Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 346 Establishing the Crown Prince

Seeing the table full of dry food, the Song couple were completely dumbfounded. It turned out that this kid had collected a lot of delicious food. Look at this pancake, so crispy and delicious.

"Is this made by Uncle Fang? His craftsmanship is quite good."

Song Chunlin chuckled, wiped his mouth, and started looking around for his younger brothers and sisters.

Song Qin knew what he was trying to do as soon as she saw him, and quickly asked him to stop.

"Don't mess with your brothers and sisters. They went to the Wang family in the village today. Wang Qin is getting married today, and your brother and sister-in-law are helping out there. The younger ones went over to eat and drink for free. I forgot to tell you when you just came back."

"Brother Wang Qin got married? To whom? Why didn't I hear any news before I left?"

Song Dazhuang rolled his eyes at his son and said, "When you left, it was like a gust of wind. Who would have had time to tell you?"

Speaking of his running away, Song Chunlin couldn't help feeling guilty and quickly changed the subject, fearing that his father would remember to punish him later.

After Song Chunlin's jokes, Song Dazhuang's attention was successfully diverted and no one made a fuss about his running away.

As agreed, the next day Song Chunlin went to visit Su Fuqing, who was about to give birth. After not seeing her for a few months, his belly was getting bigger and bigger, and the doctor said that the due date would probably be next month.

As the due date approached, Su Fuqing's feet began to swell, and a dent would form when pressed, making it very inconvenient for her to move. Fortunately, Gu Fengyun would take time out every day to accompany her husband for a walk in the yard.

Old Madam Su also moved here from that small courtyard and took care of her son's health wholeheartedly. She knew that this child was extremely important to both the Marquis' Mansion and Su Fuqing himself, and no mistakes could be made.

After visiting Su Fuqing, Song Chunlin went to the Charity Bureau without stopping. He had checked and found out that Song Song would stay in the bureau to rest today.

When Song Song saw Song Chunlin for the first time, a smile appeared on his face, but when he saw that he came alone, the smile quickly disappeared.

Song Chunlin took Songsong to sit aside, and the two talked calmly for a long time. He told Songsong that his sister might have met with an accident, and hoped that he would be mentally prepared. Also, retrieving a little girl who had been resold countless times would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Thank you, Young Master Song. Actually, I already had a premonition in my mind." Song Song's eyes were red, but he still held back his tears and didn't let them fall.

"I had a premonition that Liu Liu would fall into the hands of those evil people, and nothing good would happen to her. Others also told me openly or secretly that Liu Liu would never come back. I just couldn't accept it..."

Song Chunlin sighed, handed him a tissue and asked him to wipe his tears.

After Songsong cried for a while, he was depressed for several days. The manager didn't dare to let him go to the store to help, but let him stay in the orphanage to have a good rest. His familiar friends also brought him many novel gadgets every day to coax him. With everyone's care, Songsong finally accepted the fact that his sister would not come back. When Song Chunlin went to see him again, he had fully recovered.

The day Su Fuqing gave birth was the beginning of summer. As a boy is older, the difficulty and risk of childbirth would be greater than that of a girl. This was also what Old Madam Su and Gu Fengyun were most worried about. According to the date calculated by the doctor, Gu Fengyun went to Song Chunlin in advance to get the spiritual spring water in case of emergency.

In the end, Su Fuqing successfully gave birth to a son, who was also a little boy like him.

When she heard that Su Fuqing had given birth to a boy, Mrs. Su's face changed drastically. She subconsciously looked at Gu Fengyun beside her, but Gu Fengyun seemed to have not heard clearly or something. He was only concerned about how Su Fuqing was doing.

The midwife smiled and said, "Madam Hou is doing well. She is in good health and the baby is obedient. She didn't suffer too much and came out in no time. We are cleaning up inside now and will be able to take the baby out soon."

Gu Fengyun followed up with another question: "Is my wife awake now?"

It was not the first time that Shumo had seen a man who was so worried about his husband. She had never expected that someone as powerful as Lord Gu would be such a lovesick man.

