"good!"
Xie Yuan and the Fourth Prince stood on the city gate tower, and in front of Helian Jue and Princess Xu, the two exchanged three slaps.
The bet is settled!
"Alright, Little Fourth, although you're a bit annoying, I can't kick you out as your elder brother because of your princess!"
"Let's go to my Yue King's Mansion, stay for a while, and broaden our horizons."
Helian Jue vaguely guessed Xie Yuan's plan—
She's sure to win her bet with the Fourth Prince.
If the fourth prince loses, he will have to listen to Helian Jue and become Helian Jue's henchman.
Helian Jue's goal was the entire Lingnan region; he wanted to become the King of Lingnan.
Now, Helian Jue has already captured Huangzhou and Jiaozhou, and he will be able to capture the neighboring Luozhou this year.
Helian Jue then controlled four prefectures, and most of Lingnan was incorporated into his territory.
The emperor in the capital was probably worried that Helian Jue's expansion was too reckless.
Although it is better to let the princes rule their own territories than to let those powerful families occupy them.
However, after unifying the North and South, the sage vowed to become a wise and virtuous ruler who controlled the world.
Lingnan was a wild and untamed place, yet even the sages never considered abandoning it.
He had multiple considerations in sending the fourth prince, the Prince of Yong, to his fiefdom—
Firstly, it diverts the blame eastward, diverting the attention of court officials from the capital to the southern border regions, particularly south of the Five Ridges.
Secondly, it weakens the power of the Fifth Prince.
Although the fourth prince is useless, he still has the Cui family behind him.
With the fourth prince gone from the capital, the Cui family and other powerful families who had bet on the fifth prince could no longer openly form factions.
Thirdly, sending the fourth prince to Lingnan would restrain Helian Jue.
Yongzhou is not far from Yuezhou, and is even closer to the inland areas.
The Fourth Prince can rely on some inland prefectures and counties to his advantage, and then confront Helian Jue!
The Emperor has not forgotten that the Fourth Prince and Helian Jue have been at odds for years.
After Helian Jue was deposed, the Fourth Prince caused him a lot of trouble.
Even on their wedding night—
Ahem, although the Fourth Prince never gained anything from his attempts to provoke her.
However, the fourth prince's stupidity still had some destructive power.
Not to mention, the Emperor specially chose a daughter from the Xu family to be the princess consort for the fourth prince!
Xu Liang was loyal to the emperor, and the entire Xu family were straightforward and honest martial artists.
They had little contact with aristocratic families or those old-established noble families.
He can be considered a loyal minister of a sage.
Princess Xu was fierce, in no way inferior to men.
The Xu family also gave her a dowry of three hundred songs.
In addition, the Prince of Yong's mansion itself had 1,500 personal guards.
The sage calculated that the nearly two thousand troops, under the command of Princess Xu, a daughter of a military family, would surely play a certain role.
Not to mention, Princess Xu also has the support of the Xu family.
...As long as the Fourth Prince continues to oppose Helian Jue, the Yong Prince's Mansion can restrain Helian Jue in Lingnan, preventing him from truly becoming the so-called King of Lingnan!
Even Helian Jue could guess the sage's plans from afar.
Xie Yuan's bet was very targeted—
Do they want the Fourth Prince and Helian Jue to fight each other?
No way!
Even if it means making a bet, Xie Yuan will make the Fourth Prince a respectful and good younger brother to his elder brother!
"My Ah Yuan, he really is always thinking of me!"
Helian Jue's cold and stubborn heart had long been warmed by Xie Yuan.
He was grateful for Xie Yuan's hard work in helping him, and he would not let Xie Yuan down.
Therefore, even though Helian Jue still disliked his foolish younger brother, the Fourth Prince, he still showed some goodwill.
Fourth Prince: ...You mean this with goodwill? You're clearly showing off and putting me down!
What do you mean by "let me see for myself"?
Do you think I'm ignorant?
snort!
I am, after all, the fourth prince, a first-rank prince with a real title!
Besides, even if I'm stupid and ignorant, I still have my queen.
"princess!"
The fourth prince turned to look at his princess, his eyes filled with obvious grievance.
Princess Xu: ...My head hurts!
However, as intelligent as she was, she had already figured out why Xie Yuan had made the bet.
To be honest, Xie Yuan's plan included an element of utilizing the Prince of Yong's residence.
Princess Xu, however, did not find it offensive.
It's not because she idolizes Xie Yuan that she blindly agrees with all of Xie Yuan's words and actions.
It's not because Xie Yuan was secretly plotting anything, but because he openly expressed his thoughts.
Just like the bet she proposed, the content and stakes are very clear.
If you think it's possible, then take a gamble.
If you don't want to, no one will force you.
Even if Xie Yuan hadn't made the bet, Princess Xu still wanted to strengthen her relationship with the Prince of Yue's residence.
In fact, not only Princess Xu, but also Consort Cui in the palace thought the same way.
Otherwise, before the Fourth Prince and Princess Xu left the capital, Consort Cui would not have called out the Xie family's treasures and had Princess Xu personally return them to Xie Yuan.
Lingnan is already remote, making survival extremely difficult.
The King of Yue arrived first, seized the initiative, and has already established a firm foothold in Lingnan.
The fourth prince, the Prince of Yong, came later. If he wants to establish himself properly, he needs to get along well with the Prince of Yue.
Otherwise, the Fourth Prince would have far too much trouble.
If the Fourth Prince is intelligent and capable, Consort Cui and Princess Xu might still have a glimmer of hope that he could defeat Helian Jue and become the new King of Lingnan.
But—
So what if we're stupid? Wouldn't it be better if we just obediently played the role of the underlings?
As for the sage's schemes, well, what did they have to do with the Prince of Yong and his wife, who were "exiled" to Lingnan?
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
