Chapter 377 - 377: Negotiator
The Emperor had been listening to nonsense all morning and lacked good news to wash his ears. “Please speak, Premier Shen.”
Premier Shen cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, do you know that the girl from the Xiao Family is also in the border city?”
Some time ago, he heard that the Emperor nodded. “I also heard that she has nothing to do there and is farming.”
Children were insensible. They thought that farming was just digging a pit and burying the soil.
Official Xie also decisively started to mock, “Ha, this Xiao Family girl is too ignorant. If she could plant something at the border, would she have given us such a headache?”
“The child is insensible. Could it be that the adults there are also insensible and let her fool around?”
“What is the situation now? Why is she still wasting the people’s money…” You guys talk too much. Premier Shen said calmly and clearly, “She successfully planted it.”
“I knew it. Of course she… She what? P-Planted it? Planted what?”
Official Xie was clearly frightened. His last sentence broke.
Premier Shen liked to see them shocked. At this moment, he had already chosen to forget his own reaction when he saw the watermelon and told the Emperor calmly.
“That’s right. That girl is really capable. She actually planted crops in the border city, and they’re melons and fruits that are full of water. A few days ago, she asked the Li Family’s caravan to bring a few back. The taste was very sweet.”
The Emperor’s gaze landed on him, and Official Xie reacted even faster. “Impossible!”
Premier Shen rolled his eyes. “I knew that ignorant people like you wouldn’t be able to understand things that exceed your understanding, so when I came to the court today, I specially brought one. Your Majesty, I…”
The Emperor waved his hand. “Bring it up.”
This was the first time the green-skinned striped watermelon had appeared in front of the Emperor. The melon was not nervous, but the Emperor was very excited. In order not to lose his dignity in front of the officials, he suppressed his curiosity and asked Eunuch De to cut the watermelon.
As the knife landed, the bright red flesh and black seeds immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
Premier Shen was the first to cut a large piece for himself. He opened his mouth and bit it. After moving his mouth a few times, he spat out the melon seeds.
“Xiaoxiao said that this is a seed and it’s best not to swallow it.”
As he spoke, the fragrance of melons filled the air.
A melon that was not very big was instantly divided up. For the sake of his face, the Emperor only took a small bite and was a little unsatisfied. Fortunately, after the court assembly, Eunuch De told him that Premier Shen had not left and said that he had something to give to His Majesty.
The Emperor got into position and let them in. When he saw the melon in Premier Shen’s arms that was obviously bigger than the one just now, he was in a good mood. A senior statesman was indeed a senior statesman. He was sensible!
“Your Majesty, not only did Xiaoxiao plant these fruits, but she also planted potatoes, peanuts, and other crops on the land she modified. There are also some fruits and trees that will take a few more days to ripen.”
The Emperor held the melon and was very curious. “I’ve never seen this before. Where did she get it?”
“This girl resembles her mother. Xiao Ran used to like to collect all kinds of strange things. She was even more so than Xiao Ran. She liked to collect seeds that she didn’t know and plant them for fun. It’s said that when she was still in Fortune Village, she would seize the opportunity to run to Dayan Mountain from time to time, scaring her adoptive parents…”
“As for those common peanuts and potatoes, that girl seems to have been modified and fattened up a field to grow them. Seeing that it’s effective, she plans to continue trying.”
The Emperor nodded. “It’s a pity that she only planted a small area after months of hard work.”
Premier Shen did not think so. “Your Majesty, a spark can set a prairie ablaze Moreover, even if it’s a little slower, it’s better than doing nothing. At least this success has given many people hope.”
Seeing that it was about time, Premier Shen said, “Your Majesty, look, watermelons can grow at the border. They might really be able to grow food in the future. The problem of food in the border city will no longer be a problem.” “In addition to that new rice seed, we can beat back any foreign invaders in the future!”
The Emperor glanced at him and did not say anything. Premier Shen continued, “Now that the problem of food has been resolved, what’s left is weapons. Speaking of weapons, our Great Xia doesn’t have much iron ore, but… Xiongnu has a lot.”
The Emperor’s gaze became more and more weird. Premier Shen continued unhurriedly, “If Xiongnu was only forced out of the border city, he might just admit defeat and be punished. However, they have now been conquered by the Third Prince. Now, they are begging for peace, but they…”
“If the Third Prince doesn’t force Xiongnu to this extent this time, even if there are outputs at the border in the future, they will still be obtained by Xiongnu. Moreover, Xiongnu is ambitious and definitely won’t behave themselves. The more time they are given, the harder they will be to deal with. Why don’t we take this opportunity to take their mines…”
The Emperor was surprised. “They’re willing?”
Premier Shen smiled like an old fox. “That depends on the ability of the negotiator.”
The Emperor asked, “Looks like there’s someone Premier Shen wants to recommend?”
Premier Shen nodded and said, “Lu Chen.”
The Emperor did not spend too much time recalling this name. He had praised this person’s knowledge and eloquence. Thinking back, even he had been rendered speechless by Lu Chen. It was time to let the Xiongnu people see it.
However, after Premier Shen left, he said to Eunuch De meaningfully, “Guess, is Premier Shen just giving me ideas, or is he trying to speak up for Third Prince?”
After asking for a long time, there was no response. He turned around and saw that this old thing was pretending to be deaf and mute again.
The Emperor was angry and amused. He picked up a memorandum that criticized Rong Yan from the table and smashed it.
“Who asked you to pretend!”
Of course, the previous news quickly reached the Empress’s ears. Unlike most people, the first thing she noticed was Xiaoxiao’s name.
“This girl sure knows how to stir up trouble. Although she’s digging for food in the fields, she has made another huge contribution to His Majesty.”
The Empress calculated. “Xiao Ran is also very lucky. She can actually recover from such serious old injuries. I’m afraid she will continue to be valued by His Majesty in the future. Although she doesn’t have any other abilities other than hghtmg, her name is very useful in the army. Didn’t you see that Third Prince, who went to the border without a reputation, is quite respected now? He simply benefited from Xiao Ran.”
“The army is filled with brainless hooligans. They don’t know how to respect my son, the Crown Prince and are making things difficult for him. Instead, they are trying to please an unfavored prince raised by Xiao Ran.” “Father, have you seen the letter my son sent back? If that Clairvoyant is really so magical, the Xiao Family’s girl will be unstoppable even if she grew up in the countryside. If my son can marry her…”
Prime Minister Yan felt that his daughter was also amazing. Every time she spoke, he felt that she was talking nonsense, but her nonsense seemed to make sense. For example, it was beneficial to the Crown Prince to marry Xiao Ning, especially when it came to fighting for military power.
He could not be bothered to correct the inappropriate things in her words one by one. He only asked, “But isn’t the Crown Prince unwilling to marry her?” The Empress waved the letter in her hand. “My son has changed his mind..”