Chapter 153: A Quiet Arrival

After Shen Mingzhu finished speaking, she glanced at Chu Tianyu. If he wasn’t too stupid, he should be able to figure out that all he needed to do was frame the Crown Prince for this matter!

She hadn’t thought of it originally, but when she saw Chu Tiankuo’s appearance just now, and seeing Xingqing standing there, she got the idea.

Shen Mingzhu never imagined that the Shiye was actually the Crown Prince!

No wonder the credit for the oil-saving lamp fell on Shen Xingnong’s head.

He was Shen Xingnong’s Senior Martial Brother, so familiar with that family of lowly bastards, he even helped Xingqing become a Princess!

Would she still have a way to survive in the future?

How could she settle scores with Shen Xingnong?

He absolutely couldn’t be allowed to continue as Crown Prince!

Chu Tianyu’s heart stirred upon hearing Shen Mingzhu’s words!

He pulled Shen Mingzhu into his embrace: “Haha… you don’t have to die! This Prince has already thought of a way!”

That’s right, he was drugged, he was set up!

But this drug wasn’t administered by Shen Mingzhu, but by Chu Tiankuo!

As a Prince who had survived the intrigues of the palace, he had already thought of how to arrange things.

Chu Tianyu remembered that his Father Emperor always favored responsible men.

He couldn’t help but say, “Come, this Prince will take you into the palace and request an imperial decree from Father Emperor to make you this Prince’s consort!”

Shen Mingzhu looked at him in surprise, her eyes filled with joy and admiration, which quickly turned into hesitation and fear: “No, Second Prince, please don’t! This will anger the Emperor! My status is lowly, I don’t deserve to be with the Second Prince! Being able to become the Second Prince’s woman is enough for this lifetime! After what happened, I am a stain on the Second Prince’s reputation, you absolutely cannot take me into the palace! The Second Prince deserves a girl with a better background.”

This time, Chu Tianyu was truly moved: “You care so much for this Prince, how could I wrong you! Don’t worry, this Prince will definitely ask Father Emperor to give you a proper title!”

“But…”

“If you say another word, this Prince will be angry!”

Shen Mingzhu: “…”

She looked at the Second Prince with a face full of emotion and worry.

“Good girl, let’s go! Let’s go into the palace and plead guilty. At this moment, the Crown Prince is in front of Father Emperor, who knows what he’s saying about me, aren’t you going in to speak up for me? And by the way…”

“…”

He was taking her into the palace only to make Father Emperor, to make the ministers think that even if he was set up, he was still a responsible Prince!

Of course, making her his Principal Consort was impossible, Father Emperor wouldn’t allow it, his mother wouldn’t allow it, but a concubine was still possible!

~

Star Garden

Chu Tiankuo intended to continue with Xingnong to the estate in the suburbs, but Songbai said that the manager of Star Garden had relayed a message that the Emperor had quietly arrived at Star Garden.

Chu Tiankuo could only take Xingnong back to Star Garden.

The two arrived at the front hall and respectfully bowed to the Emperor.

The Emperor’s gaze fell on Xingnong: “You are Shen Xingnong?”

This girl disguised as a man looked quite handsome!

No wonder everyone suspected the Crown Prince of favoring men!

Presumably, after changing back to female attire and wiping off the black powder on her face, she would be even more beautiful!

Xingnong replied calmly, “Replying to Your Majesty, this commoner is.”

The Emperor nodded, not bad, she wasn’t even a bit afraid when facing him!

He said majestically, “Not a commoner, I have already bestowed upon you the title of Marquis. Marquis Shen, the things you have invented are all quite good, your contributions are immense, truly impressive for someone so young, the future prosperity and strength of the Chu State will rely on the support of young talents like you!”

Xingnong felt that the term “Marquis Shen” carried some hidden meaning, was the Emperor feeling a bit aggrieved when he said it?

Thinking too much, right?

Thinking of the rewards, Xingnong hurriedly said, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace, this minister will definitely live up to your expectations!”

