Chapter 321 A Just Cause
More than 20 years ago, when Concubine Shu was in the Northern Qi Emperor's private residence, she was still the Prince's Consort and was deeply loved.
At that time, the Emperor of Northern Qi had not yet ascended the throne. He met Yizhen, who was being harassed by the powerful people of Northern Qi. No matter how humiliated she was, she remained strong and unyielding.
This proud character attracted the Emperor of Northern Qi, who was full of admiration for Yizhen.
She sensed an unprecedented sense of crisis and sent a message to her brother, determined to break Yizhen's pride.
His brother teamed up with other powerful people to kidnap Emperor Jing'an and forced Yizhen to fight with a dog for food.
In order to save Emperor Jing'an, Yizhen put aside her pride and ate the dog's food in a miserable state.
When the Emperor of Northern Qi saw this scene, he not only did not feel disgusted with Yizhen, but instead felt pity for her.
In order to get Yizhen, he even let Emperor Jing'an return to the Great Zhou.
Later, for some unknown reason, the Emperor of Northern Qi became tired of Yizhen, and Yizhen truly began to suffer, living an even more undignified life than when she was a hostage.
Slaves and servants can be trampled upon and humiliated by everyone.
Such a worthless life actually gave birth to the eldest son of the Emperor of Northern Qi.
She was deeply jealous of Yizhen, jealous of her having been favored by the Emperor of Northern Qi, and jealous of her having given birth to a son for the Emperor of Northern Qi.
Because she only gave birth to a daughter, she dreamed of giving birth to a son. But Yizhen did what she wanted most, so how could she not be jealous of Yizhen?
Fortunately, Yizhen soon fell out of favor.
It was not until the Mid-Autumn Festival twenty-one years ago when she went to a palace banquet with the Emperor of Northern Qi. When passing by the Imperial Garden, she saw Yizhen holding a child, walking in a hurry, and no one knew where she was going.
The Emperor of Northern Qi stopped and stared at the direction where Yizhen left, and did not come back to his senses for a long time.
At that time, she had just given birth to her second daughter, who was three months younger than Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi was the only son of the Emperor of Northern Qi.
She felt a sense of crisis again, fearing that Yizhen would use her son to gain power, and she thought about getting rid of Yizhen.
At the end of the palace banquet, the Northern Qi Emperor's younger brother, Prince Xian, prepared a special program and invited them to move to the Colosseum he built to watch slaves fight with wild beasts.
She covered her mouth and laughed, "Yizhen was once in a cage with a wild dog and tamed it. I wonder if she can tame this beast?"
It was this sentence that caused Yizhen to die at the hands of a wild beast.
If the queen had not rushed over after hearing the news and seen the pile of bones and ordered people to bury them, I am afraid that this pile of bones would have been fed to wild dogs long ago.
After eliminating the potential threat, she was worried that the Emperor of Northern Qi would arrange for palace servants to take good care of Zhao Yi. Fortunately, the Emperor of Northern Qi did not care about Zhao Yi and just casually arranged a palace servant to serve him and left him alone.
When Concubine Shu recalled this, she frowned and did not take Zhao Yi seriously. She was just thinking in her heart how to stop Zhao Yi from controlling the plague.
Now that my brother has spread the word that the imperial tutor is unwilling to save the people of Yingcheng, he has done a favor and ceded Yingcheng to the Great Zhou.
As long as Zhao Yi fails to control the plague and the plague breaks out completely out of control and spreads to other cities, the imperial teacher will become a sinner and his lofty status in the hearts of the people will be completely destroyed.
Concubine Shu returned to her bedroom, wrote a letter, and gave it to her close confidant Hong Qiao, asking her to arrange for someone to send it out of the palace to her brother, Shao Zhanshi Lin Yi.
Hongqiao hid the letter in her sleeve and hurriedly left the bedroom.
She knew very well that Concubine Shu and the imperial tutor had become enemies.
In order to win over the Imperial Tutor, Concubine Shu had intended to give the Junior Secretary's daughter to the Imperial Tutor. The Junior Secretary did as he was told and arranged for his second daughter to stop the Imperial Tutor's carriage.
