Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1482: Legend of the Hidden Sea 2

All the royal family members of this dynasty had to be enfeoffed. Xiao Jinyue actually did not agree with this ancestral system. The royal family members who were enfeoffed were like fat pigs, being raised in their fiefdoms and acting tyrannically, causing a lot of embarrassment to the royal family and the court. Therefore, Xiao Jinyue had already made plans. With the precedent of her uncle, Prince Yongrong, she must make sure that Prince Linzi and other royal family members all stay in the capital.

As the brother of Emperor Zhenshun, Prince Yongrong was handsome, but unfortunately he failed to catch the eye of the late emperor, who did not even intend to use him as a tool. Now, even though he could stay in the capital without having to become a vassal thanks to his brother, he could only win over some low-ranking officials.

There are far more people who want to take a shortcut from Xiao Jinyue, the King of Qinghe, than those who want to take the path of King Yongrong.

After the Queen Mother passed away, Xiao Jinyue and Prince Yongrong stopped their banquets. The back doors of the two houses faced each other, so it was very convenient for them to move around. Prince Yongrong, in particular, had an unruly personality and often went through the back door of the Qinghe Palace.

Xiao Jinyue was just ordering people to prepare lunch when Prince Yongrong arrived. She smiled and said, "Uncle Royal always predicts accurately. My niece just ordered lunch."

Prince Yongrong unceremoniously sat down opposite Xiao Jinyue, and invited Xiao Jinyue to sit down as well, like a host. Then he started talking about business: "Prince Linzi has repeatedly requested to return to the capital to see off the Queen Mother, and your father is almost unable to bear it."

Xiao Jinyue was busy fiddling with the chess pieces on the chessboard, and said casually, "It's not a bad thing for Prince Linzi to return to the capital. Although he can personally win over the civil officials and court officials, after all, my father is the legitimate heir now, and my father legitimately took over the throne from the previous emperor, so there is no room for people to interfere."

Prince Yongrong laughed, picked up the teacup, smelled the tea, took a sip, and praised: "What a great Mingqian Longjing tea, it is really top-notch!"

The higher the quality of the green tea, the lighter the taste and the more sweet it is. A few years ago, there was an incident where lower-level officials intercepted the best quality tea for their own use and offered inferior quality tea as tribute to the palace. It was Xiao Jinyue who uncovered this matter and ended up in trouble for Prince Linzi.

Xiao Jinyue had a lot of things to enjoy, so she only treated this top-grade pre-rain Longjing tea normally. Prince Yongrong was not short of such good things. He just reminded Xiao Jinyue that if Prince Linzi returned to Beijing, she would be in trouble.

Xiao Jinyue was not worried about Prince Linzi at all. "Even though Prince Linzi runs the palace like an iron bucket, no one can stop me from doing what I want to do."

Xiao Jinyue had almost forgotten those political intrigue dramas, but after experiencing so many worlds, even though she was a blockhead, she knew that real political intrigues were never so complicated, so she just had to treat everyone to a meal.

Prince Yongrong pretended to be surprised: "Wow——"

"Uncle Royal is short-sighted and ignorant. Is your niece willing to give him a lesson?"

Xiao Jinyue said unhappily, "My niece is a vulgar person. The only thing she has good cooking skills in the mansion is her cooking skills. I will invite Uncle Wang of Linzi to have a meal when the time comes."

Prince Yongrong put down the teacup in his hand and said with a smile: "My niece, are you comparing yourself to the founder of the Han Dynasty or to the Overlord?"

Xiao Jinyue pretended not to know: "Although my niece knows a little bit of boxing, she doesn't dare to compare herself to the King of Western Chu who can lift a tripod. Besides, what happened to my cousin was purely an accident. My niece was still young and ignorant at the time. Now she should apologize. Why is there so much talk?"

