NFBE Chapter 226: Xun Anhou's son is already sick and dying
Chapter 226: Xun Anhou's son is already sick and dying
The Kingdom of Dachen, the 30th year of Tianhua.
"A hundred years ago, the Eight Kingdoms Rebellion brought devastating suffering to the people. After twenty-seven years, Jin, Liang, Sui, Chu, and Wei were completely destroyed, leaving the world divided. Four years ago, the Zhou Kingdom was defeated at the Taihua River and has sought peace with our Great Chen. We sent Princess Xihe to marry His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, praying for a hundred years of peace between Chen and Zhou..."
"Everyone knows this. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will soon set off to pick him up personally."
"That's it."
"Now that the Great Chen Kingdom is strong and powerful, with a strong army and strong horses, if you ask me, I think we should destroy the Zhou Kingdom in one fell swoop!"
"Indeed, all the famous generals of the time are in my Great Chen. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a god of war, General Lu Fangjin is born with supernatural powers, and General Xiaobai is also brave and skilled in fighting, quite like General Bai in his day. Didn't our Sixth Prince just win a victory in Liaoshan County and beat the northern Hu tribe into a pulp?"
The storyteller broke through the chatter and took back the conversation: "Ahem, speaking of famous generals, twenty years ago, the world's famous generals could be counted on one hand. My Great Chen had General Fu Xun and General Bai Liu. Qi had Xu Zheng, Marquis of Zhenbei, and General Fu Shouguang. Zhou had Tang Yan, Marquis of Xun'an."
"What's there to say about the old almanac? The grass on Xu Zheng and Fu Shouguang's graves is already half a man tall."
"Hey, don't you all want to hear about the war against Qi three years ago? Then we have to start with these people. You know, in that battle three years ago, except for General Lu, the famous generals of Chen, Zhou, and Qi were all in Qi territory, fighting against each other. That scene has not been seen in a hundred years."
"Don't interrupt, just speak quickly."
"As for those from twenty years ago, General Fu and General Bai Liu have both passed away due to illness. However, General Lu was personally trained by General Fu, so we won't discuss that here. General Bai Xiqiao, Xiaobai, inherited his father's legacy and served with the Crown Prince, then the King of Chu. They also traveled south with Tang Ling, the son of Marquis Xun'an. Speaking of famous generals of the time, this one was incredibly strategic and wise, making him indispensable. The success of the Chen-Zhou coalition owes much to this young marquis."
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince, is a master of both civil and military strategy, conquering cities and territories, and invincible. He killed Xu Zheng with a single blow, so cleanly and efficiently! Do you know how to speak? Why do you keep talking about those insignificant people?"
"That's right. I heard that the son of Xun'an Hou has been weak since childhood and is now dying of illness."
……
Qi Xiao frowned slightly, feeling extremely unhappy.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince secretly invited me to this market place just to let me hear a storyteller praise your bravery and fighting prowess?"
The Seventh Prince Qi Ting watched Qi Xiao take a sip of tea. The tea was old and of low quality, with an indescribable musty smell that made his face wrinkle. "...How can this teahouse survive?"
Qi Xiao listened to the seventh brother's discontented complaints and suddenly felt better: "I asked the seventh brother to come and experience the suffering of the people."
"..." The Seventh Prince felt like he had swallowed a fly alive and almost wanted to curse out loud. In the three years since Qi Xiao returned to Yuanjing, he finally got to know his younger brother. He was extremely insidious. Everything he said and did was to set traps for others. If one was not careful, they would easily fall into ruin.
After holding it in for a moment, the Seventh Prince finally said, "I've experienced it. I still have official duties to attend to, so I won't accompany Your Highness the Crown Prince."
"Seventh Brother just arrived, don't be in a hurry to leave." Qi Xiao smiled, "If the tea is not good, then change to a pot of wine."
"...It's broad daylight, and I have to return to the Ministry of Justice soon. What's the matter with me reeking of alcohol? Tomorrow, my father's desk will be piled high with impeachment memorials against me."
"That's something I haven't considered carefully."
The Seventh Prince became angry when he saw Qi Xiao smiling. Qi Xiao was not being thoughtful at all, he was simply playing a trick on him.
"Come on, what is it that has to be discussed here?" He was asked to come alone secretly, without even his followers or guards, making him look like a thief.
"Fifth Brother will be back soon, right?"
"Well, I should be back before Mid-Autumn Festival. What's wrong?"
Qi Xiao smiled and said, "Seventh Brother, please tell Sixth Brother not to take the risk of bringing back the army. Keeping private soldiers is a capital offense, so there is still room for improvement if you stop early."
"What did you say?!" The Seventh Prince's eyes widened, and he almost jumped up. "How can you make up such a heinous accusation?!"
"It seems that Brother Seven really doesn't know anything."
"If you have evidence, feel free to complain to Father! Why tell me?!" The Seventh Prince glared at Qi Xiao, wondering what his plan was. Was treason a joke?! If he truly had evidence, and presented it to His Majesty, the entire Gongsun clan would be exterminated. The victors would be victorious, the losers would be bandits. With such a golden opportunity, shouldn't Qi Xiao be secretly plotting and making sure to strike with one strike?
