Chapter 596: Reject
Seeing Madam Wu’s pale face, Qi Xiuyuan felt that he was more or less done talking to her. So, he turned around and brought Li Jinghua out. On the way, Qi Xiuyuan stopped and said, “I remember that my father didn’t like me when I was young. The servants in the residence ignored me and no one spoke to me. Whenever they opened their mouths, they would mock me. For a period of time, I was very sad. Although I didn’t lack food or clothes, I felt that I might as well die. When I went to see Haoran, I saw that kid crawling around without a care in the world and hugging my leg. At that time, I thought to myself that my mother had passed away and my uncles were far away at the border. Furthermore, Aunt Xia and her husband didn’t get along well. If I died too, would my brother still be able to stay in the Fan residence safely?”
Qi Xiuyuan felt a lump in his throat and tears welled up in his eyes. He said with a smile in a low voice, “Thinking along those lines, I felt better. Later on, when I grew up, Uncle made a contribution at the border and was promoted to an official. He sent a master over to teach me martial arts. After I started getting around outside more, the coldness in my heart dissipated by quite a bit. I wonder if Second Brother and Third Brother can often enter the palace to accompany the Consort when she’s going through this in the palace.”
Li Jinghua shivered. Was Qi Xiuyuan planning to pay Madam Wu back for what she had done to him and Qi Haoran back then?
Li Jinghua never knew that Qi Xiuyuan and Qi Haoran had led such a life when they were young. She had mixed feelings and could only reach out to hold his hand.
Qi Xiuyuan lowered his head and looked at her, then held her hand and said with a smile, “Back then, I was always worried that it wouldn’t do Haoran good to get married. That kid is silly and can’t discern between good and bad intentions. But now that I see that you and Ah Ling are getting along so well, I think I worried for nothing back then.”
“Your Majesty,” Li Jinghua called softly.
Qi Xiuyuan patted her hand and said, “It’s been hard on you all these years. Since the treasury is currently empty, let’s put aside the matter of adding more women to the harem for now. We’ll revisit this in two years.”
Qi Xiuyuan lowered his voice and said, “Little Treasure is too young. I’ll wait for him to grow up first.”
With slightly wet eyes, Li Jinghua held Qi Xiuyuan’s hand tightly and muttered, “Your Majesty…”
She felt that with Qi Xiuyuan’s kindness to her, she had not lived this life in vain.
The next day, a palace servant reported that Madam Wu had fallen sick from the cold.
Qi Xiuyuan only smiled and waved his hand to get someone to summon an imperial physician for her. Then, he slowly walked to the court. After the New Year, he was no longer that child who could be at the mercy of others. Also, Madam Wu would no longer be that stepmother who could suppress him. Now that the path ahead of him was so broad and long, a person like Madam Wu was no longer worth his time.
Qi Xiuyuan dealt with some important state affairs in the morning court before proposing the conferment of the Empress. He asked the Ministry of Rites to prepare and ask the Imperial Astronomer to decide on an auspicious date.
Since he had proposed to confer the Empress, the matter of filling the harem was also raised. The ministers did not want Qi Xiuyuan to be obsessed with women, but they also did not want the Empress to be the only one in his harem. Putting everything else aside, it was very important for the royal family to have many descendants.
Even if the Emperor did not take more imperial concubines, there should be at least five or six more new additions to his harem, right?
However, this was the first time Qi Xiuyuan had explicitly rejected this idea in the Imperial Court. He said, “The treasury is empty now. The coronation of the new Emperor and the conferment of the title of Empress have already cost a lot. Now that Prince Rong is still living in the Qi Residence and we don’t even have the money to repair the Prince’s Residence, it’s better to be more frugal. Since the commoners have just settled down, we really shouldn’t impose more burden on them.”
Immediately, some ministers stood up and said that they had daughters of a suitable age at home who could enter the palace to serve the Emperor and the Empress. This way, they did not have to spend money on the imperial concubine selection anymore.
