The daughter of the mansion is slapped in the face every day

"But how does the princess know that the prince who will go to Daizhou must be the third prince? That Master Jiang and the third prince will definitely meet?" Nan Nan blinked, really not understanding.

Jiang Yunxi took the tea from Zhen Zhen and stroked the edge of the cup with a smile, "I guessed. This is not an easy job. Who could possibly be responsible for this?"

To put it nicely, going to Daizhou was to provide relief to the victims; to put it bluntly, it was to suffer in Daizhou on behalf of the emperor.

The people sent there by the imperial court were responsible for calming the people's emotions and requiring officials from all over the country to coordinate food and fodder and open warehouses to release grain.

As long as their behavior was not in line with the wishes of local officials and people, people would come to the capital every now and then to accuse them of incompetence.

What's more, where is the money to be made in an area that has just been hit by a disaster?

The Crown Prince and the eldest prince enjoy wealth and honor in the capital, so they don't need to go there to suffer poverty and risk their lives to earn merit.

This task will only fall into Zhao Zheyong's hands.

“But if we send Young Master Jiang to the Third Prince, wouldn’t that give him a chance to make a name for himself?” Zhen Zhen was puzzled.

"It's not that easy for Jiang Siqi to gain Zhao Zheyong's trust. Given Jiang Siqi's current status, I'm afraid he can't even meet Zhao Zheyong in person?" Jiang Yunxi turned the teacup, a gleam in her eyes.

"You must know that if you want to destroy a person, it is not enough to just kill him. You need to lift him up high, then drop him hard, and then tell him that he can never go back. Slaughter his will to make progress bit by bit. This is killing."

This is cruel, but it makes sense.

Zhen Zhen couldn't help but admire:

Our princess is indeed both capable and courageous!

After some time, Zhao Zheyong was really sent to Daizhou by Zhao Changta.

Zhen Zhen looked at her princess with even more admiration.

"By the way, tell Jiang Wanwan the news that Zhao Zheyong has left the palace. If she knew, she would be overjoyed."

Jiang Yunxi had a proper smile on her face, but her eyes revealed her full of calculations. "I heard that the governor of Juzhou loves beauties, so I sent Jiang Wanwan's portrait to him to open his eyes."

Nan Nan nodded and thought: Someone is about to get into bad luck again.

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Jiang Siqi sat in the teahouse, thinking about the beggars or robbers he met on the road. He smelled sour from not having taken a shower for a long time, and he couldn't help but shake off the goose bumps on his body.

He thought that it was impossible to go to Daizhou now.

With so many refugees migrating south, who knows how many people and food are left in Daizhou?

Will I starve to death if I return to Daizhou?

Who knows if there will be new epidemics or disasters after the flood?

Going now would mean committing suicide.

But he doesn't want to go back to the capital now.

Jiang Rang had just been stripped of his title of Duke of Zhenguo, and Jiang Siqi is no longer the Duke of Zhenguo's eldest son.

The children of the nobles in the capital are accustomed to flattering the powerful and looking down on the weak. The noble children who were originally on good terms with Jiang Siqi, who praised Jiang Siqi and boasted about Jiang Siqi, now looked at him with an expression of gloating.

It was as if their long-cherished wish had come true.

Jiang Siqi clenched his fist slightly and punched the wooden table to vent his resentment.

Those noble children also asked Jiang Siqi why Jiang Rang was stripped of his title?

Jiang Siqi certainly couldn't explain the reason.

Firstly, it was because it concerned the princess's reputation. If the news leaked out from him, he would be targeted by the emperor and resented by the empress, and it would be impossible for him to enter the officialdom again.

Secondly, this matter also concerns the reputation of Jiang Wanwan and his mother. If others knew that his family was in chaos and had such a dirty thing, they would definitely think that he was also immoral. They might even doubt whether he was Jiang Rang's biological son.

He didn't want to go back and be surrounded and questioned by everyone.

So Jiang Siqi lingered in Juzhou, neither going north nor south.

Suddenly, two people in clean clothes sat at the next table. There was no dirt on their bodies and their hands were not rough. Instead, there was a thick layer of calluses on their middle fingers. They were fanning themselves with folding fans and looked like two scholars.

"I heard that His Majesty sent the third prince to control the flood in Daizhou. Although I have never seen him, I heard that the third prince is a wise and brave man who selects talented people and employs them. He has recruited many followers under his command. Moreover, he never cares about the background of his followers. As long as they have talent, they will be recommended by him and enter the court to be used." Wang Zhangbo was full of praise for Zhao Zheyong, with a shining look in his eyes.

When Jiang Siqi heard them talking about the third prince Zhao Zheyong, he curiously moved closer to their seat and pricked up his ears to listen to their conversation.

"The Third Prince has such a virtuous reputation? Why haven't I heard of it before?" Li Zhuolu looked at Wang Zhangbo curiously, as if he had discovered some new continent.

"Well, you know what's going on in the capital. The Crown Prince is the legitimate son, and he has the support of the Queen's in-laws, the Meng family; the eldest prince is the son of Consort Xian, who is also the daughter of the aristocratic Wei family, and is favored by His Majesty. The birth of this third prince is much lower... I heard that he is the son of a palace maid that His Majesty favored after he was drunk, and that palace maid is not favored now. With such status, it is natural that he will be suppressed by the eldest prince and the Crown Prince who have backers."

"Take the Crown Prince and the eldest prince for example. Their mother's families are so prominent. If they just pick a few people from their families to serve as officials in the court, wouldn't they firmly control the court? How could they recruit talents from outside? At most, they would spend some time to win over the old people in the court to use for themselves. But they look down on talented people like us who have no family background, let alone use us?"

"Oh, yes, yes. For example, in the counties near the capital, which of them is not controlled by the clansmen of these two families? I also heard that there was a scholar with extraordinary talent who went to seek refuge with the crown prince, and the crown prince also employed him. However, the Meng family, the crown prince's mother's clan, was worried that this scholar would become powerful in the future and wanted to establish his own family to compete with the Meng family, so they squeezed him out to a county government in the south. A few years later, he contracted malaria and died. The crown prince didn't even bother to do anything. Tell me, how unlucky it would be to serve such a person."

"It seems that the Third Prince is the most worthy of serving! Brother Li, I have asked people to inquire ahead of time. The Third Prince will arrive in Juzhou soon to recuperate for a while. I have prepared a visiting card and am ready to meet the Third Prince at any time, just waiting for a chance to rise to fame. Brother Li, do you want to come with us?" Wang Zhangbo invited warmly.

"Okay, okay! Brother Wang, you have convinced me. I will prepare the visiting card now, and when the third prince arrives, I will go to meet him!" Li Zhuolu readily agreed, clasped his fists towards Wang Zhangbo, and thanked Wang Zhangbo for his reminder.

The two people laughed and talked, and slowly walked away.

After listening to what they said, Jiang Siqi squinted his eyes, thinking about something, and frowned slightly.

He thought to himself that what the two people just said was correct, and this was indeed the situation in the court today.

The Meng and Wei families held all the power in the court, each occupying half of the country. They excluded other nobles of different surnames and controlled the court. Even the nobles of different surnames who joined these two families were only assigned to marginal positions by them, and were not really valued or trusted by them. On the contrary, if they were not careful, they would be kicked away by the two families as scapegoats.