The Empress Dowager lay in bed, unable to sleep.
To be honest, she never intended for the Gu family to leave the capital.
However, she also felt that the emperor was right. After Gu Shouxin had been away for several years and made achievements, it would be good to promote him when he returned.
She does have a way to get the emperor to bestow a title upon the Gu family, but if the Gu family is incompetent, can they keep the title?
She's already seventy, and who knows how many more years she can live? At most, she can protect the Gu family for another ten years or so.
What about ten years from now?
She had personally raised the emperor, and she believed that he would be able to protect the family as she had asked him before she died.
But what about the next emperor? Who can guarantee that?
...
Family-oriented.
After dinner, Gu Shouxin asked his uncle to go with the two elders.
Upon arriving at the old couple's courtyard, the three of them looked at Gu Shouxin.
Gu Shouxin then recounted to them what the Emperor had said that day.
Uncle Gu was the first to object: "Huh? How can you do this? Didn't we agree that the whole family would stay together? If you take your younger siblings to Kuncheng, I might as well take my parents back to the village. There's no way to get along in the capital!"
Grandpa Gu pursed his lips and said, "Going to Kuncheng has its pros and cons. The good thing is that if you govern Kuncheng well, you will definitely be promoted and ennobled when you return to the capital. The bad thing is that Kuncheng is in chaos, and as a first-time official, you may not be able to achieve the desired results. Just like your eldest brother said, if you take your second wife there, our family might as well go back to the village."
Grandma Gu: "Then let's go together! We agreed that the whole family would stick together. Since we know that Kuncheng is difficult to manage, if our whole family goes there, at least we can help the second son with some of the daily chores."
Gu Shouxin raised an eyebrow. He and his mother had the same idea: the whole family should go, and he really didn't feel at ease leaving the others in the capital.
Gu Shouxin: "Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, this trip will take at least three years. Kuncheng is a border city, bordered by enemy countries on three sides, and there are occasional skirmishes with enemy troops."
Grandma Gu looked at Gu Shouxin: "Second son, just tell us if you're going or not. If you go, we'll go. If you don't go, we won't go. Now that the family has reunited with the old lady, she's always wanted to protect us, but our family's status is a bit awkward. Even if the Emperor is devoted to our family, what about his sons? It's not good for our family to be scattered, so we have to stick together. While those princes don't know our identities yet, let's go to Kuncheng and carve out our own territory. In the future, even if the old lady and the Emperor are gone, we'll still have the strength to protect ourselves!"
Gu Shouxin looked at Grandma Gu with some surprise.
His adoptive mother rarely spoke at such length; she always spoke according to her own whims. He never imagined that the old lady had such profound thoughts that coincided with his own.
To put it nicely, they are relatives of the emperor, the legitimate direct line of the royal family, but the throne does not belong to their lineage.
The Empress Dowager can protect them, but what if she passes away one day?
He's not afraid of anything on his own, but he has a family to protect.
The Emperor is right. It is indeed difficult for him to be promoted and ennobled in the capital. Even if the Empress Dowager and the Emperor forcibly bestow titles and honors upon their family, it would not be enough. Instead, it would attract the attention of the princes, who would then investigate their family's background, which would increase the risks their family would face.
While the Empress Dowager is still alive and her words carry weight, we should take advantage of this to gain more benefits. We should make a trip to Kuncheng to strengthen our power, so that when we return to the capital in the future, we won't have to worry about so many things.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com