Red Mansion Beijingwang

Imperial City, Qianqing Palace.

In the western warm pavilion, Emperor Yongkang, dressed in an apricot-yellow Ming robe, sat leaning on a soft couch, flipping through a memorial in his hand, his eyes occasionally showing a thoughtful look.

More than half a year has passed since the new policy was announced at the beginning of the year. Although Emperor Yongkang is in the palace, he keeps receiving reports and paying close attention to the direction of the new policy.

Putting down the memorial in his hand, Emperor Yongkang praised: "Shi Nai has done a good job in implementing the new policy."

The implementation of the new policy requires capable people and unwavering implementation. Although Shi Nai had been idle for many years, his execution ability won the heart of Emperor Yongkang, who was very satisfied with him.

On the other side, Prince Zhongshun, who was wearing a dragon robe, had a flashing look in his eyes. He groaned and said, "My royal brother is right. According to statistics, after the implementation of the new policy in Shandong, the registered land has more than doubled compared to before."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yongkang's face was gloomy and his emotions were surging. He snorted coldly, "Those noble families deserve to die."

There are hundreds of millions of acres of farmland in one province, which has more than doubled. The number is huge, and such a huge number has never been registered before. This shows how serious the situation of land occupation and exploitation is. If the new policy is not implemented, it will sooner or later lead to a disaster.

Prince Zhongshun looked at the gloomy face of Emperor Yongkang, and his heart was awed. After some hesitation, he opened his mouth to remind him, "Brother, some of them deserved to die, but some people donated their land because they couldn't survive. We can't condemn them all. Although Shi Nai did a good job in implementing the new policy, his methods were too drastic, and the officials were quite dissatisfied. Brother, you should be cautious."

Not only were the fields illegally occupied, but also because of the court's preferential policies towards the gentry and nobles, the people donated their land willingly. If someone was beaten to death with a stick, tens of thousands of people would be implicated. I'm afraid that would cause a shock to the court and the country!
Emperor Yongkang took a sip of tea, his eyes sharp as he said, "The implementation of the new policy is inevitable. When those so-called wealthy and powerful families gathered to cause trouble for their own interests and hindered the new policy, did they ever think about the court?"

King Zhongshun remained silent upon hearing this. He also knew that reform would require bloodshed, but the thought of continuous bleeding still worried him.

Seeing Prince Zhongshun's hesitation, Emperor Yongkang understood and chuckled, saying, "Eighth brother, you are not as open-minded as Little Sixteen. Look at the guy named Sun Shaozu he sent over. He is decisive and a capable general."

Upon hearing this, Prince Zhongshun gave a bitter smile but was speechless. He also knew that Sun Shaozu had assisted Shi Nai in implementing the New Deal and had acted decisively and ruthlessly. The local gentry and nobles had suffered from such severe persecution that it was outrageous. The impeachment memorials from the censors were almost piling up into a mountain.

Such a ruthless person was actually praised by the emperor as a capable general. It must be a great honor for his ancestors.

Moreover, Prince Zhongshun also understood that Sun Shaozu would certainly be promoted vigorously by Emperor Yongkang so that he could pave the way for the full implementation of the new policy and serve as the pioneer.

As for Sun Shaozu's safety, as long as Emperor Yongkang doesn't want him to die, he will be safe. If things get out of hand, he can be abandoned. He is nothing more than a tool.

Besides, he is the backbone of the imperial party, so he is naturally worried that the court and the public will overreact and affect Emperor Yongkang. But Shui Rong is not a staunch member of the imperial party, so would he be worried about this matter?
However, King Zhongshun would not expose it. After all, they were brothers, and this move would be suspected of alienating the brothers.

After a moment of silence, Prince Zhongshun smiled and said, "Brother, the new policy can be implemented throughout the country next year. Once the new policy is implemented, the national treasury will be filled, and there will be no need to be restrained in the future."

Money is needed to do anything, and an empty treasury has always been a drawback of the imperial court, so much so that Emperor Yongkang was unable to do anything. However, judging from the doubling of farmland in Shandong, once the policy was implemented nationwide, the registered farmland in the Daqian Dynasty would increase exponentially, and the tax silver collected would naturally increase. Not to mention that the new policy attributed tax revenue to farmland, which greatly increased the amount of tax silver. A full treasury was no longer a dream.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yongkang was also happy and said with a smile: "The implementation of this new policy is largely due to Little Sixteen. This kid is usually lazy, but when it comes to doing serious work, he is still very reliable."

