When the beauty Rose smiles, she looks like a rose, and the saint loves her very much.
Her appearance seemed very sudden, and few people in the palace knew how she came. They only knew that she was a newly recruited maid in the inner palace, and was noticed by the saint because of her outstanding beauty.
This beautiful lady Qiang loved to laugh very much. Even when she was angry, the corners of her mouth would be slightly raised. With such a good temper and some knowledge of medicine, she could help the saint sleep peacefully. Therefore, within a year, she went directly from a palace maid to a beauty.
Many people said that if she gave birth to a prince in the future, she would definitely be able to take the position of a concubine.
It would have been fine for others to hear this, and Imperial Concubine Jiang didn't care too much about it. She was just a powerless palace maid who was sent to the palace by her family to escape famine. Her family was small, and they could find out which family name she was from, so she was favored.
Now that the three princes are so grown up, it doesn’t matter if they have another child. One more child in the palace won’t make much difference.
But when Concubine Chu heard this, she was naturally unhappy and she was usually in a bad mood.
Therefore, apart from serving the saint, Lady Qiang would go to see Concubine Jiang, and she was obviously very respectful, which was one of the reasons why she felt safe in the palace.
But today, although he was still smiling, his eyes were full of worry.
When Imperial Concubine Jiang asked, it seemed as if Lady Qiang could no longer hide the secret, so she asked the palace maids around her to leave and told Imperial Concubine Jiang this "earth-shaking" secret.
"My Lady, do you remember that the Saint fell ill on the way back to Kyoto from Yuhua Palace?"
Imperial Concubine Jiang naturally didn't know about this. Except for Lady Qiang who "happened" to be by his side when the disease broke out, everyone else was unaware of this and just thought he was just sick.
The saint had no habit of telling the truth to Concubine Jiang, so she definitely didn't know.
Imperial Concubine Jiang said, "I know. What happened? The Saint is not fully recovered yet. Is there something wrong?"
"Your Majesty, the Saint is not sick, he is poisoned!" When Lady Qiang said this, Imperial Concubine Jiang was stunned at first, then at a loss for a moment, and it took her a while to calm down.
"Poisoned?!"
Chonghua Palace two hours later.
Su Wan has already learned about the situation in the inner palace from Xie Pei.
It’s a bit complicated.
It was Lady Qiang who told Imperial Concubine Jiang about the Saint's poisoning, and said that she was overly worried and could not keep such a big secret. She also felt that Imperial Concubine Jiang was the mistress of the harem, so she had to report it. The Saint originally forbade her to tell it, but she really could not bear it anymore, so she wanted to ask the Imperial Concubine for help.
He also said that the sage had said that it was the prince who poisoned the place, but the prince was very careful and there was no evidence against him, so they could not cause trouble for him directly.
Finally, Lady Qiang said, "Please, Madam Noble Concubine, save the Saint. Save him. Now you and the eldest prince are the only ones in the palace who truly care about the Saint."
"Only the eldest prince can surpass the crown prince. If, if the eldest prince becomes the crown prince, then no one will harm the saint anymore."
To sum up, you are the master of the harem and you are the saint's first wife, so I believe in you. Please save the saint.
The way to save the saint is to kick out Xie Pei and make the eldest prince the crown prince, so that no one will dare to harm the saint.
You are Tianxiang Kingdom and the savior of the saints.
This flattery was really strong and it hit the mark of Concubine Jiang. She always felt that she should be the mother of the country, that she was the saint's first wife, and that she was the person who was most considered by the saint.
Didn’t you see that she can even tolerate the saint’s favorite concubine? Isn’t she a magnanimous and virtuous wife? Isn’t she the one who loves the saint the most?
So Lady Qiang followed her heart and told her purpose.
Please ask Concubine Jiang's son, the eldest prince, to take his place! Take the position of the crown prince!
After listening to what Xie Pei said, Su Wan looked confused: "What good will this do for Lady Qiang?"
She is obviously just a concubine. Isn't it better for her to live a good life? Why does she have to get involved in such matters? Does she really love the saint?
Not really.
And Concubine Jiang, does tolerating the favored concubine make her a good wife?
It's just weird.
