seventy two
Xiao Weiming followed Xiao Weixin's arrangement and stayed at the palace to "recuperate". He Qin, who was beaten up by You Shudai on the way home last time, held a grudge against Xiao Weixin and targeted him everywhere in the court, deliberately embarrassing him several times.
Xiao Weishen was extremely angry about this. He Qin was the one who hurt people first, and not only did he not repent, but he was also so aggressive in the court and bullied Prince Ling in front of him. It was obvious that he really didn't take him seriously.
Xiao Weishen recalled what Xiao Weixin had said to him in the Hall of Supreme Harmony that day, and gradually made up his mind. However, he still lacked an opportunity, a chance to get rid of He Qin once and for all.
But soon, this opportunity was "automatically" delivered to him.
It is July, the hottest month in the world. The hot summer has come to an end. Even if there are occasional extremely hot days, they are just the last gasp of a dying horse. It is gradually getting cooler in the mornings and evenings.
"Is everything arranged?" Xiao Weixin raised his head and looked calmly at You Shu who was coming from a distance.
You Shu walked over quickly and whispered back, "Everything has been arranged. Li Liang has already started the execution in secret."
"Yeah." Xiao Weixin responded softly, "If we can control the Zhenbei Camp, we won't be far from the Imperial Guards."
"Yes." You Shu replied.
Xiao Weixin stood under the pear tree in the yard, looking up, and did not speak for a long time.
In the court, Shen Qingyu from the Ministry of Revenue suddenly remonstrated that he had received a secret report that someone had reported that the Yellow River burst its dike the year before last, and that more than 100,000 taels of the 200,000 taels of silver allocated by the court for disaster relief and dam repair were embezzled, resulting in the dam not being completed on schedule. It was only repaired this year, but it collapsed again within a few months. If there is another disaster in the future, I am afraid the losses will be even more serious.
There was an uproar in the court for a while. They even dared to embezzle disaster relief funds, which showed how arrogant that group of people was.
Xiao Weishen was naturally furious, and he immediately ordered the Ministry of Rites and the Dali Temple to investigate the matter thoroughly. They must bring out all the corrupt people and put them in jail and behead them no matter who they are.
This incident caused panic among the people in the court. None of the officials involved had expected that someone would suddenly bring this matter up at this time, and they all hated Shen Qingyu.
Shen Qingyu was not afraid at all and began to investigate. It only took him a few days to find a long list of officials and report it to Xiao Weishen.
In the past, Xiao Weishen would not deal with such things severely. After all, everyone in the world is greedy, and it would be impossible to deal with them all. But this time, those people were too greedy. The total amount of disaster relief funds was 200,000, but 130,000 was taken away at once. The remaining money was exploited at various levels, and only a small amount could be used for disaster relief. It was really too much.
When Xia Huaizhang knew that Xiao Weishen was really going to investigate the matter this time, he felt very guilty and hurriedly went to his father for help.
In addition to Xia Huaizhang, He Qin was also implicated in the embezzlement of disaster relief funds. The two were in cahoots with each other and no one could say who was better. However, Prime Minister Xia could only protect one person. Shen Qingyu looked weak, but in fact, he was swift and resolute. No matter how many times he tried to win him over, he failed. It was only a matter of time before Xia Huaizhang was found out.
At this critical juncture, Prime Minister Xia could not openly murder Shen Qingyu. After much thought, he hardened his heart. Since he could only save one, he would of course save his own son.
So, he and Xia Huaizhang destroyed the evidence overnight and tried to put all the blame on He Qin, asking him to take the blame. After all, losing an adopted son was not a big loss, and it would be the same if someone else took over Zhenbeiying.
Xiao Weixin's original purpose was to get rid of He Qin, and Shen Qingyu naturally knew how to control him. Moreover, they had no intention of taking action against Xia Huaizhang right now and forcing Prime Minister Xia into a corner, so they deliberately only reported He Qin as the mastermind.
Xiao Weishen was originally worried about how to replace He Qin, and now he had such an opportunity. He was very happy to deal with He Qin and put him in jail to wait for execution. He Qin never thought that he would be abandoned as a pawn. He asked someone to ask to see his adoptive father, but the door of the Prime Minister's Mansion was tightly closed. He knew that he was going to take the blame for Xia Huaizhang.
In order to protect himself, he was eager to report and atone for his sins, but unfortunately he never had such an opportunity.
Xiao Weixin was not surprised to hear that He Qin was poisoned to death in prison. How could that old villain Xia Maoan allow him to betray him? It was in line with his character to strike first.
But he originally intended to kill He Qin so that his own people could take over. No matter who killed him, the result would be the same.
Xiao Weishen naturally understood this logic, so he turned a blind eye and hastily resolved the matter, and quickly let Xiao Weiming, who was still recuperating from illness, take over the Zhenbei Camp.
Almost all of the people in Zhenbeiying are He Qin's men, but the emperor has already ordered Prince Qin to take over here, so they dare not act rashly and can only accept this result.
Xiao Weiming, who had no experience in anything, took office in a hurry. He had no idea how to command his subordinates, and had no idea where to start facing the huge Zhenbei Camp. Fortunately, Yang Qixian acted in time to help him stabilize the situation. With Xiao Weixin controlling the situation from behind, Xiao Weiming was able to take on the important responsibility despite his stumbling.
