Fu Shanhe

Chapter 99 Marriage
In the palace.

Emperor Tianyuan, who had managed to save his life, lay on the armchair, basking in the sun, staring into the distance with lifeless eyes.

The gauze bandaged on his forehead proved that he was still injured.

The impact of the explosion on him was not only physical, but also mental.

"Your Majesty, Duke Chengguo, Marquis Zhenyuan, Marquis Wuyang, Elder Xu, and Eunuch Zuo are back!"

Hearing the eunuch's words, Emperor Tianyuan's eyes moved slightly.

"The Lianghuai Salt Administration was able to handle the matter so quickly. It seems that they put a lot of effort into this mission.

I don't want to move now, just bring them here!"

At another time, if such a great achievement was accomplished, even if the officials were not allowed to leave the city to welcome him, at least a grand banquet would be held to celebrate.

Unfortunately, Emperor Tianyuan is not in the mood now, and the situation in the capital is not suitable for celebration.

The huge explosion took away more than 20,000 people and injured countless others.

Now white flags are hung everywhere in the city.

Even though nearly a month has passed, funeral processions still often block the streets.

In order to save the disaster, the Dayu Dynasty spent a huge amount of money this time.

The Ministry of Revenue scraped together two million taels of silver, and Emperor Tianyuan also took out 500,000 taels of silver from the inner treasury.

Most of this huge sum of money was spent on funeral expenses.

For those dukes, marquises, and officials who were wiped out, the imperial court took care of all their funeral affairs.

The dead civilians also received a coffin.

The most troublesome thing is not the death toll, but the injuries and disabilities caused by the explosion.

The medical system in central Beijing has faced unprecedented challenges.

The situation did not collapse thanks to the extraordinary performance of the Dayu bureaucracy.

"I will see you, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, I am back..."

Zuo Guangen's eye-catching performance of crying as soon as he came on the court made his colleagues look very unhappy.

The eunuchs can disregard their reputation and directly curry favor with the emperor, but the ministers cannot.

If looks could kill, Zuo Guangen would have been torn into pieces by now.

It's okay to compete for favor, but you've made it so exaggerated. What should we do?

In an instant, several people realized that coming with Zuo Guangen to meet Emperor Tianyuan was definitely a wrong choice.

"Come on, you idiot, why are you acting like a child?"

Emperor Tianyuan scolded with a slight smile.

It can be seen that he is not angry.

The eunuch leader who was able to establish the Eunuch Party and suppress the Qingliu Group was definitely not an honest person.

But the outside world's perception is useless. In the eyes of Emperor Tianyuan, Zuo Guangen is just an honest person.

There is no other reason. All officials have their own calculations, but these eunuchs regard the emperor as "God".

"What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and bring a chair to you, my dear ministers. Do you want me to do it myself?"

Perhaps realizing that the occasion was not right, Emperor Tianyuan immediately changed the subject.

The eunuchs and palace maids who were scolded innocently could only run to move the chairs with a wronged look on their faces.

According to the rules, the emperor had designated places to meet with ministers, and the harem was a restricted area for all officials.

But Emperor Tianyuan is not a person who follows the rules. In the palace, his rules are the only rules, and the rules left by his ancestors can only restrict others.

"Your Majesty, your health is very important, there is no need to get up!"

Marquis Wuyang reminded him tactfully.

It is okay to favor eunuchs, but there must be a limit.

Looking at the murderous looks in the ministers’ eyes, it was clear that they were dissatisfied with the emperor’s recent actions.

If Emperor Tianyuan wasn't injured, he would probably have started to scold.

It was not uncommon for ministers to scold the emperor in Dayu.

The princes had to give the emperor some face and generally would not scold the emperor in public, but once they made him angry, there was no guarantee that they would not scold him.

“My dear ministers, you have done a good job on your trip south this time.

I have already read the memorial, and will promote it nationwide according to the suggestions of the ministers.

I feel a little tired, so I cannot hold a celebration banquet for you for the time being. We will hold it together after the salt tax is collected.

The rewards for all meritorious officials were discussed and determined by the ministers and the cabinet.

Zuo Guangen, please keep an eye on this for me and don’t let the meritorious officials suffer any injustice.”

Emperor Tianyuan said uninterested.

The new salt tax system is almost a replica of the original one, except that more money can be collected now.

