Chapter 31: A move targeting the inner treasury made the eldest princess panic!
"Oh? So, all the students of the Imperial College are planning to join the Fourth Master?" The eldest princess frowned slightly.

"Well, many scholars have submitted their works to His Royal Highness Prince Wei's No. 1 Bookstore in the World." The palace maid nodded.

The eldest princess looked somewhat displeased. In her opinion, the so-called act of submitting a contribution was actually a way of showing loyalty to the fourth brother.

She didn't care how the Fourth Prince convinced His Majesty, but after the students of the Imperial Academy saw the article criticizing the cabinet, they would most likely regard the Fourth Prince as a spiritual leader.

If that were the case, then the situation would actually not be that bad and it would not have much impact on the political situation.

However, students of the Imperial College submitted their works to Lao Si's No. 1 Bookstore in the World, which showed that there was something fishy going on.

Did they submit their articles simply to express their dissatisfaction, or did they intend to take the opportunity to side with the fourth brother in the fight for the throne?

The princess didn't even need to think about it to know that the latter possibility was more likely.

Although these students of the Imperial Academy seem to be righteous, if they can help the fourth prince ascend the throne, the rewards they will get will be extraordinary.

First of all, they will most likely try their best to persuade the fourth prince to restore the prime minister system and let the prince withdraw from the cabinet.

The second is to strengthen the status of scholars and obtain more privileges.

She had met many scholars, whether they were honest officials or corrupt officials, capable ministers or mediocre officials, with very few exceptions.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with her.

There was only one thing she cared about: what would happen if all the students of the Imperial College and even all the scholars in the world stood on the side of the Fourth Master?
That would be like the Yuan family in the book, where one call leads to hundreds of responses!
However, even if scholars entered the court as officials, they could only be civil servants. Without military power in their hands, no matter how loud the calls for civil servants were, it seemed to be of no practical use.

But this is not how the account is calculated.

His Majesty the Emperor has always firmly controlled the military power, and all the princes can compete for is the support of the civil officials!
Not only the ministers in the court, but also the students of the Imperial Academy are equally important.

They are reserve forces, and as long as they pass the Spring Examination, they will soon be able to officially participate in the party struggles in the court.

And if someone on our side fails in a fight, these new scholars can serve as replacements.

Not to mention, these scholars actually represent the future of Qing Kingdom in a sense.

Although the eldest princess wanted to see the father and his sons kill each other, she did not want the balance of the situation to be broken.

Just like the current situation, ever since the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince entered the cabinet, the Second Prince seemed to have lost his ambition. He hides in the mansion reading books all day long, and is almost like his mother.

This is not okay!
Only when the three parties have a balanced power will the fight be exciting. She must help Li Chengze!

"Your Highness, there's news coming from outside that Fan Sizhe has recently spent a lot of money to hire a lot of craftsmen and purchased a lot of high-quality steel." The palace maid spoke again.

Hearing this news, the eldest princess frowned even deeper, very confused, "What exactly is the fourth brother planning to do?"

Currently, the best steel comes from Workshop B among the three major workshops.

These high-quality steels are generally only provided to Bingfang for the production of ships and advanced weapons needed by the military.

For example, the lightweight crossbows currently equipped by the Black Knights were provided by this workshop.

So even if Fan Sizhe wanted to purchase good steel from the market, the most he could buy would be some defective products.

Could it be that the fourth brother is planning to make weapons?

Wouldn't Fan Sizhe's high-profile purchase of steel disrupt the fourth brother's plans?
How could the fourth brother not stop him?

So perhaps these steels were not intended for making weapons, but had other uses...

"Your Highness, some of the senior craftsmen from the three major workshops have also been poached by Fan Sizhe." The palace maid said.

This news completely made the princess unable to sit still. "Kill them all. Don't let them reach Kyoto alive."

The maid immediately obeyed, "Yes, Your Highness."

But just after the maid walked out a few steps, the eldest princess suddenly called her, "Wait, that's not necessary, I will go to the Prince of Wei's mansion to talk to the fourth prince myself." After she finished speaking, the eldest princess stood up.

The palace maid immediately arranged a carriage.

The journey was smooth and the princess arrived at Li Chengde's study without any obstruction.

Before Li Chengde could speak, the princess angrily asked him, "What do you mean by this?"

Li Chengde looked innocent, "What did I do?"

The princess was furious, "Did you ask Fan Sizhe to go to the three major workshops in Jiangnan to recruit people?"

Li Chengde blinked and confessed, "Yeah, what's the problem?"

Seeing how honest he was, the princess was at a loss. She tried to keep a straight face and said angrily, "Don't you trust me?"

Li Chengde looked puzzled, "No? I have always believed in my aunt."

The princess seemed to laugh out of anger and said, "Okay, then let me ask you, what do you mean by asking Fan Sizhe to poach people from the three major workshops? Do you not want to cooperate with me?"

Li Chengde explained seriously: "This is absolutely a misunderstanding. I saw that the senior craftsmen in the three workshops were really working too hard, so I wanted to increase their salaries."

"I didn't expect that my aunt would come to my house in person for such a small matter. Next time I will notify her in advance."

The eldest princess' eyes widened immediately, a little incredulous, "Do you want to have another time?"

Li Chengde hummed, without hiding anything, "Since these craftsmen are not satisfied with their current salaries, there should be many such people in the three major workshops, right?"

"So next time, please give the Ming family a heads up and don't stop them from moving towards a better tomorrow."

The eldest princess was completely speechless.

She didn't expect that Li Chengde not only dared to steal her girl, but even admitted it openly!
He even said he would dare to do it again next time. What's even more asshole is that he actually asked her to cooperate? !
Doesn’t Li Chengde understand the situation?
"Fourth brother, I have made it clear that I support you. It is not fair to do this." The eldest princess was angrily holding the table with both hands, staring at Li Chengde.

Li Chengde nodded gently, "Yes, since the three major districts are now mine, then I will transfer a few people from Jiangnan to Kyoto, is that a problem?"

"..."

The eldest princess fell silent immediately.

If she remembered correctly, wasn't Li Chengde just telling her that he would dare to poach people next time?
How come the wording changed in the blink of an eye?
Don’t you have any psychological burden?

Taking a deep breath, the princess smiled charmingly, "Okay, now that you've said that, what are you going to do with the steel? You can tell me that, right?"

Li Chengde did not hide anything. "I have developed a new machine that is more labor-saving than traditional textile machines, and the quality of the woven products is also better."

The princess looked strange and asked, "Water-powered looms? The three major workshops have them."

"It's even more advanced than that..." Li Chengde shook his head, "Have you heard of a steam engine?"

The eldest princess's expression froze for a moment. She was extremely unfamiliar with this word, but her intuition told her that if this thing was produced, the three major workshops would most likely be replaced!
She absolutely cannot allow this kind of situation!

But the problem is that even if she wants to interfere, I'm afraid the Fourth Brother has other tricks waiting for her.

So it seems that her best option at the moment is to cooperate with Li Chengde to develop the steam engine.

After all, Li Chengde asking people to purchase good steel means that the steam engine probably needs to be made with top-quality steel!

The good steel from the three major workshops is never sold to outsiders.

She has the raw materials and Li Chengde has the technology... The princess thinks this cooperation is completely feasible!
A charming look reappeared on her face at the scene, and the princess asked,
"This steam engine...can I participate?"

(End of this chapter)