Chapter 398 Worship
The wife of the Marquis of Shou'an asked anxiously, "My Lord, what should we do?"
The Prince of Qi was not of the Northern Qi Emperor's bloodline, so he must not be supported to ascend to the throne. The only way to prevent his origins from being exposed was to send him back to his fiefdom, away from the capital, as the Empress had suggested.
Shou An Hou said, "I will see the queen in person and make a final decision."
The letter was short and contained no detailed explanation. Based on his understanding of the Queen, she would never do such a foolish thing. As for the Prince of Qi's background, it might not be as simple as the letter stated, and there might be other hidden secrets.
Lady Shou'an thought of the system of close relations between concubines and their biological parents, which allowed them to enter the palace once a year with special permission.
Although she was granted grace and could enter the palace once a month, Marquis Shou'an was only allowed to see the empress once a year, and only with a special decree from His Majesty.
She asked, "Are you entering the palace today?"
Shou'an Hou replied: "After Princess Guangning gets married, I will ask for permission to come to the palace again."
As for the request to appoint a crown prince, it can only be postponed for a while.
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Elsewhere, Prince Yu, upon hearing the news that the Northern Qi Emperor had granted Zhao Yi military power, rhythmically tapped the armrests of his armchair. As if remembering something, the corners of his lips twitched.
Supporting Zhao Yi to become the emperor of Northern Qi was less of an obstacle than he had imagined.
Judging from Zhao Yi's growth trajectory after he came to Northern Qi, he believed that someone must be secretly helping Zhao Yi, and this person must have a high status in Northern Qi.
The Emperor of Northern Qi was wary of Zhao Yi, fearing that Zhao Yi would be loyal to the Great Zhou and betray Northern Qi. How could he reuse Zhao Yi?
In fact, Zhao Yi was in charge of the Ministry of Rites, took over the duties of the King of Qi, and also held the military mobilization order of the guards.
The Emperor of Northern Qi was suspicious by nature. Who among all the civil and military officials in the court had the ability to make him hand over power to Zhao Yi?
Apart from the Imperial Master, there is no one else.
Thinking of this, Prince Yu revealed an ambiguous smile.
If the person who supported Zhao Yi was the imperial tutor, then in Northern Qi, which other prince could compete with Zhao Yi?
At this time, the subordinate said: "Your Highness, the Prince of Guangling plans to go to Lingfei's mausoleum to pay tribute to the Princess of the Guard on her birthday."
Prince Yu frowned slightly. He hadn't seen Zhao Yi request permission to go and pay homage to Princess Yizhen during the Qingming Festival, but had waited until Princess Yizhen's birthday. That day was just two or three days before he would welcome Princess Guangning back to Great Zhou.
He had a hunch that this matter was not simple.
The Yu Dynasty's subordinates hooked their fingers and said, "On the day of the Imperial Aunt's birthday, you will secretly keep an eye on Prince Guangling. If he takes the opportunity to steal the remains, you will step forward to help."
The last half of the sentence was full of profound meaning, but the subordinate understood it instantly, and quickly responded and prepared to retreat.
"Wait a minute." Prince Yu asked, "How's the news from Prince Qi going?"
The subordinate reported back: "We have some clues, and we are still investigating further."
Prince Yu waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to leave.
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Zhao Yi held the military mobilization order for the garrison, which attracted special attention. Various forces arranged people to secretly follow him.
Zhao Yi was keenly aware of the tense atmosphere in the capital, and vaguely felt that a storm was about to come.
All forces are keeping their troops in place, as if waiting for an opportunity.
And this opportunity soon arrived.
On Princess Yizhen's birthday, Shen Qingtan got up early and specially asked Liu Yue to prepare a plain long dress. Her jet-black hair was tied into a high bun, and she only wore a white silk flower.
Liu Yue was holding a box of powder in her hand and was about to apply it on Shen Qingtan.
