Chapter 192 He is Prince Jing, Li Jin

"Twenty years ago, His Majesty's focus was entirely on the country and its people, and he did not care about the power struggles in the harem."

Yan Zhao glanced at the crescent moon reflected in the teacup and said meaningfully, "Your Majesty and Consort Xiao are deeply in love, and no one can shake their relationship."

"But the difficulty lies in the fact that he is the emperor, and he has to balance the power of all parties," Yan Zhao said. "Behind Consort Xiao is the General's Mansion. After becoming the emperor's favorite, her hidden power became extremely great, which aroused dissatisfaction in the court and the public. Consort Xiao then advised His Majesty to take a concubine for the sake of stability in the court and the public."

"This should have been a good thing, but unfortunately we ran into that old scoundrel Xu Weiyou."

Apart from Yan Zhao and Eunuch Lin, no one knew that Xu Weiyou's daughter, Consort Shu, had conceived the emperor's child through despicable means.

"At that time, the Emperor was furious." At this point, Yan Zhao raised an eyebrow and deliberately asked Jin Shu, "If you were His Majesty, what would you have done?"

"Once you're in that position, you're not in control of your own destiny," she said without the slightest hesitation. "You can only swallow this insult."

Yan Zhao's eyes revealed his approval: "This young man is teachable."

Among the Three Departments and Six Ministries, the Ministry of Justice of the Ministry of Personnel was the most widely involved.

Although Li Yi was annoyed, in the end, the fact that the concubine was pregnant with the emperor's child was a good thing, no matter how you looked at it.

Consort Shu, having mastered Xu Weiyou's shrewdness, asked for the name "Yao" for her child before Li Yi could bestow a name upon him.

“The mystery within is quite ingenious.” Yan Zhao looked at Jin Shu: “Put the character ‘Mu’ in Li Mu’s name together with the character ‘Yao’ in this name.”

In an instant, Jin Shu understood.

"Mu and Yao, cutting grass and herding sheep!" She suddenly realized. "Does Consort Shu mean that her child has no intention of vying for power, but only wants to assist the Crown Prince?"

Yan Zhao nodded: "No one would believe that, but she begged so much that His Majesty simply went along with it and granted her request."

He fell silent for a moment after saying this.

After that, Consort Shu built up her own power in the harem, and within three to five years, she was able to control Consort Xiao to some extent.

Consort Xiao, who had been riding horses and fighting for many years, was a skilled warrior charging into battle alongside Li Yi. However, she disdained the intrigues and power struggles within the harem and naturally gradually lost ground.

To help her, Li Yi took the eldest daughter of the Grand Secretary of the Secretariat into the harem and made her Consort De.

"In fact, Consort De, who came from a strict family and acted with integrity, hit it off with Consort Xiao at first sight and became each other's support. This is why the Prince, the Princess, and the Fourth Prince had such a good relationship and were true brothers and sisters."

At this point, Yan Zhao paused for a long time, and he couldn't help but sigh: "But things changed when Li Yao was six years old."

"The reason he was able to change his name to Li Jing was that when he was twelve years old, Li Mu was indecisive and hesitant in his dealings with others, which was a major taboo."

"It was Consort Shu who wrote the character 'Jing' again," Yan Zhao sneered. "The 'Jing' of 'the sun rising over the capital.'"

"His Majesty does not believe in ghosts and gods, nor in the Five Elements and Yin and Yang. Back then, the Astronomical Bureau earnestly advised against changing this character, but he did not take it seriously."

"He agreed to Consort Shu's request in order to make it seem like he was helping the Second Prince, so that the overly weak Li Mu would show some of the tension of being forced."

"Alas..." Yan Zhao let out a long sigh.

That's when everything completely collapsed.

It's hard to say whether it was this one word difference that led to Li Jing becoming the Crown Prince and rising to power in the capital twenty years later, while Li Mu was unjustly imprisoned and exiled thousands of miles away.

It's hard to say whether the fates of the two people were already sealed the moment they changed their names.

After twenty years, Li Yi realized that his eldest son, Li Mu, was not cut out to rule the country.

