Chapter 96 Chapter 96 Planning
"Where are you taking me?"
The carriage jolted out of Beijing, and Du Ling asked in a quiet voice about Jiang Fengchuan.
The young man glanced at her and saw that she was not in a good mood towards him, but he was not angry. He just said.
"Of course I won't take you to see Lord Dou and Prince Yong."
Even though he had promised her in front of His Royal Highness Prince Yong, she was still Lu Shenru's wife.
The two sides are now at loggerheads, and no matter how incompetent he is, he can see this clearly.
He wanted to protect her, not harm her.
The carriage drove forward until it stopped in front of a secluded farm.
"This is a farm that the Concubine bought last year. I borrowed it. It's quiet and deserted here. You can stay here without any worries."
Du Lingjing didn't want to talk to him. She calculated the distance and realized that this place was not far from the capital. If the Marquis sent someone to look for her, Jiang's people would be unable to resist.
Du Ling went into the inner room of the farm quietly. Jiang Fengchuan sent her in and settled her down, then walked out.
He stepped out and said something to the empty door.
"The guards of the Marquis' Mansion have followed us all the way here. They must have worked hard. Why don't they all come out?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire farm fell silent.
The next moment, a guard came out with a sword drawn.
He was slightly surprised to see so many people.
"You followed me all the way but didn't dare to take action. It shows that you really care about your wife's safety."
He thought that the guards of the Jiang family were naturally inferior to the servants of the Marquis' Mansion.
"But whether or not to take the person back at this time should be decided by your Lord Lu."
He smiled and looked at the guards.
"This is the place. No one has come here, and your wife will not leave. Go and ask your Lordship."
The guards were all startled, but after Jiang Fengchuan finished speaking, he turned around and went back to the manor.
Du Lingjing was accompanied by Ruan Gong and Qiu Lin. Ruan Gong hurriedly prepared the temporary residence, while Qiu Lin tidied up the room angrily.
She muttered to herself, wondering what madness the Sixth Master had committed to kidnapping the lady here.
Du Lingjing could not hear her muttering, and she kept thinking about the shocking things she had learned today, especially the last one.
She sat quietly on the chair under the window.
The emperor goes to the palace to escape the summer heat every year, so no one was surprised that he wanted to go this year.
But just when he was leaving the palace this time, he was suddenly given an imperial edict to appoint Prince Yong as the crown prince.
The Marquis and the Queen were not by his side. They were both left in the capital by him, while he was outside summoning Prince Yong to appoint a crown prince.
Does he really want to establish Prince Yong as the crown prince, or does he have other intentions?
Du Ling pondered silently and could hardly close his eyes the whole night.
But early the next morning, Jiang Fengchuan arrived.
She didn't want to hear his ridiculous words about marrying her again, but today Liu Lang was obedient and asked how she slept and what she wanted to eat.
She didn't want to pay attention to him, but he asked her.
"There is a story coming from the palace just now, you must want to know."
"What is it?"
At this juncture, it was hard for Du Lingjing not to take the bait. As soon as she asked, the young man looked at the ribbon hanging from her hair and laughed.
But in an instant, he straightened his face again.
"The Emperor is missing."
"What does it mean that he's missing?" Du Lingjing felt panic in her ears.
Jiang Fengchuan snorted softly, "It means I can't find anyone."
He said, "At least the people in the palace, whether it's Lord Dou or His Royal Highness Prince Yong, they can't find the emperor."
Du Lingjing was stunned, and her heart began beating faster and faster.
*
Summer palace.
Overnight, the emperor disappeared, along with his uncle Prince Yan, the third prince Prince Cheng, and the Jinyiwei who served by his side.
The important officials in the palace inevitably became confused.
The disappearance of the king of a country was a big deal, so they didn't dare report it to the world, nor did they know whether to report it to the court in Beijing. After all, many of the people who came with them were civil officials who supported the enthronement of Prince Yong, and the capital was now ruled by Marquis Yongding Lu Shenru.
Some people speculated, "Could it be that Lu kidnapped the emperor?!"
The emperor summoned Prince Yong to be the crown prince, but he disappeared the next day, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards also disappeared with him.
"You should know that Jinyiwei Commander Wei Jue has always been in cahoots with the Lu family. They took the emperor away and held him hostage in order to rebel!"
Many people thought so, otherwise why would the emperor suddenly disappear?
At this moment, everyone gathered around Prince Yong Fengqi.