After the Imperial Tutor brought the person back to the mansion, the second daughter of the Junior Chancellor never left the mansion again.
When they saw a lantern at the door of the Imperial Tutor's Mansion, they realized that someone had died at the hands of the Imperial Tutor.
Concubine Shu realized that she had offended the Imperial Tutor. As long as the Imperial Tutor held power, it would not be her son's turn to sit on the throne, so she wanted to bring the Imperial Tutor down.
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At the Lin Mansion, Junior Secretary Lin Yi received the letter from Concubine Shu. He pondered for a moment and called his confidant in.
"Go to Yingcheng in person and tell the people there to take special care of Zhao Yi," Lin Yi said coldly. "Find a way to place him in the patient's home and move that family. Don't let them notice anything."
Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to get rid of someone.
When the plague is raging, it is too easy for someone to die quietly.
The confidant replied, "Yes."
After Lin Yi finished his explanation, he threw the letter in his hand into the stove and burned it.
He received news early this morning that the situation in Yingcheng was very serious, and the two cities adjacent to Yingcheng in Northern Qi were also infected with the plague.
Lin Yi looked out the window. The whole place was covered in snow, and long icicles formed on the eaves.
I just hope that after this heavy snow ends, the plague and the imperial teacher will melt away along with the snow.
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When Lin Yi arranged his confidants to go to Yingcheng, a team of carriages slowly came towards the capital.
The curtains of one of the carriages were opened, and the wind and snow drifted into the carriage.
"Oh, it's snowing so heavily." Liu Yue quickly lowered the car window curtains, patted the falling snowflakes on her body, and looked at Shen Qingtan who was lost in thought beside her: "Second Madam, we are about to go into the city."
Shen Qingtan came back to his senses, leaned against the window, lifted the curtain and looked at the ancient and majestic city gate in front of him.
She never thought that she would leave her hometown and come to the capital of Northern Qi.
Her three brothers escorted her all the way to the border before saying goodbye to her.
As soon as they left the border, Zhao Yi led his troops to Yingcheng.
Before Zhao Yi left, the imperial teacher handed him a letter and a token.
This also confirmed her guess that the imperial teacher would not let anything happen to Zhao Yi.
"Second Madam, since you have come to the capital of Northern Qi, will the Emperor of Northern Qi take you hostage?" Liu Yue had been holding it in all the way, but in the end she couldn't hold it in anymore and asked.
"No." Shen Qingtan said calmly, "The Imperial Master arranged for Second Master to deal with the plague in the capital of Great Zhou, giving Second Master and Emperor Jing'an ample time to prepare. If anyone wants to assassinate Second Master, they can just temporarily arrange for Second Master to go to Yingcheng after leaving Great Zhou."
He would not give Zhao Yi a letter and a token when he went to Yingcheng to facilitate Zhao Yi to mobilize troops.
Liu Yue seemed to understand but not quite.
"You only need to understand one thing: the Imperial Master didn't simply send Second Master to Northern Qi as a hostage." Shen Qingtan reached out to catch a snowflake. "Otherwise, the Imperial Master wouldn't have arranged for Second Master to control the plague and gain power from it. Wouldn't he be easier to control if he were a powerless and unaccomplished prince?"
Thinking further, Shen Qingtan even suspected that the plague in Yingcheng was caused by the imperial teacher. He wanted to force Zhao Yi to acknowledge his identity as the prince of Northern Qi, bring Zhao Yi back to Northern Qi, and then arrange for Zhao Yi to control the plague.
In this way, Zhao Yi was no longer an unknown prince, and his name was left in the minds of the people.
If the imperial tutor is willing to support Zhao Yi, he can push him to the center of power by virtue of his achievements in controlling the plague.
After all... I have a legitimate reason.
Liu Yue understood this time that the Imperial Master was not just holding the Second Master hostage, he also had other plans for him.
Before the goal is achieved, the Emperor of Northern Qi will never be allowed to touch the Second Master.
Thinking of this, Liu Yue said excitedly, "Second Madam, are you saying that... the Imperial Tutor is using you, and you're taking advantage of this to gain a firm foothold in Northern Qi?"
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