Chapter 278 King of Beihai and the Second Prince, kill!
A lot of potatoes were harvested, and out of courtesy, Shen Ning had some sent to Liaodong Pass, mainly to the second prince. At the same time, he also sent a ship down to the sea to the capital.
Half a month later, baked potatoes were also available in the palace, and the first person to eat them was the Queen Mother.
According to the method mentioned in Shen Ning's letter, the potatoes baked by the royal chef were golden brown and fragrant, and more importantly, they were novel.
The Queen Mother had a weak tooth and had seldom eaten snacks recently. However, these fragrant potatoes were soft, sweet, and melted in the mouth without any difficulty for the teeth. Adding to the novelty and fragrance, the Queen Mother ate two in one go.
Nanny Gui smiled at the Empress Dowager and said, "The first portion for the Princess was sent to our Cining Palace... Empress Dowager, the Princess has always been thinking of you."
The Queen Mother turned away and snorted coldly: "Who cares if she keeps thinking about me?"
"She had a good life ahead of her, but she had to run off to that desolate place outside the Great Wall to fight in the war and farm... No one would believe her if she said she had no problem with her brain."
As she spoke, the old lady's eyes became moist.
Nanny Gui quickly comforted her, "The princess has a kind heart and wants to save the people outside the Great Wall... Look, she has grown such a good thing. In the future, within two years, the people of the entire Daxuan Dynasty will no longer have to starve. This is a great merit."
As Shen Ning's aunt, Concubine Xie naturally received her share.
Not only did she have them baked, she also had them steamed, fried, and stir-fried... She tried all the ways of eating mentioned in Shen Ning's letter, and in the end she still felt that fried potato fries were the best.
The Sixth Prince likes to eat steamed potatoes.
After practicing archery with his uncle Xie Fengting, the Sixth Prince Xiao Nanjin placed a plate of four steamed potatoes in front of his uncle with a somewhat disappointed look.
"Uncle, Nan Jin is naturally dull. Don't be angry. Try these potatoes. They're grown by my cousin Ning Ning in Beihai Prefecture... They say the yield is very high, and they're delicious. The people of our Daxuan Dynasty will have a good life in the future."
The Sixth Prince smiled innocently, and Xie Fengting was too embarrassed to scold him for the mess he had just made in shooting arrows.
Helplessly patting his nephew's shoulder, Xie Fengting took the plate of potatoes and turned to leave.
Xiao Nanjin wanted to say something but hesitated, and finally chose to remain silent with a wronged look on his face: He hadn't eaten the plate of potatoes yet... There were only four of them, how come his uncle took them all away!
A large number of potatoes also arrived in Huayingxueli in the capital. After all, Chen Ning's large shipload of potatoes was sent back to the capital.
The potatoes sent to the palace were still sent from Huayingxue.
The news about the potato production has spread in the capital, and everyone knows that Princess Yong'an submitted a memorial to Emperor Jiaping, in which the potato production was written in black and white. She would never dare to deceive the emperor and set a trap for herself.
For this reason, when people learned that Huayingxue had received a shipload of potatoes, the entire capital city became anxious, and countless managers representing various parties flocked to Huayingxue to buy them.
But they don’t want to sell it.
Hua Yingxue said that the potatoes on this ship were seeds. Hua Yingxue had already rented hundreds of acres of land on the outskirts of the city to plant potatoes on a large scale... When the potatoes on these hundreds of acres of land were ripe, she would be able to sell them freely.
But no one wants to wait another season if they can plant early, not to mention that it is not certain whether it will be their turn in the next season.
Some people thought that it would be a good opportunity to see with their own eyes the yield of the potatoes planted by Hua Yingxue to avoid making mistakes, but there were also people who knew clearly: if they waited until the potatoes were ripe in the next season and everyone saw the yield with their own eyes, they would probably rush to buy them.
It’s better to do it sooner rather than later.
However, Hua Yingxue had Prince Ding's support, so no one dared to force her to sell the potatoes even if she refused. So someone went around and found Xie Yunqing and Shen Chengxi, gave them gifts and said something nice, hoping to buy some potatoes from them.
However, they were all turned away.
Xie Yunqing burst into tears when she ate the potatoes that her daughter had sent home. She kept praising the potatoes for being delicious and her daughter for being great, but she couldn't help but shed tears of heartache.
Xie Yunqing's heart was broken when she thought of her daughter, weathered and bewildered, leading people to farm in the barren and dangerous outside the Great Wall.
Even if the so-called farming was just Shen Ning giving orders and giving guidelines, and she didn't have to do any physical work, the picture in Xie Yunqing's imagination was almost the scene of her daughter wearing tattered clothes and wielding a hoe to hoe the ground.
In Xie Yunqing's mind, each of these potatoes was planted by her daughter one hoe at a time... As soon as they were sent to the capital, these hungry wolf-like people rushed over!
Greedy! Hateful!
Shen Chengxi felt bad seeing his mother crying, so when someone came to him and hinted that he could get benefits as long as he could find a batch of potato seeds from Hua Yingxue, Shen Chengxi directly beat the person out!
Of course, Emperor Jiaping also ate the potatoes. As he ate, he said to Xiao Nanchen with a smile, "You have good taste, boy."
Xiao Nanchen ignored him and moved the plate away calmly.
"Okay, stop being so sullen... I won't eat for free."
Emperor Jiaping picked up a bright yellow silk handkerchief and wiped his mouth, then raised his hand and threw the bright yellow scroll over.