Despite his gentle and refined manners, and his amiable and humble nature, he could not hold onto the throne of the Great Wei, nor could he rule this turbulent land.

“At that time, I supported Li Jing,” Yan Zhao said. “In order to help him seize the position of Crown Prince, I became one of the people who advised him.”

As he said this, his eyes dimmed.

"I was involved in the incident six years ago to some extent, but the original plan and what he actually carried out were two completely different things." Yan Zhao's voice turned cold. "None of us expected that he would join forces with Xu Weiyou to kill all of the more than one hundred people in Li Mu's Crown Prince's residence."

"Not only the Crown Prince's residence, but also those who helped him, those who assisted him, those who knew his true plans, and those who held leverage over him, are either dead or in hiding. His ruthlessness and disregard for consequences have finally made His Majesty and me realize that we have made a huge mistake."

He sneered, "We've personally supported a demon from hell."

Even after Li Jing entered the Eastern Palace, his killing spree did not stop.

Even his ascension to the throne of the crown prince caused a huge uproar in the harem.

"I have to say, Li Jin is very smart. He made the right move. He relinquished his military power and returned the tiger tally, making Li Jing helpless against him in the blink of an eye." Yan Zhao took a deep breath. "We can't just kill a meritorious official of the Great Wei who has no power in his hands, no influence behind him, whose mother has entered the cold palace, and who has just lost his own brother. It's not reasonable or emotional."

"His move was brilliant! It was his decisive and flexible approach that gave His Majesty hope of correcting this mistake."

Li Jin, who rarely appeared in the capital, was originally not noticed by anyone.

He was a true genius, skilled in both literature and martial arts. From a young age, he followed General Xiao on the battlefield. Before he was even twenty, he achieved legendary status in the Battle of Jingkang and was granted the title of "Prince Jing".

Li Jing appeared indifferent, but in reality, he was extremely wary of his younger brother, who had achieved numerous military exploits.

Yan Zhao looked at Jin Shu's face and said with a self-deprecating tone, "In the past twenty years, there have been two princes, one indecisive and the other ruthless. But after seeing the infinite potential in Li Jin, His Majesty still wants to give it another try."

He paused for a moment, then said, "I'd like to too."

Yan Zhao watched Li Mu grow up.

Watching him become the crown prince, watching him marry Lady Cen as his crown princess, watching his entire family be wiped out overnight.

He felt guilty and regretful.

So, he took a huge risk and brought Li Jin, who had lost everything and could only live a leisurely life as a prince, to the Six Doors.

They secretly taught him how to develop his own power and how to weave a network of his own.

He wanted to personally correct his past mistakes and atone for the tragic massacre of his family.

“Although I am a confidant of the Crown Prince, I am not as close as you might imagine,” Yan Zhao said. “Li Jing is suspicious by nature. His confidants meet him alone and do not know each other. They only sign their names with special symbols.”

Yan Zhao took out an envelope from his pocket, with a cluster of flames drawn in the lower right corner. He pointed at it with his fingertip and said with a smile, "This is me."

At this point, he took a deep breath: "Your Highness is unaware of this matter, and I don't know how to explain it."

He didn't know how to tell Li Jin that he was actually involved in the incident six years ago.

But Jin Shu took a bite of the jujube blossom pastry, and with a casual gesture, she threw a huge stone into Yan Zhao's heart.

"Your Highness knows."

He paused for a moment.

Jin Shu glanced at him and said, "How could he not know? That's Prince Jing."

After a long pause, Yan Zhao gave an awkward laugh and waved his hand, "Impossible. If he knew, he would hate me to the bone long ago."

“No.” Jin Shu wiped his mouth. “He is not the crown prince.”

Under the moonlight, she grinned and said, "He is Prince Jing."

“He is someone who can sort out the various forces faster than me and understand them more clearly than I do.” Jin Shu raised his hand and pointed to the flame pattern. “Moreover… Lord Yan doesn’t need to bear the entire burden alone.”

"You are merely the spokesperson for this flame."

Her smile was reflected in Yan Zhao's surprised eyes.

She knew that behind those flames was the Emperor of the Great Wei.