Chapter 36 Xiao Shenjing, that bastard
It should be noted that Yunxi's outrageous and presumptuous behavior is a serious crime.
Even a favored concubine wouldn't dare behave like this in front of so many ministers.
It is worth noting that in the previous dynasty, a favored concubine was banished to the cold palace by the empress for the crime of overstepping her bounds in order to serve the emperor tea.
It could even lead to impeachment by censors. The six supervising secretaries even jointly submitted a memorial entitled "Exceeding the Regulations," citing the old rule in "Admonitions for Women" that "concubines serving meals should be three steps away from the steps of the emperor."
So Xiao Shenjing paused for a moment, then took the lychee from his mouth and immediately looked towards the main hall.
Fortunately, Yunxi was a trained fighter and acted very quickly.
By this time, the wine had been drunk for some time, and most of the officials were so captivated by the singing and dancing in the hall that they had no time to pay attention to anything else.
Your Highness, only a few people saw this scene clearly.
Among the concubines in the harem, Cen Yuwei nearly dropped a cup, while Consort Xue clutched her handkerchief.
Among the officials, Fan Zishi gripped his wine cup tightly, while Lu Xiuran was slightly lost in thought.
Fu Shun, who was serving nearby, gasped in shock.
Yunxi had no idea how much turmoil her actions had stirred up.
She was so annoyed with Xiao Shenjing that she didn't want to serve him at all.
Making such a fuss over eating fruit? It's like they have nothing better to do.
To avoid causing herself trouble, Yunxi tried her best to do as Xiao Shenjing said.
But these lychees are naturally very juicy, and if you're not careful, the juice will spill out.
Or perhaps she accidentally broke the tender fruit flesh.
After scanning the scene in the hall, Xiao Shenjing withdrew his gaze. He had originally intended to reprimand Yunxi for her presumptuous behavior and teach her proper palace etiquette.
Turning her head, I saw her thick, half-drooping eyelashes casting shadows on her porcelain-white face, giving her an obedient look as she diligently peeled a lychee.
From Xiao Shenjing's perspective, he could see her small, pert nose, her full, cherry-red lips slightly pursed, and her chubby cheeks pouting slightly because of her head-down posture.
He rubbed his hand on the table for a moment, then immediately pressed it down.
They seemed to abruptly avert their gaze.
It was as if Yunxi hadn't done anything outrageous just now.
With such a calm and serene demeanor, even Fu Shun, who had been carefully observing, wondered if he had just misread the image.
However, there was clearly a half-peeled lychee on the imperial desk.
Yunxi peeled a few, but still couldn't get the hang of it.
Not only were my hands covered in juice, but the sweet aroma of lychees lingered in my nostrils.
The lychees that had been peeled were naturally not to be eaten by the emperor; they could only be thrown on a plate.
What a waste!
Yunxi licked her lips, trying hard to suppress the urge to sneak a bite.
She peeled two more, the juice flowing down her fingers, the aroma lingering around her nose.
She shifted her position while kneeling beside the imperial desk, then lowered her shoulders, subtly using the desk to partially obscure her body so that the people below could not see her movements.
Then, while peeling lychees, she observed that the eunuchs and maids all had their heads down and did not dare to look at Xiao Shenjing.
Without thinking, she popped a lychee into her mouth.
Xiao Shenjing, who had been watching her every little movement, was very observant.
That's incredibly audacious.
She observed everyone else but ignored Xiao Shenjing's Yunxi, eating one after another.
With nowhere to spit out the lychee pits, she put them in her mouth.
As she stole another one, her puffed-up cheeks swayed from side to side as she chewed.
The sweet juice of the three lychees finally quenched my thirst.
As Yunxi looked up to find a place to spit out the fruit pit, she finally felt the gaze hanging down from above her head.
She subconsciously looked up.
Their eyes met.
Xiao Shenjing.
“Yunxi”
The main hall was filled with singing and dancing.
After the imperial guards were placed on the high platform, an awkward situation ensued.
Yunxi puffed out her round cheeks, wanting to speak but unable to, so she could only lower her head and pretend not to know anything as she continued peeling lychees.
Xiao Shenjing lowered his voice and said sternly, "Since you dared to steal food, you'd better keep it in your mouth until the banquet is over."
Upon hearing this...
Yunxi tilted her head and spat out the three fruit pits in a few quick spits.
The palace maids and eunuchs, though their heads were bowed and they didn't know what had happened, were watching the three lychee seeds rolling on the lichen.
They all roughly knew what had happened, and their expressions were somewhat confused for a moment.
"Fu Shun." Xiao Shenjing stared at her and called out directly, "Come and count, if she peels one badly, punish her one more time."
Yunxi regretted it a little; she should have been more patient.
She stubbornly pursed her lips, and thought, "Mmm, it's sweet," and couldn't help but lick them again.