Xiao Nanchen subconsciously took it, opened it, and the next moment, his eyes lit up.
"Princess Yong'an, Chen Ning... first assisted Pingdu City in repelling a Tatar attack on her journey eastward, and then resisted the Yuan army in Beihai Prefecture... She discovered new crops that benefited the people, and has made significant contributions to the country and its people... She is hereby granted the title of King of Beihai. By decree!"
Chen Ning is crowned king!
Xiao Nanchen knew clearly that since going to Beihai Prefecture, Chen Ning had established many achievements, including helping Pingdu City break the Tatar attack, reopening Beihai Prefecture's Coal Hill, and repelling the Yuan Dynasty's invasion... Any one of them was a great achievement.
Not to mention the potatoes this time.
This is not just a newly introduced crop. If the yield is really as she said, then having potatoes means that the Xuan Dynasty will no longer have to worry about the people going hungry.
With such a great achievement, it was natural for him to be crowned a king, but he also knew that if the matter of Shen Ning being crowned a king was brought to the court for discussion, there would definitely be many obstacles.
His mother would definitely try every possible means to obstruct him at all costs.
And now, his father has issued a direct decree.
Xiao Nanchen put away the imperial edict and whispered, "Thank you, father."
Emperor Jiaping snorted and squinted at him: "This time, can I eat one more potato of your wife's?"
Xiao Nanchen calmly placed the plate of baked potatoes he had just snatched back on Emperor Jiaping's desk.
Emperor Jiaping laughed and scolded: "You won't release the eagle until you see the rabbit..."
Xiao Nanchen asked him, "What if the Queen Mother is looking for trouble with you?"
Emperor Jiaping paused while eating his roasted potatoes, then smiled bitterly: "Seventh Brother, I am not a good emperor, but I want to be a good emperor... I know the grievances you have suffered. This time, I will make Chen Ning a king. This lunchbox is my compensation to you, I..."
Emperor Jiaping sighed and stopped talking. He lowered his head and ate the baked potatoes without saying a word.
At this moment, he didn't seem like the high and mighty emperor, but more like an ordinary man who was helpless and silent...
The imperial edict to make Chen Ning a king was issued throughout the court the next day, and Emperor Jiaping sent the eunuch in charge of writing to Beihai Prefecture to announce the edict.
Before the court meeting ended, the queen smashed the spices she was preparing, her chest heaving violently and her face almost distorted.
"He did it on purpose!"
Queen Wei gritted her teeth.
"Old Seven has no more titles to offer, no more rewards to give, and his military power has reached the limit of what his rank can give...so he conferred the title on Chen Ning!"
"To be crowned a king means to be given military power. This is clearly a way to give power to the Seventh Brother and a disguised form of support for him!"
"He did it on purpose!"
Beside her, Madam Rong helplessly advised, "Your Majesty, the Seventh Prince is also your son. He has never had any ill intentions towards you or the Crown Prince."
"Shut up!"
Queen Wei sneered: "What do you know? He pretended to be poisoned last time to deceive me...but when he went to Beihai Prefecture, he supported Chen Ning everywhere and even killed an imperial official in the street. He was clearly prepared along the way...Who would believe you if you said he had no other intentions?"
"But, but His Highness the Seventh Prince was only trying to protect himself, he..."
"Shut up, shut up!"
Queen Wei turned around and asked, "Whose servant are you?"
Rong Mama fell to her knees and burst into tears, "Your Majesty, you are trying to kill me. I have followed you for over twenty years. If you still have doubts... I can only die to show my loyalty!"
Queen Wei was stunned for a moment, but finally managed to calm down.
"Madam, please get up. I was just anxious and spoke without thinking... How could I doubt you? If I don't even trust you, then I have no one else to trust."
After helping Madam Rong up, Empress Wei said softly, "Madam, go get someone here. I have something to tell you."
Aunt Rong was a little frightened: "Your Majesty..."
Queen Wei closed her eyes and took a deep breath: "That Chen Ning, I definitely can't keep her."
Rong Mama was shocked and advised: "Your Majesty, please think twice. Do you really want to break up with the Seventh Prince, Your Majesty?"
Empress Wei curled her lips. "Seventh Prince has already alienated me... He's been pretending to be nice to me and hasn't lost his temper with me anymore. Ma'am, guess what he wants to do?"
Aunt Rong was speechless.
Queen Wei sat back on the couch tiredly: "Go, we can't wait any longer."
Twenty-five days later, the eunuch who announced the imperial edict arrived in Liaodong City.
The imperial edict to confer the title of king was no joke. The eunuch who announced the edict invited the second prince and Chen Nian, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, to go to Beihai Prefecture together to announce the edict. The second prince readily agreed, and Chen Nian also responded with a smile.
After the eunuch was led away to rest, Chen Nian returned to his bedroom and opened his hands.
In his hand was the letter that the eunuch had just taken the opportunity to stuff into his hand.
There was only one sentence in the letter: King Beihai and the Second Prince, kill!
The queen wants to kill Shen Ning, who was crowned king.
She knew that Shen Ning had secret guards around her, and that assassinations and other petty attacks would not be able to do anything to Shen Ning. Therefore, the queen gave the task of killing Shen Ning to Chen Nian, the commander of Liaodong Pass, who was in charge of a large number of troops.
Then he thought again, since he had to take action anyway, he might as well kill the annoying second brother as well.
The next day, he would go to announce the imperial decree, and some matters needed to be arranged overnight. Chen Nian pondered for a while, then called in his confidant...
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