Chapter 51 She'll build the momentum of the Nine Provinces.
Xie Lanzhi received a sheepskin bag wrapped in gold thread. When she opened it, she found some gilded trinkets, including the twelve zodiac animal trinkets.
There was also a scarf of deep reddish gold. The scarf was woven from the finest cotton thread.
Xie Lanzhi touched it and felt that it was as soft and smooth as the fur of modern luxury goods. It looked like something very precious.
Xie Shangguang's eyes were filled with envy, almost popping out of their sockets.
Xie Lanzhi put the scarf back and couldn't help but ask, "Is this a gift from the little princess to this handsome man?"
"Yes, she said she wanted to thank you for saving her life." Xie Shangguang's eyes darted around. "Please make sure you get it to me, young man."
He also casually touched the scarf.
Xie Lanzhi saw that the boy seemed to really like the gifts, and she wanted to give them to him, but it seemed impolite to pass on gifts given by others.
She accepted it and had the palace servants put it in the storeroom.
Xie Shangguang watched longingly as the gift that should have been his was left in the marshal's storeroom.
He immediately looked up at Xie Lanzhi and said, "Marshal, aren't you going to wear it? This is a token of the little princess's affection."
Xie Lanzhi had no time to wear it; she still had to take care of Little Phoenix and help her with the affairs of Jiujin.
The thought that she had only brought home a little princess made the phoenix at home extremely jealous, so she dared not wear someone else's scarf.
She became increasingly speechless: "I just brought her back."
Thinking of the real culprit who saved the little princess, she clenched her fists, making a cracking sound: "If I find out who threw someone onto the shore halfway through a rescue, I'll make sure they regret it!"
Xie Shangguang trembled: "..."
"Marshal, I still have patrols to do, I'm off!" He took off running in a flash, quickly disappearing from Xie Lanzhi's sight.
Xie Lanzhi couldn't help but frown: "There's something strange about this kid."
But I don't have time to ask him now, I'll talk about it later.
Xie Lanzhi returned to the palace and put the Ebai pendant on her waist. The palace servants outside the palace hurriedly came to inform her.
"Reporting to the Marshal, Her Highness the Princess has sent word through me that you should stay in the palace today, and that she will handle her own affairs."
"Hmm." Xie Lanzhi pulled Ebai out and put it back on the sword rack.
It seems Little Phoenix is confident in handling this.
She will wait here!
During this time, Xie Lanzhi had tea brewed and immediately set up a barbecue grill in the square outside the palace, where she was grilling meat all by herself.
A figure lurked furtively behind a pillar, its gaze constantly fixed on Xie Lanzhi. It dared not approach, merely observing.
Since Xie Lanzhi began using her internal energy, her hearing has become more sensitive, and she feels that someone is constantly watching her.
Thinking it was some kind of sentry, she flung the barbecue skewer at it, and it stuck into the red pillar, scaring the little princess so much that she screamed, "The marshal is me!"
Xie Lanzhi turned her head and saw Yelü Qiqi running quickly towards her. She asked with a puzzled look, "Are you better from your cold?"
"Mmm...mmm." Yelü Qiqi's cheeks were flushed. She moved a stool over and sat down next to Xie Lanzhi, watching the meat sizzling on the grill. She swallowed hard and said, "It smells so good~~."
Xie Lanzhi used tweezers to place the roasted meat on a plate and handed it to her, saying, "Didn't you have breakfast? You can have this."
"Thank you, Marshal!" Yelü Qiqi picked up her chopsticks and ate the roasted meat. After finishing, her cheeks were puffed out and her eyes were sparkling. "It's so delicious! Marshal, the meat you roasted is even better than my mother's!"
Xie Lanzhi was a little stunned by the sudden praise.
"oh."
She baked a few more slices for her, and the little princess ate them with great satisfaction, but she had a hamster-like belly and was full in no time.
The little princess got up and patted her belly. She took out the wine pouch from her waist and handed it to Xie Lanzhi: "The Marshal seems to really like drinking. I have some goat milk wine here. Would you like to try some?"