"Whether I lied to you, Seventh Brother, you can go back and investigate for yourself. Back then, Dali Temple Minister Luo Yu died a violent death, and the military pay case dragged on for over six months without the lost funds being recovered. Finally, it was dropped due to a lack of concrete evidence. Seventh Brother has been in Yuanjing the entire time, so he probably hasn't forgotten."
His Majesty had given up on the investigation, but Qi Xiao never gave up. Qi Xiao had no connections or foundation in Yuanjing. Even though he was made crown prince, and people followed him everywhere he went, there was almost no benefit other than being restricted.
A turning point came at the end of the 27th year of the Tianhua era. His Majesty had dealt with the Ministry of Revenue with swift action. After a bloody storm, the Ministry needed a replacement. After much deliberation, His Majesty promoted Cao Weishan to the position of Minister of Revenue. As the year drew to a close, Cao Weishan discovered some clues while sorting through the annual reports from various departments within the Ministry.
That year, when Dachen attacked Qi, the military expenditure allocated from the Ministry of Revenue reached 1.45 million taels, which was almost half of the national treasury's income that year. 500,000 taels of this amount occurred after Qi Xiao left Yuanjing and before Cao Weishan took over the Ministry of Revenue. The most important thing was that the whereabouts of this part of the military pay was unclear, and not all of it was allocated to Yuanzhou Prefecture.
Cao Weishan was a shrewd man. He knew that this matter was of great importance and that many people would be killed if it was investigated in detail. He should have turned a blind eye and pretended to know nothing, which he did. However, he did not expect that His Majesty would hand over the Ministry of Revenue's year-end performance evaluation to Qi Xiao, while Qi Xiao was still investigating the military pay case.
The Seventh Prince frowned. "What do you mean? Do you suspect that Sixth Brother embezzled military funds and nearly lost his life? He must be seriously ill to come up with such a foolish idea!"
"Stupid?"
As soon as the Seventh Prince said this, he sensed something fishy. Back then, the Sixth Prince had been demoted to guard the border, but was recalled to Yuanjing by His Majesty due to a military pay dispute. As a result, the Sixth Prince had brought 150,000 troops from Liaoshan Commandery under his command, and had made numerous military achievements in the past two years. He had truly not lost a thing.
"..."
At that time, the Ministry of Revenue was in a mess, with countless mistakes and omissions. It took Cao Weishan more than half a year to sort it out. Everyone thought they could get away with it, even Cao Weishan wanted to muddle through. But Cao Weishan knew Qi Xiao well after all, and he knew that Qi Xiao was still investigating the military pay case. After hesitating for a moment, he "abandoned the dark and turned to the light" to help Qi Xiao.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the future Emperor of the State of Chen. As soon as His Majesty issued the edict appointing the Crown Prince, the doors of Cao Weishan and Pei Hao's residences were practically trampled with people seeking connections. Qi Xiao had been working alongside them on cases for only a few short months in Yuanjing. Was there anyone in the court closer to His Royal Highness than them? Pei Hao shrugged, but Cao Weishan understood that this was His Majesty's will, and he could only go along with it.
The chaos in the Ministry of Revenue did cause Qi Xiao and Cao Weishan to run into obstacles everywhere, but the good thing was that His Majesty had almost half of the people in the Ministry of Revenue beheaded, and there were only a few people left who could move the huge sum of 500,000 taels. Cao Weishan had been in charge of the Jingji Protectorate for many years, so how could he not know who they were working for.
They kept their troops on hold and just kept a close eye on these people. Another year passed, and when the Sixth Prince started fighting with the Hu tribe again in Liaoshan County, they finally caught the fox by the tail and finally found out where the military pay went.
Qi Xiao didn't have time to explain things in detail to Old Seven, so he just told him what he had found. Old Seven knew all the people in the Ministry of Revenue well, and the time and events all matched up, leaving him stunned for a moment.
"...I don't have time for your nonsense." The Seventh Prince didn't believe it. Even if what Qi Xiao said was true, it was at most corruption. Perhaps it wasn't the Sixth Prince, but his subordinates who were greedy. But if he embezzled military funds and secretly raised private soldiers, that would be rebellion. Even if the Sixth Prince had ten heads, he wouldn't be enough to chop off!
Qi Xiao drank a sip of tea, not in a hurry, and said, "I will leave in three days. Before that, you know how to find me."
The Seventh Prince clenched his hands, stared at Qi Xiao, and couldn't help but say: "If what you said is true, aren't you afraid that I will make you go without return?"
The Seventh Prince wasn't addressing Qi Xiao with this question. He knew he wasn't afraid, otherwise he wouldn't have told him. But what he didn't know was why Qi Xiao was telling him all this. Whether true or false, what was he trying to do? Was he trying to force his Sixth Brother into rebellion so he could kill them openly? Or was he using his Sixth Brother's rebellion as a pretext to kill someone, allowing him to launch a rebellion under the guise of serving the emperor and ascend the throne sooner? Or was he trying to force them into plotting an assassination, thus drawing their father's wrath?