Dou Ge Lao didn't say anything for a while.
The noisiest person that Shao pushed to Feng Qi's side was now talking non-stop.
"It must have been that bastard Lu Shenru who did it? He must have heard that Your Highness had the imperial edict personally granted by the Emperor, and he was unwilling to fail, so he teamed up with the Jinyiwei to kidnap the Emperor... After Your Highness ascends the throne, you must cut Lu into pieces, and don't think about any insignificant old feelings. It was just that she received a little care from the imperial concubine in the past. Your Highness will just spare her life and send her to the cold palace, and you don't need to worry about her anymore..."
He kept talking non-stop, and usually King Yong would frown in impatience at most.
But before he could finish these harsh words about how to deal with Lu, the young prince suddenly glanced at him.
He was only fifteen or sixteen years old, still a teenager. The Shao family relied on their maternal family background and always treated him as a child.
But at this moment, his eyes were stern and he glanced at him.
Not to mention the noisy person from the Shao family, even the entire conference room fell silent in an instant.
Just now that man wanted to banish Concubine Lu to the cold palace, but now he couldn't even speak.
Feng Qi was silent for a few breaths, and then he called out to Lord Dou who had been silent for a long time.
"I want to have a few words with Mr. Dou alone."
When the others heard this, no one dared to refute and they quickly bowed and retreated.
When everyone had left, Dou Ge Lao stood up and saluted him, "What do you want to say, Your Highness?"
Feng Qi changed his cold and stern expression, and a bit of confusion finally appeared in the young man's eyes. He thought again and again, and asked Dou Ge Lao softly.
"The emperor is not here. Could it be that he is not kidnapped, but that he ordered the Royal Guards to quietly take him away from the palace?"
The emperor's father took away his uncle Prince Yan and his third brother Fengxiang, and only left him in the palace.
His father did leave him an imperial edict to become the crown prince, but he also left the entire capital city to Marquis Lu.
He had a feeling that his father might not really want him to succeed him...
The young man silently looked up at Dou Ge Lao. Dou Ge Lao was the first person to support him. Dou Ge Lao was ambitious and resourceful, and in his heart, he was more important than the entire Shaw family.
When he asked, he discovered that the hair on Dou Ge Lao's temples had turned completely white without him noticing.
And Dou Ge Lao closed his eyes.
"What your Highness said is not impossible..."
It is possible that his father had abandoned him and left quietly! The young man's eyes were shaken.
But Dou Ge Lao said one more thing.
"Even so, the emperor has already issued an edict to Your Highness. The Lu family wants to support the King Hui, and they have troops at their disposal. How can they give up?"
He said.
"Under the current circumstances, Your Highness is isolated here. If you do nothing, I, as an old minister, will say, you are just a lamb to be slaughtered."
The Lu family was the butcher and they were the fish.
"Your Highness, if you want to protect yourself, you also need to bring troops here."
Leading the troops here means that the fight between him and the Lu family has become inevitable...
The boy was still a young man who had not yet grown up. He sat with his arms folded in the large and empty armchair.
He bowed his head deeply and remained silent.
*
Grange.
When Du Lingjing saw Chongping coming, she first told him everything she knew.
"... ...Does the Marquis know about these things?"
Chongping Liandao knew about it, "but the matter of Lord Du is something that the Marquis probably didn't expect."
It turned out that Lord Du was the commander of Wei ordered by the Emperor, and he was eliminated without anyone noticing.
Chongping was also surprised.
He whispered to his wife that the Marquis had received the secret decree to be crowned Queen.
Du Lingjing did not sleep last night, thinking about these things over and over again all night. Now she heard that Lu Weishi also had the imperial edict in hand, she could not help but shake her head.
"Two imperial edicts were secretly passed to both sides, and now the emperor has disappeared..."
Du Lingjing thought about the fact that he had killed his father. If the emperor wanted to prevent him from seeing his father, there were a hundred ways he could have done, but he chose the most secretive one, killing people in secret and expressing regret in public.
He had just ascended the throne at that time, and he was able to use such means. What did he want to do now that he summoned both parties?
She called Chongping, "Since you are here, let's go back to Beijing."
However, when she opened her mouth to speak, Chongping hesitated.
"Ma'am, there is no rush..."
Du Lingjing was startled, "What do you mean?"
She reacted and looked up at Chongping.
"He doesn't want me to go back?"
