Forced to Ascend the Throne after Transmigrating

Chapter 43: Pirate Ship

The fifth prince couldn’t help but speak: “Isn’t the Ninth Prince hysterical? Why is he talking nonsense in broad daylight?”

Ever since the Fourth Prince began to participate in politics two years ago, the Fifth Prince has been the oldest in the entire Shangshufang, and all the other princes basically follow him as their leader, so the Fifth Prince’s words still carry considerable weight.

At least the Seventh Prince and the Eighth Prince could only watch from the sidelines and dared not say a word.

Ye Shuo was not afraid of him. After all, the other party could not really rush over and beat him up. Even if a fight really broke out, he would not be the one who suffered.

So Ye Shuo said, “Is this nonsense? How about making a bet with me, Fifth Brother?”

The Fifth Prince was confident that the situation he described would not happen. How could anyone envy such a shameful thing as being slapped on the palm? So he said, “Ninth Prince, you are young, but you have a big mouth. Let’s gamble, but you must not regret it when the time comes.”

The fifth prince didn’t feel embarrassed at all for his fourteen-year-old self to compete with a seven-year-old kid. He raised his chin and said, “Tell me, what’s the bet?”

As for this person, it would be fine if you didn’t know him before, but once there is a comparison, your mentality will easily become unbalanced.

Therefore, Ye Shuo was quite confident about this bet. He ignored the disapproving look of the Sixth Prince beside him, thought for a moment, and said, “Let’s bet on three things. If I win, you promise to do three things for me. Of course, I promise that you can do them all, and vice versa. How about it, do you want to bet?”

This agreement is not so easy to accept, especially the three words “can do it”, which cover such a broad range.

But now that so many people were watching, the Fifth Prince certainly couldn’t go back on his word. Most importantly, he didn’t believe he would lose, so he nodded immediately: “Okay, let’s do it!”

He wanted to see what tricks the other party could play.

Because the Fifth Prince was waiting to laugh at him later, he did not continue to embarrass him at this time.

Seeing that Ye Shuo refused to listen, the Sixth Prince was so angry that he turned his head away and ignored him.

Only the little grandson of the emperor looked with anxiously, with a worried look on his face: “Ninth Uncle…”

“Don’t worry.” The poor child didn’t know that he was about to face his fifth uncle’s indiscriminate attack. I hope he can still laugh by then.

Thinking of this, Ye Shuo looked at Ye Xun with a little pity.

Why, why do I feel something is strange? The look in the Ninth Prince’s eyes seems so familiar, as if I have seen him before…

The little prince was full of confusion and was tricked by Ye Shuo into returning to his seat.

Soon, another young tutor who taught the princes poetry and songs came into the study.

In addition to the Four Books and Five Classics, poetry and songs were also studied by the princes, which made Ye Shuo sigh that the royal family had very high requirements for their offspring.

While the Fifth Prince and the others were studying, Ye Shuo calmed down and began to observe from the side.

You should not have the intention to harm others, but you must be on guard against others. Although Ye Shuo has no intention of winning the throne, he must always prepare for everything in advance. He does not attack others, but it does not mean that others will not attack him. Taking precautions early will avoid being implicated and falling into a passive position later.

Today was Ye Shuo’s first time to come into close contact with several princes. He would naturally not let go of such a rare opportunity.

After one or two classes, Ye Shuo actually discovered some remarkable things.

For example, from the fifth prince to the eighth prince, none of them was mediocre. No wonder my cheap dad found it so hard to accept him when he saw him.

After all, as the only “stain”, I am really an eyesore…

Ye Shuo couldn’t help but touch his chin. The Sixth Prince was the first among them. Sure enough, the Sixth Prince’s efforts were not in vain. Considering the time he spent on reading every day, it would be unfair for him not to take the first place.

Then there is the fifth prince. Although he doesn’t look like a good person, he is very knowledgeable. In terms of talent, he is even slightly better than the sixth prince.

For the same poem, the Sixth Prince needed less than half an incense stick of time to memorize it, and two incense sticks of time to fully comprehend it and apply it in practice. However, the Fifth Prince only needed 2/3 of the time of the Sixth Prince to memorize it, and it would take even less time if he could apply it flexibly.

