The weather at the end of June was still unbearably hot, but with King Wu's departure from the capital, calm was restored both inside and outside the court.
When the King of Wu left, only the Crown Prince and the King of Wei were left in the court. The crown prince is steadfast by nature, and the storage position is not easily shaken, so he has always sat firmly on the Diaoyutai in the court. On the other hand, King Wei, without his brothers competing for restraints, took the opportunity to gain a lot of power.
Neither Qi Yang nor Lu Qipei intervened in the court situation. Since the prince was here, the affairs of the court were still under his control. It's just that in private, there have been a lot of spies added recently, both in Wu Wang's mansion and Wei's mansion. In particular, the staff members of the two governments, as well as some other people who were close to Wang and could even influence Wang's decision-making, were carefully investigated.
It's a pity that nothing was found out, everyone's background is innocent, let alone Lu Qipei and Qi Yang's private investigation, even if they tied people into Dali Temple, they probably couldn't find anything else.
"Could it be that I'm really suspicious?" Qi Yang took the investigation results of the aides of Wu Wang's mansion and had some self-doubt.
Lu Qipei took a survey of the people in the Wei Palace more than she did, but after reading it, she didn't say a word - her temperament was more calm than Qi Yang, and she was not in a hurry, just waiting to see the results in the future.
The result came sooner than Lu Qipei had expected. After just over a month, news came from Mingzhou that King Wu had disappeared.
When Qi Yang entered the palace, the emperor was standing in the hall of the Xuan family and was furious at all the ministers: "King Wu is going to relieve the disaster, and he is accompanied by a guard, and I didn't ask him to go to the danger in person, how could he run to the front? Go, it was washed away by the flood?!" After saying this, he took two steps and turned back and slapped the imperial case with a heavy palm: "Are those officials, those soldiers, all dead?!"
Several people in the Xuan Family Hall are all central officials, and no one has gone to Mingzhou. How can they manage the danger of King Wu? But the emperor is furious, what can they do? Naturally, he can only bow his head to confess the crime, in the hope that the emperor can calm his anger.
Standing outside the Xuanshi Hall, Qi Yang could hear the roaring voice of the emperor inside, and the little servant at the door saw her coming, it was like a savior. Without waiting for Qi Yang to speak, he hurried into the hall and whispered a few words to Zhang Jian, who was guarding the imperial front.
When Zhang Jian heard that Qi Yang asked to see him, he didn't know whether to be happy or worried, and finally informed the emperor.
When the emperor heard Qi Yang coming, his angry expression softened a little. He paced in place for two steps, and let out a long breath. Then he waved his sleeves at Zhang Jian and said, "Let her come in."
Regardless of the fact that the courtiers were still there, Qi Yang asked straight to the point after entering the door and asking for security: "My son heard that Brother Wu was in danger in Mingzhou, what is the current situation?"
The princess should not have been involved in political affairs, but King Wu was her elder brother, and what she asked about was King Wu's safety, so of course the courtiers couldn't say anything. It's just that this topic was not chosen very well. The emperor was angry about this thunder just now, and Qi Yang turned his head and brought it up again... Several ministers shrank their heads in agreement, and wanted to take a few steps back, thinking that their ears might suffer again. .
However, the emperor's tolerance towards Qi Yang was beyond the imagination of the rest.
I saw the emperor who was still angry before blowing his beard and staring at him, but now he just tightened his brows and said to Qi Yang in a deep voice, "It's a good thing that the emperor cares about his brother, but it's just that the officials in Mingzhou are not doing well. Your brother is now missing. I don't know what happened to him."
Hearing the words, Qi Yang asked, "I don't know what's going on in the end, but I hope my father will let him know."
Speaking of this, the emperor was so angry that he didn't want to say more, and waved his hand to signal Zhang Jian to repeat the matter. Zhang Jian stepped forward and told Qi Yang the whole story of King Wu's distress.
It turned out that King Wu left the capital a month ago, and according to the letter he submitted before, he did a good job of the errand. Even because it was the first time to do this kind of errand, he was very concerned about it, and he didn't extend his hand, so that the people who suffered this disaster got a lot of benefits. He has done good deeds, and of course he has accumulated a reputation, and Wu Wang, who is loved by the people, has swelled a little without knowing it.
A few days ago, the rain in Mingzhou stopped, and the water level also fell. I don't know who was admonishing King Wu, asking him to take the lead and take a look at the disaster-stricken area. At that time, King Wu was already a little flirtatious, and he agreed without much thought.
When the weather was sunny and sunny, the King of Wu went to the disaster-stricken area in person, and by the way led some people to bring them back to their homeland.
Everything was going well, but who knew that there was a flood in the mountains for some reason. It was clear and good weather, but the sudden flood of water not only swept away King Wu, who was "leading the way", but even all the people who returned to their homeland were not spared!
As soon as this happened, Mingzhou was shaken, and the local governor sent many people to rescue people along the way. It is a pity that after searching for several days, King Wu could not be found. No one was alive or dead, nor was there a corpse. It was impossible to fill such a big news. In the end, he had to write a letter to apologize.
After reading it, the emperor was so angry that he almost didn't lift the imperial case, but he was angry that King Wu was so overjoyed and angry that he acted carelessly, and it was his own son who was swept away by the flood and disappeared. King Qi and King Chu were not willing to fight ruthlessly, not to mention King Wu, so not only did he anger the officials of Mingzhou, but even these few courtiers who discussed disaster relief together also suffered disaster.