Prince Zhongshun understood that although Shui Rong had not done anything substantial, his support for the new policy at the court meeting was already a great achievement. It was also because he suppressed the military merit lineage that it did not get out of control, not to mention that people like Shi Nai and Sun Shaozu who promoted the new policy were recommended by him.

It can be said that Shui Su’s hand was at work everywhere in the new policy, and it is no exaggeration to say that he made a great contribution.

With a chuckle, Prince Zhongshun said, "My royal brother is right. Little Sixteen not only supports the new policy, but also has made many achievements in maritime trade, adding nearly a million in tax silver to the court."

"Oh, tell me about it." Emperor Yongkang was surprised when he heard this and immediately became interested.

The Fujian port was originally opened entirely because of the favor of Prince Beijing's Palace. No one paid much attention to it and just regarded it as Shui Rong's nonsense. However, it was still surprising to hear that the tax silver had been increased by nearly one million.

Prince Zhongshun said, "Little Sixteen is a smart guy. He got the Prince of Nan'an and the Duke of Zhenguo to do the maritime trade business together. One trip can bring tens of thousands of taels of profit. After tasting the sweetness, they concentrated on this business. As time went by, the tax silver from the maritime trade naturally increased. Even those civil servants started to think about it and secretly set up merchant ships."

Talking about this, King Zhongshun still had deep feelings. As the saying goes, "all the people in the world are busy seeking profit." The new policy touched upon the interests of the military nobles, who have always been arrogant. If it were not for the profits made in the maritime trade, how could the new policy be so smooth.

It can be said that the prevalence of maritime trade indirectly promoted the new policy.

Emperor Yongkang's eyes flickered, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "So, perhaps I can allow the lifting of the maritime ban."

Now, just one port has nearly one million silver taxes. If the maritime ban is fully lifted, the annual tax revenue will be six or seven million silver taxes, or even more, to fill the national treasury.

Most importantly, the full implementation of the new policy would bring huge consequences, and any carelessness would lead to a catastrophe. Although Emperor Yongkang was determined to implement it, he was still worried. He wanted to use maritime trade to divert the attention of those military heroes and dignitaries, and the remaining small fish and shrimp would not be a big threat.

All in all, it can not only fill the national treasury, but also greatly reduce the resistance to the implementation of new policies. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone!

Prince Zhongshun said with a smile, "Brother, to be honest, they have long wanted to petition Your Majesty to lift the maritime ban. Once your decree is issued, they will probably celebrate."

The reason why maritime trade was mentioned was because King Zhongshun saw this point.

Emperor Yongkang raised his eyes and glanced at Prince Zhongshun. He understood what was going on. He took a sip of tea from the cup, his eyes flickered, and he asked, "I haven't seen Little Sixteen for a while. What has he been busy with recently?"

Prince Zhongshun paused, thinking that Emperor Yongkang might be suspicious again. He smiled and said, "That kid used to report to the Governor's Office every day, but he has become more and more lazy recently. I envy him."

Emperor Yongkang chuckled and said, "The Prince of Beijing's Palace has a pair of twins. If you were as lucky as Little Sixteen, I would turn a blind eye and let you prepare as you please."

"Oh, don't do that. It's ok for that kid to be lazy. He has set up a club outside and has many people hiding in the mansion. At his prime years, he is addicted to romance and has no self-control. In my opinion, I'm afraid he has become wild."

King Zhongshun was amazed, and his words were filled with instruction and envy.

It’s good to be young and full of energy.

Emperor Yongkang smiled but said nothing when he heard this. He did not ignore the attention of Prince Beijing's Mansion. He had set up a club in his early years, saying it was a place for pleasure, but in fact it was used to hide his mistresses. Except for Prince Beijing's Consort and her concubine's daughter who came with her as a dowry, there was also the Qin girl who had been brought to the mansion a long time ago, the two sisters of the You family, the daughter of the Xue family, the sisters of the Zhen family, and a group of maids. If you count them all together, they would not be able to be reached with both hands.

Such behavior will inevitably lead to being labeled as lustful.

Emperor Yongkang was very happy about this. If Shui Rong needed help, he would not mind selecting some skilled people from the palace to send over.

Prince Beijing’s Palace, Tianxiang Tower.