When Chongping saw his wife looking up at him, his heart skipped a beat. Then, when he heard his wife ask this question softly, he hurried to explain.
"Why wouldn't the Marquis want his wife to go back? It's just that the current situation is too chaotic."
When the Marquis heard that his wife had been kidnapped, his face changed and he wished he could go out of the capital himself to find his wife and bring her home.
But when the Marquis heard what the guards said, he remained silent for a few breaths.
"Let her stay at the Jiang family first. It's a safe place to go."
... ...
At this moment, Chongping spoke to Du Lingjing.
"The Marquis is also thinking about the Madam, but under the current circumstances, it is safer for the Madam to stay here. The Marquis has dispatched a large number of guards to protect the Madam's safety and will not let the Madam suffer any harm."
Du Lingjing couldn't hear what Chongping said next.
She only remembered that night when she saw him coming out of the ancestral hall. He took her to the front yard and mentioned his name.
He said that the name was chosen by the old marquis, not for himself, but to warn the entire Lu family.
Be as cautious to the end as you were at the beginning.
The Lu family is a loyal family that defends their country, not a treacherous family that raises an army to bring disaster to the country. They must never raise an army to usurp the throne for their own selfish desires, causing chaos in the world and making the people suffer.
He said that if that day came, the first to come and suppress him would be the Zhou family of Jing'an Marquis Mansion, and all the forces in the world could rise up to attack him.
Yet he still said.
"It is so rare that the world is peaceful right now. If the person hiding in the court insists on causing chaos and disrupting the government with shady means,
"If it comes to that, I will have no choice but to raise an army. Even if I have to be a traitor, I, Lu Shenru, will be one."
"Even if I am attacked by everyone in the world and die a miserable death, I can only take this narrow path!"
The courtyard was silent that night. Du Lingjing couldn't explain why she suddenly burst into tears.
Du Lingjing only thought that he had wanted to go to Jiangnan. But the chaos had made it impossible for him to go to his Jiangnan. It had really come to the point where, as he said, Jiangnan no longer existed even in his dreams.
The sadness of that night melted into the clear tears in the corners of her eyes.
But at this moment, Du Lingjing asked Chongping slowly.
"So, he refuses to take me back, and he wants to mobilize the army, right?"
Chongping was silent.
Du Lingjing looked far away in the direction of the capital.
She could see nothing through the countless roads, fields, grass and forests.
But she seemed to see him alone, standing on the towering city wall of the palace.
He had troops at his disposal, but soldiers from all over the world rose up and attacked him from all directions.
"Madam, at this point, Lord Dou and Prince Yong will definitely use the edict to appoint a crown prince, lead local troops to escort you, and even come to the capital. Your Majesty has no other choice."
"My Lord also misses my Lady very much, but he can only wait until everything calms down."
Wait until everything calms down.
Du Lingjing felt an unbearable sourness in her nose.
Once he raises his army, the whole world will rise up to attack him. If he wins, he will support the young emperor and try to usurp the throne. If he loses, there is only one possibility.
That is, Lu Shenru was despised by the world and his head and body were separated.
*
Capital city.
In the palace, Lu Shenru gave instructions for many things in succession, and fast horses galloped in all directions from under the imperial city.
The man stood with his hands behind his back on the towering palace wall, and through the green trees and the river, he saw the Yongding Marquis Mansion in Jiqingfang.
The mansion was hidden by green trees and could not be seen clearly, but he could see the Shuseki Pavilion at the highest point at a glance.
After she agreed to his proposal, they attended a banquet he invited them to at the Soseki Pavilion. It was raining outside the pavilion, and he said, "Don't get wet in the rain," and held her all the way to their new home.
Later, it was Soseki-tei again. She looked at him with a shy blush on her face. She spoke softly, "My husband is so handsome. There is probably no other man in the world who can compare to you."
Those were the sweetest words he had ever heard her say to him.
... ...
Tonight, the lights in the Shuseki Pavilion are dim and the mansion is quiet. She is no longer at home.
But it was better that she was not in his sight.
The man closed his eyes slightly.
He forced this marriage.
He knew that she liked Jiang Zhuxiu much more than he did.
She had made so many ribbons for Jiang Zhuxiu, but he probably wouldn't be able to wait for the belt she was going to make for him.
But what if one day, he also died?
"Quanquan, will you think of me often, just like you miss your Jiang Sanlang?"
The man chuckled and whispered, his hoarse voice carried in the hot night breeze.
