Chapter 91 Zhuo County
Although the emperor now has a young son, he is only one year old and it is not known whether he can establish himself. What's more, this prince is not born by the queen, so he is naturally inferior to the Prince of Qi.

Therefore, unless it was a major event that could really affect the emperor's mind, a minor matter like robbing a woman would at most make the emperor slightly displeased with the King of Qi, but would not lead to any obvious change in attitude.

Besides, what good could come from accusing someone else's son in front of his father? Li Jiancheng insisted that those two people had sacrificed their personal interests for the sake of public interest and used the name of King Qi to do evil things.

The emperor's eyes fell on Liu Jianzhi: "I trust you, so I entrusted the King of Qi to you, so that you can assist and correct the problem wholeheartedly, instead of coming to me to complain whenever something happens."

Liu Jianzhi kowtowed and pleaded guilty, but Li Jiancheng remained silent and just stood there respectfully with his hands hanging down.

Soon the emperor was in no mood to deal with them. After being driven out of the palace, Li Jiancheng bowed to Liu Jianzhi and was about to leave.

Liu Jianzhi stopped him and said, "My dear, His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi is not as tolerant as the late Crown Prince."

"I know it myself."

Liu Jianzhi sighed and left, looking worried, but Li Jiancheng didn't care much. He was not a senior official in the palace, and the good or bad behavior of the King of Qi had little to do with him.

Moreover, in his opinion, the King of Qi might not be able to be proud for long. A few days ago, he received news from Zhang Wansui that the King of Qi ordered people to go to Longxi to detain all the local Hu chiefs, torture them severely, and force them to give out their best horses as tribute.

For the emperor, robbing something was a small matter, but bringing shame to the Sui Dynasty in front of foreign countries was a big deal. The emperor had spent a lot of financial resources to support the prosperity of the Celestial Empire, but his son went to blackmail him in the blink of an eye.

Judging from the emperor's face-conscious personality, the Prince of Qi's dream of staying in the Eastern Palace is likely to be shattered. If the late crown prince was kind and benevolent, then the Prince of Qi is like his father and arrogant. The emperor doesn't even like the late crown prince, let alone the Prince of Qi who is so much like himself.

Although the emperor had no other choice among the princes except the Prince of Qi, the former crown prince died early but still left three healthy grandchildren for the emperor.

Just after the death of the late crown prince, the emperor promoted the late crown prince's son Yang Dan to King of Yan, Yang Tong to King of Yue, and Yang You to King of Dai. In other words, the uncle, the King of Qi, is now on the same level as his three nephews in terms of title.

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Li Jiancheng brought his wife back home and talked with his father-in-law in the main hall, while Xiao Chanyan went back to the back hall to reunite with her mother.

"The governor of Zhuo County was dismissed by your majesty because of the inconvenience caused by the opening of the Yongji Canal. A new governor has not yet been appointed."

Zhuo County is also known as Youzhou. Last year, the emperor abolished the state and established a county, so Youzhou was changed to Zhuo County. Now it has jurisdiction over nine counties: Jixian, Liangxiang, Anci, Zhuoxian, Gu'an, Yongnu, Changping, Huairong, and Luxian.

Xiao Cong took a sip of tea and said, "Your Majesty ordered us to recommend candidates, which is an opportunity for you, but Jiancheng and Zhuo County are good, but they are of great importance. Your Majesty is anxious to open the Yongji Canal in order to conquer Goguryeo.

The Yongji Canal goes straight north to Zhuo County, and the army's food and supplies will have to be assembled in Zhuo County. If you are careless, you will easily be convicted."

Xiao Cong's words were very insightful. Zhuo County was definitely not in a good position at the moment. Not only did it have to allocate food and supplies before the war, but it also had to provide continuous support for food and supplies to the rear during the war. After the war, regardless of victory or defeat, there would be a lot of debris to clean up.

