As he listened to Boyi Kao's account, Zu An's eyelids twitched, and his anger grew stronger.
He finally understood how Sancai died back then. The claim that he died in childbirth was all a complete lie.
After Ji Chang brought the Sancai (a type of glazed pottery) back to Xiqi from the Wei River, he built a palace specifically for her.
Sancai was initially very happy, thinking that Ji Chang valued her highly.
However, over the next period of time, she gradually sensed that something was wrong. Ji Chang treated her with impeccable manners in every way, and in public, he pretended to be a loving couple when attending various important events.
However, he never visited her palace in private. The two were husband and wife in name only, without any real marriage. It seems that Ji Chang treated her like a statue.
Sancai didn't mind, since she didn't really like Ji Chang anyway, and she was quite carefree living alone in the palace.
She would occasionally write letters to her older brother and sister to express her homesickness, but of course, to avoid worrying them, she didn't mention it.
After the initial happy period, Sancai gradually remembered the purpose of his trip: first, to investigate intelligence on the Western Zhou Dynasty, and second, to completely ease the relationship between the two sides.
So she took the initiative to approach Ji Chang, but Ji Chang remained tight-lipped, leaving her unable to find anything out or build a closer relationship with him.
But one day, an accident occurred. Sancai overheard Ji Chang discussing the matter of eliminating the Shang with his trusted advisor.
It turns out that the Western Zhou Dynasty began its grand plan to overthrow the Shang Dynasty as early as the generation of Ji Chang's grandfather. At that time, the Western Zhou Dynasty had the idea of replacing the Shang Dynasty. However, due to the fact that the Shang Dynasty was still very powerful, they could only proceed slowly.
With the decline of the Qiang forces, a power vacuum was created in the Guanzhong region. At the same time, under the guise of eliminating the remnants of the Qiang forces on behalf of the Shang and protecting the border, the Shang gradually absorbed the former Qiang territory over several decades.
Then they began to win over various feudal lords and establish good relationships.
Unfortunately, an unexpected event occurred midway through the process. Ji Li (Ji Chang's father) was killed by the Shang king, which dealt a heavy blow to Zhou's grand plan to conquer Shang.
They also realized that the merchants were becoming wary of their rise, because the two sides were not yet on the same level, and they still had not made a decision to completely break ties.
The plan was to first let the Huaiyi in the east weaken the Shang state, while they themselves took the opportunity to accumulate strength.
So when the merchants proposed a marriage alliance, they immediately agreed.
However, while they agreed, the Western Zhou Dynasty could not possibly allow the bloodline of the Shang Dynasty princess to become their heir, thus affecting their grand plan to overthrow the Shang Dynasty, which would last for generations and hundreds of years.
Therefore, Ji Changcai kept his distance from Sancai and remained a couple in name only.
What horrified the Sancai was that Ji Chang's trip to the Wei River to fetch his bride was not for her sake, but rather to take the opportunity to observe the terrain of the area and prepare for a future attack.
The idea of using boats as bridges on the Wei River sounds romantic, but in reality, it was a way for the Zhou people to practice their river-crossing attack tactics.
Sancai felt a chill run through her body as she realized all this; she knew her country was truly in danger.
From a young age, when she heard her older siblings discussing the threat posed by the Zhou people, she was somewhat dismissive, thinking they were overthinking it.
Little did they know the situation was even more serious than they had described!
She was eager to inform the Yin capital of everything she had discovered, but unfortunately, her presence was exposed and she was discovered by Ji Chang and others.
Ji Chang then placed her under complete house arrest, forbidding her from having any communication with the outside world.
Sancai tried every method to contact Yin Dudu but failed. She knew that her only fate would be to be imprisoned until death.
She did not want to die such a meaningless death, so one day she made up her mind and committed suicide in the palace.
She knew she couldn't contact her homeland, so she had to resort to this extreme method.
Ji Chang could imprison her, but he couldn't cover up the news of her death.
Once news of his death reaches Yindu, it will surely arouse the vigilance of the Shang state.
Especially since her older brother and sister are so smart, they'll definitely be able to guess her intentions...
She just didn't expect that Ji Chang would use the story of dying in childbirth to cover up the truth. Although Zu'an and Pei Mianman didn't believe it, they were quickly moved to the next world and couldn't avenge her at that time.
After hearing the story from back then, Zu'an and Pei Mianman were already in tears.
"My silly sister, how could we not know the Zhou people's wolfish ambitions? Why do we need you to pay the price of your life to remind us!" Zu An and Pei Mianman felt as if their hearts were being torn apart when they thought of how desperate their lovely sister, whom they had grown up with, had been alone in a foreign land.
She sacrificed her lifelong happiness for the country, and later sacrificed her life for the country. At such a young age, she endured too much that she should not have to bear.
Zu An suddenly stood up; he was going to settle accounts with Ji Chang.
At this moment, the jailer asked, "Your Majesty, what should be done about Boyi Kao?"
Zuan's expression turned cold: "Chop him into mincemeat!"
Since that was his fate in history, let him return to history.
Bo Yikao was terrified and burst into curses: "You wicked and foolish ruler, you break your promise, you deserve to die a horrible death..."
Anger from Ji Boyi Kao: +1024 +1024 +1024...
Zuan remained expressionless; at this moment, all he wanted to do was kill.
After a while, Zu'an arrived at Ji Chang's cell and saw that although Ji Chang was injured, he was not being tortured. Instead, he was sitting cross-legged in a corner of the cell, playing with pebbles. The pebbles looked like the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) pattern.
Zu An's expression turned cold: "Who let him rest?"
The jailer cautiously reported, "Uncle Bigan just came by and said that the Marquis of Xibo should not be subjected to such punishment as he is of high status. He was just about to plead with the King, but it seems he has missed his chance."
"Bi Gan?" Zu An's eyelids twitched. Bi Gan was a synonym for a loyal minister in history. He repeatedly advised King Zhou and spoke frankly, but was eventually killed by having his heart cut out.
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