On September 29th, the emperor set out to return to the palace, and Yu Zizhen and others also followed the motorcade back to the capital.
September 30th was the day off for Yu Zizhen and his companions.
On this day, Yu Zizhen did not stay in the mansion obediently, but went out to the east of the city early in the morning.
Outside an inconspicuous little temple in the east of the city, she met Mo Huaiyang, Marquis of Huaiyuan.
Mo Huaiyang didn't expect that Yu Zizhen could actually find him accurately. Besides being surprised, he couldn't help but trust a little more what Yu Zizhen had said to him in the hunting ground before.
The two men greeted each other, and Mo Huaiyang invited Yu Zizhen to the temple for a chat.
Yu Zizhen refused and signaled Mo Huaiyang to get on the horse.
Although Mo Huaiyang didn't understand what she meant, he still jogged with her on horseback.
It was not until they were far away from the small temple and reached an uninhabited wilderness that Yu Zizhen slowed down and let the horse stroll freely on the grass.
She looked around, then smiled at Mo Huaiyang, "If you want to talk in private, a place like this is the best."
Mo Huaiyang's eyes deepened slightly. Indeed, an empty wilderness would make it easier to avoid the so-called "walls have ears" than a closed room.
He took a deep breath and asked, "I wonder if the prince has any good ideas to help me out of this predicament?"
"Two options." Yu Zizhen didn't waste any words. Since Mo Huaiyang asked directly, she also directly pointed out the key points to Mo Huaiyang. "One is that you fake your death and leave. From now on, you will be far away from home and never ask about the affairs of Kyoto again."
Mo Huaiyang frowned, “What about the second one?”
Yu Zizhen raised his hand and threw a small wax ball to the other party, "Control Princess Anqing."
Mo Huaiyang's heart beat violently, "What is this?"
"Medicine." To be precise, it was one of her skills that was mimicked into the appearance of a pill by the system at her request.
"After taking this medicine, you will be able to choose someone and make them obey you and be loyal to you."
Mo Huaiyang subconsciously clenched the small wax ball in his hand. Why did this effect sound like a poisonous insect to him?
He was slow to realize that Yu Zizhen wasn't talking about giving it to Princess Anqing to eat. He asked Yu Zizhen in disbelief, "I eat it?"
Yu Zizhen nodded. "Given the bad relationship between you and Princess Anqing, even if you wanted to drug her, her people wouldn't give you the chance, right?"
Mo Huaiyang thought about it and it was true, but he didn't quite understand. With the drug taking effect on him, how could he make Princess Anqing obey him and be loyal to him?
Or was it that Yu Zizhen was originally taking advantage of his eagerness to get rid of Princess Anqing, and the effect of this medicine was actually intended to work on him, so that he would obey Yu Zizhen's orders from then on?
But that's not right. He is a cuckolded prince consort with no real power and is regarded as a laughing stock by everyone in Da Qi. What can Yu Zizhen plot against him?
Seeing his hesitation and wariness, Yu Zizhen smiled and extended his hand towards him. "This is a rare and precious medicine that I have worked so hard to obtain. If you are skeptical, why not just fake your own death?"
After hearing what he said, Mo Huaiyang became more determined to choose the second path.
He didn't want to fake his death because it would mean leaving the capital, his parents, brothers, nephews and nieces.
He clenched his hands, "Are there any restrictions on taking this medicine?" For example, how long before meeting Princess Anqing must it be taken?
Yu Zizhen shook his head. "When you figure it out, just pinch the wax ball open."
After a pause, she continued, "If you don't want to eat it, please remember to return it to me."
Mo Huaiyang was amused by her painful look. In the two times he had met Yu Zizhen, only at this moment did Yu Zizhen behave in a manner befitting her age.
Yu Zizhen like this made Mo Huaiyang relax a lot. He pinched the wax ball open and directly threw the small black pill inside into his mouth.
After waiting for a while and not finding anything unusual about himself, Mo Huaiyang let out his last breath. He bowed to Yu Zizhen and said, "Thank you, Prince, for your help."
Yu Zizhen smiled and said, "It's not free, please encourage me to work with you for mutual benefit in the future."
Mo Huaiyang was stunned.
Yu Zizhen admitted, "Princess Anqing is also a big trouble for us."
Mo Huaiyang immediately remembered the story that had been circulating among the people, about Princess Anqing making things difficult for Yu Zizhen.
He was in a complicated mood.
He was an adult, and a once promising military general. Princess Anqing abused him, but he did not resist at all. The only way he could think of to free himself and save his family from being shamed by him was to commit suicide.
Although Yu Zizhen was young, he was able to decisively seek an alliance and take action against Princess Anqing after she had caused trouble for him twice.
Mo Huaiyang sighed, "Young people are formidable," and then nodded heavily to Yu Zizhen and promised, "If I can really solve this dilemma, I will follow the prince's lead in the future."
If not, then he would still be the cuckolded prince consort who was a laughing stock of everyone in Da Qi and had no real power. It would be in Yu Zizhen's best interest to keep a distance from him.
Yu Zizhen was still very confident in the system's output. She smiled at Mo Huaiyang and said, "It is my honor to meet the Marquis and to race horses and discuss martial arts with him."
Mo Huaiyang understood, "Although the prince is young, he is very talented. Given time, he will become a great man."
The two of them tacitly agreed on a plan. Yu Zizhen rode away and continued his horse racing, while Mo Huaiyang turned his horse around and returned to the small temple where he had stayed before.
The temple was a place of refuge he had found for himself to escape the troubles of the capital. Due to its remote location and the lack of monks with profound Buddhist knowledge in the temple, people from the capital basically did not come to the temple.
Even Yu Zizhen, under the pretext of going to the eastern suburbs for horse racing, "accidentally" met him outside the temple.
After returning to the palace, Yu Zizhen took out a pen and paper and began to take stock of her current manpower and wealth.
She employed people of all kinds, be it women, ordinary people from the bottom of society, or even criminals who had been wrongfully imprisoned, slaves sold by their masters, people from the lowest classes, or mixed-race people...
As long as the other party is talented and has enough affection for her, she will give them a suitable position and let them display their talents.
After accumulating for nearly two years, she now has quite a few talented people under her command. However, compared with what she has to do, this amount of manpower is completely insufficient.
Counting on her fingers, she not only needs more trustworthy guards and private soldiers, she also needs more people who can help her make plans, manage personnel, manage industries, train private armies, increase food production...
The more she thought about it, the more worried she became. Yu Zizhen couldn't help but raise her hand and scratch her soft and fine black hair until it became a mess. Only then did she write down her latest thoughts on paper.
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