Chapter 175 Mid-Autumn Festival
Princess Yan’s natal family was a general from the north and did not have a title. It has also declined in recent years.
With the imperial court's restrictions on the clan, it was impossible for him to marry the daughter of a general who was still active in the army.
Zhao Xing was not interested in finding out whether Princess Yan’s nephew had really made a mistake. Since Prince Yan said so, it must be true.
But this does not mean that this is the true purpose of King Yan.
Zhao Xing felt that this was just an excuse for King Yan, and the purpose was to send him the two women.
Even without this incident, King Yan would have found some other reasonable excuses.
King Yan gave him a woman, naturally he didn’t want him to spread his branches and leave blood. Nor was it to make him indulge in women and cause the officials to be disappointed in him.
After all, Zhao Xing is the only son of an official family. No matter how obsessed with women he is, the official family will never pass the throne to his nephew because of this.
The purpose of King Yan was probably to make him die of being addicted to women.
If Zhao Xing was addicted to women, injured his body, and died without leaving any heirs, King Yan's opportunity would come.
He guessed this when King Yan asked two women to salute him.
That’s why he didn’t refuse directly, but pretended to be lustful and accepted the two women.
The purpose is to make King Yan relax his vigilance.
After Sanshui left, Zhao Xing checked the gifts sent by King Yan again.
King Yan was very generous, and what he gave was indeed what he said, they were all valuable things.
A rough estimate is around tens of thousands taels.
But this money is nothing to King Yan.
After all, the Song Dynasty valued literature over military affairs, but treated military generals very favorably in terms of salary.
The clan received even more preferential treatment than the generals in this regard.
Of course, this refers to those with close bloodline.
…………
King Yan returned to Prince Yan’s Mansion, got off the carriage and entered the palace, wandering all the way to the study.
"Invite Mr. Chu."
After King Yan gave the order, he closed his eyes and sorted out the situation when he just met Zhao Xing in the East Palace.
I don’t know how long it took, but footsteps came in.
“I’ve met the prince!” the visitor bowed and saluted.
King Yan opened his eyes, pointed to the seat next to him, and said: "Mr. Chu, please sit down. I am a little shy and would like to play a game of chess with you."
Mr. Chu He was in his forties and dressed like a teacher. He nodded slightly and came to sit next to King Yan.
The maid brought the chessboard and got busy.
"How is Yuan'er's studies?" King Yan asked.
"Your Majesty is very talented and can get through anything. The important thing is that Your Majesty works very hard and completes his assigned studies very well. He doesn't need me to worry about him." Mr. Chu said with a smile.
A trace of relief flashed in King Yan's eyes, and then he sighed: "What a pity..."
While speaking, the maid had already laid out the chessboard and served tea.
"You all go down." King Yan waved his hand.
Mr. Chu held the black piece, picked up a chess piece from the chess box, and dropped it on the chess board. Seeing that the maid had already retreated, he said softly: "It's a pity, it's too early to say anything now."
Yan Wangluo He picked up a piece and said, "King Renben has sent it over, but is it really useful?"
"This is just like playing Go. Sometimes the move may be useful, or it may be a useless move. The details will depend on what the prince does next," Mr. Chu said with a smile.
"I think the prince may have noticed it." King Yan said.
"His Royal Highness saw only what I wanted him to see, it doesn't matter." Mr. Chu said.
The hand of Prince Yan who was about to make a move stopped and he frowned and said: "What do you mean?"
"Your Majesty, the prince was assassinated before. Logically speaking, some clues should have been found, but the official family has never had an attack. Prince Don’t you think there’s a problem?” Mr. Chu said.
"There is indeed a problem. I always feel a little confused these days." King Yan said, and the chess piece in his hand fell casually.
Mr. Chu saw King Yan's chess piece falling and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, sometimes you get confused and it will affect your judgment."
As he said that, he picked up the chess piece and dropped it. position.
King Yan looked at it and saw that he had been eaten by a lot of chess pieces. However, he had no intention of paying attention to the chessboard and said, "Sir, can you please stop beating around the bush?"
He was most annoyed by these scholars. Although they were somewhat capable, they He always likes to talk in roundabout ways and seems to be incomprehensible.
But sometimes he has to rely on these scholars.
While picking up the chess pieces, Mr. Chu said: "If Your Highness is an outsider and hears that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been assassinated, who will be the first to suspect the most?"
"The official family only has one piece, naturally. After the death of the prince, the person who is most qualified to compete for the throne is the most suspicious," said King Yan.
"That's it. Once the prince dies, Prince Yong and the prince are most likely to become the crown prince, and they are naturally the most suspicious. Although clues are pointing to Prince Yong, the officials have not taken action. The only possibility is that the evidence is not enough." Chu said Mr.
"But the officials must be very angry about the assassination of the prince. Even if there are only clues, they can arrest the person first and interrogate him strictly. How can they wait for the evidence to be conclusive." King Yan said.
He also has an only son, so he has to ask himself, if it were him, he would take action as long as there was a little clue, and there was no way he would wait until the evidence was conclusive.
As for making a mistake, then it is a mistake. What are the consequences?
He all has this idea, let alone the official family.
