo Jing and Luo Xin away from Xiaozhuang. Speaking of making the old man happy, his ability to add up with the concubines is not as good as Mo Jing and Luo Xin's half-open mouths.

"Thank you for your praise," Yu Zhong replied.

"Well, I want to know if the Russians have any bad actions when they are engaged in business. I remember that in the past, the Russians used the name of adventure to go deep into the territory of our Qing Dynasty, survey the terrain, draw maps, and then, when the court was not paying attention, they seized the land of our Qing Dynasty..." Kangxi said again.

"As far as I know, the Russians have not taken any excessive actions recently. Moreover, since the opening of the Heilongjiang Customs, General Pengchun has been doing his best to prevent any past events from happening again. However, I seem to remember General Pengchun once said that due to the expansion of Heilongjiang territory, his troops seemed to be thin." Yu Zhong replied.

"Well, Pengchun said this in a memorial. I have issued an order to allocate 10,000 troops from Lang (Muqin) to be led by Pengchun, which should be able to alleviate the shortage of troops in Heilongjiang." Kangxi nodded and asked Yu Zhong again: "Heilongjiang's customs income is indeed unexpected. It is really rare to have such income in just one year. Yu Zhong, how much do you expect to earn next year? You have achieved such achievements at the beginning, and there should be a significant increase next year, right?"

"Your Majesty, according to my estimation, the revenue of Heilongjiang Customs will not increase much next year." Yu Zhong replied.

"Oh? Why?" Kangxi said in surprise.

"Emperor, before the customs were opened, the Russians and some Dutch merchants were ready. They had already tried their best to trade with our Qing Dynasty. Moreover, since Heilongjiang is located in the extreme north and the journey is inconvenient, these merchants from the two countries who came to trade with us in the Qing Dynasty were not from the private sector. Most of them were sent by the Russian Tsar royal family and the Dutch government. In other words, most of these people were private merchants of the heads of the two countries. The purchase volume was difficult to increase, so in the next year, Heilongjiang Customs will be in good condition.

The income should not increase too much." Yu Zhong replied. In fact, his words were discussed with Mo Jing, Old Man Fei and others. After all, when he came to Beijing, Kangxi would ask about Heilongjiang Customs. The reason why he said this was "setting lows and seeking highs". Putting the goal lower, if there is no good grades at that time, no one will come to cause trouble. It has been agreed before; and if there is good grades, it will definitely be the result of his efforts. Kangxi will definitely be rewarded by him at that time.

As for the so-called customs revenue forecast next year, they made a fool of themselves. How greedy are European merchants? Marx once said: "Capitalists are afraid of no profit or too little profit, just like nature is afraid of vacuum. Once there is a suitable profit, capital will become bold. If there is a 10% profit, he will be guaranteed to be used everywhere; if there is a 20% profit, it will become active; if there is a 50% profit, it will take risks; for 100% profit, it will dare

Trampling on all human laws; if there is a profit of 300%, it dares to commit any crime or even risk hanging." Three hundred% is enough to make European merchants desperate. The probability of China's top and even the highest luxury goods appearing in Europe is almost zero. After selling them, will it be only a thousand% profit? With the greed that the Tsar royal family has almost inherited in their blood, it would be strange if they don't go crazy next year. At that time, the income of Heilongjiang Customs was definitely more than two million taels.

The goal of setting a low point with Kangxi is actually to... embezzle and make fake accounts. Mo Jing can definitely hide it from any of the account checkers of this period.

"Well, so that's the case. But it's good that this is not the case. If the transactions do not increase, there are not many people coming and going, and the chance of an accident in Heilongjiang will be much smaller." Kangxi did not expect Yu Zhong's plan and agreed with his statement.

"The emperor understands the servants, and the servants are very grateful to the holy grace." Yu Zhong pretended to be moved.

"Haha, what kind of holy grace is not holy grace? In fact, the court did not have high hopes for Heilongjiang Customs and agreed to open trade. It was just a way to appease the Russians. In order to stabilize the northern border and achieve the current achievements, it has already surprised me and the court." Kangxi smiled. The taxes of Heilongjiang Customs are in the national treasury, and most of the income from selling goods are entered into the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is his Kangxi's inner treasury. He was a big boss. With more money in his hand, he naturally felt happy to spend it. Of course, he was very kind to Zhong, not to mention that Yu Zhong was equivalent to saving his life.

"Made, I heard that you did a good job in Ningguta?" After talking about Heilongjiang, Kangxi asked Made again.

"I dare not be praised by the emperor. Compared with Lord Yu, my little achievements are simply insignificant." Ma De bowed and replied.

"That's not necessarily." Kangxi shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "I heard that Ninggu Tower is almost a small Jiangnan outside the pass, right?"

