No matter what, the Tao family finally accepted that the guard Cheng'an was the regent Mu Cheng'an, even though the two were very different.
On the second day, Mu Chengan came again. He could tell at a glance that the three elders treated him differently. He looked at Yuan Jing. Was his identity exposed?
Yuan Jing nodded. He had already spoken. Mu Cheng'an showed a happy expression. He walked forward and held the old lady's arm, saying, "Grandma, why don't we go inside and talk."
The old lady felt weak in the knees, so little Song simply went with Tao Dayong, still somewhat in awe of the regent's identity.
The old lady looked up and saw the caution and sincerity in Mu Chengan's eyes, and suddenly she felt relieved. Although he was the regent, as her grandson said, he really treated them as family members and elders. Otherwise, would the dignified King of Zhenbei and the regent need to please the Tao family?
Thinking of this, the old lady felt relieved. She patted Mu Chengan's hand and said, "Okay, let's go back to the house and talk. Yuan Jing will come too."
So Mu Chengan and Yuan Jing helped the old lady into the house, one on each side. Tao Dayong and Xiao Song looked at each other. "Okay, let's go in." Tao Dayong straightened his chest. He couldn't show his fear to Yuan Jing, otherwise his son would be a head shorter than the regent. This wouldn't do.
Tao Yuanze and Di Yu were curious and wanted to go into the house to see what was going on. At the critical moment, Wu Yi was very helpful. He led Tao Yuanze and Di Yu away and asked people to guard them so that no one would disturb the conversation between the prince and the Tao family.
Mu Chengan helped the old lady to the main seat, and asked Tao Dayong and Xiao Song to sit on both sides. He took Yuan Jing's hand and said respectfully, "Grandma, Dad, Mom," which made Tao Dayong and Xiao Song tremble with fear. "From now on, you are my Mu Chengan's family. Thank you for agreeing to what Yuan Jing and I are doing. Please rest assured that unless I die, I will not let go of Yuan Jing's hand and will walk with him forever."
After saying that, Mu Chengan pulled Yuan Jing to kneel down together. Tao Dayong tried to stop them, but Yuan Jing stopped his father and said, "Dad, this is what we should kowtow to."
The old lady made the decision: "Okay, I will bear it. If Your Majesty dares to let my grandson suffer any injustice in the future, I will not forgive you even if I become a ghost."
"Okay, grandma must keep a close eye on us."
Mu Chengan and Yuan Jing kowtowed to the three elders together. Tears flashed in the old lady's eyes as she kowtowed. She really saw the prince's sincerity and that he really wanted to live with her eldest grandson. Otherwise, with the prince's status and position, would it be necessary for him to do this?
"Okay, okay, get up quickly. Yuan Jing is still young, so you will have to ask the prince to take more responsibility in the future." The old lady advised.
Mu Chengan looked at Yuan Jing with a smile and promised: "Don't worry, grandma, Yuan Jing has always helped me a lot. No matter whether it is others or myself, I will never let Yuan Jing suffer any injustice."
How should the two get along? They can't keep interacting secretly like they do now. Mu Chengan and Yuan Jing discussed the matters of moving. The old lady and Tao Dayong then realized Yuan Jing's intention of buying a new house. It turned out that he had thought about it long ago. This was a solution. After closing the door, the two houses would be connected. Outsiders would not know how they lived at home, and there was no need to know.
Although Mu Cheng'an wanted everyone in Daxia to know that Yuan Jing belonged to him, Mu Cheng'an, he also knew that it would bring a lot of trouble if it was made public. The most direct one was that people would look down on Yuan Jing. No matter what achievements he made in the future, others would think that he was a treacherous villain, and not someone who climbed up by his own real ability. This would be the only reputation that would be left in history books.
Not only will it affect his reputation, it will also affect the Tao family. When he and Yuan Jing are gone a hundred years later, it won't matter if the Mu family has no heir, but the descendants of the Tao family will still be criticized by the world, and it's even more likely that the Tao family will be feared by the emperor.
So, just live your own life behind closed doors, as long as this person is yours.
The Tao family also knew that the world could not accept such a relationship. If they were not afraid that Yuan Jing would live out his life alone, they would not want to see Yuan Jing with a man. If this relationship were to get out, Yuan Jing would only get a bad reputation, and they could not bear to let it go.
