How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

A separate document was required for the transportation of disaster relief grain to avoid confusion about where it came from and where it passed through during subsequent inventory and recounting. Therefore, the Liaozhou prefect was quickly called in and pressed the prefect's seal on the transportation document.

The prefect of Liaozhou was named Li Dongyao. He was a native of Liaozhou. One of his direct descendants was an official in the court and had served two emperors. As a junior from the collateral branch, Li Dongyao was able to serve as a prefect in such a place. It was obvious that his family had also made a lot of efforts.

However, Liaozhou is a remote and cold place after all, not as prosperous and wealthy as the capital.

Li Dongyao was not a man of outstanding ability, but he had a sharp eye. In the original text, he saw that Shen Yuan was like a hidden dragon in the abyss, and would achieve great things in the future, so he secretly joined him, hoping to follow the new emperor to the throne and become an important official in the court.

He hid it very well, flattering the Second Prince on the surface, but actually working for Shen Yuan and the Crown Prince behind the scenes. When the Second Prince finally made up his mind to murder the Crown Prince, he cooperated with Shen Yuan to transfer the Crown Prince to Liaozhou by escaping from the shell, which made it possible for the Crown Prince to appear in the Golden Throne Hall on the day when the Second Prince ascended the throne.

Overall, he is trustworthy.

"Thank you for your trip, Magistrate Li." Watching the grain cart turn around and leave, Shen Yuan turned around, nodded towards Li Dongyao and said.

"No hard work, no hard work."

Li Dongyao was 32 years old and looked quite rugged. He bowed quickly and when he looked up, his eyes wandered slightly towards Shen Yuan and Xie Chengze. "Your Highness and Lord Shen have been working hard for Liaozhou. I am deeply grateful to you!"

"Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning." Xie Chengze waved his hand modestly, "It's worth mentioning, it's worth mentioning~"

Li Dongyao:?

Shen Yuan chuckled, then leaned close to Li Dongyao's ear, his expression like a flattering treacherous minister, and whispered: "The Second Prince always likes to be honored. There will be many people coming and going during the Ice Sculpture Festival, and some important people will come in person. Magistrate Li should say a few good words to him."

"Oh~ I understand, I understand~"

Li Dongyao winked at once. These days, he could see that Shen Yuan and the Second Prince were not ordinary people. They were capable of great things. They were bandits in the Qing Dynasty and mined coal in the mountains. They also made ice sculptures to help the people of Liaozhou survive. Even the current emperor would not be able to compare with them.

If he could ascend the throne and become emperor in the future, Jian'an would surely prosper. However, if he wanted to surpass the prince and win the emperor's favor, it would not be enough to have achievements alone, but he also needed a reputation passed down by word of mouth among the people.

Furthermore, the Second Prince was young and frivolous, and was at an age when he cared a lot about reputation and liked to show off. There was no harm in doing so, so Li Dongyao was naturally willing to obey.

Then he would do this, then that, then that...

Li Dongyao quickly came up with an idea in his mind.

After Li Dongyao left, Shen Yuan lowered his head and asked Xie Chengze, "Have you figured out a way to deal with that person in the past few days?"

Sending the wrong relief grain was only the first step. The other party's goal was to provoke a fight between the crown prince and the second prince, and Xie Chengze must first be in an absolute upper hand, and then suddenly fall into a disadvantage, so that after he tasted the sweetness of crushing the crown prince, he could not stop and wanted to form cliques and factions more and more to compete with the crown prince.

And this is the best time for that person to send someone to help.

The other party will definitely use the prince to deal a heavy blow to Xie Chengze when the ice sculpture is successfully held, and then provide timely assistance, which will make Xie Chengze very grateful.

But before that...Xie Chengze will take the initiative.

Xie Chengze waved his hand, signaling Shen Yuan to lower his head, "Do you still remember that person's unique mark..."

Shen Yuan nodded.

"My father is coming, and the snow along the way must be cleared to prevent the carriage from slipping. Coarse salt is used to melt the snow. The journey from the capital to Tianshui City is long, and if we want to keep the snowy roads from freezing, the amount of salt consumed cannot be underestimated..."

Naturally, it is also the easiest to tamper with.

"I have asked Wu Ji to steal, cough, go and get that thing. Then we will..." The young man muttered in a low voice, with a cunning and wicked expression on his face. After listening to him, Shen Yuan could not help but look at him deeply.

"You finally resorted to Hu Lai." Shen Yuan used a declarative sentence, which showed how harmful this method was.

Xie Chengze: ???

"Mr. Shen, please stop slandering me!" The young man flew into a rage, vowing to defend his reputation of being pure and kind to the death. "How could I be the same as that crazy Hu Lai!"

Impossible! It's absolutely impossible to be the same!

Hu Lai, who was writing a letter in the government office, said: "A-choo--"

Hmm? Who is thinking about him? It must be his twenty-eighth concubine~

-

Capital City, Imperial Study Room.

Emperor Jian held the letter in his hand, which was cold because of the cold wind, and looked at the cold words between the lines. Finally, he stroked his heart, which was cold because of the blow.

How can one word "ice" describe it?

"Look, look!" Emperor Jian slammed the letter on the desk and said in great pain, "I am stingy with my concubines because I sent all the good things to Chenghuan Palace? He turned around and said that I was a bad husband and that I was the source of all evil that led to his extinction of his descendants!"

Eunuch Zhao: Ah?

Is it so serious? Is it so serious that it will lead to the extinction of my family line?

Eunuch Zhao didn't want to read it at first, after all, the emperor didn't necessarily really want him to read it when he asked him to. But since it was about such an important matter as reproduction, Eunuch Zhao thought it would be better to take a look, lest the emperor get carried away and misunderstand the meaning.

After reading the letter, Eunuch Zhao smiled and said, "Your Majesty may have misunderstood the Second Prince's intention. It is clear from the words that the Second Prince is young and wants Your Majesty to go to Liaozhou to spend the New Year with him, but he is embarrassed to say it directly. Therefore, he borrowed the customs of Liaozhou to hint that you should bring the ladies and princesses to Liaozhou to see him."

"How lonely and isolated the Second Prince must be in the remote and cold Liaozhou! This is the first time for the Second Prince to celebrate the New Year outside the capital..." Eunuch Zhao said with emotion, "Although the Second Prince is grown up, he is still a child after all. What's wrong with a child who misses his parents far away from home but is too embarrassed to speak up?"

Emperor Jian was stunned when he heard this. "What you said... does seem to make some sense."

This was indeed Chengze's first time celebrating the New Year outside of Beijing, and he didn't have many friends there. He probably spent a lot of thought on organizing this ice sculpture festival, and most importantly...

Tianshui City is Hua Ning’s hometown.

This brat deliberately chose Tianshui City to hold the Ice Sculpture Festival. Although he didn't say it, he was actually thinking about his mother in his heart and wanted him to spend the New Year with Hua Ning.

"Well, I will go and support him." Emperor Jian had no intention of refusing at first, but he felt a little aggrieved that Xie Chengze called him stingy. He raised the letter again and smiled kindly, "If I don't go, he will probably cry again."

That child, who had been lacking love since childhood, liked to cling to people the most. Of course he knew why, but he did not stop him.