Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

Chapter 124 I intend to make him the Crown Prince

Emperor Xia glanced at everyone and, seeing that no one seemed to be speaking, said, "The matter of the Crown Prince involves the foundation of the nation and requires careful consideration. We will not discuss this matter today."

Upon hearing Xia Huang's words, Zhao Wenhan did not say anything further. He was just saying it casually, and besides, he could not possibly support the Northern King.

Few court officials would support the Northern King.

Most princes, even those who don't participate in the struggle for the throne, might have some interaction with the ministers. But the Prince of the North is an anomaly; he has no contact with any ministers. Who would support him?

Apart from the Chu family potentially being tempted, the other princes' base of support remains largely unchanged.

The Northern King is related to the Chu family by blood. Although the Chu family now supports the Eighth Prince, that's because the Ninth Prince was a hopeless case back then.

Now that the Ninth Prince has achieved such great military exploits, even to the point of overshadowing the emperor, how could they not be tempted?

They might even support the Ninth Prince again.

Of course, this is an enormous challenge for the other princes.

First and foremost are the 50,000 heavy cavalry of the Northern Commandery!

If the 50,000 heavy cavalry of Beijun are not dealt with, the Northern King will always be a sword hanging over their heads.

Even if they seize the throne in the future, the powerful military strength of the Northern Commandery could very well overthrow them.

If the 50,000 heavy cavalry are not eliminated, and the Northern King is not eliminated, all the princes will have no peace of mind!

Almost instantly, all the princes in the court who were involved in the struggle for the throne stood on the same side: the Prince of the North was their biggest threat and they had to take him down.

At this point, Emperor Xia continued, "My esteemed ministers, the Northern King has rendered such great service. What do you think the court should do to reward him?"

In the end, Emperor Xia left the problem to his ministers.

The Northern King's contributions were so great that even the Xia Emperor didn't know how to reward him for the time being; the position of Crown Prince was definitely not an option.

He never intended to establish a crown prince so early, especially since that person was the Prince of the North, a prince whose identity he didn't even know if he was his own child. How could he possibly make him the crown prince?

Upon hearing the Emperor's question, the ministers in the court looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

This achievement is so great that it seems only the position of Crown Prince can compare to it, making other rewards seem insignificant.

However, it is obvious that Emperor Xia will not hand over the position of Crown Prince to the Prince of the North. So what should be given to the Prince of the North as a reward? He can't just give him nothing.

If we don't give any reward, the people of the Great Xia will not agree, and it's also unreasonable.

You must know that the Northern King was killing barbarians!

The barbarian tribes who have a blood feud with the people of Daxia.

The Northern King killed so many barbarians, yet the imperial court made no response whatsoever. How could the people of Great Xia possibly accept this?

Just then, Lin Gaoyuan said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the Northern King's merits are so great that ordinary rewards cannot compare to them."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wenhan immediately retorted, "Prime Minister Lin, aren't you just talking nonsense? His Majesty needs a concrete reward, not your ramblings."

Lin Gaoyuan ignored Zhao Wenhan and continued, "I believe the Expansion Order can serve as a reward for the Northern King's merits this time!"

Upon hearing this, the court was in an uproar.

The Expansion Order, as the name suggests, means to expand territory.

When the Great Xia Dynasty was founded, Emperor Taizu of Xia enfeoffed many vassal kings. These vassal kings all had the authority to expand the territory, and the territories they conquered belonged to those vassal kings themselves.

However, the Xia emperor soon discovered that this was a huge hidden danger, because the territories of some vassal kings were growing larger and larger, even approaching the actual territory controlled by the Xia emperor.

It was only through the joint efforts of several generations of Xia emperors that the order to expand the territory was abolished. In fact, several wars broke out in the Great Xia Dynasty in order to abolish the order.

Later, when the Xia emperor came to power, he further reduced the power of the vassal states. Now, the vassal kings were basically granted fiefdoms by the court. Even if they conquered other countries' territories, those territories belonged to the court and the Xia emperor. The vassal kings had no right to claim them as their own.

If the order to expand territory is issued to the Northern King, the Northern King will be able to expand his territory in the Northern Commandery indefinitely, provided he has the power to do so.

This is not actually a good thing for the imperial court. If the Northern King possesses too much territory, his strength may increase further, making him an even greater threat to the Great Xia.

but……

Upon hearing Lin Gaoyuan's suggestion, Emperor Xia did not immediately reject it, because he found that the suggestion seemed to have some merit.

Once the Northern King obtains the Expansion Order, he is likely to launch wars to expand his territory.

War requires money and supplies, and it consumes strength.