The Emperor’s expression instantly darkened as he refused sternly. “The Great Zhou’s state structure was chaotic, but that only started from Emperor Gaozong’s time. Emperor Shizong, who had been wise all his life, once said that there should be a clear separation between the harem and the imperial court. Therefore, all imperial concubines are not allowed to be chosen from the families of officials above the fourth rank. Could it be that you want to resign and return home by offering your daughter?”
The official who had raised this matter did not dare to say anything else. How could he bear to give up his official position when he wanted his daughter to enter the palace precisely for the benefit of his family?
Qi Xiuyuan didn’t want to talk about these trivial matters in the morning court. In his opinion, taking in imperial concubines was the same as taking in concubines. It wasn’t worth mentioning in public.
After the morning court assembly ended, Qi Xiuyuan dragged Qi Haoran, who was obviously still half-asleep, to the imperial study and asked, “What did you do last night?”
Qi Haoran scratched his head and said, “Big Brother, I’ve been reading the accounts for a few days and still can’t figure out the logistics department part. You have to send me a logistics officer.”
Qi Xiuyuan chuckled. “I asked you to learn how to read accounts so that you wouldn’t be fooled by your subordinates in the future. Who asked you to care about this? You’re an eagle in the sky who should aim to soar into the sky. Alright, since you can’t figure it out, forget it. I’ll send an advisor to you later. Take him to the office. You can ask him about anything other than war matters.”
Qi Haoran hesitated. “Aren’t you sending me a Military Advisor?”
Qi Xiuyuan said with a smile, “You already have a Military Advisor—Zijin. Since that kid refuses to give up on doing business, I can’t keep him by your side. Thus, I’ll send you another advisor to assist you with other things.”
Qi Haoran’s eyes sparkled. “Let Zijin come with me.”
Qi Xiuyuan said with a smile, “I’m sending you to work, not to play. There are many ethnic groups in the Qiannan area, and there are many conflicts. Be careful when you do things and don’t be reckless like before. West Xia’s ambitions haven’t changed, so you have to be careful at the border. As for Dali, since it has been very well-behaved these years, you can leave it alone for now.”
“What about the Jin Kingdom?”
The grudges between Qi Haoran and the Jin Kingdom could be written into a book. He originally wanted to return to the Jingzhao Prefecture, but he felt that Big Brother was right. There was no deployable general in the southwest now. Also, West Xia was eyeing Great Qi covetously, so he had to be on guard. Moreover, he had yet to take revenge for the massacre of the city.
Thinking of West Xia’s massacre, Qi Haoran’s eyes turned cold.
Qi Xiuyuan turned around and sat down in front of the table. He took out a memorial and handed it to Qi Haoran. “I plan to confer General Yuan as Duke Ding and Shen Mu as Marquis Huailiang. Let them guard the borders in peace. As for the three prefectures of Jingzhao Prefecture, leave them to your father-in-law. He’s still guarding Tongchuan Prefecture. I’ll get Jiang Ze to replace him and let him return to Jingzhao Prefecture to take up a position.”
Qi Xiuyuan sighed. “If that’s the case, I’m afraid Ah Ling won’t be able to meet her father. Help me tell her later.”
Although Qi Haoran felt that it was a pity, he also knew that a pass like Jingzhao Prefecture could not be left alone even for a day.
“When you go to Qiannan this time, I don’t plan to let you bring your old subordinates with you. Bring all the newly recruited soldiers with you and leave the generals behind. Also, bring the bandits with you.”
Qi Haoran pouted and said, “Big Brother, my subordinates are all rookies and unruly bandits. Won’t I be beaten up if I go to the southwest like this?”
Qi Xiuyuan patted his shoulder and said, “It can’t be helped. The capable have more work to do. You’re talented in training soldiers, so you have to work harder for me. I’m going to spread the assistant commanders you brought out to various parts of Great Qi. They’ll be guarding our territory.”
Qi Xiuyuan’s eyes lit up. After finding the map, he opened it on the table and pointed. “Look.”
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