After hearing Xiao Xiang's words, Xiao Yuan immediately stood up and poured the wine in his glass on the ground. Seeing this, everyone present also stood up and followed suit.
Xiao Xiang sat down again, picked up the second glass of wine, and said to Xiao Yuan and the princes: "This time, I would like to thank the second brother Wang and all the princes for their help. Without your help, I am afraid that the court will try to calm down
The Hong Yuetian Rebellion will also take a lot of effort!"
Xiao Yuan and the princes hurriedly picked up the wine glasses and said with a smile: "Xiangmei, the whole family doesn't have to talk to each other anymore!" "Yes, Your Highness the Princess is too polite."
Xiao Xiang looked up and smiled and said, "Fuck it!"
"Dry!"
Everyone drank all the wine in the cup. Putting down the cup, Xiao Xiang suddenly remembered something, and said to Xiao Yuan and the princes with a smile: "By the way, I have another gift for you." As she spoke, she raised her head.
He raised his hand and slapped her twice.
Soon, a guard approached from outside, holding a square brocade box in his hand.
The guard walked up to Xiao Xiang, then put the brocade box on the table, bowed and retreated. With a smile on his face, Xiao Xiang patted the lid of the brocade box, looked at the princes, and asked with a smile: "Every prince
Do you know what's in it?"
Naturally, what Xiao Xiang could show off in public must be a rare treasure. The princes were all smiling and guessing, but Xiao Xiang always shook his head, saying that none of them were right.
Finally, Xiao Yuan said with a smile: "Xiangmei, please stop being so tight-lipped and let us all open our eyes!"
"Okay! Now that Brother Wang has spoken, come and take a look!" As he spoke, Xiao Xiang shook his head to the personal guard on the side.
The guard stepped forward and slowly took off the lid of the brocade box. The moment he took off the lid, the walls of the brocade box all fell apart. Looking at the brocade box, it turned out that the contents were not rare treasures at all.
A strange treasure, but a pale and bloodless human head.
Seeing that the box contained a severed head, everyone present was shocked, especially the princes, who were all shocked, and several people screamed in surprise.
Xiao Yuan jumped up, his eyes widened, he looked at Xiao Xiang without blinking, and asked in shock: "What does Xiang sister mean?"
Xiao Xiang smiled slightly, looked down at the severed head on the table, and said quietly: "This is the head of the rebellious party Hong Yuetian. This thief was so bold that he returned to the capital with his troops secretly, colluded with the king's brother, and brought trouble to the court. He
Damn it, his heart is to be punished. All the princes contributed in the battle to quell Hong Yuetian, so naturally I will let you princes see the results of this rebellion." As she spoke, she raised her eyebrows and glanced at him.
Xiao Yuan asked with a smile: "What do you think the second brother Wang means?"
Xiao Yuan first looked at Xiao Xiang, and then at the severed head on the table. He was silent for a while, then he laughed dryly and sat back slowly. The faces of the princes present became uglier than the last, and unknowingly, they all
Already sweating profusely.
Hong Yuetian's crime is valid if it is placed on any one of them. Today, Xiao Xiang can kill Hong Yuetian with such a crime, then tomorrow, she can also use the same crime to get rid of herself.
It is absolutely impossible to say that the princes are not afraid.
At this time, Xiao Yi bowed tremblingly, cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness the Princess, I... I plan to lead the army back to Changshan in the near future..."
Before he finished speaking, Xiao Xiang had already raised his head and smiled, waving his hands and saying: "Uncle Wang, why are you so anxious? Since we have already arrived in Zhaoyang, let's stay longer!"
Changshan Marquis Xiao Yi and Xiao Xiang belong to the same clan. In terms of seniority, he is indeed a generation higher than Xiao Xiang. It is not wrong for the latter to call him Uncle Wang.
However, Xiao Yi's heart shrank when she called her, beads of sweat kept falling, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
Xiao Xiang withdrew his gaze, suddenly changed the subject, and added: "Recently, our country has been in troubled times. There is the Feng Kingdom in the north, the Zhen people in the west are in constant rebellion, and there are frequent floods in the south. Just yesterday, Xiuyang County
The county chief, Mr. Gao Yugao, sent an urgent message to the imperial court. It has been raining heavily for days in Xiuyang County and the Tianjiang River has flooded. It has now affected the entire Xiuyang County. Please ask the imperial court to allocate money and food for disaster relief."
The princes didn't understand why Xiao Xiang suddenly mentioned the disaster in Xiuyang County. The two-foot-old monk was confused. Xiao Yuan rolled his eyes and answered: "Xiangmei, but now the treasury is empty and it is not enough for disaster relief?"
After listening to his words, the princes suddenly realized that Xiao Xiang was trying to rip him off, but then again, as long as he can save his head, what does it matter if he loses some money and food? Changshan Hou Xiao Yi was the first to stand up and said: "Your Highness Princess
Don’t worry, since the imperial court is in trouble, we and other princes should do our best to help.” After a slight pause, he immediately said: “We are willing to contribute five...eight hundred thousand taels of silver to relieve the victims of Xiuyang County!”
