Ch91 - Influence

Mu Hanzhang felt that it was a waste of time to sympathize with this guy. He pushed the big head away from his chest and said, “The imperial court is not like school. How can I just say that I won’t go because I don’t want to? I still have a lot to do.” Then, ignoring Jing Shao’s aggrieved puppy eyes, he got up and walked out.

Yun Zhu was first called in, then sent to Rui Wang’s residence to let the latter know about Jing Shao’s house confinement. Mu Hanzhang then went back to the study in the east court, ignoring the Wang Ye who was still sitting on the carpet and acting shamelessly. The articles of the regulations mentioned by Emperor Hong Zheng just then still needed to be written as soon as possible.

Helpless, Jing Shao watched his Wang Fei ignore him, and suddenly had the sorrowful feeling that he had lost his job and now had to rely on his wifey to support the family.

When Jing Chen heard the news, he came over in person before supper. Emperor Hong Zheng’s decree forbade Jing Shao from going anywhere, but didn’t forbid others from coming to see him. 

“This is what Gu Huaiqing had me give you.” Jing Shao handed the booklet with the list of officials to Jing Chen.

Jing Chen’s expression suddenly became a little strange. “This, he already gave me a copy.”

Jing Shao: “…”

Jing Chen: “…”

“That bastard Gu Huaiqing, I even felt moved by his kindness for a while!” Jing Shao was so angry; that rascal used the same thing to deceive both brothers.

Jing Chen carefully looked at the booklet in his hand and found that the list was different from the one he had. He took out the other one from his sleeve and found that the combination of the two made for a complete list of contacts. This move by Gu Huaiqing might have been to test whether the two brothers were united or not. After all, this kind of thing would not be a small power in anyone’s hands. If these brothers were not on the same side and hid their own copy, they would definitely end up using such a resource wrongly. At that time, the news would reach Gu Huaiqing’s ears, and in a situation like that, cooperation would be off the table.

“He truly thinks through a lot.” After listening to his brother’s analysis, Jing Shao was at a loss.

“After all, this is the foundation left by the ancestors. If I wanted to gamble with Dachen’s future as a state, it naturally wouldn’t be easy to just blindly trust people.” Jing Chen put the two lists together and put them back into his sleeve. He had no resentment toward Gu Huaiqing’s way of doing things. After all, regarding cooperation with a vassal king, if both brothers weren’t united and on the same page, they would surely make careless mistakes, and the Huainan King would also suffer at that time. 

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Jing Chen frowned; he was in charge of the Ministry of Rites. Unexpectedly, Jing Yu’s hand had already stretched so far.

“Brother, let’s bribe someone in the Ministry of Justice, too,” Jing Shao said extremely angrily. He was already so annoyed when he saw Jing Yu so pleased with himself.

Jing Chen glanced at him. “The Minister of Justice is my person.” 

Jing Shao almost spat out his mouthful of tea.

“If you don’t understand anything in court, ask Hanzhang.” Jing Chen put down his cup and stood up. It was late. Cheng Wang had just been punished. It wasn’t proper for him to come and visit in such a conspicuous manner; of course, he couldn’t stay for dinner.

Sending his brother off, Jing Shao listlessly went back to the east court to find his Wang Fei. It seemed that ever since Jun Qing was able to attend court, Jing Shao’s elder brother no longer relied on him.

Mu Hanzhang was currently writing the regulations for foreign trade, when a large and warm body suddenly plastered itself to his back. “Hungry? How about you eat first, and I’ll finish this page?” Jing Shao patted the big head on his shoulder as the brush on the page kept writing, placing down powerful strokes to form meaningful and elegant words on the paper. 

Jing Shao shook his head and watched him finish this page. He then said, “Jun Qing, how big is elder brother’s influence in court?”

Mu Hanzhang put down his brush and turned to look at him. “I don’t know the exact number, but from those I’ve been in contact with these past few days, it seems that at least 30% of the officials in court are on his side.”

However, most of these people hid very well, especially those in high positions, like the Minister of War, who often opposed Jing Chen’s proposals in court. So, when he came into contact with such huge support, Mu Hanzhang was also surprised.

It sounded inconceivable that 30% of the officials in court were loyal to one prince. After all, most of the royal authority should be in Emperor Hong Zheng’s hands. For example, the fourth prince, if he wanted to get even half that number, it would be extremely difficult, let alone even thinking about 30%. 

Jing Shao just nodded his head when he heard these words; he had expected this.

Mu Hanzhang got up, but the sticky sesame candy hanging onto him didn’t peel off, and he had to helplessly drag this big tail to the dining room. “Elder brother left the imperial palace to establish his own palace, but it hasn’t even been ten years. Why is he so powerful?”

Jing Shao, clinging to his Wang Fei, shuffled along with dragging steps. From the study to the place they slept, all they had to do was go through a flower garden. It was empty all around, and he wasn’t afraid of being heard. “Most of it is the power left by my maternal grandfather.”

Maternal grandfather? Mu Hanzhang frowned and thought about it. Empress Yuan wasn’t born into nobility, but her father was the Prime Minister of two dynasties. It was said that when the previous emperor died, several princes fought messily for the throne for some time. With the help of the prime minister, Emperor Hong Zheng was able to defeat those ruthless brothers and settle in his current position. However, Mu Hanzhang had never heard anything about the prime minister in recent years, and even Jing Shao seldom mentioned it. 

