Chapter 219

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Changzhou Prefecture Wang Fu Hou Yuan

Shen Yao stood at the pavilion in her newly made clothes, looking up and observing.

Beside her was the maidservant attending Shen Yao, looking very cautious, with words on her lips that she dared not say for a long time, finally only able to shake her head helplessly.

"Princess Consort, Princess Consort"

A servant from the mansion hurried in from outside, weaving through the lively crowd before her, and came quickly to Shen Yao's side to salute and inquire after her well-being.

Shen Yao waved her hand, "What's wrong? Is there something to report from the front courtyard?"

The servant grunted and nodded, and after catching her breath, simply spoke the words she had been holding in her heart.

After hearing this, Shen Yao made an "oh" sound and signaled for this person to walk in front and lead the way.

As for the crowd that had not yet dispersed to one side, "Continue handling it, wait for me to return."

It was just transplanting a few strange-looking flowers and plants; the craftsmen of the entire Wang Fu were busy for half a while and still couldn't finish.

Shen Yao played with the round fan in her hand and also asked whether the refugees who had arrived later had been settled.

"Replying to Princess Consort, they have been properly handled; the people are outside Changzhou Prefecture."

As for entering the prefecture city, they definitely must first confirm that their bodies have no illness or disaster.

Otherwise, if they contracted a contagious disease, all the common people of the entire prefecture city would suffer along with them.

These were all precedents that had happened before; precisely because other surrounding towns had incidents, their Changzhou Prefecture was so cautious.

"Mm, don't be too stingy with the doctors; remember to protect yourselves when opening the city gates to distribute porridge and medicine."

"After this matter is settled, everyone in the Wang Fu will receive rewards of varying degrees."

The more work, the more gain; Shen Yao, since taking over the management authority of the entire Wang Fu, liked to do things by the rules.

Like these years, refugees continuously rushing to Changzhou Prefecture from all over Qi State, the quantity was truly rare.

If not for the system repeatedly emphasizing it, and Qi Chen constantly giving her popular science explanations, Shen Yao would really suspect that Qi State was doomed.

How could there be such an unscientific thing happening; so many refugees not staying in place but migrating everywhere, and the entire Qi State's political power could actually be so stable.

"Not exactly stable; it can only be said that compared to other surrounding small countries, Qi State's foundation is thick enough." This was like a family with a large territory being able to drag on; even if this piece of land didn't grow grain, but other lands did, mixing the two could make do.

Unlike some small gate small households; if this piece of land was ruined, it was truly ruined, with not a bit of remedial measure, resulting in a total loss.

"No matter how thick, it can't withstand such squandering. A few days ago, I discussed with Qi Chen that the population of Changzhou and two other prefectures is already full; we can't accept more refugees."

Truly having no place to settle them; this isn't a trouble that can be solved just by giving them food to eat.

Including the allocation of residences and fields, and even the hope of surviving in the future.

Hurriedly weaving through the long corridor before her, Shen Yao turned and directly came to the front courtyard.

Qi Chen usually worked here; only during his free time in the evening would he go to the back courtyard to accompany Shen Yao.

The servant leading the way no longer continued forward; instead, Shen Yao did not stop, until she entered the study with a depressing atmosphere.

"Wang Ye"

Shen Yao saluted Qi Chen, who was sitting in the chair, and signaled with her eyes that the people in the study could leave.

Huff

Who would like to feel stifled here if they could leave? The strategists who had experienced being rescued multiple times saluted Shen Yao gratefully and turned to leave cleanly and decisively.

The people left, and the room door was closed again.

Qi Chen, sitting in the chair, grunted, "They're all wine bags and rice bags!"

Obviously, the people who had just gone out made him very dissatisfied in his heart.

Shen Yao smiled and came to Qi Chen's side, placing her hand on his shoulder to gently knead.

The appropriate strength not only allowed Qi Chen's tense body to relax, but even his spirit was relieved quite a bit.

Exhaling heavily, Qi Chen reached out and patted Shen Yao's hand, "Fortunately, I have my wife accompanying me."

"Wang Ye is also like this; why need to quibble with them too much? Those adults are also wholeheartedly serving the public."

Strategists, after all, are naturally on the same side as Qi Chen; it's just that both sides have different priorities.

Shen Yao's words weren't exactly smoothing things over, but landing in Qi Chen's ears, they felt somewhat unpleasant.

"Yao'er, you don't know the ins and outs of the situation; in this king's view, they are just living too comfortably," not knowing their own weight.

Daring to confront him head-on, and even privately issuing orders behind his back. If they weren't all old servants of the mansion who had made contributions and suffered hardships over these years, Qi Chen would never let it go so easily.

The look of indignation was too real; Shen Yao no longer persuaded him, only saying that they acted improperly and undeservedly betrayed Wang Ye's good intentions.

"After all, Yao'er understands this king best," feeling comfortable in his heart, Qi Chen pulled Shen Yao's hand and let her sit in his arms.

Clearly they were about to become grandfather and grandmother, yet they still clung together.

"Wang Ye should submit a memorial to the Emperor; the number of refugees in Changzhou Prefecture is not decreasing."

"Once winter comes, there will be another huge expense; the grain reserves will have more expenditures than income, and the people of Changzhou will also feel uneasy in their hearts."

Shen Yao smoothed her somewhat askew hair bun, and by the way tucked the fallen stray hair behind her ear.

Qi Chen embraced Shen Yao's slender waist, not forgetting to take out the memorial he had written long ago and hand it to the beauty in his arms to look over.

