Chapter 106

In fact, this tendency to shield one’s own is not unique to Wei Zhong.

Feng Liwu also has a protective streak, and it is especially evident when it comes to Jiang Xiurun.

So when Wei Zhong finished speaking, Feng Liwu’s expression remained unchanged.

He simply asked, “Is Duke Wei done speaking?”

Hearing this form of address, Wei Zhong’s heart stirred.

Feng Liwu had always respected him and would often address him as “Grandfather” in private.

But now, the term “Duke Wei” was formal and distant, carrying an official tone.

However, the empress being slapped was a shocking and outrageous incident!

If the civil and military officials were to find out, even dismembering the seductive concubine would not be enough to atone for such a crime.

How could Feng Liwu, as her own son, be so dismissive?

Feng Liwu seemed to notice the disbelief in Wei Zhong’s eyes and spoke firmly, “Since the empress fell ill, she has been restless and prone to hallucinations. How can we take such delusions seriously and spread them widely?”

Wei Zhong knew that Feng Liwu was accusing the empress of speaking nonsense, deliberately shielding Jiang Xiurun and refusing to pursue the matter.

He couldn’t help but take a sharp breath, filled with grief and indignation.

“Your Highness, she is your birth mother. How can you allow others to humiliate her like this?”

Feng Liwu’s gaze turned icy as he looked at Wei Zhong.

“Because I know that I am first the crown prince, and only then a son. Does Duke Wei understand that you are first a subject of the state, and only then a father?”

The reminder was enough.

Wei Zhong was jolted by Feng Liwu’s cold stare and realized that he had indeed overstepped earlier.

Upon reflection, how could that concubine Yao, even with the courage of a lion, dare to act so brazenly?

Unless she had been instructed by the crown prince to teach the empress a lesson.

Thinking back to the banquet, while the empress’s reprimand of the crown prince had been driven by her eagerness for a grandchild and perhaps spoken too hastily, her intentions had been good.

The crown prince really shouldn’t have let things escalate to such an irreparable state with his own mother.

Just as Wei Zhong opened his mouth to speak again, Feng Liwu coldly added, “When I previously advised Duke Wei to handle the family scandal discreetly and provided a list of Wei family members who had engaged in corruption and land-grabbing over the years, I wonder how many of them Duke Wei has dealt with?”

Feng Liwu was referring to the letter he had sent through Jiang Xiurun when he instructed Wei Zhong to deal with the disgraceful Wei Xun.

Wei Zhong’s expression shifted slightly at the mention of this, and his tone softened.

“The letter Your Highness sent has been verified. Some of the accusations are true, but others still require further investigation to avoid wronging the innocent.”

Feng Liwu inwardly sneered.

The main culprit in that letter was none other than his grandfather, Wei Zhong himself.

Of course, Wei Zhong would need time to carefully investigate and figure out how to cover up the evidence.

Outwardly, however, Feng Liwu remained amiable.

“Then I will trouble Duke Wei to investigate thoroughly, lest the executioner’s blade fall on the necks of the wrongfully accused.”

By hitting Wei Zhong’s weak spot, the matter of the empress being slapped was dropped.

As the crown prince had said, who besides those close to the empress would know about this incident?

Even if it were to spread, the story would be too unbelievable for anyone to take seriously.

Now, with the issue of land annexation causing the crown prince to hold a grudge against the Wei family, as the clan leader, Wei Zhong had to consider the bigger picture and downplay the matter.

Moreover, as the crown prince had pointed out, the empress’s recent behavior had indeed been too erratic, and a small punishment was warranted.

Thus, although Duke Wei had arrived full of rage and indignation, he left somewhat deflated.

Jiang Xiurun, of course, heard about Duke Wei’s visit to demand an explanation.

When the crown prince went to meet his guest, she quickly got up, washed up, and waited anxiously.

Not long after, the crown prince returned.

She asked, “Why… didn’t you invite Duke Wei to stay for breakfast?”

Feng Liwu turned to look at her.

“What’s going on today? Why aren’t you lazing in bed?”

Since returning to the crown prince’s residence after the literary gathering, Jiang Xiurun had been explicitly forbidden from returning to the academy.

Without the daily grind of studying, she had become increasingly lazy, often staying in bed until late in the morning.

If it hadn’t been for Duke Wei coming to cause trouble today, who knows how long she would have lazed in bed!

Especially after seeing at yesterday’s Mid-Autumn banquet how some of her former classmates, who had once performed far worse than her in exams, had now begun their official careers, Jiang Xiurun couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy.

Just because she was a woman, she was forced to dress in red and remain confined to this small world, entangled with petty, narrow-minded women.

Meanwhile, her classmates were out there achieving great things, which was truly depressing.

So when Feng Liwu teased her, and after confirming that Duke Wei wouldn’t cause any more trouble, she relaxed and said, “Now that Your Highness mentions it, I really am tired. I’ll go back to sleep after you leave for your duties.”

Although Feng Liwu didn’t want her to appear in public anymore, he disliked seeing Jiang Xiurun listless and dispirited even more.

So he said, “The autumn scenery is beautiful. What kind of example are you setting by staying in bed all day? I’ll take you hunting.”

For convenience, Jiang Xiurun changed into men’s clothing and prepared to set off in high spirits.

As she walked through the courtyard, she saw Cao Xi hurriedly preparing to leave with her maids.

It seemed she was heading to the palace.

When the crown prince arrived with a horsewhip in hand and saw the situation, his expression darkened. “Where are you going?”

Cao Xi quickly replied, “The empress sent word that she’s feeling unwell and asked me to pay her a visit.”

