Chapter 565

After returning to the palace, Wei Shen sighed, "... Earlier my perspective was obviously too narrow; I thought you couldn't get anywhere without a hundred thousand taels!" The cavalry have been mobilized; a hundred thousand taels is not enough.

The King sat back smugly, legs crossed, saying, "A hundred thousand taels? That's not looking down on the Wei clan—look, if we don't deduct the disbandment and resettlement expenses of the Western Camp, this won't pass."

Wei Shen found it funnier the more he thought, gave the King a thumbs-up: "Zero‑cost business, faster than robbery."

The King and Xiao Jin instantly grew more smug, heads high and chests out, giving no sign they had just needed help walking.

Wei Shen had just said he was tired from the trouble and wanted to rest and practice this afternoon, but the King called him back: "Shen Yu probably won't arbitrarily punish Wei Hang; he'll still need to come ask me, so by then cousin can see him."

Wei Shen instantly became enthusiastic—when doing bad deeds he never minds the trouble—"Then give me a bottom line? Do you want a person to have something, or just say as long as there's silver it's fine?"

"What use is the life of a foppish dandy? Wei Hang's sort will just be leeks for the Floating Pagoda Tower; better let him live well. If we insist on killing Wei Hang, I fear the Wei clan would really sacrifice this heir for face. So my bottom line is the amount of this Western Camp resettlement fee." The King roared like a lion.

This guy, while speaking, stroked his handsome little chin, his big eyes full of slyness: "The Wei clan's foundation may not match the Wang clan's, but it's not bad either." The treasures swept from the Wang clan's Langya old residence by Zhu Ti back then were all good stuff; some antiques are better than his father emperor's storehouse, and the King still hasn't sold many of them.

"This amount won't even hurt the Wei clan; a million taels… back then I brought back from the Northern Border those obscure scholar‑families, they could produce that, let alone the Wei clan. So let's say there's no upper limit."

Wei Shen: ……

His Highness happily saved a sum, went back to read his books and play with his maps, and the Wei family's heavens collapsed.

The Wei clan has lived in Chang'an for how many generations, yet this is the first time they've been surrounded by heavy troops. Moreover, these troops are the Northern Border cavalry who have slaughtered countless on the battlefield, burning corpses without number; the women of the household are panicked, and Wei Hang's grandmother, the matriarch, has already fainted once.

The Wei family tried to communicate with the soldiers at the gate, to no avail.

Clan head Wei Kai personally went out several times, but no one paid him any heed; the Wei manor allowed entry but not exit, not even a chance to go out and apologize.

Wei Hang's mother sat crying sorrowfully in the outer room of the grandmother's quarters, making sure the old lady inside could hear; she endured the snide remarks of her sisters-in-law. Although Wei Kai is the current clan head, there are still several elders of higher seniority in the family; she feared the Wei clan would not dare offend the future emperor, and truly would sacrifice kin for righteousness, refusing to save Wei Hang.

Hearing this, the old lady inside grew even more distressed, grabbing Wei Kai's hand and urging: 'Little Two must not come to harm; if he does, I cannot live on~ Kai'er, quickly think of a solution! This isn't just taking my life, is it? Little Two is still young and doesn't understand anything…'

"That unfilial son is already sixteen and still doesn't understand anything! It's all because you and his mother have spoiled him too much!"

Outside, Madame Wei's sobbing paused, then rose a notch higher.

After Wei Kai had comforted the old mother and come out, Madame Wei hurriedly followed.

"Husband, will Hang'er be bullied at the Pacification Bureau…" she hadn't finished when Wei Kai cut her off.

"Then he deserves it! Don't anxiously weep for your son; outside are the Northern Border's Black Armor Cavalry—this is now the whole Wei clan's affair, one misstep…" He couldn't finish the sentence.

Madame Wei urgently said: "He hasn't even ascended the throne yet; I'll go kowtow and beg forgiveness!"

Wei Kai sneered: "You also know he hasn't taken the throne, you also know he's no ordinary princeling; if he wishes, he could inherit the imperial position by offering sacrifices to heaven tomorrow morning! Your son dares to push aside the emperor—a capital crime! Don't you know?"