Qi Yang was silent for a moment after listening to Zhang Jian's statement, but still said: "Brother Wu Wang acted a little carelessly. But he was in the disaster area, and he might be tempted, and the flood was too strange, so he should be Someone did it on purpose."
In recent months, incidents have continued, and even Qi Yang and Lu Qipei have noticed something unusual. How could the emperor, who has been in the center of power for decades, not notice it? Especially after King Wu's accident this time, the emperor felt an urgent threat, but he couldn't figure it out for a while. This was the real reason for his rage.
However, anger is anger, anger is anger, and the emperor naturally does not need to be reminded by others: "I have already sent people to investigate. And now that King Wu's life and death are uncertain, he needs to send additional people to find it."
Qi Yang bowed his head and said yes, and several ministers on the side were relieved when they saw the emperor calm down.
The news of King Wu's accident quickly spread throughout the capital. King Wei was first happy when he learned of it, but then panicked when he calmed down.
Today, there are only a few princes in the group, those who have been abolished in a short period of time, those who have disappeared, and only he and the prince who can still stand on the top. King Wei knew his own family affairs. He had never attacked a few brothers, nor did he have the ability to break them down one by one. At the same time, he didn't believe that there were such coincidences in the world, so who would have done it
The answer seems self-evident. Especially when the King of Chu was dismounted by Lu Qipei, it was clear and well known to everyone. This made King Wei a little worried. After the accident happened to King Wu, what was waiting for him
Then he found the staff of the mansion, and after discussing for a while, he felt even more desperate - the prince was calm and prudent, the corporal of courtesy, and the reputation and image were well managed. Even if Lu Qipei broke the King of Chu at the beginning, it was the King of Chu who was asking for hardships, and no one could say anything. Others wouldn't believe that the prince attacked the King of Qi and King Wu, so as the only two remaining winners, King Wei obviously needed to take the blame!
After being informed of the news by his staff, King Wei was so aggrieved that he almost cried. But it was useless for him to cry, no one would believe it, and he not only had to bear the blame, but also to prevent the prince from attacking him, it couldn't be worse.
King Wei huddled in the palace of King Wei and wanted to cry without tears, but Qi Yang and Lu Qipei had already discussed countermeasures with the prince in the East Palace.
Lu Qipei sat on the side and listened to Qi Yang and the prince's advice: "Brother Huang, it is unusual for the kings to have accidents one after another. At the moment, I am afraid that Wu Wangxiong is also more fortunate and less fortunate, and the only remaining Wei Wangxiong should take more care. "
King Wei is still there, so he will naturally carry all the blame, and no one will point the finger at the prince's good reputation first. But if King Wei is no longer there, then the prince will not tolerate his brothers and ruin the reputation of his siblings. At that time, the ministers will be suspicious, the father and son will be separated, and the situation of the crown prince will probably be thousands of times more difficult than it is now, and the court situation will be unstable.
The three of them understood, and the prince nodded and accepted the matter. He will think more about matters in the court in the future, and plans to send some people to guard Wei Wang in private, lest he be hacked, and even the Chu and Qi kings should send some people to watch.
Of course, this matter will not be hidden from the emperor, and to hide it from him is to raise suspicions for himself.
On this matter, the prince and Qi Yang easily reached an agreement. At this time, Lu Qipei said, "Apart from King Wei and the other princes, His Royal Highness should also be careful."
The prince raised his eyebrows when he heard the words, and asked back, "Does the concubine think that the next person to be targeted will be Gu?"
Lu Qipei's expression remained unchanged, and he looked at the prince: "Don't you think, Your Highness? Let's not mention the matter of the King of Chu, let's pretend it was just an accident. But King Qi and King Wu were not shot by His Royal Highness, so the person who shot it would be Who is it? King Wei?"
The prince shook his head. Of course, he also doubted King Wei, but whether it was the results of the investigation or his own judgment, he did not think that these successive rounds would be set up by King Wei. To put it badly, if he really had this, he would not have been anonymous for many years. And even if he set up a bureau, he shouldn't be in such a hurry to arrange the time so close.
Speaking of which, looking at it this way, the suspicion of the prince's shot is even greater. Who told him to be frail now, far more time-poor than those healthy brothers? As for the motive, he is in the storage position but is coveted by his brothers, does he need other motives
I'm afraid that in private, someone has already thought this way.
Of course Lu Qipei and Qi Yang would not doubt the prince, so seeing the prince shaking his head, Lu Qipei said: "Since Your Highness thinks that it is not the Prince of Wei, what is the purpose of the person behind the scenes? Or in other words, since he can Why does His Highness feel that he is a special one when he does something with other princes? There will never be someone who wants to surrender with His Highness?"
Of course, these princes also thought about it. He looked condensed and looked at Lu Qipei: "We cut down the princes and princes one by one, and left them alone in an unrighteous place, so that Liang Guo has no successors. I'm afraid I'm doing it. Daliangjiangshan, right?!"
He really dared to guess, in a sentence, surprisingly sharp. But what shocked the two even more was the prince's next sentence. His eyes were bright and he said in an almost certain tone: "It's Xie Yuan, right?"