After returning to the capital, the Tao family started to move, and Senior Brother Di brought his wife to help, because the Zhenbei Palace was next door. Senior Brother Di was a little worried, but then he thought that the Zhenbei King now appreciated him very much, so he felt that it was no big deal, and the location was good, and with the Regent King there, no one dared to cause trouble.
Senior Brother Di didn't know that Mu Cheng'an had already opened a door in this house to connect it to the Prince of Zhenbei's Palace.
When the Tao family moved into their new home, Mu Cheng'an did one more thing. He removed Mu Jinxuan, the adopted son, from the family tree. He and Tao Yuzhu were driven out of the palace together. The once arrogant little prince has now become a commoner, and a commoner with a disabled leg.
Mu Cheng'an had wanted to do this for a long time. Besides, Yuan Jing was going to move in, so he couldn't let Mu Jinxuan and Tao Yuzhu stay in the mansion to be an eyesore. He should expel him from the mansion and get rid of all the servants who had been planted there. Then he could live peacefully in the mansion with Yuan Jing from now on.
People in the capital were watching the show. In fact, many people were betting on when the Regent would expel Mu Jinxuan. After all, the move made by the late emperor was disgusting enough that even the royal family had nothing to say, even though Mu Jinxuan had the late emperor's blood in his veins.
Although some things were not spoken out, all the members of the royal family and the noble circles vaguely knew that Mu Cheng'an, the Prince of Zhenbei, was infertile. It was the late emperor who caused this result. His purpose was to seize the military power in the hands of the Prince of Zhenbei. This method was vicious enough, not only vicious but also disgusting. He adopted his illegitimate son to the Prince of Zhenbei. If they had endured it until the death of the late emperor, it would have ended there.
Although the royal family guessed that Mu Jinxuan was the bloodline of the late emperor, the late emperor did not officially recognize his identity, so no one in the royal family stood up to defend his identity. Mu Jinxuan thought about recognizing his father, the cuckolded prince, but the prince had the door closed and refused to recognize his son. What could Mu Jinxuan do?
Finally, the two old princes of the royal family discussed it privately and decided that it would be inappropriate to just leave them there, so they came up with an idea. They asked someone to bring a horse-drawn carriage and take Mu Jinxuan and Tao Yuzhu to a small farm far away from the capital. From then on, they let them live on the farm and asked someone to watch over them and not let them leave.
This way, the dignity of the royal family is maintained, and the regent will not be offended. Everyone knows that the regent hates Mu Jinxuan very much and will not let him live a good life. So let it be. Ask him to stay away from the capital and no longer appear in the capital to get in the way of the regent. When the emperor comes of age and takes power one day, we will see if he will remember this uncle who has not been recognized. To be honest, they are not optimistic.
Mu Cheng'an was quite satisfied with the way the royal family arranged for Mu Jinxuan and Tao Yuzhu. After Yuan Jing knew the result, he completely forgot about Tao Yuzhu, because he knew that Mu Jinxuan enjoyed torturing Tao Yuzhu after taking her out of prison, and this was even more so after Mu Cheng'an became the regent. It was unknown how many years Tao Yuzhu could live.
At this time, several farm tools made by Yuan Jing also passed a round of tests in the imperial farm, and the results were very good. After being reviewed by Shangshu Yu, they were reported to the regent. The regent then invited all the ministers to visit the imperial farm to see these farm tools. When they saw the foot-operated thresher threshing the grain quickly, they all praised it, saying that having such a thresher could save a lot of effort for the farmers working in the fields.
There were improved curved pear trees, water wheels for convenient irrigation, and other agricultural tools, which amazed the ministers. They were actually improved and manufactured by Tao Yuanjing and the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works.
The Regent advocated that it be promoted throughout Daxia, with the county government taking the lead and providing them to the common people on a leasing basis, in an effort to process and produce a batch of threshers before the autumn harvest.
This time, the Regent did not promote Yuan Jing. After all, Yuan Jing was old, and promoting him too quickly would attract too much attention. Mu Cheng'an believed that with Yuan Jing's abilities, he would have many opportunities for promotion in the future, so there was no need to rush.
