The struggle for the throne among nine princes—I really don't want to be the crown prince.

Chapter 245 Money Can Move Gods, Money Can Also Support an Army

Emperor Qianxi neither particularly liked nor disliked his son, Yunzhen.

To put it bluntly, in Emperor Qianxi's mind, Yunzhen's position was always very clear: he was a capable son.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Emperor Qianxi had too many sons—with so many children, his attention was naturally scattered.

After Yunzhen respectfully finished bowing, Emperor Qianxi asked in a low voice, "How is Hongyun's health?"

Upon hearing his father mention his son, the Fourth Prince's already stern face immediately became even more solemn.

His tone carried a hint of helplessness: "It's still the same as before. Although it hasn't gotten worse, I'm still a bit weak."

Emperor Qianxi sighed and then said, "Imperial Physician Zhang is skilled in pediatrics. Let him take a look today."

"Prescribe some remedies for Hongyun. If any medicine is hard to find outside, just get it from the Imperial Pharmacy."

The fourth prince immediately knelt down: "Thank you for your grace, Father."

Emperor Qianxi chatted with the fourth prince for a few more minutes about family matters, and the fourth prince took the opportunity to present the memorial he was holding:

"Father, I have been ordered to investigate the Imperial Household Department. This is the final result of the investigation."

As he spoke, he respectfully handed over the memorial.

Emperor Qianxi took the memorial, glanced at it, and his face immediately darkened.

He had long known that the guys in the Imperial Household Department were dishonest and greedy, so he usually turned a blind eye to it.

But this time, they really went too far!

He didn't even bother to read the beginning of the memorial carefully, because it was all within his expectations.

He flipped directly to the section on the illegal harvesting of ginseng from Changbai Mountain.

In this passage, Emperor Qianxi saw several familiar names:
For example, Consort Yi's father, Sanguanbao; Suo'etu's brother, Fabao; and...

Looking at these familiar names, Emperor Qianxi's expression gradually shifted from anger to calm.

You could even say they were frighteningly calm.

He closed the memorial and asked casually, "How much money can they make in a year by reselling ginseng?"

The fourth prince hesitated for a moment, but finally replied in a low voice, "Your subject dares not make a rash judgment, but in Jiangnan alone, a ten-year-old ginseng can sell for a hundred taels of silver."

A single ginseng root can fetch a hundred taels of silver, and the number resold in a year would easily exceed a thousand!

This is only ten years old. What if it were decades or hundreds of years old? How much would that cost?

There are always hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

These should have been Emperor Qianxi's money, but at this moment, he didn't care about his own money, because he wasn't angry about the money.

His voice was low: "Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, so much silver, what do they plan to do with it?"

The Fourth Prince almost blurted out what Wu Sidao had said, but he swallowed the words back and cautiously said, "This subject does not know."

"However, as far as I know, they shouldn't be short of money."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Qianxi's expression darkened even further.

San Guanbao works in the Imperial Household Department, is the biological father of Consort Yi, and also oversees the Imperial Household Department's imperial envoys in Shengjing. How could he possibly be short of money?

Needless to say, Songgotu was another one!

His family had served as prime ministers for generations, and the amount of silver they received each year was countless. He himself had served as a Grand Secretary for more than ten years, and his family was incredibly wealthy.

With so much money, why would they risk their lives to make more?

What exactly is Suo'etu trying to do?
Where does he intend to use so much silver?
A series of thoughts churned in Emperor Qianxi's mind, and his expression grew increasingly grim.

The fourth prince quietly observed Emperor Qianxi's expression, thinking to himself that he must have succeeded in his mission this time, otherwise his father's expression would not be like this.

Since Yunzhen was determined to seize the throne, besides the Crown Prince, the person he studied the most and understood the most thoroughly was Emperor Qianxi.

After all, whether or not they can rise to power depends on these two.

If the crown prince doesn't fall, he has no chance; of course, if he doesn't gain the favor of Emperor Qianxi, he will also find it difficult to inherit the throne.

Emperor Qianxi always thought himself to be quite shrewd and able to see through other people's schemes at a glance.

However, he forgot that while he was trying to figure out others, they had already figured him out as well.

Anyone with eyes can tell what he's up to from his little actions.

"You may leave now," Emperor Qianxi waved to the fourth prince.

In the past, when Emperor Qianxi asked him to leave, Yunzhen would often say a few more words, but this time, he didn't say a single extra word.

What needs to be said has already been said; saying more would only make things worse.

So he chose to remain silent.

However, just as he was about to leave the room, Emperor Qianxi suddenly said, "Not a single word about what happened today is to be revealed to anyone!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!" The Fourth Prince suppressed his excitement and replied respectfully.

Whom is Father Emperor being so cautious about?
Who else could it be but the Crown Prince!
Whom is the father so wary of, given his serious demeanor?
Who else could it be but the Crown Prince!
After the fourth prince left, Emperor Qianxi held the memorial and looked at it again and again, not putting it down for a long time.

One sentence kept replaying in his mind:

What exactly did they do with all that money they made?

