CH 119.1

Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch 119 Pt. 1

Translated by gingercat

Edited by gingercat

Jin Wang pulled the bowl of shaved ice towards himself and ate a mouthful of it.

He, who was angered by what had happened in the palace, came home to this kind of scene. He suddenly felt that what had happened wasn’t that big of a deal after all. Wasn’t it simply taking away their fiefs? His good brothers could accept it, so why couldn’t he? Anyways, Jinzhou was different from all those other places. The men guarding the borders, if they didn’t belong to the Shen Family then they were his own people. If they couldn’t be in the light, then they would be in the dark. At most this would count as changing the soup but not the medicine.

Indeed, after abolishing the crown prince, Emperor Hongjing was planning to remove the vassal states.

His so-called method of removing the vassal states was to retain the fief, but make the vassal lords return to the capital.

Now that the princes have returned to the capital, the military power in their hands must be handed over. Even their privileges as a vassal lord were taken away. For example, they no longer had the ability to train private guards nor were they allowed to retain tax money for the sake of developing their private forces.

One guard cost about three thousand, so three guards would be nine thousand. As long as they didn’t have over ten thousand guards, at least on the surface, it wasn’t that big of a deal. These guards were the private forces of the vassal princes. But the truth was that they would often have a lot more guards in secret. Take Jin Wang as an example. His private force actually consisted of around fifty thousand guards.

But if they were to stay in the capital, they would no longer be allowed to have their private armies. They would also be under the watchful gaze of Emperor Hongjing, so even if they wanted to do something, their arms and legs were tied.

To be honest, Jin Wang wasn’t too surprised by this. After resolving the threat from the Eastern Palace, it was logical for them to be targeted next.

His Father Emperor was getting old. The older he became, the more fear he would have and the more he would want to control everything within the palm of his hand. Especially after that incident, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of crisis.

A sense of crisis that only made him more eager to control everything.

Of course, remaining in the capital was not without benefits. It was actually a great temptation.

In the capital, they would be close to Emperor Hongjing, the court, and naturally the throne position. In the past when the various princes tried to remain in the capital, wasn’t it all for this?

To no one’s surprise, after some hesitation, An Wang was the first to agree, followed by Lu Wang, Yong Wang, and Dai Wang. Since everyone else was in agreement, Jin Wang could only agree as well.

To be honest, should the situation be different and his brothers not be in agreement, Jin Wang would still choose to remain in the capital if he could. Although being a vassal lord came with its perks and the heavens were high while the emperor was far away, this wouldn’t be the case forever. Among the princes, as soon as one of them ascends the imperial throne, none of the other brothers would have a good ending.

Those who were luckier would remain as vassal lords, earning a salary but under close watch by the imperial court. Like Emperor Hongjing’s remaining brothers. But those who were less fortunate could be sent to guard the imperial mausoleum, placed under a lifetime of house arrest or die of a sudden illness, forgotten by the rest of the world.

After eating the entire bowl of shaved ice in one breath, Jin Wang finally let go of the pent-up frustration in his heart.

He looked up and saw two faces in front of him, staring at him with bitter expressions. Only then did he realize what he had done. He actually robbed his woman and child of their food.

As a prince, there was no way Jin Wang would admit his wrong so easily. He cleared his throat and said in a generous tone, “Bring over another bowl, you blind servants! Can’t you tell that the side consort and the young master still want to eat more?”

This was the first time for someone from Jin Wang Manor to give birth. Side Consort Hu from back then wasn’t worth mentioning and Yaoniang wasn’t in the manor when she gave birth to Xiaobao.

Jin Wang kept in mind what Huiniang had said before. When Yaoniang gave birth to Xiaobao, she didn’t even dare to invite a midwife. But he had already ordered the manor to start making preparations a long time ago.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs also sent over some people. Two midwives and five wet nurses were sent over but who would dare to use these people during a time like this? That would simply be making trouble for themselves. Jin Wang gave orders to look for more appropriate people in private.

The consort also sent a person over, saying that she was the midwife that her cousin, the madam of Marquis Jinyang’s heir, recommended after serving their family for generations.

Upon meeting the said woman, Yaoniang thought she was indeed different from the average midwife. She was fair and well-mannered. She spoke and handled everything methodically, without arousing disgust in others.

Since the consort was kind enough to send someone over, Yaoniang could only accept her. But whether to use her or not, was up to her. Besides, she knew that Jin Wang had ordered Fucheng to look for a midwife in private, so she didn’t take this matter to heart.

The closer the due date became, the more nervous the servants were.

Yaoniang wasn’t originally nervous, but under this atmosphere, she couldn’t help but become affected as well.

There was this time when she stood up and she felt a cramp in her stomach. Seeing this, Hong Chou and the others immediately surrounded her. As long as she showed any signs of discomfort, everyone else would start panicking. Once, they had to call for Doctor Liu three times during a single day.

Under this atmosphere, it would be hard not to be nervous.

With the weather heating up again, a sense of restlessness simmered beneath the surface.

Jin Wang seemed to be especially busy these days. Emperor Hongjing had told his sons about the matter of abolishing vassal princes as a heads up, but this kind of matter still required discussion with the rest of the court.

The discussion wasn’t only about removing the vassal lords but also about what should be done in the aftermath. For example, what would happen to the princes, the military, the political affairs of the fief and so on. To be honest, it wasn’t so much Emperor Hongjing negotiating with the officials, but more with his sons, the princes.

Everyone understood this. Now, it was simply a matter of testing each other’s limits. The princes had to fight for their interests without violating Emperor Hongjing’s bottom line. For An Wang and the others, whatever they could get would still be better than nothing. Otherwise when the dust settles, even if they still wanted to fight, no one would care.

There was too much to be done and coupled with them throwing stumbling blocks at each other, Jin Wang was so busy he could barely keep his head afloat.

After the due date that Doctor Liu had calculated, passed, Yaoniang still didn’t show any signs of movement.

Doctor Liu’s prediction wasn’t very accurate this time. Then the midwife surnamed Li, who was recommended by the consort, gave Yaoniang a check-up. She said there were still about a dozen days before she was to give birth.

This Midwife Li seemed to be confident in what she was doing. Since Yaoniang also knew that this midwife had delivered many babies, she figured it was possible she would be able to come up with a more accurate due date

Midwife Li’s prediction was indeed accurate. Just as June was about to end, Yaoniang went into labour.