kvmb Chapter 105 Don’t guess the emperor’s thoughts
Chapter 105 Don’t guess the emperor’s thoughts
The King of Huainan's fiefdom was in southern Xinjiang, which was vast but sparsely populated.
Most people live in Nanwu, which is the capital of southern Xinjiang and the most prosperous place.
Due to the special terrain of Nanwu, which is hot and dry, crops are difficult to grow there and can only be transported from outside.
After the King of Huainan went there, I heard that he had sent envoys to Xise and brought back some seeds from there. Even in arid places, the seeds could survive, which made life a little better for the people of Nanwu.
When the King of Huainan first obtained this fief, he was ridiculed by his brothers behind his back.
Because among all the brothers, Nanwu is the most remote and desolate. Going there from such a prosperous Shengjing is no different from being exiled.
But the King of Huainan had no objection to this and instead accepted it with pleasure.
He just said that he would not be able to show his filial piety to the late emperor anymore because of the long journey ahead. So he took a portrait of the late emperor with him to relieve his pain of missing his family.
The late emperor was quite moved and said frankly that this boy was kind and pure, and was a role model for the royal family. He granted him the title of King of Huainan and was not allowed to enter the capital without an imperial edict!
It was also said that the King of Huainan was brave, so he was specially named "General of Tiance", above all other princes.
Even though Song Huaian is living a miserable life in Shengjing now, his father was once a very powerful man.
Otherwise, he wouldn't still be feared by the emperor until today.
Nanwu is located on the border, only a thin line away from Mengsu. Mengsu is tall and strong, extremely brave. He is also very good at fighting in the desert, often burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of evil on the border.
In recent years, the situation has been quite quiet because of the guarding of the King of Huainan. But now that the throne of Mengsu has been passed down, the previous alliance may become a piece of waste paper after the new emperor takes the throne - Mengsu is short of resources and can no longer hold on!
The continuous natural disasters caused Mengsu to suffer heavy losses.
There were complaints from the people, who accused the emperor of being unkind and unworthy of his position. They said the natural disasters were punishment from heaven, and were aimed at the emperor!
The reigning Meng Su spent his days in debauchery, favored treacherous officials, and suppressed loyal officials, which had long caused dissatisfaction inside and outside the court.
The successive natural disasters left corpses everywhere, the people were starving and lived in fear of their future. Rebellious armies sprang up everywhere and could not be suppressed.
Even if he wrote a letter of apology under the pressure of court officials, he was unable to quell the people's anger.
According to information obtained from Shengjing, several princes have already started to take action. The old emperor is now claiming to be ill, but in fact he has been placed under house arrest.
Now let’s see which of the princes will be the winner!
"Meng Su is very bold. He has no food of his own, so he wants to steal our food! I heard that the Prince of Huainan has submitted several memorials saying that Meng Su has been very restless recently and asked the emperor to make preparations early."
When Lu Jing talked about this, there seemed to be fire burning in his eyes. That was his ambition as the son of a military general!
If a war really breaks out, this will be a good opportunity to achieve success!
As long as he is caught, maybe he can make a comeback for the Changning Marquisate!
His inner calculations did not escape Shen Ruoyan's eyes. Da Sheng had not fought a war for a long time. The last time it fought a war was during the time of the previous emperor.
After the last war, an armistice agreement was signed, and nearly decades of peace were achieved.
However, the resources and vitality lost in the war have not yet been fully recovered.
"The emperor will not fight." Shen Ruoyan said calmly. The war consumed too much supplies. When the previous emperor was still in power, he often had headaches because of military supplies.
When the new emperor first ascended the throne, the treasury was extremely empty. Even the Queen Mother's palace needed repairs, and it took several months to get the money approved.
It’s not that the emperor was deliberately making things difficult for others, but he really had no money. Even when his imperial study was leaking, he simply moved the books inside to another place and had people use buckets to catch the leak when it rained.
Although it is a bit exaggerated, the effect is amazing.
At least every time the court officials were summoned to the imperial study to discuss matters, they would be shocked by this move. Then when they asked the Ministry of Revenue for money, they would think twice.
Therefore, the Minister of Revenue preferred this young emperor who lived a frugal life to the war-minded previous emperor.
Perhaps it was because he saw that the previous emperor had fought too many wars, fighting with money or without money. For the last war, he even forced wealthy businessmen to borrow money in the name of the court, and only then was he able to gather the military supplies.
Until now, it’s all a mess!
Therefore, the emperor would rather avoid war if possible. His treasury has been filled with great difficulty, so naturally he is unwilling to waste money on these things.
There is another person who is guarding Nanwu now, but he is the King of Huainan!
The princes are not allowed to command their own troops. They can be on guard a little in normal times, but it is hard to say when a war breaks out.
By then, it doesn't matter whether the King of Huainan's army is fighting the Mengsu people or other people. The emperor is far away and the situation may be out of control at any time.
Even though the hostage was in Beijing, the emperor was still worried.
He knew his position well, and that he was able to sit on it because of the Queen Mother. In terms of strength, the King of Huainan was both civil and military, and he was no match for him.
He was able to ascend to the throne in the end thanks to the Queen Mother’s support.
In the eyes of the emperor, the Prince of Huainan was too ambitious, and his biological mother was also of high status. Although she had passed away, her mother's family was powerful and difficult to control. That was why he chose himself, an obedient and easy-to-control chess piece.
He had endured humiliation for so many years under the Queen Mother's hand and had finally climbed to this supreme position.
Now, even the Queen Mother has been eliminated - he will never allow anyone to shake his position!
"Meng Su has come to grab us, how can we not fight?" Lu Jing felt that Shen Ruoyan was a woman in the harem after all, so what if she had read a lot of books? In the end, she was still shallow.
It was rare for him to feel superior in front of Shen Ruoyan, so he was no longer busy doing other things and explained to her in a good mood:
"The Mengsu people were very ruthless. When a caravan passed by, they not only robbed all the goods, but also killed all the people, leaving no one alive! Although the Prince of Huainan was guarding the border, the border was so long, how could he watch over it?"
Lu Jing actually had some brains on this matter, and what he said was not all nonsense.
"The Mongols would rob and run, and they are familiar with the desert terrain. Once they enter the desert, they blend into the sand and cannot be found no matter how hard we try! If we don't send troops to defeat them, this border will never be peaceful!"
Nanwu is now trading with neighboring countries and vigorously developing commerce, so there are many caravans coming and going, but recently there have been several incidents of looting against caravans.
The caravans that were able to trade across the border had hired their own escorts; some even went further and brought an entire escort team with them.
However, no one was spared.
The King of Huainan attached great importance to this and even led his troops to escort them personally, but the Mengsu people were so cunning, like loaches, that they could not be caught.
If this continues, it will definitely have an adverse impact on the development of Nanwu.
So the King of Huainan was very anxious, and he just waited for the emperor to see if he was anxious enough...