Thief Emperor

Chapter 1158 Rules
Even the composed Prince Zheng was startled by the emperor's words.

It should be noted that among his brothers, only the Qin King's family had hereditary titles that could not be replaced; none of his other brothers who had established their own fiefdoms and been granted titles had this honor.

Even the son of Consort Lu, the Fifth Prince Li Ling, did not receive the title of hereditary succession.

Some time ago, news came from the Imperial Clan Court that the hereditary succession of the Prince of Qin's lineage had been abolished by His Majesty the Emperor because the Prince of Qin had made a mistake. In other words, none of the princes' families had a hereditary succession.

If he succeeds, he will be the only prince among all the princes of the Zhangwu Dynasty to have a hereditary title that will never be replaced!

Only now did Prince Zheng finally realize how much importance His Majesty the Emperor attached to the search for the lost item at sea. He was stunned for a moment before bowing his head and saying, "It is only natural for your son to do things for Your Majesty. I dare not ask for such a generous reward from Your Majesty."

The emperor's gaze remained fixed on the wooden box. Upon hearing this, he waved his hand and said, "Once this thing is made, it will benefit hundreds of millions of people. Your merit will be immeasurable."

"Those who return from this voyage will be richly rewarded, each receiving 10,000 strings of cash, either from your income or directly from the imperial treasury."

Prince Zheng immediately bowed his head and said, "Your subject will set aside some of the income from Liulichang as a reward for them, without troubling Your Majesty to use the imperial treasury."

The emperor nodded in agreement, then asked, "How much of this was sent to you? Just these two portions?"

King Zheng stepped forward, looked at the contents of the box, and scratched his head.

The emperor knew that he didn't know what these two things were called, so he pointed them out to him and said, "I call this sweet potato, and this is corn."

King Zheng nodded quickly and said, "The things sent from Jiangdong included about ten sweet potatoes and seven or eight ears of corn. However, many of them have spoiled after traveling across the ocean. These two are the ones that I picked out and that are relatively intact."

The emperor nodded, bent down and rubbed the corn kernels off with his bare hands. He kept about ten kernels for himself and handed the rest to Prince Zheng, saying, "In a little while, take these to the Agricultural Institute and tell them that these are seeds from overseas. Tell them to keep them safe and plant them in the Agricultural Institute's fields next spring."

King Zheng nodded and asked, "What about the sweet potatoes?"

"I'll keep this one."

The emperor said quietly, "Send the rest of what you have to the Agricultural Institute and tell them to sow it next spring. Tell them to select the parts with sprouts for half of it, cut the tubers and sow them, and bury the other half directly in the soil."

"Once the vines grow, they can be cut off and buried in the soil, and they will survive."

Prince Zheng carefully memorized the information, then looked at Li Yun with some curiosity: "How did Father Emperor know all this?"

Emperor Li looked out of the palace, as if recalling a distant memory. He was lost in thought for a long time before quietly saying, "I planted it."

This answer left King Zheng somewhat puzzled, but Li Yun didn't expect him to understand what he was saying. He simply said, "Go and do it. Remember to send someone to find out if the cotton seeds have been brought back. Those things are also very important."

King Zheng nodded first, then asked, "Father, what is the use of this cotton?"

"It may not be of much use to high-ranking officials and nobles, but it is of great use to ordinary people."

The emperor smiled and said, "At that time, the textile factories in the Jiangdong area will not necessarily produce only fine silks and satins."

King Zheng understood: "It seems that it is possible to produce textiles."

The emperor glanced at him and said quietly, "Alright, once you see the actual item, you'll understand. This matter is extremely important. Compared to our family's other businesses, this matter is even more important."

King Zheng bowed deeply: "Your subject understands. At the end of this year or after the New Year next year, your subject will personally go to Jiangdong to see the specific situation and then finalize the matter of the court sending people to sea."

"it is good."

The emperor smiled and said, "When you are about to leave, come to see me, and I will give you an imperial edict."

King Zheng bowed his head in agreement and then respectfully withdrew.

After he left, only the emperor remained in the Ganlu Hall. The emperor did not look at the sweet potatoes, but simply held a few kernels of corn in his hand and stared at them in a daze.

These corns were not bred using modern methods; neither the plumpness of the kernels nor the number of kernels per cob were comparable to the corn he had seen in the other world.

Even so, it is still an extremely precious thing.

Because of the agricultural institute, artificial breeding can be carried out.

As long as we continue to select and breed generations of seedlings, preserving the plumpest kernels, things will definitely get better and better.

Even those in Li Yun's possession must have been bred by the natives of that continent; otherwise, the purely wild ones would be even more sparse.

After looking at them for a while, he carefully placed the seeds in a jade bottle on the shelf, and then looked at the sweet potatoes.