After taking control of Zhenbeiying, Xiao Weixin has been in a good mood in recent days.
But right now he has another very important thing to do, which is to cancel his engagement with Xia Yinxiu.
The wedding was originally scheduled for September, and there are still two months to go. Xiao Weixin has been thinking about how to cancel this disgusting marriage without angering Xia Maoan. Xia Maoan doesn't care about his daughter's lifelong event, but if it can help him, he will not miss such a good opportunity. It may not be so easy for Xiao Weixin to cancel the engagement.
However, he did not have the chance to think for long, because news of the Huzhou rebels' successive victories spread back to the capital, and Xiao Weishen finally could not sit still anymore.
When he was summoned to the palace, Xiao Weixin was already prepared.
You Shu was waiting for him at home, sitting cross-legged under a tree and meditating. Sure enough, after a while, Xiao Weixin came back.
"Xiao Shu, pack up and follow me out."
You Shu turned around and smiled at him.
———
This trip might take several months, so Xiao Weixin planned to take the opportunity to cancel the marriage when he came back, and safely leave all the movements in the capital to Shen Qingyu and Xie Feiyuan. With the two of them around, there would be no big problems even if he was not there.
Xiao Weishen finally realized how serious the Huzhou rebels were. Especially after learning that they had captured Quanzhou, he realized the danger and hurriedly convened several emergency meetings to discuss the matter.
Unfortunately, he had just offended Prime Minister Xia, so it was impossible for him to give him any advice. All of Prime Minister Xia's followers were intimidated by his power and dared not speak. Although Yang Qixian was willing to quell the rebellion, Xiao Weishen did not trust him after all. Looking around, no one in the entire court stood up.
So Xiao Weixin stood up alone amid Xiao Weishen's earnest expectation. Xiao Weishen was overjoyed and quickly gave him the title of a "brave" general and allocated 50,000 troops to suppress the rebels.
It was the first time for You Shu to go on a long journey with Xiao Weixin. He usually went alone before. He looked back at the army slowly advancing behind him, galloped forward a few steps, and walked to Xiao Weixin's side.
"How long will it take us to get there?" Xiao Weixin asked him in a low voice.
You Shu whispered back, "It will take about ten days."
"Okay." Xiao Weixin nodded, "Let's go."
You Shu accompanied him, and besides him, several people from the Shadow Guard Camp also came with him. Hua Chun also accompanied the army as a military doctor. Xiao Weixin was the general, and Xiao Weijing served as the deputy general.
You Shu rode his horse with his eyes fixed straight ahead, paying attention to the movements around him from time to time. Naturally, he had no time to care about other people.
Xiao Weijing stroked his chin with a wicked smile, his eyes wandering over him, as if he had remembered something funny.
You Shu felt his scalp tingling under his stare but he couldn't do anything about it, so he had to pretend to look elsewhere and try his best to ignore those overly frivolous peach blossom eyes.
However, he didn't intend to provoke others, but others might not let him go. Xiao Weijing finally rode up to him and greeted him with a smile: "Yo."
You Shu turned his head and immediately saw Xiao Weijing's feminine and beautiful face. He coughed twice uncomfortably and replied, "Your Highness Prince Yong, is there anything urgent?"
"Nothing serious." Xiao Weijing was still smiling, making it hard to understand what he was thinking. "It's just that I wanted to talk to you alone a long time ago."
"It's a pity that my seventh brother is too stingy. He always protects you tightly and doesn't let anyone take a look at you."
You Shu looked up at Xiao Weixin who was still concentrating on the road ahead, and sighed deeply inwardly, "What can I talk about with His Royal Highness Prince Yong?"
"There's so much to talk about." Xiao Weijing smiled, and suddenly leaned over and whispered, "For example, how did you charm my wooden brother?"
You Shu didn't like others approaching him suddenly, so he couldn't help but ride his horse to the side and frowned, saying, "Your Majesty, please talk to me nicely. Don't come too close."
Xiao Weijing was originally a lazy playboy. He would rather sit than stand, and even when riding a horse, he was sloppy and unruly. After listening to You Shu's words, he just lazily adjusted his sitting posture and said, "What a boring person."
"I don't know why my seventh brother fell in love with you."
You Shu remained silent, pretending not to hear what he said.
Xiao Weijing was not amused, and snorted before saying, "But she is quite pretty, no wonder my seventh brother is still thinking about her."
After all, it was no secret that Xiao Weixin was obsessed with looks and only loved beautiful women. Probably everyone around him knew it. As soon as Xiao Weijing saw You Shu's face, she knew that he was Xiao Weixin's favorite type, but she didn't understand why he was the only one who could win the favor of Xiao Weixin, that mean guy, and she didn't see anything different about him.
Could it be that there is something else unusual about this person, such as...
As Xiao Weijing thought about it, she thought of other strange things. Her eyes moved back and forth between You Shu's waist and hips, with a malicious look on her face.
You Shu was angered by his look and couldn't help wanting to cut him with his sword. However, reason told him that he was a prince, several years older than their prince, and he could not be touched or hit.
You Shu was annoyed by him and simply turned his horse around and returned to the team. He didn't want to see Xiao Weijing.
Ying Jiu came over and whispered, "I think that His Royal Highness Prince Yong will be beaten by our prince sooner or later."
Yingqi kept nodding.
Who says it isn’t