As a pragmatic emperor, as long as he could make money, Emperor Tianyuan didn't have much of an opinion on maintaining the system unchanged.

From now on, salt merchants from all regions will have to hand over two sums of silver.

One was the tax silver from the imperial court, and the other was the donation to serve the emperor.

The regular tax was five million taels, and the donation was three million taels, totaling eight million taels.

This huge sum of money is close to half of the previous fiscal revenue of the Dayu Dynasty.

Compared with the previous salt tax of 1.3 million taels per year, which made the Salt Administration complain bitterly, the situation is now completely different.

As the price of rectification, the officials of the former Salt Administration Office will definitely be laid off.

Otherwise, if we keep those parasites, the current eight million taels will slowly shrink back in a few years.

In order to implement the plan smoothly, even though he is not interested in state affairs now, Emperor Tianyuan still forces himself to cheer up and paint a rosy picture for everyone.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, we will do our best!"

……

After the short report, everyone tactfully said goodbye and left.

When leaving the palace, several people looked at each other, their eyes full of worry.

Emperor Tianyuan's physical condition was much worse than they had expected.

If they hadn't noticed something was wrong in time and tacitly accelerated the reporting process, they might not have been able to continue pretending today.

The political impact of the explosion was extremely bad. In order to stabilize the situation, the emperor had to endure the pain and pretend to be normal.

Such actions are obviously not conducive to recovery from injuries.

But they wanted to persuade, but didn't know how to start.

There were more than one or two smart people who saw through the emperor's disguise, but they all tacitly pretended to be ignorant.

It’s not that everyone is disloyal, but the current situation requires this play to go on.

Emperor Tianyuan has no children. Once they discover that the emperor has health problems, those ambitious princes will inevitably become restless.

It is not scary if a few princes have ideas on their own, but what is scary is that they collude with local generals.

Once chaos breaks out, it will be a big chaos.

……

Zhenyuan Hou Mansion.

"Nothing major has happened at home recently, right?"

Li Yuan asked with a slightly tired look.

When he was in the south, the letters he received from home were all about everything being fine. Considering the tradition of reporting good news but not bad news, some things that were not particularly important would be deliberately concealed by his family.

"My family is relatively safe. Our house is far away from the explosion site and has not been greatly affected.

Only some buildings were damaged and a few servants were injured, but no one was killed.

However, some relatives and close friends suffered a tragic fate, and many of them died.

The worst-hit was the Mansion of the Duke of Xingguo, where hundreds of family members all died, and there was fear that the family business would be lost.

The situation of Marquis Nanyang was not much better. Apart from a bastard son who was studying away, only some servants escaped.

There is also the Mansion of Marquis Pingyuan and the Mansion of the Earl of Xiangcheng, each one is more miserable than the other, with only a group of women and children left.

By the way, the Wang Ge Lao family also suffered a tragic disaster, and only a five-year-old grandson survived.

......"

After hearing the Marquise's answer, Li Yuan was still frightened.

Fortunately, our ancestors had foresight and chose a Feng Shui treasured site to build a house, so they escaped this disaster.

Otherwise, he would not be able to bear it if his entire family was buried alive like those unlucky guys mentioned above.

"It's all over, as long as we are okay!"

Li Yuan said slowly.

Compared with their own safety, the damage to the noble camp was nothing.

Although this idea is a bit unscrupulous, human nature is selfish.

A family whose direct descendants have been wiped out can basically be declared in decline even if there are collateral branches to continue the family line.

According to the Dayu Law, if the direct line of succession died out, one could apply to adopt a collateral lineage son, who would have legal inheritance rights after approval by the emperor.

Now that the parties involved are dead, this adoption application cannot proceed at all.

In history, there were more than one or two cases where the imperial court had revoked titles because the emperor did not approve.

Now the procedures cannot be followed, and the court's taking back the title is completely in line with the rules.

Even if the emperor is so generous as to allow adopted descendants from the collateral line to inherit the title, they cannot inherit power.

Even the current family business cannot be maintained.

"By the way, Master, when I met with the wife of Duke Chengguo a few days ago, I found a marriage for Mu'er.

Because time was too tight, I didn't have time to tell you.

If you think there is no problem, then find a time to settle the matter first.

