Teaming up with her mother to take revenge on the scumbags! The Crown Princess becomes the darling o

If it weren't for Haiyu's reminder, she wouldn't have thought of such a good idea. Selling it to the Crown Prince would prevent those calligraphic works from being ruined. So she took the box and headed straight for Tianbao Bank.

After she left, Twelve Sister sighed to the waiter beside her.

"We work so hard to earn a living, and His Highness has used it all to do favors—100,000 gold coins! Heaven knows what good stuff was inside!"

"Is the shopkeeper feeling sorry for you?"

"Me, feel bad? The money isn't mine. If His Highness doesn't feel bad, why should I?"

After saying that, the two laughed at each other and went back to their work.

Inside the East Palace, when Shen Song'an saw the box arrive, he didn't even open it before having it stored in his study. Hai Yu and Qiao Er couldn't help but tease him about it.

"Your Highness is truly generous."

Shen Song'an didn't even look up; after reviewing a memorial, he spoke.

"You've got quite the tricks up your sleeve when it comes to scheming against me. Hmph, I think you should just give up your position as the deputy commander of my personal guard and go report to the Ministry of Revenue. Just use this method to squeeze all the tough guys dry for me."

……

They were all incredibly shrewd. Qiao Er raised an eyebrow and glanced at Hai Yu, his face clearly saying: Serves you right for coming up with such a terrible idea!

Is this a bad idea?

It was clearly a case of one party willing to give and the other willing to receive; he was just mentioning it casually.

The two men spoke in ventriloquisms, not uttering them aloud in front of the Crown Prince. Only after the Crown Prince had finished reviewing the memorials before him did they dare to speak.

"Your Highness, preparations for the imperial mausoleum ceremony are almost complete. When do you plan to depart?"

Shen Song'an rubbed his high eyebrows, dispelling some of his fatigue, and leaned back in his chair, looking somewhat distant as he spoke.

"Let's set off on the 27th, before the anniversary of my mother's death, so I can spend some time with her."

"Yes, I will make arrangements now."

Haiyu clasped his hands in a fist salute and left, leaving Qiao Er alone in the room to continue waiting for orders.

"How is the Prince Jin's residence?"

"It's strangely quiet. Not only have there been no people, but there hasn't even been any news being sent out. I'm wondering if they have a backup plan outside? After all, the Prince Jin's heir is not in Bianzhou City. I don't know if the local officials in Hongzhou received the message we sent, or if they have imprisoned him."

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince calmly looked up and then spoke in a composed manner.

“My cousin is no fool. He probably figured the news has already been intercepted, and he can’t be found in Hongzhou right now.”

"Then why doesn't Your Highness immediately send someone to arrest them?"

"Grasp?"

The crown prince sneered, a hint of mockery appearing on his usually arrogant face.

"He's not worth my effort to spread the news. The Jin Prince's family has plenty of ways to find him. I'll see how long he can hide and run. By the end of the year at the latest, he'll be in Bianzhou begging me to save his life!"

The Crown Prince was extremely adept at using leverage against his opponent.

"The Crown Prince's plan is indeed more comprehensive."

With a wave of his hand, Shen Song'an had never been interested in such flattery. Right now, he needed to deal with the royal relatives who were gradually banding together because of the Jin Prince's Mansion case.

"Emperor Taizu had many descendants; my father had thirty-four brothers. After deducting those who died of illness, sixteen are still alive. Everyone wants to enjoy the leisure of a wealthy prince, but where are all the resources to squander? How can the common people survive? Prince Jin is not the first uncle I have dealt with, but he is the most ruthless. The other uncles are probably afraid, which is why they are conspiring to deal with me. How can I let them have their way?"

Qiao Er had been following the Crown Prince for six or seven years and had witnessed him gradually dismantle and eliminate the power of those stubborn old ministers. Even though His Majesty was still in power, more than 60% of the people in the court had actually submitted to the Crown Prince.

It can be said that the overall situation is already settled.

The only troublesome thing is these royal relatives.

Your Majesty has few offspring. Apart from the Crown Prince, there is only one surviving prince, the Sixth Prince, who is only four years old. Therefore, the Crown Prince has few rival brothers. However, due to the great succession of the founding emperor, there are countless cousins.

With each layer of exploitation going down, the people in each fiefdom were already suffering terribly.

If we don't take action against the royal family soon, I'm afraid the peace of Da Long won't last much longer. Therefore, he and Hai Yu were the first to agree with the Crown Prince's grand ambitions and were willing to do anything for him!

"Your Highness, rest assured, I will follow you to the death!"

The Crown Prince doesn't easily employ people, but once he does, he trusts them completely. Qiao Er understands this, and Hai Yu understands it too. As for Hai Jin, he will have a chance to return to the court after the Jin Prince's Mansion case is over, and the Crown Prince will entrust him with important responsibilities then!

"Go and thoroughly investigate this list. Find out the backgrounds of the individuals on it, and which princes selected them. Don't just look at the surface; investigate deeply. When I return from the imperial mausoleum, I want to see the real list."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Qiao Er took the list and examined it closely. It turned out to be a list of candidates selected from various regions for the autumn general election in a few days. He glanced through it and found no fewer than three hundred people.

This competition was no less intense than the selection of officials by the imperial court.

However, he only had one candidate in mind for the Crown Princess: He Lingyi.

When she saw her name, place of origin, family members, and who recommended her on the fourth page of the list, she pulled out that page and placed it in front of the Crown Prince, then calmly replied.

"As for the others, I will naturally investigate them thoroughly. As for Miss He, Your Highness should judge for yourself. If the great scholar He finds out that I have secretly harmed his granddaughter, I am afraid that the great scholar will scold me so badly that I will not be able to lift my head!"

Shen Song'an sometimes felt that he had been too lenient with his subordinates. They all knew how to play tricks on him. Leaning back in his chair, a chill ran down his spine. He was just about to give them a good talking-to when he saw Qiao Er run away.

Yes, they've run away.

His spirits, which had just been lifted, immediately collapsed again. He then looked at the two tall stacks of memorials on his desk, all reporting on conflicts and disasters in various places, requesting the court's support.

He wasn't stupid; of course he knew that this was the local princes deliberately putting pressure on him in order to protect their own interests. But since he had already taken action, there was no reason for him to stop. Therefore, he had never been afraid in the face of these things.

The wind passed without leaving a trace, and the list still on the table was now slightly curled at the edges.

Crown Prince Shen Song'an picked it up and read it carefully. For some reason, that beautiful figure seemed to leap off the page and become an indelible light in his heart.

However, the two of them met very few times and barely exchanged a few words.

This... must be what his mother had once described as love at first sight. So he carefully folded the list, then silently put it in his bosom, as if he were murmuring something to himself.

"Mother, if only you were still here, you would definitely like this Miss He very much."

……