He asked himself, and as soon as he asked, he smiled and shook his head.
"It's probably hard to think about it often."
With the Jiang family's blessing, she will return to her favorite bamboo forest and bamboo fragrance.
He smiled, "If you can think of me occasionally for the sake of the children, that's enough."
What did he expect? He had forced her to marry him.
... ...
Some people also went up to the platform.
Imperial Concubine Lu Huairu looked up at her brother.
My younger brother stood alone, his eyes never leaving the Marquis' Mansion. I don't know what he was saying. He just muttered to himself and laughed at himself.
Lu Huairu pursed his lips slightly.
He must be missing his Jingniang, but he is reluctant to bring her back.
Even if one has a temper as hard as a rock, he can still fall in love with a girl and wait for her year after year.
Finally, he waited until the other person had eyes for him and was willing to spend the rest of her life with him.
But because of his elder sister in the palace, his young nephew, and the heavy responsibility that weighed like a mountain on his shoulders, he was nailed in this imperial city, to this high position, unable to extricate himself.
Lu Huairu's eyes became hot and he looked at his brother silently.
"Only stone."
He turned around.
"What's the matter, Madam?"
"I want to see Fengqi."
The words were blown in the wind on the city wall.
The man paused.
"Your Majesty wants to see Prince Yong, how is that possible?"
*
Temporary palace.
The emperor's whereabouts seemed to have disappeared out of thin air and could not be found.
The officials in the palace were in a panic.
Dou Ge Lao still remained silent most of the time.
The young prince also kept those noisy people out.
He was flipping through the books in his dormitory in a panic, and as he was flipping through, he unexpectedly came across a history book that was used to educate children.
He picked up the enlightenment book and flipped through a few more pages.
The person who enlightened him was Mr. Yu, who was invited by the Imperial Concubine from the Yongding Marquis' Mansion.
Mr. Yu was the most patient. Afraid that the child would not understand the historical allusions in his book, he broke them down and told him in words that only a child could understand.
After one of his classes, he suddenly asked Mr. Yu a question.
"Why are there so many fights and killings between royal brothers in the historical stories you told? It sounds horrifying."
Mr. Yu was stunned when he heard this and sighed again.
"Under the imperial power, it is difficult for the royal family to have true brotherly love."
But he became even more frightened after listening to it.
He also has a younger brother, not Fengxiang, but the fourth younger brother Fengzhen who was just born to the empress.
He asked Mr. in fear.
"Sir, wouldn't my younger brother and I be like this as well?"
When the gentleman heard this, he quickly waved his hands.
The eldest brother of the prince was still alive at that time, but the teacher told him.
"That won't happen. The Queen treats His Highness as her own child. His Highness grew up in front of the Queen and is the closest to the Little Prince. They must be brothers and sisters."
He felt a little more at ease and ran back to the Empress' palace. He saw the Empress standing in the courtyard in front of the palace waiting for him to finish school. He pounced in front of the Empress like a flying swallow.
That day, he suddenly spoke out of nowhere.
"Mother..."
"Um?"
The queen paused.
He thought the queen would blame him, after all, this title could no longer be used casually in the palace.
But the queen hugged him tightly in her arms and just shushed him, "Let's not let anyone hear it!"
He nodded in surprise and joy, and put his head completely into the Empress' arms.
The Queen is his mother. If one day his mother doesn't want him anymore, what should he do...
The boy flipped through the enlightenment book from the first page to the last page.
There are countless records of costly sibling conflicts and quarrels in books, and the final outcome of most of them is that outsiders will benefit and invade.
He closed the book and closed his eyes.
"Do my little brother and I have to go this far?"
*
In a hidden courtyard.
The Jinyiwei and the Imperial Guards were guarding the place in three layers inside and outside.
"It's quiet here, there's no disturbance at all."
The thin man changed out of his dragon robe, wearing only a brown brocade robe with dragon patterns. He leisurely waved a fan and sat on a rocking chair in the cool breeze under the tree.
He said this and someone responded.
"The emperor has chosen a very good place."
It’s King Yan.
The emperor smiled and said, "It's a pity that we can't know right now. How will the capital and the imperial palace respond?"
Prince Yan lowered his head and said, "That must be within the emperor's expectations. It cannot escape your majesty's control."
The emperor laughed even more and waved his fan to blow air to himself continuously.