In the spacious room, Keqing, wearing a crimson jacket and skirt, was lying on the brocade curtains, her bare hands resting on her chin, flipping through a blue cover book, her slender figure swaying straight, showing her girlish playfulness.

Hearing a sound, the beauty looked in the direction of the sound and saw the young man standing at the door. Her beautiful eyes lit up and joy filled her eyes. She was just thinking about getting up to greet him when she suddenly remembered something and hummed softly. She then flipped through the book again, pouting her pink lips and saying, "How come you have time to come to my place today, my Lord?"

The visitor was Shui Rong. He had nothing to do and thought of the charming Keqing, so he came over to talk to her.

Shui Rong listened to the resentful voice of the beauty, chuckled and said, "I missed Ke'er, come and see her."

As he spoke, Shui Rong took a step forward, stared at the beauty's pretentious attitude, and asked with a smile: "Ke'er, what are you looking at so intently?"

Keqing was delighted, her charming eyes were filled with joy, and after hearing what the young man said, she said softly, "I didn't look at anything, I just flipped through the account book." Shui Rong sat down beside the couch, put his hand on the beautiful woman's shoulder, and said softly, "So it's the account book, I thought I'd forget it, you'll be anxious later."

Keqing looked at the young man, blinked her beautiful eyes, and asked, "What does your Highness think it is?"

She stopped talking halfway and said that she would get anxious. Is she so unreasonable in the prince's heart?

Shui Rong lowered his eyes to look at the beautiful lady's gorgeous face, stretched out his hand to pinch her chin, and chuckled, "I thought Ke'er was studying the book your mother gave you."

To be honest, Shui Rong really thought that Keqing was studying the book at first. After all, Keqing had her own routine and was very interested in that thing. For this reason, he specially prepared some little gadgets for her.

Keqing's cheeks blushed as she felt the touch of the boy's fingertips. She gave him a look with her beautiful eyes, turned her head away, and said shyly, "You're annoying. I won't pay attention to you anymore."

A booklet has been read to pieces and the contents have been memorized by heart. What else is there to read? If you have the time to tease people, you are worse than... Humph, you have no sense of humour.

Shui Rong smiled, stretched out his hand to pull the beauty into his arms, stared at Keqing's charming face, gently scratched the beauty's straight nose, and said lovingly: "You said such hurtful words, and you deserve to be beaten."

They are all mature people, but they still have the playfulness of a girl, which is really adorable. This is one of the reasons why Shui Rong likes Keqing, especially her playfulness in bed, which always makes Shui Rong feel novel.

Keqing leaned in the boy's arms, a blush appeared on her snow-white face. Her beautiful eyes gazed at the boy's handsome face, her heart shy and a little sweet.

The boy's doting made her feel as sweet as if she were eating honey.

She held a strand of her hair with her hands, gently stroked her chin, and said with her lips pursed, "Your Highness, what you said sounds nice. I am a person of low status, so how can I be qualified to hurt your heart?"

As more people came to the palace, she came less often. Perhaps in the prince's mind, she was considered a dispensable person.

Feeling the itch on his chin, Shui Rong pursed his lips. Listening to the beautiful woman's slightly yin and yang words, Shui Rong grabbed Ke Qing's naughty hand, covered it in front of him, and whispered: "Ke'er, don't you know how I feel about you?"

As the time spent together is less, sweet words are necessary. Otherwise, wouldn't the beautiful woman feel neglected?

In fact, Shui Rong really liked Keqing, but there were too many people in the mansion. In addition, Yuanchun had just given birth and needed his company the most, so Shui Rong could not be separated from her and inevitably neglected Keqing.

When Keqing heard this, she was delighted. Although she felt a little ignored, she was satisfied that the prince could coax her with sweet words.

What's more, ever since I entered the palace, all my food and expenses have been top-notch and there has never been a shortage. The prince's favor can be seen everywhere, so what is there to be dissatisfied about?

What she said was nothing more than a coquettish act.

Shui Rong stared at the charming face of the beauty, but his hand had already reached out to the beauty's collar, and gently pushed it open, revealing a piece of snow-white, pink hibiscus embroidered small dress, which was so touching. He whispered: "How are you doing recently? Is there anything that is not going well?"

Keqing's cheeks were flushed, and her charming eyes were full of water, as if she was looking forward to the boy's next move. After hearing what the boy said, she bit her lips lightly and said, "Well, everything is fine. There is nothing wrong."