Madame Wei's face turned ashen.

Wei Kai continued: "If it were an adult, or even Emperor Guanglie, it would be easier to say…. Hang'er after all bears the Wei surname. But Second Uncle says this Northern Border prince is young and headstrong, always acting outside the norm, with no one he dares not offend, and never regards the great clans in his eyes. I fear he will stubbornly insist on venting this anger. All those who came with him to Chang'an are military officers, and truly no one can rein him in!" Wei Kai grew angrier as he spoke, having heard that Xie Yuan was the Highness's tutor, and now deeply regretted Xie Yuan's absence—there was no one to persuade him.

After hearing this, Madame Wei also collapsed.

The Wei clan felt this was an outright disaster out of the blue; in fact, others suffered even more—like the Jingzhao Prefecture governor, and the several spoiled youths around Wei Hang.

Shen Yu studied the Highness's pulse record for a while, tentatively treating it as an injury report. But the injury is indeed serious; if the Highness had already ascended the throne, Wei Hang could be put to death, but the key is he hasn't yet, and Shen Yu doesn't know which statute to apply. Perhaps that of a princeling? This isn't even the Highness's fief, so there's no precedent at all.

In short, this is still a difficult case.

He wore a worried, grim expression for a moment, then rose and resigned himself to enter the palace.

His Highness ought to give a hint!

He did manage to enter the palace smoothly, but the Highness didn't see him; Shen Yu was taken straight to Wei Shen.

"Sir Shen, your timing is poor; His Highness is in a bad mood and has gone to rest, ordering that no one disturb him. Even his personal guards at the door, my words carry no weight."

"... I see Master Wei just the same; I have come to gain a thorough understanding of the events. How should the principal offender who gravely injured His Highness be dealt with? Please, Master Wei, give me a hint."

Wei Shen also began to sigh long and short, yet he absolutely refused to mention Wei Hang.

"... You say our Highness, so young, bears such a heavy burden—can he endure it? Yesterday he just went to the Western Camp to see off tens of thousands of soldiers being discharged to return to farming, the old and the infirm; seeing them, His Highness felt anguish. Alas, Sir Shen, you don't know how hard it is for the Highness: discharged soldiers each receive ten taels of resettlement funds, and disabled soldiers get an extra ten taels from the Highness—a huge sum, our cavalry may run out of grain—alas, His Highness is truly benevolent!"

Did Shen Yu dare say the Highness could refuse this burden? He didn't dare; he could only go along.

Wei Shen began to speak candidly: "It's not that His Highness felt uneasy inside and went out for a stroll; the result is that Chang'an's public security is terribly poor!"

His Highness's beloved dog almost got snatched on the street, and he himself was beaten by ruffians—something His Highness never saw in the Northern Border; if this happened there, the whole family would already be thrown into jail! At the very least they'd be exiled to the mines to forge iron!

Shen Yu began to wipe his sweat… …light some incense for the Wei clan. No, keep a stick for himself as well.

"His Highness has basically diverted the Western Camp's resettlement funds; the tens of thousands of troops he brought need fodder and grain, the over 200,000 in the Eastern Camp also need to eat, yet the treasury is empty and we don't know where the funds went—His Highness is under great pressure!" He observed that His Highness and Xiao Jin at the Yang household were putting on just such an act.

Shen Yu: ……

He gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and said: "His Highness's benevolence is a blessing to the Great Jin! I will surely devote myself to easing His Highness's worries… but… I don't know how large this shortfall is; I'll ask on behalf of the Wei clan." He then bluntly asked outright.

Wei Shen was neither surprised nor discourteous; he held up three fingers. Shen Yu thought it was all right. "Three hundred thousand?" That could buy Wei Hang a life—reasonable.

But Wei Shen immediately shook his head: "Sir Shen, don't joke—the Western Camp's resettlement funds are already nearing a million, actually three million taels. His Highness is truly benevolent!"

Shen Yu: ……

From then on, he no longer recognized the two characters 'benevolent'.