Chapter 693

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“This State of Chu will be mine in course, I naturally have a plan for it.”

Li Chuyuan glanced at Wang Cheng, his words carrying a deeper meaning.

Wang Cheng immediately bowed upon hearing this. Li Chuyuan was clearly reminding him to know his place; even as a hostage, he was not a subject to be admonished by him.

Picking up his chopsticks, Li Chuyuan picked up a piece of braised pork and said, “Since Elder Fei has invited me, I will go and see, after all, this blade isn’t falling on me.”

…

In the Princess’s Mansion, Princess Pingyang was reading the “Qingzhou Daily.” Upon seeing the news that Prince Zhao was about to be beheaded and publicly displayed, she frowned, then suddenly sighed.

“Alas, I remember how, back in Chang’an, I would know about every little stir immediately. Now, I can only read about it in the newspaper.”

Visiting the Princess’s Mansion today was Lady Liu, the wife of the Duke of Song. She said, “Who isn’t? The Emperor is keeping a close eye on us imperial relatives. No one dares to overstep.”

Princess Pingyang pursed her lips and smiled. After the imperial relatives in Chang’an fled to Qingzhou Province, Xiao Ming neither allocated land nor issued monthly stipends to them, which caused many imperial clan members to be dissatisfied and privately criticize Xiao Ming.

“That ‘thunder pool’ naturally cannot be crossed, otherwise, one might fall and be shattered to pieces. It’s safer for us to walk steadily on the shore. After all, this Emperor is different from the late Emperor; he even dares to kill feudal lords, so who else would he not dare to kill?” Princess Pingyang said with a knowing smile.

Lady Liu’s face turned red and then pale. She understood the hidden meaning in these words. Among all the imperial clan members in Qingzhou Province, only Princess Pingyang held the highest prestige, so whenever they felt injustice, they would come to Princess Pingyang to complain.

Lady Liu was no exception. Although Xiao Ming did not issue stipends to these imperial clan members, he had once given them a large sum of silver based on their titles to encourage them to engage in business.

Furthermore, he had instructed Li Kaiyuan to establish a special imperial merchant team for these imperial relatives. As long as these imperial clan members were willing to do business, the Chamber of Commerce would offer great convenience.

However, some imperial clan members considered this disgraceful and refused to engage in business, such as the Duke of Song.

He took the eight thousand taels of silver Xiao Ming gave him and gambled it all away, losing every penny. If it weren’t for Princess Pingyang’s relief, the Duke of Song would not even have food.

Being subtly criticized by Princess Pingyang, Lady Liu could only endure it. She said, “Your Highness is right, but not everyone has Her Highness’s talent for business. It is said that Her Highness now earns tens of thousands of taels of silver per month. I hope Her Highness can give me some pointers.”

“It must be the Duke of Song who sent you again,” Princess Pingyang gently snorted. “No wonder the Emperor is angry. Each one is more useless than the last. How can the Emperor trust you?”

Lady Liu stopped speaking. She could only complain and complain.

Sighing slightly, she said to Lady Liu, “Even so, the Emperor is now too negligent of the imperial relatives. This cannot go on. If these people cause trouble one day, it will give Pang Yukun and his officials an excuse to criticize us.”

With that, she had Ouyang Mu fetch fifty taels of silver for Lady Liu. Now that Xiao Ming wasn’t managing them, she had to. These people truly gave her a headache.

Lady Liu left with endless gratitude. Ouyang Mu then said, “Your Highness, this cannot continue. Although the Princess’s Mansion business is very profitable, today it’s the Duke of Song, tomorrow it will be the Duke of Tang. Sooner or later, they will drain everything. Besides, each of them is generous, and there are many family members, so no amount of silver is enough.”

“How could I not know this? It’s precisely because of this that the Emperor gave us a sum of silver and sent us imperial relatives away. When the late Emperor was alive, the stipends alone accounted for a large portion of the national treasury’s expenditure. This Emperor is very shrewd, but on this matter, the Emperor is somewhat wishful thinking. Leaving them unsupervised might lead to trouble. Today, Lady Liu’s words were full of dissatisfaction towards the Emperor, with much resentment. This is by no means accidental; they must be discussing it often.”

After a pause, she said, “It seems I need to make a trip to the imperial palace to see the Emperor and also ask about this reform. Perhaps I can gain an advantage by being close to the source.”

Ouyang Mu gave a wry smile. Although Princess Pingyang cared for these imperial relatives, she wouldn’t specially go to the imperial palace just for them.

Her true intention concerned the reforms. Princess Pingyang was extremely intelligent, and she had already prepared once the reforms showed their first signs.

After having Ouyang Mu make some preparations, she went directly to the temporary palace. After reporting her arrival, she met Xiao Ming, who was in the imperial study, reviewing memorials.

“Your Majesty, being diligent in governance is correct, but you must not overwork yourself,” Princess Pingyang said with a slightly intimate tone.

Xiao Ming smiled. He had to admit that Princess Pingyang was very good at handling people, which was why Xiao Wenxuan was so fond of this younger sister.

After she permanently resided in Qingzhou Province, Princess Pingyang would occasionally come to the temporary palace to chat with the Empress Dowager and Fei Yuer, and would also bring him some strange and curious items.

One could say he saw Princess Pingyang almost every other day.

However, it was rare for Princess Pingyang to come directly to him, so he said, “Your Imperial Highness must not have come here just to inquire about my health, right?”

Previously, when Xiao Ming was King Qi, he could address Princess Pingyang as “aunt,” but after ascending the throne, he could only address her as “Imperial Highness.”

Pingyang had long been accustomed to Xiao Ming’s straightforward way of speaking. In her opinion, her imperial nephew disliked complexity and preferred simplicity.

So she said, “To be honest, Your Majesty, I have come this time concerning the imperial relatives. I presume Your Majesty is already aware of the matter concerning the Duke of Song.”

“I am aware of that,” Xiao Ming said calmly, “Not just the Duke of Song, but many imperial princes and their sons are quite dissatisfied with me, aren’t they?”

Princess Pingyang said earnestly, “Why should Your Majesty pay them any mind? As long as it benefits the Great Yu Empire, why care about them? If the imperial family ceased to exist, they would all starve to death.”

“Your Imperial Highness is righteous.” Xiao Ming smiled, “However, it is also improper for them to constantly ask the Imperial Highness for money. Wouldn’t that suggest that I am unkind?”

Princess Pingyang’s expression remained unchanged. She said, “Your Majesty worries too much. My silver was also given by Your Majesty. In the end, they will still thank Your Majesty.”

Actually, even without Princess Pingyang mentioning it, he was already preparing to deal with these imperial relatives, because these imperial clan members, who were accustomed to being unruly in Chang’an, had already caused him a lot of trouble in Qingzhou Province.

If this continued, it would inevitably cause public dissatisfaction, because these people represented the imperial family.

So he said, “I can give them another opportunity. In this reform, I have decided to encourage private individuals to engage in commerce and open workshops. If they actively participate, they will certainly have no worries about food and clothing. If they still cling to old ways and complain about me after spending all their silver, then they should not blame me for being heartless.”