Although Zhang Shou did point out a way, the Second Prince did not trust him at all. In addition, he was unwilling to give in and did not dare to gamble on his father's trust in him. Therefore, he decided to burn his boats and gamble on the efforts he had made for many years by the First Prince's side. After all, they had a common mother, so their manpower had something in common.
The second prince certainly knew that it seemed easier to get things from Zhang Shou and others, but since Wang Jie, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, had already been alerted, it would be too easy to alert his father if he took action against Zhang Shou. He could only choose to fill the gap with human lives and open a breakthrough from the eldest prince.
However, after more than ten days of work, seven or eight of his assassins died, but he got nothing. Not only that, the second prince also got five fingers from the eldest prince, and a bloody note was also attached to the box - what is in my hands, ghosts and gods cannot take it away!
The arrogant note made the Second Prince so angry that he smashed the study. He knew that the First Prince was not talking about the spinning machine, but was referring to the East Palace that the two had been fighting for, and even the future throne!
The clearer it was, the angrier he became. He was even more unwilling to give up. After thinking it over, he even wanted to ask the queen for help, but he finally gave up the idea. After all, he had seen clearly that his mother was more inclined to his elder brother than him. Because he was the legitimate eldest son and the most popular candidate for the East Palace.
But the more he suppressed his anger, the harder it was to eliminate it. Wang Jie repeatedly interrogated the guards in his palace, causing everyone to feel insecure. Some even talked behind his back, wondering when the Shuntian prefect would be so ruthless as to bring him, the second prince, to the Shuntian prefectural government. Although the second prince beat the man to death in anger after hearing this, the situation got out of control.
In a state of panic, some people thought that instead of living in fear day and night, it would be better to fight hard, and they directly reported the matter of the Second Prince beating a slave to death to the Shuntian Prefecture! Now, the Second Prince, who was already embroiled in lawsuits, became a rat crossing the street, and everyone wanted to kill him, especially the First Prince, who stood up and openly accused the Second Prince of arrogance and tyranny, and tarnished the virtue of the royal family.
According to the old system of Emperor Taizu, slaves who betrayed their masters, bullied their superiors, abused their subordinates, disturbed the people, and committed adultery were considered unforgivable and could be killed by their masters. In addition, if a slave was killed for trivial matters, the crime was reduced to one level of murder and the slave was caned 40 times, and no fine was allowed to redeem himself.
Seeing that the second prince had gone insane and committed two serious crimes, the officials in the court who had originally disliked the second prince naturally attacked him. Many of them were upright people who strictly abided by etiquette and believed that the eldest son should be made the heir. Seeing that the situation was precarious, even though the emperor did not summon the second prince and did not make any decisions, the once glorious villa was deserted.
If it weren't for the servant who ran to the Shuntian government office to report the incident and did not escape the punishment of the iron-faced prefect Wang Jie, who was beaten with forty sticks and almost died for reporting her master, the others would have fled like birds and beasts. Who would have the patience to serve the Second Prince who not only had no hope of entering the Eastern Palace but could be severely punished at any time and could not even be a rich and idle man
In this situation where everyone deserted him, the second prince was the one who threw himself out. Instead of staying in his mansion to reflect on his mistakes, he went out with his entourage every day in fine clothes and on a horse. Although he did not abandon himself to the point of molesting women in the street and bullying the people, wherever he went, everyone avoided him as if he were a tiger or a wolf passing through their territory. As time went by, he became more and more angry.