Chapter 45

 

Yu Xiu returned to the prefect’s yamen and told her husband what she had seen in Ningyuan.

Chen Bozong remembered what his wife said yesterday. After Lingyuan County Lady left, the princess was alone with Princess Consort Xiang for a while. This morning, the princess refused to see his wife, but sent someone to invite Princess Consort Xiang. Connecting it with his brother getting angry at the princess…

Chen Bozong vaguely understood.

Just like some local officials who want to give gifts to their father, people like Prince Xiang would definitely want to curry favor with the princess. As for the fourth brother, while he was a rough guy, he was very upright, so he might not be able to accept the princess’s action.

Yu Xiu kept looking at her husband nervously and asked, “Did you guess it?”

If it was anything else, Chen Bozong would tell her, but this was related to the princess “accepting bribes” and the princess’ reputation. How could he tell her?

He only comforted: “Fourth Brother has always been hot-tempered, and the princess is not as willing to tolerate him as we are. It’s inevitable that they will have disputes after getting along for a long time. Tonight I will go to the military station to persuade Fourth Brother and ask him to go and apologize to the princess.”

Yu Xiu was very worried about the young couple, but she could not do anything.

Chen Bozong said: “After resting in the afternoon, I will trouble you to go to Ningyuan again. There is no need to persuade the princess to make peace, just to calm the princess down.”

Yu Xiu nodded. She was also idle at home. As long as the princess and her brother-in-law could get back together as soon as possible, let alone running around twice, even breaking her legs she would be happy.

The husband and wife went their own way.

In the evening, the Yamen stopped accepting lawsuits. Chen Bozong hurriedly changed into regular clothes, took only one boy servant and rode out of the city.

In the military station, since Chen Jingzong could not go home, he set up a table in the martial arts field and asked the soldiers to line up to count the clothing and footwear problems.

According to regulations, the military station would provide each soldier with two sets of spring, autumn, summer and winter uniforms, as well as one set of armor. If the clothes were accidentally torn, they could still be mend or patched. However, if they have been worn for many years that it could be torn with just a little force, or if there were no longer any padding inside the cotton-padded clothes, then it was time to throw them away and replaced them with new ones. Only when soldiers were well-clothed, well-fed, and in good health could they have the strength to train and work in the fields.

Fu Gui sat on a stool and was responsible for counting. Chen Jingzong was watching people on the side to prevent anyone from cheating and deliberately using other people’s old clothes as their own, so that they could receive a lot of sets in the future.

While some officers at the top embezzled military salary, the soldiers at the bottom were also not honest.

Xiang Baoshan came over, watched for a while, and motioned for Chen Jingzong to come aside and talk.

“Prince Consort, I know that you love these soldiers and can’t bear them wearing tattered clothes, how could we bear it too? It’s just that the military salary issued from above is getting less and less every year. We can only spend it on the blade, and we really can’t take care of these things.”

Chen Jingzong looked at his serious face, remained silent for a moment, and then showed an ugly smile: “It’s okay, I still have some savings, which should be enough for this time. His Majesty thinks highly of me and sends me to the military station. I should do my best to train those 5,600 elite soldiers for His Majesty!”

At first he had no choice but to pay it himself, but later he became impassioned, which was in line with the impulsive loyalty of the son of a Cabinet Elder and the emperor’s son-in-law.

Xiang Baoshan only felt funny in his heart.

A fledgling official, whether civil or military, might be like Chen Jingzong at first, with a pure heart and loyalty to the emperor and the country. But before long, they would be poured with a bucket of ice water by those old foxes in the officialdom. If they continued to maintain their innocence, they would continue to be treated coldly and ostracized. If they wanted to get out of the predicament, they could only join those old foxes.

He shook his head, and said as if he care for Chen Jingzong: “I admire Prince Consort who loves his soldiers like his son, but it’s not a long-term solution to benefit the public privately. Prince Cosnort should think more about himself.”

