Chapter 522 Confidential Verification
Chapter 522 Confidential Verification
Yuan Xiaoju filled a glass of wine for Xiao Xia and said, "Also, the retired emperor once left a will that the capital of the Sui Dynasty should not be moved within 30 years. He also gave copies of the will to the Yuan family and the Dugu family. This was a move by the retired emperor to appease the Guanlong nobles. As a result, the emperor moved the capital in the second year after he ascended the throne. He did not take the retired emperor's will seriously at all."
At this point, Yuan Xiaoju sighed and said, "Your Highness, my words are a bit harsh, but they are all true. The emperor does not trust you from the bottom of his heart. At the beginning, you destroyed Tuyuhun and Dangxiang, expanded the border, and made Yutian submit to the Sui Dynasty, but Wei Chong jumped out to accuse you of killing innocent people. Do you know who is behind this? It is the emperor. Your Highness has made great achievements, and the emperor needs to find an excuse to transfer you away from the northwest.
But how long can His Highness stay in Jiangnan? I told His Highness that it would be two years at most. After two years, the emperor would send His Highness to Bashu, and after another two years, he would transfer His Highness to Hedong. This is the emperor's strategy to deal with His Highness, not giving His Highness time to slowly build his own foundation. "
Xiao Xia smiled and asked, "Anything else?"
"And the emperor is dredging the canal, requiring it to be completed within a year, regardless of the cost. Do you think the emperor is preparing for a southern tour? No, the emperor is doing this to prevent you from resisting the transfer order and refusing to leave Jiangnan, so that the army and food can quickly move south. You can't imagine that!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "That's possible. I established the navy, and the emperor sent Zhou Fashang, Chen Leng, Zhu Kuan, and Zhang Zhenzhou to join the navy and take charge of the navy. This shows that the emperor doesn't trust me."
Yuan Xiaoju was greatly encouraged. The King of Jin finally responded to his words. He quickly lowered his voice and said, "There is another important secret about the crown prince. I can tell you, Your Highness. I will only tell the truth. It's up to you whether you believe it or not!"
"Master, please speak!"
"First of all, I told Your Highness that the assassination of the Crown Prince was planned by the King of Qi and executed by Wang Long. Wang Long was originally my man. He was originally the leader of the Hehuang Qiang people. I recommended him and he became the governor of Jiaohe County. But Wang Long is a man with deep scheming. His daughter was originally the concubine of the King of Han and she was quite charming. After the King of Han fell, he presented his daughter to the King of Qi, which won him the trust of the King of Qi and made him his confidant. Then he got rid of the Yuan family.
He shot the prince with a poisoned arrow last year, but the prince could have been treated to prevent the poison from spreading into his brain, but the doctor did not do so, causing the poison to enter his brain and turning the prince into a fool. The doctor's name was Sun Yanshou, and he hanged himself not long after the prince became a fool. Does Your Highness know this secret?"
Xiao Xia narrowed his eyes, "The head of the family is saying that the emperor deliberately instructed the imperial physician to make the prince's condition worse?"
Yuan Xiaoju nodded, "That's right!"
"Whether this is true or not is up to me to decide, but I want to know why the Emperor did this?"
Yuan Xiaoju said calmly, "From ancient times to the present, the emperor and the crown prince have always been enemies. The emperor was only forty years old when he ascended the throne, and the crown prince was already in his twenties. The emperor wants to be emperor for thirty years, what should the crown prince do? If I say that the emperor has been considering establishing a crown prince since he ascended the throne, do you believe it, Your Highness?"
"Does the King of Qi know about this?"
"Of course I know. In April this year, I told the King of Qi in detail through Wang Long. The King of Qi realized that he had no hope of becoming the crown prince, so he decided to turn against the Wei family and the Qinghe Cui family. In particular, he suspected that the Qinghe Cui family was arranged by the emperor to monitor him, so he broke Cui Jingyi's legs to warn the Qinghe Cui family."
Xiao Xia said slowly: "Thank you for telling me so many secrets, Master. I can cooperate with the Guanlong nobles. A cunning rabbit has three burrows. I allow you to come to Jiangnan to establish a retreat route. If one day you are liquidated by the court, I can provide you with shelter!"
Although Xiao Xia did not discuss the details of the cooperation, Xiao Xia agreed to cooperate. This attitude alone made Yuan Xiaoju very satisfied. He knew that Xiao Xia would still wait and see whether King Qi would rebel. Some things could not be rushed and had to be done slowly. That afternoon, Yuan Xiaoju left Jiangdu by boat and returned to Luoyang.