"If only King Yong is suspected, the officials will naturally look for him and take action." Mr. Chu said.
"You mean the officials doubt me?" King Yan's expression changed.
"Yes." Mr. Chu said: "Only in this way can we explain why the Tongguan family has not taken action for so long."
King Yan pondered for a while and said: "So you You want me to send a woman to the prince, using this seemingly clumsy method to make the officials think that this matter cannot be related to me?" "Your Majesty is wise," Mr. Chu complimented.
"Why didn't you explain this to me before?" King Yan looked at Mr. Chu with burning eyes.
"If I said so, would the prince still go?" Mr. Chu asked.
The King of Yan fell silent when he heard this. If Mr. Chu had explained from the beginning that he was going to alert others this time, he would definitely not have gone.
In doing so, it may be possible to alert the snake and eliminate the suspicion on him.
It is also possible that the snake was frightened and bitten by the snake, and his life was not saved.
"Your Majesty, how could Xiang Yu achieve the great victory in the Battle of Julu if he didn't have the courage to risk everything? Since ancient times, those who want to do great things should avoid leaving a way out for themselves. Because as long as there is a way out, there will be no determination to succeed or succeed. And courage, always look forward and backward when doing things," Mr. Chu said.
"You..."
King Yan looked at Mr. Chu with murderous intent in his eyes.
Just as Zhao Xing thought, he sent women to Zhao Xing just to make him indulge in women and die of excessive sexual indulgence.
But this idea came from Mr. Chu.
Mr. Chu told him that Zhao Xing might not be able to see it.
King Yan thought for a long time and finally decided to take the risk.
After all, Zhao Xing is alive, and he has no chance of getting involved in the throne.
Once Zhao Xing died, he was qualified to compete for the throne. Although there was still King Yong competing with him, he did not take King Yong seriously.
However, Mr. Chu did not tell him that the officials had already suspected him.
Just because Zhao Xing can't see it doesn't mean that the officials can't see it.
Mr. Chu saw the murderous intent in King Yan's eyes and said calmly: "Even if the officials are suspicious, the prince will just give away two girls, and the officials will not do anything to the prince. I am also making my own decisions. The great cause of the prince, if the prince is angry and wants to kill me, I am willing to die! After all, the officials have already suspected that if I don’t do this, I will be dead.”
King Yan’s eyes flickered and he hesitated for a long time. Said: "I called you here to play chess, don't talk about these inexplicable words."
After saying that, he picked up the chess pieces and placed them, and said: "It's your turn, sir."
The corner of Mr. Chu's mouth Shangyang started playing chess with King Yan.
.........
"Meet His Highness!" Yin Hanzhang bowed.
Zhao Xing waved his hand and said: "How is the investigation of the assassin?"
"At present, 80% of Zhuangzi within a radius of 200 miles of Bianjing has been investigated, and no abnormalities have been found. If it is After checking the rest, we still found nothing, so King Yong is the biggest suspect." Yin Hanzhang said.
Zhao Xing nodded slightly, picked up two portraits from the table and handed them to Sanshui.
"You can check the identities of these two women for Gu Cha and see when King Yan found them. Also check all the maids and eunuchs in the East Palace who need to go out to see if there are any problems with the people these people have come into contact with outside." Zhao Xing said.
Zhao Xing felt that it was unlikely that King Yan would find two beautiful women who had reconciled and sent them to him after Sheng Shulan entered the East Palace.
After all, not counting today, it has only been two days since Sheng Shulan entered the East Palace.
But before, he asked Liu Sanshi to tell Sheng Wei that after Sheng Changwu got married, he would ask Sheng Shulan to come to the East Palace. Not many people knew about it.
It would be okay if King Yan learned the news through other channels, but what Zhao Xing is most worried about is that there is a mole around him.
"Yes!" Yin Hanzhang responded.
"In addition, pay close attention to King Yan's movements and be careful not to be discovered." Zhao Xing said.
“Yes!”
Seeing that Zhao Xing had no other instructions, Yin Hanzhang took the portrait, saluted and left.
…………
A few days flew by in the blink of an eye.
Early in the morning that day, Yu Yanran and Sheng Shulan each took the gifts that Zhao Xing had prepared for them, and took a carriage back home under the protection of the Imperial Guards.
Sheng Wei’s family heard the news and waited at the door.
Seeing the carriage stop, the old lady couldn't bear it any longer and hurried forward.
“Shulan!”
"Grandma!"
Grandparents and grandson held hands, excited.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!"
The old lady looked at it for a while and said hello several times.
Although I haven’t asked Sheng Shulan how she is doing in the East Palace, just looking at her complexion, Sheng Shulan is much better than before.
In the past, Sheng Shulan felt that she had been embarrassed by her family because of her separation. Her eyebrows were depressed and her expression was melancholy.
After not seeing each other for a few days, the knot between Sheng Shulan’s eyebrows disappeared and her eyes became brighter.
"Mom, let's talk in the room first." Sheng Wei said.
"Father, mother!"
Sheng Shulan let go of her grandmother's hand and saluted her parents.
"Yes, yes, come into the house and say it."
The old lady took Sheng Shulan's hand and walked inside.
(End of this chapter)