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

Chapter 334 The Crown Prince tricked me, all of this is mine

After soaking in the hot springs and tasting various dishes made from off-season vegetables, Emperor Qianxi felt completely comfortable and refreshed after taking off his heavy cotton-padded clothes!
The palace built by Shen Ye's men was not particularly grand in scale, but it was exquisite in its design—built around a hot spring, the rising steam made the entire palace feel like springtime, warm and cozy.

The palace complex doesn't have empty palaces; instead, it features exquisite pavilions and towers. Combined with the ethereal steam rising from the hot springs, walking through it feels like strolling through a painting.

In order to remain emperor for a few more years, Emperor Qianxi has paid special attention to health preservation in recent years.

After only one day, Emperor Qianxi instructed Liang Jiugong to move some important items over, intending to stay there for a longer period of time.

It's freezing cold; even staying in the Forbidden City makes it easy to catch a cold.

But it's warm and spring-like here, and you can soak in the hot springs whenever you have free time—it's incredibly comfortable!

Shen Ye spent over 100,000 taels of silver on this palace, but the number of living quarters built inside is not very large.

Each prince was only allocated three rooms to live in.

After all, Emperor Qianxi had many prominent concubines, and they had come along too, so they needed to be provided with a place to stay.

With the arrival of Emperor Qianxi, the focus of the court unconsciously shifted to Xiaotangshan.

First, when Emperor Qianxi arrived at Xiaotangshan, the Grand Secretaries of the Southern Study had to come with him.

Their job was to first review all the memorials from various parties, then propose solutions, and finally submit them to Emperor Qianxi for a final decision.

The imperial palace was so small that even the concubines and princes couldn't fit in it, so naturally, there was limited space available for the Southern Study.

In fact, Emperor Qianxi valued the Grand Secretaries of the Southern Study very much, and specially allocated them a small courtyard with ten rooms.

Ten rooms may sound like a lot, but the South Study has just too many people!

Although the Grand Secretaries took turns on duty, there were still many clerks and scribes under them.

The key issue is that everyone is still unable to return to the city and has to stay here.

Of course, there is one advantage here – when the Crown Prince was building the hot spring pool for His Majesty, he did not forget the ministers and built pools for them as well.

When I'm not busy with official duties, I can also go for a soak in a hot spring to relax.

On this day, it was Zhang Ying's turn to be on duty. He walked into the duty room with a face covered in frost and saw his old rival, Tong Guowei, drinking tea with a radiant expression.

Zhang Ying thought to herself: This old guy has been here for ten days, shouldn't he look exhausted? How come he's so energetic?
Could it be that this old geezer has taken some kind of tonic? That's why he's so full of energy?

Just as Zhang Ying was inwardly complaining, Tong Guowei said with a smile, "Le Pu is here! You must have had a long journey!"

Lepu was Zhang Ying's pen name. Addressing someone by their pen name is a way of showing respect.

However, Zhang Ying didn't like Tong Guowei calling him that. Every time he heard Tong Guowei call him Lepu, he felt like this guy was greeting a junior.

Although he felt uncomfortable, Tong Guowei insisted on calling him that, and he had no choice but to comply.

After all, he and Tong Guowei were both Grand Secretaries, and Tong Guowei was the Chief Grand Secretary and the Emperor's uncle. He had to save face and give Tong Guowei some respect.

"It's not hard work for you, Prime Minister Tong!"

Zhang Ying's words were not just polite; he genuinely felt that Tong Guowei had a tough time, after all, he had to handle government affairs here for ten consecutive days and also deal with Emperor Qianxi's inquiries at any time.

Tong Guowei smiled and said, "There are hot springs here. If you get tired, you can soak in them for a while. It's not that hard to get through."

At this point, he even suggested with concern, "You should also go for a soak at Lepu later, it'll relax your muscles, improve blood circulation, and relieve fatigue!"

As the two men were talking, they began to exchange political affairs, which lasted for more than half an hour.

Zhang Ying glanced at the sky and reminded him with concern, "Prime Minister Tong, it's getting late. If you don't set off soon, you might not be able to get back to the city."

Tong Guowei smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Lepu, but I won't be going back today!"

"His Majesty bestowed upon me a small courtyard on the east side of the palace a couple of days ago. Although it is not large, it still has more than a dozen rooms."

"Most importantly, there is a hot spring inside, and I plan to stay here this winter."

"It's so comfortable living here!"

Hearing that Emperor Qianxi had bestowed a courtyard house upon Tong Guowei, Zhang Ying felt a pang of jealousy.

Why is there such a big difference in treatment between two scholars who are both Grand Secretaries?
But he also understood that, after all, the other man was Emperor Qianxi's maternal uncle, while he was merely Emperor Qianxi's subject.

It was common to bestow a house upon one's maternal uncle, but it was truly rare for a high-ranking official to be granted a garden.

If I had a courtyard like this to live in, I wouldn't have to travel back and forth, and I could often soak in hot springs. Maybe I could really live a few more years.

It's a pity that Emperor Qianxi wouldn't bestow it upon him.

The Crown Prince has quite a lot of land. If the Crown Prince were to give me a piece of land, would I dare to accept it?
Watching Tong Guowei leave with a smug laugh, Zhang Ying gently shook her head.

Just as he calmed down to prepare for his work, Chen Wenjing, a close associate of his, came over.

"Teacher, if you also want to have a yard, it's not too difficult."

