The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 250 Aftershocks: The Crown Prince Summons Him
Tu Chengyu's actions that day were known not only to the Emperor, but also to the nobles and wealthy merchants throughout the capital.

When they heard that Prince Su was going to strictly control the disaster victims, and that even hiring disaster victims to work would require registration and reporting, they were shocked.

Those who had been eagerly waiting for the disaster victims to come and make their fortune were suddenly somewhat disarmed.

They would get together one by one, either to discuss countermeasures or to vent their frustrations.

Only a few shrewd individuals, upon learning of Prince Su's plans, were constantly scheming how to profit from this situation.

Tu Chengyu is unaware of all this yet.

After finding the woman who had been sold from Chunfeng Pavilion that day and sending her back, he went straight to the Prince An's residence.

He originally planned to continue to the south of the city the next day to improve the resettlement of the disaster victims.

But as soon as he got up in the morning, he heard Xiao Xuanzi say that someone was requesting an audience.

"Your Highness, Chief Steward Shen from the Crown Prince's residence has come to request an audience."

"Shen Ye?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Why is he here so early? Alright, bring him in."

After Xiao Xuanzi went out to call for help, Tu Chengyu finished washing up and getting dressed with Xiao Xing'er's help.

Then he came out from the back hall of Fengsheng Hall and saw Shenye standing at the entrance of Fengsheng Hall, bowing.

Before the emperor ascended the throne, Tu Chengyu had a rather favorable impression of Shen Ye.

Because this person was the crown prince's wet nurse and had always been loyal to the crown prince, he also showed little concern for Tu Chengyu out of affection for the crown prince.

However, ever since the emperor ascended the throne and the crown prince was given a separate residence.

In order to compete for power with the newcomers in the Crown Prince's residence, this guy resorted to all sorts of underhanded tactics, and even thought of using Tu Chengyu to help him eliminate his rivals.

Tu Chengyu felt extremely disgusted by these behaviors.

Despite his dislike for this person, Tu Chengyu still had to maintain appearances because this person was still working in the Crown Prince's residence.

Tu Chengyu suppressed his displeasure and looked at Shen Ye, asking:

"You came to see me so early in the morning, were you sent by the Crown Prince?"

"Your Highness, it is indeed the Crown Prince who sent me to request an audience with you."

"Why has the Crown Prince summoned you?"

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince wishes to see you, so he sent me to deliver this message."

Tu Chengyu could completely understand why the Crown Prince wanted to see him.

After all, he had caused a scene at Chunfeng Pavilion yesterday in the name of the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince heard about it, he would definitely intervene.

However, what Tu Chengyu couldn't understand was why the Crown Prince had sent someone to summon him so early.

So he asked, "When will the Crown Prince summon me?"

Shen Ye replied, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince is already waiting. Your Highness can go there now and see the Crown Prince at any time."

They've already been waiting at this time, which shows the Crown Prince got up quite early today.

Tu Chengyu asked, "Does the Crown Prince have something urgent to do today, which is why he summoned me so early?"

Shen Ye said, "Yes, Your Highness, the Crown Prince has been busy inspecting the granaries lately, leaving early and returning late every day. Even today's meeting with Your Highness was squeezed out of his schedule."

Tu Chengyu had always known that the Crown Prince was extremely busy with matters concerning the granary.

But what he didn't expect was that the Crown Prince would be so busy.

It seems I need to put more effort into the resettlement of disaster victims and share more of the burden with the Crown Prince.

Thinking of this, he said to Shen Ye:
"Since Your Highness is pressed for time, it's best not to delay. Xiao Xuanzi, quickly have a carriage prepared; I will go to see Your Highness immediately."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Xuanzi bowed and said, "Your Highness, the carriage is ready and can depart at any time."

Hearing that Xiao Xuanzi had already made preparations, Tu Chengyu nodded in satisfaction, expressing his approval of Xiao Xuanzi's work.

Without further ado, he selected a few bodyguards to accompany him and set off for the Crown Prince's residence.

Not long after, Tu Chengyu's carriage stopped at the entrance of the Crown Prince's residence.

Perhaps because it had been instructed beforehand, after Tu Chengyu came down, the people from the Crown Prince's residence did not stop him and allowed Shen Ye to lead him into the residence.

Following Shen Ye familiarly, Tu Chengyu arrived at the Crown Prince's study. After being announced, Tu Chengyu was allowed to enter.

