Chapter 694 Debut - Military Order

Lu Yuanbin felt that his status as a prince had been insulted, so he sneered at Gu Renjie.

He thought that by saying that, he could at least embarrass Gu Renjie.

Unexpectedly, the emperor treated this minister without saying a word and directly ordered: "Since Minister Gu says he has a solution, then this matter will be handled entirely by you."

Little did Lu Yuanbin know that the emperor wanted to test Gu Renjie.

Although his son had already succeeded him, Gu Renjie had never been formally tutored by a royal tutor. If Gu Renjie could handle this matter well, then he could truly rest assured.

Apart from a few people who knew the emperor's thoughts, the other officials looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"Father!"

Lu Yuanbin could hardly believe what he had just heard, and even Lu Changqing looked on incredulously.

"Your Majesty, this matter concerns the people's livelihood; you must not make a hasty decision!"

The old ministers who had previously opposed the fourth prince began to stand up again and oppose the emperor.

The emperor felt he had never had such a headache as today. No matter what decision he made, these people would stand up and oppose it. When did he become such a spineless emperor?

"It's settled then!" the emperor declared firmly.

Upon hearing this, the adults immediately knelt before the emperor, pleading, "Your Majesty, we mustn't be hasty! We mustn't!"

Faced with such strong opposition, Gu Renjie could not sit idly by and glanced at the emperor on the high platform, whose face was gloomy.

Gu Renjie simply knelt down with a thud.

"Your humble servant is willing to sign a military pledge: if the food problem cannot be solved this time, I will offer my head as an apology."

Gu Renjie's words were so powerful that they immediately silenced the dissenting voices.

Gu Jin hurriedly called out to Gu Renjie, but Gu Renjie seemed not to hear her and kowtowed deeply to the emperor again.

The emperor never imagined that his son would be so spirited, daring to say such things.

Only in this way can he truly resemble his son, possessing the same spirit he had when he burned his boats, murdered his father and brothers, and seized the throne.

"Your Majesty, my son is young and impetuous. The matter of food is of utmost importance. I hope Your Majesty will not listen to his nonsense."

Seeing that the emperor was about to agree, Gu Jin could no longer contain himself.

Because of his influence in the court, many officials also helped to persuade the emperor.

Seeing that things were about to get out of control, Yun Yichen finally stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to assist Lord Gu in stabilizing grain prices."

Sometimes Yun Yichen's words are more effective than imperial edicts. He just stands up and says something casually, but it's more powerful than anything the emperor has ever said before.

All the adults who still wanted to plead for him shut up, and even Gu Jin couldn't help but glance at him before saying nothing more.

"Since the Grand Secretary has said so, then it is now up to you two to handle this!"

With Yun Yichen involved, the emperor was even less worried about how things would develop. In his eyes, there was no reason why Yun Yichen couldn't accomplish anything he agreed to.

"yes!"

The two of them agreed in unison.

The morning court session lasted until almost noon before it ended.

In everyone's eyes, the reason Yun Yichen helped Gu Renjie was entirely because Gu Renjie was his older cousin.

But only they themselves knew that this was something Gu Shuyan had prepared from the very beginning.

The scheme of inflating grain prices and then having the two men stabilize them was all a publicity stunt to boost the emperor's favor towards Gu Renjie.

After leaving the palace, Gu Jin ignored the two of them and left in the Gu family's carriage.

Seeing this, Gu Renjie could only exchange a bitter glance with Yun Yichen before getting into the Yun family's carriage.

The fourth prince, who was leaving the house, couldn't help but linger his gaze on Gu Renjie's face for a while longer when he saw this scene.

For some reason, he had never thought there was anything wrong with Gu Renjie's appearance before, but today he felt that his eyebrows and eyes were somewhat similar to those of the emperor.

Suspicion arose in his heart, and Lu Changqing couldn't wait to return to his residence to make arrangements.

Just then, Lu Yuanbin called out to him from behind.

"Brother, is there something you need to leave in such a hurry?"

Lu Yuanbin was furious today. Not only did his plan fail, but he also ended up benefiting someone else, and the culprit was none other than the person in front of him.

Thinking about Lu Changqing's suggestion to take out the military supplies from the general's camp, it's really amazing that he came up with such an idea.

"If there's nothing to do in the palace, you should go back to your residence and rest early. It's quite something that you, Fifth Brother, have time to talk to me here."

Lu Changqing wasn't stupid; Lu Yuanbin had just repeatedly tried to bring up the matter of transporting fish.

Despite being subjected to so much interrogation, he still hadn't given up, leading Lu Changqing to guess that Lu Yuanbin must have made prior preparations.

Now all the preparations have come to naught, and isn't he now the one who personally hindered him, a thorn in his side?

“Even if my brother is busy, he still has some time.”

Lu Yuanbin was practically gritting his teeth. If it weren't for the fact that now was not the right time, he would have really wanted to tear Lu Changqing's mouth apart.

However, he still had a question to ask Lu Changqing: "Does Your Majesty really think that misappropriating military supplies is feasible?"

Lu Yuanbin's words surprised Lu Changqing, but after a moment of surprise, he smiled and said, "Food is the most important thing for the people. Now there is a shortage of food in various places. Apart from the military camp, who in the entire Great Zhou can provide so much food?"

Lu Changqing's words were reasonable and well-founded, and did not sound like a lie.

"In that case, what Your Majesty said does make some sense."

Lu Yuanbin seemed to understand, but Lu Changqing didn't want to get entangled with him.

"If there is nothing else, Your Highness, I will return now."

Lu Changqing can now refer to himself in front of Lu Yuanbin, but he is not particularly happy about it.

After watching Lu Changqing leave, Lu Yuanbin said to the people around him, "Let's go back to the manor."

As soon as Lu Changqing returned to the Fourth Prince's residence, he locked himself in his room.

To outsiders, the Fourth Prince seemed to be in a bad mood, but only he knew that he was giving orders privately.

"Send a few reliable people to thoroughly investigate the matter of this eldest son of the Gu family."

For some reason, Lu Changqing felt vaguely uneasy, an unease that lingered from the moment he saw Gu Renjie's face.

He thought he might be overthinking things, but he still couldn't help wanting to find out if the other person was really the one he was thinking of.

"What matter does Master want to investigate regarding Young Master Gu?"

Seeing him like this, the guard couldn't help but ask another question.

Upon hearing this, Lu Changqing's expression turned cold, and he whispered to him, "Investigate everything about him, including what happened when he was born."