Xiao Shenjing originally wanted to see Yun Xi's expression, but he didn't expect to see her lick her lips.
Her tongue was pink and small, and it quickly disappeared into her lips.
At this moment, the piano music from the audience gradually faded away.
After the dance ended, most of His Highness's gaze fell on Xiao Shenjing.
The young emperor, leaning against the rosewood throne with dragon patterns, composed himself, lowered his eyes, and glanced down at the officials below, whose robes were tinged with a swaying purple cloud by the palace lanterns.
His gaze lingered on Fan Zishi for a moment, then he said loudly, "Tonight, to celebrate the festival, I have specially ordered the Imperial Music Bureau to arrange a grand opera for all of you to enjoy together."
As soon as he finished speaking...
"Start the performance!" With Fu Shun's sharp shout, the pipa from the Jiaofangsi suddenly turned rapidly.
Yunxi was startled by the sudden change in the pipa's melody, and keenly sensed that something big was about to happen.
Then, Your Highness, twenty-four actors wearing bamboo hats and hempen belts hurried into the hall.
The old man unfurled his long, flowing sleeves, revealing the inscription "Ode to Mulberry and Hemp in Jiangnan" in ink. Before the mulberry branch in his hand could even unfurl its leaves, a bare-chested martial artist suddenly rushed out from the side, his wood-chopping knife gleaming coldly, slicing the mulberry branch from the old man's hand, scattering it across the ground. The lead dancer then sang the "Edict to Encourage Farmers": "The Emperor decrees: In Jiangnan, where mulberry and rice fields are contested, anyone who dares to damage the granaries shall be executed!"
"Imperial decree! Destroy the mulberry trees and restore the rice paddies."
"Your Majesty!" Yang Lian, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, suddenly stood up, his jade pendant at his waist slamming against the rosewood table. "This play disgraces the 'Essentials of Agriculture and Sericulture,' emphasizing mulberry cultivation as the virtue of Emperor Taizu!"
"If you want to watch the play, then watch the play," the young emperor interrupted with a smile.
Such a momentous matter was of no concern to the court officials. Grand Secretary Zhang stood up and bowed, advising, "The mulberry gardens of Jiangnan are the foundation of the textile industry. If they are all converted to rice paddies, it may shake the foundation of the nation."
"Grand Secretary Zhang has probably forgotten the 'New Regulations for the Grand Canal' of the third year of the Jingquan reign." Lin Rudong, a compiler of the Hanlin Academy, suddenly stood up, his seventh-rank blue robe billowing like sails in the wind. "Back then, when the late emperor moved the capital, the mulberry fields of Beiping were converted into rice paddies to support a million-strong army; history still records it."
"How dare a mere child speak ill of ancestral rules!" Yang Lian, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, cursed. "The silk of Jiangnan is the foundation of weaving. Don't they know that the previous dynasty changed to rice cultivation, resulting in starvation that blocked the Grand Canal?"
Lu Xiuran looked at Xiao Shenjing, a faint smile playing on the young emperor's face.
His expression was inscrutable, and his true intentions were difficult to fathom.
He stood up and said loudly, "Last year, a typhoon destroyed the dikes in Zhangzhou, but the mulberry orchards of tens of thousands of acres remained undamaged. It is said to be a prosperous place, but the mulberry farmers can only resort to exchanging their own children to eat."
"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" Grand Secretary Zhang suddenly stood up, startling the bronze lanterns below the steps into bursting flames. He glanced at Lu Xiuran and said, "How can a poor scholar understand the livelihood of 100,000 weavers in the Imperial Textile Bureau? With the order to cut mulberry leaves, I fear we'll have to use the intestines of a million starving people as tow ropes!"
The emperor, seated high behind his desk, narrowed his eyes, his phoenix eyes filled with gloom.
Yunxi watched the turmoil in the main hall, then lowered her head and looked down as if she hadn't seen or heard anything.
However, it was clear that Xiao Shenjing disagreed with this person's statement.
But she couldn't change these important matters of the court. Just as she was thinking this, she turned her head and found that all the eunuchs and palace maids were gone, leaving only Eunuch Fu to attend to her.
Yunxi also wanted to leave.
Then, His Highness spoke again.
"Your Majesty!" At the height of the tension, Wang Ruzhen, the Minister of Revenue, stepped forward, knelt on both knees, and loudly remonstrated, "Emperor Taizu's imperial edict, 'One mulberry tree yields ten bushels of grain,' is still on the Ministry of Revenue's archives. Back then, the relocation of the capital relied on the constant flow of silk boats on the Grand Canal; two hundred thousand bolts of silk were exchanged for the bricks, stones, and timber needed for the capital. If Your Majesty were to destroy the mulberry trees and plant new ones, wouldn't that be tearing down the foundation of the Forbidden City?"