Zhang Ying was stunned when she heard what her student said!
He knew that although his student was young, he never boasted.

So, after a moment's hesitation, he couldn't help but ask, "How should this courtyard be arranged?"

"The Crown Prince is selling land. The closer the land is to the imperial palace, and the more hot springs it has, the more expensive it is."

"Prices are relatively cheaper in areas farther from the hot springs."

"However, the environment in this area is quite nice, especially if you build a garden on the mountain and live there, it would be very comfortable."

“The land price isn’t too high. I heard that the Crown Prince only asked for two thousand taels of silver for a place with hot springs, about a hundred acres in size.” As Chen Wenjing spoke, he gently held up two fingers.

Two thousand taels of silver was nothing to Zhang Ying.

Although he did not embezzle or break the law, his family business provided him with a considerable amount of money every year.

So he's not short of money at all!
However, in order to maintain his public image, he has always lived a very low-key and simple life.

Upon hearing the disciple's introduction, he became somewhat tempted.

Buy a piece of land with a hot spring, build a few rooms, and keep it unassuming and low-key, so you can suffer less in winter.

This deal was absolutely worth it!

If he can serve as a Grand Secretary for another year, he will have gained something.

So Zhang Ying pondered for a moment and said, "A garden of a hundred acres is really too big."

“I only come here to stay occasionally, so I don’t need such a spacious place.”

"Could you help me find out if there's any land that's ten acres in size, just enough for me to build a courtyard?"

"Of course, it would be best if there was a hot spring inside."

Given Zhang Ying's status, it would actually be most convenient for her to talk to Shen Ye directly.

However, he knew very well that the higher his position, the more he should keep his distance from the Crown Prince.

Although Emperor Qianxi was kind and benevolent, the close relationship between the Grand Secretary and the Crown Prince inevitably aroused his suspicion.

The case of Suo'etu serves as a cautionary tale!
However, the Crown Prince was truly shrewd in his business dealings. When he bought these lands, it seems he paid at most four or five taels of silver per mu.

After all, this area is mostly mountainous!

But now, a hundred acres of land can be sold for two thousand taels of silver. If all these tens of thousands of acres of land were sold, how much money would be made!
If all this money were collected and put into the imperial granary, would His Majesty no longer need to reform the tax system?

However, he could only dream about such things; the Crown Prince was not someone to be trifled with.

Those who wanted to cause him trouble not only failed to make the Crown Prince suffer, but those who stirred up trouble ended up causing chaos and turmoil.

If you're alright, it's best to avoid provoking the Crown Prince.

Tong Guowei supports the Eighth Prince and is determined to dethrone the Crown Prince. Let him confront the Crown Prince head-on and fight it out.

If Zhang Ying was shocked and envious of the land prices in Xiaotangshan, then Ya'erjiang'a was filled with regret!

Although Yarjianga, as a prince, was reprimanded by Emperor Qianxi and his favor with the emperor was not as great as before, he still retained his title.

As for himself, he always wanted to return to official duties and, ideally, regain the trust of Emperor Qianxi.

A member of the royal family who has fallen out of favor and holds no real office is not as good as an ordinary member of the royal family who has a job.

Yarjiang Ake didn't want his lineage to decline after his generation, so he has been spending a lot of time around Emperor Qianxi lately.

Whether it was because he valued Yarjianga's title or because he felt that he should have someone like Yarjianga under his command, Emperor Qianxi recently started assigning tasks to Yarjianga again.

Although the tasks were not particularly important, Yarjan A handled them with exceptional care.

He knew that everything he had depended on Emperor Qianxi.

Therefore, he not only actively carried out his duties, but also frequently served Emperor Qianxi.

Now that Emperor Qianxi has arrived at the Xiaotangshan Imperial Palace, Yarjianga naturally has to follow.

Looking at the palace that had been transformed into a fairyland, he admired Shen Ye, but also hated himself for being misled by his subordinates.

I used to own so much land here, but it only produced a few thousand taels of silver a year.

But now, the Crown Prince is managing these lands very well, which makes him feel extremely resentful.

However, no matter how unhappy he was with the Crown Prince, he still had to build a garden here, preferably close to the imperial palace, so that it would be convenient for him to pay his respects to Emperor Qianxi.

He knew that if he wanted to regain the emperor's favor, he needed to make more appearances in front of the Qianxi Emperor.

Otherwise, he will never get back what he has lost.

However, what upset him was that when he was preparing to buy a thousand acres of land to build a small estate with gardens and crops, the steward brought him the news that the thousand acres of land could be sold to him, but the price was exceptionally high.

One thousand acres of land, twenty thousand taels of silver!
This was only because the Crown Prince was considering his status as a prince.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have sold him this land near the hot spring palace at all.

Back then, Yarjianga was furious when he made a bet with the Crown Prince and lost all of this prime land.

If he had known this land was so valuable, he would never have made the bet with the Crown Prince.

It’s so frustrating!
You have to understand that he lost tens of thousands of acres of land, which, if calculated according to the Crown Prince's current prices, would be worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!

The Crown Prince has tricked me!
These used to be mine!

Although Yarjianga was resentful, he could only grit his teeth and instruct the steward, "Make contact with the Crown Prince's people and tell them that I've bought this land."

"Also, have someone keep an eye on how much land the Crown Prince has sold in Xiaotangshan, and calculate how much money he's actually made!"

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(End of this chapter)