Chapter 236 - Ridiculous Reason
“Yes. Crown Princess, Tai Sun Yuan requests an audience…”
Tang Yue held Little Luoyuan's hand and walked into the hall. He bowed and only after a long time did he hear King of South Jin's dull voice, “Stand up. Luoyuan, come to me.”
Little Luoyuan looked at Tang Yue and got his approval before he stood up and walked over. He leaned against King of South Jin and looked up at him. “Grandfather, Luoyuan misses you.”
One sentence successfully made King of South Jin laugh. King of South Jin hugged him on his lap. “Grandpa misses you too. After walking for so long, let grandpa see if he has lost weight.”
Little Luoyuan stretched out his arm and started to talk about his sleeves. “Look, he has lost weight in the dark, but Luoyuan can carry a bucket of water now. Father said that Luoyuan has become stronger.”
“Oh? Really? Did he have a hard time on the road? Where did you go to play?”
Tang Yue frowned. King of South Jin sounded like he was trying to pull some strings, but why did he sound like he was trying to probe him?
Could it be that he wanted to know what had happened to them from Little Luoyuan? That was true. Children were the least scheming and the most honest.
Even if Little Luoyuan did not know everything, he could still provide him with clues. As the ruler of a country, wouldn't it be easy to investigate?
“Thank you for your hard work. I'm very tired from sitting in the carriage. Father said that the national affairs are very important, and Luoyuan isn't allowed to get off the carriage to play on the road.” Little Luoyuan complained about his father. Luckily, Crown Prince Zhao was not around. Otherwise, he would have beaten him up when he got back.
“Haha… your father is right, but we can't let Luoyuan get tired. He shouldn't have taken you there. It's so dangerous!” When King of South Jin found out that all three of them had left Ye City, he was still a little unsettled.
Whether it was the prince or the crown prince, they could not leave Ye City without permission. Even if they did leave, there was no reason for them to take their families with them.
It was the same as the generals who wanted to leave their families in Ye City. This was also a form of hostage. If they started a rebellion outside, their families would be the first to suffer. This was a tradition.
Of course, King of South Jin did not suspect that Crown Prince Zhao would rebel. He just wanted to hold Crown Prince Zhao's weakness in his hand habitually.
Control everything in his palm. It must be something that every superior would like to do.
Little Luoyuan shook his head and ran down to take a bag from Tang Yue's hand. He handed it to King of South Jin and said, “Grandfather, it's just a gift from Luoyuan on the way. Take a look and see if you like it.”
“Oh? And a gift?” King of South Jin was overjoyed. He did not want a gift, but he wanted his grandson to remember him when he was away.
This was definitely a big surprise for the old man.
“Yeah, Luoyuan picked it himself.” Little Luoyuan opened the bag and took out all the things in it. There were beautiful stones collected when he passed by a small town, beautiful toys he bought when he passed by a big city, and leather drawings made by Qinyang City in person.
Little Luoyuan took out his gifts and introduced them to King of South Jin. Every one of them had condensed his heart and heart. Although they were not good things, they were all smiles on King of South Jin's face.
“Luoyuan has a heart. Someone come… Give Tai Sun one grain of pearl and ten silks of cloud. Give him the red pony in my horse ring!”
Tang Yue raised his brows. These rewards seemed insignificant, but the pony was said to be the seed of a horse that King of South Jin cherished the most. It was basically not given away.
It seemed like Little Luoyuan's actions this time had received a deep Holy Decree!
Luoyuan thanked him as if he was a decent person and immediately brought the topic to the colt.
King of South Jin was in a good mood. He simply carried him out and rode the horse, letting Tang Yue talk to the queen.
Tang Yue did not know if he was looking for an opportunity to get Little Luoyuan to say something, but there was nothing to worry about. He bowed and went to the imperial harem.
Speaking of which, his relationship with the queen's daughter-in-law had improved greatly over the years. This was also blamed on him sending delicious food to the palace from time to time. He also made a few new clothes and jewelry for the queen. Finally, the queen forgot that he was a man.
Madame Hu walked Tang Yue into the compartment and whispered to him about his journey. When she heard that Crown Prince Zhao was escorted by ten thousand elite soldiers, she heaved a sigh of relief.
“I don't know when, but there is a rumor in the palace that Crown Prince is a Martial God. As long as he is here, it will be hard to break through the army. Many people have already asked the Crown Prince to lead the army, but you, Royal Father, are strongly against it.”