The fact that Suo'etu, who clearly had no shortage of money, still went on a rampage to amass wealth can only mean one thing—someone really loves money.

Who likes money?
Emperor Qianxi's expression grew increasingly grim, but he ultimately did not lash out, simply putting the memorial aside in silence.

After putting away the memorial, he picked up another one, jointly submitted by the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Colonial Affairs. This memorial concerned Viscount Nicholas personally presenting a letter of credence to the Qianxi Emperor. The Qianxi Emperor was quite interested in this matter—it could not only suppress the arrogance of the Russian Empire but also quell the restless and unruly tribes, achieving multiple benefits at once.

Of course, there's another point: to incidentally showcase his civil and military achievements as emperor.

However, he's not so fond of this matter anymore.

He glanced at the document and then wrote a note on it: "Have Suo'etu participate in this ceremony."

After writing all this, he seemed to have thought of something else and added the words "Mingzhu" under Suo'etu's name.

After doing all this, Emperor Qianxi's expression returned to normal.

But the faint but palpable killing intent emanating from him sent a chill down Liang Jiugong's spine as he stood guard at the door.

Having followed Emperor Qianxi for so many years, this wasn't the first time Liang Jiugong had experienced this kind of atmosphere.

Every time Emperor Qianxi did this, it meant that someone was about to suffer a terrible fate! In fact, countless heads would roll.

Who will be next this time?

Shen Ye was unaware that the Fourth Prince had already sown discord in Suo'etu's eyes. Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn't have made any move.

At this moment, he was leisurely lying on a deck chair, listening to Zhou Bao report on the acquisition of land around Xiaotangshan.

This time, it was really thanks to Yarjan's "sponsorship" that he saved a lot of money.

In addition, with ample funds from Yuqing Bank, he basically bought up all the land around Xiaotangshan.

These lands are mostly wasteland, so the prices are not high.

However, once the imperial palace in Xiaotangshan is built, the land prices here will definitely skyrocket.

After all, the colder the weather, the more Emperor Qianxi liked to find a warm place to stay, and Xiaotangshan with its hot springs was definitely the perfect place.

In a year at most, you can make a fortune.

The construction of the imperial palace should begin, but this matter still needs Emperor Qianxi's approval. It could be presented as a birthday gift.

"Zhou Bao, we have so much wasteland, let's hurry up and build a few more manors."

At this point, Shen Ye couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Building a manor is easy, but finding reliable people to manage it is incredibly difficult.

Since distancing himself from Songgotu, he truly felt that he had very few capable people at his disposal.

Take the group of people left behind by the former crown prince, for example. Shen Ye is now intentionally distancing himself from them. As for the reasons, besides the fact that some of them have ulterior motives and some are incompetent, the most important reason is that most of them are too close to Suo'etu.

To put it bluntly, the Crown Prince's power was basically built by Suo'etu.

It wasn't until after Songgotu's downfall that these people truly began to gravitate towards the Crown Prince.

"Your Highness, the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince request an audience."

Just as Shen Ye finished speaking to Zhou Bao, a young eunuch came over to report.

Normally, the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince would follow the Eighth Prince around, and they didn't have much interaction with the Crown Prince, who was much younger than them.

Their sudden arrival together surprised many palace staff.

But Shen Ye had a feeling: these two had come together most likely because of the fast track.

So he nodded: "Please invite them in."

The Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince have not yet been granted titles, so naturally they do not receive any stipends.

Although they are not short of money, they are not exactly well-off.

"Greetings to the Crown Prince." The two men saw Shen Ye standing at the door to greet them, so they quickly bowed and said respectfully.

Shen Ye waved his hand: "We're all brothers, no need for such formalities."

"As for you two, I heard from the teachers that you've fallen behind in your studies recently."

“If Father tests you in a few days, you will be worse than the brothers below. If you lose by accident, it will be embarrassing.”

As the Crown Prince, Shen Ye also had the responsibility of supervising the studies of the underage princes—after all, Emperor Qianxi was too busy every day to have time to test the princes' studies.

The Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince were never suited for studying, and ever since Shen Ye proposed the Tianjin Expressway plan, their minds have been completely elsewhere.

Upon hearing Shen Ye mention his studies, the Ninth Prince chuckled and said, "Second Brother Crown Prince, neither the Tenth Prince nor I were born to study!"

"If Father asks about it later, please cover for us."

"The reason we came here this time is about the Tianjin expressway."

“We sent people to spread the word about this among the nobility a few days ago, and now many people have expressed their desire to participate.”

"Putting everything else aside, Prince Guangyu alone plans to invest 50,000 taels of silver!"

"Now everyone is just waiting for news from Tianjin. As long as His Majesty gives the nod, the money will be in place immediately."

"Your Highness, we must tell Father Emperor about this as soon as possible!"

Shen Ye quickly assessed the situation in his mind and then smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about this. Your father supports this matter."

"What we need to wait for now is the right opportunity."

"And that time is coming soon."

　The second update for today is here! Please support me, everyone!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)