Qi Xiao raised his eyes to look at the Seventh Prince and asked calmly, "Seventh Brother likes Princess Jinyi, right?"
Princess Jinyi was the niece of the late General Fu Xun. General Fu Xun had no children, only this niece. Princess Jinyi's mother, General Fu Xun's sister, had married a lieutenant general under Fu Xun's command and died on the battlefield ten years prior. Therefore, despite being granted the title by His Majesty, Princess Jinyi was an orphan with no power or influence.
Last year, Concubine Zhao wanted to choose a noble lady for the Seventh Prince, but the Seventh Prince dared to spread rumors that he had a hidden illness and kept visiting the Imperial Hospital. Of course, he was not ill, and the Imperial Physician said he was not ill, but no one dared to believe him, and the marriage was delayed and no further progress was made.
The Seventh Prince stood up suddenly: "What do you mean?" At this time Qi Xiao suddenly mentioned Princess Jin Yi, and the Seventh Prince's reaction was even greater than when he heard him say that his own brother, the Sixth Prince, was going to rebel.
"Nothing, I just want to tell you that I will give the evidence to Princess Jinyi before leaving Yuanjing."
"Don't involve her!"
Qi Xiao looked at the Seventh Prince, and suddenly lowered his head and smiled. The smile was a little bitter, but extremely gentle. The Seventh Prince had never seen such an expression on Qi Xiao's face. He was stunned for a moment, as if he had seen a ghost.
"I won't hurt her, and neither will you, so she's safe."
Qi Xiao didn't intend to say anything more. He stood up, turned around and left, leaving the Seventh Prince alone, anxious, annoyed and at a loss.
After leaving the teahouse, the Seventh Prince felt uneasy. He couldn't understand what kind of poison Qi Xiao was up to. He was now worried that it would be too late for Princess Jinyi, so he didn't go back to the Ministry of Justice and rushed directly to the Princess's Mansion.
The Seventh Prince came out secretly. After thinking about it, he decided not to go through the main gate of the Princess's Mansion, but to go around to the side. His behavior was almost the same as having an affair, so the servants of the Princess's Mansion did not dare to open the door for him. But it was not easy to refuse the Seventh Prince, so they had to let him in first.
Fortunately, Princess Jinyi is a dispensable existence in Yuanjing City. She is very inconspicuous. There are not many servants in her mansion, and they are all old people who follow General Fu. They are very tight-lipped, so no outsiders will know about the comings and goings of the Seventh Prince.
Princess Jinyi couldn't help but be surprised when she saw the Seventh Prince Qi Ting: "Why is His Highness here?"
Princess Jinyi was not a stunning beauty. Among the many noble ladies in Yuanjing City, she was extremely unremarkable. She had neither fine clothes nor the support of a high-ranking family. She lived a quiet life like any other young lady from an ordinary family.
But in the eyes of the seventh prince Qi Ting, such an inconspicuous Princess Jinyi is like a snow-white camellia in a quiet Zen courtyard, pure and unselfish, blooming alone. She is the person who makes him want to stand in the courtyard and stare at her all day long.
When Qi Ting saw Princess Jinyi, his panicked mind suddenly calmed down and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Has His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ever come to see you? Or has he ever given you anything?"
Qi Ting reached out to shake Princess Jinyi's hand, but she gently dodged it. "Your Highness? The last time I saw Your Highness was at the palace banquet for His Majesty's birthday. I'm afraid Your Highness doesn't even know who I am. Why would you come to see me?"
Qi Ting's hand hung in the air for a moment before he retracted it. Jin Yi knew his feelings, but he didn't understand why Jin Yi wouldn't even give him a chance. Did she really not like him at all?
"Has anyone ever sent anything to your house?"
Jin Yi shook his head.
"Well, I was a bit rude. Don't tell anyone about what happened today. Don't accept anything from anyone these days, especially anything from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"What's wrong?"
"It's okay." Qi Ting paused and said, "Well, I'll go first."
Qi Ting had just turned around and walked a few steps when he was suddenly stopped by Jin Yi: "Your Highness..."
"Ok?"
"..." Jin Yi hesitated for a moment before bowing to Qi Ting and said, "Jin Yi respectfully sends His Highness off."
"..." Qi Ting clenched his fists unconsciously, as if someone had forced him to drink a pot of bitter medicine, which made him feel bitter from his heart to his throat. This bitterness would remain on the tip of his tongue for a long time, turning everything into bitterness.
If what Qi Xiao said was true, his death was not far away. It would be better not to implicate Jin Yi. He had to verify what happened today as soon as possible and not let anyone know. Otherwise, even if Jin Yi knew nothing at all, he would inevitably be implicated. If it was really treason, given the tempers of the Sixth Prince and his mother, Concubine Zhao, they would rather kill the wrong person than let him go.