The locust plague will be eradicated soon. King Jing had previously compiled Li Yu's proposal into a memorial and sent it to the imperial city. Now, he has drafted a more detailed memorial on the locust plague control situation in several towns in the western border.
Last time, he had mentioned his marriage with Li Yu to the emperor, but the emperor did not reply. King Jing knew that he must have been kept back. Before he made it clear, he had gradually revealed to the emperor many of Xiaoyu's advantages, and took advantage of the emperor's laxity in time. The emperor did not directly refute, which shows that the emperor also has some concerns. Then, if this memorial is passed on again, the emperor will definitely be shaken.
Xiaoyu's true identity cannot be revealed. He hopes to let the emperor know how good Xiaoyu is. Even if she does not have a prominent family background and cannot have children, she is worthy of the position of a princess standing by his side.
In his life, he never asked the emperor for anything. He could win the position of crown prince by his own strength, so he didn't need to ask for anything. The only thing he wanted was this marriage. He also thought about whether it would anger the emperor and whether the emperor would completely cut off his chance of competing for the throne. If that were the case...
King Jing glanced at Li Yu who was teaching a few little fish to play tug-of-war. Although the life in the western frontier was hard, the days when the six of them were together were his happiest time.
If the emperor really gave up on him, he would ask to guard the western frontier forever, so that he and the little fish could still be together.
But this was the worst plan, it shouldn't be like this, he still had other ways to go.
King Jing finally attached his marriage certificate with Li Yu, along with the memorial.
Imperial city, Qianqing Palace.
When the emperor received another memorial from King Jing, he found the marriage certificate that came with it.
The emperor was very dissatisfied with King Jing's self-assertion, but he also understood that King Jing deliberately attached the marriage certificate to show his position to him and also as a silent request.
In his impression, King Jing had never asked him for anything, even though he had just accepted King Jing's gift on the birthday of his father and ordered King Jing to go to the western frontier, King Jing did not ask him for mercy, but accepted it indifferently, bowed his head indifferently to say goodbye, and left the imperial city indifferently. King Jing
was cold-natured, and he thought it should be so at least.
But now he unexpectedly discovered that King Jing also had a stubborn side. For the superior, being too stubborn is not a good thing, but who doesn't have a stubborn time? The emperor himself is not a saint.
The emperor recognized the words "Liangyuan Yongjie" on the marriage certificate as the handwriting of King Jing. This was a marriage certificate written by King Jing himself, which showed how much he valued this marriage.
... King Jing was probably really moved.
The emperor recalled the sincerity that Lao Chengen had mentioned publicly as a joke. The emperor had been in power for many years and could have laughed it off, but now he felt a little heavy for no reason.
He put the marriage certificate heavily in the memorial box and took out King Jing's memorial. King Jing was probably saying good things about Li Yu again.
I remember that last time this young man put forward some unique insights on how to deal with the locust plague. The emperor asked the officials of the Ministry of Works to take a look. The officials all said that it made a lot of sense and they would definitely try it out if they had the chance. The emperor didn't say it, but he still admired Li Yu in his heart. It was Li Yu's ability that he could get several officials of the Ministry of Works to agree.
What will the memorial be about this time?
After reading the memorial, the emperor realized that Prince Jing had used Li Yu's suggestion to deal with the locust plague in the western frontier.
If this matter was handed over to any official in the Ministry of Works, it would be necessary to draw up a detailed charter, submit it to the Minister of Works for review, and then the Ministry of Revenue would allocate silver after discussing it in the court. It would take a month or so before the Ministry of Works could officially send people to the locust plague area.
However, Prince Jing did not mention these in the memorial, and he just paid for it himself. And it was done quite well, the locust plague in the western frontier was actually curbed.
Brat, you are so brave!
The emperor couldn't tell how he felt. Was it because he withheld the previous memorial that Prince Jing deliberately gave him a good performance?
He was a little angry, but he had to say it was a good job. Among his sons, the one who was most in line with his decision to kill was indeed King Jing. The locust plague in the western border had reached a point that made him uneasy. If he had followed the previous rules, he didn't know what would happen now. Officials strictly abided by the rules, but the people suffered the most. In comparison, although King Jing's approach was a bit reckless, it effectively suppressed the locust plague.
The emperor put down the memorial and thought about it. He looked up and found that there were also memorials from several states and counties close to the western border. These states and counties also submitted memorials this time. The emperor read it quickly. It turned out that when King Jing was dealing with the locusts, he needed to buy a lot of ducks, and the nearby counties and prefectures were also suffering. However, the memorials were full of gratitude to King Jing. If the locust plague in the western border was not stopped, they would also be affected by the locust plague in the future.
One memorial was quite humorous. The emperor seemed to have witnessed the chaotic scene with his own eyes, and twitched his mouth.
The trip to the western border actually gave King Jing an advantage, which was something the emperor had never expected.
He could let King Jing continue to grow because of his achievements, or he could choose to suppress King Jing, because this son also plotted against him and wanted to arrogantly ask for an impossible princess, which made him extremely unhappy.
The emperor remembered something and turned to the end of Prince Jing's memorial. Sure enough, Prince Jing attributed all the credit to Li Yu.
All of this was still paving the way for Li Yu.
If it was not so easy to test, the emperor would like to know, if he can only choose one between the position of crown prince and Prince Jing's wife, which one will Prince Jing choose?
The emperor sighed and kept it.
What Prince Jing did in the western frontier was no secret, and it had spread in the court a long time ago.
When they first learned that Prince Jing was sent to the western frontier by the emperor, many court officials felt that Prince Jing had offended the emperor, but the sixth prince was worried. Prince Jing clearly defeated him in the Wanshou Festival ceremony. If the emperor was really angry with Prince Jing, why didn't he reprimand him in public? !
