"It is extremely urgent to save the princess. We must do our best." Xiao Ning clasped his fists and said, "That eunuch must want to threaten the princess' life. The longer the princess is in his hands, the more danger she will be in. After the coronation ceremony tomorrow, I am willing to lead the troops to Xianyang to rescue the princess."
Yu Qizhe pleaded: "I am anxious to find my beloved wife and hope to go with the army."
Liu Ziqi nodded: "Okay." He felt more at ease about Yu Qizhe going to Xianyang. Xiao Ning was a rough man. If Xiao Ning brought a large army to attack, and Cheng Ying really wanted to hurt Yu Jiao's life, Xiao Ning might not be able to take care of Yu Jiao first and then seize Xianyang.
He is a man and has served in the military. He understands that in the hearts of soldiers, the overall situation is above everything else.
Cheng Ying is a treacherous person, and there is no guarantee that she will not go all out. She would rather die with honor than live in disgrace.
He said: "Jiaojiao's safety must be put first. Even if we cannot take Xianyang, we must protect Jiaojiao. Her safety is above everything else."
He said this while looking at Yu Qizhe, who nodded. He understood Liu Ziqi's concerns. To Xiao Ning, military exploits might be more important, and he could become a truly meritorious minister by taking Xianyang. But in his heart, Jiaojiao was more important than anything else, and no great cause was as important as Jiaojiao.
The conversation came to an end here. Seeing that it was getting late, Shen Jinchun, the Minister of Rites Song Ling and others stood up and left.
Liu Ziqi left Yu Qizhe behind and told him: "You can take your time in Xianyang, the key is to rescue Jiaojiao."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Leave Cheng Ying a chance to live. Don't do it unless it's absolutely necessary. Don't hurt his life. When Emperor Mingzheng seized power, he saved Jiaojiao and me. After all, I owe him a favor."
When Zhu Kuang broke into the Eastern Palace, he was able to escape because of Cheng Ying's rescue.
Later, it was Cheng Ying who changed his appearance and gave him to Liu Yu. Liu Ziqi couldn't understand why Cheng Ying, who was obviously Zhu Kuang's confidant, deliberately left such a trouble for Zhu Kuang.
At first he thought that Cheng Ying wanted to use him to check and balance Zhu Kuang and threaten Zhu Kuang's throne when necessary, but later he felt that it was not the case, because after he entered Liu's house, Cheng Ying never looked for him again. Even when they met by chance, she never looked at him more than once, as if she had completely forgotten that he existed.
The news that Su Jian was still alive was also told by Cheng Ying, so he took advantage of the misfortune of the merchants and traveled all over the country to look for his sister Su Jian.
Cheng Ying said that he made a deal with the Princess Huaiyang. The Princess and her husband Li Si were willing to die without a struggle in exchange for Su Jian's life. Although Cheng Ying was unpredictable, there was one thing he did, that was, he would keep his word even if he promised something to the dead.
Back then, before Cheng Ying changed his appearance, she asked him where he was going. He was terrified and thought that he would be imprisoned by Cheng Ying for the rest of his life, so that he could be used as a tool in the future.
So when Cheng Ying asked, he didn't believe that he was willing to let him go. He contacted Liu Yu with full of suspicion. Liu Yu came to see him quietly and discussed letting him go to Liu's house to replace his son Tao Ge'er's identity and live.
At that time, Tao Ge'er had already suffered from a high fever due to the palace coup and had no time to receive treatment, which caused him to have intellectual problems.
After Cheng Ying knew Liu Yu's arrangement, she was actually quite interested in going to Liu's house to take a look at Tao Ge'er's appearance. After coming back, she said she wanted to help Liu Ziqi change his appearance.
When his cheek was cut by the thin and strange knife, Liu Ziqi thought that he was just playing a cat playing a trick with a mouse, so he deliberately said that he would let him go, but in fact he wanted to take his life after watching him struggle.
But later, he survived safely and when he removed the layers of white cloth wrapped around his face, although his features and eyebrows had not changed much, he already had some of Tao Ge'er's shadow.
