traitor
"Concubine Ding, I am old and don't want to think too much about many things. I only know that whoever sits on the throne is the legitimate emperor. Anyone who dares to murder the emperor will suffer no consequences, no matter who they are."
In the Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager's voice became colder.
"Since He Sheng is dissatisfied with the current situation, let's send him to the clan residence to keep his fifth uncle company."
Prince Duan and Sheng’s fifth uncle… Prince Ling Yunpeng back then!
Li Qingping knelt on the ground. Although it was warm in the Cining Palace, she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
"The previous emperor was foolish and granted He Sheng a red-lettered iron certificate. The current emperor could not easily touch him and treated him well. But I didn't expect that he would be so determined to commit suicide now."
The crime of treason is never within the scope of pardon for death penalty.
The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and finally said, "Princess Ding, go ahead and do it."
Li Qingping still felt a little unsteady after returning from the Cining Palace. The Empress Dowager had lived for nearly ninety years, and her decisiveness and hardness were truly intimidating. To calm herself, she could only read the secret report over and over again.
Su, a woman from the Western Regions, was originally a dancer in the Jiaofang Bureau. She had been involved with Prince Duan and Sheng when they were still in the palace. However, Sheng was not a man who would stay in love for a long time, and the relationship ended soon after. It happened to be the time when Emperor Yongping returned from Xijing to plot his succession to the throne.
Later, Su was expelled from the Jiaofangsi for committing a crime. In order to make a living, she could only perform as a performer. One day, she was spotted by Prince Gong. Su was beautiful, with a lithe figure, and looked so pitiful that Prince Gong felt sorry for her. However, due to the special circumstances at that time, in order to avoid gossip, Prince Gong kept her away from home.
After Emperor Yongping ascended the throne, Prince Gong became bolder and more favored towards the Su family because he was already a prince.
But being raised outside the palace offered more freedom than staying in the palace, so Su often visited the temples outside the capital to burn incense. This rekindled their old relationship. Prince Duan had been depressed, resentful of his position as Crown Prince. Su, surprisingly, also had Prince Duan in mind, pitying him for being pushed out of the position by Emperor Yongping. So, she volunteered to be Prince Duan's insider. With someone offering him the knife, Prince Duan was delighted.
Su worked hard to become a concubine from a mistress. Although she was accidentally discovered as an adulterer when she met with Prince Duan's people while she was pregnant, she was still loved and favored by Prince Duan after using some tricks.
Among them, the love pill played a significant role.
Li Qingping narrowed his eyes.
The Western Regions are filled with things not found in the Central Plains. This love potion will make a man unable to leave women, consuming his mind day and night. Unexpectedly, the two ginseng roots were not for Su, but for Prince Gong. Su stewed ginseng soup for Prince Gong daily, not for nourishment, but to keep him energized by the ginseng's potent properties. Prince Gong, already slack in government affairs, was unsettled by the ginseng soup, becoming increasingly dependent on Su's "comfort" and becoming increasingly dependent on her.
Su also controlled everyone around Prince Gong. When Princess Gong and others found out, Su had almost taken control of the situation and they were powerless to do anything.
Prince Duan used Su's family to collude with the Jiangnan Salt Transport Commissioner, the General of the Army, and others through Prince Gong, in an attempt to gradually erode the food supply of the Jiangnan area.
Prince Duan...he was trying to emulate the great families of Jiangnan in the previous dynasty and maintain their own military power. However, his identity was not convincing, so he had to pass it on to Prince Gong.
Li Qingping put down the secret report and instructed Yunsu, "Go, have the Ministry of Internal Affairs retrieve all the purchase accounts of Prince Gong's Mansion for the past three years, focusing on the purchase records of Western medicinal materials. The ingredients for the love pills must be hidden in there."
Then he went to call Yunzao, "Send the Imperial Hospital's Doctor Zhang Jizhong."
Zhang Jizhong has been in charge of the pulse diagnosis of all the masters in Yonghe Palace over the years and has long been Li Qingping's man.
Soon, Doctor Zhang and the purchasing account book were on the table in Yonghe Palace. Li Qingping didn't even say a word of greeting, but pointed at the account book and asked Zhang Jizhong to look at it.
