The Sixth Prince's face was not very good. Zhao Qingye did not dare to touch the tiger's butt. He pursed his lips and said in a low voice: "The Imperial Concubine didn't say anything. She also gave me a box of gems, saying that they were tributes from Persia. The Queen Mother asked me to take care of myself. I also went to the Crown Prince's Concubine's place."
The Sixth Prince suddenly said, "Are you still unconvinced?"
Unexpectedly, the Sixth Prince changed the subject so quickly. Zhao Qingye hadn't reacted for a moment and asked in surprise: "What did you say?"
The Sixth Prince sneered, "Don't pretend. I'm asking you, are you still dissatisfied? Why can Su Yao be the Crown Prince's Consort? But you can only marry me?"
Zhao Qingye said nothing.
There was no way she could completely pretend that this thing had not happened.
I really can't accept it.
The Sixth Prince said sarcastically, "Don't you understand the difference between you and her? You like Xiao Heng, but you married me. You married me, but you still miss Xiao Heng. Just think about it, if it was Su Yao, would she do the same?"
Zhao Qingye was stunned.
She wanted to say that she married the Sixth Prince to protect her family. After all, disobeying an imperial order was a serious crime.
But she didn't say it out loud. She saw the Sixth Prince's expression, and it was obvious that the Sixth Prince knew what she was thinking.
She didn't say anything for a long time, so the Sixth Prince said bluntly: "Admit it, you are not as good as Su Yao. You are even bad and not honest, not as cute as others. Why did you marry me? It's simply because although I am not the crown prince, I am also a prince. If you marry me, you will be the princess, right?"
Zhao Qingye was speechless.
Fortunately, the Sixth Prince stopped humiliating her and warned her bluntly: "Be smart. I don't want to argue with you. You'd better know your current situation. I will be leaving for my fiefdom in a few days. If you can't be a qualified princess, I don't mind risking the suspicion of His Majesty and letting my princess die suddenly."
He actually said it so clearly!
Zhao Qingye's hands and feet were shaking, and he was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
Emperor Yuanfeng already knew that the Sixth Prince was going to his fiefdom.
He talked about it with Empress Dowager Tian while they were having dinner in her palace.
Queen Mother Tian sighed: "Are you so anxious?"
"In fact, if it were according to my wishes, I would still want my children to be around me. But what he said makes sense. Since they already have fiefs, if they don't go there, it will be easy to cause trouble." Emperor Yuanfeng himself felt a little emotional. People always become soft and nostalgic when they get old. He is like that now. In the past, when he looked at his sons, he felt that each of them had grown strong, like enemies. He was afraid that they would have bad intentions and fight for power. But now it is different.
Emperor Yuanfeng began to wish to enjoy the happiness of having children and grandchildren around him.
But he also knew that it was right to let his sons go to their fiefdoms.
The status has been determined, the princes are responsible for guarding their fiefdoms, and they should be allowed to leave.
Queen Mother Tian also knew this truth and shook her head gently: "That's fine, but once he leaves, the fifth and seventh brothers won't be able to stay for long."
Otherwise, the court officials would probably suspect that they had rebellious intentions.
Emperor Yuanfeng was very sad.
He likes the fifth prince very much.
The Seventh Prince is the youngest son, and he cares about him too.
But there is no way.
He also told Xiao Heng about this: "Your sixth uncle said that he wants to go to the vassal state early."
Xiao Heng was the crown prince, and he had already seen the memorial submitted by the Sixth Prince. He was not surprised to hear Emperor Yuanfeng say this. He nodded and said, "My grandson has already read the memorial submitted by the Sixth Uncle."
Emperor Yuanfeng asked him what he thought.
Xiao Heng told the truth: "It's a bit sudden. After all, you are now at the right age, so it's okay for them to leave later."
Emperor Yuanfeng felt a little relieved and said, "If they want to leave, then leave. It's only a matter of time. Just let them come to the capital every three years."
Feeling better, Emperor Yuanfeng agreed with a stroke of his pen to let the Sixth Prince go to his fiefdom.
And according to ancestral rules, the Sixth Prince was given 30,000 guards and 500,000 taels of silver.
Five hundred thousand taels, this is a huge sum of money.
However, because the Sixth Prince was the first prince to request to be granted fiefdom, he had a very good reputation in the court. The civil officials all thought that this prince was loyal and honest, so no one raised any objections.
The Sixth Prince held the proposal from the Ministry of Revenue and was in a daze for a long time.
Five hundred thousand taels!
This was the first time he had seen such a large sum of money since he was born.
Even though he is a prince, he can't help but get excited.
However, Hong Changshi was much calmer than him.
Hong Changshi smiled and said softly, "Your Highness, do you think this is a lot? When you go to Zhangzhou, you need to build a new residence. Your palace needs to meet the regulations, and your 30,000 guards also need money. With this in mind, do you still think this money is a lot?"
After doing some calculations for the Sixth Prince and successfully pulling him out of his excitement, Hong Changshi said, "The court can only say that it didn't treat you too badly. Your Highness, you still need to find more benefits for yourself."
The Sixth Prince said nothing more.
However, the Ministry of Revenue, after finishing the matter of colluding with the Sixth Prince on money, welcomed an old acquaintance - Pang Qingping, who returned to Beijing to report on his work.
When Pang Qingping returned to Beijing, he first went to the palace to report on his work.
Emperor Yuanfeng personally inquired about the Japanese pirates. Pang Qingping was also very angry when he heard about the Japanese pirates' troubles in the capital: "These Japanese slaves are hateful! They are best at pretending to be good, but in fact they are black-hearted! We are very annoyed by them along the coast! This time when I return to the capital, I want to ask the emperor to allow us to train sailors!"
Emperor Yuanfeng frowned: "Has it come to this?"
"Not only that!" Pang Qingping handed over a very detailed memorial, which showed the population and property lost by the Japanese pirates in Jiangsu and Zhejiang over the years. He said in a grim tone: "Your Majesty, the Japanese pirates have repeatedly invaded our country. First, they want to rob us because our country is rich. Second, they want to rob us because our country has no sailors at all. It is also because of this that pirates like Shen Hai are so rampant. Your Majesty, instead of letting Shen Hai make all the money, why don't we make the money for the court!"
Emperor Yuanfeng said, "How do you say that?"
"Shen Hai is rampant on the sea because they have a very large pirate team. If we also train sailors, merchant ships can pass through the sea without worrying about pirate robbery. If we deal with the pirates, why do we need to continue the sea ban? Who would dare to invade the border again? It would be better to build a customs office to collect taxes for the court." Pang Qingping said: "Your Majesty, no matter from which aspect, training sailors is beneficial to us and not harmful."
Emperor Yuanfeng convened the cabinet to discuss the matter.
Xiao Heng was also among them.