This time, it just so happened that Prince Xiang was too busy with the Qianzhou incident to spare the energy to deal with those matters, so Yuwen Ran caught him with evidence that he had secretly raised private soldiers and intended to rebel.

Furthermore, several months had passed since Prince Xiang was poisoned by Murong Yue. The poison Qin Ruoruo had concocted meant he only had a year to live, at most. Furthermore, Murong Yue had intended to hasten his death when she poisoned Prince Xiang. The poison she had obtained from Qin Ruoruo was the most potent in the world, leaving her with no other options.

The fact that Prince Xiang was able to endure for so long was due to his relatively strong physique from years of martial arts training. If it were anyone else, they would have gone to the netherworld to meet the King of Hell for a midnight snack a month after being poisoned.

But even though Prince Xiang survived for so long, he eventually died. Recently, Gu Yanyue heard that Prince Xiang vomited blood in the Prince Xiang Mansion and remained unconscious for several days. When the imperial physicians thought he would not survive, the Queen Mother went to the Prince Xiang Mansion and spoke to him for a while, and he woke up on his own.

What could the Queen Mother say to the Prince of Xiang? Wasn't it all about Yuwen Ran's throne? Gu Yanyue hadn't expected the Prince of Xiang to value the throne so much. He had clearly stepped on the brink of death, but the Queen Mother offered the throne to keep the Prince of Xiang alive, and then pulled him back from the brink of death.

That's why Prince Xiang and the Queen Mother have been so active over the past month, fearing that Prince Xiang's remaining time is running out. That's why the Queen Mother has dragged the Zhenbei Marquisate into a radical move, using Liu Yanyan's pregnancy to distract Yu Wenran from attacking the Zhenbei Marquisate, and also buying Prince Xiang more time to plot his rebellion.

If only we could get rid of King Xiang before he started his rebellion... Gu Yanyue gradually fell into deep thought, and frowned unconsciously.

But then Yuwen Ran said, "Ayue, I know you're a gambler and a courageous person. But no matter what happens this time, you can't act rashly or do anything that's futile."

He said: "It's not worth sacrificing so much for a Xiang King. If we want to win, we must win with the least risk!"

Gu Yanyue had to admit that Yuwen Ran's words made sense. They were just dealing with Prince Xiang, and given the current situation, Prince Xiang was doomed to fail. It was indeed not worth their while to spend any extra effort dealing with him.

"However, if Prince Xiang is like this, what should we do with the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion?" Gu Yanyue still had doubts and hesitated to speak, but finally stopped herself from speaking.

After all, the Zhenbei Marquisate was only a faction of the Xiang Prince, and was a fence-sitter. The Zhenbei Marquis had always been very clever. Even though he switched sides to the Xiang Prince for his daughter Liu Yanyan, he had never done anything for the Xiang Prince.

If something happened to Prince Xiang's Mansion, the Marquis of Zhenbei could immediately pull it out of the mess and leave no evidence for Yu Wenran that he had ever had any contact with Prince Xiang's Mansion.

Yuwen Ran pondered for a moment and said, "This isn't difficult. Since the Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion isn't one of ours, they're naturally in cahoots with Prince Xiang. Since we can't find any evidence from the Zhenbei Marquis that he's had any contact with Prince Xiang, we can target Liu Yanyan! With Liu Yanyan's intellect, as long as Prince Xiang had any contact with her, there would definitely be some evidence left behind. That way, if something happens to Prince Xiang, the Zhenbei Marquis' Mansion will suffer as well."

Yuwen Ran's point was pure nonsense. How could the Marquis of Zhenbei be his or Prince Xiang's? If Yuwen Ran used this as a basis for accusing the Marquis of Zhenbei, then he could simply be considered a mere figurehead, simply attending court on time and carrying out Yuwen Ran's instructions. As for treason, he wouldn't dare commit it even if he had a hundred guts.

However, Gu Yanyue was still deeply moved by Yuwen's actions. Yuwen Ran had no intention of dealing with the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion. He knew that the Zhenbei Marquis's personality was not likely to cause any major disturbances, so he did not specifically collect any information about the Zhenbei Marquis's private dealings with Prince Xiang.

It was Liu Yanyan's existence that made Yuwen Ran decide to deal with the Zhenbei Marquisate. Because of Liu Yanyan, and also because of himself, Yuwen Ran changed a plan that he had been planning for a long time.

This wasn't just a casual remark. It also meant that everything related to this plan had to be replanned from scratch. Furthermore, Yu Wenran couldn't have foreseen the variables that would arise from the new plan.

But for her, Yuwen Ran was willing to give up the plan he had decided on over the past few months and make a new one. This new plan involved more people, which meant that the variables also increased a lot.

Gu Yanyue didn’t know if she had saved the Milky Way in her previous life that she was able to meet a man like Yu Wenran in this life.

"Ayue, even though we're dealing with not only Prince Xiang but also the Marquis of Zhenbei, you don't have to look so fearless, do you?" Yuwen Ran also sat up from the bed. "The Marquis of Zhenbei's Mansion is actually easier to deal with than Prince Xiang. Don't look at the Marquis of Zhenbei's Mansion, which has stood since the founding of the country, but after more than a hundred years, it's actually no longer as glorious as it once was."

"Furthermore, this generation of the Marquis of Zhenbei has no other descendants besides his daughter, Liu Yanyan. Even if the incident with Prince Xiang hadn't happened, the Marquis of Zhenbei would have disappeared into the long river of history."

"The reason why the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion is easier to deal with than Prince Xiang is because he is a civil official. His influence in the court is at most to win over a few civil officials. But once we find evidence that he has had private contact with Prince Xiang, once Prince Xiang falls, any court official with a brain will stay away from the Zhenbei Marquis."

"And by then, whether it's to distance themselves from the Marquis of Zhenbei or to clear themselves of being on the side of Prince Xiang, they'll definitely rush to report what Prince Xiang and the Marquis of Zhenbei have done over the years. In this court, few officials are truly innocent, and I believe that the Marquis of Zhenbei, who has been in the court for so long, is certainly not innocent either."

"But what if we can't find evidence that the Marquis of Zhenbei has private contact with Prince Xiang? Are we going to let the Marquis of Zhenbei off like this?" After listening to what Yuwen Ran said, Gu Yanyue realized that all these possibilities had to be based on the fact that Yuwen Ran could produce evidence to prove that the Marquis of Zhenbei was in contact with Prince Xiang, and that the connection was quite substantial. Otherwise, everything would be nonsense.