The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

Chapter 1101: Consort Liu is Pregnant

Emperor Zhengde disliked Grand Secretary Liu, and consequently disliked Liu Lingxiao from a preconceived notion.

But after actually taking a nap, her appearance improved considerably. After all, Liu Lingxiao was very pretty and charming, and she was young and full of life.

So the next day, after Emperor Zhengde left, a large number of rewards were sent to Liucui Palace.

Surrounded by eunuchs, maids, and nannies congratulating her, Liu Lingxiao was in high spirits, her face flushed, like a spring flower in full bloom, indescribably beautiful.

Emperor Zhengde is only in his early twenties, and he looks very much like his mother. When he was still a prince, Liu Lingxiao, who was only thirteen years old at the time, saw him once and took a great liking to him.

However, Emperor Zhengde was already married at that time, while she was still young, so there was no chance for them to be together.

Therefore, she was willing to be sent to the palace by her family this time, even without Ling Xiao's influence.

Now that she has been made a concubine, she received a great many rewards on her first night with the emperor, which clearly shows that the Zhengde Emperor also likes her. How could she not be happy?

Compared to the original owner's happiness, Ling Xiao was quite depressed.

In order not to cause memory confusion for the original owner, he made the original owner forget his conversation with Emperor Zhengde last night, including his words about Xiao Han. In any case, Emperor Zhengde would definitely not take the initiative to mention those inexplicable words he said last night.

Emperor Zhengde was very diligent in his duties and usually only came to the inner palace at night. However, Xiao Han would definitely not show up at night, so how could he contact Xiao Han?

He could only watch as the original owner fluttered around the harem like a happy butterfly, while he, like a resentful woman in the deep palace, waited bitterly for the opportunity to meet Emperor Zhengde alone in broad daylight.

Xiao Han was completely unaware of Ling Xiao's arrival, let alone his resentment.

She watched as Emperor Zhengde, with mixed feelings, sent a large number of gifts to Liucui Palace. She could only sigh inwardly, thinking that it was for the best, at least there wouldn't be another resentful woman in the deep palace.

Although she was using the identity of Emperor Zhengde to govern the country during this assessment, she would not allow Emperor Zhengde to become a mindless puppet.

She only influenced his decisions on certain major national affairs. As for the body forging, glass manufacturing, and cement production, setting up a workshop similar to a state-owned enterprise was just something the original owner believed he had received from divine guidance in his dreams.

However, to maintain his image as a wise and imposing man, he would never mention it to anyone.

As for the original owner's private life and usual conduct, Xiao Han didn't care at all.

Even if a king with great talent and ambition has three thousand concubines, history books will not care about that.

It was at this time that Pei Xueyan, who had gone to sea, finally returned.

Pei Xueyan is indeed intelligent and lucky. This time, his voyage brought back not only gold and silver, as well as many foreign goods, but also many crop and vegetable seeds that the Great Qian Dynasty did not have.

Pei Xueyan didn't even spare some artisans with special skills; through a combination of enticement and unscrupulous means, she brought back dozens of them.

Xiao Han could only sigh that this guy's way of doing things hadn't changed at all.

However, the officials, led by Liu Hongchang, who were supporting the smuggling ring, were not happy about it.

If the imperial court makes money, how will they make money?

Therefore, these ministers pressured Emperor Zhengde to deposit the revenue into the national treasury, while simultaneously making unfounded accusations against Pei Xueyan for embezzling public funds.

Pei Xueyan stood in the imperial court, outlining the benefits of opening the seas and stating that the funds were specifically earmarked for building a powerful navy. After all, the Ministry of Revenue hadn't given him a single penny when he went on his voyages.

He was impeached for embezzling public funds, but he angrily denounced the relatives of some court officials as smugglers.

These people had no evidence that he was embezzling funds, and he couldn't catch the smuggling merchant ships. They couldn't do anything about these ministers, so all they could do was argue.

Behind them, their respective bosses, Emperor Zhengde and Grand Secretary Liu, calmly let their henchmen charge into battle, making a ruckus.

Then, Emperor Zhengde promoted Pei Xueyan to the rank of fourth-grade naval commander, in charge of recruiting and training the navy.

This navy did not receive a salary from the imperial court and was directly under the control of Emperor Zhengde, much like the emperor's private army.

Of course, the ocean shipping business must continue; otherwise, where would the money come from to support the army?

After all, state-owned enterprises haven't started making big profits yet.

Even if you make money, there are many other things a country needs to spend money on, and getting money from the national treasury to maintain the navy will be another round of wrangling.

One minister immediately submitted a memorial, stating that this was contrary to ancestral rules.

Emperor Zhengde gave a wink to one of his most loyal followers, and immediately a minister jumped out, retorting with the words: "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the emperor; on the shores of the land, all people are subjects of the emperor." Since the entire world belongs to Your Majesty, what harm is there in Your Majesty keeping a private army?

If you want to comply with the ancestral rules, you can be incorporated into the imperial army; there is enough money in the national treasury for military pay.

In fact, these ministers who opposed opening the sea were well aware that Emperor Zhengde did not want to argue with the court officials, so he simply bypassed them and used his private army to tear open a gap in the coastline to prepare for the full opening of the sea.

With Emperor Zhengde's backing, Pei Xueyan not only used the money earned from overseas trade to train his navy, but also used war to support his army, and began to frequently suppress small groups of pirates in the surrounding areas.

The spoils of war from the suppression of pirates were not to be handed over to the national treasury; instead, they were all used to build warships and arm soldiers.

Some court officials worried that once Pei Xueyan gained enough power, he might turn against the court. This argument did indeed make the original Emperor Zhengde hesitate.

In fact, Xiao Han was also worried that she would not be able to control Pei Xueyan.

But now she needs to find a force to counterbalance Chief Minister Liu, so she has no choice but to support Pei Xueyan.

Therefore, she could only influence Emperor Zhengde to put his mind at ease for the time being and allow Pei Xueyan to grow up first. Once the conditions for opening the sea were ripe, she would then transfer Pei Xueyan back to the capital.

Ling Xiao has been in the harem for half a year, but still hasn't found a chance to contact Xiao Han.

But he also understood to some extent the current situation of the Great Qian Dynasty.

The thought that Xiao Han was working tirelessly to govern a mortal kingdom while he was indulging in romantic affairs seemed a bit inappropriate.

But what if he likes Xiao Han even more because she is so intelligent and capable?

Ling Xiao was very distressed.

At this very moment, Liu Lingxiao was diagnosed with pregnancy.

This news naturally caused a huge ripple effect.

The Liu family was naturally overjoyed. Once Liu Lingxiao gave birth to a prince, even if he wasn't the legitimate heir, with the powerful Liu family as a maternal relative, it wouldn't be impossible for him to ascend the throne in the future.

Throughout history, how many examples are there of crown princes being deposed and other princes taking the throne?

This was precisely their purpose in sending Liu Lingxiao to the palace.

Emperor Zhengde, upon hearing the news, also felt conflicted. If the Liu family's ambitions were to be nipped in the bud, the best course of action would be to prevent the child from being born.

He was considering whether to hint to the Empress to intervene and cause an unexpected incident.

Anyway, if the child is lost, Chief Minister Liu won't be able to blame him.