“His Highness's action is to kill first and report later. It will easily arouse the King's suspicion. Plus, the incident in Qinyang City can't be hidden. The King will know about it. When he knows about the existence of Black Armored Guard, he won't be able to escape the crime of secretly enlisting soldiers.”
“That's right. If it was just this crime, it would be fine. I'm just worried that the King will mistakenly think that Zhao Er is trying to enlist soldiers. In addition to the instigation of the villain, he will be suspicious of Zhao Er.”
This was indeed a problem. It was also the reason why Crown Prince Zhao didn't want to take out the Black Armored Guard as soon as possible. The relationship between the father and son couldn't withstand this kind of suspicion.
“What does Zhao'er think? Do you have any countermeasures?” Madame Hu asked Tang Yue.
Tang Yue nodded. “There is a countermeasure that is not considered a countermeasure. Do you still remember that when His Highness was injured in his leg, His Majesty had issued a decree that allowed Crown Prince to raise five thousand soldiers? Including the private soldiers of State Duke Ann Prefecture, State Duke Heng's Mansion, Yueyang Marquis's Mansion, and the other few families in Marquis's Mansion, ten thousand people will be enough.”
Madame Hu was shocked, “You are saying… to make His Majesty think that the ten thousand private soldiers of Zhao'er were gathered by a few families? This… this is simply too absurd. How could the Great King believe it?”
If it was her, she would not believe it, let alone the smart King of South Jin.
“Of course not. But as long as these families agree, at least they won't be able to find any evidence.”
“Even so, but… Can they agree? State Duke Ann naturally did. Needless to say, no matter what the Crown Prince said, they would agree. As for the other families?
Madame Hu thought about the relationship between Yueyang Marquis's Mansion and State Duke Heng's Mansion. It seemed that these two families wouldn't have any problems, and she needed to pull a few other families along as well.
There were a thousand soldiers in the State Duke's Mansion, but there were only five hundred soldiers in the Marquis's Mansion. It was not easy to gather ten thousand people.
“This is what I'm going to do next. It won't be difficult to convince a few families to be close to the Crown Prince in the Marquis's Mansion.”
Madame Hu nodded, “Try your best. It must be done quickly. It cannot be hidden for long.”
Tang Yue understood that it was not a secret to begin with. King of South Jin had probably heard about it as well. It was just that it would take him some time to send someone to verify it.
He could only use this little bit of time.
The two of them chatted for half a day until palace maid came to knock on the door. Only then did Tang Yue say goodbye and leave.
Before leaving, the queen still asked someone to bring Little Luoyuan to her. Even if the wife was a man and she could not bear him, she would still acknowledge him. However, she truly loved her only grandson to the bone.
Tang Yue did not dare to imagine if the queen would be disappointed if she knew that Luoyuan was not the Crown Prince's flesh and blood.
“Grandma!” Little Luoyuan threw himself into the queen's arms and hugged her neck. He looked more casual and less restrained than when he was with King of South Jin.
Children were the most sensitive. They could clearly feel who was good to them.
The queen hugged him and asked for his warmth. She saw that he had become black and skinny and scolded Crown Prince Zhao. It was obvious that he had forgotten his son after having a grandson.
When they left the palace, Little Luoyuan had returned with a full load. Apart from the king's reward, there was also the queen's reward, which was half a car.
“I will keep these for you. When you are ten years old, you will take care of them yourself. I heard that your father had many private properties at his age. I don't know how old he is.”
Little Luoyuan held a jade belt in his hand and said confidently, “I know all of this. Uncle Chun taught me a lot of business scriptures. He said that I will definitely become a better businessman than him in the future.”
“Haha, did he really say that? He didn't mean to flatter you!” Tang Yue doubted Zhang Chun's motives. Usually, he would not praise others sincerely. The good words he said were basically flattery. That was how he got along with people.
“How could that be? Uncle Chun was serious when he said that.”
Tang Yue could not bear to discourage him. Zhang Chun was an actor. As long as he wanted to be serious, he could say anything he was not sincere.
After returning to the manor, Tang Yue changed his clothes and went to visit State Duke Ann. After explaining his purpose of coming, the other party was angry but agreed immediately.
Tang Yue truly admired this uncle of State Duke Ann's. People said that relatives loved to monopolize power, but State Duke Ann was not like that. He knew that he was only a general, so he basically did not express his opinion on the country's policies.
Moreover, he was neither servile nor overbearing. He treated King of South Jin with neither flattery nor prejudice. Apart from the occasional loss of rationality when it came to Crown Prince Zhao's matter, he had always been a man of his own.