"All the civil and military officials despise me, and the late emperor hates me even more. He hates that I was born to him and a noblewoman from the Tatar tribe, and abandoned me to grow up alone in the backyard. He never has a good look on his face when he sees me. He loves all of his sons, and he is hesitant about who to pass the throne to, but he doesn't want to pass it to me."
"But all my brothers were useless. The throne was finally passed to me, a person with half Tatar blood."
It is inconvenient for King Yan to respond here.
He knew this by accident. Anyone who knew this secret would die, so he could only stay close to the emperor to survive.
At this moment, he heard the emperor in front of him becoming more and more happy. Although he coughed a few times, he couldn't stop the smile on his face.
"The late emperor passed the throne to me, and he was extremely reluctant, but he dared not announce it to the world. He could only ask Du Zhili, whom he valued the most. Even if he didn't say it explicitly, it hinted that Du Zhili was keeping an eye on me."
"But Du Zhili really thought he could be that Fu Chen."
"Fu Chen," he snorted and laughed, "He who disobeys the emperor's orders and does not take the king seriously is Fu Chen. How can I keep him?"
King Yan remained silent.
That year, Du Zhili returned to Beijing to resume his post, and the emperor sent Wei Jue, who respected Du Zhili the most, to kill him personally.
Du Zhili died, and he also tested Wei Jue and found him useful.
What could the young man do? His father knew too much, and if he didn't work for the emperor, his entire family would die.
After all, on the surface, the emperor is Concubine Wei's son.
As for Du Zhili, a man who had been dead for many years, he no longer cared about him.
He only said about the current situation, "I have worked very hard to achieve this situation, and even sacrificed Lord Rongchang for it."
"I really didn't expect it," he waved his fan and pointed at Prince Yan, "I originally asked you to go and incite those candidates to anger him to death, thinking that his body couldn't stand it, but I didn't expect that he would be such a hot-tempered person."
This time, the King of Yan took over the conversation and said, "I did not expect that he would commit suicide by slashing his throat with a sword after being provoked by those scholars."
"It's better to commit suicide. The fire has been ignited immediately. Now, I am waiting for both sides to start fighting."
The emperor's thin face had a distant look in his eyes.
"I, the emperor, am not dead yet, and yet they dare to raise their own armies. This is all rebellion."
"The civil officials and military officers all think that I am useless. No one takes me seriously. They are all waiting for my death. I will deal with both parties in one fell swoop. I want to see how they look."
As he spoke he began to cough again.
His body really couldn't hold on for much longer, he said.
"When the Qingming Festival comes, let the King take the throne."
He suddenly asked Prince Yan, "Is Fengxiang the most like me?"
Prince Cheng Fengxiang was standing in the distance waiting.
Prince Yan saw that he also looked thin, standing in the shadows, and would be easily overlooked at a glance.
He said, "The Third Prince's mother also died young, and he was abandoned and raised alone in the harem without anyone to take care of him."
After he said this, the emperor looked at his inconspicuous third son with a rare look of kindness in his eyes.
"Not only that, Fengxiang's biological mother is also half Tatar. Didn't the late emperor hate me the most for this? I want Fengxiang to succeed me and pass on my half Tatar bloodline to the late emperor."
He said whether it was Feng Qi or Feng Zhen, there was also the Queen's Prince.
"They all fail. Their biological mothers are pure Han Chinese. As long as they marry Han Chinese again, and their children marry Han Chinese again, generation after generation, their foreign blood will be washed away, just like the Li Tang Dynasty."
"But Fengxiang is different. I will find him a woman with Tatar blood, so that he can preserve this bloodline."
He said, "I will let the late emperor see that the thing he hated the most and didn't want to see the most cannot be erased."
This time King Yan also laughed.
Anyway, this world has nothing to do with his disability.
He stood up and saluted, "Your Majesty is wise. With your plan, no matter if it's Prince Yong or Prince Hui, Elder Dou or Lord Lu, they will definitely not be able to escape. Your Majesty will be able to eliminate both parties in one fell swoop and get what you want!"
These words brought a faint smile to the thin emperor's face.
He really had been hiding it for many years just for this day.
If his father, the late emperor, is still alive in heaven, would he be satisfied with the current situation?
*
Remote farm.
After Chongping left the guards behind, Du Ling remained silent and pondered for a long time.
She kept looking far away in the direction of the capital.
She suddenly called someone over.
"Go and ask Mr. Liao to come over, as well as Mr. Chu, my father's aide."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
