Qiu Dao felt as if the world had gone dark before his eyes. Was this woman going to empty the whole house?
Just as he was about to say something, he saw Wang Xianyun waving her hand at him impatiently. "Aren't you busy? Go and get busy then. Don't stand here getting in the way. I'm busy too."
Qiu Dao was speechless.
Looking utterly dejected, he silently walked out of the house and stood in the courtyard, looking up at the blue sky. This was clearly his home, yet at this moment, he couldn't feel a trace of warmth.
After a long while, he let out a sigh, not understanding how things had turned out this way.
Not long after he returned to his study, a servant came to report that Kang Zheng was asking for an audience.
He frowned. Although his son was on close terms with Kang Yun, the son of Kang Zheng, he himself didn't have much interaction with Kang Zheng.
Without much thought, he ordered the servant to invite Kang Zheng in.
Kang Zheng looked rather haggard. "Greetings, Lord Qiu."
Qiu Dao adjusted his mood and said, "Please have a seat."
"What brings you here?" he got straight to the point.
Kang Zheng carefully chose his words. "My son received a letter from your son, Master Qiu. Now he wants to go to Fengzhou. So I'm here to inquire about the situation."
Qiu Dao almost yanked out his beard. That rascal A-Tai had written a letter to Kang Yun?
Was he trying to make things even worse?
Although the First Prince didn't explicitly stop the people of Sizhou from going to Fengzhou, everyone knew what was on his mind.
He said helplessly, "I'm not quite clear about the situation in Fengzhou either. To be honest, this whole thing was caused by my son."
At this time, Kang Yun was chatting with Chen Xi at Fenggexuan.
"Brother Chen, you're being partial. I wouldn't have known that Brother Qiu had gone to Fengzhou if he hadn't told me. Why didn't you share such a great place with me?"
Chen Xi looked rather helpless. "He did come to me and asked a lot of questions before, but I really didn't know he was going to Fengzhou."
Then he sighed. "As you know, since... well, I don't go out very often these days."
He claimed that he was doing business in Gefeng and had a purely business relationship with Princess Jinyang. Whether people believed it or not was another matter.
The First Prince definitely didn't believe it. So he had arranged secret guards around Fenggexuan to keep an eye on Chen Xi.
The officials and nobles in Sizhou were good at reading the situation. So openly, Chen Xi's business had declined a lot.
However, good products always had their takers. Especially those who were used to high - quality goods couldn't get used to the so - called "inferior products" anymore.
Take the First Prince for example. Although he suspected Chen Xi, he still used the "snowflake paper" from Fenggexuan.
So secretly, Chen Xi's business hadn't suffered. In fact, worried that he might be in trouble one day, many people started to stock up on goods, which made him raise the prices a bit out of embarrassment.
As someone on good terms with Chen Xi, Kang Yun was well aware of the current situation of Fenggexuan. He understood Chen Xi's difficulties.
He sighed and said, "I don't mean anything else. I just want to learn about the situation in Fengzhou."
Chen Xi poured him a cup of tea. "If you want to do the grain business, I don't recommend you go to Fengzhou. The grain there is extremely cheap."
Seeing the light in Kang Yun's eyes, he poured cold water on him. "Don't think about transporting grain from there either. Fengzhou prohibits such activities. If you're caught, you might lose your head."
"Moreover, you can't just buy grain in Fengzhou. They use tickets for purchases, and it's basically rationed."
It was the first time Kang Yun had heard of such tickets. He was very curious. "What kind of tickets?"
Chen Xi didn't hide anything and briefly explained the situation. Finally, he said, "So if you want to do the grain business, forget about going to Fengzhou."
Kang Yun looked around furtively and then lowered his voice. "I heard there are high - yield grain seeds in Fengzhou. Is that true?"
Chen Xi was startled. "Who did you hear that from?"
Kang Yun replied, "Everyone's talking about it. The news came from the Sheng family. Aren't they planting those seeds now?"
Chen Xi understood. After thinking for a while, he said, "I haven't been back to Gefeng for a long time. I really don't know about the grain seeds."
Kang Yun knew this, so he didn't dwell on this question. Instead, he asked, "What if I go to Fengzhou to buy land, plant high - yield grain seeds, and then transport the grain to Sizhou to sell?"
Chen Xi was stunned. It took him a while to say, "The land in Fengzhou isn't for sale."
This time, it was Kang Yun's turn to be stunned. "Why not?"
Chen Xi smiled. "I don't know. But many policies in Fengzhou are different from the traditional ones. If you want to develop in Fengzhou, you'd better go there to learn about the situation first and then make a decision."
Of course, it was to prevent the emergence of aristocratic families in Fengzhou. Food was the most important thing for the people. Since ancient times, aristocratic families had controlled the land, which was equivalent to controlling half of the country's lifeline. How could the lord allow such a history to repeat itself?
