Episode 1: Conspiracy to become a conspiracy

At 6:30 in the morning on May 1, the train pulled the flute and drove into Nanjing Station.

Xiang Xiaoqiang washed out of the bathroom in the private room, carried a towel on his shoulder, and said:

"Xiuxiu, I'm fine. You can go in and brush your teeth and wash your face!"

"Haha, sir, I've washed up."

Xiuxiu smiled gently, bent down to fold her pajamas by the bed, put them in a box, and stroked the sheets very smoothly. As for the thin quilt, it had been folded into square "tofu blocks".

Xiang Xiaoqiang said "um" and wiped his face with a towel, admiring Xiuxiu from behind. Xiuxiu was already dressed neatly, bent down and busy, with a dress and skirt that set off her graceful figure.

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but when I first saw her off the boat yesterday, I was like a grievanced and awkward young girl. This morning I turned into a graceful and elegant, charming little woman.

Last night, Qiu Qiu pushed himself to Xiuxiu's private room to sleep. Qiu Qiu was also very sensible and knew that he could no longer occupy Xiang Xiaoqiang. But Xiang Xiaoqiang was embarrassed. Although he had been separated from Xiuxiu for more than two months, he didn't want to be so anxious. Before he got home, he just relieved the pain of lovesickness on the train. Xiuxiu was also blushing and embarrassed to find a crack in the ground to get in. However, even though she blushed, she looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang secretly without saying a word. She let Qiuqiu push Xiang Xiaoqiang into his private room.

It has always been said that "a small separation is better than a newlywed." Xiang Xiaoqiang and Xiuxiu only truly realized the true meaning of this sentence last night. Especially Xiuxiu, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt that Xiuxiu was spasming all over her body and shouting her name almost invisibly, and she felt that she owed Xiuxiu so much.

Despite this, I still got up early this morning, washed and put on my clothes in advance, packed my luggage for me, and waited quietly for myself to wake up. When I woke up, the train was almost in the station, but Xiuxiu had already done everything in advance. She just needed to put on her clothes and wash up before getting off the bus.

...What a great girl!

Xiuxiu pushed open the car window, and rushed into the private room with the smell of fresh earth, washing away the turbid air that had been overnight.

The morning of Nanjing in May is so cool!

This journey back to the Ming Dynasty was another long tropical journey. It was so hot that it was so hot that it was so hot that it was so hot that it turned into humid heat when it arrived in Guangzhou. Although South China was not very hot in May, the air was already very humid and it was not very comfortable all day yesterday.

But after a night, when I returned to Nanjing, I finally smelled the long-lost dry air smell, the fragrance of woods and soil that only existed in the hilly areas near Nanjing and the Purple Mountain area.

As usual, there were a lot of reporters at the exit, and this time there were more reporters than before. The outside of the station was blocked, and the police had to stop them into a wall of people and leave a way out of the exit.

Among countless dazzling spotlights, Xiang Xiaoqiang and his group quickly stepped out of the station. The reporters on both sides shouted loudly, raising various questions, but couldn't hear a word clearly.

Under the protection of the police, the reporters failed to interview Xiang Xiaoqiang. After the group entered their respective cars, Xiang Xiaoqiang finally stood by the car door, climbed his arm at the door, facing countless noisy reporters and cameras, and raised his hand with a smile.

In seconds, everyone shut up and the scene miraculously calmed down.

Xiang Xiaoqiang said with a smile:

"Everyone, I understand what you all want to ask me. But now I can only say one thing, that is, in the 14 days in Europe, I witnessed the victory of the Ming Dynasty and the failure of the Qing emperors with my own eyes!"

After saying that, he bowed his hand to the surroundings and got into the car.

It was not until the convoy started that the Nanjing citizens watching the fun around applauded and cheered.

...

Xiang Xiaoqiang was sitting in a large three-row sedan, Qiu Qiu and Xiuxiu were sitting on his left and right, more than enough. The row of seats in front was sitting with stomachache and snails, and the front was sitting in the co-pilot. The most prominent figures of the People's Guards came to the train station to pick him up today. Not only the three of them, but also Li Gensheng and Li Changgui were also here. The Fourteenth Prince arranged for them to be in another car.

After a long time of separation, Xiang Xiaoqiang was so happy that he met his confidant old friends again today. In fact, there was no need for all these people to come. It would be enough to have fourteen princesses come alone. But he knew that these people were his direct subordinates and confidants. When he came back today, he would definitely not let anyone take over the station and do nothing.

After walking around Germany, Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a little bit like Hitler at this moment. He yelled that he would control the whole country in the future and become Hitler. So who is Goering, who is Goebbels, who is Hess, and who is Himmler...