He drifted off into thought again.

He knew very well that these two things were unlikely to become the staple food of the rich, since they were indeed lacking in many ways, but in critical moments, they might be able to fill the stomachs of the poor.

This is the same principle as cotton.

Poor families could never afford luxurious clothes woven from silk, but if cotton could be cultivated on a large scale one day, the poor would have another option: cotton-padded clothes that they might be able to afford.

Thinking of this, Emperor Li narrowed his eyes.

Since the founding of the nation, the development of its navy had stagnated for a time due to the lack of foreign invasion.

However, due to the new policies in Jiangdong in recent years, the coastal shipyards have made considerable progress in building large ships, and His Majesty the Emperor has some other ideas. Perhaps… they could expand outwards and then cultivate cotton on a large scale in the conquered lands…

For example, small islands in the East, and the entire Southeast Asia.

Thinking of this, His Majesty the Emperor smiled.

For some time now, he has been at a loss about what to do, especially after the establishment of Liaodong Circuit and Longyou Circuit. Everything went smoothly, and he had nothing left to do.

Now, finally, there's something else that deserves his attention.

If he were to embark on the next round of expansion, his relationship with the King of Qin might be able to ease. After all, the King of Qin's personality wasn't exactly a good thing domestically, but if he were to lead external expansion, he would need to be ruthless.

Such a thing is something that a nagging, overly concerned woman wouldn't do.

For a moment, His Majesty the Emperor was lost in thought, occasionally letting out a few inexplicable "hehe" sounds when he thought of something wonderful, which made the palace servants serving in the Ganlu Palace afraid to approach him.

It was quite some time later when the emperor came to his senses. He looked down at the sweet potatoes in the box and suddenly remembered something.

It will probably take my third son a few days to get his hands on these corn and sweet potato samples.

It's such a coincidence that the package arrived just a few days after he returned to Luoyang.

It's highly likely that he had already obtained it, but didn't show it to the Crown Prince, keeping it hidden until he returned.

In fact, to make the matter seem less suspicious, King Zheng waited two or three days longer before delivering the sample to Li Yun.

Thinking of this, His Majesty the Emperor shook his head, feeling quite emotional.

"That third brother is really cunning."

After saying that, he smiled again: "It's a good thing, it's just the right time to take care of these things."

He carefully put away the sweet potatoes and left the Ganlu Hall.

Winter had already arrived, and a cold wind was blowing.

The emperor squinted, felt the winter wind blowing, and muttered to himself.

"May the days pass by faster."

"I can't wait to see the day the seeds sprout."

…………

The following day, the King of Chu, the King of Jin, and His Highness the Crown Prince came together to the Ganlu Hall to meet His Majesty the Emperor.

When Eunuch Gu invited them in, His Highness the Crown Prince stepped aside and smiled at the Prince of Chu, saying, "Uncle, please go in first."

The King of Chu shook his head repeatedly: "Your Highness is only a half-ruler, Your Highness should go first."

The Crown Prince was not as close to the King of Chu as he was to the King of Jin, since the King of Chu returned too late and had hardly participated in the process of establishing the dynasty.

Moreover, the King of Chu knew he lacked the seniority, so he kept a low profile and never did anything that wasn't his responsibility. Therefore, there was no relationship between him and the Crown Prince that went beyond that of a ruler and subject.

The Crown Prince declined a few times, but Prince Jin pushed the two of them into the Ganlu Hall and said with a smile, "Stop arguing, come in quickly, His Majesty will be getting impatient."

The three of them then entered the Ganlu Hall and soon met His Majesty the Emperor. After paying their respects, the Emperor gestured with his hand and said with a smile, "Sit down, all of you."

The three of them exchanged a glance and all understood.

His Majesty the Emperor is in a very good mood.

When the leader is in a good mood, things become much easier. The three of them breathed a sigh of relief and sat down. As the head of the Imperial Clan, which is equivalent to the patriarch of the Li clan, Prince Li Feng of Chu bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, the three of us discussed this for half a day yesterday and just now we discussed it again and have almost drafted the Imperial Clan Regulations."

He took the document out of his sleeve and handed it to Li Yun with both hands.

The emperor reached out and took it, looked at it carefully, and then nodded silently.

"There's nothing major wrong, but there's one thing I want to say."

“From now on, the Zong Mansion will need to increase its manpower.”

The emperor looked at the crown prince and continued, "If a local prince commits a crime, he will be reported by the local government or the censor."

“The Imperial Clan will send someone to Luoyang to investigate the facts and then deal with the matter.”

The three of them exchanged a glance and then all lowered their heads.

"Your Majesty is holy."

(End of this chapter)