concubines

Chapter 36
In the early morning, the emperor didn't sleep well all night, walked up to the golden palace with sleepy eyes, and leaned crookedly on the dragon chair.

"Your Majesty, I wish you peace, long live my emperor, long live, long live, long live."

Today's greeting sounds unusual, it is stronger than Kong Wu's in the past, and his voice is very loud.

The emperor glanced down, Wen Dong and Wu Xi stood on both sides.The military attache came very neatly today, the general came, and the general hussars also came.The one standing at the front?The emperor looked carefully, oh, it's King Qi.

The emperor asked: "King Qi, didn't you go to the Xishan patrol camp? Why did you come back?"

King Qi came out, bowed and replied: "Going back to the emperor, there are some difficult matters in the military affairs, and my son came back to ask for advice. I went back to Beijing privately without the imperial edict, and asked my father to give me a punishment."

The emperor's eyes flickered for a moment, he waved his hand and said, "It's okay, you're still young, it's normal to have things you don't understand."

King Qi is not young anymore, he is nearly [-] years old, he is a prince who leads the army to fight, he has been fighting in the barracks since he was a child.What else does he not understand?
The emperor thought for a moment and asked, "Tell me, what do you not understand?"

The King of Qi said: "I see that most of the lieutenant generals have ragged clothes, so I would like to ask whether they should be given more military pay or winter clothes."

The emperor pondered for a moment, and said: "This is not a difficult task. You can do it as usual. If you don't have money, you can ask the household department for some."

The crown prince gritted his teeth, now the household department is cleaner than his face, where can I get the money?The prince took a step forward, "In my opinion, since there are many people in tattered clothes, it is better to just distribute warm clothes."

King Qi said without changing his face: "I think so too, but buying cloth clothes also requires money."

The prince was taken aback, and complained slightly, "Brother, aren't you blocking both roads?"

King Qi didn't even look at him, and said directly to the emperor: "My son is in a dilemma, so I came back to ask the eldest princess what to do."

The emperor paused and sneered, "You are far away in the Western Mountains, so it's rare to have such good news. You might as well ask General Li, he has been following the eldest princess before, and he must know what to do."

General Li came out, King Qi coughed lightly, General Li understood, and said: "Back to the emperor, this is the first time this subject has encountered such a situation. I dare not propose without authorization, it is better to ask the eldest princess to make a judgment herself."

The emperor opened his mouth and scolded: "You have been with the eldest princess for ten years, and you don't know how to do these things after a long time. What a waste."

"The emperor's lesson is that the humble minister is stupid."

The emperor looked at King Qi again, "You are the oldest prince, can't you even solve these trivial matters? Don't you have any claim?"

The King of Qi replied respectfully, "Going back to the emperor, eating and dressing are related to the hearts of the soldiers. If you are not afraid of the soldiers at the frontier, I dare not make any claims."

The emperor didn't want to say any more, he could see that, after all, he would definitely invite that lawless person out in the end.The emperor waved to the eunuchs beside him, lowered his voice and said, "Go to the clan mansion and invite the eldest princess out."

The Eldest Princess hadn't gotten up yet, but she got up yawning when she heard someone's message, she rubbed her eyes and asked, "What's the matter?"

"His Royal Highness King Qi has a military matter that is unclear, and the emperor asked His Highness to go out to discuss it."

The eldest princess asked casually: "King Qi is back?"

"Return to Your Highness, the prince is back."

The eldest princess looked at herself in the mirror, and said: "I know, you go and tell the emperor that I will not go out unless King Qin is released."

The little eunuch hurriedly went out to answer the question, the emperor thumped the handrail hard, said through gritted teeth, "Bastard, she dared to negotiate terms with me."

The emperor glanced at King Qi who was standing bowed, and the neat generals standing behind him, gritted his teeth and said, "Go tell her, I agree."

In the clan mansion, Zhou Shuxuan added, "Auntie, even if I go out, I'm still a sinner."

The eldest princess pointed her finger and saw through his intention at a glance, "You boy, you are the one who is mad at the old man's death."

Zhou Shuxuan made a silent gesture, put his fists together pretendingly, and said, "This is not nonsense, long live my lord."

The eldest princess didn't bother to look at him, and said to the little eunuch, "Go and tell the emperor that I won't go out unless he forgives King Qin for all his sins."

After hearing this, the emperor held onto the armrest tightly: "You bastard, she still dares to threaten me. I just won't pardon King Qin, and let her and King Qin be beheaded after the beginning of spring."

King Qi saw that the emperor seemed to be in a bad mood, and he hadn't been invited out for a long time, and said, "Actually, I have one more thing to ask the eldest princess for advice. That is..."

The emperor waved his hand in annoyance, and said impatiently: "Okay, I know, we'll talk about it when she comes." He glared at the little eunuch again, "Why don't you go and invite something you don't have eyesight to see?"

In the clan mansion, the eldest princess and Zhou Shuxuan went out together. The eldest princess sighed and said, "Are you satisfied now? There is no less than 1 taels of silver. You can send it to my mansion in installments."

