Chapter 343: What does Chen Xiang mean...? 】
The fifth prince, Xiao Yunqi, roared angrily, "Didn't they say that old bastard Xie was about to starve to death? How come he suddenly changed his ways and started eating?! If that old bastard hadn't been insisting on redressing the Crown Prince, why would the Emperor have distanced himself from me? It's obvious... that the Emperor was about to use me and make me the Crown Prince! Prime Minister Chen, do you have any other ideas to shut those old bastards up as soon as possible?"
Shen Shian was also a little annoyed. He really bet on the wrong horse this time.
I didn’t expect that the fifth prince Xiao Yunqi was actually a fool!
A year ago, he finally made up his mind to change his ways, partly because everyone in the court had noticed that the Emperor was wary of the Crown Prince, and partly because the Crown Prince was marrying the Crown Princess that day and was unwilling to let his favored second daughter, Chen Meixin, marry in place of his legitimate daughter, Chen Fenghe.
It's a pity that Chen Meixin was born out of wedlock. Except for the fifth prince, whose mother was of low status and had no background or power, the other princes looked down on Chen Meixin. That's why he finally chose the fifth prince.
He thought that with Shen Shian's financial resources and power, as long as he supported the fifth prince, he would never lose to the party headed by Prime Minister Zhao who supported the second prince, and the party headed by Lord Zhou, the Minister of the Dali Temple, who supported the sixth prince.
Unexpectedly, just when the Fifth Prince had just made a name for himself by discovering the Crown Prince's rebellion and executing him, all the gold, silver, jewels, property and deeds in his Chen Mansion and the Prince of Jin's Mansion disappeared overnight.
He was making great strides and was using money to bribe officials at all levels in the court and local governments to get them to support the fifth prince as the crown prince, but all his money was gone!
Over the past six months, although Shen Shian and the fifth prince have tried their best to collect money from various places, they still cannot make up for the deficit.
Fortunately, the emperor still treats the fifth prince with gentleness and trust, and his attitude towards the fifth prince is much better than that towards the second prince and the sixth prince. In time, Shen Shian believes that the fifth prince will definitely be made the crown prince.
It’s a pity that at this critical juncture, those old stubborn people in the court actually went on a hunger strike to plead for the redress of the prince.
When faced with such a situation, the Fifth Prince did not say what method he had to solve it. Instead, he just flew into a rage and took his anger out on the officials under his own party, showing no sign of composure at all.
In just over a month, many officials secretly defected to the Second Prince and the Sixth Prince.
The fifth prince was just getting angry in vain!
Although Shen Shian was annoyed, he had already boarded a pirate ship and could only go down this path. "Your Highness, in my opinion, if those adults in the Dali Temple prison make trouble again, I am afraid that even if the emperor is unwilling, he will be forced to redress the prince's innocence."
Xiao Yunqi was furious. He glared at Shen Shian fiercely and said through gritted teeth, "Do I need you to tell me about this? Those old fools are too arrogant! They are relying on my father's benevolent rule and are on a hunger strike, trying to trap my father in an unkind and unjust situation! If this isn't a threat, what is it? It's simply rebellion! Humph! Just wait and see! When I ascend the throne, I will definitely chop them all down!"
Shen Shian couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Who doesn't know how to say harsh words?
"Your Highness, since you have also seen that these old ministers are relying on their seniority and reputation for integrity to force the Emperor to submit, why don't you help the Emperor resolve this dilemma? If so, Your Highness will surely become even more important in the Emperor's eyes."
Xiao Yunqi couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly, and a ruthless look flashed in his eyes for a moment: "What does Prime Minister Chen mean...?"
He didn't say much, but made a 'scratching' gesture on his neck with his hand.
Shen Shian quickly looked up at him, nodded slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince's crime of treason must not be exonerated. If it is exonerated, Your Highness will be the first to be imprisoned on the charge of slandering and killing the Crown Prince, or even sentenced to death. I am afraid that we will not have a good end! This concerns the life and death of Your Highness and our ministers. Now that the arrow has been shot, there is no turning back. Even if some extreme methods are used, the Crown Prince's crime of treason must be made into an ironclad case. It will be too late if we delay any longer!"
"But..." Xiao Yunqi still hesitated. "Those ministers are all renowned scholars and upright scholars throughout the country. If for no reason... and it were discovered that it was you and I who did it, I'm afraid that the spit of each of those censors alone would be enough to drown you and me..."
"Drowning is better than being poisoned by a cup of poisoned wine or having all nine clans exterminated. Besides, Your Highness is relieving the Emperor's worries. As long as the Emperor doesn't blame us, what can those censors do? Besides, whose territory is the Dali Temple? Your Highness, have you forgotten?"
The Fifth Prince raised his eyebrows and said, "Lord Zhou, the Minister of Justice, may appear to rely on no one, but in reality... he is the Sixth Prince's man."
Shen Shian said, "That's right. I heard that a few days ago, the Dali Temple was short of cells, so they imprisoned a petty thief in the prisons of the lords. So, if anything happens to the lords in the Dali Temple's prison, they can blame the petty thieves, or they can blame the Dali Temple or even the Sixth Prince. In any case, it can't be blamed on Your Highness, right? I planted pawns in the Dali Temple's prison in my early years, just to deal with crises like this. As long as Your Highness agrees, I can immediately issue a secret order..."
A fierce look flashed in Xiao Yunqi's eyes. He slammed the armrest of the chair and whispered, "Then I'll have to trouble Prime Minister Chen. When the Japanese king successfully ascends the throne, Mei Xin will be the future queen. As for Prime Minister Chen, he will be the ninth thousand year old, second only to the emperor and above ten thousand people!"
"I thank Your Highness first!"
There was a murderous look in Shen Shi'an's eyes. He knelt down and thanked him in a low voice with a little excitement, then hurriedly left through the secret door.
That's right! As long as we can deal with Mr. Xie and the other members of the Crown Prince's gang this time, the Emperor will certainly favor the Fifth Prince even more. After all, the Fifth Prince is much easier to control than the Second or Sixth Prince.
If it’s your own treasure, it’s not considered a wrong bet!
After leaving the Prince of Jin's Mansion, a secret letter and a packet of poison powder were put into a bamboo tube, tied to the feet of a carrier pigeon, and flown to the prison of the Dali Temple.
As soon as the carrier pigeon was released, Yuan Xu, who had been secretly monitoring Shen Shian's every move, used his Qinggong to catch up...
The next night, the jailer delivered food boxes to each cell as usual.
Mr. Xie and several other adults have gradually resumed their diet.
However, in the cell, Lord Xie and Xiao Yunshuo, disguised as a "prisoner", still maintained the same way of getting along as in the past few days.
When the lunch box arrived, Xiao Yunshuo ate first, leaving only a bowl of glutinous rice, a dish of green vegetables and half a pot of water for Lord Xie.
This time, the person who brought the lunch box was not the usual jailer.
Xiao Yunshuo frowned barely audibly and asked calmly, "Big brother jailer, it seems like you weren't the one delivering food to us before. Why has it changed? What happened to the old jailer?"
The jailer who brought the lunch box twitched his lips noticeably. He glanced at Xiao Yunshuo coldly and then said vaguely, "The jailer suddenly had a stomachache, so he asked me to deliver it. What does it matter who delivered it? You're not short of a bite."
Xiao Yunshuo deliberately smiled in a scoundrelly manner and said, "That's true."
As he said this, he took the food box himself and, as usual, ate some of each dish and water first.
Seeing this, the jailer couldn't help but get a little anxious and said, "You little thief, how can you be so ignorant of the rules? Master Xie is here, can you please eat first?"
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