Concubine De thought she was smart, but in fact she just thought she was smart.
In her opinion, even if the emperor re-appointed Rong Cang, Rong Cang's mother would be enough to hold him back.
If the imperial concubine gains power, the person who is more likely to compete for the crown prince must be King Chen. If King Chen cannot be the crown prince, the King of War will be even less likely to have a chance.
After all, compared to King Chen, the only advantage that King Zhan has is military power.
Military power is a double-edged sword. It can give him confidence, and it can also make him guilty because of his great achievements.
It was not that she had not noticed the recent movements of the Prince of War and his wife, as well as the Queen's attitude towards them.
But in her opinion, these are useless.
Now she just needs to wait quietly, wait for the imperial concubine to completely lose power, wait for Rong Cang to come back from investigating the case, and see if this war king, who has been favored by the emperor, is really as clear-cut as he seems to be, and whether he will take him out with his own hands. The evidence of the ancestral family's crimes was presented to the emperor, and the family was exterminated in a just act of justice.
Concubine De felt that she could just wait and watch the show.
However, the restless look on Zhao Yunling's face sitting opposite her, the look on his face where he hesitated to speak, and the anxiety hidden in his eyes made her nervous, and she realized that things were not that simple.
Concubine De narrowed her eyes: "If you have anything to say, just say it, can I still eat you?"
Zhao Yunling pursed his lips and looked up at the maids on the left and right of Concubine De.
Concubine De waved her hand: "You all stand down."
Mammy bowed and retreated with the palace maid.
"The Prince of War went to Shuozhou to investigate the case, which made the prince uneasy day and night. He couldn't even eat in the past few days." Zhao Yunling lowered his voice and spoke with worry on his eyebrows. "The case in Shuozhou not only involves the Gu family, but also Zhao Yunling. My family may not be able to escape the involvement, I hope my mother and concubine can make up my mind."
Concubine De's expression changed, and shock appeared in her eyes: "What did you say?"
"Master Chen, the chief envoy of Shuozhou, has a close relationship with the Gu family, but the general in charge of the army in Shuozhou is my mother's cousin." Zhao Yunling lowered his head, his voice getting weaker and weaker, "They restrict each other, but they also share interests - "
The atmosphere in the palace gradually became colder, and Concubine De's expression froze, and her expression no longer changed before she relaxed.
Her fingers painted in bright red tightened slightly, and she stared into Princess Yu's eyes: "Your mother's cousin, do you have to call me cousin?"
"Yes." Zhao Yunling stood up unconsciously and spoke uneasily, "The prince has been restless these past two days, for fear of involving his uncle, and even secretly sent someone to Shuozhou to remind him to take precautions in advance, but... but……"
Concubine De's eyes became colder a little bit: "So that means that in the territory of Shuozhou and Liancheng, the Gu family is involved, and the Zhao family cannot escape the involvement?"
Zhao Yunling turned pale and nodded stiffly.
Concubine De said angrily: "When did this happen? Why didn't I know anything about it?"
"When my cousin was transferred to Shuozhou, he didn't know that Master Chen, the chief minister, was from the Gu family." Zhao Yunling bit his lip, "When Shuozhou's disaster relief funds were sent to Shuozhou two years ago, my cousin noticed that Master Chen and the two The confidant officials deceived and lied about the disaster, which not only exempted the court from paying taxes, but also misappropriated the disaster relief funds allocated by the court. The cousin secretly wrote to the prince, hoping that the prince would impeach the governor of Shuozhou and take this opportunity to appear in front of his father. Save some credit."
Concubine De looked ugly: "Since we already have the evidence against them, why haven't they been impeached until now?"
They were aware of what Shuozhou's chief envoy was doing two years ago, but they didn't get the handle and chose to go along with it instead?
"Shuozhou's annual tax revenue is not a small amount, plus the money allocated by the court...my uncle got interested, so he secretly threatened Mr. Chen and asked him to..."
"Let him have a share of the pie?" Concubine De's eyes were full of anger.
Zhao Yunling nodded weakly: "This is the prince's wish. Part of the silver allocated to my cousin will be used by him to raise troops. He can keep part for his own personal use, part of it will be given to the Duke's government, and part of it... will be returned to him." Part of it was given to the prince.”
Concubine De looked cold, almost angry to death from these two idiots.
Is such a small profit worth giving up the excuse to make the Gu family their mortal enemy?
"Later, my cousin learned that Mr. Chen was from the Gu family, and it was too late to escape. Moreover, the imperial concubine's power was at its peak two years ago, and King Chen was at the height of his power. Even if the prince impeached Mr. Chen for lying about the disaster and embezzling the disaster relief money, the imperial concubine and Prince Chen were fully capable. If you take it out, you will lose Mr. Chen. It will not hurt the Gu family, the concubine, mother and son..." Zhao Yunling explained, "And at that time, Mr. Chen did not have frequent contacts with the Gu family. My cousin was not even sure that Mr. Chen was the Gu family. The chess piece is just a matter of interest to the Gu family, so I didn't dare to act rashly."
Concubine De said angrily: "I can't find a hundred reasons to change the fact that he is greedy for profit and has been blinded by that little money!"
Zhao Yunling trembled and hesitated to speak.
Concubine De closed her eyes gently, her heart filled with gloomy fire, making her want to drag out the stupid woman in front of her and beat her up.
But she knew clearly in her heart that neither the uncle in Shuozhou who made his own decisions nor King Yu's reaction after receiving the letter could be decided by Zhao Yunling as a woman.
What's more, it's impossible for King Yu to tell her a housewife every time he receives news.
De Fei took a deep breath, calmed herself down as quickly as possible, and quickly thought about how to deal with this matter.
Before today, she had the attitude of watching a good show, waiting for the King of War to come back from investigating the case, and personally ransack his maternal grandfather's house to punish him, so that he and King Chen would fight each other first, and both sides would suffer.
At this time, there was no longer a relaxed state of mind.
"The emperor handed over the case to the King of War this time. In addition to him, there are also the young uncle of the Xie family and Qi Jin." Concubine De frowned, "Although these three people are all young, they all have high status and cannot be easily touched. .”
So killing someone and silencing them will definitely not work.
What's more, even if you really have this idea, you may not be able to do it, but it will lead to death faster.
Zhao Yunling hesitated for a moment: "Your Majesty means that we can refuse to admit that we have any dealings with Shuozhou, but we are afraid that my uncle will have evidence..."
"Why didn't you tell me such an important thing until now?" Concubine De looked at her coldly, "When the Emperor ordered the King of War to take charge of this case, why didn't he make preparations early? After the Shuozhou incident broke out, Qi Jin and Xie Lin prepared for two or three days before setting off for Shuozhou, and King War left even later! If he had prepared early, he would have had plenty of time to deal with this matter."
Zhao Yunling hesitated: "Your Majesty has sent people to Shuozhou and arranged for some experts to stop Qi Shizi and Uncle Xie Xiaoguo from driving to Shuozhou along the way..."
"Idiot!" Concubine De suddenly smashed the tea cup in her hand, "There are so many elites around Prince Qi, how can he intercept it by just sending a few experts? He has to personally deliver the clue to others!"