Upon entering, Tu Chengyu saw the Crown Prince sitting behind his desk, holding snacks in one hand and a memorial in the other.

Upon seeing Tu Chengyu enter, the Crown Prince, who had been looking serious, immediately broke into a smile.

"Xiao Wu is here."

"Brother, I'm here."

"Please sit down first, and I will talk to you after I finish reading this memorial."

After the Crown Prince finished speaking, he ignored Tu Chengyu and began to read the memorials while eating snacks.

Tu Chengyu sat opposite the Crown Prince, watching the Crown Prince intently reading the memorials, and instantly felt that he had the demeanor of an emperor.

However, compared to the Emperor, the Crown Prince did not have such a powerful aura.

After sitting and waiting for a while, the Crown Prince finally finished reading the memorial.

He put down the memorial, ate the last bit of pastry in his hand, and then said:
"There are so many intricacies in such a small granary. My second brother and I are almost overwhelmed with work."

The Crown Prince's words seemed to be a monologue, or perhaps a venting of his frustration to Tu Chengyu.

After listening, Tu Chengyu said, "Brother, although the matter is important, you must also take care of your health. You seem to have lost a lot of weight."

"Really? Others say I've lost weight." Hearing that he had lost weight, the Crown Prince seemed quite pleased. "It's alright if you've lost weight. Once things are settled, you'll take a few months to recover and then you'll be back."

Hearing the Crown Prince's workaholic remarks, Tu Chengyu could only offer some advice:

"There's always more to do. With so many people under your command, it's best to delegate some less important tasks to your subordinates."

The crown prince smiled and said, "I would also like to arrange it that way, but the granary is of great importance, and I am not at ease entrusting it to others, so I can only keep a close eye on it."

Seeing the Crown Prince's resolute attitude, Tu Chengyu knew that persuasion was useless.

He could only say, "Since you're so busy, I'll keep an eye on things with the disaster victims for now. Once a large number of victims arrive, you can take over."

The prince nodded and said, "I called you here today to talk about the disaster victims."

"Brother, do you wish to inquire about what happened at Chunfeng Pavilion yesterday?" Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, the Crown Prince's smile widened, and he said:

"It seems you know very well what you've done."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu smiled sheepishly and said:

“The situation was urgent at the time, so I did some things in my elder brother’s name. I hope my elder brother won’t blame me.”

The Crown Prince said dismissively, "Let's put the blame aside for now. What I want to know is what's the deal with your order forbidding brothels from selling the children of disaster victims?"

Tu Chengyu said, "I did this to protect the disaster victims. My brother should know that people in Beijing are all ready to fleece the victims."
If the imperial court does not protect the disaster victims and allows them to act recklessly, then wouldn't all the relief efforts have been in vain?

The Crown Prince also strongly agreed with Tu Chengyu's statement.

In fact, when the Crown Prince was researching the information, he already knew how difficult it would be for the disaster victims to come to the capital.

However, he didn't have a good solution to this problem, and in order not to mess up the job, he pretended not to know anything.

However, the Crown Prince still kept these matters in mind, so when he heard that Tu Chengyu was making trouble over this matter, he wanted to call him over and ask him for clarification.

“Protecting disaster victims is certainly a good thing, but if you confine them, they won't be able to go out and work for people in the capital, and thus they won't be able to earn extra money.”

Do you know how important the money these disaster victims earned working in the capital is to them? It's crucial for whether they can buy seeds next year. You can't afford to do anything reckless.”

Hearing the Crown Prince's concerns, Tu Chengyu laughed and said, "Brother, don't worry. I've already come up with a plan to ensure that the disaster victims can earn this extra money, and even more than in previous years."

Seeing Tu Chengyu's confident demeanor, the Crown Prince asked in confusion:
"Tell me your ideas, and I'll see if it's possible."

Tu Chengyu said, "I don't have any special methods. I'll do the same as them and let the disaster victims earn money through work. However, I won't deduct any wages from the disaster victims, so they will receive more."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's suggestion, the Crown Prince was greatly disappointed.

He thought Tu Chengyu had come up with some good ideas, but it turned out to be the same old trick.

More importantly, he heard that Xiao Wu always thought about the disaster victims and never considered the people in the capital.

You have to understand that everyone does things to gain something. If you don't want people in the capital to exploit the disaster victims, then hiring disaster victims won't bring them any real benefit. Plus, with all the restrictions imposed by Xiao Wu, why would people in the capital hire disaster victims?

The Crown Prince, after thinking about it, told Tu Chengyu about his worries.