Furthermore, the Northern King, residing in the Northern Commandery, has only one option for expanding his territory: to expand northward.

The north is the territory of the barbarians, so the war between the Northern King and the barbarians will continue.

For the Great Xia, this weakened the strength of the Northern Commandery and also reduced the threat posed by the southward incursions of the barbarians to some extent.

This is a good method.

However, once the order to expand territory is issued, the only way to take it back in the future would probably be through war, or by making the Northern King the next Xia emperor.

Once the Northern King possesses the Expansion Order and expands his territory, he certainly won't hand over the land to the imperial court; that's a given.

Emperor Xia pondered for a moment.

He then said, "By imperial decree, the Northern King has slain 200,000 barbarians, captured over 100,000, and shot and killed the barbarian Heavenly Wolf King on the battlefield, thus rendering a great service. He is hereby awarded 2 million taels of silver, 200,000 bolts of cloth, and a decree for expanding the territory."

When the Xia emperor simply gave out the order to expand the territory, the ministers were a little confused. The previous Xia emperors had gone to great lengths to reclaim the order to expand the territory, but this Xia emperor had given it away again.

However, no one said anything at this time, because compared to the order to expand the territory, people were more concerned about the position of the crown prince.

If they could exchange a decree of territorial expansion for the position of crown prince, they would still be able to accept it. After all, the north was also the territory of the barbarians, and the Northern King could only expand his territory northward.

If he goes south, it won't be territorial expansion, it will be rebellion.

As long as the Northern King doesn't become the Crown Prince, everything is fine; even giving him the Expansion Order is no problem.

at the same time.

At the north gate of the capital, a soldier carrying a small red flag rode on horseback, shouting loudly, "Great Victory in Beijun!!!"

"The Northern King led the soldiers of the Northern Commandery to slaughter 200,000 barbarians and capture 100,000!!!"

The soldiers rode their horses toward the palace, shouting as they went.

This great victory was meant to be announced, to let the people know.

However, before sending the red silk messengers, Lin Xiuming and the military supervisor instructed them not to shout it out in the capital, but to wait until they reached the palace.

Because the Northern King's contributions are too great, it would be best to wait until the court has discussed how to reward him before letting the people know about it. Otherwise, public opinion will definitely put some pressure on the court.

However, Lu Chen didn't think that much about it. He figured that the people would find out about this sooner or later anyway, so he sent out a messenger named Hongling to shout loudly on the road. He even prepared dozens of water jugs for the messenger.

Only when the people of Great Xia knew that the Northern King had slaughtered 200,000 barbarians in the Northern Commandery would the imperial court dare not do anything to him.

If the court does not reward such a great achievement, but instead considers weakening the power of the princes, or even if he rebels, he will surely lose the support of the people.

At that moment, the people of the capital were stunned when they heard the battle report from the Red Silk Messenger.

Did they hear that right?

The Northern King led the soldiers of the Northern Commandery to kill 200,000 barbarian troops.

real or fake?

Isn't the Northern King a useless prince?

How could a prince who was weak and feeble-fisted, whose body had been weakened by wine and women, achieve such military exploits?

They didn't even dare to doubt that it was fake.

Although ordinary people don't have much political acumen, they know that such an extremely fake battle report is unlikely to be fake, because no one would dare to pass on such a false report.

Moreover, it was a message delivered to the capital by the Red Silk Messenger!

In an instant, the entire capital city was in an uproar.

Of course, most ordinary people are questioning the veracity of this news.

After all, this news sounds incredibly unbelievable.

It's clearly impossible that a universally acknowledged good-for-nothing could undergo such a dramatic transformation simply by moving to a different place.

At this time, spies from other countries or dynasties in the capital also heard the message delivered by the Red Silk Messenger. Although they were also very suspicious of it, they were different from ordinary people.

Upon hearing the news from the Red Silk Messenger, spies from other countries immediately used their connections to inquire about the situation at court.

Whether this matter is true or not, those ministers certainly know.

Soon, spies from other countries discovered that the battle report delivered by the Red Silk messenger was true, which stunned the spies from various countries.

They had been gathering intelligence on the Great Xia Dynasty for so many years, but they had never taken the Northern King seriously, believing him to be nothing more than a useless prince. They thought there was no need to understand the Northern King, and that such a useless prince could never become the crown prince of the Great Xia Dynasty.

result……

Once this battle report is confirmed, it proves that all the intelligence they have collected about the Northern King over the years is false. They have all been deceived by the Northern King. The Northern King is the prince with the greatest potential and the deepest cunning in the Great Xia Dynasty!

Although some found it hard to accept this fact, the spies from various countries quickly relayed the information they had gathered about the Northern King back to their respective capitals.

at the same time.

