Chapter 567: The Cunning Chen Pingping
"Si Nanbo's daughter, and Chen'er?"

When the Queen Mother heard the name "Sinanbo", the veins on her forehead began to throb. Then when she heard Su Mingzhe mention "Chen'er", she suddenly felt unwell.

How come my son is not on the same page with me?
Her family was wiped out by Si Nanbo Fan Jian.

Now Su Mingzhe wanted to marry Fan Jian's daughter, and she was totally against it.

As for Chen Er...

The Queen Mother thought about it and expressed her thoughts:

"Qian'er, your cousin Chen'er has always been very weak. I'm afraid she is unable to bear the responsibility of reproducing offspring..."

When Su Mingzhe heard what his "biological mother" said, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. The thoughts of ancient people and modern people are just different.

Are you interested in Lin Wan'er's fertility?

I think she is pretty, okay?
Su Mingzhe took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to refute and complain, and after a moment of silence, he said:
"Mother, I also understand cousin Chen'er's health. Don't worry, I have sent people to find a spiritual medicine that can improve people's physical fitness. It is now in the experimental stage. Once the spiritual medicine is successfully refined, cousin Chen'er's health will be fine."

"is it?"

Seeing that Su Mingzhe was so persistent, the Queen Mother thought and hesitated for a while, then frowned and agreed.

She has been able to maintain her position as the head of the harem for twenty years, and her cunning and intelligence are far beyond that of ordinary people.

So, even though she didn't like the two girls her son mentioned, she would not openly oppose her son's proposal.

At worst, I could wait until Fan Ruoruo entered the palace and then find a way to deal with her.

Correct!
By then, I will be the mother-in-law and Fan Ruoruo will be the daughter-in-law.

Don't you have the upper hand over your daughter-in-law?
Thinking of this, the queen became excited again, and even began to look forward to the day when Fan Jian's daughter would enter the palace.

The two chatted for a while, and then Su Mingzhe said goodbye and left.

At night, Li Yunrui did not come again.

On the second day.

Su Mingzhe sent Eunuch Hou to inquire about Li Yunrui's situation, and found out that he was indeed put in solitary confinement by the Empress Dowager.

Without Li Yunrui's interruption, Su Mingzhe worked much more efficiently.

Out of twelve hours in a day, Su Mingzhe is able to work for eight hours. His diligence far exceeds that of Emperor Qing.

In addition, he was gentle and generous to others, and never showed his emotions like Emperor Qing, so he easily won the reputation of many ministers inside and outside the court.

Of course, to put it bluntly, in everyone's eyes, Su Mingzhe, the new emperor, is stupid, naive and easy to deceive.

Isn't everyone satisfied?

However, not everyone is satisfied.

During the reign of Emperor Qing, the territory of Nanqing was expanded four or five times from a vassal state with a radius of a thousand miles.

If such a heroic Emperor Qing lived another twenty years, then Nanqing would no longer be Nanqing, but would become the Daqing Dynasty that unified the north and the south.

Therefore, those who had placed high hopes on Nanqing and Emperor Qing were very dissatisfied with Su Mingzhe's "kindness" at this moment.

In a blink of an eye, the three-day suspension of court ended.

Su Mingzhe convened the first grand court meeting since he ascended the throne.

During these few days, many ministers also understood Su Mingzhe's diligent nature and did not say any empty words or nonsense. They would report to the court when there was something to report and adjourn the court when there was nothing to report.

This evening.

A group of people gathered quietly and began to discuss Su Mingzhe's performance in the past few days since he took office.

Seeing that everyone was getting more and more excited, a thin man with a horse face suddenly stretched out his hand, pressed it in the air, and said:

"To test jade, one must burn it for three days, and to identify talent, one must wait seven years. The new emperor has only been on the throne for a few days, so it is a bit premature for everyone to discuss anything now."

"What your lord said is true!"

When everyone saw him speak, the excitement of the discussion was suppressed.

Still this night.

When Fan Jian was going home after get off work, he blocked the way of Chen Pingping, the director of the Inspection Institute.

The two chatted in secret for a long time, and finally the old friends parted unhappily.

Watching Fan Jian's carriage rolling away, Chen Pingping's originally calm expression suddenly started to smile:
"Fan Jian, ah Fan Jian, this time, you can't block my way again..."

Not long after, Chen Pingping returned to the Inspection Institute. The heads of the Second, Third, Fifth, and Seventh Departments had been waiting there for a long time.

After he parked his wheelchair, he first looked at the three hosting agencies.

The two of them just looked at each other. Chen Pingping had already gotten the answer he wanted, but he still asked:
“Is it the same?”

"There are thirty in total. We have confirmed that the material is from the same place as the ones from more than 20 years ago."

Fei Jie had a smile in his eyes, and as soon as he finished speaking, Chen Pingping also laughed out loud.

This time, the people standing next to him did not feel the eerie feeling of the past.

On the contrary, everyone had a refreshing feeling.

Chen Pingping is like this.

Fei Jie is like this.

The same is true for several other organizers.

It took a long time before everyone stopped laughing.

Chen Pingping then looked at a middle-aged man with a lewd look beside him:

"Wang Qinian, you still can't enter the Su Mansion?"

Wang Qinian had just been made uncomfortable by the laughter of the organizers. Now that he was asked about his responsibilities, he could only smile bitterly and said:

"Dean, I don't know why, but every time I pass by the wall of the Su Mansion, I feel like there are several pairs of eyes staring at me. I'm always unsure, so I don't dare to go in and check."

