coobybook Chapter 303 Fiefdom
Chapter 303 Fiefdom
Chapter 303 303 Fiefdom
When Marquis Anshi heard that Ye Pianran had gone to the Gongsun residence after returning to the capital, he was so angry that he smashed everything in the house. Xu Pingyue advised him to be patient for the time being and to coax Ye Pianran back first. She said that he should not let the people of the capital laugh at the Marquis's family at this time, otherwise Ye Yingrou's reputation would be affected and she would not be able to get married.
After calming down, Marquis Anshi thought about it and realized that it made sense. He could only swallow his anger and visit the Gongsun residence with Xu Pingyue every day, but they were turned away every time.
Ye Pianran hated An Shihou to the core. Not only did she refuse to see him, she didn't even leave a single word for him, ignoring his existence as if she had never known him. Although she didn't say anything, Gongsun Shi was always protective of her own, and every time she saw An Shihou and Xu Pingyue come to her door together, she would ridicule them.
Xu Pingyue had come with Marquis Anshi, and it was impossible for her not to be angry at being treated like this by the Gongsun family. On the surface, she appeared dignified and composed, but inwardly she was anxious.
It wasn't that Xu Pingyue particularly wanted Ye Pianran to return to the Marquis's mansion and continue being his legitimate daughter. For the past six months, she had sent many people out to search for Ye Yanxun, but all their efforts were like throwing stones into the sea. It was as if Ye Yanxun had vanished from the world. She had also repeatedly tried to subtly inquire whether Ye Yingrou had seen Ye Yanxun in Xingzhou, but Ye Yingrou always said no, which greatly alarmed Xu Pingyue.
Although Ye Yanxun has not been raised by her side all these years, he is, after all, her eldest son, the flesh of her heart. How could she not worry about him?
Meanwhile, after Chunyu Yang finished observing the mourning period for Consort Zhuangxian for forty-nine days, he went to the morning court to apologize.
During the morning court session, as expected, a minister impeached Chunyu Yang. The reason given was that while the Northern Martial King and his Xuanjia Army were renowned for their bravery and invincibility, the war on the northern frontier had dragged on for so long without resolution. This led to suspicions that the Northern Martial King was deliberately delaying the war and secretly colluding with the State of Ye Chu. The most compelling evidence was the autumn hunt in Xingzhou, where the Xuanjia Army's usually impregnable defenses were breached by assassins sent by the State of Ye Chu, who attempted to murder the young talents of Great Xia and sever the dynasty's lifeline.
The emperor was already in a bad mood due to the loss of his eldest son. In addition, emperors are inherently suspicious, and after hearing this, he couldn't help but think about the connection between these events. The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became.
The matter began when his three sons simultaneously sought to marry Ye Pianran, the eldest daughter of Marquis Anshi. Ye Pianran's birth mother was the eldest daughter of the Gongsun family, and her maternal grandfather was the powerful Left Prime Minister, second only to the emperor.
Although the investigation by Chunyu Shan and the Ministry of Justice revealed that the letters exchanged with Prince Yue were not written by the Left Chancellor Gongsun Zhan, the emperor still did not rule out Gongsun Zhan's suspicion. Otherwise, he would not have effectively placed the Gongsun clan under house arrest.
His third son was brave and skilled in battle from a young age, with a calm and upright character. Apart from enjoying leading troops into battle, he had no other ambitions. As a result, he trusted Chunyu Yang too much and entrusted his life to Chunyu Yang on several occasions. Thinking about it now, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.
What if he wasn't calm and upright, but instead cunning and scheming?
if……
The court was filled with impeachments from the ministers, and the emperor dared not investigate further, but he also dared not entrust military power to Chunyu Yang again. After careful consideration, the emperor told the ministers that the Northern Martial King had won so many battles over the years and was a meritorious official for the Great Xia. This defeat on the northern frontier was a result of his merits and demerits canceling each other out, and he should not be held responsible. However, he must hand over the Tiger Tally and was no longer allowed to lead the Xuanjia Army.
