Chapter 166: I never expected this kind of threat
The prince read for nearly a cup of tea.
The expression on his face changed from shock, to dullness, to flushed face, to helplessness... When the story was about to be finished, the prince stopped.
He read the book page three times, then said, "Father, I have seen the specific implementation plan of the Enfeoffment Order."
The emperor said, "Read it." He paused and added, "Read it after simplifying it."
The prince said: "The Enfeoffment Order will give the other sons of the princes the right of succession. In addition to the eldest son inheriting the throne, the other sons of concubines can also be granted the title of prince in their original fiefdoms... The status is equivalent to that of a county. Thus, the purpose of reducing the power of the princes can be achieved. Before it is implemented, it is necessary to use strong military force to shock and intimidate..."
The court officials took out their small notebooks to take notes.
Not only are there implementation details, but also the problems that may be encountered after the implementation of the Enfeoffment Order.
At this time, Prime Minister Li cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the silver mine is in the fief of the Huainan Prince's mansion. Should we suppress the Huainan Prince first before we go to war against the Xiongnu?"
Prime Minister Wang said: "I object. At the latest this winter, the combined forces of Chen State and the Great Prince of the Xiongnu will surely march south. The King of Huainan is obviously not ready for war, but the silver mines will not run away."
The emperor hesitated for a moment and said, "Let's see if Mingwei can force the King of Huainan to come. We can discuss other matters later."
Everyone bowed and said, "Yes."
The emperor gave a few more instructions, then stood up and left.
The court officials saluted one after another: "We respectfully send off Your Majesty."
When the prince was about to leave, he was suddenly stopped by several ministers without saying a word.
They coughed lightly, bowed and said, "Your Highness, I have something to ask you but I don't know whether I should ask you or not."
Prince: "Go ahead."
The young officials looked at each other, and the Minister of War was the first to speak: "How did this... one fetus and eight treasures lead to the Enfeoffment Order?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the ministers who had walked away a little further away swam back calmly like sharks smelling blood.
The crown prince's mouth twitched when he saw this, and he said, "The system did not use "One Fetus, Eight Treasures" to directly lead to the Enfeoffment Order. What is written here is that the empress took advantage of the special state of the four men being pregnant and giving birth. When the pregnant men were exhausted and unable to fully take care of government affairs, the empress provoked their relationship, disintegrated their alliance, and then obtained a part of the ruling power."
The court officials expressed their feelings: "It's still possible", "It makes sense if you think about it carefully", "Pregnant men are more fragile"...
At this time, the Minister of Revenue said: "But in this case, the Empress does not have a strong military force to intimidate her. How can the Enfeoffment Order be successfully implemented?"
The prince was surprised and said, "After that, the empress found the relatives of the four ministers and told them that they had two choices. Either accept the empress's "Enfeoffment Order" style power division, so that legitimate sons, illegitimate sons, legitimate daughters and illegitimate daughters all have the opportunity to share power. Or, let them all have eight babies."
"Puff!" The court officials were spit out.
They discussed:
"How outrageous!"
"There is no military threat, but there is a production threat. It's scary."
"I suddenly feel that the production threat is more terrifying."
…
At this time, someone suddenly sighed: "If the system really has a fertility pill? Do you think the King of Huainan dare to disobey?!"
Someone started talking, and someone immediately said, "Yes! If it were true, how could it lead to the system proposing the "Child-Giving Pill Reward" mission?"
At this time, the Minister of War said, "How about a man having a child? Let the little imperial teacher think that a certain man is eager to have a child!"
Crowd: !!!
Then they all looked at the prince.
The prince could no longer hold back and roared, "Why are you looking at me? I won't take the blame for this."
The Minister of War hurriedly said, "Your Highness, I'm not looking at you, I'm looking at the person behind you."
U-chan Do-yu-sa: …
——Get lost.
…
A few days later.
The emperor ordered the Minister of Revenue to raise money.
He ordered Prime Minister Wang to distribute chickens and ducks to areas with severe disasters to catch locusts.
Order Prime Minister Li to issue an order to purchase locusts and strictly prohibit reselling.
At the same time, the emperor ordered the two sons of the Third Prince's Mansion to be secretly imprisoned. Out of a sense of compensation, or because the emperor couldn't bear to see the Third Prince's salted fish look, he ordered the Third Prince to keep an eye on Qi Menglong and be responsible for transmitting all kinds of false intelligence to the other party.
