After discussing the matter, everyone filed out of the palace. When they walked out of the palace gate, they saw the Ninth Prince kneeling upright in the rain, his whole body soaked.

No one dared to go over and hold an umbrella for him. Only King Xiang walked over, squatted down and looked at him: "Ninth brother, you have suffered a lot."

There was no pity in his tone, only teasing.

The Ninth Prince glanced at him, smiled slightly, and said, "Thank you for your concern, big brother."

King Xiang laughed: "Of course not, we are brothers, and I will definitely take good care of you."

After saying that, he patted his shoulder, stood up and left.

The last one to come out was Liu Sheng. He did not walk over, but just silently looked at the Ninth Prince from the corridor. The Ninth Prince also looked up at him. Their eyes met, and a smile of understanding appeared on the corners of their mouths.

Nangong Fusang, he took the bait.

He has always treated everyone as prey, playing with them at will. But he doesn't know that the best hunters often appear as prey.

He thought he had cornered his prey, but he never considered that it might be a trap set by the prey, waiting for him to jump.

Because since returning to Beijing, Nangong Fusang has been winning. He has been winning for too long and too easily, and he has forgotten that the easiest thing to do is to capsize in a ditch.

The two exchanged glances for a while before Liu Sheng turned and left.

Now, it's their turn to fight back.

At this moment, King Xiang was still busy commanding his soldiers to build temporary tents for the people. It would take a long time to repair the houses on South Street, so for now they could only be resettled nearby.

At the same time, officers and soldiers distributed food, bedding and other daily necessities to the people three times a day to ensure that everyone could receive the supplies.

In addition, King Xiang also invited nearly half of the doctors in the capital to come here to treat the sick people.

The disaster relief work was in full swing. After three days of hard work, the situation was finally stabilized.

The emperor was very satisfied with the progress of disaster relief and praised Prince Xiang with a smile: "You have resettled all the victims in such a short time. You have done a good job."

"What reward do you want?" Praise cannot be just verbal, some substantial rewards must be given, but this time the emperor gave it willingly.

King Xiang immediately knelt down and said: "It is my duty to share the worries of my father. I dare not ask for a reward."

"Well, well, well, you are worthy of being Dayu's eldest son." The more the emperor looked at him, the more satisfied he became. At the same time, he couldn't help but think of his previous harsh criticism of him and felt guilty.

"Since you don't want it, I will give it to you. You are now a general, and there is no room for you to move up in your official rank. So I will grant you a marriage. What do you think?"

Prince Xiang had long passed the age of marriage, but he had never had a princess. Firstly, the marriage of a prince required the emperor's approval. Secondly, he had been in the south for many years and rarely returned to Beijing, so he had been delayed until now.

Now that Your Majesty has suddenly mentioned the matter of granting a marriage, I think you intend to make him the Crown Prince. All the ministers looked at each other and understood.

At this moment, the Ninth Prince was still kneeling outside the palace. He had been kneeling for three days and three nights. The Emperor did not issue an order to punish him, nor did he let him get up.

The Tenth Prince led a group of ministers and knelt at the palace gate for a day, but the Emperor remained indifferent. Now that he has appointed a crown prince, it seems that he is going to give up on the Ninth Prince completely.

Prince Xiang naturally understood the emperor's intention and immediately said, "Thank you, father."

"Do you have a woman you like?" the emperor asked him.

This was just a polite remark, and King Xiang naturally understood it, so he said, "I don't have any favorite women, so I'll leave it to you, father."

"Good." The emperor was very satisfied: "If that's the case, the prime minister's daughter is still unmarried, you two can be together forever."

Everyone had expected that the emperor would grant Prince Xiang a prestigious marriage, but they did not expect it to be with the prime minister's mansion, which made them a little excited for a while.

If Prince Xiang were to marry the Prime Minister, the throne would almost certainly be secured for him, and there would be no room for competition from anyone else. This shows that the Emperor has chosen Prince Xiang.

The Prime Minister originally did not want to get involved in the struggle between Prince Xiang and Prince Jiu. But when he suddenly heard that the Emperor wanted to marry his precious daughter to Prince Xiang, he immediately stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, my daughter is stubborn and unruly by nature. I'm afraid she is not worthy of Prince Xiang. Please withdraw your order."

The Prime Minister even dares to reject the Emperor’s arranged marriage?

All the ministers were terrified. If it weren't for the palace rules, they would have run away and hid far away.

As expected, the emperor's face darkened immediately after hearing this. But he did not get angry, and just said patiently: "Prime Minister, you are too modest. I have seen your daughter several times. She is very lively and clever, and she is a perfect match for my eldest son."

The emperor was talking about his eldest son, not Prince Xiang, and the meaning was very clear.

Prince Xiang is my son. If you refuse to marry him, don't you look down on me?

The emperor has said so much that most people would have to grit their teeth and agree even if they are unwilling.

But the Prime Minister refused, and his attitude remained firm: "Your Majesty, my daughter is still young, and I am reluctant to let her get married. I want to keep her by my side for a few more years."

The ministers gasped and felt a chill on their backs. They didn't know whether they should worry about the emperor or the prime minister.

The hall was so quiet that one could hear one's breathing. Everyone could hear the emperor gnashing his teeth, which showed that the emperor had reached his limit of endurance.

But the prime minister still refused to give in. He might make concessions on other things, but when it comes to his daughter, he will never give in.

If it was pointed at an ordinary prince, he would accept it. With him as a father, other princes would not dare to do anything to their precious daughter, but Prince Xiang could not do that.

He has the appearance of a tiger and the heart of a wild beast. If Wanwan were to marry him, even he would not be able to protect her.

Therefore, even if it cost him his life, he would never let his daughter marry into that den of tigers and wolves.

Just when the two were in a stalemate, the sound of the drum suddenly came from outside the hall.

Everyone was stunned. This drum for reporting had been set up outside the court since Dayu founded the country, so that those who had grievances or urgent cases could beat the drum and report to the emperor.

But since the founding of the People's Republic of China, no one has ever knocked on it.

After all, if there is no injustice so great that there is no place to file a complaint, who would dare to disturb His Majesty by beating the drum?

The emperor had no time to argue with the prime minister and quickly ordered people to go out and see what was going on.

Soon Meng Tao brought in the people beating the drums. They were a dozen dirty and wounded civilians. When they saw the emperor, they immediately knelt down and cried bitterly, "Your Majesty, help me."

The emperor was at a loss as to what to do with them, so he quickly asked them, "What grievances have you suffered?"

"Your Majesty, we are all civilians from South Street. The explosion of the private gun room burned down our houses. Now we are homeless and have been driven out of the capital by soldiers. We are homeless and countless people have died of freezing and starvation."

The emperor was confused. Didn’t I order people to properly resettle them?

How could they be expelled from Beijing and frozen to death or starved to death?

Everyone's eyes turned to King Xiang, who was also confused. He had made all the proper arrangements, how could he possibly freeze to death or starve to death?

Section 94

And who expelled them from Beijing?

Liu Sheng was the only one in the hall. He stood by with his hands hanging down, watching silently, with a very faint smile on his lips.