The little princess' mind was read, and the court and harem were eating melons

The prince paused for a moment before saying, "After investigation, most of the facts are consistent. The testimony submitted by Hu Ping'an cannot be said to be wrong. The only discrepancy is that Hu Ping'an believes that Jia Youming is colluding with Japan, but that is not the case."

The Crown Prince: "In fact, Jia Youming was trading with the Japanese on the surface, but in fact... well, he arranged for someone to steal the grain seeds from Hu Ping'an in front of the Japanese, and then he did pack the grain seeds and sell them to the Japanese, but he turned around and secretly replaced the boxes after the Japanese left Henan."

"What the Japanese brought back was... a box of soil."

Li Qingyi: "..."

Queen: "In that case, what about the divine seed?"

Prince: "After the divine seed was exchanged back, Jia Youming turned around and sold it to a wealthy businessman from Jiangnan at a high price. The businessman wanted to buy it from Hu Ping'an at first, at a price of one ounce of gold per pound of divine seed, but after Hu Ping'an talked to him once, the two broke up."

"Then the wealthy businessman found Jia Youming through some people. It just so happened that Jia Youming also had connections with the Japanese, so this business benefited both sides."

Queen: "...From this perspective, it is true that Jia Youming has connections with the Japanese, but it is a mistake to say that he is on the side of the Japanese."

It would be better to say that Jia Youming actually cheated the Japanese.

But this does not mean that Jia Youming is fine.

First, he did steal Hu Ping'an's sweet potatoes. Although the emperor did not issue a direct order, after all, Hu Ping'an had been planting them in the local area for several years and had achieved some results in promotion. If an order was issued at this time to prohibit others from planting sweet potatoes, it would be putting the cart before the horse.

However, the fact that the emperor did not issue an edict is one thing. As an official, you not only did not properly assist the planting team sent from the capital to study the planting of sweet potatoes, but you also stole their seeds to make money. This is two crimes.

One is stealing, the other is taking bribes.

Not to mention that during this operation, Jia Youming also violated other regulations, big and small, to a greater or lesser extent.

Second, the charges against Jia Youming, including disregard for human life, corruption, bribery, and dereliction of duty, were also confirmed to be true.

In this case, Jia Youming would have avoided the charge of treason, and his fate would have changed from dying with his entire family to not having to die.

Li Qingyi asked at this time: "How did the Japanese know about the red and divine species?"

The prince said: "Regarding this matter, I was also a little curious when I heard about it, so I asked someone to investigate it carefully. However, there will be no results in a short time, so it may take some time."

It is possible that nothing can be found out, after all, the Japanese are on the island and it is sometimes not so convenient to transmit information.

Li Qingyi said "oh" and nodded.

She originally wanted to ask about Hu Ping'an?

But when the words came to his lips, he remembered that Wang Xuan had mentioned it several times before, suggesting that since everyone had a place for private chats, there was no need to make everyone's relationship with Li Qingyi public.

So, he swallowed the words that came to his lips.

Fortunately, she didn't ask, and the emperor spoke up at this time: "In this matter, Hu Ping'an has suffered an unprovoked disaster. He has made contributions, but I want to wait until the yield and planting method of the divine seed are determined, and then we will reward him for his contributions, so I put this matter aside for the time being."

"I thought that after the Yang family was dealt with, the Hu family would live in Qingshan County and would not encounter any troubles there. Besides, there are other officials there... Well, even if I don't reward him this time, I have to compensate him first, so that he won't feel wronged and give up on this matter."

The emperor asked the queen, "What do you think I should do to reward Hu Ping'an?"

If one dares to ask, the other will dare to answer.

The Queen smiled and said, "Since the Emperor has asked, I will tell you my humble opinion."

Li Qingyi listened to the Queen beginning to analyze some information about Hu Ping'an and the Hu family in Qingshan County, but she did not tell the result immediately. As she listened, her thoughts drifted away.

Li Qingyi: Ah, so now Hu Ping'an only has two things left, right? I can't interfere with his own marriage, and there's no need to interfere. The other thing is...

When he came to his senses, he heard the queen say, "...Why not give him a few good guards in the name of protecting meritorious officials? In this way, even if Hu Ping'an is still a commoner for the time being, those officials will not dare to look down on him, and similar things will not happen again."

To put it bluntly, Jia Youming simply did not take Hu Ping'an and his achievements seriously. He might have treated Hu Ping'an the same as those ordinary farmers, thinking that since he was an official, he could be manipulated at will.

This is not to say that ordinary farmers are inferior to others, it's just that this is the way the world is.

Li Qingyi thought the Queen's idea was a good one.

Like this time, if it weren't for the Qingyi Guards helping behind the scenes, it's not certain whether Hu Ping'an would be able to appear in the capital safely.

But the Qingyi Guards are the Qingyi Guards, they are the knife in the emperor's hand. This time they just happened to encounter him. In the future, the Qingyi Guards will have to continue to work for the emperor. It is impossible for them to stay in Qingshan County forever, right?

Unless the emperor gives a direct order to separate a few people from the Qingyi Guards and place them directly beside Hu Ping'an.

But the question arises again, the Qingyi Guards are secret guards!

For some people, the existence of the secret guards is very threatening, but for most people who cannot see the existence of the secret guards at all, they are not threatening at all.

It would be better for the emperor to directly arrange a few guards to protect Hu Ping'an openly, which would also be a deterrent.

The emperor turned to look at the prince: "Prince, what do you think?"

The prince thought there was nothing wrong with this idea.

The prince said, "What the queen mother said makes sense. However, father, I remember that the Hu family only seems to have some assets in Qingshan County. It's fine to raise ordinary servants, but if they want to raise guards, the money..."

Emperor: “Well, that’s a problem.”

Nowadays, not to mention those fancy moves, even for those who practice martial arts seriously, the daily food alone is a considerable expense for ordinary people.

Of course, the Hu family should be able to afford to provide them with food, but maintaining guards is not just about providing them with enough food.

The emperor quickly said, "How about this, before we give out rewards, I will pay for Hu Ping'an's guard expenses."

Hearing this, Li Qingyi subconsciously looked up at the emperor.

The emperor didn't notice, and stroked his chin and said, "It just so happens that my private treasury has started to be full recently, and the tax revenue of the national treasury this year also looks good. It's just a few guards, we can afford it."

For some reason, Li Qingyi thought of the seventh princess.

Well, because the emperor himself didn’t have much money before, the seven princesses had to support their own guards.