"Is Concubine Jiang a little misunderstood? Is that love?" Su Wan couldn't help but say, "She has allowed her husband to take a concubine. I don't think she loves him that much. She is just looking for a reasonable excuse for her behavior."
Xie Pei didn't expect Su Wan to complain about this first, so he asked, "Why do you say that?"
Su Wan explained casually: "Anyway, if I really like someone, then there can only be one of them. Can I marry two? Do I like both of them?"
"Once you like someone, you will be jealous. How can you let the person you like be affectionate with someone else? How is that possible?"
After complaining, Su Wan thought about the customs in Tianxiang Kingdom. Even a family as declining as Master Su had to take two concubines, so this logic did not make sense in ancient times, so she simply changed the subject.
Su Wan said tactfully: "There must be something wrong with the abnormality. Lady Qiang is so stupid to instigate the eldest prince to seize the throne, or she thinks the eldest prince can really succeed."
"Either."
Su Wan frowned: "Or you want him to die."
After all, given the current situation in the court and Xie Pei's performance over the past six months, there are basically no voices of opposition.
The eldest prince and the second prince probably don't want to fight anymore, especially the eldest prince, who basically didn't care about this matter.
People feel that they have no hope, and you want to push them to seize the throne. Isn't that harming people?
This is not just a fight over family property, this is a fight for succession, and people could die at any time.
How big of a grudge does Lady Qiang have against the eldest prince that she would instigate him to die?
Xie Pei smiled, not knowing what he was laughing at, and even pressed the corners of his mouth before saying, "I'll take you to the inner palace later, but you have to pretend to be my eunuch."
What is this for?
After Su Wan changed into eunuch's clothes and went to the imperial garden of the inner palace with Xie Pei, they happened to see the beautiful lady Qiang feeding the fish.
Although there was no one around, she still had a smile on her face, as if it was permanent.
But Su Wan seemed a little weird no matter how she looked at it.
It’s not that Lady Qiang is not beautiful, of course she is beautiful, otherwise a palace maid would not be so favored.
But her looks?
Xie Pei said: "Look at the cheekbones and eyes."
Su Wan then looked carefully and seemed to have figured out something, but she was still not sure. After all, the feeling was too vague.
Xie Pei saw what Su Wan meant and said directly: "It's the Yiren of the clan."
"Or rather, Ujiyoshi and the people of Tianxiang."
Mixed blood!
It turns out that he is a mixed-race.
But she generally looks more like a Tianxiang person, especially when she smiles, her face looks softer.
The difference will only be seen from certain angles.
But the difference is so subtle that few people can catch it.
Su Wan subconsciously asked, "The eunuch who died? Did he find out?"
Earlier, Xie Pei had reminded her that this beautiful lady Qiang was executed by the eunuch that afternoon just because the eunuch looked at her a few more times.
It seemed incredible at the time, but now it seems that the eunuch accidentally noticed her difference?
Xie Pei nodded: "I also think something is fishy, so I asked someone to investigate."
After tracing all the way, they found out that the Xibei clan was the foreign tribe that came to Tianxiang Kingdom to plunder at the beginning of the year.
The two did not stay in the Imperial Garden, but returned to Chonghua Palace while talking.
This incident was a huge shock to Su Wan.
It’s not about how beautiful a rose is, but the deep meaning hidden in it.
"Although the selection of palace maids has been advanced this year, it is still around February." Su Wan analyzed, "If I remember correctly, before the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month this year, the foreign countries surrounding Tianxiang Kingdom must pay tribute to the capital to congratulate the crown prince on his ascension to the throne, right?"
"Yeah." Xie Pei said, "You thought of it too."
"nature."
"It must be that the Shiyi clan came to celebrate the enthronement of the crown prince of Tianxiang Kingdom as a sign of respect and brought this beautiful lady. After all, it is most appropriate to take this opportunity to place someone in the position."
Since ancient times, these foreign tribes have not necessarily submitted. When the Central Plains Empire was strong, they would show weakness. When the Central Plains dynasty was weak, they would look for opportunities. This has been the case from ancient times to the present.
No one in Tianxiang Kingdom was confident enough to think that they were truly surrendering sincerely, but as long as everyone did not invade each other and maintained respect for Tianxiang Kingdom, then everything would be fine.
