Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne-Chapter 132 - 119: Jade Token

Because of the stirrup, Zhao Yao became widely known in a fierce manner.

The tenth prince, who had barely any presence, truly appeared in the eyes of the entire imperial court for the first time. However, excessive attention was lacking.

As Liang Zhaoyi predicted, the ministers of the court would not deem Zhao Yao a prince worth supporting just because he invented the stirrup.

There are a few requirements for ministers to preemptively support a prince; the first requirement: The prince himself must be deeply favored by the emperor, or heavily relied upon. The second requirement: The prince himself must possess ability. The third requirement: The prince’s maternal family must have certain power. The fourth requirement: The prince’s mother must also be favored by the emperor to some extent.

Zhao Yao met none of these four requirements.

Of course, there are special exceptions.

Some ministers would support princes without power, influence, or support, such as the eighth prince.

On the surface, not a single minister of the court supports the eighth prince. In fact, compared to Zhao Yao, the eighth prince’s background is even more... In the eyes of many, the eighth prince comes from a humble origin because his mother was just a palace maid. Even after her death, the emperor did not posthumously honor her.

The ministers supporting the eighth prince have a very simple idea: the powerless eighth prince is easy to manipulate, and most importantly, the eighth prince has to rely on them if he wants to succeed.

Apart from the Xie family, Wang family, Xun family, Yuan family, and other noble families in the capital, there are also many well-known families. These distinguished families are also ambitious; they don’t want to always be subordinate to families like the Xie Wang. They also want more power and wish for their family to prosper more.

Now, the court is dominated by families like Xie Wang, making it very difficult for these families to get a share. To gain more power and surpass families like Xie Wang, there is only one way, which is to support a certain prince beforehand, backing him to become the next emperor.

Achieving success from supporting the right side will grant them supreme power, and by that time, they will stand at the pinnacle of the noble families.

Clearly, Zhao Yao and the eighth prince are in a similar situation, neither favored by the emperor nor supported by their maternal families. Actually, Zhao Yao has two advantages over the eighth prince: One is that his mother, Liang Zhaoyi, is still alive. Liang Zhaoyi is a weakness for Zhao Yao, as one can use Liang Zhaoyi to threaten Zhao Yao. Still, ministers do not support Zhao Yao. The second is that Zhao Yao is not smart; he dislikes reading and has been criticized by the emperor for his stupidity. An unwise prince is easier to manipulate.

Although Zhao Yao has more "advantages" compared to the eighth prince, ministers did not choose him because he is too young.

A young prince is easier to control and manipulate. When supported to the throne, he would become a puppet emperor. This is actually a great advantage, but not workable during the emperor’s reign.

Firstly, the emperor is in his prime and not likely to die soon. Secondly, the emperor’s other sons are about to come of age soon. Supporting a prince too young doesn’t give enough time.

The eighth prince is just the right age, neither too young nor too old. He is a few years short of adulthood. In these few years, there are many variables, and they can do many things. Perhaps by the time the eighth prince comes of age, the internal conflicts among the preceding princes will have concluded, allowing them to succeed without too much effort.

If it were Zhao Yao, by the time the elder brothers finished their infighting, and he took that position, he wouldn’t have reached adulthood. It should be said that this is a good thing for supporting ministers, as a younger prince is easier to manipulate. However, it is not so. An underage prince ascending the throne cannot just allow only the supporting ministers to control the court; there would also be other ministers assisting in managing the government.

The late emperor had set a rule that if a minor prince ascends the throne, there must be three parties governing together. One of these three is the ministers supporting the prince, while the other two are important ministers like the Prime Minister and Grandmaster, along with the Great General having military power.

For ministers from noble families, they are unwilling to co-manage the government with the other two parties, so their supported prince cannot be too young. The eighth prince is the best choice for them. This is why Zhao Yao lacks ministerial support.

Whether there are ministers supporting him to fight for that position is not important to Zhao Yao at all; he doesn’t value it.

The invention of the stirrup did not bring any changes to his life. He remains the same as before. However, his reputation for being unintelligent has slightly improved.

He changed from a foolish prince to a prince who is just not clever in reading.

Another thing, as Liang Zhaoyi anticipated, is that the military’s perception of Zhao Yao has significantly changed, and they start to have a favorable impression of him.

The greatest beneficiaries of the stirrup’s appearance are the soldiers.

