Chapter 183 Exploded
The emperor finally agreed to the second prince's request and allowed the second prince's wife Qin Wanru to be buried in the imperial mausoleum according to the standard specifications for an imperial concubine who had died of old age . The monks in the second prince's mansion chanted sutras for 49 days.
During these forty-nine days, the second prince hardly left the house and stayed in the mourning hall the whole time.
Qin Wanru had been quietly taken away, and her maid was left behind just to pretend. Seeing the Second Prince becoming increasingly haggard, she felt really bad.
Let’s not talk about what happened in the Second Prince’s mansion. Just the Duke of Zhenguo and Xiang Zheng were involved because of Qin Wanru’s sudden death from poisoning. The emperor, who was always meticulous, suspicious and sensitive, immediately withdrew the order to kill the Duke of Zhenguo and instead put him in prison awaiting trial.
After giving the order, both the Queen Mother and the Empress breathed a sigh of relief.
The queen felt sorry for the second prince. She had never imagined that her son was so infatuated with Qin Wanru. She couldn't bear to see the second prince suffer, so she called him to the palace several times to persuade him.
At first, the second prince would respond to the summons whenever he was summoned, but later, as the queen's words became more and more outrageous, even cursing Qin Wanru and blaming her for causing trouble and torturing people even after her death, the second prince never entered the palace again.
The queen was extremely worried, she didn't believe that her son was so deeply in love with that woman. In an imperial family, how could there be love as deep as the sea? Over there, the second prince spent the whole day guarding the mourning hall in a daze, while here, the queen had secretly begun to arrange the selection of a new princess.
After several rounds of selection, the Queen finally set her sights on the Rong'an Marquis' Mansion.
Although everyone knew that the Third Miss of Rong'an Marquis' Mansion loved the Crown Prince, the Rong'an Marquis' Mansion was the only reliable force in Kyoto that could provide the Second Prince with power.
Before, the Second Prince didn’t need to rely on the woman’s family background. Having the Duke of Zhenguo and Xiang Zheng was enough.
But now, Duke Zhenguo and Xiang Zheng are all in prison, and Xiang Zheng is the murderer of Qin Wanru, and is more likely to be the third prince's man.
The second prince's party lost two core figures at once. The queen was eager to find a new core figure to replace them and stabilize the hearts of the second prince's party.
The Queen Mother was very dissatisfied with the Queen's little actions. She reminded her several times, openly and secretly, but the Queen only agreed verbally and continued to do things behind her back. The Queen Mother was too lazy to waste time talking to her.
Anyway, no matter how she struggles, as long as she doesn't agree, this person will never marry the second prince.
What worries the Queen Mother more now is who Xiang Zheng's real master is.
Is he really the third prince?
The Queen Mother could not think of any reason for Xiang Zheng to follow the Third Prince.
The third prince's mother was just a maid in the palace. Such a person didn't even have a rank. She was so lowly that she couldn't even be on the stage. The third prince had no maternal family to rely on.
As for followers in the court, there were indeed a few who admired the Third Prince's brilliant literary talent and were quite sympathetic to him, but Xiang Zheng was not a man who cared about romance.
Xiang Zheng is very pragmatic.
With her political acumen over the years, the Queen Mother was certain that if Ding Zheng really followed the Third Prince, there must be someone behind the Third Prince.
Who on earth could make Xiang Zheng choose someone else instead of the Crown Prince and the Second Prince?
The Queen Mother ordered people to secretly investigate Xiang Zheng.
Regarding the two cases of snow water backflow and Qin Wanru's poisoning, in the first case, Mrs. Zhao insisted that she was the one who did it. In the second case, the case of a woman in the mansion hanging herself was initially at a dead end and no breakthrough could be found. Later, there was finally a turning point, but it was the steward of Xiang Zheng's mansion who took the blame. No matter how much torture was used to force a confession, he refused to change his statement.
Xiang Zheng was detained for half a month and was eventually released without charge.
The former staunch follower of the Second Prince's Party has now become the enemy of the entire Second Prince's Party. In addition, the Crown Prince's Party has always had hostility towards him. Although Xiang Zheng's official position has not changed for a while, his situation in the court is extremely delicate.
But Xiang Zheng himself seemed to be upright and unafraid of his own shadow. He showed no fear at all and handled his daily duties as he should, without giving anyone the chance to find any handle on him.
Only when there were no outsiders around did his sinister, resentful and furious look become apparent.
He had clearly planned everything out, with the fake Su Qingqing and Su Jinghe, it was clearly a trump card arrangement that was sure to win, but in the end it ended up with such a result.
The prince didn't move at all, but instead he fell flat on his face.
How could he not hate it!
Qin Wanru died in his house and he had no way to defend himself.
It seems that the Second Prince hates this imperial concubine on a daily basis, but in fact he loves her to the core. He and the Zhenguogong Party have completely formed a personal grudge against each other.
Behind the scenes, Xiang Zheng had no idea how many cups and glasses he had smashed to vent his anger.
The situation in Kyoto suddenly became irreversible. How could he explain this to the old prince?
Just when the Zhenguo case and the Xiang Zheng case were in turmoil, a major event occurred in the court.
Near the end of the year, Crown Princess Su Qingqing wanted to send greeting gifts to her father, the emperor and her mother. The emperor specially rewarded her with a cart of gold, silver and jewelry. The Crown Princess prepared a cart of raw materials herself. However, when loading the cart, someone found gunpowder in the raw materials.
Fur is prone to catching fire due to friction, and a large amount of black powder was trapped in the wool. A large-scale explosion occurred at that time, directly blowing away the loaded carriage. Fortunately, it was early morning and there were no pedestrians on the street, so there were not many casualties .
This news was like a bolt of thunder, striking the court.
When the news reached the imperial study, the emperor smashed a jade cup with a gloomy face.
He was talking to the prince.
Previously, rumors had spread that the Crown Prince was deeply in love with General Su, and that the Crown Princess was a fox demon. The Crown Prince was greatly affected and did not know how to respond. He was so anxious that he fell ill and stayed in bed in Fengtai Village for more than half a month.
The emperor was afraid that he might develop some other illness due to his depression, so he specially called him to the imperial study to comfort him. But before he could finish his words, shocking news arrived.
Rong Que was so anxious that he vomited blood. His face turned as white as paper. He grabbed the eunuch who came to deliver the message and asked in a trembling voice, "Where is the Crown Princess? How is the Crown Princess? Is the Crown Princess at the scene?"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Although the Queen was at the scene, she happened to be away for something. When the black powder exploded, the Queen was not in front of the carriage."
This one happens to be used very subtly.
What this means is that if Su Qingqing had not left at that time, it would mean that Su Qingqing would have been bombed as well.
Rong Que was no longer in the mood to talk, so he left the palace and headed straight for the Prince's Mansion.
As soon as Rong Que left, the emperor angrily smashed another teacup.
Just yesterday, he received news that the shop given to Rong Que by Nanchong County Magistrate Zhao Bingchun originated from the Hu family, the royal merchant family of Nanchong County.
The Hu family relies on the relationship with the Rong'an Marquis Mansion.
What does this mean? It means that the shop in Rong Que’s hand was given to him by Marquis Rong’an.
In the Great Yan Dynasty, furs, like salt mines, were all under the unified management of the imperial court. On what basis could the Rong'an Marquisate give away this shop as private property?
Now, not only was the shop given away, it also exploded!
Black gunpowder is also controlled by the imperial court!
