Imperial Capital 70. Discussion in the Study

When he stepped into the study and saw two people playing chess in the room, Feng Zhiyao felt that the day had come when he would envy Mo Xiuyao.

"Your Highness, it's not right for you to play chess at home while others are working themselves to death outside." Feng Zhiyao lazily leaned against the door and said sarcastically. How can people be mentally balanced in this world? Those with a miserable life have to run around in the cold wind and rain all day, just like him. Those with a good life can sit leisurely in a warm study room and play chess with a beautiful woman by their side, just like Mo Xiuyao. Ye Li glanced at Feng Zhiyao with a smile. Although the third son of Feng's coquettish face was full of dissatisfaction, his eyes were more real than usual. It can be seen that he is in a good mood.

Mo Xiuyao dropped a piece before he looked up at Feng Zhiyao and asked, "What's the matter?"

Feng Zhiyao walked in slowly, fanning himself, and said, "Is it okay that I can't come to see you? It's different after marrying the princess. You would have been lying in bed half dead by now." Feng Zhiyao obviously didn't mind poking Mo Xiuyao's scars at all. He found a seat beside him and sat down. He looked at the furnishings in the room and said, "The other day, Chief Steward Mo asked Leng Er to find someone who is proficient in architecture. Is it for this side hall? Not bad, it's really good. Princess sister-in-law, can you... get one too?" Even the knowledgeable Third Master Feng didn't understand what this warm room was after looking for a long time. It doesn't matter if he doesn't understand, as long as it doesn't prevent him from knowing what it is used for. In the middle of winter, who would have the patience to burn charcoal that is almost as expensive as silver, smells bad, is inconvenient, and isn't even warm enough.

Ye Liqian smiled and said, "I don't really understand these things. If you are interested, you can go and discuss it with those craftsmen." The wisdom of ancient craftsmen should not be underestimated. She only drew a rough design and put forward her own ideas and principles. Those experienced craftsmen took less than half a month to arrange the plumbing system of this side hall. No wonder some people say that there are many lost crafts that even the machinery of the 21st century cannot manufacture. Feng Zhiyao's eyes lit up, "Are they all Leng Er's people? Thank you, Princess. I will go to find him tomorrow." Haha, wait until he has a warm house like this, and then hold a banquet in the mansion. Let's see if those guys who are so arrogant would drool with envy, "Huh? Your Majesty, did Leng Er say that we can make some money with this? Of course... we will not forget the contribution of the princess." Remembering that Ye Li was the original creator of this greenhouse, Feng Zhiyao did not forget to give her a flattering smile.

Mo Xiuyao held the chess piece and said, "Leng Er has calculated that it will cost at least 17,000 taels to build a greenhouse like this. Even if the cost will slowly decrease after it matures, it will not be less than 15,000 taels. The cost is too high. How many people do you think are willing to spend this money?" Feng Zhiyao pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "Not many indeed." There are many dignitaries in the capital, and even more rich people. But if this side hall alone costs more than 10,000 taels, there really won't be many people willing to spend 20,000 or 30,000 taels to build a greenhouse. If it's just for a profit of tens or hundreds of thousands, it's really unnecessary to study this, at least not at the moment.

Ye Li smiled and said, "In fact, Master Feng's idea is not bad. If the cost can be reduced to around one thousand taels... there will still be a market for it."

Feng Zhiyao said disdainfully, "What can you earn with about one thousand taels?"

"If it's only around one thousand taels, then the dignitaries, wealthy businessmen and even ordinary well-off businessmen in the capital may choose warm rooms instead of silver charcoal. And what if it's the entire Great Chu... or even Xiling Beirong?" Ye Liqian said with a smile.

Feng Zhiyao was startled, and seeing that Mo Xiuyao didn't seem to want to interrupt, he hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll mention this to Leng Er later."

"The Leng Er you are talking about should be the second son of the Leng family, Leng Haoyu, right?" Ye Li asked, "I don't think I heard that the second son of the Leng family is close to the prince." Leng Haoyu is different from Feng Zhiyao who grew up with Mo Xiuyao. He is a few years younger than them. When Mo Xiuyao got into trouble, Leng Haoyu should have been only a child of twelve or thirteen years old. Moreover, the Leng family is loyal to the emperor. Feng Zhiyao nodded, looked at Mo Xiuyao strangely and asked, "Didn't the prince mention it to the princess?" Mo Xiuyao said calmly, "I sent a message to Leng Haoyu asking him to come to the palace, but he seemed busy." Feng Zhiyao seemed to remember something, and laughed muffledly, "Two days ago, Leng Er went out for a drink and was caught by his future father-in-law. He was severely beaten by General Murong, and he probably can't go out now." With Leng Er's face-saving personality, he would definitely not write back to Mo Xiuyao to say that he was beaten up and couldn't go out.