Xiao Xia did not go to the official residence, but returned to the Prince of Jin's Mansion. He returned to his study. Not long after, Zhang Qiao came in leisurely, smiling and said, "My husband, are you looking for me?"
Xiao Xia smiled and held her in his arms. The two of them were affectionate for a moment, then he let her sit down. He pondered for a moment and said, "I got a piece of news today. The doctor who treated the prince was called Sun Yanshou. He could have prevented the poison in the prince's body from entering his brain, but he didn't do so and allowed the poison to enter his brain. As a result, the prince became a fool, and not long after, Sun Yanshou hanged himself."
"Ah! Why did he do this?" Zhang Qiao asked in surprise.
"It's possible that Sun Yanshou was bribed by the King of Qi. Don't worry about him. The key is, can he prevent the poison in the prince's body from entering his brain? You have treated the prince before, so you should know more about it!" Zhang Qiao thought for a while and said, "They used the unicorn-avoiding pill from Baiyun Temple. It's just an ordinary unicorn-avoiding pill. It can't force out the poison, but it can indeed prevent the poison from spreading. They successfully prevented the poison from entering the heart and temporarily saved the prince's life. I personally think that since they can prevent the poison from invading the heart, they should be able to prevent the poison from invading the brain."
"You have doubts too?"
Zhang Qiao nodded. "I do find it a little strange, but I didn't know the specific circumstances at the time, so I didn't ask much. I didn't even know that the imperial physician had hanged himself. It was only after my husband said that I realized there was something wrong."
"How can we stop the poison from entering the brain?"
"It's very simple. After preventing the poison from entering the heart, as long as the prince continues to take the Bi Lin Dan, the toxicity will not spread and will be slowly controlled within a very small range. If the prince continues to take the medicine, he will be able to return to normal in a few months. Except for taking medicine every day, everything else is exactly the same as before the assassination. But the Crown Princess told me that the prince did take medicine all the time. So there is only one possibility, that the prince took a fake Bi Lin Dan, which caused the toxicity to get out of control and enter the brain."
Xiao Xia now believed that the secret Yuan Xiaoju had told was true. Apart from the emperor, no one could control and arrange the imperial physician. Xiao Xia could not help but sigh. He had experienced the dangers of the royal family. Even the father and son were so cold-blooded and ruthless. He couldn't even protect his eldest brother. How could an illegitimate son like himself expect his father to be kind?
The law of the jungle in the power struggle! Any leniency will lead to death without a burial place.
Xiao Xia now understood why Zhang Jue did not choose him but Yang Ling. He did not want to assassinate Yuwen Shu, he wanted to rebel.
Why did Xiao Moke, Qiao Zhongkui and other former subordinates of Yang Liang choose to follow Yang Ling? The reason was that they wanted to rebel.
The next morning, Xiao Xia summoned Zhou Fashang.
Strictly speaking, Zhou Fashang was Xiao Xia's man. When Xiao Xia was appointed as the governor of Liangzhou, Zhou Fashang evacuated from Luoyang, and Xiao Xia valued him very much.
But later the emperor also took a fancy to the veteran general Zhou Fashang and appointed him as Shangzhuguo, and valued him very much. Zhou Fashang was also loyal to the emperor.
That's why the emperor sent Zhou Fashang to serve as the deputy general of the navy in order to divide Lai Huer's power, because Lai Huer was appointed by King Xiao Xia of Jin, and Lai Huer was a man of the former crown prince Yang Yong, and the emperor did not trust Lai Huer.
Xiao Xia smiled at Zhou Fashang and said, "General Zhou, you must have heard about the rebellion of the King of Qi!"
Zhou Fashang clasped his fists and said, "I already know about this!"
Xiao Xia added: "The emperor will probably dispatch the Jiangnan Army to help suppress the rebellion. I have too few troops. I plan to recruit 20,000 troops from the prisoners of war on the canal. I want to hand this over to the old general. He will be in charge of checking for me. You Junda and Wang Bodang will be the left and right deputy generals, and Du Ruhui, the military secretary, will be the chief secretary. I will also assign 200 instructors and 20 civilian clerks to the old general."
The navy was still in training, and Zhou Fashang had nothing to do for the time being, so he immediately clasped his fists and said, "I obey your orders!"
Xiao Xia smiled again and said, "We will give land to those who are recruited this time. We have destroyed the Shanyue tyrants and have a lot of land. Those who are willing to join the army will be given 50 acres of land each, and all taxes will be exempted during the military service."
The next day, Zhou Fashang took the preparatory camp and sailed south on a large ship.
(End of this chapter)