"Well, this seems like her method." Chen Pingping's face returned to its stiff look.

Upon hearing this, Wang Qinian asked cautiously:

"Dean, do you know anyone from the Su Mansion?"

After hearing this, Chen Pingping just glared at him coldly without answering him. Then he waved his hand and signaled them to leave.

In a blink of an eye, it was the ninth day since Su Mingzhe ascended the throne.

Su Mingzhe was processing memorials in the imperial study when he heard the eunuch outside come in to report that the Minister of War, Duke Liu, requested an audience with the emperor.

Su Mingzhe announced it directly.

Duke Liu hurried to the imperial study to report:
"Your Majesty, I have just received a report from a fast horse that the eldest prince will arrive in Kyoto this afternoon."

"Brother is back so soon?"

Su Mingzhe didn't expect that the eldest prince would rush back from the border so quickly.

You know, the eldest prince is stationed in Jiayuguan, which is more than 3,000 miles away from Kyoto.

Going back and forth, that's six or seven thousand miles.

Only nine days had passed since the imperial edict was issued in Kyoto and now the eldest prince had returned.

In this age of traveling on horseback, to travel six or seven thousand miles in nine days, one would probably have to travel day and night without stopping, right?
Sure enough, Duke Liu explained:
"Reporting to your majesty, the messenger who sent the imperial edict was Hongling, who delivered it to the eldest prince at an expedited speed of 800 miles. Afterwards, the eldest prince also changed horses but not people, and returned with only 20 guards."

Su Mingzhe was silent for a while after hearing Duke Liu's explanation, and then he said:

"Since my eldest brother is back, it stands to reason that I, my second brother, and my third brother should all go to greet him."

Upon hearing this, Duke Liu quickly dissuaded him:
"Your Majesty, although you and the eldest prince have a deep brotherly relationship, the eldest prince is not returning victoriously. It is not in accordance with etiquette for you to go out of the city to greet him."

"Duke Liu is right."

Su Mingzhe had not originally thought of welcoming the eldest prince, so he frowned and said:

"Then I'll trouble Duke Liu to bring people from the Ministry of Rites, the Honglu Temple, and the Taichang Temple to welcome him on my behalf."

"Old minister accepts the order."

Duke Liu breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the lineage of Duke Liu is a family of military honors, in fact, their family attaches great importance to etiquette and morality, and they are good friends with the Grand Secretaries Hu and Shu in the court.

Now, Su Mingzhe is able to listen to advice. In Duke Liu's opinion, that means there is a wise ruler in the world.

In the afternoon, Duke Liu and a group of officials went to the city gate to welcome the eldest prince.

Su Mingzhe stayed in the imperial study and ordered someone to call Guo Youzhi. He spoke a few words to him and then let him leave.

After the eldest prince came back, he first went to Emperor Qing’s spirit tablet to pay his respects.

Afterwards, Su Mingzhe brought the third prince and some wine and food over.

The four brothers haven't gotten together for a long time.

Since Su Mingzhe's throne has already been secured, even if the other three have some ulterior motives, they can only hide them at this time.

The food and drinks are halfway through.

Su Mingzhe then put down his chopsticks and gave the three of them a brief glimpse of what he was going to do:
"I will confer the title of prince upon you at the grand court meeting tomorrow. However, the name of the title is somewhat special. I am telling you this in advance. Just be clear about it in your mind and don't have any ideas."

Among the three princes, the third prince was the youngest, but he was a smart kid. He said with a smile:

"Brother Emperor, can you give me the title of Grand General Prince?"

"You are still young. If you want to be a general, it will take at least ten years. But the eldest and second brothers can do it."

Su Mingzhe said this and looked at the eldest prince and the second prince with a smile.

The eldest prince knew that he had no chance of becoming emperor, and seeing that Su Mingzhe was quite respectful to him and told him in advance if there was anything, he said indifferently:

"You are the emperor now, you have the final say. I only have one request, the princess, I want to choose it myself!"

"no problem."

Su Mingzhe knew that the eldest prince did not like to be constrained, nor did he force it.

The second prince Li Chengze, however, sneered with resentment:

"Li Chengqian, you win and I lose. You can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you. There's no need to pretend to be a brother in front of me."

Ever since Emperor Qing passed away, Li Chengze has been detained in front of Emperor Qing's mourning hall.

In the past few days, he has tried countless ways to communicate with the outside world, but even after using the pawns he bribed, he still couldn't get in touch with the outside world.

At this point, Li Chengze knew that there was no chance of a comeback.

However, he also didn't want to beg for mercy and linger on in front of Su Mingzhe.

At this time, as the loser in the competition with Li Chengqian for the position of crown prince, he just wanted to die with dignity.

Su Mingzhe listened to his words but was not angry.

This second prince is also an unlucky guy.

He has been used by Emperor Qing since he was young and has become a whetstone for the prince's growth.

Now that Su Mingzhe has replaced Li Chengqian, he has also taken over the feud between him and the second prince.

If Li Chengze really dared to ruin his plan, Su Mingzhe wouldn't mind finding a robot to replace him.

Su Mingzhe, who was fearless, just smiled and said to Li Chengze's request for death:

"Brother, I understand your feelings, but you underestimate me. I won't kill you, or even imprison you. However, if you want to turn the tables, it's wishful thinking."

Su Mingzhe ridiculed Li Chengze, stood up, and left with a loud laugh.

(End of this chapter)