He followed Liu Yu to the Liu Mansion and became the eldest son of the Liu Mansion. When he first entered the Liu Mansion, he often thought that Cheng Ying would suddenly appear and take him away again.
After all, he never believed in Cheng Ying.
At that time, Liu Yu wanted to send Tao Ge'er back to his hometown in Pingliang Prefecture, but Madam Liu was unwilling to do so. She could not accept that her good son had become a fool, but someone else could replace her son's identity and become the eldest master in the mansion.
Therefore, even though Madam Liu was quite cold towards him over the years, and would get angry and scold him whenever anything related to Tao Ge'er was involved, Liu Ziqi never felt any resentment because he owed it to the Liu family.
What's more, later he wanted to bring Yu Jiao to Beijing. Liu Yu, who had a clean life, was willing to tarnish his reputation and make it clear to the outside world that Yu Jiao was a romantic debt he left behind when he was young. All these were favors.
Favor is favor, hatred is hatred. He must avenge his father's murder, and he should also repay what he owes to Cheng Ying and the Liu family.
Yu Qizhe had doubts in his mind. According to what he had found out, it was Cheng Ying who led the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot to storm into the princess's mansion and kill Princess Huaiyang and her husband. It was Cheng Ying's sharp blade that played a great role in enabling Emperor Mingzheng to seize the throne.
In his opinion, people like Cheng Ying should not be kept at all, and only by killing them completely can future troubles be eliminated forever.
However, Liu Ziqi was the one who was going to sit on the throne. Now they were not only uncle-in-law, but also monarch and subject. Even though he disagreed in his heart, he obeyed and said, "Okay, if there is room, I will try my best to save Cheng Ying's life."
Liu Ziqi saw what Yu Qizhe was thinking, but he didn't want to talk about what happened in the past with others. After hearing Yu Qizhe's answer "if there is room for maneuver", he began to understand why he could become Zhu Kuang's close minister.
A ruler not only needs loyal and upright ministers, but also people who follow suit, who obey orders without asking the ruler's reasons and who leave room for maneuver when speaking.
Liu Ziqi showed admiration. Yu Qizhe did not directly promise him to spare Cheng Ying's life, but added the words "if there is room for maneuver", which was really flawless.
"Have you ever worried that if your third sister becomes a princess in the future, you will be the prince consort." There was a hint of intrigue in Liu Ziqi's joke.
Everyone knew that Princess Shang's becoming a royal consort meant that her career as an official ended there. Although she was a royal relative in name, it was almost impossible for her to have a bright future and high official position with high salary.
Yu Qizhe said without hesitation, "In the past, I wanted a high position with generous salary, I wanted to have overwhelming power, and I even wanted to be the highest official in the country, but that was to protect Jiaojiao, to let her live freely and not be bullied or swallow her anger."
"But with your protection in the future, Jiaojiao can live freely and at her will. It doesn't matter if I no longer work as an official. I can open a medicine shop with her in the city, dig herbs in the mountains, watch the clouds roll by, and visit famous rivers and mountains in my spare time. It's the most pleasant thing. It's what I want and what I yearn for."
When he said this, Liu Ziqi kept looking into his eyes, and he could see that Yu Qizhe's words were sincere.
Liu Ziqi smiled and said frankly, "I feel relieved when you say that. My father, mother, and aunt are all gone, and I only have Jiaojiao as my relative. In my heart, the power of the world is not as important as Jiaojiao alone."
He patted Yu Qizhe on the shoulder and said with a smile: "It's just that the affairs of the court are complicated. I still need your help in this mess. I can't let you live a carefree life with Jiaojiao for the time being."
Liu Ziqi said this to reassure Yu Qizhe, telling him that after he became emperor, Jiaojiao would become a princess, and it would not really kill Yu Qizhe's path to success, but would just make him, the son-in-law, do an idle and sinecure job.
Yu Qizhe said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "I will help you to solve your problems."
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