The Qinghe Palace is not just ordinary wealth. In the past, Prince Linzi was the empress dowager's only bloodline and an excellent assistant in her control of power. The empress dowager was willing to spend money on her own son. Even though this palace was deliberately built to be simple to cater to the late emperor's preferences, it still had carved beams and painted buildings, pavilions and towers.

When this place was merged with the neighboring mansion to form the Qinghe Palace, Emperor Zhenshun was even more willing to spend money on Xiao Jinyue, his only bloodline. What's more, Xiao Jinyue himself secretly withheld the gold and silver that the Empress Dowager gave to the Prince of Linzi every year. This palace became a veritable Langhuan blessed land.

So Prince Yongrong liked to come over to visit, and sometimes he would come in through the back door, swaying with a feather fan in his hand.

Prince Yongrong is certainly an ambitious person, but no matter how ambitious he is, he has to look at the actual situation of his family. There are only three children in his family, and they are all sickly and weak. This is also the main reason why the court has not urged him to become a fiefdom for so many years.

Now that Xiao Jinyue is willing to stand up, King Yongrong comes here to test the authenticity.

Xiao Jinyue was also happy to tell the truth to this uncle who was very sensible about the current situation: "With the example of Emperor Renzong of Song, how can I, your niece, let myself fall into the situation of Princess Fukang? Moreover, I can never sit idly by and watch Prince Linzi have the title of emperor."

Prince Yongrong narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "How can you be sure that Prince Linzi would be willing to give up the throne to his son?"

Xiao Jinyue smiled and said, "The throne has always been established by the eldest son or the legitimate heir. My father is the eldest son, and he has the legitimacy of being passed down by the previous emperor. If Prince Linzi wants to take the throne, he will definitely risk the wrath of the world. He cannot afford such a crime!"

Prince Yongrong also pulled the corner of his mouth and taunted in the direction of Linzi: "You are right. If Prince Linzi had the courage to risk the world's disapproval, you and I would not have such a good life now."

The Empress Dowager had come up with many clever schemes and worked very hard to gain power in the past, but the late Emperor saw that the Empress Dowager was too power-hungry and was afraid that what happened to Empress Wu would happen again. So even though Prince Linzi seemed more capable of becoming the emperor than Emperor Zhenshun and was also the legitimate son, he still took great pains to help Emperor Zhenshun ascend the throne, thus making all the Empress Dowager's plans come to nothing.

Therefore, even though half of the court officials now secretly submit to Prince Linzi, all the military power in the world is still in the hands of Emperor Zhenshun, who is mediocre and even seems cowardly.

If nothing unexpected happens, it would not be so easy for the Linzi Prince's lineage to steal the throne.

Emperor Zhenshun has secretly let Xiao Jinyue and Prince Yongrong train their own confidants to replace the ministers currently in the court. However, Xiao Jinyue is not very interested in civil officials, so this area naturally fell into the hands of Prince Yongrong.

Xiao Jinyue only relaxed the wool business a little, and the entire Northwestern Army stood behind her. Even the subordinates of Pingjin Hou were almost under her control. After all, Xiao Jinyue's wool business was very profitable and required a lot of manpower, which could benefit all military households.

On the third day when Xiao Jinyue went to Ganlu Temple to pray for the empress dowager, news came from the imperial mausoleum that Concubine Li had voluntarily withdrawn from the imperial mausoleum and allowed the empress dowager to be buried with the late emperor.

Xiao Jinyue couldn't believe what she heard. The subordinate who came to report felt her aura and couldn't help but lower his head even more.

It would have been fine if the Queen Mother had stuck to her original intention and created a way out for women, but she used the injustice that women experienced to cover up her own desire for power, taking in all the dirty and smelly things, making it impossible for Xiao Jinyue to let her go.

That's why she insisted in front of Emperor Zhenshun that the Empress Dowager should be buried elsewhere. But now a so-called Feng Shui master suddenly appeared and staged a drama of Concubine Li's apparition, wanting to stuff the Empress Dowager into the late emperor's mausoleum. But she, the Prince of Qinghe, disagrees!