The Third Prince asked in a confused manner: "Your Majesty, how do we export this fake news?"
The emperor was choked. It's really like you're useless even if you're given the opportunity.
The emperor said, "Let Qi Kuan handle this matter with you. Ask your nephew."
The Third Prince wanted to ask a few more questions, but when he saw the Emperor's younger brother turned his head away impatiently, he fell silent instantly.
After the official decree was issued, the emperor left behind the Jinyi Guard.
He said: "Keep a close eye on all the news from the King of Huainan, and at the same time activate the spies planted in the King of Huainan's residence, and have them persuade the King of Huainan to come to the capital."
The Jinyiwei bowed and said, "Your Majesty, may I ask how many ranks of guards you would like to employ?"
The emperor tapped the table lightly with his index finger. After a long while, he said calmly, "The highest level. Not only the King of Huainan, but also the King of Linjiang and the King of Hengshan, whose fiefdoms are adjacent to his, have been mobilized to prevent them from providing any food and grass to the King of Huainan. Since the system is joking that the King of Huainan's decision is 'hurting one thousand enemies and eight hundred of his own', then we should incite public opinion and force him to come to the capital."
Jinyiwei said: "Yes."
The emperor handed the bloody script written by the system to the Imperial Guards: "Although the content is absurd, some of the methods of inciting public opinion, such as big-character posters, are quite ingenious. You should study it carefully and adopt it appropriately."
Jinyiwei said: "Yes."
The emperor said: "Song Wei has won great victories in Chen and Chu. Ming Wei, please do not disappoint me."
Jinyiwei's heart tensed up, and he said loudly: "I will not let my master down."
Several decrees were issued from the court, and Daxia began to operate at high speed.
…
Huainan Palace
Except for the smaller number of officials and the size of the army, the princes and kings were like little emperors in their own fiefdoms.
Prince Huainan was attending court when he heard the intelligence sent by Qi Menglong again.
——The emperor has issued orders to control the locusts, but to no avail and the people are resentful.
——The capital city has been flooded with refugees from the disaster area. The emperor is extremely worried and miserable.
——The emperor agreed to open the warehouses to release grain to the princes, but the princes had to personally participate in the locust sacrifice ceremony.
The more the King of Huainan watched, the happier he became. He looked at the officials below and said, "Hahaha, good, it's good to be in a state of panic! With locusts and natural disasters, I wonder how that tyrant can shut up the world and maintain his reputation."
Some officials murmured in their hearts: He is already a tyrant, he doesn't care about his reputation at all.
The King of Huainan continued, "Do you have any business to attend to? If you have any, please report it. If not, please leave the court."
The internal historian of the King of Huainan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the locust plague is spreading very quickly and there are countless refugees. Can you open the warehouses and provide them with food?"
The King of Huainan waved his hand contemptuously: "No. I am not the Emperor of Daxia, so why should I care about the lives of those people? Besides, have you forgotten the information that the princess passed on? The emperor has a hard time dealing with the disaster victims who flowed into the capital. So why should I reduce the number of disaster victims?"
The internal historian said anxiously: "But, Your Majesty. Those disaster victims will also flow into your territory. Locusts will also flow into your territory! If Your Majesty does not want your own granary, can you ask the Emperor of Daxia for some food and grass support?"
King Huainan: "Are you crazy? I won't go."
The internal historian said: "Your Majesty, the number of refugees is far beyond your imagination. Why don't you go to the streets and see..."
"Shut up!" King Huainan waved his hand, signaling Doctor Yushi to talk about other topics.
However, although the internal historian kept his mouth shut, the King of Huainan still heard these words.
After the court session, the Prince of Huainan did not return to the harem, but turned around and called the Chief Justice to walk towards the suburbs outside the palace.
As he walked, he was still talking to the Chief Justice about how long it would take for the locust plague to bring disaster to the Emperor of Xia.
Unexpectedly, the Chief Justice suddenly froze in place.
The King of Huainan frowned and was about to speak when he saw the Chief Justice pointing to the distance: "My Lord... over there, over there..."
When the King of Huainan looked up, his pupils trembled.
——The air not far away was full of locusts.
The King of Huainan listened to the panicked sounds of the nearby people and walked non-stop towards the suburbs outside the palace.