"Money is secondary, aunt, where is the person you found for me?" He didn't sleep well last night, and such a smart person was lost in the palace, and he couldn't find him desperately. Is there anyone?
The eldest princess paused for a moment, and she forgot about it after falling asleep. Sure enough, everyone was in a hurry.The eldest princess patted him on the shoulder and said comfortingly, "Don't worry, the palace is so big, you can always find it. Even if you can't find the living ones, you can definitely find the dead ones."

Zhou Shuxuan looked at her helplessly when he said these frustrating words again in the morning, "Auntie, go to court, the emperor is still waiting."

"Yes, you go back first. No matter what the result is, I will send someone to inform you."

Zhou Shuxuan returned to Prince Qin's mansion in worry, and saw a slim figure before entering the mansion gate.Fortunately, he was still worried all night, but he had already returned.

When Miaoli heard movement behind her, she quickly turned her head and saw that it was Zhou Shuxuan, so she hurried up to meet her, "My lord, you are back."

Zhou Shuxuan snorted coldly, "This king came back earlier than you."

This remark was wrong, Miao Li asked cautiously: "Is there anything wrong with the servant coming back?"

Zhou Shuxuan saw that she didn't know anything, and explained with a cold face, "Yesterday, Eunuch Gao from the Princess Mansion said that you were lost, and the people in the palace searched for it all night. You are very capable, and you came back by yourself."

It turned out that this is the case, Miao Li understood in her heart.But she didn't come back by herself, she was sent back by the emperor.Miaoli thought for a while, but it was better not to say anything, and replied: "This servant is not familiar with the palace, so I asked all the way before returning. I don't know that the prince is worried, and this servant knows it is wrong."

Zhou Shuxuan turned his face away, and said a little uncomfortably, "When did this king worry about you?"

His face was full of righteousness and sternness, as if he had been worried all night yesterday.In the end, he fell asleep in a daze, dreaming that someone was beheaded by the emperor, and the person who suddenly woke up from the dream was not him.

In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the eldest princess walked into the hall with a relaxed expression, which was in contrast to the emperor's livid face.When the prince saw her coming in, he inadvertently moved aside a little.The eldest princess sneered endlessly in her heart when she saw his little actions.

Walking to the side of King Qi, he knelt down and saluted: "I greet the emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live."

Before she knelt down, the emperor would say that she was excused, but today she watched as she kowtowed and did not let her flatten.This time, the emperor really angered the emperor. After kneeling for a while, King Qi couldn't stand it anymore, and stepped forward and said, "Since the eldest princess has come, why don't you ask His Highness's opinion. My son has to rush back to Xishan today. "

Only then did the emperor let her get up, and said what they had just discussed.

The eldest princess said with a relaxed expression: "What's the problem? The year is approaching, and the soldiers are still in rags, and they are living a miserable life. It's better to distribute winter clothes and military salaries together, so that the soldiers can have a good year."

King Qi whispered in her ear, "There is no money in the national treasury."

The eldest princess replied with a smile: "I know there is no money."

She said it easily, but the emperor couldn't open his mouth for a long time to refute. At this time, the treasury was empty. When he said that it was his dereliction of duty as the emperor, he glanced at the prince and said, "Prince, tell me."

The prince lowered his head and said, "Isn't the eldest princess not even able to get out the money for making winter clothes in the treasury?"

"Yo", the eldest princess laughed, "His Royal Highness is here today, I thought you were being punished by confinement?"

Her indifferent tone made both the emperor and the prince look ugly, the emperor didn't even intend to punish the prince for confinement yesterday.

The emperor reprimanded him with a dark face: "Zhuang Ding, just discuss the matter, don't talk so much nonsense."

In front of civil and military officials, the princess still wanted to save face for the emperor, so she said respectfully: "I obey the order." Then she turned to the prince, "Prince, do you still have money for the New Year in the East Palace this year?"

The prince didn't know what she meant, and nodded stiffly.

"If you take out your New Year's money, won't you be rich?"

The prince was taken aback for a moment, and said, "How can I get the money for the New Year in the East Palace?"

The eldest princess raised her head and asked: "Why can't it? The people are more important than the king. The soldiers at the border can't even wear clothes, and the prince still wants to celebrate the New Year. As the heir of a country, the prince doesn't need the money from the East Palace. Do you still need to use the money from the emperor?" The crown prince asked the emperor, if the East Palace has no money, will the emperor use the money from the House of Internal Affairs to buy clothes for the soldiers at the border?"

One sentence froze here, even if the emperor wanted to defend the prince, he waved his hand and said, "Prince, just do as the eldest princess says."

The prince said in embarrassment: "Father, my son can't afford that much money."

The eldest princess sneered in her heart, and said with a smile on her face: "Since the crown prince has no money, I am still very considerate of your majesty, so... let's make twice as many noises."

The prince was stunned, and looked to the emperor for help.

The emperor looked upset, and waved his hand, "You find a solution yourself. I'm not feeling well, so I'm going to retreat."

The prince was so angry that he didn't dare to say anything, so he could only retreat and think of a way.

The emperor had already left, and all the civil and military officials had to leave too.After everything was almost gone, the eldest princess and King Qi walked out side by side.

King Qi glanced at the eldest princess, and said angrily, "You, how many troubles do you want to cause me in a day?"

(End of this chapter)