Selling wife for fame? Kick out the scumbag and marry the new emperor to enjoy the harem of favors

Chapter 192 My Own Connections

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with the Emperor? He seemed to be in a bad mood when he came, but he left with a smile on his face."

After seeing Zhao Xingjin off, Chunrong and Qingfang hurriedly came into the house. Qingfang immediately asked a question, puzzled.

Xie Jiu tilted his head slightly and pursed his lips, saying, "Something happened in Dingzhou. Pirates launched a sneak attack, resulting in the loss of the city."

Upon hearing this, the two maids were immediately shocked and turned pale.

"Such a serious matter! No wonder the Emperor was in a bad mood. But... how come he was in a good mood again when he left?" Chunrong couldn't help but ask.

Qingfang, however, quickly retorted, "What else could it be? It must be Her Majesty who has offered a brilliant solution."

After speaking, he turned to look at Xie Jiu, as if seeking confirmation.

Xie Jiu lowered his eyes, took a deep breath, sat back on the soft couch, and casually fiddled with the small round pillow next to him, pondering as he murmured.

“I think that since something happened in Dingzhou, the Emperor will definitely send someone from the court to investigate. Judging from the Emperor’s tone, this matter has not yet been announced to the public. He only secretly summoned Wei Zhang tonight. This means that the Wei family has gained the upper hand. This is a good opportunity to make a contribution.”

In times of peace and prosperity, it is actually difficult to stand out.

Although the Great Jing Dynasty is not particularly peaceful and prosperous now, it is generally stable throughout the land. Civil officials are fine; if they govern their regions well, they can achieve political achievements. However, it is different for military generals; without military merits, it is difficult for them to be promoted.

"Regarding the matter in Dingzhou, I intend to send my own people there," Xie Jiu said solemnly.

Chunrong thought for a moment and then frowned, "But Your Highness has no one else to rely on, the only one is Consort Liu's brother."

"I do want to mentor Consort Liu, but I've already helped her a lot. Her family listens to her more, so I still need to cultivate some of my own direct subordinates," Xie Jiu said calmly.

You must not have the intention to harm others, but you must have the intention to guard against others.

If she continues to promote Consort Liu and her family, and the Liu family becomes too powerful in the future, she will be unable to control them. If Consort Liu develops selfish motives, then everything will be over.

She also needs to cultivate people who directly depend on her for survival.

"Among the women who came to my Jingming Palace today, I remember there was an old lady named Madam Du, right?" Xie Jiu said softly.

Qingfang thought for a moment and immediately nodded, "Yes, it's the old lady from General Mingwei's mansion. It's a pitiful old lady. Her husband and son died in battle, and only her grandson came back. The huge mansion is now just the two of them."

Xie Jiu lowered her eyes and sighed.

"Speaking of which, the Du family was full of loyal and righteous people. The reason why the family has declined to this state is because of the Wu family."

At that time, the Wu family of the Marquis of Weiyuan was the commander-in-chief, and three generations of the Du family were appointed to follow the army. Old Master Du was almost seventy years old. Although he was in good health, he could not withstand the war and died of illness on the battlefield.

Before his death, the old general saw through Emperor Hui's incompetence and the Wu family's cowardice. He then instructed his son and grandson to seek refuge with Zhao Xingjin. Unfortunately, they were betrayed, and before the plan could be implemented, Wu Que led his men to surround the Du family. In the end, the Du family's confidants fought with all their might, managing to protect only the eldest grandson, Du Qian, from escaping.

After escaping, Du Qian joined Zhao Xingjin's forces and fought his way back to the capital. Although he was exceptionally capable, he was not one of Zhao Xingjin's trusted confidants and was unable to rise in rank. However, Zhao Xingjin preserved the name of the Du family's Mingwei General's Mansion and arranged a low-ranking position for him in the Ministry of War, a fifth-rank official.

The old lady of the Du family herself held an imperial title, which is why she was able to enter the palace; otherwise, Xie Jiu would never have met her.

Of course, it was precisely because the old lady was almost seventy years old and her white hair was particularly noticeable that Xie Jiu remembered her at a glance.