The Eighth Prince is even more abnormal than these two. His comprehension is the highest among them. Although his memory is a bit poor, and it takes him a longer time to memorize something, his ability to draw inferences about other situations is not too strong. For the same subject, he can quickly express it on his own after reading it. The key is that what he wrote seems to be quite good. Although it is far inferior to the original work, it has begun to show its charm.

Only the Seventh Prince seemed ordinary among all the others, and his existence seemed to serve as a foil to the three above him.

etc.

If he remembered correctly, the Seventh Prince’s mother was from Concubine Shu’s palace, right?

Ye Shuo watched for a while and saw that when the young master asked them to create independently, the Seventh Prince first picked up the pen and wrote two sentences, then quickly erased them with the brush, changed to a new piece of paper, and started writing again.

Ye Shuo had excellent eyesight, and although he could not see what the fifth prince in the front had written on the paper, he clearly saw the new revision of the seventh prince who was relatively closer to him, which was far inferior to the first two sentences. He immediately understood what had happened.

It seems that sometimes a person looks like a supporting role, but is not necessarily a real supporting role. Instead, he or she is forced to be a supporting role.

Ye Shuo still remembers that the Fifth Prince threw stones and let the Seventh Prince take the blame. It seems that this kind of situation still happens from time to time in recent years.

There are three talented ones, plus one who is obviously talented but pretends to be untalented. These four people are in this situation, not to mention the eldest prince and the second prince whom he has never met.

Especially the eldest prince, who took charge of the army at the age of seventeen. Now, seven years have passed, and he has gradually begun to replace his grandfather’s position in the army. The decline of the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion is already a foregone conclusion, it is only a matter of time.

It seems that none of his eight royal brothers are easy to deal with.

If such eight sons were placed in an ordinary family, it would be a blessing that even a wealthy family would wish for. With time, when the eight people have grown up, their family will inevitably achieve a class leap, and the prosperity of the family is just around the corner.

But unfortunately, this is the royal family, and there is no bigger family business for them to work hard for. Without a goal to strive for, internal friction is likely to happen.

It’s not so bad now that we have the crown prince at the top, and no one can resist. But once the crown prince loses power, it will be hard to say.

Although the cheap father dotes on the crown prince, he cannot afford to abandon all his other sons for the crown prince. Moreover, there were many princes in the Great Zhou Dynasty who ascended the throne without being the eldest son or the legitimate son. For a legitimate son like Emperor Jingwen to ascend the throne is a special case. From this point of view, the situation is not good…

A glimpse of the whole picture reveals the whole thing. Ye Shuo’s heart sank again and again as he watched the scene in front of him quietly.

He couldn’t predict the outcome in detail, and Ye Shuo now just hoped that he would not be affected.

Just when Ye Shuo was thinking about something, Xing Yucheng next to him couldn’t help but pushed his arm.

Ye Shuo turned his head to look over, and he looked a little lazy: “What’s wrong?”

“Your Highness, are you really not going to consider writing a few sentences…” The other princes were about to hand in their papers!

It’s true that it’s not the emperor who is anxious, but the eunuchs are. Xing Yucheng was almost dying of anxiety watching from the side.

The Ninth Prince is so free and in the mood to enjoy the scenery over there, why can’t he put pen to paper?

Ye Shuo’s eyes suddenly became a little strange when he heard this: “It seems that you didn’t know about this prince beforehand.”

“What?” Xing Yucheng was stunned.

Then he heard the Ninth Prince in front of him speak: “Your Highness is a well-known illiterate person in the palace. You didn’t even ask me about it. I haven’t even memorized the Thousand Character Classic yet. You asked me to write a poem. Isn’t this embarrassing for me?”

What???

The Ninth Prince is already nine years old, but he still hasn’t memorized the Thousand Character Classic? ?

Seeing the petrified look of the boy in front of him, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but laugh: “By the way, my mother chose you because you must have something extraordinary. Tell me, what is it?”