The more Zhang Jizhong read, the more frightened he became, his face turning pale. "My Lady, these contain not only the ingredients for love pills, but also the base for the Western Region's 'Afurong Cream'. Long-term use is addictive, and... it hyperactives Yang and damages Yin, especially the heart meridians. Combined with the love pills, a month or two is enough to make a man lose his mind!"
Li Qingping closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Please come in, my three princes."
It was late at night, but the three carriages quietly entered the palace and the back door of Yonghe Palace was quietly opened.
In Jiaotai Hall, Li Qingping placed the secret report and account books in front of Prince Yue, Prince E, and Prince Yong. The three princes' faces changed drastically after reading them.
It was already strange that the palace had secretly ordered them to enter the palace, but now looking at it again, there was nothing unclear.
Prince Yong's face turned pale. "Just today, a memorial came back saying that Prince Duan was ordered by the emperor to inspect the grain transport to Huzhou."
Li Qingping frowned: "Today?"
Prince Yong confirmed, "Because they involve the Emperor, these memorials are placed at the top. I have personally reviewed them several times and I am sure they are correct."
"How dare he!" Prince Yue shouted angrily, "I'll kill that little bastard!"
Li Qingping said in a deep voice, "Don't worry, Your Highness. Now that Prince Duan is accompanying the Emperor, what should Your Highness do?" Prince Duan was the eldest son of Emperor Qianyuan. Whether it was for show or not, Emperor Yongping had always treated him with favor over the years, even allowing him to accompany the Emperor on the Southern Tour. Now, even the inspection of the imperial grain was entrusted to him.
He clearly still has five sons by his side! How could this matter fall into the hands of Prince Duan? Could it be that the grain transport in Huzhou belongs to Prince Duan?
"This is all I have found out so far. But I have no idea how deep the water is. The specific list of people who have colluded needs to be confirmed to avoid alerting the enemy and making them prepare to deny it." Li Qingping took out a list, which turned out to be the people who Prince Duan had colluded with through Prince Gong over the years.
Prince Yong frowned and said, "Concubine Ding is right. The relationships within the Jiangnan Salt Road are particularly complex. Salt transportation is a lucrative business, and it's definitely not as simple as it seems."
Li Qingping nodded and said, "As long as it involves officialdom, ordinary memorials are no longer safe. My biggest concern now is whether they can find a way to intercept letters leaving the capital. But this matter must be informed to His Majesty and the Empress."
There was a moment of complete silence in the Jiaotai Hall.
Prince Yue was the first to suppress his anger and said in a deep voice, "Since the memorial cannot be sent out, then we can only send it secretly—using the old method, through the Cao Gang's secret line at Huzhou Post."
Prince E shook his head. "The Cao Gang is now being fed up with money by the Jiangnan Salt Road. Who knows which ship is theirs? He Sheng just went to Huzhou today. If the news leaks out, I'm afraid He Sheng will know about it before this memorial reaches the Emperor."
Outside the hall, an old eunuch suddenly came in and handed Li Qingping a note.
"...Can the Jin family be trusted?" Li Qingping hadn't expected the old eunuch to appear here at this time. After seeing him, his eyes lit up: "Lady Le's Jin family?"
The two princes were confused, but Prince Yong knew the old eunuch: "Is this... Wang Rongqing from Kunning Palace?"
Li Qingping nodded.
"Jin..." Prince Yue thought for a moment. "The Jiangnan Weaving Factory is directly under the jurisdiction of Kyoto. Generally speaking, only the emperor's confidants are qualified for this position. Since Jin can sit in this position, it means that the emperor trusts him. Moreover, Concubine Le is Jin's only daughter and is now the Empress of the Palace. Jin would not be foolish enough to betray the emperor."
Li Qingping immediately stood up and said, "Then let's go with the Eagle Slave. Eagle Slave can travel 800 miles a day and no one can stop them. They only recognize specific hand signals. If Jin is a close confidant of the Emperor, she would know the hand signals."
Prince Yue said anxiously, "But the falcon slaves in the Imperial Horse Guard of the Capital will not move without the orders of the commander-in-chief and the emperor and empress—" He suddenly stopped.
