Chapter 131 The Emperor's Test

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Xiao Jingheng held a banquet at Tonghuatai to entertain important officials in the court.

Ning Fei's father, Ning Baichuan, who is far away in Sichuan and Shaanxi, is also present today.

The father and son of the Ning family won three consecutive victories last year. It is not an exaggeration to describe the Ning family as having made great contributions.

Therefore, this banquet can also be regarded as Xiao Jingheng's commendation banquet for Ning Baichuan.

Almost all the court officials were surrounding Ning Baichuan, speaking flattering words to him.

Ning Baichuan was not blinded by these flatteries.

He followed the rules, raised his glass to toast Xiao Jingheng, and said:

"I am where I am today thanks to your majesty's support and cultivation. I will never forget your grace. This cup of wine is for your majesty."

He said it without hesitation and drank all the wine in the glass while raising his head.

Xiao Jingheng smiled and said, "My dear Ning, you have made great contributions to Daqi, which comforts me. Therefore, I have decided to promote your beloved son to a peerage, and promote your wife to a first-rank imperial lady. You can make suggestions to me."

Whether it was elevating the title of his eldest son or promoting his wife to the rank of a first-rank lady, those were rare honors in the court, and all of them demonstrated Ning Baichuan's extraordinary status in the Qi Dynasty.

With such a happy event, all the court officials in the palace were eager to congratulate Ning Baichuan.

But he seemed not satisfied with these rewards.

Ning Baichuan filled a glass of wine, drank it all in one gulp, put the glass heavily on the table, clasped his fists towards Xiao Jingheng and said:

"I thank the emperor for his grace. In the future, I will follow the example of General Rong of the previous dynasty and expand our territory. I will sacrifice my life for the court and the emperor, and I will not hesitate to die!"

This is said with great enthusiasm, and sounds good.

But who was General Rong of the previous dynasty?

He was the only great general who had defended the country since the founding of the Qi Dynasty, and a close friend of the late emperor.

He was promoted to the highest official rank, and was granted the golden medal of immunity from death and the imperial sword by the late emperor himself. He was in charge of 200,000 elite soldiers and could even attend court in military uniform.

Although General Rong was extremely powerful, he was loyal to the late emperor.

He devoted his entire life to Qi Dynasty and eventually died heroically on the battlefield.

He spent his whole life in military service and had no wife, children or grandchildren. After his death, the late emperor made an exception and held a state funeral for him.

Ning Baichuan is now comparing him with General Rong. Judging from his ambition, is he trying to get his hands on the position of the Great General?

In response to this, Xiao Jingheng's expression remained calm.

Instead, he gave Ning Baichuan a glass of wine and said, "I also hope that you can become a loyal minister like General Rong. Come, drink!"

After drinking three cups of wine, Ning Baichuan changed the subject and said:

"I have been on a campaign outside for a year, and I miss the Empress Chen very much. I wonder if the Empress is doing well in the palace these days?"

Xiao Jingheng put down his wine cup calmly, his tone was obviously heavier.

"Princess Chen, everything is fine."

The deprivation of a concubine's title is a big deal, how could Ning Baichuan not know about it?

And he even dared to openly call Concubine Ning "Concubine Chen". Wasn't this just a legitimate way of gaining honor and favor for his daughter?

Seeing that Xiao Jingheng has given in today, the day when Concubine Ning's title is restored is probably not far away.

*

At the same time, behind the rockery in the southwest corner of the Imperial Garden.

Song Zhao came here hurriedly alone in the darkness.

When I arrived, I saw Xiao Jingyan leaning against a cypress tree, leisurely looking up at the moonlight.

Hearing Song Zhao's footsteps, Xiao Jingyan retracted his gaze and looked sideways at Song Zhao with his usual ruffian smile on his lips.

He took out the Tianji secret order from his bosom and threw it to Song Zhao.

"Thank you~"

After receiving the secret order from Tianji, Song Zhao refused to say a word to him and turned around to leave.