There is also the Cheng'en Mansion. Cheng'en, Ye Qinghuan and the others are one with King Jing and are his biggest supporters. However, King Jing is about to leave the imperial city, but they did not plead with the emperor. It is estimated that King Jing has other warnings for them.
Mu Tianxiao never figured out why the emperor wanted King Jing to go to the western frontier.
The uneasiness in his heart was soon smoothed out by the emperor's next move.
The emperor beat the third and sixth princes with sticks because of the nursery rhyme and the fake monk, and also punished two others. The emperor's punishment of the third prince was really cruel, and he was mainly angry with the sixth prince. In a rage, he dismissed the sixth prince's job at that time. In order to regain the emperor's trust, Mu Tianxiao also made a lot of preparations in private. His efforts paid off. After King Jing left, the emperor gave him the job of the Ministry of Works where King Jing used to work.
Prince Jing had already done most of this job. He only needed to finish the work when he went there. The emperor also appointed the Minister of Works to guide him, so he basically could not make any mistakes. This achievement was equivalent to being given to him for free.
Although the Ministry of Works was the last of the six ministries, and repairing the Zhongcui Palace was not a respectable job, it at least showed that in the emperor's heart, the Sixth Prince who stayed by his side was obviously more important than Prince Jing who was thousands of miles away.
Mu Tianxiao calmed down. After all, Prince Jing was dumb, and the western border was a turbulent place. If he did something at the right time, he might be able to completely solve the problem of Prince Jing...
However, he had just gained the emperor's trust, so he must not act rashly. He should wait and see the good show of King Jing. Maybe King Jing would destroy himself without him having to do anything.
But he did not wait for King Jing's good show. King Jing defeated the bandits first, which won the praise of several ministers and the emperor was in a good mood. In comparison, his contribution of repairing Zhongcui Palace was not worth mentioning.
There were officials who secretly supported the Sixth Prince and mentioned it briefly in the court, but they were soon drowned out by the praise for King Jing.
Mu Tianxiao then deeply realized that even though King Jing was far away in the west, he was still his fierce enemy.
In the past few days, the emperor would be even happier and reward King Jing for his contribution in dealing with the locusts in the western border. However, when the court officials praised King Jing again, the emperor was not very happy to hear it. Mu Tianxiao was sharp-witted and sent people to the Qianqing Palace and King Jing's Mansion to inquire many times, and finally discovered the secret.
It turned out that King Jing was so bold that he chose a young man in the western border and asked the emperor to appoint him as his principal wife!
King Jing was originally mute, and his muteness might be passed on to his offspring. If he really married a male princess who could not give birth...
This would be extremely beneficial to the Sixth Prince. Mu Tianxiao would laugh in his dreams. Knowing that the emperor was also having a headache, Mu Tianxiao thought that he would make this happen no matter what.
He knew that the emperor still felt guilty about Empress Xiaohui, so he instigated his mother
, Zhang, to come forward. As for the Sixth Prince's own marriage, the emperor had arranged a marriage for him with a daughter of a marquis not long ago. When Zhang thanked the emperor, she recalled her former master in front of the emperor because she had been a maid of Empress Xiaohui and was grateful for her kindness.
Zhang recalled the various things that happened during Empress Xiaohui's lifetime, and "inadvertently" said that the late Empress often said that she hoped that King Jing would live a safe and happy life.
The speaker has a heart, and the emperor also has thoughts. Zhang's identity, coupled with her sincerity, made it somewhat believable that she would talk to him about these things. Moreover, the preparations made by King Jing for Li Yu also played a big role. After the emperor returned to the Qianqing Palace, he sat alone for an hour, thinking over and over again, and finally wrote a reply on King Jing's memorial.
"Li Yu's character is worthy of being a principal wife, but unfortunately, she is a man and cannot have children, so she is specially granted the position of a concubine."
When Li Yu heard the news, he ran to comfort King Jing. At least the emperor agreed that the two of them could be together. There was still a long time to go. Maybe if he made some more contributions, the emperor would be happy to make him a principal wife. King
Jing smiled when he received the emperor's reply. He had been planning for several times, waiting for this sentence from the emperor.
As long as the emperor gave the only reason why Xiaoyu could not be a principal wife was that she could not have children, then it would not be a problem for him at all.
Xiaoyu had given him four fish sons.
Calculating the time it took for the fish cubs to transform, it was the right time to announce the pregnancy.
King Jing originally wanted to create a concubine who did not exist, and temporarily register the fish cubs under "her" name. With offspring, the emperor would be much more willing to say so. However, he was afraid that Xiaoyu would not be able to keep it a secret if she had new fish cubs in the future, and he was also afraid that the emperor would still refuse because Xiaoyu herself could not have children.
In fact, why bother pretending to be someone else? Just say that Xiaoyu is a man with a special physique and can have children. Even if others have never seen such a person, it does not mean that there is no such person. Although it is a bit unbelievable, the fish cubs should be the best evidence after they transform. Since
the emperor has clearly said that "it is a pity that she cannot have children", there is no way to object.
There are various inconveniences in the western frontier, but there are also some advantages.
As long as he says that Master Li is pregnant, no one dares to question it. If the emperor wanted to send a gynecologist, the journey would be long, and by the time they arrived, the fish cubs would have become babies, which would be considered "born".
The reason why he didn't reveal this trump card at the beginning was that he was afraid that the emperor would find other reasons to flatly refuse. King Jing took every step carefully and gradually made the emperor dispel other prejudices against the little fish. Only this one was left. Although it was a bit tricky, he could solve it.
King Jing held Li Yu's waist, touched it, and thought about putting the small pillow inside.