The Emperor nodded: “You may leave! I have something to discuss with the Crown Prince.”

✿✿✿

He couldn’t stay out of the palace for too long.

“Yes!” Xingnong retreated.

The Emperor looked at Chu Tiankuo: “I heard from Prince Ding that you had someone place a bet of one hundred thousand taels at the gambling house? And won ten million taels?”

His fingers tapped lightly on a memorial on the table.

Chu Tiankuo nodded: “Yes.”

“Are you confident you can collect it?”

Chu Tiankuo: “No.”

Emperor: “…”

“This son intends to use the ten million taels to exchange for Imperial Sister’s return!”

The Emperor’s pupils constricted upon hearing this, his hand clenched into a fist, his lips moved slightly, and finally he said coldly, “Your Imperial Sister is already the consort of the Zhao Kingdom Emperor, how can there be any talk of exchanging her back! I do not agree to this matter!”

Ten million taels, enough to support many soldiers!

Heaven knew how hard he had worked all these years to prevent the Chu State from perishing!

Chu Tiankuo’s expression turned cold: “It’s this son’s silver, this son can use it however he pleases. Father Emperor can’t control it, right?!”

Emperor: “…”

This brat!

The older he got, the less likable he became!

The Emperor took a deep breath before picking up a tiger tally with inscriptions on it from the table and handing it to Chu Tiankuo: “General Xie has already handed over the tiger tally. This is the tiger tally for the fifty thousand troops stationed at East Mountain, fifty thousand troops are far from enough to fight against the Zhao Kingdom army, the Chu State conducts military conscription every three years, and this year happens to be the time for recruitment, East Mountain is the military camp with the fewest troops, the Minister of War previously proposed expanding the forces at East Mountain, and I have approved it! This recruitment is mainly to expand the forces at East Mountain, since East Mountain army is under your command, the conscription matters will also be entrusted to you.”

Chu Tiankuo stepped forward and accepted it: “This son obeys the order!”

After the Emperor saw him accept the tiger tally, he handed him another memorial: “This is the document for the expansion of East Mountain’s forces! Take a look!”

Chu Tiankuo opened it and took a look,

The general content of the memorial was that in this conscription, the people of all cities and towns in the Chu State must participate in accordance with the law. Recruitment will be based on household registration, and one person will be recruited from each household with two or more adult males. Silver can be used to be exempt from corvée labor, ten taels per household.

Each household that sends someone to serve will receive a subsidy of one tael of silver, and each soldier will receive half a tael of silver per month. If there is a war and they need to march and fight, they will receive five taels per month. But if they die on the battlefield, they only get fifty taels?!!!

The court expects to recruit fifty thousand new troops for the East Mountain military camp. The remaining soldiers will be appropriately allocated to various military camps.

Chu Tiankuo frowned after reading it and looked at the Emperor: “Wasn’t the subsidy two taels of silver per household in the past? And wasn’t there a pension of one hundred taels for soldiers who die? Why have they all been halved?!”

The Emperor said with a helpless expression: “There have been continuous natural disasters in recent years, and harvests have been poor everywhere. There is not much silver left in the national treasury, there is no other way! It’s hard enough to keep the soldiers fed! Didn’t the Crown Prince win ten million taels? If you think it’s inappropriate, you can subsidize it. After all, they are your troops!”

The Emperor didn’t mention that only the soldiers at East Mountain had this treatment, other soldiers still received the previous treatment.

Chu Tiankuo: “…”

Heh heh, so he had already planned how to use his ten million taels!

Chu Tiankuo didn’t say anything, he had to hold this tiger tally in his hands, it absolutely couldn’t fall into the Xie family’s hands!

The Emperor looked at Chu Tiankuo and added in a low voice: “If you can afford it, I allow you to recruit more. But the supplies provided by the court are only calculated based on the amount for one hundred thousand soldiers. I trust you, that’s why I let you do this! Do you understand?”

Chu Tiankuo: “!!!”

Was this allowing him to train a private army?!!!