He was very satisfied with the Fourteenth Prince. He left the Ming Dynasty for more than two months and did not notice any evil actions by the Fourteenth Prince. Instead, he tried his best to support the People's Guards, keeping authority firmly in mind, and not giving the group of foreign ministers eyeing them at all. In the more than two months overseas, she had to timely grasp the situation in the country. At several critical moments, it was the secret telegram from the Fourteenth Prince to help him avoid danger or seize the opportunity.

She once gave Xiuxiu the right to "report and report secretly" and asked her to monitor the misconduct of the fourteenth princess. However, during this period, Xiuxiu did not "report" once.

The fourteenth princess is undoubtedly very competent.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the back of the fourteenth princess' head, and saw her turning back to joke with everyone from time to time, and found that she had become a confidant "leader" of her confidant... However, when she left, she handed over the power to her. Isn't this exactly what she hoped?

The talents of the fourteenth princess and the loyalty of the fourteenth princess have been proven repeatedly. Now, there is finally someone who is both loyal and able to handle the complicated affairs for him.

Xiang Xiaoqiang thought in his mind that he could lift the Fourteenth Princess out by looking back, let her serve as her deputy, become the deputy commander of the People's Guard, and be in charge of intelligence and propaganda. He also had to mention another deputy commander to be in charge of military affairs.

...

After returning to the headquarters, Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately held a meeting, and all his confidants attended.

After the joyful atmosphere of meeting first passed, a brief silence in the conference room appeared. Everyone lowered their heads and glanced at Xiang Xiaoqiang from time to time, as if they had something to say.

A few minutes later, the fourteenth princess looked around everyone, then lowered her head and gently fiddled with the pen, and took the lead and said:

"Sir, the most serious problem we are facing now is that His Majesty may marry the Prince of Siam... Sir, I wonder what you think?"

She did not look up, but just looked through the ends of her hair, staring at Xiang Xiaoqiang with beautiful eyes.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also looked at the fourteenth princess. When she first saw her, she still had cool short hair. But after the Ming Dynasty, after a few months, her long hair had been softly draped over her shoulders, completely losing the feeling of the Qing Dynasty princess and spy chiefs. On the contrary, she looked like Miss Jiangnan with a gentle personality.

Seeing Xiang Xiaoqiang not answering, he looked at him a little "infatuated". The fourteenth princess smiled faintly, lowered her head slightly, and the pen in her hand gently pounded the paper, as if reminding him: Everyone is waiting for you!

"Cough cough! Oh..." Xiang Xiaoqiang took his senses, coughed twice, and pondered, "...Yes, this problem is very serious. Once Your Majesty leaves the Ming Dynasty, our People's Guard will be their first target. I, and everyone here, will either be cleaned up by them, or at least be driven away, which can be said to be brought back to its original form... Therefore, the first priority before us is to prevent His Majesty from marrying Siam... It is very annoying to say that at this juncture, our People's Guard originally had many more important things to do, and now we have to fight with those ministers!... Zhao Fang,..."

Hearing Xiang Xiaoqiang's name, several people looked at him and then at the fourteenth princess, as if they had heard something.

The fourteenth princess raised her head and looked at him with surprise. Then the corners of her mouth slightly raised, and a little bit of sarcastic dissatisfaction appeared in the corner of her eyes, as if she was saying: I really don’t treat myself as an outsider, so how dare you call me the name of this princess right now?

Xiang Xiaoqiang also glanced at her, coughed lightly, and continued:

"Zhao Fang, I believe you have some ideas these days. You can talk about it on behalf of everyone."

The fourteenth princess nodded, flipped the information in front of her right hand, gently brushed a strand of hair on her forehead behind her ear with her left hand, and then raised her head and said with a clear voice:

"Sir, this is true. We all think that there are many conditions that are beneficial to us at present. First of all, His Majesty himself is obviously unwilling to marry Siam. Why?"

When she said this, she inadvertently glanced at Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang seemed to have been electrocuted, and moved his butt unnaturally in the chair. But the fourteenth princess raised the corners of her mouth slightly, let him go, and continued:

"...The reason is obvious. The climate in Siam is unbearable, and it is not used to it in life. It is not easy to understand language, and it is far away from Middle-earth. Even if an ordinary woman is unwilling to marry, let alone Your Majesty? Moreover, Your Majesty is the Queen of the Ming Dynasty. Whether you marry or not, the power in Nanjing will definitely be thrown to the ministers in the cabinet. Although Your Majesty's desire for power is not very strong, he is also a human being after all. Ordinary people will always feel uncomfortable when they see the power in their hands being taken away by others."