"Don't worry, my Lord. Madam is awake, but she is exhausted and unable to move. Please let her take a break. She will call you later."

Sure enough, not long after the midwife finished speaking, Su Fuqing's voice calling Gu Fengyun was heard from inside.

After confirming that Su Fuqing and the newborn were doing well, Gu Fengyun happily asked the stewards to give big red envelopes to all the servants in the mansion. He also boiled a bunch of red eggs and took them to the Ministry of Justice to distribute them. Before long, almost everyone in the capital knew that Gu Fengyun finally had a child.

The elders who knew Marquis Gu also sent people to present gifts to the Marquis' Mansion. The emperor was even more generous and directly named this little guy, who was not even a month old, as the Marquis of Yongyi's son.

This move caused an uproar in the room. Some conservatives simply jumped out and said that the emperor had no respect for hierarchy and disregarded the rules set by his ancestors.

"Since ancient times, the position of the crown prince can only be passed on to the eldest son. If there is no eldest son, and there is no nephew from the side line, a female prince can take over. Since the founding of Dajing, there has never been a case of appointing a brother as the crown prince. This is really against ethics. Your Majesty, please revoke your order."

The conservatives knelt down one by one, and some other people who disagreed with the establishment of a crown prince also knelt down. Soon, there were only a few people left standing in the entire hall. At this moment, no matter whether they were conservatives or reformists, civil servants or military generals, everyone's opinions reached an unprecedented consensus. For a moment, the hall was silent, with only the ministers kneeling on the ground.

The emperor sat on the dragon throne, ignoring this spectacular scene. He first took the tea from the eunuch beside him, lowered his head and took a sip. After moistening his throat, he set his eyes on the old minister in the front.

The emperor felt angry and helpless when he saw the people kneeling on the ground. Look at these people. He just appointed a brother as the crown prince, and these people immediately formed an alliance. He never found them so united before. If they can keep this energy in the government, why worry about the prosperity of their Dajing?

"You all think that my brother cannot be the crown prince. Why? Just because he is a brother, does that mean he is not Gu Fengyun's son?"

"Your Majesty, of course, but he is a brother..."

"Brother, brother, brother, are you just going to keep picking on me for this one thing? What's wrong with me? Can children born to the same parents be divided into different levels just because of their different genders? I never knew that you guys are so narrow-minded. It's simply shameless!"

Under the emperor's scolding, the young officials dared not speak out, while the older ones, led by the censor in the front, cited the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, saying that boys would eventually get married and have children, and that this was their responsibility and obligation. How could such people inherit such a large marquisate?

The emperor looked at Gu Fengyun, and Gu Fengyun signaled the emperor to be patient, as it was his turn to perform next.

"Master Xu, you said that the duty of the boys is to have children. Then who gave them this duty?"

Lord Xu said as if it was a matter of course: "It has been like this since ancient times. If Lord Gu insists on finding someone, then it is destined by heaven. Since heaven has given them the ability to give birth to offspring, it is naturally for them to continue the important task of reproducing offspring."

Gu Fengyun sneered: "Who told you that they can only have children? If it's as you said, you can still die. Why don't you just die, but continue to live, wasting rice and grain to feed a hypocritical villain like you who is full of chaff."

Lord Xu was so angry at Gu Fengyun's words "Go to hell" that his forehead was throbbing. He pointed at Gu Fengyun and kept calling him "you you you" for a long time, but couldn't say a few words in rebuttal.

When the people around saw that Lord Xu was so angry, they hurried to support him, fearing that he would fall down due to anger.

"Gu Fengyun, how can you say that? Could it be that Lord Xu is wrong? He is a boy, just like a girl, his natural mission is to get married and have children. It has been like this since ancient times. Even if you love your child, if he can't get married when he grows up, he will resent you."

"So what if you can't get married? Who told you that girls can only get married and have children?"

"Who are you? Who are you? You are not an official. How can a commoner like you be allowed to make such a loud noise in this palace?"