Chunyu Yang remained silent in the court, listening quietly to the impeachments leveled against him. Upon hearing the emperor's decision, he did not struggle or hesitate, and immediately handed over the tiger tally.
Seeing Chunyu Yang's calm and composed demeanor, the emperor felt even more that he was a man of deep cunning.
Just then, a minister mentioned that Chunyu Yang was now approaching thirty and that his royal family had a heir, so he should no longer live in the capital. The implication was that the emperor should simply grant him a fiefdom and send him away.
The emperor found this very reasonable, but given the previous example of Prince Yue's rebellion, he dared not exile Chunyu Yang to a more prosperous prefecture. Instead, he said that the southwest was barren and the people were suffering. If Chunyu Yang truly cared about the country, he should shoulder the responsibility and govern the southern border well.
Furthermore, due to the death of Consort Zhuangxian, the emperor said in the morning court that he should observe three years of mourning for his birth mother and should not marry or be near women. Therefore, his marriage to the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anshi's family had to be temporarily postponed and would be held three years later.
Seeing Chunyu Yang stripped of his military power, exiled to the southern frontier, and lose the support of Marquis Anshi and Gongsun Zhan, the ministers naturally removed Chunyu Yang from the list of heirs. Their attitudes became less respectful, and they began to kick him while he was down, especially the ministers led by Chunyu Jing.
Faced with the criticisms of these ministers, Chunyu Yang was not unmoved. He was disgusted by these people playing power games like children. They had clearly never been on the battlefield and did not know the dangers of the battlefield, yet they were pointing fingers here from thousands of miles away based on a little military strategy they had learned from books.
He knew that the chaos at the Xingzhou autumn hunt and the defeat in the northern frontier war must have been orchestrated by someone. Although he had his suspicions, he could not find any evidence to prove who was the mastermind. Too many things had happened in the Great Xia these days, and he was anxious and angry, but he knew that there was nothing he could do at this time, and he should not do anything. Otherwise, it would only backfire and deepen the emperor's suspicion of him.
Having received the emperor's decree, Chunyu Yang returned to the Northern Martial Prince's residence after the morning court session and instructed his subordinates to begin preparations for his journey to Qianzhou in the southwest.
Upon learning that their lord had been banished to take over Qianzhou, everyone in the Northern Martial Prince's Mansion was shocked and surprised. In particular, upon learning that Chunyu Yang would have to observe mourning for three years before he could marry Ye Pianran, Chunyu Jingxuan was so saddened that he couldn't eat for several days and lost a lot of weight.
Ye Pianran learned of the imperial edict from her maternal grandfather. Even though she was prepared, she couldn't help but lament the capriciousness and injustice of fate.
A month later, Chunyu Yang had everything settled and led his troops out of the capital to the Southern Frontier. Before leaving, he had Ye Cangqiong send Ye Yankang to the Left Prime Minister's residence and also sent a letter to Ye Pianran, telling her to stay in the capital and that he would send someone to fetch her to the Southern Frontier in three years.
However, when the group arrived at the post station ten miles outside the capital, Chunyu Yang saw Ye Pianran and Ye Yankang already waiting there.
Ye Pianran smiled and said, "We've already paid our respects to our parents, and according to folk customs, we're practically husband and wife. A day as husband and wife is worth a hundred days of kindness, but poverty and hardship bring a hundred sorrows. Wherever you go, I'll go. If you're going to suffer in the south, how can I stay comfortably in the capital?"
When Jingxuan saw that Ye Pianran had also come, he liked Ye Pianran even more and immediately hugged her and cried loudly.
Chunyu Yang held her hand tightly and took her and Ye Yankang to the southern border.
He didn't know that Ye Pianran's trip out of the city wasn't going smoothly in order to go to the southern border with him.
