zChapter 1028 - Invitation (1/2)
The Imperial Palace was in lock-down. Other than opening up during morning court session, there were no other summons during the rest of the day, and no one was allowed to enter. For the ministers who have ended the morning court session, those who have duties would handle them at the Administration Hall. For those who do not, as long as they leave the palace gates, they could forget about returning to the palace that day. Even the princes were no exception, seeing their Imperial Concubine Mothers in the harem could only be a fantasy.
For these things, Xuan Tianyi have already heard about them on the way back to the capital, but he did not believe them at all. Based on what he understood about the Emperor, this was impossible. With that Emperor’s personality, he was anxious for his sons to enter the palace to see him the whole day. Though he had good sons, bad sons, and all of them had their own secrets, as a parent, he looked forward to having a harmonious family and was happiest seeing his children and grandchildren gathered together. Therefore, Xuan Tianyi ignored his servants’ reports about the Imperial Palace and rode straight for Deyang Gate on his horse.
However, the palace gate which was tightly shut during the day stopped him in his tracks outside of the Imperial Palace.
With the deep frown, Xuan Tianyi looked at the large doors in front of him. Sitting on his horse, he listened to the announcement made by the palace guard below him: “The hours of the morning court session is over, the lock-down of the palace has begun. If Fourth Prince wishes to enter the palace, please enter tomorrow morning during the morning court session.”
He looked down at those palace guards. They were unfamiliar faces and looked very arrogant, acting as if they were better than him, a prince. In fact, after saying these words, another palace guard added on: “Fourth Prince, please go back!”
He flared up and really wanted to copy Xuan Tianming, waving his whip to deliver a lashing to these worthless idiots. Unfortunately, he did not have Xuan Tianming’s level of power. He never did in the past, and it was even more so now. He was still a prince, but he lost his right to the throne. In addition to his dark history of participating in Old Third’s overthrowing of the Emperor, his position in the capital had dropped drastically. If not for the fact that he had a big heart, he would have died a long time ago.
But in the end, there were some questions he could not hold in, he asked the two palace guards: “Why is there a palace lock-down? Who issued this order?”
One of them said: “Answering Fourth Prince, the order for the palace lock-down was issued by the Emperor. As for the reason, please forgive this servant for not daring to question the imperial order.”
“Imperial Order?” Xuan Tianyi scoffed coldly, “I’m afraid it’s not an Imperial Order, but the intentions of your Master?”
The palace guard replied smoothly: “This Servant guards the palace, the Emperor would be our Master, this is naturally the intentions of the Emperor.”
“Hmph!” Xuan Tianyi did not plan to say any more to these servants, flicked his horsewhip and left while kicking up some snow: “Forget it, I’ll come again tomorrow.”
Staring at Xuan Tianyi’s horse running off into the distance, the two palace guards guarding the gate looked at each other and saw scorn in each other’s eyes. One of them said: “He is just a prince stripped of his power, how can he come here and act so high and mighty?”
The other people followed suit and said: “That’s right, did he think that we would forget about him carrying out a rebellion?”
Xuan Tianyi’s horse ran further and further away and only stopped when it reached the gate of Ping Palace. It was only during this moment did the worries he had on his way back to the capital peaked to its maximum. Instinct told him that changes will be occurring in the palace, and this unforeseen event this time would continue to the point of no return. He suddenly had some regrets about returning to the capital. If he knew things would be like this, he would do everything to keep that girl Xiangrong in Ji An Prefecture. Living happily over there was always better than being involved in this disturbance. That girl was Feng Yuheng’s younger sister and Feng Yuheng was married to Old Ninth. He felt that this matter would implicate a large number of people sooner or later and even Xiangrong would not be spared.
“This won’t do, I will convince that girl to go back tomorrow!” Xuan Tianyi mumbled, and at the same time, he said in self-mockery: “I am a prince who has been stripped of the right to the throne, what else can I do in the capital? I don’t even have a valid reason to attend morning court sessions.”
In Yu Palace, Xuan Tianming had not returned. Xiangrong was currently talking about Ji An Prefecture, she told Feng Yuheng: “Ever since the Sixth Prince left, the major issues are being handled by Prefect Qian. For the smaller and miscellaneous matters, Mother and I will make the decision. Ji An Prefecture is developing well right now, looking much better than Yu Prefecture and Hai Prefecture. Prefect Qian always said that after being an official for so many years, he could not match up to Princess Ji An who lived here for a short few months. He said that he had never seen such good management like what was being done in Ji An Prefecture in his whole life. Especially those public horse carriages making it very convenient for people to travel between counties. And because the price is reasonable, the many people who do not have enough money to rent a horse carriage but wish to visit their relatives and friends can occasionally come out and travel.”
Xiangrong was excited when she spoke, from public horse carriages, she talked about the governance in Ji An Prefecture, and even talked about the school opened by the Sixth Prince, as well as the Hundred Herb Hall and the jade mine, all of them were flourishing. In the end, she concluded: “I have always lived in the capital and felt that the outside were all lands belonging to barbarians and they would not flourish as well as the capital. But after Ji An Prefecture, I feel that compared to the capital, Ji An Prefecture is the best place in Da Shun. Right now everyone’s hearts are united in the same direction and are motivated towards the same place, everyone hopes that the prefecture can improve and become better developed. Second Sister, when can you return? Everyone misses you.”
Listening to Xiangrong talk about Ji An Prefecture, Feng Yuheng also felt excited. It could be said that developing Ji An Prefecture was an experiment carried out in Da Shun based on the structure of society in the future era. Ji An Prefecture’s success allowed her to see some hope, when this method of governance spreads further one day, it would be truly bringing benefits to the people. But, would that day really come? Thinking about the current political situation, she could not help but feel melancholic.