During the day, one of them was the regent and the other was a fifth-rank official of the Ministry of Works who reported on his work. But at night, after they returned from the palace and the government office, Mu Cheng'an went through the middle door first to the Tao family to have dinner together. After dinner, Mu Cheng'an took Yuan Jing's hand and took him back to the palace.
Nowadays, the servants in the palace have already been beaten up by the steward and the confidant. Lord Tao is another master in the palace. Everyone should watch their mouths, otherwise the prince will not show mercy.
After a while, the servants in the palace got used to it. To be honest, Lord Tao was much easier to serve than having another princess consort. Besides, their prince was unable to have children, so instead of marrying a princess with unknown purposes, it would be better to find someone who was congenial to him. As long as the prince was happy, it would be fine. Everyone could see that the prince was in a good mood every day since Lord Tao moved in.
That day, Mu Chengan dragged Yuan Jing back to the bedroom and made love with him again. After making love, Yuan Jing, who had trained his inner strength and had his body conditioned by the spiritual spring water, could not bear it anymore and collapsed on the bed, staring at this bad guy who seemed never to be satisfied.
Mu Chengan was in a very good mood, caressing the smooth back of the person in his arms, and his hand gradually slid down: "If you keep looking at me like this, I will lose control again."
Yuan Jing buried his head in the pillow and gritted his teeth: "Get out of here."
Her voice became hoarse, and she meowed like a cat, which made Mu Chengan feel itchy. If his beloved really couldn't bear it anymore, he could fight for three more rounds.
Mu Chengan bit his ears, softly and closely, making Yuan Jing's toes curl up. Mu Chengan whispered in his ear: "Hmm? Is my performance not good enough? After all this, baby, do you still think I am older than you?"
Yuan Jing raised his head suddenly and covered his ears, his eyes widened: "Is this what you did? You know this?"
It feels like she's dragging him to bed whenever she has time these days, and she won't stop until she's squeezed him dry. Is it all because of what he said to his family? Is she waiting until now to settle the score with him?
Mu Chengan held his head with one hand and raised his eyebrows at Yuan Jing: "Baby, what do you think? I have to prove to you in person that I am not old yet."
Yuan Jing threw himself into the man's arms and strangled him, asking him to take back what he said. Didn't he know that he had racked his brains to find excuses to appease his family? He didn't expect that he would still argue with him.
The result was good. He threw himself into his arms. It was too late to escape. So Mu Chengan tossed him around like frying salted fish. Mu Chengan had practiced martial arts for many years. How could Yuan Jing get away with his skills? Wait another twenty years and see.
So there was always noise in the room that night. The next day, Yuan Jing was unable to get out of bed as expected, but Mu Cheng'an, who was satisfied, went to court in high spirits, and also went to the Ministry of Works to ask for leave for Yuan Jing.
Why did the Regent come to ask for leave from Lord Tao in person? What nonsense are you asking? Don't you know that the Regent and Lord Tao are neighbors now? Isn't it easy to pass on a message? Besides, Lord Tao has been treated with favor by the Regent for several tasks he has done. It is normal for them to visit each other on a regular basis.
Therefore, in the eyes of all officials, the relationship between the Regent and Lord Tao became better and better, Lord Tao became more and more outstanding in the court, and his official position kept rising. No one thought that this was the Regent's special preference for Lord Tao. No matter which official had those political achievements, his promotion position would not be lower than Lord Tao. On the contrary, because of Lord Tao's age, everyone could see that the Regent intended to suppress Lord Tao.
During the regent's tenure, the Great Xia Dynasty developed rapidly. The court established a special navy to resist coastal pirates and protect coastal residents. When the ships returned from a trip outside and brought back a large amount of wealth, the entire court was in an uproar. They did not expect that overseas was so wealthy, and it also allowed the merchants of Great Xia to see the business opportunities overseas.
But then the formal establishment of the Office of Foreign Trade put foreign trade on the right track. This office was led by Tao Yuanjing and eventually became a very important part of the imperial court, contributing a lot of wealth to the imperial treasury, allowing the regent to reduce the people's taxes year after year. In addition, several high-yield grain varieties were found and promoted in Daxia. As a result, the people's lives were visibly getting better.