Every time the neighboring countries came to pay tribute, they were not allowed to bring knives into Tianxiang, and they were not allowed to buy ironware within the territory of Tianxiang. This showed the intentions of both sides.
Even if you can't bring weapons, you can always bring people.
It is not difficult to arrange a beautiful spy in the team.
Wouldn't it be better if there was a chance to stay in Tianxiang Country?
In this way, they started to sort out their thoughts from the very beginning. It is estimated that in October last year, when Xie Pei was about to be appointed as the crown prince and went to the surrounding countries to spread the news, they had already started to take action.
At the end of December last year, despite all the hardships, they rushed to Tianxiang Kingdom and brought with them a carefully prepared beauty spy.
When the celebration for the prince was over, the Shiyi clan members left, leaving behind the beautiful lady Qiang and someone who was responsible for secretly delivering the message.
Since these people came here with bad intentions, they came to Kyoto not only to congratulate Tianxiang Kingdom on the birth of a prince, but also to gather information.
He was so anxious that he sent twenty people to plunder the northwestern border as soon as he returned to his tribe.
Because during this trip to Kyoto, they obviously discovered that Tianxiang Kingdom was not as strong as before.
Everything is connected.
As expected, the twenty-man grain-stealing team and the Shiyi tribe's desire to quickly contact the grassland tribe were all arrangements and tests.
In addition, Lady Qiang later became the saint's favorite concubine and had a better understanding of the current situation in Tianxiang Country. I am afraid that this would bring greater hope and ambition to the people over there.
Now think about it, Lady Qiang instigated the eldest prince and Imperial Concubine Jiang to fight to the death for the position of crown prince.
Is this supporting them or harming them?
Neither.
It was obvious that he wanted to make the eldest prince, the saint, fight with the crown prince.
The clever emperor of Tianxiang Kingdom wanted to completely bring down a man who seemed to be a wise ruler, which would not be conducive to what the Shiyi clan was about to do.
Even if we can't pull it down, we have to make Tianxiang country exhausted by internal strife.
It will cause chaos in the court and the palace.
Only when there is chaos here will others have a chance.
Su Wan frowned.
She rarely had such emotions. In the past, the court fought against each other, which were all the court's business. Moreover, everyone knew their limits and would not really put anyone to death.
But this is different. This will lead to the destruction of the country and the extinction of the race, or at least constant wars.
Even though Tianxiang Kingdom is now on a downward trend, at least the people are not in the midst of war. If there were a war, there would be corpses everywhere and families would be torn apart.
War is definitely not just two simple words.
Everyone would be shocked to know that someone is trying to start a war, and it is a carefully planned one that has been going on for a long time.
Without a country, there is no home. If the country is gone but the home still exists, it has never existed since ancient times.
The Shiyi clan began planning last year, planting spies and sending people to steal food to test the waters.
They probably now know that Tianxiang's treasury is empty and its defenses are weak. It is no longer the Tianxiang that was invincible more than a decade ago.
Some thoughts are bound to arise.
Unexpectedly, Xie Pei showed Su Wan something else: "After the twenty people robbed the food, I sent the Ding family army to garrison in the northwest. This is the information they got."
It should be a military secret, but Su Wan still took it over. This time was different from the past.
Although Kyoto is still far away from the northwest, what should the border residents in the northwest do? There can be no war no matter where.
Unless this war is not fought on its own territory.
The letter written by Ding Jiajun was concise and to the point, but it explained the situation of the Shiyi clan very clearly and even brought forward the conspiracy to bring in spies by several months.
According to the news just now, Su Wan thought that the Shiyi clan was celebrating the enthronement of the crown prince, so they brought spies with them.
But they didn't know that they were already confident in their hearts that they could place people in the position, so they made a lot of preparations.
Last September, that is, September of the 14th year of Tianze, there was a horrific incident of apprentices jumping into a well, and two apprentices died in succession.
That incident briefly revealed a corner of the black market in Nanxunfang.
Everyone knows the situation at that time. The apprentice died, some people were arrested, and several thousand taels of dirty silver were found in their homes.
But there was a group of people who ran away early. Among them were some foreigners. Most of these foreigners were prisoners of war brought back by the previous emperor. They had the skills to make porcelain and tinware.
This time, knowing that the truth had been exposed, he left with his family early.