Ye Li was startled and asked in astonishment: "Second Master Leng was beaten by General Murong?"

"That's right. Princess didn't see it at the time. General Murong really showed no mercy. Poor Leng Haoyu, his father doesn't love him. Maybe he's still lying in bed with no one to care about him. I'll go see him later." Feng Zhiyao said with a gloating look. Ye Li asked someone to pour Feng Zhiyao a cup of hot tea before asking, "Since Mr. Leng is your friend, should we send someone to see him if he's injured?" Mo Xiuyao said, "Let Feng Zhiyao go." Without waiting for Feng Zhiyao to reply, he said to him, "Let him come over when he can go out."

Feng Zhiyao knew that Mo Xiuyao would not let them come to the Dingguo Palace without serious business, so he immediately put away the lazy smile on his face, nodded seriously and said, "What do you want, my Lord?"

Mo Xiuyao took the file that Ye Li handed over and said, "This was just sent from Southern Xinjiang. Take a look."

Feng Zhiyao glanced at Ye Li, opened the file and read it carefully. The more he read, the uglier his face became. When Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li finished playing chess and put the chess pieces back into the box before leaving, he raised his head and said, "Mo Jingli secretly funded the rebellion of the Saint of Southern Xinjiang? What's going on? If I remember correctly, the Queen of Southern Xinjiang should be the biological sister of Princess Qixia. Once the Queen succeeds to the throne in the future, Nanzhao will become Mo Jingli's biggest help." Mo Xiuyao held the warm teacup and said lightly, "Don't forget that the King of Nanzhao is only forty years old this year. Unless there are no accidents, the Queen will have to wait at least twenty years to succeed to the throne."

"The King of Nanzhao and Princess Qixia are father and daughter. Would he not support his son-in-law?" Feng Zhiyao said.

Mo Xiuyao shook his head and said, "I have dealt with the King of Nanzhao before. He was still the crown prince of Nanzhao at that time. He was very cautious and smart. He would never support Mo Jingli. If he would, he would have married Princess Qixia to him when Mo Xiuyao was on a diplomatic mission to Nanzhao two years ago, instead of waiting for Princess Qixia to travel thousands of miles to Da Chu. The King of Nanzhao must have been very unhappy about the incident in June. The probability of him or the crown princess supporting Mo Jingli is not high." Feng Zhiyao looked down at the file in his hand and said, "This is also the analysis above. So... when did Mo Jingli hook up with the Southern Frontier Saint?"

Feng Zhiyao felt that they had underestimated Mo Jingli all these years. In his eyes, Mo Jingli had been a hot-tempered fool since he was a child, so even though he was a high-ranking prince and he was just a bastard of a wealthy merchant, he never took Mo Jingli seriously. But looking at all the messes in the capital in the past two years, which one did not involve Mo Jingli? Especially in the past six months, he discovered that there were actually quite a few ministers in the court who supported Prince Li.

"It should have happened when he was on a diplomatic mission to Southern Xinjiang. After all, he stayed in Southern Xinjiang for quite a long time." Mo Xiuyao frowned.

"You said... Does the person in the palace know about this now?" Feng Zhiyao asked curiously. The most interesting thing was the fratricide among the royal brothers.

"Shouldn't know. Don't your subordinates have any news yet?" Mo Xiuyao said. Feng Zhiyao's face darkened. He was in charge of the sending and receiving of various messages in Dingguo Palace. Now the news from Nanzhao has reached the palace, but his subordinates didn't even hear a whiff of it. Of course, he knew that Mo Xiuyao didn't distrust him. If he didn't trust him, Mo Xiuyao wouldn't show him the news so easily. But it's always uncomfortable to know that someone is more powerful than you.

"You don't have to feel ashamed. This news has not leaked out yet. No one knows except those who have seen this file." Mo Xiuyao didn't want to hit his friend and confidant too hard, so he said, "But I can't tell you the source of this news. You can find a way to hand it over to Mo Jingqi."

"Give it to Mo Jingqi?" Feng Zhiyao raised his eyebrows and said, "He will be furious. However, it is better to let them fight each other. We will have more time to do other things. Do we need to send people to Nanjiang? Although the current chaos in Nanjiang is good for us, it may not be the case over time." The people of Nanzhao are tough and have long coveted the vast land and rich resources of Dachu like Zhou. However, the national strength is too weak. After several provocations, they were defeated by Dachu and had to surrender to Dachu.