What made Tang Yue even more impressed was that State Duke Ann's attitude towards his sons was very clear.
He only had Hu Jinpeng as his son, while the other sons and daughters were a bunch. However, other than Hu Jinpeng, he had never deliberately trained any of the sons. He also clearly said that this family would belong to Hu Jinpeng in the future. Other than being able to obtain a certain amount of wealth, these bastards would have to move out of State Duke Ann Prefecture after he passed away. Apart from getting a dowry, State Duke Ann Prefecture wouldn't help them with anything else. They would never think of taking advantage of State Duke Ann Prefecture's power to gain benefits for their husbands.
This was also the reason why King of South Jin had not done anything to the Hu Family for so many years. He knew State Duke Ann's personality. He was straightforward and a little smart, but he would never do anything stupid.
Sitting face to face with Tang Yue, State Duke Ann didn't smile. He took out a token from his sleeve and threw it to Tang Yue. “This is the token of State Duke Ann Prefecture. This token can mobilize all the soldiers of State Duke Ann Prefecture. I'll leave these people to you.”
Tang Yue felt that this small token was very hot. “Uncle, this…” It was not appropriate, right? State Duke Ann's words seemed to want him to execute these people. Was it his misconception?
State Duke Ann glared at Tang Yue, “Since you want to do it, you have to do it thoroughly. If you want the king to believe that the ten thousand elite soldiers in the Crown Prince's hands are the soldiers of the prefecture, then these soldiers cannot exist. Otherwise, do you think the king is blind?”
Tang Yue smiled bitterly, “Although that's the case, these people were trained by my uncle with great care. They are loyal to State Duke Ann Prefecture. I want to kill them and forgive Tang Yue for not being able to do it.”
How could he kill these innocent people for no reason?
Even if it was for Crown Prince Zhao's safety, he could not do this.
“Besides, if you agree to kill these people, the other families may not agree. As long as one family does not agree, your people will be sacrificed for nothing.”
“Humph, it is not up to them to disagree!” State Duke Ann said domineeringly, “Crown Prince is the future of South Jin. His life alone is the fate of South Jin. Who dares to disagree?”
“I don't agree. Uncle only needs to temporarily disband the prefecture soldiers or send them to other places. On the surface, it is fine as long as they don't see anyone. No one will really believe this matter. Just act like this.”
What they wanted was just a title. If they really pushed it, this matter would not stand up at all.
“Do you think that the king is stupid? How could he believe it?”
“He definitely doesn't believe it, but what can he do? Call Crown Prince Zhao back from the border and convict him? Or destroy the Crown Prince's Palace? The war ahead was pressing. Even if King of South Jin wanted to settle the score, he would only settle it after autumn. He would not be in a hurry.
“Once King of South Jin knows that Crown Prince Zhao has ten thousand cavalry in his hand, and it is an invincible Elite Armament, how can he bear to give up such a team? Even if he wanted to take it for himself, he would have to wait until the war was over.
Otherwise, he would not have the ability to command this cavalry. If Crown Prince Zhao was destroyed, this cavalry would definitely collapse, and the war in the north would turn rapidly. The loss would not only be the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers.
King of South Jin's ambition was not small. This could be seen from the fact that he would rather fight the North Yue than surrender. He did not have the heart to unify the world.
However, he was already very old. With Nan Jin's current strength, he could only be on par with the North Yue. Swallowing such a large piece of meat was not something that could be done in a short period of time.
However, if Crown Prince Zhao had ten thousand terrifying cavalry in his hands, perhaps things would turn for the better, and he might be able to create a miracle.
With such a guess, King of South Jin would be very willing to give Crown Prince Zhao a chance. If the matter was successful, he would be able to settle the score with Crown Prince Zhao no matter what. If the matter failed and Crown Prince Zhao was convicted, he would not suffer any losses.
This was also the reason why Crown Prince Zhao dared to use such a ridiculous reason to shut everyone's mouths.
“What if I guessed wrong?” State Duke Ann asked angrily.
Tang Yue smiled. “If your guess is wrong, you will have to escort Luoyuan and me out of the city. I have prepared a way out. If there is a chance, I will take my son and nephew and escape to the sea. When the time comes, you will follow us to the sea to occupy the island. Wouldn't that be great?”
“Nonsense!” State Duke Ann scolded. He shook his head and told Tang Yue to get out of the city. He had no other choice but to take it one step at a time.
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