Chapter 143 Let’s go to Qizhou together?

After Prince Chen returned home, he was furious and smashed the study room to pieces.

Upon hearing this, Princess Chen, who was in the backyard, guessed that something must have gone wrong during the morning court session, but she did not dare to come forward to advise.

She was afraid that she would get into trouble because she messed up the Spring Banquet.

Prince Chen's eyes were bloodthirsty, and he sneered, "It seems that the prince has been on guard against me for a long time. On the surface, he pretends to be friendly and generous, but he is actually plotting against me behind my back."

The conspirators came one after another, and after learning what happened in the morning court, they all looked horrified.

When He Zhen learned that he had failed to take the position of the Minister of Revenue, he was more worried than anyone else: "Your Majesty, there must be no mistakes in the affairs of Qizhou, otherwise He An will follow the clues and will definitely find out the truth in Jiangnan."

How could King Chen not know?

Jiangnan is his last bargaining chip. If something goes wrong, the worst possible scenario is that he will occupy Jiangnan and compete with Beijing.

Therefore, the He family cannot fall.

"He Zhen, you are just a bastard in the He family. I have helped you to your current position. It is time for you to be of use to me. Tomorrow, you will go back to Jiangnan on the pretext of visiting your family as the princess. If something unexpected happens, you will not be too passive."

"yes."

Regarding the Pei family's rebellion, Prince Chen had no confidence that his father would be able to protect him again, so he had to be fully prepared.

After the meeting, Prince Chen went to the palace overnight. His mother already knew what happened in the court today, so she sent someone to send a letter for him to go to the palace and report it.

**

"What should we do if King Chen fails?"

"Don't be afraid. We still have the He family to back us up. As long as we leave Beijing, we can still find a glimmer of hope."

Princess Chen smiled bitterly and shook her head: "It's fine to lie to the He family thousands of miles away, but you know I'm not the daughter of the He family. If I really go back, won't I be exposed?"

He Zhen held her shoulders and said, "What are you afraid of? You just need to stay in Jiangnan Villa. Who dares to disturb you?"

"He Yue is the eldest daughter of the He family and the Princess of Chen. When she arrives in Jiangnan, no one dares to overstep her authority."

Princess Chen was still unsure: "The prince doesn't treat me the same as before. If I lose my identity as a daughter of the He family, I'm afraid we..."

"What are you afraid of? When I become the head of the He family in the future, I will protect you." He Zhen tried his best to calm her down: "As long as you get pregnant with Prince Chen's heir as soon as possible, why worry about not being able to sit firmly on the position of princess?"

Princess Chen: "He hasn't stayed overnight with me for a long time. My concubines have been pregnant one after another, but I haven't had any children for many years. I'm afraid he has already made plans to abandon me."

He Zhen frowned.

After thinking for a moment, he looked at the dark sky outside. It should be past midnight and it was very quiet outside.

Prince Chen was in the palace at the moment. After a brief thought, he seemed to have made a decision: "I will not let you die."

As he spoke, he embraced Princess Chen in his arms: "Even if I bring you to the capital and send you to the palace, I will also take you out safely. You and I cannot be together in this life, but you know how I feel about you."

Princess Chen panicked for a moment, but she knew very well that there was no other way.

Rather than wasting time like this with King Chen, worrying all day that she would be abandoned at any time, it would be more reassuring to have one more bargaining chip.

**

In just a few months, Concubine Qi had aged a lot. She was indeed unaware of the Lucheng incident, and her two nephews were killed, leaving her mother's family completely extinct.

I had thought that this matter would be over, and the Emperor, considering the relationship between father and son, would give Prince Chen a chance and grant him a fiefdom to live out his life.

Unexpectedly, Prince Chen insisted on his own way, was too ambitious, and was unwilling to give up his desire to compete for the throne.

Now that the Pei family's rebellion has been exposed, it has touched the emperor's wrath. Even if she wants to withdraw, she is already in a situation where she cannot back down.

Prince Chen sat there for half an hour and had lost his patience: "Mother, what I have planned has come to this point and there is no way back. Please give me your instructions."

She had been beaten and scolded, but now Concubine Qi was as calm as water.

The beautiful eyes that once moved the emperor no longer had any tenderness, but were full of determination: "Your father values ​​​​rank and inferiority, and his intention to establish a prince will not change. Do you really intend to burn your boats?"

"My son, I still say the same thing. We have come this far. There is no turning back."

"It's difficult to accomplish this in the capital. You should find a way to go to Jiangnan." She had already found out about Prince Chen's plan in Jiangnan. It was difficult to take over the capital. Compared with occupying Jiangnan, it was much easier to compete with the capital.

After a moment's silence, Concubine Qi took out the secret letter and said, "This is a letter I wrote to the head of the He family. After he reads it, he will definitely help you."

**

Since the Ministry of Revenue conducted a thorough audit of the accounts, officials in the court have been involved in a wide range of cases and their job transfers have become more frequent.

In addition to job changes, many officials involved were imprisoned and convicted.

With such drastic measures, many of Chen Wang's followers were eliminated.

Just when everything was going smoothly, the emperor suddenly issued an edict, ordering He'an and Prince Chen to rush to Qizhou to investigate the grain storage issue, and Ji Lingchuan was to lead troops to accompany them for protection.

At night, the study in the Prime Minister's Mansion was brightly lit.

Ji Lingchuan and He An each had a bowl of noodles, and while eating they checked the account books sent from Qizhou in recent years.

These were specially compiled by Qian Qitai. Ji Lingchuan was speechless: "You know what, Qian Qitai is really good at this. These things are somewhat useful."

"Well, after checking, it is indeed quite different from what we found."

Ruan Qinghuan and Xia Lian came over and put the soup on the table: "When do you plan to leave?"

He An put down his chopsticks and took the soup from her hand: "Three days later."

"It's so fast. The casting has just started to take shape. If we put it on hold, I'm afraid there will be complications."

Ji Lingchuan and He An naturally thought of this, and Ji Lingchuan said helplessly: "It is difficult to disobey the emperor's order."

He An: "Spring planting is imminent, and it concerns the livelihood of the people. It is not wrong to check the grain storage first. As for the documents for the joint inspection of foundry, they have been issued to various military camps, asking them to check the weapons themselves and report any defective products immediately."

"It will take some time to come to a compromise between the two, so we can rush to Qizhou to investigate the grain storage case."

He An was right: "I heard Pei Chong fled to Qizhou. Would he have informed the new governor in advance and asked him to destroy the evidence?"

He An shook his head: "No, there is no way to destroy such a large amount of food, but there might be some cat poop."

Ruan Qinghuan wondered if he thought the same as she did: "I'm worried that they will sell the stored grain back to the people."

Ji Lingchuan frowned upon hearing this: "You two really have a tacit understanding. He An ordered people to disguise themselves as grain merchants this morning and rush to Qizhou to collect grain."

Ruan Qinghuan curled his lips and said, "If the Qizhou prefect really dares to sell government grain privately, he will fall into our trap."

Ji Lingchuan: "Selling government grain privately is a serious crime, but if you don't want to be investigated, this is the only way."

Ruan Qinghuan nodded, hesitated for a moment and stated the purpose of her visit: "Husband, can I go to Qizhou with you?"