It caused quite a stir last year, but no one was caught at the time.
After leaving Kyoto, these people naturally fled in all directions and prepared to escape back to their hometowns. Two of them fled to the northwest. In fact, they had no intention of going outside the Great Wall.
They knew how hard life was outside the Great Wall.
If they hadn't secretly sold many items from the palace in Kyoto, they wouldn't even have planned to leave Kyoto.
After more than ten years in Tianxiang Kingdom, they have become accustomed to such a comfortable life. Everyone knows the hardships outside the Great Wall and the benefits inside the Great Wall.
I ran to the vicinity of my hometown just because I missed my homeland. Besides, the living habits in the northwest are very similar to those outside. The only difference is that there are no robbers inside the northwest, there are houses to deal with sandstorms, and if you have any difficulties, you can find local officials.
In this case, the northwest border is naturally a good place to live, and they have a lot of silver in their hands, so resettlement is not a problem.
The household registration requirements at the border were also relaxed, so we settled down quickly.
But now that we are here, it is inevitable that we will ask about our family members from more than ten years ago through smugglers inside and outside the customs.
If possible, they would naturally support their families.
Who knew that what was waiting for them was not their own tribe, the Luandu tribe, but the Shiyi tribe that had long ago annexed the Luandu tribe.
Back then, the Luandu tribe was very powerful and took the initiative to provoke the Tianxiang Kingdom. Everyone knows the situation at that time. There was a general as brave and good at fighting as General Ding. General Ding was only in his forties at the time and was at the prime of his life.
But according to the style of Tianxiang Kingdom, if we win the war, then we win. We don’t want your women or your things because they are not worth it.
My Tianxiang country is vast and rich in resources. How could we covet your melons and a few dates?
It was just that the late emperor liked tinware, especially tin wine jugs, so he only sent some craftsmen back.
After the Tianxiang Kingdom passed, the Luandu tribe was severely damaged. In the next five or six years, it was gradually annexed by the Shiyi tribe.
It is normal for the tribes on the grassland to change so quickly. It makes no difference to the Tianxiang Kingdom, and no one will say much about it, so the craftsmen in Kyoto are unaware of it.
When he came back this time and wanted to contact his family, he unexpectedly learned about this. The people in his tribe had become slaves of the Shiyi tribe, and only a few distant relatives were left in his family. There were originally tens of thousands of people in the tribe, but now there are only five hundred.
They originally wanted to contact the Luandu tribe, and naturally became the current Shiyi tribe.
Knowing that the two craftsmen were rich, they would definitely not let them go. So they asked them to meet outside the Great Wall in the name of family. As a result, the two craftsmen also became slaves when they met.
Not only were their savings taken away, but after being enslaved, they were beaten and scolded.
They have been in Kyoto for more than ten years, and according to Ujiyoshi clan, they have been spoiled for more than ten years.
Their skin, which had been dark and wrinkled from the wind on the grassland, became smooth and tender. Although they were two grown men, the calluses on their hands were not as many as those of the children on the grassland.
The two craftsmen had their own difficulties, indeed, after more than ten years, they had already become Kyoto residents, and they were unwilling to leave the country even though they had not seen the Northwest, because they felt the pain was too much.
Unexpectedly, when the leader of the Ujiyoshi clan learned that they had escaped from Kyoto, he directly asked him to meet them.
The leader was in his forties, in the prime of his life, with a beard, thick hair, and wolf fangs that symbolized bravery.
He inquired carefully about the situation in Tianxiang Kingdom and the situation in the Kyoto Imperial Palace. After learning how they escaped, he discovered how the management of the palace was in chaos.
The leader couldn't hide his smile, and even after he laughed, the viciousness and greed on his face couldn't be hidden either.
An extremely perceptive leader, he could clearly tell from the details that Tianxiang Kingdom was strong on the outside but weak on the inside.
It just so happened that the crown prince was being enthroned, so he had other ideas.
These surrounding foreign states had to pay tribute, which was a sign of submission.
Tianxiang Kingdom has always been like this. It doesn't like to fight you or provoke you, but you must be respectful to the suzerain country, at least for the sake of face.
Otherwise you will learn a lesson.
This is the Heavenly Order that Tianxiang Kingdom and even previous dynasties have always adhered to. In the Heavenly Order, there must be a powerful country as the core.
