Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1511: Legend of the Hidden Sea 31

Emperor Zhenshun transferred Zang Hai to Zhongzhou to be in charge of the construction of water conservancy facilities, and also gave him the privilege of inspecting the river embankment. Zang Hai could not disobey the imperial edict, so he could only take the sword of beheading evildoers bestowed by Emperor Zhenshun and become the river inspector. Xiao Jinyue could only pack more luggage for him and arrange two teams of people to accompany him for protection, both openly and secretly.

Xiao Jinyue was worried about Zanghai's safety, but she didn't really have any feelings of separation. Zanghai himself only felt that Xiao Jinyue cared more and more about him, but he didn't know that in Gao Ming's eyes, Xiao Jinyue's eyes were still clear and she didn't have much affection for him, which was really worrying.

The terrible thing is that this matter cannot be made clear at this point. Gao Ming can only temporarily let Cang Hai get deeper and deeper into it day by day. He can only secretly pray that Xiao Jinyue is not a cold-hearted person and will surely respond to Cang Hai's true feelings in time.

After Xiao Jinyue sent Cang Hai away, he received a terrible piece of news - in order to improve the status of military generals in one fell swoop, General Niu of the Northwest decided to make a deal with the people of the Northern Frontier and let them knock on the gate and plunder!

Xiao Jinyue was so angry that she was shaking all over. She suppressed her anger and asked Shen Mudan, "Has this news been confirmed?"

Shen Mudan was already shocked, and quickly replied: "I asked someone to confirm the news as soon as I received it, and I didn't dare to delay, so I reported it directly."

Shen Mudan did not dare to express any opinion on military and national affairs. She just waited for Xiao Jinyue to make a decision without saying a word.

This General Niu Benniu was not born into a family of founding heroes. Instead, he was a typical example of someone who climbed to power by stepping on his wife's family. When the previous emperor was in power, in order to break up the solidarity of the Northwest Garrison, he plotted to kill the male members of the Yue Family and even wanted to take the only daughter of the Yue Family into the harem. It was the other party who saw through the situation and married her off in advance, thus avoiding the crisis of becoming a pawn in the harem's infighting.

But Niu Ben was no good either. In his early years, he was able to rise from a commoner to the fifth rank with the appreciation of the Yue family. After he had exhausted everything from the Yue family, he allowed the woman in the backyard to plot against and kill the Yue girl. Now even the child born to the Yue girl is gone.

Therefore, Xiao Jinyue did not let Niu Ben get involved in the wool business back then. No wonder Niu Ben would take such a risky move today.

Xiao Jinyue quickly calmed down and said to Shen Mudan, "Niu Ben is not a fool, and neither are the court officials. We haven't heard of any danger on the grassland from last year to now. It's not something that can be decided on a whim for the people of Northern Frontier to go south, so I believe the people of Northern Frontier will not act hastily, and Niu Ben will certainly not pick a date at random. We still have some time."

"First, let the information slip to the City Administration without leaving any trace. Tell the City Administration how our people found out. Be careful and cautious and don't let anyone notice us."

Shen Mudan was in the capital city, welcoming and seeing off guests at the Qinghe Palace. In particular, many pieces of information from the palace would first pass through her hands before being delivered to Xiao Jinyue, so she was also aware of the changes in the situation.

Seeing Xiao Jinyue still frowning unconsciously, she couldn't help but comfort him: "Your Majesty, please relax. Just look at the attitude of the court officials towards Dongxia. This battle will not be easy to fight."

But these words made Xiao Jinyue even more depressed. The officials in the court were unwilling to go to war, even if the court had money, because everyone wanted to put more money into their own pockets. Once the war started, although they would not suffer much loss, and even seemed to have created opportunities for them to continue to make money, not everyone could take advantage of this opportunity.

If you enrich others but not yourself, that is a loss!

Niu Ben definitely cannot be kept, but we cannot waste so many years of contribution of generals just because of his evil deeds. Xiao Jinyue ordered Shen Mudan to send someone to keep a close eye on the actions of Niu Ben and the Capital City Administration, and not to worry about anything else for the time being.

For a moment, Xiao Jinyue felt that Dayong was rotten to the core, and she wanted to just clean up everything and vigorously promote everything she once enjoyed, without worrying about how ignorant the people's minds were or whether science and technology could keep up.

Rebuilding something is really easier than patching it up.

The next day, Prince Yongrong appeared in the back garden of Qinghe Palace as usual, waving his feather fan.

Xiao Jinyue was in a bad mood and was looking at the account book in the garden. The sound of the maid greeting Prince Yongrong startled her. When she stood up, she covered the account book and walked over to stop Prince Yongrong in the pavilion beside her.

Prince Yongrong looked at the two maids who were left there and were busy cleaning the table. The tea and snacks here were the same as usual, but he felt lost.

Xiao Jinyue just followed Prince Yongrong's performance and asked, "Uncle Wang hasn't been here for a long time, what's with that expression?"

Prince Yongrong became even more upset after hearing these words, but he also knew that he had made the choice first, and now he didn't have the face to question anything.

But as a creature of power, being thick-skinned is just a basic skill. He thought Xiao Jinyue was just greeting him and asked with a smile, "Are you used to your princess going away?"

Xiao Jinyue ignored such teasing, thinking that Prince Yongrong was just making a normal small talk and said with a smile, "I am the princess of the Qinghe Palace, so I should be a super-rank princess. If you must calculate the rank, I should be a first-rank princess. What's more, he is an official appointed by the court. Could it be that Uncle Wang is trying to urge me to go to the palace to make trouble with my father?"

Neither the palace nor the Prince Yongrong's Mansion could find a principal wife. The Empress died in the turmoil concerning the succession to the throne in the late emperor's later years while she was in the palace. The Princess Yongrong died of childbirth complications in the first year after the late emperor's three-year mourning period.

Xiao Jinyue didn't bother to care about Prince Yongrong's purpose in coming over today and just kept on greeting him.

Prince Yongrong has already realized that he and Xiao Jinyue can no longer get along, and his goal is Jiangnan Shipyard.

Anyone who is targeted by Xiao Jinyue must be extremely good. The Yongrong Palace has no shortage of money, but that was in the past. Now if they want to start a rebellion, the expenses will be several times more than when they only took care of their own family. Without money, how can they support the private soldiers seized from the Linzi Prince?

But trying to snatch the opportunity to go out to sea from Xiao Jinyue is like snatching food from a tiger's mouth. Judging from the methods Xiao Jinyue used in the past against the Queen Mother and the lineage of Prince Linzi, if he is not absolutely sure of hitting her with one strike and destroying everything she has, he can only find a legitimate reason to convince her.

Such a reason can only be found from the perspective of "family and national justice", otherwise Emperor Zhenshun will not be able to accept it. After all, some things are definitely much better and more convenient in the hands of his own daughter than in the hands of his own brothers.

Xiao Jinyue only felt more exhausted after dealing with Prince Yongrong, so she simply handed a sign into the palace to complain to Emperor Zhenshun. Prince Yongrong was coveting the shipyard and fleet in her hands, so it was impossible for her to do nothing.