Chen Jingzong seemed to have listened. Just when Xiang Baoshan had a glimmer of hope that he might be able to pull the prince consort over if he exerted more force, the prince consort suddenly asked him: “Can you lend me some money? My own savings may not be enough.”

Xiang Baoshan:…..

He quickly made a good excuse, turned around and ran away.

The soldiers in line looked at the two men from a distance. They had been soldiers under Xiang Baoshan for so long, and they all knew that Xiang Baoshan was here to persuade Prince Consort not to give them new clothes. At this time, seeing Xiang Baoshan clearly could not persuade prince consort, the eyes of some soldiers became misty.

Chen Jingzong returned to Fu Gui’s side, and then noticed that the soldier who was handing the old clothes to Fu Gui for inspection had a bloody whip wound on his wrist.

“How did you get hurt?” Chen Jingzong rolled up his sleeves and asked insistently, not allowing any refusal.

This soldier was very tall, but he was thin and looked haggard. Seeing Prince Consort’s sharp eyes, he did not dare to lie. He lowered his head and said, “I was working at the construction site on the Prince’s mansion yesterday and accidentally dropped a redwood tree, then I was whipped twice by the supervisor from the Prince Mansion.”

The few people behind him had also just returned from there, and all of them had angry faces.

They came to the military station to serve as soldiers. Because there were few wars in Lingzhou, Prince Xiang and some officials enslaved them to do labor without providing them with food. If they were dissatisfied, they would be punished as deserters!

In these days, their lives were even worse than ordinary servants. If it weren’t for their families, they would have fled long ago!

“Prince Consort, now that you are here, do we still need to go out to do those things?”

Someone asked tentatively.

Chen Jingzong looked at the person who spoke, then at the other soldiers who were staring at him eagerly, and raised his voice: “What are you doing? In addition to taking care of the military fields, you should train well for me every day. No one can be lazy!”

This sonorous and powerful sentence received loud cheers from the soldiers!

Outside the camp gate, Chen Bozong reported his identity to the guards, and then stood aside, waiting for his fourth brother to come out.

Xiang Baoshan was about to return to the city. When he rode out, he caught a glimpse of a man with a face like a crown of jade standing outside.

The guard promptly introduced: “Commander, this is our new prefect of Lingzhou, Sir Chen!”

When Xiang Baoshan heard this, he quickly got off his horse. Although his official rank was higher than a prefect, if anything happened to Lingzhou Prefecture, he would be controlled by the prefect.

After introducing himself, Xiang Baoshan asked: “Sir, are you here to find Prince Consort? Why don’t you go inside and wait?”

Chen Bozong smiled lightly and said, “I’m looking for him because of a private matter at home. I’ll just talk it here.”

If it was Chen Jingzong who said such serious words, Xiang Baoshan would only think that Chen Jingzong was pretending, but when the words came out of Chen Bozong’s mouth, Xiang Baoshan, a rough military officer, could not help but be impressed by the elegance and humility this Zhuangyuan.

Of course, no matter how impressed he was, he would not join Cabinet Elder Chen’s camp just for this reason. Filling his own pocket was the most important thing.

After accompanying Chen Bozong for a while, and seeing Chen Jingzong coming, Xiang Baoshan said goodbye, thinking about reporting the matter to Prince Xiang later.

“Why are you here?”

Chen Jingzong asked very rudely, which made Xiang Baoshan turned his head.

Chen Bozong also put away his humility towards outsiders and said coldly: “You come with me.”

Chen Jingzong sneered, but still followed him for a distance to ensure that no one could hear their brothers’ conversation.

After choosing a place, Chen Bozong got straight to the point: “You are angry with the Princess, is it because the Princess accepted a gift from Prince Xiang?”

Chen Jingzong glanced at him, but he didn’t deny it. He still had an impatient look on his face, but he explained the whole story in a low voice.

Chen Bozong:……

Chen Jingzong: “This is between me and the princess. You don’t need to worry about it. Just don’t make trouble. By the way, since you’re here today, come back in three days and perform well.”

