Chapter 89
The eradication of the locust plague was just around the corner. King Jing had already compiled Li Yu’s proposal into a memorial and sent it to the Imperial City. Now, he had drafted a more detailed report on the situation of the locust plague in the Western Frontier.
Last time, he had already mentioned his marriage with Li Yu to the Emperor, but the Emperor did not reply. King Jing knew that the Emperor must have been kept in the dark. Before he brought it up, he had already revealed many of Xiao Yu’s benefits to the Emperor. He also took advantage of the Emperor’s laxity. The Emperor did not directly reject his proposal, which meant that the Emperor also had some concerns. Thus, when this memorial was sent, the Emperor would definitely be moved.
Xiaoyu’s true identity could not be revealed. He hoped that this would let the Emperor understand how good Xiaoyu was. Even if she did not have a prominent background, even if she could not bear children, she was still worthy of standing by his side as a princess.
In his life, he had never asked the Emperor for anything. He could rely on his strength to become the Crown Prince, and he did not need to beg. All he wanted was this marriage. He had also thought about whether the Emperor would be angry, and whether the Emperor would completely cut off his chances of becoming the Crown Prince. If that was really the case …
King Jing glanced at Li Yu, who was teaching the little fish tug-of-war. Although the Western Frontier was poor, the days when the family of six were together were the happiest times of his life.
If the Emperor really gave up on him, he would volunteer to guard the Western Frontier forever. In this way, he and Xiao Yu could still be together.
However, this was the worst-case scenario. It should not be so bad. He still had other plans that he had not used.
In the end, King Jing attached his marriage contract with Li Yu together with the memorial.
Imperial City, Palace of Heavenly Purity.
When the Emperor received King Jing’s memorial again, he discovered the marriage contract that came with the memorial.
The Emperor was very dissatisfied with King Jing’s decision. However, he also understood that King Jing had specially attached the marriage contract to express his position and also to make a silent request.
In his impression, King Jing had never asked him for anything. Even when he had accepted King Jing’s gift at the Emperor’s birthday and ordered King Jing to go to the Western Frontier, King Jing did not ask him for extra favor. Instead, he accepted it indifferently, bowed, said goodbye, and left the Imperial City indifferently.
King Jing was cold, and he thought that at least he should be like that.
But now, he unexpectedly discovered that King Jing also had a stubborn side to him. For a person in power, being too stubborn was not a good thing. But who didn’t have a stubborn time? The Emperor himself was not a saint.
The Emperor recognized that it was King Jing’s handwriting. This was a marriage contract written by King Jing himself, which showed how much importance he attached to this marriage.
King Jing was probably really tempted by the offer.
The Emperor recalled Old Cheng ‘en’s public joke about his sincerity. The Emperor had been on the throne for many years and could laugh it off. But now, for some reason, he felt heavy.
He put the marriage contract heavily in the memorial box and flipped through King Jing’s memorial. He was afraid that King Jing was saying good things about Li Yu again.
He remembered that last time, this youth had put forward some unique ideas about controlling the plague of locusts. The Emperor had sent officials from the Ministry of Works to take a look. The officials all said that it was very reasonable and that they must try it if they had the chance. The Emperor didn’t say anything, but in his heart, he admired Li Yu. To be able to get the approval of several officials from the Ministry of Works, this was Li Yu’s ability.
What would the memorial be this time?
After the Emperor finished reading the memorial, he found out that King Jing had used Li Yu’s suggestion to control the plague of locusts in the Western Frontier.
If this matter was handed over to any official from the Ministry of Works, they would have to draft a detailed plan and submit it to the Minister of Works for review. After the plan was discussed in the Imperial Court, the Ministry of Revenue would allocate the money — but this would take a month or so of work before the Ministry of Works could officially send people to the plague of locusts.
But King Jing didn’t mention any of this in the memorial. He just took out his own money and did it. And it was done well. The plague of locusts in the Western Frontier was actually stopped.
Stinky brat, how dare he!
The Emperor didn’t know what to feel. Was this because he had withheld the previous memorial, so King Jing deliberately threw a beautiful political achievement in his face?