After listening, Tu Chengyu said nonchalantly:
"Brother, there's no need to worry. If the people in the capital don't want to hire disaster victims, then they don't have to. When the time comes, let the imperial court step in and hire disaster victims to do the work. Wouldn't that be the same thing?"

"Should the imperial court hire disaster victims?" The crown prince hesitated for a moment.

This was something that had never happened before. However, after careful consideration, the Crown Prince thought it might be feasible.

“That would work, but the imperial court doesn’t have that many jobs to keep making disaster victims do.”

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu confidently replied, "Brother, there's no need to worry. While other jobs may be hard to find, finding work is certainly not difficult. In such a large city as the capital, it's always easy to arrange some work."

Having come from the future, Tu Chengyu clearly understands that talent is the primary productive force.

With people around, there's nothing we can't do.

To others, these tens of thousands of disaster victims were a burden, but to Tu Chengyu, they were all valuable laborers.

Its quality is no less than that of the 996 work schedule of later generations.

The key point is that these disaster victims are much more obedient than cattle and horses, and they are also much cheaper.

If these disaster victims weren't all going back home next year, Tu Chengyu would have loved to keep them and use them indefinitely.

Hearing Tu Chengyu's confident answer, the Crown Prince still had doubts, but he decided not to voice them for the time being.

He wanted to wait and see how things went with Xiao Wu for a while before making a decision.

If the result is good, he will not interfere and will let Xiao Wu continue to do it.

If the outcome is not ideal, he will step in to mediate and make arrangements according to his past experience.

Having made up his mind, the crown prince said:

"Since you're so confident, then go ahead and do as you wish. But in the future, if there's anything important, you must let me know in advance. Don't keep me in the dark like you did yesterday at Chunfeng Pavilion. People came to plead for me, and I had no idea what was going on."

Bringing up the old story again, Tu Chengyu was still quite embarrassed, and he quickly said:
"Don't worry, brother. I'll definitely let you know in advance if there's anything important. Oh, by the way, brother, there's something I need your help with right now."

"whats the matter?"

"It's about the work-for-relief program I just mentioned. Since the government is going to hire disaster victims, we need to think ahead and prepare what kind of work they will do, otherwise we'll be in a real mess when the time comes."

Therefore, I would like to ask my elder brother to submit a memorial to the throne, explaining the matter clearly and completely, so that the Emperor and the court officials can choose what to do.

This task certainly requires advance preparation, but the Crown Prince did not immediately agree. Instead, he asked:

"You came up with the idea, and you're also responsible for carrying it out, so why don't you submit your own memorial to the emperor?"

Tu Chengyu said, "Brother, I would like to submit a memorial myself, but in the task of resettling disaster victims, I am only responsible for their safety. If I submit a memorial to say these things, wouldn't that be overstepping my bounds and making things difficult for you?"

Besides, if I were to submit a memorial to the throne, the court officials would certainly not take it seriously; they would find more excuses to avoid doing so.

The elder brother also knew that it wasn't just the people of the capital who wanted to squeeze money out of the disaster victims; many officials were doing it too.

Therefore, only if the eldest brother submits a memorial in his capacity as the Crown Prince will it attract sufficient attention, and those who secretly intend to cause trouble will not dare to act so openly.

That's not wrong; the title of Crown Prince is indeed better.

But the crown prince still reluctantly said:
"But in that case, wouldn't no one know about your contributions?"

Upon hearing the Crown Prince's words, Tu Chengyu smiled and said:

"Brother, you should know me. I have never cared about these empty titles, nor do I care what the court officials think of me."

As long as my father and elder brother know what I've done, I don't need those empty titles.

If Tu Chengyu cared about empty titles, he wouldn't have gone to Chunfeng Pavilion, a brothel, to cause a scene while bearing the title of prince.

He wouldn't try to shield the disaster victims from all sorts of dangers, even under pressure from various parts of the capital.

What he's thinking about now is to use his status as a prince to do some useful things in a down-to-earth manner.

And incidentally, help the crown prince consolidate his throne.

Then, when the crown prince ascends the throne in the future, he will retire gloriously and become a wealthy and leisurely prince who enjoys pleasure all day long.

The Crown Prince was deeply moved by Tu Chengyu's words.

He knew that Xiao Wu's words made some sense, but ultimately, he was still the one who benefited.

However, for now, he can only keep this feeling of gratitude in his heart and repay it later.

(End of this chapter)