Chapter 849: Traitor
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Song Mingzhao became even more suspicious. As he had just arrived and did not know the situation in Quanzhou, he did not act rashly. Instead, he became even more cautious.
Immediately after, Song Mingzhao realized that someone in the government office was secretly watching him.
The other party’s actions were very secretive, and ordinary people could not sense it at all.
However, Song Mingzhao was not an ordinary person, let alone the more than 30 experts hidden beside him. No matter what happened, it would not escape their eyes.
It was obvious who had sent the person staring at him.
This also confirmed to Song Mingzhao that there was definitely an unspeakable secret behind the complete martial law in Quanzhou.
The entire Quanzhou was under the rule of the Jiazhou Residence, and his every move was also under their watch. Even a powerful dragon could not suppress a local snake, let alone stay far away from Quanzhao. Without the protection of the Zhenguo Marquis Residence, he was now alone. Now that he had just arrived, the Jiazhou Residence might be afraid of him. As the heir of the Marquis of Zhenguo, they did not dare to act rashly and only dared to send people to keep an eye on him.
If he did anything to threaten the Jiazhou Residence, they would probably be desperate. In a situation where the situation was unknown, Song Mingzhao hid it and did not say anything. He did not deliberately send someone to investigate Quanzhou to avoid alerting the enemy. He was busy with the trivial matters of the government office all day, as if he was unaware of the abnormality in Quanzhou.
At the same time, he was secretly paying attention to the movements of Quanzhou.
In March, Song Mingzhao had been in Dehua for almost two months, but Quanzhou was still under martial law and had no intention of lifting it.
Song Mingzhao already knew that Quanzhou had changed.
Song Mingzhao recalled that he had previously found out that the Jiazhou Residence was related to the Second Prince’s lineage. He had a guess and quickly took a look at the map of Quanzhou.
A truly smart person would often be able to see everything.
Song Mingzhao was shocked. The clues about Liangzhou in his mind immediately connected.
In the beginning, it started five years ago when the Southern Barbarians invaded. The King of Liang, who had always been brave and good at fighting, was actually ambushed and seriously injured by the Southern Barbarians. Not long after, news came from Youzhou that the Marquis of Changxing had won a battle in Youzhou, causing a considerable commotion in the royal court.
At that time, when he was discussing this matter with his father, he was quite disdainful. “Back then, King You won every battle, but he was only so-so. The mere Marquis of Changxing only revealed his merits because of the King of Liang’s crushing defeat. He’s not worthy of talking to King You. It’s laughable that everyone in the world is playing along with the monkey!”
With comparison, there was a difference.
Not long after, the King of Liang sent his heir into the capital, shocking the world. What was even more shocking was that the King of Liang even retreated unscathed and returned to Liangzhou safely.
His father turned around and mentioned this matter, feeling worried. “His Majesty is muddle-headed. If there’s a precedent, there will definitely be a second time. Wouldn’t that mess up the rules and help increase the ambition of the va.s.sal lords?”
He said indifferently, “The rebels will definitely rebel in the future.”
His father was shocked by his words. “Why do you say that?”
He said to his father, “Ever since King You was convicted of treason, which va.s.sal lord in the various places hasn’t been in turmoil? Moreover, looking at the King of Liang’s war in recent years, he has lost soldiers and generals every time. He wants the Imperial Court to increase his troops and even ask for money and food from the Imperial Court. Do you think that King You’s case has alarmed the va.s.sal lords and frightened them? They have no choice but to show weakness to the Imperial Court in order to protect themselves. That’s not wrong.”
“However, His Majesty is the one who is intimidating. He’s surrounded by the four seas and has dignity inside and out. His Majesty is heartless. His position is not right and his virtue is not worthy of his position. Ever since he ascended the throne, he has not contributed much to the country. This action has also stimulated the rebellion of the va.s.sal lords. The King of Liang did not hesitate to be seriously injured and sent the heir into the capital to confuse the emperor. He’s fighting for the opportunity for himself. In the future, the King of Liang will definitely rebel against the heir’s death.”
The meaning was already very clear. If the person who killed King You was His Majesty, this move would be a warning to the others. His Majesty would kill with his heavenly might. The va.s.sal lords would naturally be afraid of the emperor’s anger, so they would naturally be obedient.
However, what right did the current emperor have?
Killing King You would not show his dignity, but his tyranny and heartlessness. He killed the remaining worries in the hearts of the ministers.
If the heir died, the King of Liang would rebel.
The King of Liang had not given the Imperial Court a hostage to show his loyalty, but his disloyalty.
It was an excuse for the King of Liang to rebel.
With King You’s example, in the future, when his heir died, it was definitely because the Imperial Court had not lived up to his patriotism. He had been forced to rebel by the emperor. So what if this reason was untenable?
At the very least, he had a reason!
His father refused to believe it. “Since the heir is the eldest son, how can he be given up so easily? You have to know that the princess consort of the Prince of Liang is from a famous local family and is related to the interests of the King Ping’s Residence. If the Prince of Liang wants to give up on the heir, first of all, he won’t be able to get past the consort’s family.”
If they gave up on the heir, the first ones whose interests would be damaged would be the consort’s family.
The significance of the eldest son of the first wife often did not lie in his seniority, but in the interests behind them, causing the interests of the eldest son of the first wife to be inviolable.
This was the fundamental reason why the first wife was valued.
Song Mingzhao’s expression was still indifferent. “How do you know that the person sent to the capital must be the heir?”
The Marquis of Zhen was shocked. “How can this be faked? There are dozens or hundreds of checkpoints with layers of examination. They can fake their way through one or two checkpoints, but how can they fake their way through 100 checkpoints? There’s almost no possibility of this being faked. It’s even more ridiculous to use others to replace the heir and send him into the capital as a hostage.”
Song Mingzhao agreed deeply, but said, “What if this heir is fake from the beginning to the end?”
The Marquis of Zhen was suddenly stunned.
Song Mingzhao continued, “Since the King of Liang has the intention to rebel, it can’t be done in a day or two. He must have been preparing for this long ago. Then, from the moment the “heir” was born, he was promoted from the son of a concubine to the son of the princess consort and given this t.i.tle to plan for the future. What’s impossible?”
Song Mingzhao could guess that the King of Liang wanted to rebel. Thus, he could also guess that the Jiazhou Residence had colluded with the King of Liang to control Quanzhou for the sake of its prosperity. As the capital of Quanzhou, the Xie Residence was the first to bear the brunt.
In that case, the so-called case of bandits entering the city to kill and set fire was very likely a scheme against the Xie family.
A complete blockade meant that the water, land, and air were all under martial law. Ships could not enter, and the various checkpoints on the land were strictly guarded. They could not pa.s.s, and even a bird could not fly in.
The Jiazhou Prefecture couldn’t do this, but the King of Liang could definitely do it.
Then, Yu Youyao, who was in the Xie Residenceâ¦
Song Mingzhao suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart. He sat alone in the study for the entire night.
In the latter half of the night, he stared at the flickering lights. In a daze, he seemed to have entered a half-awake dream.
In the dream, Yu Youyao was dead.
“Song Mingzhao” felt that his heart was instantly emptied.
It was as if he was the one whose heart had been cut out.
Not long after, he suffered from a heart disease. Every time his heart ached like a knife, he couldn’t sleep at night or day. The doctors were helpless.
On the day of Yu Youyao’s funeral, a man called Chang An rushed over covered in wind and frost. He said that he had come to send Young Miss off on behalf of his late young master.