Chapter 367: The Lady of the Marquisate vs. the Younger Prince 110
The memorial to establish the crown prince was reduced to ashes. Concubine Tong clapped her hands and cheered, "Well done, burn it more vigorously. None of the ministers in the court are useful. They only know how to write these nonsense to make His Majesty angry. It would be better to burn them all."
"Your Majesty's illness was caused by them. Without these annoying things, Your Majesty might get better."
The emperor felt relaxed and happy. He tapped the tip of Tong Guiren's nose and said with a smile, "It's because I love you. Don't mess around anymore. If you keep burning, I will become a tyrant!"
Concubine Tong said coquettishly: "I am not kidding, I am just doing this so that Your Majesty can recover from his illness in peace. Your Majesty is a wise ruler, it's all because of the ministers who are useless and make Your Majesty worried."
The emperor sighed. The court was indeed in chaos without Prime Minister Ji. Pei Ci Fu was not up to the task after all. He often came to the palace to bother him and could delay even the smallest matter for a long time.
The reason for his illness is that he worked too hard for state affairs.
Concubine Tong knew what the emperor was thinking, but Prime Minister Ji would not return to the court so soon as the time was not right.
She waved her hand to let her maid come over, took the lotus seed and lily soup from the maid's hand, and fed it to the emperor herself.
The emperor had no appetite, so Concubine Tong took a different approach. She took a sip of the milk and fed it to the emperor mouth-to-mouth. She didn't put down the bowl until he finished the whole bowl. She waved her hand to let the palace maid go out.
Tong Guiren leaned against the emperor and said delicately, "Your Majesty is in the prime of life, why rush to appoint a crown prince? Your Majesty will have more children in the future. Jingguo belongs to your Majesty, and your Majesty should have the final say on everything."
The emperor loved to hear this. Now even the gentle and affectionate Concubine Liang often hinted at the matter of establishing a crown prince. He no longer liked to summon Concubine Liang. Instead, he felt more at ease knowing that Tong promised to have no children.
The emperor caressed Tong's smooth little face lovingly and sighed, "I wronged you in the past, letting you waste your time in the laundry department and hurt your body. Among so many concubines in this palace, you are the one I love the most."
Tong Guiren hugged the emperor's neck, snuggled up to his ear, and sobbed softly, "I am not wronged. As long as Your Majesty has me in your heart, I will be satisfied. The only regret is that I cannot give birth to children for Your Majesty. I am sorry for Your Majesty."
"I will rely on Your Majesty for my entire life. Your Majesty must take good care of yourself. If anything happens to Your Majesty, I don't want to live anymore..."
When the emperor was not around, there was no trace of affection in Concubine Tong's eyes, only hatred!
The emperor was heartless and forgot about her after doting on her for a few days. Concubine Liang was jealous and tyrannical. The emperor could not distinguish right from wrong and punished her by sending her to the laundry department.
She lived a life worse than death in the laundry department. Liangpin wanted to kill her, but she would not let her die in one breath. She had to torture her slowly.
Fortunately, the Queen Mother was kind and gave her a chance to survive. She wanted to repay the Queen Mother, and now she finally had the chance.
The Queen Mother arranged for her to meet His Majesty by chance and taught her how to win His Majesty's favor. His Majesty really doted on her and promoted her twice, and she became a noble lady from a small concubine.
The Queen is extremely wise and will do whatever the Queen asks her to do. She doesn't mind being a knife in the Queen's hand in order to have a safe and prosperous second half of her life.
After hearing this confession, the emperor felt even more sympathetic towards Tong and agreed.
After drinking the bowl of lotus seed soup, he felt his breathing became smoother, his heart beat stronger, and his illness seemed to have been cured.
The emperor favored Concubine Tong that night, and the next morning, Concubine Tong became Concubine Tong.
Concubine Tong was promoted three times in a short period of time. Even Concubine Liang, who was always in favor, did not have such an honor. She was only given the title of concubine after she gave birth to the second prince.
The Empress gave His Majesty a few words of advice and then found some trouble for Concubine Tong. Instead, the Emperor doted on Concubine Tong even more and summoned her to accompany him almost every day.
After a few days of arguing about disaster relief, the emperor suddenly issued an edict, appointing the second prince to provide disaster relief.
A small gambling case made Jing Yu famous in the Ministry of Justice. The emperor felt that the second prince also needed an achievement to compete with Jing Yu.
The second prince was overjoyed when he received the imperial edict. He wanted to win people's hearts, rebuild his stronghold, collect intelligence, and enjoy himself, and all of these required money.
The falling of such a big piece of fat meat just solved his urgent need. He would eat the meat himself and let those who were loyal to him drink the soup.
The silver came out of the Ministry of Revenue, saying it was used to purchase food, but it went directly into the pocket of the Second Prince. The food was short in weight and mixed with a lot of sand and gravel, so it was not enough.
After layers of exploitation, the victims had less than one-tenth of their food, and most of it was moldy and rotten stale food that was inedible.
The second prince went through the motions and fabricated a memorial praising the emperor for loving his people like his own children. He also widely publicized his achievements in disaster relief in the capital.
The emperor believed it to be true and thought the matter was resolved satisfactorily, so he rewarded the second prince handsomely to show his favor.
But the truth cannot be hidden, and the victims overcame numerous obstacles and gradually flocked to the capital.
Ordinary people always have a simple idea in their hearts that as long as they come to the emperor's feet, the emperor will make decisions for them and they can survive.
Tens of thousands of refugees gathered outside the capital city one after another. They were dressed in rags and looked pale and thin. All the weeds in the suburbs had been pulled out, leaving them with nothing to eat. The people ate tree bark and soil, dragging their broken bodies in the hope of finding a way to survive.
Such a big commotion could not be concealed, and the emperor soon found out.
The second prince stood in the court without any sign of shame. He felt confident because of his achievements in disaster relief. He was no worse than Jing Yu and even spoke louder.
"Your Majesty, those refugees are not law-abiding citizens. There are so many disaster victims in Tongzhou, but only they left their registered places and are running around, disturbing the peace of Jing State."
"Your Majesty, your father is kind and ordered me to provide disaster relief. Although money and food have been distributed, they are still not satisfied and have flocked to the capital to threaten your father. They deserve death! I think we can no longer be soft on these mobs. The best policy is to suppress them so as to enhance the prestige of our Jing Kingdom!"
Minister Zhao had such a bad temper that he wanted to scold the Second Prince right in court!
If they couldn't survive, which citizen would be willing to leave their homeland? Countless people died on the road. No town dared to accept the victims, so they had no choice but to come to the capital.
Mulan Paddock accepted a large number of victims, but it was a drop in the bucket. Outside the capital were all pale and skinny victims. He could allocate money and food, but the food could not reach the victims. How sad it was.
Kong Liangqing tried desperately to wink at Minister Zhao, signaling him not to speak.
Minister Zhao snorted coldly, but finally suppressed his anger and played deaf and dumb.
The emperor felt that the current situation was just right. Jinghui was in high spirits and was barely able to tie with Jingyu. He was also "difficult to make a decision" and simply did not appoint a crown prince. He also wanted to "investigate" the character of the princes more.
As for the mob outside the capital, it was just a small matter and could be easily resolved.
The emperor picked and chose, and finally chose an inconspicuous nobleman. He immediately drafted an imperial edict to mobilize 10,000 elite troops from Datong Pass near the capital to suppress the mob!
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