As if knowing she would definitely go to the Southern Frontier, Chunyu Jing set up many obstacles along the way, trying to intercept her and bring her back to the Nanping Prince's Mansion. Fortunately, Ye Pianran had a Lingyuan Vine that could paralyze people. She took advantage of Chunyu Jing's unpreparedness to knock him unconscious, otherwise, who knows what would have happened to her.
When the people of the Northern Martial Prince's Mansion saw Ye Pianran abandon everything to follow their prince to the Southern Frontier, they greatly approved of this future princess. However, out of concern for Chunyu Yang and Ye Pianran, they only referred to Ye Pianran as "Madam" in public, to prevent anyone with ulterior motives from bringing this matter to court to impeach Chunyu Yang.
The journey, marked by frequent stops and starts, took nearly two months to reach Qianzhou from the capital. Along the way from the border to the prefecture, Chunyu Yang learned about the current state of Qianzhou from the local people, and his heart was heavy.
Qianzhou is indeed very poor, and not only poor, but also has a very harsh environment. The terrain here is high and arid all year round, which is not conducive to growing crops, so food is very scarce.
The scarcity of grain resulted in rice prices here being twice as high as in neighboring Shuzhou, Cangzhou, and Wenzhou, so the people here often went hungry, truly a poor and desolate place.
The poorer the place, the more bandits there are, because people can't afford to eat or earn money, and they don't know what other way to make a living besides becoming bandits and robbing others.
When Chunyu Yang and Ye Pianran first arrived in Qianzhou, they encountered this group of bandits. These bandits noticed their valuable clothes and the large number of suitcases they carried. They had been watching them since they entered Qianzhou, and after figuring out their routines, they attacked one night.
However, the guards of the Northern Martial Prince's Mansion were all carefully selected and trained by Chunyu Yang. They could go into battle and kill enemies as soon as they put on their armor. How could these Jianghu outlaws compare to them? Chunyu Yang didn't even need to take action. The guards quickly turned the tide and also wiped out the bandit's den.
After they entered Qianzhou Prefecture and settled into the newly built residence of the Northern Martial King, Chunyu Yang ordered his guards to convert all the gold and silver treasures they had confiscated from the bandits into silver notes. They then went to the relatively wealthy neighboring Shu Prefecture, where grain prices were relatively cheap, to exchange all the silver for grain before escorting it back to Qianzhou.
After the grain was transported back to Qianzhou, Chunyu Yang and Ye Pianran would sell it to the local people at a reduced price every three days outside the temple under the guise of donation.
The people had long heard that a prince had come to the fiefdom of Qianzhou. They thought that the prince was of noble status and would only enjoy himself in Qianzhou and would not care about the lives of the people. However, they did not expect that the prince would be so generous and kind. They could not help but respect him.
Chunyu Yang's act of lowering the price of rice moved the people, but it offended the interests of corrupt officials and rice merchants in Qianzhou.
These people came from the southern border region. They were greedy and narrow-minded. They took advantage of the remoteness of Qianzhou, where the emperor's reach was limited, and acted arrogantly and domineeringly, ruthlessly sucking blood and accumulating wealth at the expense of countless ordinary people.
In their minds, Qianzhou was very poor. The fact that Chunyu Yang was exiled to Qianzhou meant that he must have been out of favor in the palace and had been rejected by the emperor, which is why he was sent to the southern frontier.
But they never expected that this "unfavored" prince was once the commander of the Xuanjia Army, a powerful force in the northern frontier that struck fear into the hearts of enemy troops.
Chunyu Yang's past aversion to power struggles didn't mean he was ignorant of them, nor did it mean he lacked the means. When he was exiled to Qianzhou, Qianzhou became his base. He could manage to make the Xuanjia Army as impregnable as an ironclad fortress; Qianzhou was naturally no problem for him.
If there are corrupt officials, then kill them. If there are unscrupulous merchants, then eliminate them. If there are bandits, then wipe them out.
One thing at a time, no one can escape it.