Shen Qingtan raised her hand to stop him: "Today we are going to pay tribute to the Princess Protector of the Nation, there is no need to put on makeup."
"Yes." Liu Yue put down the powder box and said softly, "According to your instructions, the kitchen has prepared a few offerings, packed them in food boxes, and sent them to the carriage."
Shen Qingtan nodded slightly, raised his hand to smooth the loose hair on his temples, got up and went to the outer room to have breakfast.
At this time, Tingxue stood at the door and patted the rain off her body before entering.
As she set the table, she said, "Princess, last night Boss Qin sent his shopkeeper to deliver a letter saying that because of the recent rain, they encountered a landslide, which blocked their way to the capital. Please send someone to meet them."
"The shopkeeper rushed to the capital, but it was already dark. He couldn't even enter the city to tell you the news, so he went to an inn outside the capital to wait for the city gates to open. It was quite a coincidence that he happened to meet Lieutenant General Sun at the inn on his errand."
"Deputy General Sun recognized the shopkeeper as Boss Qin's man. He was worried that Boss Qin would be stuck on the road and in danger, so he didn't wait until dawn to report to you in the city. He immediately took a few people to meet Boss Qin."
While Tingxue was speaking, she had already placed breakfast on the table and took out a letter from her sleeve and handed it to Shen Qingtan.
She added, "Boss, please follow the instructions of Deputy General Sun. As soon as the day breaks and the city gates open, we will come to the palace to give you the news."
Shen Qingtan frowned. Last year, in order to bring down the Lin family, she opened a tea shop and specially wrote to Boss Qin and Uncle Gu to arrange for the supply of goods.
At that time, Boss Qin said in his reply that he would set off to Northern Qi to do business in the spring of this year.
Because Boss Qin was concerned about her safety, and he felt that he was just a businessman with no power and could not help her, he thought about expanding his business to Northern Qi to expand his network, and perhaps he could be of help to her.
Now it seems that Boss Qin has already set off for Northern Qi.
Shen Qingtan quickly took the letter, pulled out the letter inside, and glanced at it.
Sure enough, it was almost the same as she guessed.
Zhao Yi, who was standing by, asked anxiously, "Was this letter from Uncle Qin?"
Shen Qingtan nodded: "The private seal above can match."
However, Zhao Yi felt something was wrong. Although it had been raining these days, the rain was not enough to cause a landslide.
The landslide happened to occur when Boss Qin was on his way to the capital, blocking them halfway.
Just as he was about to speak, he heard Shen Qingtan ponder, "It's probably just a coincidence. Uncle Sun was worried that Uncle Qin was in danger, so he rushed to pick him up without telling me."
"Don't worry, I'll send more men over," Zhao Yi reassured him, "Deputy General Sun is a skilled warrior. Even if he's outnumbered, once Jiang Chao and his men arrive, they'll be able to escape unscathed."
Shen Qingtan felt relieved after hearing this: "Bring more people with you."
Zhao Yi smiled and said, "Okay."
He passed on the message.
Jiang Chao immediately led a group of people out of the city.
Shen Qingtan was worried about Boss Qin. Because of what he was about to face today, he had no appetite and couldn't eat a single bite.
Zhao Yi did not force her, but just told Liu Yue to bring some camel-cheese porridge with her, in case Shen Qingtan got hungry on the road, she could have some porridge to fill her stomach.
After everything was ready, Shen Qingtan came out of the house and saw that it was drizzling outside. Dark clouds covered the azure sky, pressing heavily on the roof, and also seemed to be pressing on her heart, making her mood become restless for no reason.
Zhao Yi held an oil-paper umbrella to cover her head. The couple walked out of the mansion side by side and took a carriage to the Lingfei Mausoleum.
The carriage was about to reach Ling Fei's mausoleum when the sound of rapid horse hooves came from afar and stopped in front of the carriage: "Your Highness, we have tracked down the whereabouts of the remnants of the previous dynasty."
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