Chapter 139: One Year Old (II)
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Ten days later, something was found in the secret room of Liu family’s mansion which had been bombarded.
That was a register, which included a number of housing transactions in different places all over the nation.
Hu Qingyuan worked day and night and finally found the register in the secret room. It really tired him out.
In the morning meeting, Long praised Hu and made his position as the minister perfectly justifiable.
Hu was also awarded a lot of gold, silver and jewelry.
With that register, Qiu Ming led his troops and dug the ground of every house at all the places. As for the houses where there were people staying, the soldiers arrested all of them for investigation.
A lot of sulfur was found under the ground of those houses.
Shi looked at the map and found that with the locations of those houses, a route of marching could be formed!
That route ran from the middle of the city to the outside. It could be seen that those houses were not chosen randomly!
Shi calculated that if Eastern Darkness burned the sulfur along this route after launching a war, it would create a lot of obstacles for the reinforcements!
However, in addition to the houses, would there be many obstacles on the way?
When Long asked this question, Shi immediately said, “It’s possible, but don’t worry about it. When marching, soldiers walk in a regular pattern. Moreover, if they take extra care, the explosion won’t cause many casualties. So you can rest assured.”
Long breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good…”
The sulfur in all those houses was dug out. During the process, many killers went to stop it for several times, but in front of the army, those killers were all helpless no matter how powerful they were.
In the end, the sulfur that was dug up in the whole nation amounted to one ton.
“If we can make the most of so much sulfur… humph, I’m sure they’ll suffer a lot.” Long sneered.
Shi nodded. “That’s right.”
“Qingzhou, since they have sent us such a great gift, it’ll be a shame if we don’t make use of it. What’s more, we really need to reform our trade routes. So much sulfur has been transported from Eastern Darkness, but no one has noticed. Tsk. If we hadn’t found it because of some unexpected factors, now…”
Shi nodded. “You are right. It really needs to be reformed.”
“Qingzhou, I think you must have been thinking about this these days, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Shi nodded.
Long smiled, “Then write some regulations. Let’s discuss it in the morning meeting.”
“Are you not afraid that those ministers will act in the opposite way?”
Long sneered. “If they dare to oppose such a reform, I’ll chop off their heads immediately!”
Grimness flickered in Long’s eyes. Looking at such a tough man, Shi smiled and felt that the emperor was so charming.
More than two months later, all people in the nation, including the common people and the martial artists, knew that the emperor was vigorously reforming the trade routes.
Some of the trade caravans who had been involved in smuggling were even uprooted by the imperial court!
However, outsiders didn’t know what those people had smuggled. Only Long and his men knew that those people were related to the smuggling of sulfur from Eastern Darkness.
Six caravans had been arrested in the past two months and several of them were under investigation.
Those who didn’t do anything wrong were very nervous, while those who had done it even couldn’t fall asleep at night.
As two months passed, a big event was happening in the imperial palace.
The little prince would be made crown prince and he was getting one year old.
Since it was the prince’s one-year-old birthday, a grand celebration was naturally needed. As everyone was jittery during this period of time, it was really such a happy event which would make many people relax.
These days, all the ministers in the imperial court had a hard time.
Some of the officials who were related to the guilty trade caravans had also been dealt with. Therefore, everyone was panicky.
Currently, most of the ill-intentioned ministers in the imperial court had been wiped out.
On this big day, the palace was bustling.
The little boy probably knew what day it was, so he was very happy since he got up in the morning.
However, extra vigilance was needed on such an important day and the Shadow Guardians had been ordered to watch the moles in the palace closely.
In addition, many Shadow Guardians had been arranged to protect the little boy.
Long held the boy who was in full dress. Perhaps the boy felt his outfit was too tight, he kept pulling it unhappily. Seeing that, Long hurriedly held his hand and helped him pull it.
“Oh, baby, bear with it. You just need to wear it today.”
The little boy curled his lips, looking not happy.
Shi laughed. “Let me hold him.”
The boy immediately stretched out his arms to Shi.
Shi held the boy in his arms. “Will he make trouble during the sacrifice ceremony?”
“Just spank him if he makes trouble,” Long said coldly.
Shi’s lips twitched.
Long patted his son on the head. “Do you hear me? Don’t pee or do anything like that during the ceremony!”
Shi burst into laughter. “He doesn’t understand, does he?”
“I’m sure he can understand.”
“Really?” Shi didn’t believe it.
Long pinched the little boy’s cheeks. “Baby, tell me. Can you understand me?”
The boy laughed as if he knew everything.
Long felt proud. “Look, he said he can.”
Shi rolled his eyes and said nothing.
After chatting and laughing with the baby for a while, Long and Shi also began to prepare.
Before the sacrifice ceremony began, Long and Shi walked up to the altar hand in hand.
Zhou Qing, the general manager, followed them with Prince Long Huan in his arms.
However, Zhou Qing stopped on the last step with the boy and did not go forward.
As the ceremony began, Long and Shi kowtowed, followed by hundreds of officials.
When the high priest read the oration, Long looked at the statue on the altar seriously.
After the high priest finished his part, Liu Xiangyang stood in front of everyone and read the imperial edict.
Zhou Qing stood in front of Long and Shi, with the boy in his arms.
At this moment, Prince Long Huan was officially made crown prince.
In the evening, all people were having fun in the palace.
A banquet was held in the palace to celebrate the first birthday of the crown prince.
Long and Shi attended the banquet with the prince. All the ministers exchanged toasts and Long drank two cups of liquor.
Shi only drank one cup. Then, he left halfway through the banquet.
A quarter of an hour later after Shi left, Long rubbed his forehead and drank a toast to all the ministers. Then, he also left.
After going out of the banquet hall, Long stopped rubbing his forehead. Several cups of liquor were nothing to him at all!
Long took a sedan chair and went directly to Qiankun Palace. Shi had prepared the hangover soup and was waiting for him there.
“Haha, I just drank a little. I don’t need to drink that soup!”
Shi smiled. “The boy has gone to bed. The soup will make you feel better.”
“You’re right.” Long didn’t refuse his empress’ kindness and drank up the hangover soup.
Looking at Long’s pained expression, Shi smiled. “It’s just some soup, not medicine. Why do you grimace like that?”
Long curled his lips. “It doesn’t taste good.”
Shi smiled. “You’re just like a baby.”
Long stared at him. “Do adults have to like terrible food?”
“Uh…” Shi became speechless.
Long didn’t want to talk much nonsense. He stepped forward and put his arms around Shi’s waist. “Qingzhou… It’s time for us to have a rest…”
Shi was slightly stunned and looked at Long.
Although Long said “to have a rest”, there was burning desire in his eyes.
Shi’s ears became a little hot. “You…”
Long rushed to Shi. He held Shi’s waist and pushed him to the bedroom…
“There are so many people…” Shi struggled.
Long said, “It’s okay. Don’t care about them. They’ll leave soon…”
It was hard for Long to control himself.
The strong desire engulfed him.
Just because the man in front of him was Shi Qingzhou, his beloved man…
Long held Shi tightly and passionately… It seemed that he would never let his lover go…