This barbecue was very enjoyable. Yin Congqing liked the sauce prepared by Su Yao very much and asked her repeatedly how she made it. Su Yao gave her the ratio, and the relationship between the two seemed to have taken a step further.
As for the Seventh Prince's wife, she was even more supportive and invited Su and the others to visit the Seventh Prince's residence.
When they were alone at night, the Fifth Prince's wife asked the Fifth Prince privately: "Have we gone too far? If..."
She felt that she had treated Princess Min too coldly today.
The fifth prince shook his head coldly, "Don't worry about them. The relationship between me and the sixth prince is not that good. As long as we don't tear each other apart, it's fine. It's impossible to say that it can be very good. Besides, he forced himself to go to the fiefdom this time, which makes us too passive. It seems that he is the only loyal one. In fact, as long as our father is still alive, it doesn't matter whether we, as vassal kings, go to the fiefdom or not. He is so anxious to go to the fiefdom, so I think he is suspicious."
It is rare to cause a stir in the capital. After all, Xiao Heng's position is very stable now.
If you want to do something, you can go to the fiefdom to feel free.
The Fifth Prince's wife was startled, and her expression became serious: "You mean... they might still want to fight for power? But, how is this possible?"
How is this possible? Xiao Heng's current position is as stable as it can be.
The fifth prince smiled but said nothing.
After the outing, Xiao Heng returned to the capital.
As soon as he arrived in the capital, he had more things to do. Recently, there was a raging debate over whether to agree to Zhejiang's recruitment and training of sailors and the construction of a navy. After the Qingming Festival, this issue became a hot topic in the court again.
The cabinet elders originally maintained a neutral attitude, but after the Qingming Festival, when they went to court again, they all agreed to Pang Qingping's proposal.
In other words, we really need to build a navy.
As for why, everyone immediately knew the reason.
The Japanese delegation, which had caused many troubles before, caused even bigger trouble-----a few of their ronin mixed in the caravan and actually wanted to break into the prison and rescue the envoys who had caused trouble.
The Japanese Ronin were very vicious. Their Japanese swords were extremely sharp. After failing to rob the prison, they actually went to the streets to kill the poor.
And these soldiers from the Five Cities Military Division in the capital, thirty or forty of them, were unable to defeat a single Japanese ronin.
This really shocked the government and the public.
Even the imperial censors who always complained that every war was a waste of money and manpower did not say a word this time.
There is no other reason ----- people are shitting on your head, and if you don't react at all, your country and race will be destroyed!
For a while, the sporadic voices opposing the construction of the navy in the court were completely drowned out.
Emperor Yuanfeng himself was very angry about the incident with the Japanese envoys. He broke the precedent of not killing envoys when two countries were at war and killed all the envoys, leaving only one to go back and report the news.
Then, Emperor Yuanfeng formally issued an order allowing Pang Qingping to build a navy in Zhejiang and recruit a large number of soldiers.
Pang Qingping got the result he wanted, and Xie En, satisfied, prepared to return to Zhejiang.
Before that, he met the fifth prince once.
When uncles meet nephews, they are not unfamiliar with each other. Pang Qingping directly said to the fifth prince: "Your Highness, please consider the timing. If the timing is right, you can request to go to the fiefdom."
The Fifth Prince was aware of this, and he nodded: "I think so too, but my father is still in good health, so I don't think it's time yet. My father wants us to stay with him. If we stay in the capital, the East Palace will be more assured."
Pang Qingping felt a little regretful.
His nephew was indeed as the imperial concubine had said, very smart and rational, and it was really rare to have such insight.
It’s a pity that since we have Yu, why don’t we have Liang
If Xiao Heng had not appeared out of nowhere, Prince Zhuang would not have been able to get that position, and in the end the position should have belonged to the fifth prince.
But there is no if.
Pang Qingping suppressed his thoughts and said to the Fifth Prince very seriously: "Your Highness is so insightful. It is a blessing for Your Highness and the Imperial Concubine, and also for the Pang family. Since you are so smart, we are relieved."
It would be most appropriate for the Pang family to surrender to Xiao Heng now.
This timing and this node are the most appropriate.
He was no longer worried and comforted the Fifth Prince: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is not a person who cannot tolerate others. As long as you behave yourself, he will tolerate us."
The fifth prince knew it well, and he nodded.
The Sixth Prince was talking to Hong Changshi at this time: "This time, the court almost unanimously agreed to build a navy in Zhejiang. The next step is probably to build a Maritime Customs Office."
Once the Maritime Customs was established, it would be equivalent to directly snatching the jobs of those people in Fujian.
And now, His Royal Highness Prince Min has also taken over these jobs.
He received 500,000 taels of silver and invested 100,000 of it in maritime trade.
He has a cargo out to sea.
Hong Changshi advised him: "Don't worry. Even if you agree to build it, it won't be completed overnight. Training the soldiers is even more difficult. Who knows what they can train? If they still can't beat the Japanese pirates, it will not only waste people's money and time, but also be a crime of deceiving the emperor. By then, they will be finished."
The Sixth Prince was still somewhat worried and was very resistant to the construction of the Maritime Customs.
But his worry was of no use, because soon it was May and he had to rush to his fiefdom before the Dragon Boat Festival.
Before he left, Emperor Yuanfeng met his son.
In fact, he was more strict than close to his sons, and he was still strict at this time: "When you go to the fiefdom, although the military and political affairs are in your hands, you can't ignore the court. You should have a scale in your heart and weigh what you can and can't do!"
The Sixth Prince was very frightened and knelt down quickly to respond.
Emperor Yuanfeng looked at him again, this time in a much softer tone: "Get up, you are married now, you are an adult, live your life well, spread the good news as soon as possible, and if there is good news, send someone back to the capital to report it."
The Sixth Prince was very excited, with tears in his eyes. He kowtowed three times to Emperor Yuanfeng and said, "My son is about to go on a long journey and will not be able to accompany you. I hope you can take care of yourself and stay healthy. I will pray for you every day in my fiefdom. I hope you will be healthy and everything will go well."
Emperor Yuanfeng looked at him quietly for a while, then nodded and said, "Go."
The Sixth Prince then withdrew.
Emperor Yuanfeng summoned Xiao Heng and said to him, "Prince Min is leaving for his fiefdom. You should go out of the city to see him off."
As a nephew, it is very reasonable to give a gift to your uncle.
Besides, it was the host's duty to see the guests off, so Xiao Heng agreed without hesitation.