"Wine? Or milk wine?" Xie Lanzhi immediately took it. It wasn't that she was a heavy drinker, but ancient wine was similar to modern beverages. One sip and it tasted very familiar, like milk beer.
Xie Lanzhi immediately picked up the wine bowl and drank heartily.
Bowl after bowl. Yelü Qiqi sat beside her, her chin resting on her hand as she stared at Xie Lanzhi, her eyes darting around as she scrutinized her.
The legendary Southern Demon God turned out to be a friendly older sister who smiled broadly at the sight of alcohol. Rumors really can't be trusted.
She was also tall, not quite towering over the burly men of the Northern Region, but she was slender and well-proportioned, and her chest... Yelü Qiqi still remembered being held in her arms, the armor cold and icy, yet she gently cradled her.
Just like... my late mother.
The marshal didn't feel like a father to her; he felt more like a mother. After Xie Lanzhi drank half of the milk wine, Yelü Qiqi's eyes gradually became hazy. The marshal's eyes were very beautiful, but his appearance was full of ferocity—the aura of a tyrant.
Yelü Qiqi moved a stool closer to Xie Lanzhi. Smelling the strong aroma of milk wine, she felt slightly tipsy, as if she were drunk. Then, she couldn't help but lean her head on Xie Lanzhi's shoulder.
Xie Lanzhi felt a weight on her right arm and realized that the little princess was leaning against her with her eyes closed.
She touched her forehead: "Is your cold still not better?"
Yelü Qiqi was startled by her sudden touch, and she immediately jumped up, her face burning red. She quickly turned her back and said, "I'm sorry, Marshal, I was rude!"
"I'm going back!" She left as quickly as the wind.
Xie Lanzhi's hand, which had been hovering in mid-air, paused. She said speechlessly, "Why are they all acting so strangely today?"
Little Phoenix knows what's going on, but Shang Guang and the little princess are quite strange.
She was unaware that news of her having a barbecue with the little princess had reached Si Xitong's ears.
Si Xitong was dealing with the rebellion of the Right Chancellor and others at the government office. She had just found more than a dozen official documents in the Right Chancellor's courtyard, which were full of statements about the Right Chancellor being superior and should take precedence over the eldest son.
They had their eyes on Si Xinian. They even prepared a list of potential defectors and sent it to Si Xinian, but Si Xinian refused without hesitation.
The Right Chancellor was still not giving up, so he came up with another insidious trick to sow discord between Si Xitong and her brother.
The Right Chancellor belonged to the radical faction within this group, attempting to demonstrate that a woman as emperor lacked the necessary resolve by assassinating her, but his plan ultimately failed. There was also a more moderate faction whose primary objective was Si Xinian, but their true intention was to secretly leverage Si Xitong's influence to win over Si Xinian's forces.
All of them are based on the year of Sixi.
Si Xitong's expression was cold. She burned all the official documents and summoned anyone Jiu Jin could use. Li Ling's son, Li Jin, came over.
Li Jin is currently a county magistrate in Jiu Jin, in charge of a border county, and is a trusted confidant of Si Xi Tong.
Li Jin happened to enter the mansion and saw that his master had burned all the official documents.
“Your Highness, all of the Right Chancellor’s protégés have been exiled to farmland to work for the people,” Li Jin said, bowing. “However, these people are still spreading rumors and causing trouble and refuse to shut up.”
Si Xitong had long guessed that if it were Lan Zhi, she would have plenty of ways to deal with these corrupt scholars who couldn't see the bigger picture and were trying to save face.
She said, "Li Jin, the momentum of Jiu Jin is overwhelming; it cannot be stopped by killing or punishing them."
"I suspect that this momentum started as soon as Jiu Jin returned, and someone was secretly using these people to create momentum for Qinian. They are naturally dissatisfied with me, believing that I am just experiencing a moment of good fortune and that's why I've overshadowed Qinian."
Upon hearing this, Li Jin was immediately startled: "Your Highness, the peace and prosperity of Jiujin was brought about by your governance. How can we allow this achievement to be transferred to the Fourth Prince?"