This is true. Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded slightly. He knew that if Zhu Yourong really didn't care about power at all, he would not support Shen Rongxuan to engage in a New Year coup with him... But obviously, Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that when the Fourteenth Princess analyzed Zhu Yourong, he obviously referred to her own feelings. The Fourteenth Princess is a person with a strong desire for power.

He smiled slightly and continued to listen to the fourteenth princess' speech.

The fourteenth princess continued:

"But the problem is that now Your Majesty fully understands the great benefits of marrying Siam to the Ming Empire.... To be honest, if this matter is really done, it will be of great benefit to our Ming Dynasty. If we put aside our interests... But Your Majesty is a person who is willing to sacrifice individuals for the country and the people. We all have this understanding. During the Battle of Nanjing, Your Majesty would rather risk being captured than stay for the people of Nanjing. Now, she can completely sacrifice her own personal interests for the Ming Dynasty."

The few people here glanced at each other, coughed lightly, and smiled secretly. Xiang Xiaoqiang also saw it, and looked at each other with a stomachache and smiled slightly.

When did the Fourteenth Princess start to become so vulgar? When he mentioned His Majesty, his mouth was as sweet as if he had eaten candy.

She seemed to have not noticed it at all, frowned again, and continued:

"But what's the trouble now? Things are not as simple as we originally thought. We originally thought that as long as we wrote the general plans of the ministers, they found someone to write them in the newspaper, or simply asked someone to reveal them to the Siam royal family, they would naturally blow up... But now they are obviously ahead of us, and they are doing pretty well... In May, maybe mid- or early in the month, the Siam prince is going to Nanjing to propose marriage. And it is clear that he is asking His Majesty for marriage."

Xiang Xiaoqiang was startled. This was the first time he heard this news.

"What did you say?" He stared at the fourteenth princess and said in surprise, "Why don't I know?"

The fourteenth princess lowered her head and whispered:

"This is the information I just arrived this morning."

Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes and looked at her, and slowly nodded:

"Well... I came this morning? That's nothing, let's continue."

The fourteenth princess bit his lip, glanced at him quickly, lowered his head, and said lightly:

"It was obviously Dongchang... or someone else. Anyway, they were from Siam who spread the news that His Majesty's "interest" Prince Siam. So the Prince Siam came to propose marriage. In this way, it was not that our Ming Dynasty wanted to marry the queen, but that they Siam would come to ask for marriage to marry His Majesty. In this way, even if we disclose it to the newspaper industry, the credibility will be greatly reduced."

Xiang Xiaoqiang knocked on the table and said strangely:

"Are the Siam royal family all fools? Can't you see there is a conspiracy here?"

The fourteenth princess did not answer. She looked at everyone with a stomachache and snorted:

"Now the old king of Siam is very ill, and this crown prince is the decision of most domestic affairs. I think there may be two reasons: either the crown prince has fallen in love with His Majesty and was overwhelmed by ecstasy when he heard this news; or he is proud of his smartness and ability, and has a person who knows what kind of personality His Majesty is, and believes that after marrying His Majesty, he will be sure to hold His Majesty in his hand and not be afraid of any "conspiracy" of the Ming Dynasty. The greater possibility is that these two reasons are."

After he finished speaking, the few people present nodded in agreement.

The fourteenth princess added at this time:

"Zi Teng's analysis is very sophisticated. But I think there is another one: According to past information, the crown prince of Siam is different from his father. His father was a staunch nationalist and devoted himself to maintaining Siam independence all his life. In his dynasty, although Siam was still a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, in order to offset the influence of the Ming Dynasty, his connection with Britain in the west and France in the east was greatly enhanced.

"But his son, who is now the crown prince, is a firm pro-Ming school, and has received education in the Ming Dynasty and has traveled in the Ming Dynasty for a long time. Perhaps in his opinion, it is not a bad thing to Siam, but a good thing to do. Moreover, Ziteng also said that many foreign princes admire His Majesty very much. He probably is not among them.

"We can even guess this: even if he saw through the Ming Dynasty's 'conspiracy', he would not think it was a conspiracy. Perhaps in his opinion, it was not unacceptable that his son inherited the throne of Siam, inherited the throne of Ming, and even merged the two countries."

...

After she finished speaking, the others immediately started whispering, thinking that the Fourteenth Prince's analysis was truly accurate and the only one that could explain it. Her stomach hurts and looks at the Fourteenth Prince with awkward smile, scratching her head and smiling. The Fourteenth Prince also laughed and waved her hand.

Xiang Xiaoqiang covered his face with his palm and let out a deep breath.

Now, the conspiracy has turned into an open conspiracy.
Chapter completed!