As soon as he finished speaking, more princes stood up one after another to express their stance. People rushed to get there, and the least number was five hundred thousand taels.
Xiao Xiang laughed loudly and said: "Thank you. I would like to thank you all for your help. However, the court can still afford the money and food to relieve the people affected by the disaster. The reason why I raised this matter here is that Unfortunately, disaster relief alone treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Floods occur every rainy season in southern my country, and we are hit by disasters every year and provide disaster relief every year. This consumes too much of our country’s money, food and national strength.”
"Your Highness the Princess means..."
"Build the canal!" Xiao Xiang said seriously: "Build a large canal between the Tianjiang River and the Shangjiang River to divert the water from the Tianjiang River to the Shangjiang River. This will not only solve the problem of flooding in the Tianjiang River, but also solve the problem of the Shangjiang River.
The hidden worries of growing dryness, this is something that will benefit the people of both places, and it is also the last wish of the late king that will not be fulfilled in the future!"
When the princes heard this, they all took a breath. The Tianjiang River and the Shangjiang River are the two largest river systems in the south of Sichuan. As Xiao Xiang said, it rains a lot in the place where the Tianjiang River flows, and flooding is common, while the Shangjiang River is in
It has gradually dried up and many tributaries have disappeared.
It would be great if a large canal could be dug between the Tianjiang River and the Shangjiang River. The excess water from the Tianjiang River could be diverted to the Shangjiang River, which has insufficient water resources. However, the distance between the Tianjiang River and the Shangjiang River is more than a thousand miles.
To connect these two rivers, it would be a big project and it would consume a lot of manpower and financial resources. It can't be solved with millions or tens of millions of taels of silver.
Even when Xiao Xuan was alive, he only dared to think about it. At best, he brought this idea to the court and grinded his teeth with the ministers, but did not dare to actually implement it. Now, it sounds like Xiao Xiang seems to have a bright future.
It means "Shang Daqu".
The princes all thought that this was too unreliable, but no one dared to stand up to express objection or question. They themselves could not protect themselves, and how could they dare to openly oppose Xiao Xiang.
Seeing that the princes all lowered their heads and remained silent, Xiao Xiang slowly frowned and asked: "Why, don't all the princes agree with the construction of the Tianshang Canal? Are they unwilling to fulfill the last wish of the late king?"
"
Hearing her question, everyone trembled and hurriedly raised their heads and said, "No, no, no, your highness the princess has misunderstood. This is a great thing that benefits the people in the south of our country. How can I object to it!"
A smile finally appeared on Xiao Xiang's face and she said: "So, all the princes support my decision?"
"Exactly!"
"But verbal support alone is not enough!" Xiao Xiang said slowly.
Understanding what she meant, Xiao Yi felt resentful, gritted his teeth, raised his hands and said: "In order to help Her Royal Highness the Princess fulfill the last wish of the late king, I... I am willing to donate... three million taels!"
Xiao Yi squeezed out the last three million taels through his teeth, and his face turned purple. He had already lost all his money and donated it.
Hearing him say that he wanted to donate three million taels, the other princes were cursing in their hearts. You shouted out three million taels at once, what should you say?
The princes bit the bullet and shouted out an astronomical figure that even they themselves could not accept.
Looking at the princes who looked like they were being cut into pieces, Xiao Xiang secretly smiled in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face at all. She shook her head helplessly and said: "Now that the national treasury is sufficient, it is not money that is lacking!"
"Then...but there's a shortage of food?"
"Haha!" Xiao Xiang laughed and said, "Our land in Sichuan is fertile, but when has there ever been a shortage of food?"
"I wonder...what else is the court lacking now?"
"People!" Xiao Xiang narrowed his eyes and said faintly: "The most lacking thing in our country now is labor! As long as we have sufficient labor, it will be easy to dig the Tianshang Canal. All the princes should know that our country
With the current internal and external troubles, we really cannot allocate so much labor to dig the Tianshang Canal. My idea is that the family armies of the princes can be temporarily loaned to the imperial court. After the imperial court completes the Tianshang Canal, they can then use it to build the Tianshang Canal.
The family army is returned to the princes. I wonder what everyone thinks?"
Huh? When Xiao Xiang finished speaking, the expressions of the princes and even Xiao Yuan changed drastically.
It turned out that this was the purpose of Xiao Xiang's banquet. She did not want to kill the princes, nor did she want to extort money and food from the princes, but to deprive the princes of their military power. What is rare is that she actually found such a
A high-sounding reason.
"Your Highness, this...this..." Xiao Yi stood up instinctively, looked at Xiao Xiang, hesitating and didn't know what to say. The family army is their lifeblood, and each of their families has gone through dozens of
The capital accumulated bit by bit over the years or even hundreds of years, now Xiao Xiangshizi is asking them to contribute all their family troops and bring them to the Tianjiang and Shangjiang areas to work as laborers to dig some bullshit Tianshang Canal. They
How can you accept it?
Looking at Xiao Yi who was standing there with his expression changing, and then looking at the other princes who had similar expressions to him, Xiao Xiang smiled and didn't say anything, just picked up a chopstick, as if he had ulterior motives and seemed casual.
He tapped Hong Yuetian's severed head lightly on the desk.