Novel Full Chapter 1186 - 174: Fourth Brother Let Eighth Brother Go to Qingzhou, and That Was His Defeat
Chapter 1186 - 174: Fourth Brother Let Eighth Brother Go to Qingzhou, and That Was His Defeat
The news of Prince Jing’s death was sent back to the capital, yet it failed to stir up much of a ripple in court. Many ministers had long expected that he would not live for much longer. The fact that he survived for some time before finally dying instead made quite a few officials feel it was strange.
As to whether Prince Jing had truly died in an accident or not, none of the civil and military officials in court cared. A commandery prince who had already fallen from favor was not worth the attention of the court ministers.
The emperor also did not issue an edict to thoroughly investigate the truth behind Prince Jing’s accidental death, merely decreeing that he be buried with great honors, interred according to the specifications of a prince of the first rank.
Prince Jing was, after all, the emperor’s own flesh and blood, so he had to be buried in the Imperial Mausoleum. That meant his remains had to be transported back to the capital, and his funeral had to be held there as well.
The emperor issued an order for Prince Wei to go to Prince Jing’s fief and escort his remains back to the capital for burial.
The court officials debated this arrangement of the emperor’s at length. In many people’s eyes, by sending Prince Wei away at such a time, the emperor was clearly driving him out of the game.
At present, among the imperial princes in the capital, only Prince Chu and Prince Wei remained. Their struggle for the heir’s seat was already laid out openly for all to see. At such a critical juncture, Prince Wei was ordered to leave the palace; was this not, in disguised form, pushing him out of the contest?
Prince Wei would be away from the capital for some time, which was a good thing for the officials who supported Prince Chu. They could take advantage of the period when Prince Wei himself was not in the capital to thoroughly deal with his faction. By the time he returned, there would no longer be a foothold left for him in court.
The ministers who supported Prince Wei were deeply worried about his departure from the capital, yet they were helpless in the face of the emperor’s edict.
Prince Chu’s people believed the emperor was helping Prince Chu, and felt that once Prince Wei left, Prince Chu being established as Crown Prince would be a foregone conclusion. However, Prince Chu and Yang Ling did not see it that way.
In the study, Prince Chu and several trusted ministers were discussing the true purpose behind Prince Wei’s leaving the capital.
As an important strategist at Prince Chu’s side, Yang Ling was naturally present. He felt that for Prince Wei to choose to leave the capital at this time definitely concealed an ulterior motive and could not be taken lightly.
"Your Highness, given Prince Wei’s scheming mind and methods, even if His Majesty ordered him to Qingzhou to escort Prince Jing, he would have had ways to refuse, yet he did not. There must be something fishy here." Qingzhou was Prince Jing’s fief after he had been demoted from prince to commandery prince. "There must be something in Qingzhou, or some matter there, that makes it necessary for Prince Wei to go in person."
Minister A: "What thing or what matter in Qingzhou could be important enough to make Prince Wei leave the capital at such a crucial time?"
Minister B: "Qingzhou may be small, but it is no longer that backwater it once was. Since the lifting of the maritime ban, and with Prince Han holding the trade fair in Swamp Prefecture, Qingzhou has already become one of Great Zhou’s most important ports."
Minister C said, "These past two years, Qingzhou’s revenues have not been low. When His Majesty first demoted Prince Jing to Qingzhou, I felt something was off."
Minister D said, "Exactly. Qingzhou may be smaller than other prefectures, but it is by no means poor. Prince Jing committed a crime, so if His Majesty were truly punishing him, he should have sent him to Liangzou instead."
Yang Ling added, "And as for Prince Jing’s death, it is highly possible that it was done by Prince Wei."
Minister A chimed in, "Mr. Yang is right; Prince Jing’s death cannot be separated from Prince Wei."
Minister B continued, "If Prince Jing’s death really was Prince Wei’s doing, then Prince Wei is deliberately using Prince Jing’s death as a pretext to go to Qingzhou."
Minister C exclaimed in shock, "If that is truly the case, Prince Wei must have some unspeakable purpose in going to Qingzhou."
Yang Lingjin frowned, his expression grave. "We don’t know much about Qingzhou, so we can’t guess Prince Wei’s purpose there."
Minister A suddenly remembered something, his expression turning somewhat excited. "Your Highness, I recall that a relative of Prince Han does business in Qingzhou. Perhaps Prince Han knows something; you could ask Prince Han."
Minister D agreed. "Yes. Although Swamp Prefecture is far from Qingzhou, they are both ports. Prince Han might indeed know something."
What Minister A said hit the mark. There was no one in this world who understood Qingzhou better than Zhao Yao. Back then, the fief Zhao Yao had chosen for himself was Qingzhou, so he had arranged early on for his maternal uncle to go there to do business.
Now, Zhao Yao’s uncle was already a magnate in Qingzhou, with wealth and influence out of the ordinary. One could say that the Liang family was an aristocratic family in Qingzhou.
Furthermore, before Zhao Yao went to Swamp Prefecture, he entrusted many matters to his uncle in Qingzhou, such as building merchant ships there in those years. At present, his uncle was still building merchant ships and warships for him in Qingzhou.