Xing Yucheng answered subconsciously: “My father, the Minister of Works, was the top scholar in the 23rd year of Heshou.”

“Sure enough.” That’s right. He was wondering why his mother chose him to be his study partner when he had no relation to him. It turned out that he was the son of the former top scholar.

“So I guess you are pretty good at studying, right?”

“It’s okay.” After saying these two words carefully, Xing Yucheng suddenly felt that something was wrong, but at this time, it was too late.

The next moment, he heard the Ninth Prince in front of him say, “That’s perfect. From now on, you will be responsible for my homework.”

“Your Highness, this won’t do…”

“Five taels of silver for one assignment, and I’ll take the blame for anything that happens. Do you want to do it?” Ye Shuo had learned before that the monthly salary of the six ministers was 60 taels of silver, and five taels of silver was equivalent to 1/12 of the salary of a minister of the Ministry of Works.

Since my stepfather ascended the throne, he has been vigorously cleaning up the historical problems left over by the previous emperor, especially the area of ??corruption. Because the national treasury was almost completely squandered by the previous emperor’s pleasure-seeking in the later period, my stepfather is in urgent need of recovery.

After a few years the court was purged and everyone lived cautiously, fearing that their property would be confiscated and used to fill the national treasury. His grandfather contributed the most among them. After all, his grandfather had soldiers under his command, and anyone who dared to resist would be killed.

It’s not that his grandfather was so honest, but that he had captured countless gold, silver and treasures from the enemy during years of fighting, so he had no shortage of them and had no reason to be greedy, so he was able to stay out of it.

Perhaps it is for this reason that my stepfather still has some affection for my grandfather.

Of course, these were all told to him by his mother. Although Ye Shuo didn’t know how rich his grandfather’s family was, judging from the extravagant lifestyle of his mother, the amount was probably huge. He also spent hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver every month casually.

“Five taels each time, ten times that’s fifty taels, you can save fifty or sixty taels in a month, right?”

Fifty or sixty taels…equivalent to his father’s monthly salary.

You should know that their family’s current expenses are only around thirty taels per month.

Thinking of how his mother would be particularly worried when counting the accounts every month, Xing Yucheng couldn’t help swallowing and couldn’t say no.

He admitted that he was shamefully moved.

“But, but if this is the case, it will be discovered sooner or later…” Although Xing Yucheng was tempted, he was not stupid.

Ye Shuo raised his eyebrows and shook his finger: “No, no, if you started writing for me halfway, it would definitely be discovered soon, but if you started writing for me from the beginning, then it doesn’t matter.”

“Of course, your right-hand writing cannot be used. After all, many people know what your right-hand writing looks like. How about this, I will spend another thirty taels to buy your left-hand writing. From today on, you start practicing left-hand writing, how about that?” Ye Shuo was a businessman in his previous life, and he understood the principle of exploiting cheap labor.

But at least he still had a bottom line, which was to give his companion some money to buy his left-handed handwriting, rather than asking his companion to spend money to buy the qualification to write homework for him.

Xing Yucheng was silent for a long time, but finally couldn’t resist the temptation and nodded with difficulty.

Soon, when the purse containing thirty taels of silver fell into his hands, Xing Yucheng completely lost his mind.

Xiao Luzi, who was standing by, couldn’t help but feel a little envious when he saw this.

As if seeing what Xiao Luzi was thinking, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but encourage him: “See? Having knowledge can make money so quickly. If you want to do the same, why not take this opportunity and start learning.”

yes!

Why didn’t I think of such a good opportunity that I could learn secretly!

“Is it really possible, Your Highness…” Xiao Luzi was still a little nervous. After all, if he was found learning calligraphy as a little eunuch, he would lose his head.

Ye Shuo didn’t care about this. He hoped that his subordinates could be successful, so he nodded affirmatively: “Yes, Your Highness approves.”

Xiaoluzi was ecstatic.

When he came out of the study in the afternoon and took the carriage home, Xing Yucheng gradually realized that he had done nothing all day except breaking the law with the Ninth Prince.

Also, for the sake of these thirty taels of silver, I boarded the Ninth Prince’s pirate ship and could never get off again…