Yuan Jing was promoted again for this achievement, and gradually climbed to a position where he could stand next to Mu Cheng'an. While serving as the teacher of the little prince, he also established the Royal Academy with the support of Mu Cheng'an, and promoted it to various provinces, truly realizing education for all.
Through maritime trade, the imperial court is now very wealthy, so it has money to invest in education. Yuan Jing has also expanded the scope of education to girls and established special girls' schools, which are also radiating and promoting from the capital. Although it was rejected at first, as long as it gets started, it will gradually be accepted by the public.
Yuan Jing was also diligent in the education of the little emperor. He did not want the little emperor to ever conflict with the regent in the future. The little emperor also grew up according to Yuan Jing's wishes, under the education of him and Mu Cheng'an. In particular, many of Yuan Jing's ideas from later generations broadened the little emperor's horizons, allowing him to stand higher and see farther.
After the young emperor got married at the age of 20, Mu Cheng'an handed over the government to the emperor. Yuan Jing still held an important position in the court, while Mu Cheng'an began to carry out drastic reforms in the army. At the same time, he led his troops to clear the border troubles around Daxia so that Daxia would no longer be harassed by foreign races.
It’s not that no one has been telling the emperor that he should not let the Prince of Zhenbei command the army anymore. The Prince of Zhenbei has ulterior motives. He says he will return power to the emperor, but as long as he doesn’t let go of the military power, he may replace the emperor at any time.
To be honest, the emperor was a little uneasy at first, but he had deep feelings for the Prince of Zhenbei. The efforts Yuan Jing had put in teaching him over the past few years were not in vain. In the emperor's mind, the Prince of Zhenbei was like a teacher and a father, and he was also the object of the emperor's worship. He hoped that one day he would be as powerful as the Prince of Zhenbei and lead Daxia to prosperity.
But he participated in the establishment and work of the Royal Military Academy. In this process, he gradually understood the intention of King Zhenbei. The Royal Military Academy was to train military generals for Daxia, and the trained military generals were loyal to the court and the people of Daxia, rather than to King Zhenbei alone. It can be said that the establishment of the Royal Military Academy first broke the authority of the Zhenbei Army.
Therefore, with Yuan Jing's cooperation, the emperor withstood all opposition and stood behind Prince Zhenbei to support his series of actions.
When the area around Daxia was cleared, Mu Cheng'an returned to the court, handed over his military power neatly, and turned to become a teacher in the Military Academy. When Yuan Jing was 40 years old, in the prime of his life, to the surprise of all the ministers, he actually resigned from his post to the emperor, hoping to enter the Royal Academy as a teacher.
You should know that at that time Yuan Jing had already become a first-rank official and was awarded the title of Marquis of Jinghai. Such a high-ranking and powerful person actually retired at the prime of his life. The emperor tried to retain him several times, but Yuan Jing was determined. The emperor had to give up and handed over the position of president of the Royal Academy to him.
At this time, Tao Yuanze had also entered the court early, and he finally chose the path of a military general. Compared with Yuan Jing, he was not as smart as Yuan Jing in studying, but he was quite talented in military strategy and martial arts. When Mu Cheng'an led his troops to fight, he also joined in and won many military exploits. After returning to the capital, he entered the Military Academy for further studies, and was highly valued by the emperor after graduation.
After Tao Yuanze got married, as his elders expected, he had two children in three years. In the end, he had four sons and three daughters. The youngest son was given to Yuan Jing, who now had the leisure to raise children.
Tao Yuanze's wife had no complaints. She could see her youngest son at any time. What's more, if he was held in the lap of his uncle, he would inherit his uncle's title in the future. Who could refuse the title of marquis?
The old lady lived a long life in this life, and lived to the ripe old age of 87 before she died in her sleep surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She did not suffer from any pain. She left with a smile. Her eldest grandson, who had worried her the most, finally had a child to take care of him. Moreover, her eldest grandson and the King of Zhenbei loved each other more than any other couple. She had nothing to worry about.
She could go to the underworld and tell the unlucky old man that she had the best grandchildren in her life, making her an old lady that many people envied and jealous of. Even the emperor came to celebrate her 80th birthday.
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