"The emperor praised it, it's far from it, it's still far from it..."

"Haha, you don't have to be nervous." Kangxi saw sweat on Ma De's head, smiled slightly, and then continued: "Although Ningguta is a place of exile, it does not have to be bitter and cold. What you did there makes me very pleased. If my Qing Dynasty officials in Manchuria were as thoughtful as you, what would I worry about?"

"I dare not. Emperor, in fact, I am able to do better in Ningguta thanks to everyone's help. Otherwise, Ningguta would probably only get worse and worse."

"Haha, you don't have to be so humble. Your contribution is your contribution, you don't have to let it go." Kangxi laughed.

He received a memorial saying that Ma De had opened up land in Ningguta and opened a medicine garden, and he didn't know what Ma De wanted to do. Later, people secretly asked for inquiries and found out that Ningguta had completely changed. Not only could the grain be self-sufficient, but he also sold a lot of vegetables to Mongolia last year and made a lot of profits. Now, Ma De was already a leader in Jilin and was in charge of Jilin's banner affairs. The number of bannermen living around Ningguta is gradually increasing, and most of them gave up the life of collecting herbs and hunting, and turned to farming. But these were not what he paid the most attention to. What Ma De satisfied him the most. Instead, he lived in the banners and organized them, worked in daily farming, and trained in his spare time. At that time, he divided them into several teams according to the Eight Banners.

In this way, living in the banners has created a neighborly friendship among the people of the Eight Banners. The competition between the banners has made these people secretly compete, which not only allows the bannermen to be self-reliant and keeps them brave. Therefore, Ma De has become a rare talent in Manchuria in his eyes. Although he has nothing to say, in his heart, Ma De is more worthy of attention, because in his heart, the bannermen are the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. Ma De's measures are working hard to stabilize the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. What makes him even more happy is that when training the bannermen, Ma De did not come forward himself, but invited the new Jilin general to send people, which shows that Ma De knows how to hide his humbleness, not the kind of person who plots power.

"This is the talent I need in the Qing Dynasty." Kangxi thought to himself.

"Your Majesty, a slave is entrusted by others. I have a few words that I don't know whether to speak or not." Seeing that Kangxi had a good impression of him, Ma De thought about it and looked up and said.

"Oh? Then do you think it's not right to speak? If you think it's not right to speak, then just say it. I'm not the kind of person who can't listen." Kangxi and Yan said.

"Since you said that, I will take it as my own." After Ma De finished speaking, he looked up and stared at Kangxi, saying word by word: "Emperor, according to a criminal slave under my jurisdiction... The Yellow River may break a large-scale situation within two years."

"Nonsense!" Kangxi stood up suddenly and shouted angrily.

"Your Majesty!" Seeing that Kangxi changed his face suddenly, Ma De, Old Man Fei and Yu Zhong, who had not asked, quickly knelt down and said.

"Ma De, you are a talented person. I am very optimistic about you, but I want to know who told you that the Yellow River will break? How could you be so stupid that you are talking nonsense in front of me? " Kangxi asked angrily.

"Emperor..." Ma De broke out in a cold sweat.

"Say! Who told you that the Yellow River would break the trough?" Kangxi asked in a deep voice. Although he was not furious anymore, this put more pressure on people.

"Made, tell me quickly, what's wrong?" Yu Zhong said in a low voice from the side. Before Made came, he had not discussed the "Yellow River Breaking" with him and Old Man Fei about the "breaking of the Yellow River". He threw it out at this time, but it scared him. However, compared to his anxiety, Old Man Fei frowned very hard, but did not urge him the same way.

"Emperor, slave... slave is the one who is coming. Listen to what Chen Huang and Chen Tianyi, the slave under his jurisdiction said." Ma De said in a low voice in sweat.

"Chen Huang and Chen Tianyi?...I remember that he seemed to be a staff member when he was in charge of the river." Kangxi said.

"The emperor remembers it well. Chen Huang was the aide when Le Fu was appointed as the governor of the River Affairs Office." Ma De said.

"Then he is really brave. He was sent to Ningguta as a slave and dared to point fingers at the River Author...Ma De, as an important minister of the imperial court in Manchuria, how could you be appointed by a criminal slave to talk nonsense in front of me?" Kangxi asked in a deep voice.

"Please forgive me for your sins. But, Master, please let me finish your words..."

"speak!"

"Your Majesty, don't you know if Chen Huang has a nickname?"

"nickname?"

"Yes, the emperor, on both sides of the Yellow River, the people call Chen Huang the "He Bo"!"

"'Hebo'?" Kangxi's heart moved and suddenly shouted loudly to the outside world: "Come here, please immediately announce Zhang Tingyu and Tong Guowei to meet him."

...

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Chapter completed!