He was a little angry, but he had to touch his conscience and say that it was done well. Among his sons, the one who was the most decisive and decisive was still King Jing. The plague of locusts in the Western Frontier had already reached a point where he couldn’t be at ease. If he had followed the previous plan, he didn’t know what would have happened. The officials scrupulously followed the established rules, but the ones who suffered the most were the common people. In comparison, although King Jing’s method was a little reckless, it was effective in controlling the plague of locusts.
The Emperor put down the memorial, deep in thought. When he looked up, he found that there were memorials from several provinces and counties near the Western Frontier. These provinces and counties also handed in memorials this time. The Emperor read ten lines at a glance. It turned out that when King Jing was controlling the locusts, he had to buy a lot of ducks. The neighboring provinces and counties were also troubled. But in the memorials, they were all sincerely grateful to King Jing. If the plague of locusts in the Western Frontier wasn’t stopped, they would also be implicated by the plague of locusts in the future.
One of the memorials described it quite humorously. The Emperor seemed to have seen the chaotic scene with his own eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched.
The trip to the Western Frontier had unknowingly allowed King Jing to gain power. This was something that the Emperor didn’t expect.
He could use King Jing’s achievements to allow King Jing to continue to grow, or he could choose to suppress King Jing. This was because his son had also schemed against him. He arrogantly wanted to marry an impossible princess, which made him extremely unhappy.
The Emperor thought of something and flipped to the end of King Jing’s memorial. As expected, King Jing gave all the credit to Li Yu.
All of this was to pave the way for Li Yu.
If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t easily test him, the Emperor would like to know. If he had to choose between the position of Crown Prince and Princess Jing, which one would King Jing choose?
The Emperor sighed and continued to stay in the middle.
King Jing’s actions in the Western Frontier weren’t a secret. The imperial court had long since spread the news.
At first, when they learned that King Jing was sent to the Western Frontier by the Emperor, many courtiers felt that King Jing had offended the Emperor. However, the Sixth Prince was faintly worried. King Jing had clearly surpassed him when he presented gifts at the Emperor’s birthday. If the Emperor was really angry with King Jing, why didn’t he reprimand him in public?!
There was also the Duke Chengen Mansion. Duke Chengen, Ye Qinghuan, and the others were one group with King Jing. They were King Jing’s biggest supporters. But King Jing was about to leave the Imperial City, yet they didn’t plead with the Emperor. It was likely that King Jing had other warnings for them.
Mu Tianxiao still couldn’t figure out why the Emperor wanted King Jing to go to the Western Frontier.
This bit of uneasiness in his heart was quickly smoothed out by the Emperor’s next move.
Because of the nursery rhyme and the fake monk, the Emperor had caned the Third Prince and the Sixth Prince, as well as punished two people. The Emperor’s punishment for the Third Prince was truly ruthless, but he mainly vented his anger on the Sixth Prince. In a fit of anger, he removed the Sixth Prince from his post at the time. In order to regain the Emperor’s trust, Mu Tianxiao had made a lot of private preparations. Hard work paid off. After King Jing left, the Emperor gave him the post of King Jing’s former post in the Ministry of Works.
King Jing had already almost completed this post. Once he went there, he only needed to be responsible for finishing up. The Emperor had also appointed the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works to lead him, so there was basically no mistake. This merit was equivalent to giving him for free.
Although the Ministry of Works was the weakest of the six ministries, and renovating Zhongcui Palace wasn’t a dignified post, it at least showed that in the Emperor’s heart, the Sixth Prince, who was by his side, was obviously more important than King Jing, who was thousands of li away.
Mu Tianxiao calmed down. After all, King Jing was a mute. Moreover, the Western Frontier was a place of turmoil. If he did something at the right time, he might be able to completely eliminate King Jing …
However, he had just won the Emperor’s trust, so he absolutely couldn’t act rashly. It was better to wait and see King Jing’s good show first. Perhaps he didn’t need to do anything, as King Jing would destroy himself first.
However, before he could wait for King Jing’s good show, King Jing had already defeated the bandits and won the praise of several ministers. The Emperor’s mood was also very good. In contrast, his merit in renovating Zhongcui Palace was simply not enough to look at.