There are a lot of dirty and tiring work to do, and when it comes to rewards, they are far less than the generals on the front line. It would be better for them to move to a peaceful place, live out their days in peace, accumulate experience, and wait for the opportunity.

In Li Jiancheng's view, if he only wanted to enjoy himself, then Zhuo County was not a good place to go, far less prosperous than the south of the Yangtze River, but if he wanted to accumulate power, Zhuo County was a treasure land. There is no need to mention his position, the people are tough, the Youzhou Tuqi is famous in ancient history, it rose in the Yan State, became famous during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, and again made great contributions to the country during the reign of Emperor Guangwu.

But what Li Jiancheng valued more was the food and supplies gathered in Zhuo County when conquering Goryeo through the Yongji Canal. According to the emperor's character, he would certainly not be stingy with supplies to strengthen his troops.

Rather than letting the Goguryeo people get away with it, it would be better to let them hide some of them. Li Jiancheng thought seriously for a while before saying, "Ask my father-in-law to recommend someone for me."

Xiao Cong sighed when he heard this: "I don't know what your ambition is, and you don't have to tell me. I just hope that you can achieve your wish."

"What are you talking about, father-in-law? Jiancheng naturally just wants to bring honor to his family."

Xiao Cong waved his hand and said, "It's easy to recommend someone. There shouldn't be anyone vying for the position at this time. But His Majesty will definitely summon you to question him. Think about it yourself."

"Yes."

After Li Jiancheng and his wife returned home, they saw a retainer coming to pay his respects. This person was from Yangzhou, well-versed in current affairs. Seeing this, Xiao Chanyan said, "My mother asked me to bring some Shu brocade to my mother. My husband, please get busy first."

Li Jiancheng sent his wife to the gate of the backyard. The servant came forward and said, "I have lived up to your trust and found a beautiful woman who is also proficient in music, calligraphy and painting."

Since the last incident, the King of Qi has sent people to invade the Li family's property. Li's officials working in the King of Qi's palace have also been severely suppressed. Several of them could not bear the humiliation and resigned and returned home.

Li Jiancheng naturally had to reciprocate. He happened to hear that Princess Leping was imitating the example of the princesses of the Han Dynasty and was looking for a beautiful woman for the emperor, so he sent people to Jiangnan to find a beauty who met his majesty's preferences.

Princess Leping naturally disdained this before, but since the death of the late emperor and the empress, she has had to live her life according to her brother's mood, especially after seeing the fate of Princess Lanling.

She was the most beloved princess of my father. After the consort Liu Shu was exiled to Longchuan, Lanling wanted to follow him, but the emperor refused. Lanling was angry and sick. Before she died, she wrote a memorial: "I swore to myself with Jiang and wrote a beautiful poem. But Zhu Gui did not say anything and passed on the imperial edict. Although I have committed a crime, I secretly admire the ancients. Since I cannot follow my husband during my lifetime, I beg to be buried in the Liu family after my death."

But the emperor became even angrier after reading it. He called the sisters and angrily accused Lanling of being disloyal and unfilial. Not only did he not agree to her wish to bury her in the Liu family's ancestral tomb, but he buried her far away in Hongduchuan with very little money.

It was so meager that it was not even as rich as the burial objects of the wives of officials and noble ladies. This made these princesses of the previous emperor afraid. Yang Lihua had experienced great ups and downs, but she did not care about her own honor and disgrace.

But after seeing that Yang Yong's sons were also killed, she had to consider her own daughter and son-in-law. According to the emperor's temperament, if she couldn't please him, then everything would be over.

Therefore, after the emperor expressed this intention, Yang Lihua had to condescend to do this. However, after all, she did not have the ability of the Han Dynasty princesses, and none of the several gifts she presented to him won the emperor's favor.

On this day, the servant of the princess's mansion happily brought the person to see her. After seeing the person, Yang Lihua did not hesitate to spend a large sum of money to redeem him. After finding someone to teach him the rules of the palace for a few days, she sent a eunuch into the palace to report.

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(End of this chapter)