Chapter 491 More room for maneuver
Sheng Zhan stared at her tearful face, his thin lips tightly pursed.
Although he doted on Jian Ningxiang, he was always somewhat wary of her deep down in his heart.
At the beginning, Emperor Cheng of Jin carefully selected Jian Ningxiang to be Sheng Ze's concubine. However, Sheng Ze did not appreciate it at all. Not to mention marrying her as a concubine, he didn't even want her as a maid.
The Jian family lost face in front of all the civil and military officials in the court and were extremely disappointed with Jian Ningxiang, their legitimate daughter. At this time, Jian Ningxiang asked someone to pass a message to Sheng Zhan, and the two met in private. Not long after, Jian Ningxiang was carried into the eldest prince's mansion in a sedan chair and became one of Sheng Zhan's many concubines.
Afterwards, Jian Ningxiang took advantage of Sheng Zhan's new feelings for her and gave him advice. Eventually, she gained a foothold in the backyard of the eldest prince's mansion and was even named a noble concubine after Sheng Zhan ascended the throne.
Previously, Sheng Zhan always thought that Jian Ningxiang had been thinking about him from beginning to end, but when the news came that Sheng Ze was still alive, he couldn't help but doubt what Jian Ningxiang had done, especially the scene of confirming the charred body that day.
It was because Jian Ningxiang said with certainty that the purse on the corpse was embroidered by her for Sheng Ze that Sheng Zhan believed that it was Sheng Ze who died.
Jian Ningxiang's purse was in Sheng Ze's possession because the late queen had taken a fancy to her and wanted her to marry Sheng Ze as a concubine. She hinted to her that she had embroidered it and personally handed it to Sheng Ze in front of her. However, Sheng Ze did not know that the purse was made by Jian Ningxiang.
"Your Majesty, I am devoted to you and have no second thoughts. If you insist on doubting me, I will die to prove my loyalty!"
Just as Sheng Zhan was thinking, Jian Ningxiang suddenly got up from the ground and rushed towards the big pillar in the bedroom.
Sheng Zhan came back to his senses and subconsciously reached out to pull, but missed. Jian Ningxiang actually bumped into the pillar!
"My beloved!"
Jian Ningxiang fainted immediately, with a lot of blood oozing from her head and running down her cheeks. Sheng Zhan was horrified, "Someone, call the imperial physician!"
Although King Zhao withdrew his troops, the Hubei Northern Army did not withdraw immediately. Liang Cheng still left 30,000 troops stationed on the banks of the Lan River.
Qi Hongjun's manifesto spread throughout the world, and naturally people in northern Hubei also knew about it.
At this time, some soldiers were discussing.
"Hey, you guys, is the former crown prince really here with us?"
"Who knows? That's all about the higher-ups. Didn't our general get really angry? I think this is most likely a conspiracy by King Zhao."
"That makes sense. Seeing that he couldn't defeat us, the King of Zhao wanted to turn around and attack Yuzhou, but he had to have a legitimate reason and also consider his own face. Isn't this dragging the former crown prince out again?"
“That’s probably what happened.”
Shen Qingqian came out of the wounded camp and just heard such remarks, and stopped for a moment.
At first, she was worried that Sheng Ze's identity would be exposed, which would then arouse the court's suspicion of Liang Cheng, and there might even be other problems.
As a result, King Zhao unexpectedly issued a manifesto, but did not clearly state the specific situation of Shengze. This actually gave Liang Cheng and Shengze more room to maneuver.
Just like now, although everyone knows that the former crown prince is in northern Hubei, no one knows his current identity and no one knows where he is. Sheng Ze, the orthodox heir to the Jin Dynasty, can continue to hide in the northern Hubei army using the identity of Cheng San.
Of course, the one sitting on the throne is not so easy to fool. Just yesterday, Zhang Zhiyao called Liang Cheng over and used indirect threats and inducements to talk to him.
Fortunately, although Liang Cheng was a military general, he was not a brainless person. After Zhang Zhiyao tried several times, he did not reveal any flaws.
What made Shen Qingqian speechless the most was that Sheng Ze actually followed Liang Cheng so openly!
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