These were not important, Chen Bozong frowned and asked: “The Princess want to write a letter to sue Prince Xiang?”

Chen Jingzong: “Sue me openly, but actually suing him.”

Chen Bozong: “The vassal princes all over the country are involved in a wide range of things. The Princess accepting the gift from Prince Xiang is considered a small punishment to him. It’s better not to disturb His Majesty.”

Before he set off, his father asked him to secretly collect evidence of Prince Xiang’s crimes, and when the time was right, he would deliver the information to the capital. The princess was a noble person, there was no need to get involved.

Chen Jingzong sneered: “You haven’t taken care of me enough, and now you want to discipline the princess too? Don’t you always treat her respectfully? Why don’t you go and tell her this in person?”

Chen Bozong said calmly: “I know that you and the Princess don’t like Prince Xiang, and I won’t hide it from you. Father has a countermeasure, so I don’t want you to get involved anymore. His Majesty has always been generous and merciful to the vassal princes, and he may not be willing to heavily punish Prince Xiang. Father is not afraid of speaking the truth, but he doesn’t want you to be questioned by His Majesty for acting recklessly and disregarding the overall situation, even if it’s a possibility.”

Chen Jingzong: “Reckless? Not to mention how hard the journey to get here from the capital, let’s talk about the flood last summer. She stayed in the shed for two days and two nights. Did she ever complain? Even when writing to His Majesty, she always praised the old man for taking the lead in everything. Can a spoiled and willful person do that? And about disregarding the overall situation, you should know why the Empress wanted her to marry into our family. She even tolerated me. Do you still say she disregards the overall situation?”

Chen Bozong: “I’m not criticizing you, but His Majesty may be.”

Chen Jingzong: “Then what clever plan do you and the old man have? Waiting for the opportunity? Let me guess, your opportunity is when Prince Xiang committed a heinous crime that is intolerable by heaven and earth, right? So the person that attracted Prince Xiang to committed this crime should die in vain, and the soldiers inside who were treated like livestock should work for him day after day and be beaten to death from exhaustion. This is what their fate is, right?”

Chen Bozong pursed his lips.

Chen Jingzong smiled: “You are all people who do great things, you can endure what ordinary people can’t. I can’t endure it, and the princess doesn’t want to endure it. This is good. You continue to endure what you need to endure, we will sue who we want to sue. Even if it displeased His Majesty, that’s our husband and wife’s business and has nothing to do with you.”

The setting sun fell over, casting two long figures on the ground.

Although the soldiers guarding the barrack and Wang Feihu, Lin Yan, Lu Da and others who came after hearing the news could not hear what the Chen brothers were saying, they could see from their expressions that the brothers were quarrelling. Especially Chen Bozong’s livid face, which was obviously very angry.

Wang Feihu clicked his tongue twice: “Prince Consort has such a big temper. Even towards his eldest brother he dares to be so rude. No wonder he dares to be angry with the Princess.”

Although Lin Yan was also a member of Prince Xiang’s party, because of his excellent martial arts skills, he usually looked down on Wang Feihu. At this time, when he saw Chen Jingzong refused to bow to the Princess even when his brother came to persuade him, he felt a bit of admiration in his heart. This was what a strong man should be like!

Only Lu Da was very worried. Prince Consort was so stubborn. Would he really offend the princess to death, and the relationship between husband and wife never be able to change again? It was nothing to be separated for a while, just afraid that the princess would divorce her husband in anger!

So, when Chen Jingzong walked towards the military camp alone, Lu Da went up to him and wanted to persuade a little bit.

Chen Jingzong raised his hand and told him to stop.

Lin Yan then said with a smile: “I still have two jars of good wine hidden in my room. Prince Consort, would you do me the honor?”

As expected, Chen Jingzong left with him.

Lu Da:…..

 

The Author has something to say:

Seeing that the prince consort was about to be dragged into the enemy camp, Lu Da suddenly shouted: “Princess!”

Chen Jinzong turned around.

Lu Da: The princess is in my heart!

Chen Jinzhong: ….

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