Yu Xiu returned to the prefectural government office and told her husband what she had seen and heard in Ning Garden.
Chen Bozong recalled what his wife said yesterday. After Lingyuan County Lady left, the princess spent some time alone with Xiang Wangfei. This morning, the princess refused to see his wife, but sent someone to invite Xiang Wangfei. What was the reason for contacting his brother again to provoke the princess
Chen Bozong understood vaguely.
Just like some local officials want to give gifts to my father, people like the Prince of Xiang must also curry favor with the princess. As for my fourth brother, although he is rough, he is a very upright person and I am afraid he cannot accept the princess's behavior.
Yu Xiu kept looking at her husband nervously and asked, "Did you guess it?"
If it was something else, Chen Bochong would tell her, but this involved the princess's "accepting bribes" and her reputation, so how could he say it
I just comforted him, "Fourth brother has always had a hot temper, and the princess is not willing to tolerate him like we are. It is inevitable that we will have disputes after being together for a long time. So, I will go to the guard post in the evening to persuade fourth brother and ask him to apologize to the princess."
Yu Xiu was worried about the young couple, but there was nothing she could do.
Chen Bozong: "After the afternoon break, you can go to Ningyuan again. You don't need to persuade them to make peace. Just coax the princess to calm down."
Yu Xiu nodded. She was free at home too. As long as the princess and her uncle could get back together as soon as possible, she would be willing to run twice, even if it meant running her legs off.
The couple each went about their own business.
In the evening, the government office no longer accepted cases. Chen Bozong hurriedly changed into casual clothes, took only a servant, and rode out of the city.
At the garrison, since Chen Jingzong could not go home, he set up a table in the martial arts field and asked the soldiers to line up and count the number of clothes, shoes and socks they had.
According to regulations, the garrison would provide each soldier with two sets of spring, autumn, summer and winter uniforms, as well as one set of armor. If the clothes were accidentally torn, they could be mended and used again, but if they had been worn for many years and were so old that a single layer of clothing could be torn with a little force, and there was no cotton inside the cotton-padded clothes, then they should be thrown away and replaced with new ones. Soldiers had to be well-dressed, well-fed and healthy so that they would have the strength to train and cultivate the land.
Fugui sat on a stool and was in charge of counting, while Chen Jingzong stood by and watched people to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation and deliberately using other people's old clothes as their own so that they could get a set in the future.
Some of the senior officers withheld military pay, and not all of the lower-level soldiers were honest.
Xiang Baoshan came over, watched for a while, and motioned Chen Jingzong to talk aside.
"Son of the Emperor, I know you love these soldiers and can't bear to see them wear tattered clothes. How can we bear to do that? It's just that the military pay we get from above is getting less and less every year. We can only spend it on the most important things, so we really can't take care of these things."
Chen Jingzong looked at his serious face, was silent for a moment, and then showed an ugly smile: "No problem, I still have some savings, which should be enough for this time. The emperor values me and sent me to the guard post, so I will do my best to train 5,600 elite soldiers for the emperor!"
At first, he was reluctant to pay for himself, but later he became passionate, which was in line with his impulsiveness and loyalty as the son of a prime minister and the emperor's son-in-law.
Xiang Baoshan just found it funny.
Officials who have just started their careers, whether civil or military, may all be like Chen Jingzong now, with a pure heart of loyalty to the emperor and the country. But it won't be long before they will be poured a bucket of cold water by those old foxes in the officialdom. If they continue to keep a pure heart, they will continue to be coldly treated and excluded. If they want to get out of the predicament, they can only go along with the old foxes.
He shook his head, as if thinking for Chen Jingzong: "Your Highness loves his soldiers like his own sons, I admire that, but using private interests to help the public is not a long-term solution. Your Highness should think more about himself."
Chen Jingzong seemed to have taken his advice. Just when Xiang Baoshan had a glimmer of hope that he might be able to pull the imperial consort over with a little more effort, the imperial consort suddenly asked him, "Sir, can you lend me some money? My own savings may not be enough."
Xiang Baoshan: …
He quickly found a good excuse and turned around and slipped away.
The soldiers in line watched the two men from afar. They had served under Xiang Baoshan for such a long time, and they all knew that Xiang Baoshan came to persuade the prince consort not to give them new clothes. Seeing that Xiang Baoshan clearly failed to persuade the prince consort, some soldiers' eyes became moist.
Chen Jingzong returned to Fugui and noticed that the soldier who was handing the old clothes to Fugui for inspection had a bloody whip wound on his wrist.
"How did you get hurt?" Chen Jingzong rolled up his sleeves and asked without giving any room for rejection.
The soldier was tall, but thin and haggard. Seeing the sharp eyes of the prince consort, he dared not lie and said with his head down, "Yesterday, I was working on the construction site of the prince's garden. I accidentally dropped a redwood and was beaten twice by the supervisor of the palace."
The few people behind him had just returned from there, and they all had angry looks on their faces.
They came to the garrison to serve as soldiers. Since there were few wars in the Lingzhou area, the King of Xiang and some officials enslaved them to do labor, providing them with food but no money. If they were dissatisfied, they would be punished as deserters!
Life is worse than that of an ordinary family's servants. If they didn't have relatives at home, they would have run away long ago!
"My Lord, now that you are here, do we still need to go out to work?"
Someone asked tentatively.
Chen Jingzong looked at the man who had spoken, then at the other soldiers who were staring at him intently, and said loudly, "What are you doing? In addition to taking care of the military fields, you all have to train well at ordinary times. No one should be lazy!"
This powerful sentence was met with cheers from the soldiers that got louder and louder!