Although she was only a concubine, relying on the favor of the prince and the advantage of being the first person to enter the palace, the people below did not dare to neglect her, not to mention that the princess was magnanimous and never made things difficult for others. Even those girls would call her Sister Qin when they saw her. How could they not be happy?

With a disgusted groan, Keqing's delicate body trembled, and she glared at the young man with her beautiful eyes. Then, she put her cold hand in, as if she was trying to keep warm!
Shui Rong felt the soft liquid flowing from his fingertips, leaned forward and held it in his mouth, hesitatingly saying, "That's good. If there's anything that doesn't go your way, just tell me."

Keqing raised her delicate head slightly, put her hands around the boy's neck, her cheeks flushed like clouds, pursed her lips, and said in a trembling voice: "If I have to say something, there is one thing. I haven't seen my father for a long time."

Facing the young man, Keqing had already completely let go of her heart and no longer worried about anything. She stayed in the backyard of the palace, and the only people she thought about were her family.

Shui Rong understood what he said and said, "Since you miss your uncle, why don't you go to the Qin Mansion to have a look? I'm not holding you back."

Shui Rong never restricted Keqing and others, but they were deeply shackled by their thoughts and were conservative. He couldn't always care about these trivial matters, so he let them do what they wanted.

Keqing's heart trembled when she heard this, she blinked her beautiful eyes and said softly: "This is not a good idea."

Shui Rong found it funny when he heard this. If it was really not good, why bring it up? It was just like trying to cover up the truth. It was true that women always said one thing and meant another.

Sucking his teeth lightly, Shui Rong smiled and said, "What's wrong with that? I'll tell Xiao Fuzi to let him arrange it whenever you want to go."

Although he allowed himself some freedom, he still had to make proper arrangements, and the carriage and guards had to be there.

Keqing's delicate body trembled, her snowy face was flushed, the hair under her skirt began to twist and turn, and she couldn't help but hum, saying softly: "Prince~"

She truly felt the boy's doting on her, and at this moment her heart was filled with sweetness.

Hearing the beautiful woman's sobbing voice, Shui Rong's heart moved. He put his hand around the beautiful woman's waist, only to feel a chill. He couldn't help but smile knowingly and said, "Ke'er, you are a little impatient."

Alas, it was he who neglected the beauty.

Keqing was ashamed, her charming cheeks flushed like peach blossoms, she fell softly into the boy's arms, her beautiful eyes full of water glared at him, and said shyly: "What else do you say?"

She was in this state because of the young man, and he was even joking with her. Besides, the prince was not in a good condition either, and he was pinching her neck so much that it hurt.

Shui Rong chuckled and leaned over to whisper something in the beautiful woman's ear.

Upon hearing this, Keqing felt shy and bit her pink lips with her pearly teeth, but she didn't say anything. She struggled to get up from the boy's arms, untied his belt, and stood tall and heroic.

The beauty's eyes were sparkling, and she couldn't help but blush. She rolled her eyes at the young man, gathered up her skirt with her bare hands, and then sat down in front of the young man.
Keqing's white hands were tightly around the young man's neck, her charming face was flushed as if she was drunk, and her heart was filled with joy.

Shui Rong frowned slightly, stroked the beautiful woman's back with his hand, and said softly: "Ke'er, let's have a baby."

Yuanchun, the mistress, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, so arrangements had to be made for everything else. Keqing could stay in the palace and be happy with a child to keep her company, so she wouldn't miss home too much.

Keqing was delighted to hear this. As a girl, the right thing to do was to have children. In the past, the prince was cautious and naturally she had no children. Now she didn't have to worry about anything and the prince had granted her permission, so what else could she say?

I don't ask for twins, a boy and a girl, I'll be satisfied if I can have a daughter.

"Um,"

Following the beauty's soft response, it was like a signal gun, and Keqing was seen galloping across the grassland like a wild horse.
I don't know how long it took, Shui Rong gently stroked the trembling head of the beauty, and said softly: "Okay, I'll give it all to you, and we'll have children next year."

The beauty's obsession was somewhat beyond Shui Rong's expectations, or perhaps he underestimated a woman's obsession with having children.

Keqing's face was flushed, sweat dripped down her forehead, and she leaned her head on the boy's shoulder. Her body trembled continuously, and she felt the warmth flowing in her abdomen. The beauty was very satisfied. (End of this chapter)