Li Qingping looked at him with a half-smile.
The consort of Princess Long'an, the daughter of Consort Ding, was the commander of the imperial guards, and Wang Ce, the chief inspector of the Imperial Horse Guards, was a subordinate of Zhou Tiansheng, the consort of Princess Long'an.
Li Qingping sent someone to deliver a message to Wang Ce to mobilize the falconers, but he kept pacing back and forth. "The ones who came to the south of the Yangtze River are the concubines from aristocratic families. Noble Lady Le has been out of favor for a long time. Prince Duan may not pay attention to her. This will provide convenience for the Jin family to investigate the salt road."
"I don't know if Prince Duan and Su have any backup plans. The two princes' mansions can't let their guard down. And..." Li Qingping pointed out one by one: "We also have to look after Empress Qianyuan's garden, Princess Yurong's mansion, Princess Yuhua's mansion and Prince Liang's mansion." Empress Qianyuan is Prince Duan's biological mother, and these are Prince Duan's brothers and sisters with the same father. None of them can be left behind.
Li Qingping raised his eyes and saw the Third Prince nodded seriously, obviously knowing what to do.
When the emperor passed through Suzhou during his southern tour, he came out of the water and lived in the palace in Suzhou.
Jin Xiangyang, the general manager of the Jiangnan Weaving Factory, took the initiative to ask for an audience with Emperor Yongping today, saying that he had a box of tribute satin that he wanted to present to the emperor.
No one suspected anything. It was perfectly normal for high-ranking officials in Jiangnan to curry favor with the emperor.
No one knew that what Jin Xiangyang was going to present to the emperor was not the tribute satin, but the secret letter brought by the falconer hidden in his sleeve.
The few words in the secret letter made Emperor Yongping feel cold all over.
"Very good."
Jin Xiangyang and his attendant Liang Pei'an had already knelt on the ground. No one wanted to endure the emperor's wrath.
Emperor Yongping burned the secret letter and watched the flames devour the ashes. "A few days ago, he volunteered to go to Huzhou, and I really thought he had good intentions. I didn't expect that his intentions were good intentions, but they were the intentions of a traitor!"
Jin Xiangyang knelt on the ground, his voice trembling, "I have followed Consort Ding's instructions and secretly informed Prince Consort Zhou Tiansheng to intercept the grain ships and ironware stored by Prince Duan. However, the salt transport envoys are so deeply entrenched that I dare not act rashly for fear of alerting them. I beg for your Majesty's instructions."
"Watch closely, don't move. I have my own way."
After Jin Xiangyang left, Emperor Yongping immediately summoned Empress Li and the Crown Prince.
As soon as Queen Li arrived, she knew that Li Qingping in the palace had discovered something was wrong and had started to take action, and she felt both relieved and nervous.
He was causing chaos during his Southern Tour, colluding with the Salt Transport and Grain and Military Iron forces in an attempt to gain power! Prince Duan was even bolder than she had imagined! Was there anything going on in the capital? Was there anything going on in Qingping?
The Crown Prince's veins bulged with anger, "Father, let me lead the troops to capture Prince Duan!"
"What's the hurry?" Emperor Yongping sneered, "Let him be proud for a while."
It seemed that Emperor Yongping had some plans. Empress Li signaled the Crown Prince to remain calm and said to the Emperor, "What about Prince Gong...?"
Speaking of this, Emperor Yongping became even angrier: "Boss, this idiot is so clueless! He was actually played around by He Sheng and a woman!"
Especially after taking the medicine for so long, his physical foundation might have been damaged. This son is useless.
What Emperor Yongping envisioned, Empress Li and the Crown Prince also envisioned, and they were both secretly delighted. The eldest son, Prince Gong, was now completely out of the picture, and Concubine Yi's plans were thwarted, further solidifying the position of the legitimate line.
"Your Majesty, please don't worry. The most important thing right now is to capture the Su family and then take care of Prince Gong's health." - Although he probably won't be able to recover.
Empress Li smiled sympathetically and said, "Since Your Majesty doesn't want to alert the enemy, then leave this matter to me, shall we?"
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