After reading Fengzhu and Lenghan's letters, not long after, another secret letter from Qianji Sect arrived in Xu Ningyou's hands.
Li Ting quickly opened Zhao Yunchen's new border map. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became. Don't underestimate the ten miles of border that extend southward into Chen Kingdom; that area is lush with water and grass, and the land is flat and open, making it very suitable for stationing troops.
The border line stretches for over a thousand li, and the wheat fields along this ten-li narrower border line can support an army of 100,000 men from the Great Liang Kingdom, not to mention the cattle and sheep raised by the various nomadic tribes along the border.
"My lord, I'm afraid we can't let Zhao Yunchen live."
"Father, Mother, do not be afraid. Father's influence remains. Although the current situation differs from the book, Great Liang dares not attack Nan Chen Kingdom now. As long as Father is alive, Great Liang will absolutely not dare to act rashly."
In the book, after Zhao Yunchen retreated ten miles from the defensive line, Emperor Yuchi Mingjun of the Great Liang Kingdom only sent an elite force of five thousand men to garrison the area. Yuchi Mingjun was a cautious man; he feared a trap. Only after several years of peace did Yuchi Mingjun relocate a large number of retired soldiers to the area to engage in agricultural production.
The Great Liang Kingdom gradually gained control of this land, producing vast quantities of grain and livestock. Zhao Yunchen then began to renege on his promises. However, he could never get it back.
Moreover, by then, my father's entire family had been wiped out by Zhao Yunwan and Xiao Ding, and the Great Liang Kingdom no longer feared the Southern Chen Kingdom. Instead, like a silkworm eating mulberry leaves, it slowly gnawed at the borders of the Southern Chen Kingdom.
By the time Zhao Yunchen realized what was happening, it was too late. He could only produce the agreement he had signed with Yuchi Wudi, requesting that the Great Liang help him seize the throne. In return, he would cede the 1.5 million square kilometers of land his father had recovered to the Great Liang, according to the agreement.
Only then did the Great Liang cease its gradual encroachment. After carefully considering Zhao Yunchen's conditions, Yuchi Mingjun realized that these conditions would allow the Great Liang to gain the greatest benefit with minimal military losses.
Zhao Yunwan has influence in the martial arts world, the support of wealthy merchants in Jiangnan, and various armies along the border of Nanchen. What does the cannon fodder prince have now?
It seems there's only one Li family. How pathetic.
Xiao Sheng answered in his heart: I now have a small team in the palace.
Every time Xiao Sheng faced Li Xingran, he dared not utter a sound.
[This cannon fodder prince seems to have some potential lately, so let's give him some pointers.]
"Father, our Tingquan Manor has a group of talented people who will stand out in next year's imperial examination. After the examination, Zhao Yunwan will recruit these successful candidates to Xiao Ding's camp."
No matter the circumstances, talent and education are the most important things.
The Crown Prince currently lacks the support of his maternal family, but if he can win over the students from Tingquan Manor, his chances of winning will greatly increase.
[In addition, the Crown Prince can also choose a consort, thus establishing another family to be bound together.]
[However, in the book, Zhao Yunwan chose Liang Jiamei, the daughter of the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, as the Crown Princess for Xiao Sheng. This woman is all looks and no brains, easily deceived. We absolutely cannot make her the Crown Princess this time.]
Xiao Sheng was anxious. He didn't want the Crown Princess, at least not now. But if he refused her outright, Li Xingran would know he could hear her thoughts, and what if she stopped talking to him afterward?
Hold back, and tell the Grand Tutor in private.
However, there are very few noblewomen or daughters of high-ranking officials who could be matched with the Crown Prince. And even fewer are capable of rivaling Zhao Yunwan.
Therefore, relying on women might not be a good option; let's rely on those scholars who are about to become the new elites of the capital!
[It will be several years before Zhao Yunwan completely overthrows the cannon fodder crown prince; we have plenty of time to prepare. The scholars, officials, and tribute students from various prefectures are a force to be reckoned with.]
After hearing this, Li Ting and Xu Ningyou exchanged a smile. Their precious daughter had no idea that Tingquan Manor belonged to the Li family.
As for why it didn't work in the book Ruan Ruan mentioned, Li Ting felt that something must have gone wrong.
"Ruanruan, Tingquan Manor was jointly funded and established by our family and your maternal grandfather's family. Why is it that Zhao Yunwan was able to win over those scholars to Xiao Ding's camp?"
The book states that Zhao Yunwan brought their families to the capital early on, placed them under her control, and promised that each of them would be quickly assigned an official position after passing the imperial examination, without needing to wait for a post.
Xiao Sheng was completely confused. Li Ting, however, understood.
Passing the imperial examination did not guarantee an official position. In the capital, some successful candidates without connections waited for twenty years before finally obtaining an official post.
He died just a few days after taking office. So after each imperial examination, all sorts of deities would display their supernatural powers in order to take office as soon as possible, otherwise they would have to wait for many years, and no one wanted their time to be wasted like that.
Taking up an official position early can bring benefits to the family sooner. The world is bustling with people coming and going for profit.
Luo Nanchuan, the current manager of Tingquan Villa, is a renowned scholar of our time and ranked second in the liberal arts category.
Li Ting felt it was time to put Hu Changshi's name back on the liberal arts rankings.
Xu Ningyou also thought that everyone had probably forgotten about Ren Qingyun.
The Cangxuan Continent has always revered the strong and can rally people of insight.
Li Ting asked Xiao Sheng to go to his study to continue reading and writing. Xu Ningyou, on the other hand, started practicing her morning exercises every day. She wanted to make Ren Qingyun's name resound throughout the martial arts world again within a month.
To rank scholars in the humanities, one simply writes an essay and submits it to the Prime Minister, who then publishes it to the public. Every scholar then has the right to evaluate and vote on the essay. The one with the most votes becomes the number one in the humanities ranking.
It's much more difficult to improve one's martial arts skills in the martial arts world.
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