Feng Liwu knew that if Cao Xi went, the empress would undoubtedly complain about Jiang Xiurun’s outrageous behavior.

And since Cao Xi was a foolish woman, she might stir up trouble upon her return, causing unrest in the entire household.

So without even looking at Cao Xi, he said, “You’re not a royal physician. Going won’t help. I will send an experienced royal physician to tend to the empress. If you have nothing else to do, stay in the residence and rest. Read some calming scriptures. Always running around like this is unseemly.”

With that one sentence, Feng Liwu cut off Cao Xi’s chance to go to the palace and communicate with the empress.

Ignoring Cao Xi’s tearful expression, he mounted his horse with Jiang Xiurun and rode off.

Although it was called an autumn hunt, Feng Liwu’s main purpose was to inspect the grain harvest in the outskirts of the capital.

Recently, the tension between Great Qi and Liang had eased.

After all, neither country wanted war, and both were simply looking for a way to save face.

Thus, Liang had promised to pay Great Qi a tribute of mountains of grain this year.

Combined with Great Qi’s own harvest, there would be no shortage of rice and flour for the people this year.

As Feng Liwu walked through the fields, looking at the vast expanse of rice paddies, he nodded in satisfaction.

Jiang Xiurun, however, stared at the sea of rice paddies with a slight frown.

Feng Liwu noticed and asked, “What’s wrong? Not happy even when you’re out for some fresh air?”

Jiang Xiurun pointed to a group of farmers carrying mulberry saplings in the distance.

“What are they preparing to do?”

Feng Liwu wasn’t entirely sure either, so he summoned the local village head to inquire.

Upon asking, they learned that Liang, in a show of goodwill toward Great Qi, had not only sold grain at low prices but was also buying Great Qi’s silk at high prices.

Merchants, driven by profit, had informed the farmers that grain no longer fetched a good price, but silk could be sold for a high profit.

After a year of hard work, planting grain was no longer as profitable as raising silkworms.

Thus, the farmers were eager to plant mulberry trees in both winter and spring to raise silkworms.

To others, this seemed like nothing more than farmers trying to make a better profit by raising silkworms.

But Jiang Xiurun’s heart sank, because she had experienced the same situation in her past life.

However, it hadn’t happened now, but several years later.

Liang, having built irrigation systems, had reaped bountiful harvests year after year and began dumping grain at low prices in Great Qi while buying silk at high prices.

At first, it seemed fine, but over time, vast tracts of fertile land were abandoned, rice paddies left untended, and men and women from the villages went out to pick mulberry leaves and raise silkworms.

Eventually, Liang stopped buying silk and no longer sold grain at low prices.

A famine broke out in Great Qi, as silk, no matter how exquisite, could not fill stomachs.

When Liang annexed Yan, Great Qi, unable to supply sufficient grain, failed to protect its ally and suffered a crushing defeat.

The once-mighty empire began to decline, while Liang, like a rapidly growing beast, began to devour other states.

Great Qi could no longer command Liang, and even Bo, as a vassal state under Great Qi’s protection, found itself helpless and was eventually annexed.

Thus, upon hearing the village head’s words, Jiang Xiurun was almost certain that Liang was once again employing this tactic to silently weaken Great Qi’s strength.

As for why it was happening earlier, that was easy to understand.

In her past life, Feng Liwu had lost power early, and Great Qi and Liang had not yet turned against each other.

There had also been no canal construction project.

Although the greedy state of Han had been shortsighted and failed to detect the crown prince of Great Qi’s intentions, her godgrandfather in Liang, Liu Pei, was no fool.

How could he not have sensed the hidden danger in the canal?

If he suspected that Feng Liwu had plans for war, then Liu Pei would surely employ this strategy of undermining Great Qi’s strength early on to prevent Great Qi from attacking Liang.

Having figured this out, Jiang Xiurun bit her lip and suddenly wondered: if Great Qi’s national strength were at its peak, would Liang still have annexed Bo as early as it had in her past life?

As she lost herself in thought, she looked up at Feng Liwu, who was also frowning as he gazed at the tree pits on the distant hillside—where there had once been terraced fields, now harvested and about to be turned into mulberry groves.

Jiang Xiurun knew that since she had already alerted Feng Liwu to this issue, there was no need for her to say more.

In her past life, when Liang had employed this soft strategy, the crown prince had also strongly advised against pursuing small profits at the expense of vast tracts of fertile land.

However, Emperor Duanqing had dismissed him as conservative and lacking in vision for revitalizing the nation, and thus did not heed his advice, leading to Great Qi suffering a hidden loss.

After some deep thought, Feng Liwu asked her, “If farmers also chase profit like merchants, what would happen?”

Jiang Xiurun replied softly, “The fields would lie fallow, and once the price of silk falls, the land would be littered with the bodies of the starved.”

Their conversation was overheard by the officials following the crown prince.

To be honest, they hadn’t initially considered this angle, but after hearing the crown prince and Jiang Xiurun’s discussion, their expressions immediately turned grave.

The more they thought about it, the more they realized the insidiousness of Liang’s scheme, and they couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of dread.

Especially Ji Binglin, who looked at Jiang Xiurun with even greater admiration.

He had always respected this young man as his benefactor, but now he saw that Jiang Xiurun’s foresight far surpassed his own.

In the future, if he had the chance, he would like to share a drink with Jiang Xiurun and discuss strategies for governing the country.

It would be good to get closer to him.

As for the crown prince, his far-sightedness and strategic mind made him a ruler worthy of serving.

It was Ji Binglin’s good fortune to assist such a crown prince!