Although it is not suitable to organize it now, some necessary links cannot be skipped. "

After hearing what the Marquise said, Li Yuan smiled slightly.

“I was originally wondering why Duke Cheng said so many good things for Mu’er when we were discussing the rewards for the meritorious officials.

After hearing what the lady said, it all became clear to me.

The branch of the Chengguo Mansion is a good match for Mu'er, so I accepted the offer."

Intermarriage among nobles has long become a custom.

Now the noble camp is badly damaged, and he and Duke Cheng are the only ones who can take on the responsibility.

Especially at times like this, the more they need to stick together for warmth.

Although collateral marriage has less influence, it is also a means to promote relations.

"Sir, you seem to have misunderstood.

The one that Mu'er is betrothed to is not some side branch, but the second daughter of the Duke's Mansion."

Upon hearing the Marquise's answer that was like seeking credit, Marquis Zhenyuan Li Yuan was dumbfounded.

The gap between the two families' backgrounds is too big. Even if the two families need to form an alliance, at most they can just arrange a concubine's daughter.

"Ma'am, this is no joke, right?"

Li Yuan asked seriously.

If she is a legitimate daughter of the Duke's Mansion, then this marriage is not a personal matter of Li Mu, but represents the marriage between the Mansion of Zhenyuan Marquis and the Mansion of Chengguo Duke.

There are so many things that influence things behind the scenes.

"Master, do I look like someone who doesn't know the seriousness of the matter?"

“When Lady Chengguo proposed this, I was also shocked, but I understood it after thinking about it.

Previously, she had chosen the eldest son of Duke Xingguo for her daughter, but unfortunately the boy was unlucky and died in the explosion.

Master, you know that once something like this happens, the quality of the marriage will inevitably be downgraded.

So many nobles in the capital had died, including many heirs of their families, and there were not many people to choose from.

Most of the ones you liked were taken to the south by you.

I guess it was because Mu'er appeared most frequently in the reports of victory sent back to the capital, which attracted the attention of Lady Chengguo. "

The Marquise lied calmly, completely hiding her own contribution.

It was not her job to finalize the marriage between the two families without telling her husband.

With the shrewdness of Marquis Zhenyuan, it was easy for him to find out that this was aimed at his illegitimate son.

In order to reduce trouble, they simply put the blame on the wife of Duke Chengguo.

If the other party proposed a marriage and she agreed, the nature of the marriage would change from targeting the illegitimate son to considering the overall situation.

At least from the perspective of family interests, this marriage has very important strategic significance for both families.

"Madam, you are right. At this time, we cannot reject the kindness of the Chengguo Mansion.

But if this is the case, I will have to make some adjustments to some of my previous arrangements.

I will write to Mu'er later to tell him about this. Please pick a suitable day and settle the matter as soon as possible."

Li Yuan nodded slowly and said.

Now that things have come to this, there is no room for regret.

Then we can only think of a way to maximize the benefits of this marriage.

The noble group suffered such heavy losses, and it is estimated that the emperor will find a way to make them recover, otherwise the situation in the court will be unbalanced.

At this time, it was not considered taboo for the two powerful factions among the nobles to marry each other for mutual support.

However, if this happens, the resources of the Marquisate in the army will be more inclined towards Li Mu.

The political resources allocated to other ethnic groups will inevitably be greatly reduced.

There are many vacant positions now, so the impact will not be significant in the short term, but everyone will definitely notice it over time.

For the sake of family interests, it is not difficult to convince everyone to accept it.

Although the allocated resources decreased over a period of time, the family's power grew, so it was still profitable in the long run.

The real trouble is the several illegitimate sons in the family.

If your academic performance is not as good as expected, it is highly likely that you will not be able to switch from military to liberal arts.

According to the previous plan, after three to five years, they will be arranged to enter the military.

If there is no legitimate son in the future, the one with the greatest ability will be selected and adopted by the lady as the legitimate son to inherit the family business.

Now there is one more key training target, and he is also the marriage bond between the two families, which is bound to affect the subsequent allocation of resources.

After a brief moment of worry, Li Yuan quickly regained his composure.

It is too early to say what will happen in the future.

Only when the descendants are outstanding enough will there be fierce competition for resources within the family, which will be a happy trouble if it occurs.

Most families can't even find one capable fighter.

(End of this chapter)