He comforted Kang Yun. "Fengzhou is in a state of recovery. Besides the grain business, there are many other profitable businesses. You don't have to focus on grain."
At this time, the First Prince, Jiang Chun, threw a writing inkstone in a fit of rage. All his servants and subordinates were trembling with fear.
After a moment, he calmed himself down. "Summon Sun Zheng and the others for an important meeting."
A quarter of an hour later, in the meeting hall of the First Prince's mansion.
Jiang Chun scanned the crowd. His eyes lingered on Hua Yuanyi for a moment and then moved away. "The Sixth Princess has taken over the whole of Fengzhou. What do you think?"
Previously, places like Wuqin were under the control of the Quzhao people, and the people he had arranged couldn't get in.
In fact, he couldn't place his people in other parts of Fengzhou either. It was only after Hua Yuanyi came back and trade between Fengzhou and Sizhou was established that he managed to send his people into Fengzhou.
As a result, it was several days after Jiang Jin took over several counties in Wuqin that his people got the news and then tried to pass it on to him. After all the delays, he had just learned about it.
Everyone gasped in surprise. "What? The Sixth Princess has taken over the whole of Fengzhou?"
"As for the Quzhao people, were they completely wiped out or...?" Sun Zheng quickly asked.
Jiang Chun shook his head. "There are about tens of thousands of remnants of the Quzhao army. They've fled to Juanzhou, but I don't know which direction in Juanzhou they've gone."
His sources of information were very limited, and he didn't know that the Quzhao people had detoured through Kang County to Chongzhou.
He looked at Hua Yuanyi. "You just came back not long ago. Didn't you notice the movements of the Jinyang Army before?"
Hua Yuanyi was very straightforward. "No. At that time, the Jinyang Army had just taken over Ze'a County and Liuxiang County and was taking a rest."
Qi Pingwei frowned. "How many soldiers does the Jinyang Army have? Why are they so brave?"
Hua Yuanyi was honest again. "I don't know. I only reached Liuxiang County and Ze'a County at that time. It seemed that their troops weren't too many."
Wang Baishan sighed. "Now many people and wealthy merchants in Sizhou want to go to Fengzhou. If they know how brave the Jinyang Army is, I'm afraid..."
The hall fell into silence. Sizhou was overpopulated. Although they didn't care about the lives of these common people, they were a continuous source of soldiers and labor for them.
If everyone left, they would be left with only the aristocratic families.
Who would farm the land of the aristocratic families then?
Where would they get their soldiers from?
After thinking for a while, Sun Zheng stood up solemnly and bowed. "Your Highness, please ascend the throne as emperor. This can stabilize the morale of the army and the hearts of the people."
Everyone was stunned and looked up at him in surprise.
Even Jiang Chun was taken aback for a moment. After a while, his eyes flickered. "This is against the rules."
Don't underestimate the appeal and allure of an emperor in this era.
The First Prince had never ascended the throne for several reasons. Firstly, not long after Emperor Yan was killed, although Sizhou was far away, the First Prince showed no intention of avenging his father. Hastily ascending the throne would have made him seem unfilial, disloyal, and unjust.
Secondly, when the barbarians captured Dingyang, half of Haijiazhou had already been taken by the Jiao Army. If he were to ascend the throne at this time and Haijiazhou and other places asked him for help, should he offer it or not?
He did want to help, but with what?
Thirdly, once he became emperor, the First Prince was worried that the Jiao Army, which was attacking Haijiazhou, would immediately cross Haijiazhou and march towards Jiu'an.
After all, the consecutive killings of two emperors of the Yan Kingdom had a fatal impact on the morale of the Yan army and the hearts of its people.
On the contrary, it was a great inspiration to the Jiao Army, which would surely be irresistible at that time.
Fourthly, as the eldest son of Emperor Yan, with both Emperor Yan and the Crown Prince killed, he was naturally regarded as the next emperor of the Yan Kingdom. Whether he claimed the title of emperor or not, all the common people and noble families of the Yan Kingdom flocked to Sizhou.
In other words, without ascending the throne, he would still get all the benefits that were due to him, but he could choose to ignore the responsibilities that came with the position.
In such a situation, the gains and the efforts of ascending the throne were not proportional, so he naturally chose not to do so.
However, the situation was different now. In Fengzhou, his Sixth Princess was gradually becoming a rival to him.
Although there had never been a precedent of a woman becoming an emperor in history, who could say that she wouldn't be the first?
Judging from what his imperial sister had been doing recently, it seemed that she was aiming for the throne.
Sun Zheng said seriously, "Two years have passed since the emperor passed away. Now is a good opportunity for Your Highness to ascend the throne and regain control of the Yan Kingdom. As long as Your Highness ascends the throne, the hearts of the people will surely be won."