Of course, it is only a favorable impression; the soldiers will not support Zhao Yao merely because of the stirrup.

For Zhao Yao himself, creating the stirrup was not something to be proud of. It was one of the least significant things in his mind. However, because of the stirrup, Zhao Yao received some rewards, which made him quite happy.

The emperor rewarded Zhao Yao with some gold and silver jewelry, which was exactly what Zhao Yao wanted. However, gold and silver jewelry are the least useful rewards for other princes.

Zhao Yao is still young, so even if the emperor wanted to reward him with "useful" things, it would be inappropriate.

With these gold and silver jewelry awards, Zhao Yao could use them to do many things. When he had time off, he would send these gold and silver jewelry to his second uncle.

Alas, what he asked his second uncle to do would take quite a bit of money. After giving these rewards to his second uncle, he became a pauper again. Luckily, he was still young, living in the palace, where he didn’t need to spend money.

At this moment, Zhao Yao was in the study of Kunde Hall, drawing a design of a farmhouse.

Liang Zhaoyi sat opposite him, annotating other books with punctuation marks.

"It’s finished." Zhao Yao handed the completed design drawing to Liang Zhaoyi opposite him, "Mother, take a look."

Liang Zhaoyi took the design drawing and looked at it carefully, finding her son’s drawing surprisingly astonishing. Above ground, the farmhouse had two layers. These two layers had common rooms and nothing surprising. What was astonishing was the three layers underground.

"Why are there three underground chambers, and what are they used for?"

Zhao Yao explained, "The first layer is for secret training. The second layer is for storing some confidential items. The third layer is for detaining and interrogating important people."

Upon hearing the purpose of the third layer, Liang Zhaoyi’s expression stiffened slightly, then she smiled helplessly and said, "You certainly thought it through completely."

"Mother, what do you think of this design?"

"It’s very good." Liang Zhaoyi understood in her heart that Zhao Yao’s ability to draw such a design was influenced by the memory from his dreams.

Zhao Yao put away the design happily and said, "Fortunately, we don’t have to spend money to build the manor, or I’m not sure if the gold and silver jewelry bestowed by the emperor would be enough."

He thought about how in a few days he could take time off and then play outside the palace for a few days, which made him even happier.

Under Zhao Yao’s great anticipation, his day off finally arrived.

On the morning of his day off, Sun Doudou delivered a token to Zhao Yao, a very beautiful jade token. The jade token was oval-shaped, with a dragon engraved on each side; these two dragons were finely crafted, with detailed and realistic scales, beards, and claws.

Besides the dragons, there was nothing else on the jade token, not even the character "令" (order).

Generally speaking, tokens would have a "令" character, but this jade token had nothing.

"Mother, this isn’t a token, is it?"

"It’s not a token, but it allows you to freely enter and exit the Imperial Palace." Liang Zhaoyi instructed, "Take good care of it and don’t lose it." freeweɓnovel-cøm

"Mother, rest assured, I won’t lose it." Zhao Yao thought that this jade token seemed very valuable, and he definitely wouldn’t lose it, "Mother, then I’m leaving."

"Be safe out there for the next few days."

"I will be careful." After saying goodbye to Liang Zhaoyi, Zhao Yao headed out of the palace with Tong Xi.

Upon reaching the palace gates, Zhao Yao was stopped by the guards.

The guards naturally recognized the tenth prince, Zhao Yao, but without a token, even the prince could not casually leave the palace.

"Your Highness, the tenth prince, please present your token."

Zhao Yao took out the jade token from his bosom to show the guard.

When the guard saw the jade token in Zhao Yao’s hand, his pupils contracted sharply, but he did not show any expression.

"Your Highness, the tenth prince, please proceed."

Zhao Yao did not notice the guard’s momentary oddness and put the jade token back into his bosom, swaggering out of the palace gates with Tong Xi.

After Zhao Yao left, another guard asked in confusion, "Commander, wasn’t what the tenth prince just showed a jade token, not a token? I’ve never seen it."

The guard feigned indifference and said, "It’s merely a jade token that allows free access to the Imperial Palace; there’s nothing extraordinary about it."

Liang Run had already been waiting not far from the palace gates for Zhao Yao. Seeing him come out, he quickly brought the carriage over.

Once Zhao Yao and his group got on the carriage, Liang Run directly took them to Dahua Village outside the capital.

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