"We don't have anyone to send right now. There's someone in Southern Xinjiang who should be able to handle it. Let's ignore him for now. What's the news from Northern Rong?"

Feng Zhiyao snorted and said, "After the marriage between Xiling and Da Chu failed, the secret exchanges with Beirong became more frequent than before. I'm afraid Lei Tengfeng also noticed the problems between Mo Jingqi and Mo Jingli, so he changed his mind so abruptly. He planned to wait for Da Chu to be in chaos before joining forces with Beirong to besiege."

"Lei Tengfeng... Da Chu is unstable internally. Does he think that Xiling will be any better?" Mo Xiuyao smiled coldly and frowned, "Isn't it time for Mr. Shen to come back?"

Feng Zhiyao was stunned and said, "It should be soon."

"When he comes back, ask him to go to Xiling." Mo Xiuyao smiled faintly and said, "I heard that the King of Xiling has also been ill for a long time. Shen Shen, a great doctor, will surely be interested."

Feng Zhiyao raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Emperor Xiling and King Zhennan? It seems like a good idea, but I wonder if the healthy Emperor Xiling can tolerate the fact that Xiling has such an unknown but powerful regent?"

Ye Li sat quietly listening to the two people discussing the affairs of various countries, unconsciously a little absent-minded. She knew a lot of things in the capital city in the past six months, and she could see clearly the secret struggles between the emperor, the queen mother and the prince of Li. Unexpectedly, Mo Jingli even dragged Nanzhao into it. When these three mothers and sons were calculating and fighting each other, did they think that some people they were guarding against were secretly planning and running for the rise and fall of this country?

"Ari, what benefits do you think Mo Jingli will get from secretly helping the Saint of Southern Xinjiang?" Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly heard Mo Xiuyao ask.

Ye Li was startled, frowned and said: "Even if Mo Jingli has the support of the Queen Mother, he may not be the opponent of the Emperor. First of all, he is inferior in public opinion and morality. The Emperor is the legitimate successor of the previous emperor, and his elder brother treated him well after he was enthroned. It is of no benefit for him to confront the Emperor. I think... Mo Jingli has always regarded Nanzhao too seriously. On the surface, he has gained much more than he has lost because of Princess Qixia. Therefore, there must be some power or person in Nanzhao that he can rely on."

Mo Xiuyao nodded and said, "Ali is right. We all think that Mo Jingli has changed too fast in recent years. But... if you look closely, you will find that he started to change after returning from Southern Xinjiang. It's just that most people didn't notice this change. I'm sure that Mo Jingli may have had ambitions before this, but he definitely didn't have the intention to seize the position."

Ye Li stood up, took out a map from a cabinet, spread it out on the table, and said, "I don't know what exactly in Nanjiang makes him so confident. But in my opinion, if he can control the entire Nanjiang, even if Mo Jingli fails to seize the throne, he will not be the loser." Feng Zhiyao came over curiously and asked, "What do you mean?"

Ye Li pointed at the map and said, "Mo Jingli's fiefdom is in Lingzhou, which is only three hundred miles away from Nanzhao. The royal family of Dachu stipulates that the royal princes only need to live in the capital for two months each year, but Mo Jingli stays in the capital all year round because of the care of the Queen Mother and Concubine Xianzhao. Of course, this may also be the emperor's defense against Mo Jingli. But Lingzhou is still the fiefdom of Prince Li. Looking at Prince Li's current confidence, Lingzhou is definitely under his complete control. Once Nanzhao fully assists Prince Li, , and Yongzhou between Lingzhou and Nanzhao will certainly be captured by the attack from both inside and outside. Lingzhou is flat to the east, and if there are enough troops, King Li can completely control most of the southwest by heading east. As for the reinforcements from the imperial court, even the fastest Black Cloud Cavalry will take at least 20 days to arrive, and they will have to cross the Yunlan River that runs through the entire Chu. As far as I know...there is no army in Chu that is good at water battles. Including the Mohist Army and the Black Cloud Cavalry. "

As his slender hands made light gestures, Feng Zhiyao's face gradually became ugly. He was more familiar with the terrain of Nanzhao and Da Chu than Ye Li, so he naturally knew what would happen if the two armies really faced each other. The east of Lingzhou in Da Chu was always peaceful, and it was far away from the border, so the number of troops stationed there was very small. If Mo Jingli really joined forces with Nanzhao to march southeast instead of heading north as Nanzhao had always done, as long as they crossed the Broken Snow Pass in Yongzhou, half of Da Chu's territory south of Yunlan River would be given away for free.