He immediately knelt down and pleaded, "Your Highness, please take measures as soon as possible to avoid harming your interests."
The measures Li Jin mentioned were to start with Si Xinian.
Si Xitong narrowed her eyes: "You think so too, that Qi Nian must be a formidable opponent for me?"
Li Jin bowed his head and said, "Since my father and I pledged our allegiance to you, Your Highness, we have entrusted the fate of our family to you. Therefore, the Li family must be cautious about any factors that are unfavorable to Your Highness."
"Is that so?" Si Xitong did not give a clear answer.
She said, "Since those people cannot be killed, then let them live. My brother is not as covetous of the throne as you think."
If it were the old her, she would have prioritized her younger brother and supported him. But now, her heart is no longer the same. When she looks at that person's back, she always feels a sense of awe and longing. Although he is very close to her, he is also very far away.
This is the gap between ideal and reality.
She disliked the feeling of being abandoned by Lanzhi. She wanted to stay by her side through thick and thin, and even wanted to walk the same path as her. And now, the fastest shortcut was...
It is... just like the phoenix she spoke of!
Si Xitong issued an order: "Scholars all value reputation. Since they know how to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, I will simply follow their example. Learn from their strengths to improve our skills."
Li Jin asked, "What does Your Highness mean?"
Si Xitong smiled faintly, clearly in control: "Use the same methods the Right Chancellor used to incite his students back on them."
Soon, a new wave of public opinion swept through Shanxi.
The campaign, initiated by the common people against the scholars of Shanxi, began with verbal attacks and written criticism. However, this criticism wasn't written, but rather pointed and pointed at.
The scholars of Shanxi, as usual, wanted to enter the libraries that were open to them free of charge to discuss national affairs, but unexpectedly, things did not go as smoothly as they had in the past.
Whenever a scholar tries to enter a teahouse or bookstore, he will be stopped, questioned, or even pointed at by ordinary people who are squatting on the street buying vegetables.
"Look, they're plotting against Her Highness the Princess again?"
"I heard they want to enthrone the Fourth Prince this time, but what has the Fourth Prince done? Does he have any household registration documents to issue to us?"
"I heard that these scholars look down on Her Highness the Princess because the Fourth Prince is a son."
"Isn't this like eating the princess's rice and then throwing it away?"
"Pah, a bunch of traitors. Aren't they born of mothers? How dare they look down on women."
"I think they were involved in the assassination of the princess!"
The literati of Jin were easy to distinguish because they wore long robes and hats, unlike the common people who wore short clothes for easier work. So the difference was immediately apparent.
The intellectuals, repeatedly criticized by ordinary people when they went out, began to stay indoors to avoid being mistakenly harmed.
Some, still determined to have a gathering, wore shorts and short jackets, only to have their idle hands exposed.
Soon, a street song satirizing the literati of Shanxi spread throughout the city: "Scholars read books in vain, they don't know the five grains or the difference between diligence, they have nothing to do but wait to defecate after eating, and when trouble comes, they roll up their sleeves and rebel against the emperor's daughter."
Simple and easy to understand, a trend against scholars is sweeping through Jiu Jin.
First, the common people of Shanxi pointed fingers at the scholars; then, teahouses and bookstores began to close their doors; next, the yamen runners refused to deliver grain to the scholars, telling them to take it themselves.
When the scholars saw that the rice hadn't arrived, they went to collect it themselves. As a result, when they went to collect the grain, the yamen runners spoke extremely rudely, almost cursing their ancestors for eighteen generations.
Scholars are naturally concerned with saving face, and many simply refused to collect the rice. After going hungry for several days without rice to cook, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and go.
At this point, the scholars, their stomachs growling with hunger, had no mind to think about any important matters of state. They just wanted to get their rice home and eat their fill as quickly as possible.
Upon arriving at the government office, the scholars were informed of the new decree of Shanxi: due to the food shortage, for the sake of the people of Shanxi, they would only be allowed two bowls of porridge a day for the next month until the beginning of spring.
Even the meals served in the Ziguang Palace were made public by the palace staff.