"This plan is very well-conceived," the emperor said.
Xie Shaoling: ?
What does it mean to praise someone very thoroughly?
Seeing Xie Shaoling's puzzled expression, the emperor realized what he had just said and wished he could swallow back everything he had said.
An awkward silence spread.
The emperor thought to himself that Xie Shaoling was really annoying. If it were any other minister, he would have taken the initiative to change the subject and ease the awkwardness.
But Xie Shaoling was different; his mouth seemed welded shut the moment he opened it.
In the silent gaze, the emperor thought back to how, since returning from the northern frontier, in the few times they had met, Xie Shaoling had spoken very little when facing him alone.
He remembered that Xie Shaoling was not a quiet person before. On the contrary, he was very talkative, and sometimes he could make others furious with just his words.
"After five years of training in the northern frontier, it seems you haven't come up with nothing!" the emperor said with some satisfaction.
Before he broke up with Xie Shaoling, he always found it very interesting to see Xie Shaoling leave others speechless. But one day, when he became the one being roasted, he particularly disliked Xie Shaoling's mouth.
Now, Xie Shaoling seems to have finally realized that his mouth is not pleasing to people!
"People always have to grow up," Xie Shaoling replied matter-of-factly.
He really wanted to complain, but he held back when he thought of Xie Chang'an.
Although he never asked Chang'an anything, and Chang'an never said anything to him, it's not hard to guess some things just by looking at the hostility Chang'an showed towards the emperor.
In his youth, he lived a carefree and unrestrained life. Imperial power was respectable to him, but he did not need to fear it.
To him, the young crown prince was not the future master of Dayuan, but the child of an elder who doted on him, and a half-brother.
He was tricked by Ye Shengping several times, but he was not angry that Ye Shengping had made him get beaten, but that Ye Shengping had impure intentions.
He frequented the brothel Yunshui, where Ye Shengping provided him with girls; he went to a gambling den, where Ye Shengping bribed the dealer to ensure his wins; he was slandered and caused trouble by dissolute young men in the capital who were at odds with him, and Ye Shengping, to avenge him, planned to set a trap to kill them all...
Every single incident reveals that Ye Shengping has serious character flaws.
Regardless of whether Ye Shengping thought things through before acting, as a friend, when Ye Shengping learned that he frequented brothels and gambling dens, shouldn't his first priority have been to advise and guide him back from his misguided ways?
How did Ye Shengping do it?
Ye Shengping simply pandered to his preferences without considering whether what he liked was right or wrong, or whether it was appropriate or not!
Lacking one's own opinions and being unable to distinguish right from wrong are major taboos for rulers.
Let alone the crown prince of a country, even for the heir of a noble family, this is extremely unqualified!
Later, in order to avenge him, Ye Shengping actually set up a scheme to murder those spoiled brats. So many vibrant lives meant nothing to him.
Disregarding the law and taking human life lightly...
How can such a person be a wise ruler?
With the future of Daeyoshi entrusted to such a crown prince, how could it not be a cause for concern?
For the sake of Dayuan's future, he only spoke more sternly and sharply when advising him, without reporting these matters to the late emperor. He believed he had been lenient enough with Ye Shengping. However, since then, except for some unavoidable occasions, Ye Shengping, that petty person, never appeared in front of him again.
At that time, he had not yet realized the seriousness of the situation, until the late emperor passed away and the new emperor ascended the throne—
After Ye Shengping became emperor, he immediately issued an imperial edict to send him to the northern frontier.
He originally thought that Ye Shengping was punishing him by sending him to the northern frontier, preventing him from reuniting with his wife, because he held a grudge against him for what he had said. Later, he realized that he had underestimated Ye Shengping's vengeful nature.
In the past, those纨绔子弟 (sons of wealthy and powerful families) in the capital only offended him, and Ye Shengping would not hesitate to plot their deaths to curry favor with him. But he had genuinely provoked Ye Shengping, so it was not unreasonable for Ye Shengping to want to wipe out his entire Zhenguo Duke's mansion.
No, he simply couldn't understand what kind of thing the late emperor had produced after more than a decade of careful instruction.
Aside from the generals of the Xie family army, he hasn't trained any other capable generals. It's easy to destroy the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, but what will he use to resist the invasion of the Northern Barbarians?
Xie Shaoling never thought Ye Shengping was suitable to be a king, and now he has even less hope for him.
Fortunately, the bad bamboo produced good shoots, and Ye Shengping was lucky to have a good son out of nowhere.
He saw hope in His Highness the Crown Prince, and for His Highness's sake, he was not incapable of restraining himself in front of Ye Shengping.
Xie Shaoling has changed.
At least when facing him, she was taciturn and unlike the carefree and unrestrained boy she used to be.
When the emperor saw Xie Shaoling like this, he felt somewhat pleased, but also somewhat bored.
He didn't want to see Xie Shaoling again, so he told him to leave.
After Xie Shaoling left, the emperor opened his memorial again, skipped over the meaningless praise, and read it carefully.
After reading it, he instructed Zhang Shunde to bring the map and, comparing it with the terrain of Jizhou, he looked at it again.
"Zhang Shunde, summon the Minister of Revenue, the Minister of Works, and the Vice Minister of Works to the palace to see me now! Does the Ministry of Works have a topographical map of Jizhou? Have the Minister of Works bring it!" The emperor ordered halfway through reading the map.
Zhang Shunde immediately arranged for someone to deliver the imperial edict outside the palace.
After leaving the palace, Xie Shaoling did not rush back to his residence, but instead found a teahouse on a street in the imperial city to have tea.
In a private room on the second floor, he sat by the window, facing a wide street.
The streets were bustling with people.
This street is the only way to the palace. If there is an imperial decree or if court officials are urgently summoned to the palace, they will pass through this road.
He leaned against the window and slowly drank three cups of tea before finally seeing the palace carriages pass by. He drank two more cups of tea, filling his stomach with tea, before finally seeing the carriages of the Ministers of Revenue and Works and their Vice Ministers.
At least it's not hopeless.
Xie Shaoling returned to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion with peace of mind.
Today happened to be the day when people pay their respects to the emperor every three days. When Ye Jingchen brought the princes and princesses to Chengqian Palace, they were surprised to find that they did not see the emperor.
"Your Highness, His Majesty is currently in the Chongzheng Hall, perhaps handling important matters," the head maid of Chengqian Palace respectfully told Ye Jingchen.
Ye Jingchen knew that Xie Shaoling would be going to the palace to see the emperor today. Could it be that the emperor was meeting Xie Shaoling in the Chongzheng Hall?
But just thinking about it made him realize it was impossible.
They don't click, their values clash, and they dislike each other. It's unlikely they could have been in the same room discussing things for so long.
"It's alright, it's almost time for dinner anyway, we'll just wait for Father." Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
He was particularly curious about what the emperor was dealing with in the Chongzheng Hall at this hour. Was it related to Xie Shaoling's memorial?
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