The surrounding vassal states must learn from this core, and this core will also provide assistance to the surrounding states.
This help includes both material and spiritual, the most important of which is spiritual, such as poetry, books, rituals, music and so on.
Even in the Ming Dynasty of Su Wan's time and space, if you were a small neighboring country and asked for gold, silver, and jewelry, you would be directly rebuked. If you asked for rituals, music, and books, you would be appreciated and praised.
But many times, the core countries will definitely give many benefits to the surrounding small countries. For example, if you are attacked by others, I will send troops to help you. If you suffer a disaster this year, I will also give you food.
If there is any trade between the two sides, the tax revenue will be even lower.
Because in the order of heaven, core countries "have the obligation" and must lead neighboring countries to progress and become civilized together.
It is natural for the elder brother to help the younger brother.
The same is true for Tianxiang Kingdom. In Tianxiang Kingdom's natural order, Tianxiang Kingdom is naturally the core, and the surrounding countries are the ones that need help.
The surrounding countries do not need to do anything, except to show respect and admiration for the core countries.
For example, the need to pay tribute to show submission is part of respect and admiration.
If you don't do it well, you will be disrupting order and harming the people, and you will need to be punished by heaven, which of course means a beating.
Of course, the natural order of Tianxiang Kingdom is not that overbearing.
If you are near the Tianxiang Kingdom but are unwilling to join the Tiandao order, that’s okay. At most, we will just stop interacting with each other. I won’t beat you, and don’t come to me for help if you have any problems.
We live in peace.
But now the Shiyi clan not only agrees with the natural order of Tianxiang Kingdom and wants to take advantage of it, but also wants to overthrow the suzerain country. That is a wolfish ambition.
If you understand the above order, you will understand how abominable the behavior of the Shigeyoshi clan is.
Enjoy the protection of big brother, and he will give you some benefits from time to time.
If you buy something from my place, I will give it to you at half price.
You come to my place to sell things, and even though I don't need them, I will buy them all.
Even this time, when you sent an envoy to congratulate your elder brother on being crowned the crown prince, they only brought a few pieces of rags and some leather. Your elder brother will also return your gold, silver, and jewelry.
The Honglu Temple also felt that the gifts sent by the Shiyi clan were shabby, but seeing that their attitude was good, they let it go.
The saints did not care about such petty things, saying that life outside the Great Wall was hard and they would not make things difficult for them.
But big brother treated you like this, so you repay him like this.
In return for Big Brother's kindness, they placed spies into the Saint's Palace, and took advantage of the empty border to test the border. They also planned to cause an internal fight between the First Prince and the Crown Prince, so that they could reap the benefits.
In this case, it is not an exaggeration to say that he has evil intentions.
Even the scolding was too mild.
But who could have thought.
From the escape of the porcelain warehouse craftsmen last year to the attempt of the beautiful concubine Qiang in the harem to stir up disputes between the prince and the crown prince, everything is connected.
After all, the Tianxiang Kingdom has become weaker and not as strong as before.
If we still have the troops and horses from the time of the previous emperor, even if the treasury was poor at that time, no one would dare to provoke us.
Even if they provoke us, they will be beaten like the Luandu clan, a family of craftsmen, until they are convinced.
In the final analysis, it all comes down to me not being strong enough.
The news that Ding's army obtained from the border made Xie Pei alert again, and he understood more clearly what happened to the inexplicable plunder of grain by twenty people.
None of these signals indicate that people at the border have begun to become restless.
If Tianxiang Kingdom does not clean up its government and strengthen its border affairs, war will come sooner or later.
How to stop it before it arrives becomes the top priority.
Su Wan put the letter down, and understood the internal and external troubles of Tianxiang Kingdom even more clearly, but she still said: "It's not too late. Tianxiang Kingdom has a solid foundation, and it will take time for the building to collapse."
"Besides, don't we still have you?" Su Wan said seriously.
She really felt that as long as Xie Pei was given time, these problems would always be resolved, it was just a matter of time.
Unexpectedly, Xie Pei was also looking at her seriously, and said solemnly: "You too."
"Su Wan, Tianxiang Country still has you."
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I will fix the bugs a little later, and the update time will be earlier in the future!
Love you!
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