CHAPTER 256: CHAPTER 253 CONCERNS

Inside the palace.

The Emperor placed the memorial on the imperial desk, while the eunuch handed him a tea bowl.

After moistening his throat, the Emperor asked, "Where have they gone?"

The eunuch replied, "Commander Song and Military Governor Du are wandering the streets, they first went to the needlework shop, and then to the teahouse, ink shop, medicine shop, and blacksmith shop.

Before dark, they hurried to the Official Medicine Bureau in the Capital."

The Emperor raised his head: "Those places?"

The eunuch responded.

The Emperor frowned slightly: "Did they notice anyone following them?"

The eunuch said, "All the places the two lords visited sell goods from Zhenzhou, as for the teahouse... someone was telling stories, coincidentally about the spring epidemic."

The Emperor thought carefully, then suddenly smiled: "Are there really that many goods from Zhenzhou?"

The eunuch anticipated the Emperor’s question and had inquired specifically: "There are thread tassels, paper, medicinal ingredients, and wind boxes, all small items, but they sell well, considered the main livelihood for Zhenzhou’s people besides farming."

The Emperor lightly raised his eyebrows: "After spring plowing, the Ministry of Revenue presented a memorial estimating that many places in the North can pay their taxes on time, seems there is some basis for this statement."

After saying this, the Emperor took another sip of tea: "How are the two of them?"

The eunuch replied: "Commander Song is quite happy, Military Governor Du was held back several times from returning, eventually, both ate two bowls of noodles each on the street, finally, Military Governor Du spilled some noodle soup on his body."

In reality, Song Xian remarked that the noodles were not as good as those in Zhenzhou, which angered Du Zhuo, causing him to drop his bowl heavily and spill the soup... thus ended their leisure stroll in the Capital.

That day, Du Zhuo was exhausted to the point of feeling more fatigued than fighting in battles.

The spies naturally couldn’t detect this, from afar it seemed just an accident.

The Emperor said, "So, they had no dealings with each other before this case?"

The eunuch did not dare assert: "No news has come back from Sui State and Zhenzhou yet, but the case... is quite clear, if there was any prior arrangement, it must have started this spring."

That was when Third Master Du was led to Xingzhou for business.

The Emperor said, "The one doing business with Du Yi is..."

The eunuch said, "The daughter of the disgraced official Lin Xu."

"Lin Xu and Song Min were executed together, so Lin Xu’s daughter could not be helping Song Xian," the Emperor paused slightly after speaking, "How is Du Yi’s injury?"

The eunuch reported: "Xingzhou has said that Du Yi is badly injured, Military Governor Du wanted to bring Du Yi to the Capital, but Du Yi’s condition cannot endure long journeys."

Thus it appears everything was orchestrated by Princess Jiahui behind the scenes, not an early setup by Song Xian and Du Zhuo, otherwise the cost would be too great.

The Emperor placed down the pen in his hand, stood up, and flexed his slightly stiff wrist: "How about the Princess Jiahui Mansion?"

The eunuch bowed and said: "General Xu is confined within the mansion, for now, it seems the Xu Family will not get involved in this matter."

"The Empress," after a long pause, the Emperor said, "is someone who understands the situation."

The eunuch lowered his voice: "Heavenly Family, are you planning to demote Princess Jiahui?"

The Emperor gazed out the window for a long time before speaking, "I knew she had some intentions, but didn’t expect her to be so unrestrained, I intended to leave her some dignity, Song Xian and Du Zhuo are border generals, the defense of the Northwest Border is more important than anything else.

What a pity..."

What a pity, he had finally found a descendant of Prince Guangyang, got people to accept the identity of Princess Jiahui, only for everything to fall short.

A dead person is actually more terrifying than anything, no matter what he did, the impression left in people’s minds will eventually become the best, unreachable by others.

Especially with a family extinction disaster, many actions will turn into unparalleled loyalty and righteousness.

But if there are descendants, it’s different, mentioning Prince Guangyang will bring up Princess Jiahui, standing there like a delicate flower, serving people with her beauty...

This would make people feel that the lineage of Prince Guangyang wasn’t much.

The Emperor said, "Let Xu Yuanyu continue his antics, don’t need to alert them, if there are other noble family’s sons secretly involved, just be cautious, when it causes a big stir, I will punish them all."

The final impression left to the world by the Guangyang prince’s lineage should be Princess Jiahui’s incident, and Princess Jiahui’s actions must be related to the Guangyang prince’s territory.

The Emperor said, "Let’s end it here!" The Chapter on Prince Guangyang ends here.

If Princess Jiahui had even a slight resemblance to the former Princess Guangyang, he might have softened his heart and spared her some dignity.

The Emperor walked out of the great hall, a figure appeared in his mind.

Princess Guangyang.

She was born beautiful, but what caught his attention wasn’t her appearance, it was her ability to assist Prince Guangyang, managing the household and the interactions with local officials, half of Prince Guangyang’s popularity was attributed to her.

Such as a model Empress should be, yet unfortunately married the wrong person.

Their daughter was also good, back then if Prince Guangyang had agreed to marry his fourteen-year-old daughter to him, maybe the outcome would have been different.

Now the Xu Family is trying everywhere to mimic Princess Guangyang’s ways, virtuous, appropriate, ultimately nothing but a pretty shell, looks fine, but might just shatter if pressed.

The matter of the Eight States should be resolved now, Song Xian said it right, with the Eight States territory there, officials constantly bring it up.

Eradicate everything from the Eight States, remnants of the previous dynasty to Prince Guangyang, the Eight States territory will no longer belong to anyone, but his kingdom, his people, he will dispatch several military governors to cover up Prince Guangyang’s tracks.

The Emperor stopped in his tracks at this thought, looked towards the eunuch beside him: "How old is Song Xian this year?"

The eunuch reported: "Commander Song is twenty years old."

The Emperor nodded: "When he wins another victory, I will appoint him as Military Governor, surpassing his father, the National Guardian General." Of course, Song Xian must return alive.

...

Zhenzhou Chenjia Village.

After the Xingzhou case passed, Chen Family Village and several surrounding villages no longer needed to hide, and the women finally could freely talk about the spinning wheel in front of others.

Talk about how much thread tassels were produced today, how much inner fiber was picked out.

Merchants could be allowed into the village to inspect goods.

Old Mrs. Chen’s small notebooks were filled several times over, Mrs. Gao saw the old lady busy to the point her feet didn’t touch the ground, wanting to help, opened the old lady’s notebook with an "Oh my."

Mrs. Gao said, "Madam, what is it you have recorded here?"

Old Mrs. Chen straightened her back and said disdainfully, "What? Want to alter my accounts? Impossible, only I can understand these, details of how much each person has done, and how well it’s done, it’s all recorded here, anyone attempting... to cover up, no... to fish in troubled waters, don’t even think about it."

Mrs. Gao quickly said, "You are wronging your daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law just wants to help."

"No need," Old Mrs. Chen rejected straightforwardly, "These matters can only be done by myself for peace of mind." Her granddaughter’s sewing is so large, constantly letting silver coins slip, she doesn’t even know if the money made from sales is enough to distribute among everyone.

Mrs. Gao returned the notebook to Old Mrs. Chen, rubbing her hands said, "Who knows when General Song will return, it’s been so long since seeing him, really miss him."

Chen Zigeng happened to return from Mr. Dongli, hearing this, casually said: "You should ask Sister."