"Leaving aside Dayan, whose crown prince died young, and the situation with Nanzhao and Nanyue is unclear, as well as Dongyi, which can be ignored, the second prince of Xiqiang, Xiling, and the third prince of Beili, Beiyue, both have a good chance, right?"
Of the princes and princesses from the six kingdoms here, only one will inherit the throne in the future.
Emperor Mingxi's gaze swept past the 'prematurely deceased' Crown Prince and turned to his sons, both adults and minors. Apart from the thirteenth prince, who was still being breastfed, and the eighth prince, whose seat was empty and whose whereabouts were unknown, the others, including the crybaby twelfth prince, were all present.
The only question is whether the sole successor is in his Great Yan or among these wicked beings.
The princes who were feeling a bit pressured: Being called out by name every day, this was unbearable!
Why don't the princes of Dayan need to go to their fiefdoms? Otherwise, if they could endure a few more years and be granted the title of prince, they could leave this terrible place and stay far away from the Little Immortal Lord and the Divine Artifact Master!
"One? These people won't do. There are so many, and only one. Between Xi Ling and Bei Yue, whom I favored, who got the position?"
[Bei Yue, you know he's gay, but he's not the same as Ming Wang. Ming Wang is indiscriminate in his sexuality, and he doesn't discriminate based on his taste.]
Bei Yue's breakup was quite thorough and consistent; he only liked one type of man.
Moreover, he vomits whenever he has intimate contact with a woman, which is similar to misogyny.
Therefore, he was destined to have no descendants in this lifetime, thus completely cutting off his chances of inheriting the throne.
"Didn't you say before that he had a lot of support in Beili, and that the Ming King gave him so much financial support? Would someone who has no hope of becoming emperor really say that?"
This outcry is related to the Northern Li Emperor's schemes. Although his misogyny was well concealed, nothing stays hidden forever, and his father must have known about his character.
So even though there are many voices calling for Bei Li to take the throne, it's all just hype. His father is less wary of him, which is why he tolerates those voices.
That guy is also a ruthless person; I'll tell you some gossip about him sometime.
Now let's go back to Bei Yue. He was completely betrayed by his own father. All those so-called supporters and advocates were just castles in the air.
Even without Lan Xuan'er interfering and affecting their relationship, Ming Wang ultimately wouldn't have received much real help from Bei Yue.
"Bei Yue seems like a smart guy, doesn't he know his own father is setting him up?"
I've had a vague feeling about it over the past two years, but for some reason, he's still secretly investigating.
There are no more than five people in this world who know the Northern Li Emperor's plans, and I, Little Pearl, am one of them!
"Little Pearl is the most powerful in this world!" Yue Fuguang promptly offered a resounding compliment.
[Hehehe, this little bead is the master's boundary-breaking bead. The power of this little bead is equivalent to the power of the master.]
After the system finished celebrating, it continued, "Although Xi Ling is the second prince of Xi Qiang, his mother is Consort Rong, and he has the Rong family as his maternal grandfather, he seems to have a great chance of winning."
However, rumors have long circulated within the Western Qiang royal family and court that the second prince's birth mother is unknown.
"Then he really isn't Consort Rong's biological son?"
Yue Fuguang glanced subtly at Xi Ling, who was intently watching the song and dance performance; the guy's eyes were practically glued to the lead dancer in the center.
Yue Fuguang scoffed inwardly, "What a waste of such a handsome face. Xi Ling looks utterly sleazy and greasy now."
Sitting next to him was Prince Shuming of Dongyi. His expression, wanting to look but not daring to, suggested a strong sense of illicit activity.
Upon hearing this "big sweet melon," Emperor Mingxi and his entourage, while watching the dancers' captivating performance, secretly perked up their ears.
They had also heard the rumor that the mother of the second son, who was deeply favored by the Western Emperor, was unknown, and some even speculated that the child was not his biological son at all.
Therefore, Xiling's supporters are highly polarized.
Not only was he not Consort Rong's biological son, but his birth mother was not even a Western Qiang person.
To find out who his birth mother was, we have to go back to the power struggle in the Western Qiang region twenty years ago, which swept through the entire dynasty and killed or wounded most of the royal family members.
At the time, the nineteen-year-old Emperor Xiyan of the Western Qiang, the ninth son of the emperor, in order to increase his chances of helping his elder brother seize the throne, crossed the Valley of Death and the Savage Ridge alone and secretly entered the territory of the Nanzhao Kingdom.
The Nanzhao Kingdom and the Western Qiang Kingdom were separated by only a canyon and a mountain range. He overheard that someone had discovered high-quality iron ore at the border between the two countries.
After sending men to search secretly near the Western Qiang region for a long time without success, he finally decided to risk crossing the border between the two countries and try his luck in the Nanzhao region.
"If the item is in Nanzhao, even if he finds it, he can't transport it away, right? It would just be a waste of someone else's time."
At that time, the Western Qiang were much stronger than the Nanzhao. The boundary of the Yerenling area has always been disputed. If there really was iron ore, the Western Qiang would have had a way to get it.
Xi Yan disguised himself as a hunter from Nanzhao and wandered back and forth in those mountains for more than a month. He did not find any iron ore, but he did encounter his beloved and regretful one, Miao Qingling, a herb-gathering girl from Nanzhao.
It's a very clichéd encounter: Xi Yan is bitten by a poisonous snake, and Miao Qingling, a herb gatherer, uses her expertise to save him. Then, Xi Yan becomes her protector, escorting her as she gathers herbs on the mountain.
Although the man was married but the woman was not, feelings for each other gradually developed between them.
However, due to their respective identities, they tacitly refrained from revealing their true feelings.
Two days before Xi Yan was about to leave, the two of them came to a remote canyon and found a cave there. Inside the cave, some old herbs grew. Not to mention Miao Qingling, even Xi Yan, who was not knowledgeable about pharmacology, recognized that some of the herbs were very useful to martial artists because of his years of martial arts practice.
Shocked by the medicine in the cave, the two lost their composure and were bitten by a unique species of snake from the Nanzhao Kingdom, known as the Lover's Snake, or the infamous Lustful Snake.
They were poisoned by the venom of the venomous snake. Miao Qingling, who was well-versed in pharmacology, knew that the two of them had been poisoned by this kind of poison. In addition to being each other's antidote, the only way to detoxify them was to kill the venomous snake that bit them and take its gall bladder.
After hearing what Miao Qingling said, Xi Yan hurriedly ran out to chase the snake. Miao Qingling collected medicine before the snake venom took effect and also discovered a cold spring in the cave.
Before she could reach Xi Yan, Miao Qingling was poisoned and jumped into the cold spring to save herself.
After she was completely unconscious from the torment of the aphrodisiac, the long-silent cave welcomed its second wave of guests: a brother and sister who had gotten separated from their guards.
After failing to find the medicine, they discovered the unconscious Miao Qingling in the cold spring, recognized her identity, and quickly confirmed that she had been poisoned by the venomous snake.
If the snake that bit her cannot be found, the quickest way is for her younger brother to help her detoxify.
Although the younger brother had always coveted Miao Qingling, he dared not make a move due to her status. Now, knowing that he himself was the best antidote, he also refrained from immediate action.
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