The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Garden.

After arriving at the pavilion where Situ Ce was, Emperor Xia asked, "The Imperial Advisor should already know, right?"

Situ Ce said, "Understood."

When Situ Ce learned what the Northern King had done in the Northern Commandery, his reaction was the same as everyone else's: disbelief. However, after a shadow guard showed him the intelligence he had gathered, he gradually accepted the news.

Situ Ce then said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, on having such a valiant and skilled prince as the Ninth Prince!"

Upon hearing this, the Xia Emperor coldly replied, "Imperial Advisor, are you mocking me?"

Situ Ce immediately replied, "Your subject dares not!"

Emperor Xia snorted coldly, then said, "Little Jiu really hid it well. Fifty thousand heavy cavalry—the imperial court can't even afford to support that many heavy cavalry, yet suddenly fifty thousand heavy cavalry have appeared in a mere northern prefecture!"

Situ Ce then said, "Your Majesty, it seems that Deputy Commander Bai's intelligence is correct. His Highness the Ninth Prince most likely has no cooperation with Xuan Yue Palace, because he doesn't need to rely on Xuan Yue Palace at all."

Emperor Xia said, "Has the Imperial Advisor not considered how Xiao Jiu's heavy cavalry came to be?"

"The Grand Preceptor should know what Beijun is like. He's only been there a short time; how could he possibly have built 50,000 heavy cavalry?"

Situ Ce asked, "Does His Majesty believe that the Ninth Prince is colluding with other dynasties, and that these heavy cavalrymen come from other dynasties?"

"However, as far as I know, apart from the Great Xia, the Northern Commandery only borders the Great Yue Dynasty. If such a large heavy cavalry force passed through Great Yue, the Shadow Guards would not have been completely unaware of it."

Upon hearing Situ Ce's words, Emperor Xia fell silent.

Situ Ce is right. Heavy cavalry is a key target of surveillance by all the major dynasties. If any dynasty uses heavy cavalry, the other dynasties will know. It's not like they won't hear about it at all.

Moreover, no dynasty would be willing to send 50,000 heavy cavalrymen to another party, which is obviously impossible. That leaves only one possibility: these 50,000 heavy cavalrymen were indeed created by the Northern King.

However, in terms of both time and resources, Northshire was not capable of building 50,000 heavy cavalry.

Could his son possibly summon soldiers out of thin air?

At this moment, Situ Ce said, "Your Majesty, I believe this is likely a good thing for you."

The Xia Emperor asked, "Why does the Imperial Advisor think so?"

Situ Ce replied, "You don't know where these 50,000 heavy cavalry came from, nor do the ministers in the court, nor do the aristocratic families."

Upon hearing Situ Ce's words, Emperor Xia realized what was happening.

Situ Ce's idea was to pretend that the Northern King was someone he had supported, since no one else knew how the Northern King's heavy cavalry came to be.

The Northern King was enfeoffed to the Northern Commandery by himself, and it can be said that the Northern King's achievements today are inseparable from Emperor Xia himself.

Therefore, Emperor Xia likely knew from the beginning what kind of person the real Northern King was, and also knew that the Northern King had been hiding his true abilities. His placement of the Northern King in the Northern Commandery was likely for some important mission.

Perhaps all of this was part of Emperor Xia's plan!

Building heavy cavalry requires a lot of resources and cannot be completed in a day or two. The Northern Commandery does not have that many resources. Currently, there is only one person in the entire Great Xia who can support the Northern King to have 50,000 heavy cavalry!

That is the current Xia Emperor!

At this point, the Xia Emperor asked, "Does the Imperial Advisor believe that I can use Xiao Jiu's heavy cavalry to mislead the various powerful families?"

Situ Ce said, "Yes, Your Majesty, only you can now command 50,000 heavy cavalry in the Northern Commandery. No other noble family or dynasty has such capability, and you personally delivered the Northern King to the Northern Commandery."

Emperor Xia stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the lotus pond before him, lost in thought for a long time.

The 50,000 heavy cavalry of Beijun can indeed be used to some extent, but what to do with them after that is another troublesome matter.

After a long while, Emperor Xia spoke up: "Grand Preceptor, I need you to go to Beijun."

Situ Ce had anticipated that the Xia Emperor would say this, so he immediately replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Emperor Xia continued, "After you go to Beijun, tell Xiao Jiu that I intend to make him the crown prince, and I hope he will not disappoint me."

Situ Ce replied, "Your subject understands."

Emperor Xia then turned around and said, "Alright, Imperial Advisor, make the preparations and we shall head to Beijun."

"Yes, Your Majesty, this old minister takes his leave."

(End of this chapter)