Chunrong frowned. "The Wu family has done a lot of harm, but Your Majesty is still grateful to the Empress for remembering the Du family this time. If the Empress had not been negligent and had not sent word that Old Madam Du did not need to come to the palace to pay her respects, Your Majesty would not have been able to see her."

According to custom, an elderly person like this, whose body cannot withstand kneeling, would usually be exempted from the formalities by imperial decree issued beforehand. However, it seems that the Mingwei General's Mansion has already declined, and the Empress did not pay attention, forcing the old lady to come to the palace. It is likely that the old lady knew in her heart that the Empress looked down on the Du family and had no regard for them, which is why she chose to come to Jingming Palace.

After Xie Jiu discovered this yesterday, he sent someone to inform the Empress and sent Old Madam Du out of the palace, thus sparing her from the afternoon's half-day kneeling ceremony.

"It is fate that I met them at this time. Chunrong, please go for me. As long as the young general of the Du family is willing, I will arrange for him to go to Dingzhou to suppress the bandits."

Xie Jiu's eyes seemed to be deep in thought as he gave the instructions in a low voice.

When people in the inner palace heard that the Emperor had gone to Jingming Palace, they assumed he was going to stay overnight. However, he left in a short time, so they all assumed that the Emperor had gone to visit Princess Wenxi.

After all, Princess Wenxi's rash had only recently healed, and today is the first day of the lunar month. Even though the children's etiquette has been greatly reduced, they are still exhausted.

The Empress, in particular, breathed a sigh of relief.

She worried that if Zhao Xingjin stayed overnight at Xie Jiu's place on the first night of the lunar new year, where would she put her face?
Fortunately not.

In fact, Zhao Xingjin wouldn't be so inconsiderate, after all, the first day of the Lunar New Year is different from any other day.

He came here today because he was very upset and wanted to relieve some of his worries, so he subconsciously went straight to Jingming Palace. Even if Xie Jiu didn't give him any advice, he wouldn't stay overnight; he would just sit for a while and then leave.

But this trip yielded some unexpected results; a solution to the Dingzhou issue was a pleasant surprise.

The next day.

During the morning court session, Zhao Xingjin informed the civil and military officials about the pirate uprising in Dingzhou.

This undoubtedly caused a huge uproar.

If something happens during the first month of the lunar calendar, it always feels even more unlucky, and people get even angrier.

"Your Majesty, this matter must be resolved properly immediately. Otherwise, the people of Xichi are currently in the capital. If they see chaos on our border, they will surely have other ideas, which will be detrimental to the negotiation of tariff treaties."

Immediately, a minister stepped forward and raised this point.

Soon, other people voiced their opinions.

"With pirates causing trouble and unknown foreigners manipulating things behind the scenes, the situation in Dingzhou is probably not so simple. I fear that the prefect of Dingzhou is deliberately lying about the military situation in order to lessen his own punishment. To ensure safety, this matter should be kept quiet and not made public, so as not to let the Xichi people find out and take the opportunity to cause trouble."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xingjin lowered his gaze and then looked at Xie Mingshen.

"Lord Xie, what is your opinion on this matter?"

After being called out, Xie Mingshen's gaze darkened almost imperceptibly before he stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said.

"Your Majesty, I believe it is not advisable to make a fuss about this for the time being. It would be better to handle it in secret, lest the Western Chi people take the opportunity to lower our country's tariffs. Originally, since the two countries were related by marriage, we should have been able to make things easier for them in terms of tariffs. If they were lowered further, wouldn't that harm our country's interests? Besides, our country's original intention in reneging on tariff negotiations was to raise tariffs."

He certainly didn't want the Xichi people to know that there was a rebellion in Dingzhou, otherwise how could he do business with them?

Zhao Xingjin withdrew his gaze and then looked at Wei Zhang.

The latter stepped forward and said, “I believe that the most urgent task at present is to resolve the matter of Dingzhou as soon as possible. We do not need to pay much attention to the Xichi people. The two countries have just agreed on a marriage alliance. If they take advantage of the chaos in Dingzhou and have treacherous intentions, then it will be a good opportunity to kill them as a warning to others.”