Song Chunlin stood at the entrance of the hall, with his exclusive bow and arrow on his back. Some officials present guessed at a glance that the man with the bow and arrow in front of them was the one who shot down the palace lantern outside the hall with a compound bow. He was also the only person in the dynasty with the title of Protector of the Country, and he was a brother.

Song Chunlin saluted the emperor at the door. He did not perform the etiquette of a young man, but the clasped hands salute similar to that of men.

"Your Majesty, I was hiding outside the palace just now. I heard them talking nonsense in here. I couldn't help it, so I spoke out to refute them. Please forgive me for my mistake."

The emperor raised his hand and asked Song Chunlin to stand up, and then he said to everyone: "You all say that getting married and having children is a man's natural duty and mission, but what about him? As a man, he can kill people on the battlefield and make great contributions to Dajing. Can you do what he did?"

"And Madam Cheng, Your Majesty, Madam Cheng is a woman, but when we launched a counterattack, she led all the women trapped in the government office to kill all the barbarians in the government office, and she also defended the government office as our base camp. During this period, she killed more than hundreds of barbarians. She is truly a woman who is as good as a man. However, such merits are not recognized by many people present. They think that a woman whose chastity has been defiled is not worthy of being mentioned by them. They keep denying and suppressing those women, and don't let Madam Cheng have a chance to succeed. Your Majesty, the so-called chastity in this world is nothing more than a tool used by these men who dare not even lift a knife to tie up the feet of women and men. When they abandon these, they will definitely be able to fly higher than these men. Your Majesty, please open your eyes and don't be fooled by villains anymore. Give Madam Cheng and those women and men the glory they deserve."

After saying that, Song Chunlin knelt heavily in front of the emperor. This time, he knelt willingly. There are obviously four genders in this world, but only men can succeed. They only want men. Even young ladies can only rank behind all men. Just like the system of inheritance of the title by the prince, if there are no suitable men in the side line, then the position of the prince will fall on the heads of young ladies. Isn't this unfair to those young ladies?

So this time, what they want to fight for is not only the position of Crown Prince for Gu Fengyun's son, but also the respect that this world owes to these girls and boys.

Song Chunlin's words were powerful and thought-provoking. Some of them were the generals who took the credit for Madam Cheng's achievements. Song Chunlin's words were like rubbing their faces on the ground. He was just pointing at their noses and scolding them for being shameless and trying to steal the credit from Madam Cheng.

The emperor, however, watched all this and laughed heartily.

In the end, Song Chunlin and Gu Fengyun not only won the position of crown prince for the newborn boy, but also won an opportunity for Madam Cheng and others, an opportunity to openly form a women's army.

"For me?" Madam Cheng was a little dazed when she heard the imperial edict. She thought that Dou Duhu asked her to come over because of something big. After she came over, she found that it was really a big thing, a great thing.

Dou Duhu and Gu Fengyue looked at each other and saw relief on each other's faces.

"Madam Cheng, stop sighing and take the imperial edict. This time, Young Master Song and Marquis Gu fought for it for you. The emperor said that you can lead your father's old subordinates, as well as those women and men who are willing to join your team, even men. As long as they are willing, you can accept them, and you don't have to be affiliated with any general. You are you, this is your army, and the military expenses will be approved by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War every year."

Madam Cheng was so surprised that she almost fainted. When she heard that this was her army, her heart started pounding.

This sentence means that she is different from Madam Gu's female army. They are an army recognized by the court, which means that they no longer have to be controlled by others, but can make all the decisions for themselves.

Upon hearing the good news, Madam Cheng wiped away her tears, bowed deeply to the two of them, and then stood up and bowed deeply to Gu Fengyue.

"I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. Next time Young Master Song comes, remember to tell me. I will treat Young Master Song well. If there is anything else, just let us know. Cheng Qiao will do my best to help you."

"Madam Cheng, you are too kind. Chunlin's actions are not just for you, but also for the millions of women and men who are bound by the need to have children. You must let the world know that women and men can also fight in battle and are no less capable than men on the battlefield."