"Secondly, the 300,000 dan of raw silk that Songjiang Prefecture paid last year supported 70% of the military pay for the nine border towns! The 3,000 artisans in the Yingtian Prefecture Textile Bureau all have skills passed down for three generations. If you cut down mulberry trees today, you will have to exchange cotton for the armor of Jizhou Guard and the warhorses of Xuanfu Town tomorrow! When the Turkic cavalry breaks through the pass, I'm afraid you won't even be able to gather enough cotton bags for the horses!"
"Back then, Emperor Wu of Han planted millet with Ferghana horses, causing cannibalism among the people of Guandong; Wang Mang changed the well-field system, and before the autumn harvest, only bones remained. In the eighth year of Jingquan's reign, the Yellow River changed its course, causing a severe drought in Shandong with no harvest. It was only by exchanging 100,000 dan of raw silk from Jiangyin for Korean rice that we survived!" He glared angrily at Lu Xiuran and his group of impoverished scholars. "This year, the Imperial Observatory says that Mars is in conjunction with the heart of the sun. If Your Majesty insists on severing the earth's vital energy for silkworms again, I implore Your Majesty to reconsider." Wang Ruzhen suddenly pressed his head to the ground. "This old minister entered the Hanlin Academy at the age of twenty and served the silkworm god for three emperors! If Your Majesty insists on doing so, this old minister is willing to shed blood on the imperial steps, and let this old body be wrapped in silkworm paper to accompany Emperor Taizu! I only beg Your Majesty to listen carefully. Thunder and rain are all divine grace, but the dew on the mulberry leaves nourishes the soul of my Great Jing Dynasty! Your Majesty!"
His earnest advice was deeply moving.
However, Yunxi could clearly sense that the gloom in Xiao Shenjing's eyes was deepening.
The fingers that lightly tapped the imperial desk were filled with suppressed irritation.
Historically, the implementation of new policies has rarely been successful; each attempt has come at the cost of countless lives lost.
Yunxi was unaware of the general trend of the world, but he had traveled to many places. Even the price of rice in Yangzhou had skyrocketed due to shortages, while the rich feasted on meat and wine while the poor froze to death on the streets.
If this continues, it will only bring suffering to the common people.
"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" After the Minister of Revenue finished speaking, many cabinet ministers and senior officials in the hall knelt on the ground.
In an instant, most of the court officials knelt down.
Only young officials like Fan Zishi and Lu Xiuran remained, standing abruptly in the main hall.
This is a head-on confrontation between the old and new forces.
Even though Xiao Shenjing ruthlessly suppressed the hereditary marquises of powerful families before ascending the throne, the more he did so, the more these people would unite and form groups.
Now that Xiao Shenjing wants to touch the silkworm industry in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it involves countless interests and is tantamount to touching the lifeblood of many people.
If it's already facing such obstacles on the surface, imagine how much more resistance it would cause if we insisted on pushing it forward.
The tense atmosphere made even the lingering incense smoke in the Fengtian Hall seem unbearable.
The hall was filled with the bright glow of candles, yet it was eerily silent.
It seemed that no one dared to be the first to speak out, and no one dared to risk their own fame and fortune to plead for the people.
Yunxi was very curious: which brave warrior would dare to step forward at this moment, and raise the reaping sickle against the powerful families, instead of the sharp blade in Xiao Shenjing's hand?
"Your Majesty, please reconsider! Your Majesty, please reconsider!" shouted the ministers who opposed cutting down mulberry trees and restoring rice cultivation.
The overlapping sounds, like a tidal wave, rose higher and higher, one after another, crashing down upon the emperor who sat high in the heavens.
With such overwhelming momentum, even if he were the ruler of the world, it would be difficult for him to defy him.
Yunxi thought Xiao Shenjing would be angry, or perhaps he would compromise and give her a way out. However, when Yunxi turned her head to look, she saw Xiao Shenjing sitting upright with a barely perceptible smile on his lips.
The smile didn't reach his eyes; it was a mix of cold laughter, mockery, and complete control.
Yunxi looked into the main hall again. She couldn't understand who would be so foolish as to step forward and oppose these forces that occupied almost half of the Jing Kingdom.
That would be digging your own grave.
"Your Majesty, please reconsider!" the ministers shouted in unison again, displaying an air of determination that Xiao Shenjing would not give up until he compromised.
Despite the immense power at play, Xiao Shenjing coughed lightly.
Just as Yunxi thought he was about to compromise and speak, a familiar voice suddenly rang out in the silent hall.
"One mu of mulberry field can ruin three mu of rice paddies." Fan Zishi slowly stood up from his seat and stared at the group of important officials led by Grand Secretary Zhang. He said, "During the Jingde era, there were still 80,000 hectares of paddy fields in eastern Zhejiang. Now, more than half of them have been encroached upon by mulberry orchards! Each old mulberry tree consumes 30 dan of water per year and produces silk worth only 7 qian. However, if the same amount of soil and water were used to grow Champa rice, it could support a family of five!"
