Consort Wan was a very shrewd person; otherwise, Emperor Liang Cheng wouldn't have considered making her empress. Even though she didn't become empress, Consort Wan used her charm and naivety to gain many benefits for herself.

As the children grew older, the women standing behind the princes also began to consider their own future.

If her son ascends the throne, she will be the most honored woman of this era. If other women's sons ascend the throne, what awaits them? Since she has the opportunity to strive for it, why not try?

Based on the idea that there are no emperors who cannot be made, only people who do not try, everyone used their own unique methods, and among them, the women's families were their strongest support.

Consort Shu comes from a military family. Her brother is currently stationed in the southwest. Empress Gu's family consists of great Confucian scholars in the south, who are highly respected among scholars. As for Consort Wan's family, the Marquis of Yong'an and his heir are not a threat. Minister Wan of the Wan family supports the ambition of Consort Wan and her son.

The prefect of Ganzhou was Wan Weiyong's man. The prefect's appointment to Ganzhou was all thanks to Wan Weiyong's maneuvering. Wan Weiyong's idea was that Ganzhou was geographically important, and if the prefect did not mess things up and cooperated well with the Wei family, he would naturally make great contributions. Who would have thought that after the great victory in Hexi, the emperor personally forced several princes to pay money. While the other princes were a little short, these three princes each took at least 100,000 taels of silver.

The eldest prince's maternal family is the bulwark of the southwest. They usually rely on illegal mining and the tributes from the local chieftains, so 100,000 taels is not a lot. As for the second prince, the Gu family is a family of learned scholars and an old and established family with a rich foundation. Back then, Empress Gu's dowry alone was more than 100,000 taels of silver notes. They have not been working hard all these years, so taking out 100,000 taels of silver notes is not a big loss.

This is the Third Prince. Consort Wan has money, but she can't compare to Consort Shu and Empress Gu. The Wan family has neither military personnel nor a large fortune. They usually rely on their family's land, shops, and the tributes from their servants. The Third Prince had the most confiscated silver notes, over 100,000 taels. After taking them all out, the Third Prince himself felt much weaker.

It happened to be just before the spring flood season, and various places were distributing funds for river works. Every year, the prefect of Ganzhou would squeeze some benefits out of these funds. This time, the funds arrived just as the Third Prince came to provide disaster relief. Seeing the gleaming silver, he was tempted to seize it.

Upon hearing the rumors from the Ministry of Revenue, Wan Weiyong immediately sent his trusted confidant to Ganzhou. After discussing the matter in detail with the prefect of Ganzhou, he persuaded the prefect to take full responsibility for embezzling funds intended for the river works, thus protecting the Third Prince. But what if the Third Prince were to be accused of raping a woman?

The saying "Princes are subject to the same laws as commoners" is widely known to both the speaker and the listener to be somewhat exaggerated. However, if things don't come to light, all is well, but once they do, the consequences are severe. Especially now, Emperor Liang Cheng is quite disappointed with his several adult princes.

These are all things that need to be carefully considered. Xu Di spread a large sheet of white paper on his desk in his room and began to sort out the network of relationships among the princes in the capital. He understood many things in his mind, but if you write them down or draw them out and then ponder them slowly, you will definitely find something different in them.

Xu Di loves watching spy dramas and movies. He understands the importance of information, and because of this, he has used a lot of the money he has earned over the years to collect information.

Xu Rao knew about this. Xu Di had a small stationery shop in the capital, which was a place he set up to collect information. The shop's employees were all people who had retired from the army after the great victory in Hexi.

Xu Di carefully examined each person, including their personality, even their background and who else was in their hometown. Then he gave them special training and sent them to the writing brush and ink shops in the capital.

What these people needed to do was bribe the waiters in some restaurants in the capital, and even the pimps in brothels, with money. Then, they would send any information, as long as it was related to some famous people in the capital, to a designated place. These people would then send it to Xu Di in Hexi, where Xu Di would sort and organize it.

Xu Di was sitting at his large desk, looking at the large white paper that had been pasted on the wall. It was covered with names, and some names had been connected to the names of people next to them or further away by lines several times.

Xu Di was preparing a backup plan for Liao Zhixia's situation. The Third Prince was Emperor Liang Cheng's own son. Although he had made a mistake, how it was dealt with depended on Emperor Liang Cheng's will. If Emperor Liang Cheng wanted to uphold justice and punish his own son, how would he view them? "The father is to blame for not raising his son properly." If Emperor Liang Cheng wanted to cover it up, what would they do?

Liao Zhixia is not alone now; she has a child, the Third Prince's biological son. What should be done with this child? For the safety of his family, Xu Di felt there were too many issues to consider, and these issues were all very important to his family. The wrath of an emperor can cause corpses to float for miles.

Xu Di never felt superior because he had more than a thousand years of experience than these people. He knew very well that his wisdom was far inferior to that of these ancient people. After so many years of academic research, these interconnected strategies were quite difficult for Xu Di. But no matter how difficult it was, he had to grit his teeth and analyze every possible consequence.

Zhang Zhaoci brought in a bowl of soup and, seeing the mess in Xu Di's room, said, "Xu Di, don't be too anxious. Things are done one step at a time."

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