The King of Huainan's fiefdom was in southern Xinjiang, which was vast but sparsely populated.
Most people live in Nanwu, which is the capital of southern Xinjiang and the most prosperous place.
Because of the special terrain of Nanwu, which is hot and dry, crops are difficult to grow there and can only be transported from outside.
After the King of Huainan went there, he heard that he had sent envoys to Xise and brought back some seeds from there. These seeds could survive even in arid areas, which made life a little better for the people of Nanwu.
When the King of Huainan first obtained this fief, he was ridiculed by his brothers behind his back.
Because among all the brothers, Nanwu is the most remote and desolate. Going there from such a prosperous Shengjing is no different from being exiled.
But the King of Huainan had no objection to this and accepted it with pleasure.
He simply said that he would no longer be able to fulfill his filial duties to the late emperor, as his future was long and difficult. Therefore, he took a portrait of the late emperor with him to alleviate his longing for his family.
The late emperor was deeply moved and declared that this boy was of pure and kind character, a role model for the royal family. He bestowed upon him the title of King of Huainan, and prohibited him from entering the capital without imperial decree.
It was also said that the King of Huainan was brave, so he was specially named "General of Heavenly Strategy", surpassing all other princes.
Even though Song Huaian is living such a miserable life in Shengjing now, his father was once very powerful.
Otherwise, he wouldn't still be feared by the emperor until today.
Nanwu was located on the border, just a thin line away from Mengsu. Mengsu was a tall and strong man, extremely brave and skilled in sand warfare. He often committed murder, looting, and other atrocities along the border.
Over the years, the situation has been relatively quiet due to the presence of the Prince of Huainan. However, the throne is about to be passed to Mengsu, and the previous alliance will probably become a piece of waste paper after the new emperor takes the throne. Mengsu is short of resources and can no longer sustain it!
The continuous natural disasters caused Mengsu to suffer heavy losses.
The people were complaining and accusing the emperor of being unkind and unworthy of his position. They believed that natural disasters were punishment from heaven, and they were targeting the emperor!
The reign of Meng Su spent his days in debauchery, favored treacherous ministers, and suppressed loyal ministers, which had long caused dissatisfaction inside and outside the court.
The successive natural disasters left corpses everywhere, the people were starving and in danger of losing their lives at any moment. Rebellious armies sprang up everywhere and could not be suppressed.
Even if he wrote a letter of apology under the pressure of court officials, he was unable to calm the public anger.
According to information from Shengjing, several princes have already begun to take action. The old emperor is now claiming to be ill, but in fact he is under house arrest.
Now let’s see which of those princes will be the winner!
"Meng Su is incredibly bold. He has no food of his own, so he wants to steal ours! I heard the Prince of Huainan has already submitted several memorials, saying Meng Su has been very restless recently and asking the Emperor to make preparations early."
When Lu Jing talked about this, there seemed to be fire burning in his eyes. That was his ambition as the son of a military general!
If a war really breaks out, this will be a good opportunity to achieve success!
As long as he is caught, maybe he can make a comeback for the Marquis of Changning's Mansion!
The calculations in his mind did not escape Shen Ruoyan's eyes. Da Sheng had not fought a war for a long time. The last time it fought a war was during the time of the previous emperor.
After the last war, a ceasefire agreement was signed, which brought nearly decades of peace.
However, the resources and vitality lost in the war have not yet been fully recovered.
"The emperor will not fight." Shen Ruoyan said calmly. The war consumed too much supplies. When the previous emperor was still in power, he often had headaches because of military supplies.
When the new emperor first ascended the throne, the treasury was extremely empty. Even the repairs to the Empress Dowager's palace took months of effort before the money was approved.
It’s not that the emperor was deliberately making things difficult, but he really had no money. Even when his imperial study leaked, he simply moved the books inside and asked people to use buckets to catch the leak when it rained.
Although it is a bit exaggerated, the effect is amazing.
At least every time the court officials were summoned to the Imperial Study to discuss matters, they would be shocked by this move. And then when they asked the Ministry of Revenue for money, they would think twice.
Therefore, the Minister of Revenue preferred this young emperor who lived a frugal life to the war-minded previous emperor.
Perhaps it was because he saw that the previous emperor had fought too many wars, fighting with money or without money. For the last war, he even forced wealthy businessmen to borrow money in the name of the court, and only then was he able to gather the military supplies.
Until now, it’s all a mess!
Therefore, the emperor would rather avoid war if possible. His treasury has been filled with great difficulty, so naturally he is unwilling to waste money on these things.
There is another person who is guarding Nanwu now, and he is the King of Huainan!
The princes were not allowed to control their own troops. They could be on guard a little in normal times, but it was hard to predict what would happen during a war.
By then, it was unclear whether the King of Huainan's army was fighting the Mengsu people or other people. The emperor was far away and the situation might get out of his control at any time.
Even though the hostage was in Beijing, the emperor was still worried.
He was well aware of his position, which he had achieved thanks to the Queen Mother. In terms of strength, the King of Huainan was both civil and military, and he was no match for him.
He was finally able to ascend to the throne thanks to the Queen Mother's support.
In the emperor's view, the Prince of Huainan was too ambitious, and his biological mother was also of high status. Although she had passed away, her mother's family was powerful and difficult to control. That was why he chose himself, an obedient and easy-to-control chess piece.
He had endured humiliation for so many years under the Queen Mother's command, and had finally climbed to this supreme position.
Now, even the Queen Mother has been eliminated - he will never allow anyone to shake his position!
"Meng Su has come to grab us, how can we not fight?" Lu Jing felt that Shen Ruoyan was a woman in the back house after all, so what if she had read a lot of books? In the end, she was still shallow.
It was rare for him to feel superior in front of Shen Ruoyan. He was no longer busy doing other things and explained to her in a good mood:
"Those Mengsu people are incredibly ruthless. Whenever a caravan passes by, not only do they rob it of all its goods, they also kill everyone, leaving no one alive! Even though the Prince of Huainan is guarding the border, how can he possibly keep watch?"
Lu Jing actually had some brains on this matter, and what he said was not all nonsense.
"The Mongols rob and run. They are familiar with the desert terrain. Once they enter the desert, they blend into the sand and are impossible to find no matter how hard we try! If we don't send troops to subdue them, there will never be peace on this border!"
Nanwu is now trading with neighboring countries and vigorously developing commerce, so there are many caravans coming and going, but recently there have been several incidents of looting against caravans.
The caravans that were able to trade across the border had hired their own escorts, and some even brought an entire escort team with them.
However, no one was spared.
The King of Huainan attached great importance to this and even led his troops to escort them personally, but the Mengsu people were so cunning, like loaches, that they could not be caught.
If this continues, it will definitely have an adverse impact on the development of Nanwu.
So the King of Huainan was very anxious, and it depended on the Emperor to see if he was anxious enough...
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