The assembled high-ranking officials stared in disbelief at the young Left Censor of the Ministry of Works, finding it hard to believe that he dared to step forward.
He was clearly a nobleman, a surviving aristocratic family, yet he stood on the opposing side at this time.
Yunxi never expected that Fan Zishi, who was always mature and steady, would do such an unwise thing.
Her gaze unconsciously lingered on him.
In the absolute silence, the young Left Censor of the Ministry of Works glanced in Yunxi's direction, then his sharp gaze slowly swept over the assembled officials. "In the fourteenth year of Jingquan, a 'rice riot' broke out in Suzhou, and starving people ate mulberry bark to stave off hunger. The children's rhyme in Wujiang County was heartbreaking: 'Mulberry leaves are green, rice flowers are yellow, silkworm mothers reel silk to exchange for children's grain.' Now, wealthy households have seized thousands of acres of fertile land to plant mulberry trees by the lake, and the rice production in Jiangnan has plummeted by 40%. The poor have no place to stand to grow grain. This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made calamity!" He spoke with resounding conviction.
His eyes swept over everyone present, his aura imposing.
"Now that grain prices have skyrocketed, if the Jiangnan region were to face a natural disaster," his voice suddenly grew louder, with an aggressive tone, "please tell me, how will the mulberry farmers in the Jiangnan region survive?"
Grand Secretary Zhang, his hair and beard bristling, stared at Fan Zishi's relentless advances, about to speak.
Fan Zishi didn't give him a chance to speak at all.
"I'd rather cultivate three acres of barren land for rice than cling to ancestral mulberry trees for a mere penny. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, mulberry fields occupy six or seven tenths of the fertile land. If all of them were converted to rice, the annual grain yield could increase by a million shi (a unit of dry measure). 'Agriculture is the foundation of the state; when the foundation is firm, the state is secure.' Now, mulberry fields are competing for grain land, putting the cart before the horse. Isn't this a violation of ancestral rules?" Fan Zishi's voice grew louder and more imposing. He even removed his official seal, raised it above his head, bowed, and loudly pleaded, "For the continued prosperity of my Jing Kingdom, cutting down mulberry trees and restoring rice is imperative. I humbly request permission to share Your Majesty's burdens and alleviate the suffering of the people."
He lifted his robe, knelt on both knees, bowed deeply to the ground, and loudly proclaimed, "Your subject is willing to use his head to build a new stepping stone for my Great Jing Dynasty."
One man against most of the forces in the court.
He's really reckless.
"Your Majesty," Grand Secretary Zhang was about to speak.
"Issue the imperial decree!" Xiao Shenjing's voice suddenly rang out. "Promote Fan Zishi, the Left Censor of the Ministry of Works, to oversee the rice conversion project. This year, the silk tax in the Southern Zhili and Jiangzhe regions will be increased by 30%, and those who convert to rice will be exempt from land tax."
Wang Ruzhen was greatly alarmed and hurriedly advised, "Your Majesty! If this decree is implemented, it may incite a popular uprising."
"A popular uprising? When Emperor Jingde moved the capital, he cut down all the mulberry and jujube trees in Beiping to grow military grain. Where is that?" Xiao Shenjing flicked his sleeve and snorted heavily. "You scholars who read the classics are not as knowledgeable as a bunch of opera singers!"
"Your Majesty, please reconsider!"
Standing on the high platform, Xiao Shenjing looked down at the crowd and said, "My mind is made up. Anyone who dares to say anything is disobeying my decree."
A single sentence struck the hearts of the court officials like a thunderbolt.
The lingering power of the imperial court, which trampled the bones of nobles and officials on the streets, is still vivid in my mind.
No one dared to say another word; they all knelt on the ground, not daring to even breathe loudly.
The emperor's majesty was on full display at this moment.
The banquet, filled with the sounds of battle and chivalry, ended with Xiao Shenjing leaving early.
He did not travel with any of his concubines, including Cen Yuwei.
Yunxi mingled among a group of palace maids, trying to minimize her presence.
Her plan was to slip away quietly as soon as she left the Fengtian Hall.
After all, this place is crowded and noisy, so it's not easy to escape.
So she slowly walked further and further back, until she was almost at the very back, when suddenly, the crowd all stopped in their tracks.
Yunxi glanced through the crowd and noticed that Xiao Shenjing had stopped.
She could only lower her eyes and remain standing in place.
I thought the crowd would start moving forward soon.
Unexpectedly, when the room fell silent, Xiao Shenjing suddenly spoke up and said, "Bring Yunxi to me."
Yunxi could only curse in her heart.
What kind of trouble is Xiao Shenjing, that persistent bastard, going to cause now?
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