“In fact, it’s not that I can’t talk about it, but that there’s nothing to say.” After dinner, Jing Shao sat in the courtyard with his Wang Fei in his arms, enjoying the cool air. It was a clear night, and the stars in the dark sky were very bright.

Empress Yuan’s family name was Qu. She was the youngest and only daughter of Prime Minister Qu. Jing Shao’s two uncles died young; he couldn’t even remember what they looked like. Later, after the death of Empress Yuan, Prime Minister Qu mourned the death of his daughter sorrowfully, and soon followed her. Fortunately, Jing Chen was already able to assume personal responsibility at that time, so he was able to make sure that the power and supporters behind the prime minister didn’t break up completely.

Emperor Hong Zheng hadn’t appointed a prime minister all these years. Instead, he assigned the prime minister’s duties to six ministries. Was this to show his respect for his father-in-law? Mu Hanzhang frowned, feeling that things weren’t so simple. “What was the matter with the Zhuo family?”

Jing Shao looked down at the person lying on his chest. His white chin was placed on his heart and his beautiful eyes reflected the light of the stars in the night. He couldn’t help reaching out a hand to stroke his face. “Minister Zhuo was a disciple of grandfather’s. The Zhuo family’s teachings were rigorous, so imperial mother chose Zhuo Yunji as brother’s study companion.” 

When Empress Yuan was still here, Jing Shao could basically go wherever he wanted in the palace.

The Qu family, Empress Yuan, the Zhuo family… Mu Hanzhang felt that he seemed to have pieced together something unspeakable. He couldn’t help reaching out to gently caress the corner of Jing Shao’s mouth that was still slightly bruised. “I will protect you in the future.”

Jing Shao quietly looked at him, then immediately pulled the warm body over, deeply kissing the two soft petals of his lips. Heaven took away the mother who loved him dearly, but also gave him such a beautiful and loving Jun Qing. In fact, the heavens had treated him well. He was really satisfied.

The fourth son in Rui Wang’s residence had a high fever that wouldn’t go down. They invited the nun Mo Bei from Jade Cloud temple to come and have a look. The old nun gave them a bag of yellow powder, saying that it would be better if it was mixed with milk. Consort Xiao was a little skeptical, but had the wet nurse feed the child. After drinking it, the child’s condition really improved. She immediately gave the nun generous gifts, completely won over by this great sage. 

“When children are under one year old, they can see things that ordinary people can’t see. Crying at night often means they have been entangled by something,” Mo Bei, who wore a gray hat and pressed her two palms together, said very mysteriously.

“Great sage, what are those things?” Consort Xiao asked seriously.

“Those who can cause evil diseases are mostly Yin evil creatures, but that’s not always the case,” Mo Bei said, turning the sandalwood bead bracelet on her wrist and looking at Consort Xiao carefully. “Forgive this lowly nun for being so direct, but looking at the little Wang Ye’s condition, it may be that his good fortune was sucked away by something; that is to say, he has been affected by someone with strong luck birth readings.”

“Strong luck birth readings?” The Rui Wang Fei frowned, “Can great sage take care of it?” 

“This…” Mo Bei was a little hesitant.

Consort Xiao signaled a maid on the side to bring forward a plate of silver. “As long as great sage can deal with it, money offerings to the temple is not a problem.”

Mo Bei took a look at the silver on the plate, and then relaxed. “It will take some time to figure out the origin of this thing. It’s better for the Wang Fei to first light some altar lamps that will burn day and night in the nunnery first, to preserve peace and safety for the time being.”

When Jing Chen came back from court, he saw several nuns standing in the main courtyard. When they saw he had come back, they all blushed and gave way. He couldn’t help frowning. After thinking about it, he didn’t go in and went straight to his study instead. 

A few days later, the eldest prince returned to court.

When the eldest prince Jing Rong came back, he didn’t have the same grand, victorious return as Jing Shao. It wasn’t a glorious thing for a prince to run away before a battle was over. The prince only took a dozen or so aides with him and dejectedly entered the city in the early morning when there were few people at the city gate.

First, he had to go to the imperial study to report. Naturally, Emperor Hong Zheng didn’t have a good expression. Afterwards, he went to Fengyi Palace to pay his respects, and the empress actually enquired solicitously about his well-being.

“When you weren’t in the capital these days, your younger brother, the fourth prince, suffered a lot,” she said with a smile, and rewarded the eldest prince with a pile of supplements. “It’s good that you have come back. Looking at how much weight you’ve lost, you must have really suffered. You have to take good care of yourself these days and get better.” 

The eldest prince’s complexion wasn’t very good, and had some morbid pallor to it. Since last year, he suffered from the miasmic air, and then contracted a foul disease. His body was getting worse day by day. If he didn’t come back now, he may have had to remain in Yunnan-Tibet forever.

When the eldest prince came back, Cheng Wang was actually under house confinement. The number of princes in court became three again, but the situation had changed.

Cheng Wang was confined to his palace, and every day, only Mu Hanzhang went to court by himself. Jing Shao, who had nothing to do, could only bully the tiger at home. He also repeatedly tried to persuade his Wang Fei not to go to court, but was ruthlessly refused every time. What made him even more unhappy was that seeing him at home, Duo Fu would come ask him about affairs he found difficult to deal with; making such a magnificent prince deal with such trivial matters truly made him angry.

As a result, Xiao Huang’s daily life became more and more difficult.