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The Sum Emperor glanced over the crowd and, seeing that no one seemed to have anything more to say, he spoke up, “The matter of the Crown Prince concerns the very foundation of our nation and requires careful deliberation. We shall not discuss it today.”

Upon hearing the Sum Emperor’s words, Zhao Wenhan did not continue to speak either; he had only been talking for the sake of it, and besides, he could not possibly support the North Prince.

There were only a few court officials who would support the North Prince.

Ordinary princes, even those not involved in the struggle for succession, might have some interactions with the ministers, but the North Prince was an oddity; he had no dealings with any minister, so who would support him?

Apart from the Chu Family possibly being tempted, the support base of the other princes remained largely unchanged.

After all, the North Prince did have blood ties with the Chu Family, and although they now supported Prince Lu Shuyun, that was because Prince Lu Chen was initially too weak to stand on his own.

Now that Prince Lu Chen had made such great military achievements, even to the point where his merits overshadowed his sovereign, how could they not be moved?

They might even support Prince Lu Chen once again.

Of course, this presented a significant challenge to the other princes.

First and foremost, the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry from North City!

Without addressing the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry of North City, the North Prince would forever be a sword hanging over their heads.

Even if they seized the throne in the future, such a formidable military power in North City could just as likely dethrone them.

Without eliminating the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry, without eliminating the North Prince, no Prince could rest easy!

Almost instantly, all the princes involved in the struggle for succession united on the same front — that the North Prince was their greatest threat and must be brought down.

At this point, the Sum Emperor continued, “My esteemed ministers, the North Prince has made such great contributions, how do you think the court should reward him?”

In the end, the Sum Emperor still left the question to the ministers.

The North Prince’s merits were indeed too substantial; even the Sum Emperor himself was at a loss as to how he should be rewarded; the position of Crown Prince was definitely not an option.

He had never intended to appoint a Crown Prince so soon, let alone one who was the North Prince, a prince of whom, he wasn’t even certain whether he was his own child; how could he possibly make him the Crown Prince.

After hearing the Sum Emperor’s question, the ministers looked at one another, unsure of what to do.

The merit was simply too great; it seemed that only the position of the Crown Prince could match this achievement; any other reward would seem insignificant by comparison.

But obviously, the Sum Emperor was not going to give the position of Crown Prince to the North Prince, so what should be used to reward the North Prince? Certainly, it couldn’t be nothing.

To give nothing would not sit well with the people of Great Sum if they were to find out, and it would be unjustifiable.

After all, the North Prince had been killing the Barbarian Tribe!

The same Barbarian Tribe with which the people of Great Sum had deep-seated hatred.

How could the people of Great Sum accept it if the North Prince killed so many Barbarians, and yet the court showed no sign of acknowledgment?

At this moment, Lin Gaoyuan spoke up, “Your Majesty, I believe that due to the North Prince’s enormous achievements, ordinary rewards can no longer compare.”

Hearing this, Zhao Wenhan immediately retorted, “Prime Minister Lin, isn’t that just stating the obvious? His Majesty needs a concrete reward, not to hear you rattling on pointlessly.”

Lin Gaoyuan ignored Zhao Wenhan and continued, “I believe the Order of Expansion could serve as a reward for the North Prince’s contributions this time.”

This statement caused an uproar in the court.

The Order of Expansion, as the name suggests, means to expand territories.

When Great Sum was founded, Sum Ancestor granted many seigniors with the Order of Expansion, and the territories they conquered belonged to those seigniors.

But soon, subsequent emperors of Great Sum realized this posed a huge threat because some seigniors’ territories were growing too large and were nearly surpassing the actual territories controlled by the Sum Emperor.

After the efforts of several generations of Sum Emperors, the Order of Expansion was eventually abolished, and several wars even erupted as a result of abolishing it.

To the current Sum Emperor, further reduction of seignior power was achieved; nowadays, seigniors are basically assigned to fiefs by the court, and even if they conquered territories from other nations, those belong to the court, to the Sum Emperor, seigniors have no right to claim them as their own.

If the Order of Expansion were to be granted to the North Prince, then in the future, his territory in North City could expand indefinitely, provided he had the strength.

For the court, this wasn’t necessarily a good thing; if the North Prince possessed too much territory, his power could likely increase further, posing an even greater threat to Great Sum.

However…

Upon hearing Lin Gaoyuan’s suggestion, the Sum Emperor did not immediately reject the idea because he found it somewhat useful.

Once the North Prince held the Order of Expansion, he would likely wage wars to enlarge his territory.

Wars require money and resources; they need to consume strength.

Besides, the North Prince was in North City, and if he wanted to expand his territory, there was only one choice: to expand northward.

The north was the realm of the Barbarian Tribe, which meant that the North Prince’s wars against the Barbarian Tribe would continue.

For Great Sum, this weakened North City’s strength and also mitigated the threat posed to Great Sum by the southward advances of the Barbarian Tribe to some extent.

It was a good strategy.

Just that once the Order of Expansion was used, it would likely only be reclaimed through war or by making the North Prince the next Sum Emperor.

Once the North Prince held the Order of Expansion and expanded territory, he would certainly not surrender the land to the court; there was no need to even think about this.