Shen Yao reached out to take it, quickly skimmed through it, and then smiled and praised Wang Ye's writing as not bad.

Originally just a matter of five points, he forcibly wrote it out as twelve points of sorrow.

Tsk tsk, indeed a hand at crying out for grievances? In this aspect, he is more experienced than others.

"Imperial Brother's side attaches great importance to the matter of imperial clan children entering the capital after the holiday; Lady, has the arrangement for Chen'er been properly made?"

Qi Haochen will set out from Changzhou Prefecture for the treacherous capital early next spring.

As for when he will return safely, that depends on when the Emperor can select an heir who satisfies him.

Anyway, with all these children cooped up in the capital, under the pressure of survival of the fittest, a few outstanding ones are bound to emerge and attract attention.

"Rest assured, my lord, this concubine has already found a fairly suitable candidate.

As for other matters, I must ask my lord to expend more thought; Chen'er is young, and this concubine truly cannot set her mind at ease."

She was not deceiving Qi Chen; compared to the previous worlds, this child's situation was indeed relatively more dangerous.

Shen Yao had already employed every means at her disposal, and even Qi Haochen's pocket space still held quite a few pills she had the system secretly place there.

Sigh

Every time she looked at her eager, raring-to-go child, Shen Yao felt an indescribable weariness of heart.

Perhaps this is what they mean by 'youth knows no sorrow' — he has never encountered a moment when heaven does not answer and earth does not respond; he has simply suffered too few of society's beatings.

Qi Chen patted Shen Yao's back. "Rest assured, this king will do his utmost for Chen'er.

Once Chen'er departs, my lady, the arrangements before us should also be timely closed."

Hearing this, Shen Yao subconsciously loosened her grip on the round fan she held in her hand.

"My lord no longer intends to keep a low profile? The north is vast; we should proceed step by step, so the capital will not detect anything amiss."

Otherwise, a trumped-up charge pinned on us would ruin years of planning in an instant.

Qi Chen smiled. "Although this king always says those people in the capital are good-for-nothings who eat dry rice, the borderlands nearly saw a mutation, and they still managed to perceive some of the situation.

Report it as seven parts true, three parts false, and the imperial brother will hand over military command to me," otherwise we would just be making wedding clothes for others.

Qi Chen and Shen Yao were discussing the situation on Qi State's northern border.

Not only were refugees coming over, but the foreign tribes beyond the border were also stirring restlessly.

The border army intercepted the foreign tribe's invasion this time, but the foreign tribe's problems are more severe than Qi State's; next time they will surely fight desperately to break in and plunder. In responding to war, the border army's mindset falls short of the enemy's; the two sides clash against each other, and the high probability is that Qi State suffers.

As Shen Yao, who had early awareness of the border issues, reminded Qi Chen through the system's characteristics.

This period was Qi Chen constantly laying plans for this, solely to obtain the border military authority and smoothly expand the hidden-but-unconcealable sharp edge of his power.

"Does my lord intend to personally lead the army on campaign?"

Shen Yao looked at Qi Chen, thinking this person was far more decisive than she had imagined.

She had thought he was merely an ordinary imperial clan relative, not expecting that deep down he was still a ruthless striver unwilling to accept his lot.

"My lady need not worry; this king will hold the rear, and it will certainly be safe and sound."

Besides, he definitely had to lead the army on campaign, if only to seize that 'military authority' carrot dangling before him.

……

When Shen Yao left the front courtyard study, the sky had already slowly darkened.

Strolling back toward the back courtyard, Shen Yao pondered the various infuriating reasons.

The system advised the host not to think too much; originally their mission was not this either, but one misstep led to another, and they went straight from a natural-disaster refugee novel into a hegemony-and-power-struggle novel.

The original plot should have been Shen Yao leading her children through a difficult life constantly dodging natural disasters.

Now Shen Yao has transformed into a princess consort, focusing on conquering territory for her own son; those natural disasters that used to pop up constantly no longer affect Shen Yao much, and have even become a background board for her dedicated wool-harvesting.

Otherwise, where did these refugees in Changzhou Prefecture come from? All were forced to flee their homeland because of natural disasters.

'Love the job you're in; if you can climb one step higher, why still follow the rules? Do you just like watching me suffer?'

How exhausting is fleeing famine? On the road you still have to guard against others scheming against each other.

So Shen Yao never wanted to be a commoner from the start; choosing to climb upward was the inevitable result.

It's just that this climbing upward isn't easy either; she thought being a princess consort would be fine, but as a princess consort she still wants to be Empress and Empress Dowager — what can be done? Continue striving.

'System, how is Qi Haochen's learning progress in the dream realm?'

'Rest assured, host; as you instructed, the system has already handed over to him everything it can; the rest depends on Qi Haochen's own performance.'

'Mm, Chen'er is clever; though his conduct is still immature, it has some commendable aspects.

Besides, his age is itself a protective talisman; the people in the capital will not drag him into the waters too early.'

That is to say, Qi Chen and Shen Yao still have quite a lot of time to hide their light and bide their time.

By the time Qi Haochen shows his mettle in the capital, their side will also have gradually risen in power.

When the two sides perfectly converge, momentum twisted into a single force, only then will Qi Haochen truly make his formal debut in this struggle.

'Will the time be too long?' If someone can't hold back and wants to seize the throne early, all their preparations would be wasted effort.

'As long as the Emperor lives, besides, at a time like this, whoever acts rashly is just setting up a target for others;' how many targets have a good end? They're all cannon fodder.