Outside the camp gate, Chen Bochong reported his identity to the guards, then stood aside, waiting for his fourth brother to come out.
Xiang Baoshan was going back to the city. When he rode out on his horse, he caught a glimpse of a handsome man standing outside.
Upon hearing this, Xiang Baoshan quickly dismounted. Although his official rank was higher than that of the prefect, he should be under the prefect's control when anything happened in Lingzhou Prefecture.
After introducing himself, Xiang Baoshan asked, "Are you here to look for the Prince Consort? Why don't you wait inside?"
Chen Bozong smiled faintly and said, "I am looking for him for a private matter at home, so I can just talk about it here."
If Chen Jingzong had said such serious words, Xiang Baoshan would have just thought that Chen Jingzong was pretending. But when the words came out of Chen Bochong's mouth, Xiang Baoshan, a rough military officer, couldn't help but be impressed by the elegance and humility of the top scholar.
Of course, no matter how convinced he was, he would not join Chen Ge Lao's camp just for this. Filling his own purse was the most important thing.
After accompanying Chen Bochong for a while, Xiang Baoshan said goodbye when he saw Chen Jingzong coming, thinking about reporting the matter to the King of Xiang later.
"How did you come?"
Chen Jingzong asked very impolitely, which made Xiang Baoshan turn his head.
Chen Bozong also put away his modesty towards outsiders and said coldly: "Come with me."
Chen Jingzong sneered, but still followed him a distance away to ensure that no one could hear the brothers' conversation.
After choosing a good place, Chen Bozong got straight to the point: "Are you angry with the princess because she accepted the gift from the King of Xiang?"
Chen Jingzong glanced at him, but did not deny it. He still had an impatient look on his face, but he explained the whole story in a low voice.
Chen Bozong: …
Chen Jingzong: "This is a matter between me and the princess. You don't have to worry about it. Just don't make trouble. By the way, since you are here today, come again in three days and act your part."
These are not important. Chen Bozong frowned and asked, "Princess, do you want to write a letter to sue the King of Xiang?"
Chen Jingzong: "Openly sue me, but actually sue him."
Chen Bozong: "The princes of various places are involved in a wide range of cases. Princess, accepting the gift from the Prince of Xiang is a small punishment for him. It is better not to disturb the emperor."
Before he set out, his father asked him to secretly collect evidence of the Prince of Xiang's crimes and submit a memorial to the capital when the time was right. Why should the princess, a member of a royal family, get involved in this
Chen Jingzong sneered: "You haven't disciplined me enough, and now you want to discipline the princess? Aren't you always respectful to her? Why don't you go and tell her this in person?"
Chen Bozong said calmly, "I know that you and the princess don't like the King of Xiang. I won't hide it from you. Father has a plan, so I don't want you to get involved. The emperor has always been lenient and kind to the princes of various places. He may not be willing to severely punish the King of Xiang. Father is not afraid of being offended by honest advice, but he doesn't want you to be suspected by the emperor of being arrogant and willful and ignoring the overall situation because of a momentary impulse, even if there is only such a possibility."
Chen Jingzong: "Just a moment of anger? Not to mention how hard it was to come all the way from the capital, just talk about the flood last summer. She stayed in the shed for two days and two nights. Did she ever complain? Even when writing to the emperor, she praised the old man for taking the lead in everything. This is something a spoiled and willful person can do? And she ignored the overall situation. You should know why the queen wanted her to marry into our family. She even tolerated me, and you still say she ignored the overall situation?"
Chen Bozong: "I am not blaming you, it is the Emperor who might think so."
Chen Jingzong: "Then what clever plan do you and the old man have? Waiting for the right time. Let me guess, your right time means waiting for the King of Xiang to commit a heinous crime that is intolerable to heaven and earth, right? So the person who led the King of Xiang to commit this crime should die in vain, and those soldiers who were treated as livestock by him should work for him day after day and be beaten to death or exhausted to death. It's their fate, right?"
Chen Bozong pursed his lips.
Chen Jingzong smiled: "You are all people who do great things. You can endure what ordinary people cannot endure. I can't endure it, and the princess doesn't want to endure it either. This is good. You continue to endure yours, and we will file our complaint. Even if it makes the emperor unhappy, it is our husband and wife's business and has nothing to do with you."
The setting sun shone down, casting two long shadows on the ground.
Although the soldiers guarding the camp and Wang Feihu, Lin Yan, Lu Da and others who rushed over after hearing the news could not hear what the Chen brothers were saying, they could tell from their expressions that the two brothers were arguing, especially Chen Bochong's dark face, which showed that he was obviously very angry.
Wang Feihu clicked his tongue twice: "The Prince Consort has a really bad temper. He even dares to be so rude to his own brother. No wonder he dares to get angry with the princess."
Although Lin Yan is also a member of the Xiang Wang faction, he usually looks down on Wang Feihu because of his extraordinary martial arts. But when he sees Chen Jingzong refusing to bow to the princess even when his brother comes to persuade him, he feels a little admiration in his heart. A man of iron should be like this!
Only Luda was very worried. The prince consort was being tough, but would he really offend the princess and make the relationship between the couple irreparable? Temporary separation was nothing, but he was afraid that the princess would divorce him out of anger!
So, when Chen Jingzong came towards the military camp alone, Lu Da went up to him and tried to persuade him.
Chen Jingzong raised his hand and told him to stop.
Lin Yan smiled and said, "I have two jars of good wine hidden in my room. Would you be willing to give me some?"
As expected, Chen Jingzong followed him.
Luda: …
(End of this chapter)