Xiao Jingyan followed behind her and shouted:

"Hey, hey, hey! At least I helped you out of your predicament of being grounded, but you don't even have a word of thanks?"

Song Zhao stopped and looked back, saying coldly: "The prince and I just get what we need. I thought that what we discussed was a business deal, what? Doesn't the prince think so?"

Xiao Jingyan scratched his head in frustration, "Okay, okay, whatever you say is what it is. Since you said it's a deal, I'm always generous. I'll give one free, and then tell you the news."

He swayed in front of Song Zhao and said jokingly, "A Cuju partner of mine came back from Henan yesterday. He said that your father made great achievements in Henan and almost caught all the sparrows in Henan. I guess this news will reach the emperor's ears soon. If the sparrows are gone, the harvest in Henan will increase greatly, and the emperor will definitely reward your Song family generously."

He paused for a moment and raised his handsome eyebrows to Song Zhao, "How is it? This news is very good for you, right?"

Song Zhao pretended to be ignorant, and said in a cold tone: "It is a good thing that my father has made contributions. How the emperor rewards him has nothing to do with me, nor does it have anything to do with the prince. You have taken the Tianji secret order, and I believe you have done what you should do. I hope the prince can keep his promise. In the future, you and I will go our separate ways, and when we meet again, we will just be strangers."

This time Song Zhao left very decisively, and Xiao Jingyan had no intention of pestering her anymore.

On the second day, Song Zhaoxian took the opportunity to accompany the Queen Mother to worship Buddha and put the Tianji secret order back to its original place without anyone noticing.

After noon, she was summoned to the emperor's presence to serve him with writing materials.

As usual, Xiao Jingheng was reviewing memorials while she was quietly grinding ink beside him.

But today, after seeing a memorial, Xiao Jingheng suddenly became furious and threw the memorial to the ground.

"absurd!"

"Your Majesty, calm down." Song Zhaozhi picked up the memorial from the hall and placed it on the dragon table again.

Seeing Xiao Jingheng's serious expression, he asked tentatively, "What made the emperor so angry?"

Xiao Jingheng did not hide it from her, "Do you still remember that your father asked to go to Henan a few days ago to manage the increase in grain production?"

Song Zhao nodded in agreement. Xiao Jingheng continued, "In order to increase grain production by 30%, he imitated the way the capital used to deal with bird disasters. He encouraged the people in Henan to hunt sparrows at the price of one penny per sparrow."

Song Zhao was puzzled and asked, "The rice sparrows feed on rice. If their numbers decrease, the grain production will naturally increase. I have heard a little about the sparrow disaster in Kyoto that year. Wasn't it because of this method that the harvest in Kyoto increased instead of decreasing that year?"

Xiao Jingheng said: "This method was originally good, but your father did not know how to adapt to local conditions and did not know how to make changes. He actually copied this method to Henan. The people in Henan are not as wealthy as those in Kyoto. Most of them make a living by farming. In winter, they have no income.

Your father offered money as a reward, which caused the people of Henan, regardless of gender or age, to rush out to hunt for sparrows in the middle of winter. Today, the governor of Henan reported that the sparrows in Henan were almost completely hunted by the people! "

Song Zhao was horrified when he heard this, and said worriedly: "This... Without the Java sparrow, there is a high possibility of a locust plague in the summer. Locust plagues are much more serious than bird plagues! How could father be so foolish?"

"You understand this principle, but your father is so stupid!" Xiao Jing tapped the memorial hard, becoming more and more annoyed:

"The late emperor allowed your father to inherit the title of Duke of the Protectorate because of your great-grandfather's contributions to the court. I have always known that your father is not a good ruler, so I rarely gave him any important tasks to do.

This time he swore to me that he could increase grain production in Henan. I saw that he was confident and thought that even if he couldn't do it well, he would at least do it well, so I agreed to it. I didn't expect that he would act on his own and cause such a disaster!"