kingnovel Chapter 182 What Happened Back Then
Chapter 182 What Happened Back Then
After Li Xiaonuan and her family were sent out of the military camp, Prince Jing hurriedly returned to the city. He only had one daughter in his life; if she were lost, he would be heartbroken. That damned girl—who gave her the audacity to leave the capital at such a crucial moment?
Meanwhile, Zhao Wangchuan was also riding towards the military camp. If Prince Jing knew of the princess's departure, he would surely be very anxious. The situation was complex; a slight misstep could lead to utter ruin.
To reassure Prince Jing and allow him to focus more on the current situation, Zhao Wangchuan decided to deliver the information he had gathered to the prince. In addition, he secretly sent people to protect the young princess.
The uncle and nephew met on the way. At that time, Prince Jing had just learned that someone in the court had accused him of raising a private army, cultivating forbidden goods, and secretly communicating with foreign countries, intending to rebel.
Maintaining a private army was a clandestine practice among all princes and dukes. Generally, as members of the royal family, their residences were equipped with a certain number of private soldiers for guarding the premises. Anyone exceeding that number would be included in the list of those maintaining a private army.
However, for centuries, all emperors, when they could control the situation, would turn a blind eye to the petty actions of their subordinates. Looking across the entire imperial family, there were almost no princes or dukes who didn't maintain private armies. As long as the number of those private armies didn't exceed what the emperor could tolerate, it was fine.
The court officials had always welcomed this situation. After all, an emperor constrained in this way would generally be more diligent in governing and caring for the people under pressure, in order to gain a good reputation and make those royal family members with ulterior motives more wary of him.
Of course, the above reflects the views and actions of rulers and ministers who were truly devoted to the people. In reality, regardless of the dynasty or region, there have always been incompetent rulers and treacherous ministers. Such people are particularly persistent in the struggle for power.
Therefore, Prince Jing was not at all surprised that his private army was being brought up as a topic of conversation.
As for the matter of cultivating foreign crops privately, it was indeed Prince Jing's oversight. The founding emperor had repeatedly declared that one could not bypass the court and privately promote the cultivation of foreign crops. However, after arriving here, he had been so busy with maritime affairs that he completely forgot about that matter.
In Zhoucun, people were secretly planting chili peppers right in front of him, and he didn't send anyone to investigate. This seemed no different from him instructing them to do so. Therefore, he had no reason to refute this. Besides, there was no point in trying to explain.
The claim that Prince Jing had extensive diplomatic relations with foreign countries does sound rather far-fetched. Firstly, Prince Jing's dispatch of people to contact and investigate the fishermen who had returned from their voyages with the old Taoist priest was merely to obtain more accurate navigational information.
Furthermore, the only reason he befriended the old Taoist priest was because Zhao Wangchuan was the old Taoist priest's master. And Zhao Wangchuan was his nephew, who was condemned to perish in a fire over a decade ago, and was Wei Lu's son. Didn't the Emperor know any of this?
If you really don't know anything, why did you send that scoundrel Qian Dafu here to cause trouble?
If you really don't know, where did the assassination in Xinzhou Village a month ago and the accident a little over a month ago, where the old Taoist's boat was pierced, come from?
Does "colluding with foreign powers" refer to those spies from enemy countries who worked at the Qunfanglou (a brothel) before?
How ridiculous! The history of Qunfanglou is older than Prince Jing himself. Could it be that he had already established spiritual connections with foreign powers before he was even born?
No, that's not right. The Qunfang Pavilion has been raided, and it happened just months after he arrived in the prefectural city. If someone with ulterior motives takes advantage of this and tries to smear him, he really won't be able to escape.
How could a seemingly indifferent and idle prince, who had been deeply rooted in Qi and Song for so long, be able to completely eradicate such an enemy's information network in just a few months, when no one else could find it?
Therefore, those people weren't implying that Prince Jing was colluding with the enemy, but rather indirectly telling the emperor: Prince Jing wielded immense power and had many capable men under his command. Even a deeply hidden organization was easily dismantled by Prince Jing. Wasn't such a Prince Jing a threat to the emperor?
In conclusion, accusing Prince Jing of plotting a rebellion seems much more reasonable. Once the emperor harbors resentment towards Prince Jing, he won't miss this opportune moment. After weighing the pros and cons, the emperor will certainly seize the opportunity to eliminate Prince Jing.
"What a brilliant plan! No wonder they haven't sent anyone to harass my mother and me lately. Uncle, do you have a solution?" After hearing Prince Jing's analysis, Zhao Wangchuan was so angry that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"There's no good solution for now. Since Qingning is in Zhoucun, let's leave her there for the time being. She's good at hiding her whereabouts and identity, but the reputation of that identity is really not good," Prince Jing said helplessly.
The moment Princess Qingning was mentioned, Prince Jing's expression became quite varied. He was no longer the carefree, playful old man he usually was, nor did he display the imposing and authoritative demeanor he had in the military camp.
Looking at Prince Jing like this, and savoring the deep, unyielding fatherly love in his eyes and words, Zhao Wangchuan was plunged into unbearable memories of the past.
I remember that year, when he was just beginning to understand things, he mischievously climbed onto that person's throne. At that time, he held a wooden sword in his hand and haphazardly commanded thousands of troops that did not exist.
The person appeared behind the screen with a blank expression, and the disgust and aloofness on their face frightened young Zhao Wangchuan to tears. Even after so many years, Zhao Wangchuan could still remember the scene when that person coldly ordered someone to send him back to Luhua Palace.
At that time, he didn't understand why that person could so gently hold that little brother who was less than a month older than him, sitting majestically on that throne. At that moment, the man on the throne had endless love and patience on his face.
From then on, little Zhao Wangchuan understood that he couldn't appear in front of that man because that man disliked him. And he couldn't be like that older brother, able to enter that magnificent palace to play whenever he wanted.
After accidentally trespassing into the main hall, Xiao Zhao Wangchuan was confined to a small side courtyard of Luhua Palace with Wei Lu for three whole months. During those three months, Wei Lu fell ill, became extremely thin, and coughed incessantly.
During that time, apart from the uncle secretly bribing a palace servant to bring medicine in for Wei Lu once, that person left the mother and child to fend for themselves. Fortunately, three months later, that person finally ordered them to be released.
After regaining his freedom of movement, Xiao Zhao Wangchuan went to the Lotus Garden to find that person, hoping to get them to send a royal physician to Wei Lu. Unfortunately, the young man not only refused to help him but also had people stop him from meeting that person.
That very night, a great fire broke out in Luhua Palace. After the fire was extinguished, the palace servants found a mother and son, almost burned to the bone, tightly embracing each other in the courtyard. From then on, Consort Lu, Wei Lu, and the Second Prince, Zhao Ruichen, became two small tombstones in the imperial mausoleum.