Chapter 220 Candidates
"When I led my men to Shilipu, we were about to capture the prince, but we were suddenly ambushed. The prince escaped in Shilipu, and our men..."
Having said this, he gritted his teeth.
"...Except for me who managed to survive, all of our people died."
Bang!
The cup of tea that the Queen Mother had just calmly held in her hand fell directly to the ground.
The teacup broke into pieces and the tea spilled all over the floor.
"Who is it!" She jumped up from her seat and took a step forward in shock.
The man replied, "We don't know who they are. They appeared too suddenly. We didn't have time to fight them and were basically wiped out. But one thing is certain, they don't seem to be the prince's men. Because they appeared so suddenly, the prince was also shocked."
The Queen Mother looked at the Duke of Zhenguo and asked, "Is there any hidden power in Kyoto?"
The Duke of Zhenguo frowned.
The power of Kyoto comes from four sources.
The crown prince’s faction, the second prince’s faction, the third prince’s faction, and the Rong’an Marquis’s faction.
But these four factions were all mobilized in this rebellion, especially the second prince and the third prince's men. If they had been hiding, the outcome would not have been what it was.
And this person is not the prince's man.
Could it be from Rong'an Marquis Mansion?
It shouldn't be.
If it were the case, why would the people from Rong'an Marquis' Mansion let the prince go?
The situation, which had been clear at first, became chaotic again in an instant.
If such a force does exist in Kyoto, then the most important thing for them right now is not to hunt down the prince, but to find this force.
This kind of thing hidden in the dark and so deeply is really unsettling.
"Okay, you can go down and take good care of your injuries. As for other things, we can talk about them after you recover." The Queen Mother waved her hand to send the man away.
As soon as he left, the Queen Mother asked the Duke of Zhenguo, " Could it be someone from the former Su Family Army?"
It's not impossible.
After all, after Su Qingqing's death, the Su family army was disbanded and many people left at that time.
The Duke of Zhenguo shook his head. "Unlikely. If they were from the Su family army, they would have contacted him in advance if they knew Wang Yu and the prince were together. But the prince doesn't even know the existence of this group of people..."
After twisting his fingertips, something suddenly flashed through the mind of the Duke of Zhenguo. He stood up and asked, "Could it be that Qin Wanru is not dead?"
The Queen Mother was stunned for a moment, "What?"
The Duke of Zhenguo said, "Do you still remember what happened with Su Yunhe? We clearly got accurate information at that time that Su Yunhe was in the Crown Prince's residence. We suddenly attacked him and did not reveal a single thing about it. But why was the Crown Prince able to handle it so calmly?
He dealt with Su Yunhe in advance!
Clearly, when we received the news, the Crown Prince was still interrogating Su Yunhe. How come when the Imperial Guards went to search, he was gone alive?
The prince got the news at that time!"
There was a strange look in the Queen Mother's eyes.
"The only person who could deliver the message to the Crown Prince was Qin Wanru. When we were deciding on this matter, we were in the Second Prince's study. There were only me and His Highness in the study. At that time, Qin Wanru happened to bring some snacks over.
The relationship between her and the Second Prince is clearly indifferent to each other, why would she suddenly send snacks when everything was fine? "
After this incident happened, the Duke of Zhenguo and the Second Prince investigated thoroughly to find out from which link the information was leaked, but they could not find out that it was Qin Wanru.
Qin Wanru had no contact or friendship with either the Crown Prince or the Princess of Zhaoguo. What's more, she was the Second Prince's consort and would never stand on the Crown Prince side.
But now combined with what King Yu said at that time.
King Yu called Su Qingqing "General Su".
Then think about Su Qingqing's various abnormal behaviors.
If this person is really General Su in disguise of the Princess of Zhao State, then it is only natural that Qin Wanru and Su Qingqing have secret dealings with each other.
Qin Wanru's father was the only one who insisted that Su Qingqing was innocent and hoped to investigate the matter thoroughly. Because the emperor turned a blind eye, he was so angry that he suffered a stroke overnight.
As they were talking, a palace maid outside came back to report that the queen had arrived.
Because of King Yu's massacre, there were not many people in the palace. On a snowy day, the queen went out without even someone to carry her sedan chair. She was so confused and uneasy that she fell twice in the snow, looking very miserable.
After all, the Duke of Zhenguo was her biological father. Seeing her pale face and covered in mud, he asked, "What's going on?"
The Queen cried out and hugged the Duke of Zhenguo and started crying, "He won't ascend the throne. He doesn't want to ascend the throne. He seems to know what I did to Wanru. He hates me."
On the night Qin Wanru married the Second Prince, the Queen forced her to drink a pot of strong safflower wine in the name of the Second Prince.
That was the wedding night.
This marriage was originally planned by the Third Miss of Rong'an Marquis' Mansion to let Qin Wanru marry in her place. After being treated like this on the wedding night, Qin Wanru's already unhappy heart was completely chilled.
The Queen Mother couldn't stand the Queen's crying behavior.
"If he doesn't want to ascend the throne, then replace him. What? You don't want to be the queen mother either? I can replace him, too!"
The queen's eyes were red and swollen from crying. She turned to the queen mother and said, "Mother, it's easy to say that we should replace the person. King Yu is cruel. There is no living prince or even a princess in the palace. How can we replace the person? Are we really going to take one from outside? That's not reliable at all!"
The Queen Mother sneered, "People outside are unreliable, but don't you happen to have a little nephew?"
The queen stopped crying.
She stared at the Queen Mother in astonishment, then turned to look at the Duke of Zhenguo. The Duke of Zhenguo said nothing, obviously having understood and agreed to the Queen Mother's proposal.
Although several of the sons of the Duke of Zhenguo died one after another, the second son still had a son who was now five years old and very smart.
The Second Prince's non-cooperation had long made the Queen Mother and the Duke of Zhenguo dissatisfied. Even if the Second Prince didn't say anything, they were ready to take this opportunity to replace him.
The queen was instantly furious.
"This kingdom belongs to the Rong family, it belongs to my son, so what can he do? When he worships his ancestors in the future, will he worship the Zhenguo Mansion or the Rong family?
father!
"Mother!"
The Queen Mother looked at the Queen calmly, full of displeasure, "The Rong family? As long as Rong Que is here, let alone worship, you can't even enter the Rong family's ancestral temple! Right now, the Crown Prince is on the run, King Yu is in turmoil, unknown forces are surging, crises are lurking everywhere, and the country is in jeopardy. You still have the mind to think about offering incense and worship? I think you are really sick!"
The queen wanted to say something, but was forcibly dragged out by the queen mother's order.
A country cannot be without a king for a day.
The second prince refuses to succeed to the throne, so the child from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion is the best choice.
Firstly, the child had never shown up in Kyoto, and none of the major families and officials in Kyoto knew him. It was most appropriate to say that he was the emperor's posthumous child among the people.
Secondly, this child belongs to the Duke of Zhenguo’s Mansion. To him, the soldiers of the Duke of Zhenguo’s Mansion are his personal soldiers, and he will never have any disloyalty to them.
This would be much easier than choosing another child from outside.
Once things are settled, we will wait for the main force of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion to return to the capital tomorrow, and then the child will arrive to ascend the throne.
