Acai's Sky

Chapter 439: Maritime Trade Booms, Pirates Resurface

Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye.

At this time, there was chaos in Prince Rui's mansion.

The crown prince Sima Yan was furiously waving the cane in his hand, beating his son Sima Zhen fiercely, cursing:

"Are you courting death? Who told you to go and bring back your seventh uncle's cat?"

Sima Zhen was beaten so hard that he cried out in pain, but facing his father's questioning, he couldn't help but mutter:

"It was my second uncle who said that if I bring the cat back, my seventh uncle will definitely be angry..."

Sima Yan was furious when he heard this, and he swung the cane in his hand even harder.

"You idiot, you actually believe what your uncle says? Are you stupid?"

At this moment, our Crown Prince's Consort Yao came over in a hurry. When she saw the chaotic scene, she felt so distressed that she waved her hand and tried to dissuade them:

"Hey, that's enough, stop hitting him. Just give him a couple of slaps just for show. Hurry up and send the cat back to Uncle Seven's house, and that'll be it. I'll take care of that old guy later!"

Sima Yan finally stopped when he heard his wife's words. Princess Yao was quick to snatch the cane from her husband's hand and toss it to the nanny behind her, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

As for our Sima Zhen, he felt so wronged that he cursed his second uncle in his heart. His second uncle always took advantage of him.

Humph, just wait and see, this time his son Sima Yong will definitely not be able to escape, and he will have to suffer.

The Crown Princess looked at her son's unhappy face, sighed helplessly, then carefully helped him up and said earnestly:

"You kid, why don't you listen to anyone but your uncle? Are you not my biological child, but your uncle's?"

Sima Zhen suffered a great loss, and even his mother said this to him. The six-year-old child immediately burst into tears...

Sima Yan glanced at him and said unhappily, "What a waste!"

"Go find your aunt later and ask her to take you to apologize."

He glanced at his son and asked, "You kids, have you lost your mind? It's fun to make your Seventh Uncle angry all day long, right?"

Sima Zhen replied tearfully, "I just want to see the immortal get furious."

When the Crown Princess heard this, she was completely dumbfounded. She really couldn't understand what these children were thinking: "These kids are really weird. They are fine, so peaceful and calm, but they have to make them angry before they are happy. What's going on?"

At this moment, Sima Nan rushed over. Seeing his nephew being beaten, he actually laughed happily: "Oh, his butt is bruised!"

Sima Yan glared at him fiercely and said in a serious tone, "You are so idle! Let the child provoke their seventh uncle. Be careful, Xin Yue'er will get angry!"

Sima Nan touched his nose and said a little embarrassedly: "I can't afford to offend Yue'er, so I just want to piss off Uncle Qi and see what happens..."

Sima Yan shook his head helplessly, looked at his younger brother who had not really grown up yet, and sighed deeply.

He continued, "I guess the cousins ​​from the Li Mansion will come to greet us in person soon. Why don't you... hide for a while?"

Sima Nan, however, continued to smile and said, "Hide! You've come to hide here, brother!"

When Sima Yan heard this, he was furious. He took the cane from the nanny and without hesitation, beat Sima Nan with it, cursing loudly:

"You're courting death and you're taking my son with you. Why don't you take your own son with you? Get out of here..."

……

Our Prince Rui walked into the palace gate in a hurry, with a look of anxiety on his face.

As soon as he walked into the courtyard, he heard the second brother's pig-slaughtering cry for help. He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he walked in the direction of the sound, ready to join in the fun.

When Sima Nan saw his father coming back, he ran behind him as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, tightly grasped the corner of his clothes, and cried for help: "Father, save me!"

Sima Hui stood aside, looking at the second brother who was beaten badly, and couldn't help laughing.

He stretched out his finger and gently poked the place on Lao Er's body where he had been whipped with the cane, and said teasingly: "Oh, it hurts quite a bit!"

Sima Nan looked at his father with an aggrieved expression, muttering, "Father, why are you in cahoots with my eldest brother?"

Prince Rui looked at the chaotic scene before him, then glanced at his grandson whose face was covered in tears. He shook his head helplessly, "What's going on? He's crying like a little cat."

Crown Prince Sima Hui told his second brother everything about the stupid thing he had just done, and then he fell silent.

Sima Nan didn't dare to say anything else, he just lowered his head, feeling extremely regretful.

Sima Hui was in no mood to continue chatting with them, so he turned around and took his two sons to the study.

After entering the study, Prince Rui sat down on a chair, rubbed his temples, looked at the two of them, and said slowly: "Do you still remember Yue'er once said that she had a dream?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads, indicating that they didn't remember at all.

After all, for children, so-called dreams are mostly just childish talk that comes up on a whim. Who would take them seriously?

"Today, at the grand court meeting, your grandfather mentioned that he wanted to raise an army to attack the Japanese. They have been raising pirates and robbing our merchant ships in recent years!" Sima Hui tapped his fingers on the table and said slowly.

Sima Yan followed his thoughts, "Grandfather wants the Li family to send troops. Will he stop until the Japanese are wiped out?"

Prince Rui nodded. "The case of the seven false kings was like a thorn in my throat. Now that the grain warehouses are overflowing, it's a good time to mobilize the troops to launch a campaign..."

Sima Nan frowned. "Over the past ten years, with good weather and good harvests, it's really possible that the grain warehouses will overflow. Those are the high-quality grains that Yue'er bought from Huangmao overseas!"

Sima Yan also nodded, "That's right, Doctor Hu developed some food pills. If you eat a few of them, you won't feel hungry all day."

"There are also new hemostatics, anti-inflammatory agents, etc., and horses are being bred a lot. There are countless good horses in those huge horse farms on the border!" Sima Nan also said.

Sima Yan looked at his father and muttered in his heart that the equipment his father had obtained was used to equip the army.

The swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks are all of high quality, but the key point is the light armor, which is really useful and very effective in self-defense.

Prince Rui looked at them and shook his head, sighing, "You haven't seen your royal grandfather's true intentions. Today's maritime trade taxes hundreds of millions of taels of silver each year, and that doesn't even include the trade of our own royal fleet..."

Upon hearing this, Sima Yan raised an eyebrow and asked in confusion, "Is maritime trade so prosperous now? I only know that there are two teams of royal merchants who go out to sea twice a year. I heard that the profits are huge, but I don't know the details."

Prince Rui couldn't help but sigh, "In one year, the two teams of imperial merchants not only brought back countless treasures, but also handed over five million taels of gold each time. What about two times? How much have they paid in the past ten years? All this wealth was brought back from overseas!"

Upon hearing this, Sima Nan's hair exploded, his eyes widened, and he said enviously, "Yue'er still has ten sea trade teams. Wouldn't she get even more? I'm really envious!"

Sima Yan knocked Sima Nan on the head and said unhappily, "You idiot, why don't you use your brain to think about it? Yue'er's two floors are for our family, the other two floors are for the General's Mansion, two floors are for the Prince Xian's Mansion, and the third floor is for the Emperor's grandfather, and she only has one floor for herself..."