There were some officials who secretly supported the Sixth Prince in court, but they were quickly drowned out by the praise for King Jing.
Only then did Mu Tianxiao deeply realize that even though King Jing was far away in the Western Frontier, he was still a formidable opponent.
In the past few days, the Emperor had heard that King Jing had made a meritorious contribution in controlling the locusts in the Western Frontier. Logically speaking, the Emperor would be even happier and reward King Jing handsomely. However, when the courtiers praised King Jing again, the Emperor didn’t like to hear it. Mu Tianxiao keenly captured this point and sent people to the Palace of Heavenly Purity and King Jing’s residence to inquire about it. Finally, he discovered the secret.
It turned out that King Jing was extremely daring. He had chosen a young man in the Western Frontier and begged the Emperor to appoint her as his official consort!
King Jing was originally a mute, and his muteness could be passed on to his children. If he really married a male consort who couldn’t bear children …
This was extremely beneficial to the Sixth Prince. Mu Tianxiao would wake up laughing even in his dreams. Knowing that the Emperor was also having a headache, Mu Tianxiao wanted to facilitate this matter no matter what.
He knew that the Emperor had always felt guilty about Empress Xiaohui, so he urged his Lady Mother, Madam Zhang, to come forward and do this.
Not long ago, the Emperor had arranged a marquis’s legitimate daughter for the Sixth Prince’s marriage. When Madam Zhang expressed her gratitude to the Emperor, because she was once Empress Xiaohui’s maidservant, she was very grateful for Empress Xiaohui’s kindness. Thus, she reminisced about her old master in front of the Emperor.
Madam Zhang recalled Empress Xiaohui’s life and “inadvertently” mentioned that the former Empress often said that she hoped that King Jing would live a peaceful life.
The speaker had her heart, and the Emperor also had his own thoughts. With Madam Zhang’s identity and her sincerity, it was rare for her to say these things to him, so it was somewhat believable. Moreover, King Jing’s previous actions towards Li Yu played a significant role. After the Emperor returned to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, he sat alone for two hours. After thinking about it, he finally wrote an official reply on King Jing’s memorial.
“Li Yu’s character is comparable to that of an official consort. However, as a man, he is unable to bear children. Therefore, he is specially conferred the position of concubine.”
When Li Yu heard this news, he ran over to comfort King Jing. At least the Emperor agreed to the two of them being together. There was still a long way to go. Perhaps if he made some contributions, the Emperor would be happy and let him become an official consort.
When King Jing received the Emperor’s reply, he smiled. He had planned several times and was waiting for the Emperor to say this.
As long as the Emperor gave the reason that Xiaoyu could not be an official consort was that she was unable to bear children, then it would not be a problem for him at all.
Xiaoyu had already given birth to four fish sons for him.
Calculating the time it would take for the fish cubs to transform, this was the right time to announce that she was pregnant.
King Jing originally wanted to get a non-existent consort and temporarily put the fish cubs under “her” name. With children, he believed that the Emperor would be much easier to talk to. However, he was afraid that he would not be able to hide the fact that Xiaoyu had new fish cubs in the future. Moreover, he was also afraid that the Emperor would still refuse because Xiaoyu could not bear children.
In fact, there was no need to pretend to be someone else. He could just say that Xiaoyu was a man with a special constitution and could bear children. Even if no one had seen such a person before, it did not mean that there was no such person. Although it was somewhat unimaginable, the fish cubs’ transformation should be the best evidence.
Since the Emperor had clearly said that it was a pity that Xiaoyu could not bear children, then there was no more objection.
There were all kinds of inconveniences in the western border, but there was also a beauty in it.
As long as he said that Young Master Li was pregnant, no one would dare to question it. If the Emperor wanted to send a gynecologist over, it would be a long journey. By the time they arrived, the fish cubs would have already turned into babies and could be considered “born”.
The reason why he did not reveal this trump card at the beginning was that he was afraid that the Emperor would find other reasons to flatly refuse. King Jing advanced step by step and gradually made the Emperor dispel other prejudices against Xiaoyu. There was only one left. Although it was a little tricky, he could solve it.
King Jing held Li Yu’s waist and touched it, thinking that it was time to put a small pillow inside.
