Chapter 140: Prince Rui takes charge of the affairs
The emperor read it again and revised any flaws.
This is one of the reasons why he can still exist even though he is not very favored. Those conservative courtiers are not stupid! Don’t they know who is the monarch they can follow?
He seems to know everything!
Moreover, they were the tutors and courtiers assigned by the emperor to the prince!
Prince Rui was just a dispatch from the Emperor because he didn't like the Crown Prince favoring other sons. He really liked Prince Rui, especially that kind of person.
Therefore, he will be asked to do some things that have good reputation to improve his reputation, but he does not have much actual power.
For example, the Crown Prince has an iron-blooded cavalry of 20,000 men under his command. Prince Rui also has troops but they are not under his direct command. Instead, they are under the command of the Queen's brother.
The Queen's brother was someone the Emperor could truly trust; a brother who had shared life and death with him. He had a share of the throne, so he married the Queen, a woman he loved.
But later, when he got other women, he didn't love her as much anymore.
As she grew older, the queen also aged a lot, but the emperor still liked those young and beautiful women.
The mother of the eldest prince was the emperor's favorite in these years. She was his beloved and he had intended to make her the queen. However, the friendship between him and the queen's brother was hard to break, so he made her the queen.
But the eldest prince is indeed the emperor's first child! That means something different.
The emperor did not want his favorite child to be involved in these disputes and struggles, so he named him a wise king and established his own family outside the palace.
This is the true love from a father, but the Crown Prince and Prince Rui did not get it, but they thought they got it.
These secrets are only known to the emperor's closest people!
…
The eunuch walked to the emperor's side, carrying a bowl of sweets. He looked at the memorial the crown prince had reviewed and nodded in praise. "The crown prince's writing has been getting better and better lately. It's exactly the same as your majesty's, and the tone is exactly the same. It's really hard for him to be willing to use this method to please your majesty."
"Anyway, a hundred years after I leave, this position will still be his! Now let him learn how to handle court affairs. When he ascends to the throne, he will know how to outwit and outmaneuver those below him."
"Not to the point of even losing my country. If I die, the barbarians and the Zhu Kingdom will not know how to attack the Southern Dynasty. Now they are talking about...marriage, who knows...that marriage is bullshit."
The emperor stamped his seal on those memorials.
Then he asked the eunuch on the side to tidy it up for him, and after he had looked at it, he gave it to the prince.
The prince had no resentment at all, because all the roads had been paved. Knowing that his mother was looking at his current achievements...she felt at ease.
His mother had originally been the princess consort of the Prince's Palace... because the Emperor was quite fond of her. For so many years, she had diligently worked for the Prince's Palace. Even when the Emperor later took on his current concubine, his mother hadn't complained at all, instead thinking it was a good thing for the Emperor to have another person to look after her.
The prince at that time sat on that high position, and his mother died at this time!
Originally, the emperor wanted to make the current imperial concubine the empress, but the current empress's brother at that time felt that the emperor would betray his trust if he did not marry his sister.
The emperor felt that it would be better for his beloved woman not to sit in that position, so he made her the current queen.
Those who experienced what happened back then all know that the princess was the queen who was added later.
At the coronation ceremony, one was posthumously honored, the other was made empress, and he naturally became the crown prince. At that time, Prince Rui had not yet been born, and the imperial concubine did not want her child to become the target of public criticism... so he became the target of everyone's attention.
Fortunately, his father told him that the throne would be his sooner or later, and now what he had to learn was how to rule the group of learned and talented people below him.
Instead of competing with the people in the palace!
Not worth it!
He would be a legitimate emperor.
The prince's unbalanced heart was instantly calmed.
…
Prince Rui returned to his palace and quickly summoned his staff. What should be done to restore the reputation of our Southern Dynasty without offending the State of Zhu?
They still followed their previous rhetoric, but they couldn't really go find some actors.
Just pick some talented women from the Grand Secretaries! Or perhaps from the families of the nobility and bring them into the palace to hold an elegant gathering. It's just that the Queen is bored and wants someone to liven things up!
Everyone went to the Imperial Garden, and then they arranged the people, prepared various tasks, and asked everyone to work on them. Then they asked the princess to dress up as a woman from the Southern Dynasty and blend in with the others to let her feel the atmosphere.
And so they did.
First, they informed some ladies of noble birth that they should send a daughter from their family who was good at some arts, such as music, chess, calligraphy and painting.
They would have a special person conduct the examination and then show the test papers to the university scholars. If they thought it was okay, then... the girl would be put on standby. If not... they would give her money and let her keep trying.
There is also a whole set of rhetoric, such as selecting them to find suitable women to marry for unmarried men in the royal family.
They were happy to do so. Being the concubine of one of those princes would be a great honor! It would bring honor to their family.
For a time, all women with a little talent in and outside the capital took the exam.
Prince Rui was indeed very efficient in his work, and within ten days, there were results.
Twenty girls were selected to enter the palace. The princess was dressed like a woman from the Southern Dynasty and was waiting in the imperial garden. The queen and the imperial concubine arrived on time.
Everyone knelt on the ground and paid their respects. Since she was now dressed like a woman from the Southern Dynasty, she also knelt down and saluted.
The Queen asked everyone to stand up and said dignifiedly, "I asked you to come here today because I am old and I like your young and lively faces. Besides, you are not young anymore and it is time for you to get married. Come here to show yourselves to me and the Imperial Concubine so that I can introduce you to someone."
"Thank you, Queen, Noble Consort, for your consideration."
Everyone stood up to answer.
After the greetings, the competition began. It began with the poetry section, all based on the red plum blossoms in front of the gate. Twenty people... naturally, twenty tables, pens, inkstones, and paper.
They were allowed to go see the flowers first and then play in the imperial garden, and they only had to write the poem before leaving the palace.
We’ll continue tomorrow. Tomorrow’s competition will be chess!
This day.
There are the top five, but the first one is indeed the princess with a pseudonym, which is something the queen did not expect for the imperial concubine.
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