The people in the courtyard, not even Yin You, believed that the prince would rebel, because he knew with his toes that the gain of his rebellion at this time would outweigh the losses.
But this is indeed the legend outside.
Bai Shan asked: "Does the public know everything?"
"No," the guard reported back, "it is news from the capital and Henan Province. It is said that the prince is leading an army to the capital. Someone in the capital has written to Your Majesty, saying that the prince has gathered an army without an edict and intends to rebel."
He looked at Princess Mingda, bowed slightly and said: "There is some confusion in the court at this time. Guo Zhan sent a letter asking the princess to return to the capital."
Bai Shan breathed a sigh of relief, "So the public is not allowed to hear about it?"
"yes."
Bai Shan then said to Princess Mingda: "I don't know whether this is true or not. Even if the prince really went to the capital with his army, I'm afraid it was because of other things and not for rebellion. Princess, you don't have to have any intention."
He said: "We can guess it, and your Majesty should be able to guess it too."
Mingda also calmed down, but he was still worried, "But what can happen to the prince brother that requires him to bring an army to Beijing?"
She doesn't think this is false. If the imperial court has a post station, there are soldiers who have notified it, and whether there is a large army entering Beijing, can't the princes of the imperial court find out?
What she was worried about was that the prince had his own difficulties and could not speak out. If there was a high level of opposition in the court, it would be bad for his father to be suspicious of him.
Zhou Man thought for a while and then said: "For safety?"
Everyone looked at Zhou Man together.
Zhou Man said matter-of-factly: "Bringing a large army to Beijing is not for rebellion. It can't be King Qin, right? So it can only be for your own safety. Could it be that someone wants to kill the prince on the road? The prince does not have enough manpower, so he asks the garrison to
people?"
It is impossible for King Qin to be King Qin. Yin Li is in the capital and the imperial army is in the hands of the emperor. Unless Yin Li rebels, there is no need to mobilize troops from outside to help King Qin.
The prince had a bad premonition in his heart, "No, His Royal Highness has already sent a letter saying that he has returned to the capital. According to their pace, no matter how slow they are, they should be in the capital by now. Why are they still outside?"
Mingda perked up and said, "Yes, Brother Prince must be in danger!"
She immediately started thinking and said, "Come quickly, I want to give my father a discount."
The guard was right. This matter had not spread. Not only was it peaceful outside, but even the governor of Qingzhou knew nothing about it. He was looking at the official document handed over by Bai Shan and thinking deeply.
"Beihai County has been making a lot of moves recently. Looking at the treatment Bai Shan gives to his servants, plus the long-term workers he recently recruited, how much money does his salt farm make?"
"Sir, do you want to send someone to check the accounts?"
Although the salt farm belongs to Beihai County, sales and purchases are subject to tax, commonly known as salt tax.
It's just that the salt tax is also collected by Beihai County. At the end of the year, the account is remitted. Once enough is left to cover the county's expenses, it must be handed over to the governor's office.
Governor Guo reacted belatedly, "This guy is very clever. Is he planning to spend all the salt tax without paying me a penny?"
The confidant's eyes widened, "No way, isn't this, isn't this too much?"
Governor Guo frowned and thought for a long time, then decided to wait and see for the time being, "It won't be long. We'll wait until he reports the accounts in October."
In October, the county government must hand over a certain amount of tax revenue to the governor's office, which will then hand it over to the treasury after the governor's office collects statistics. Generally, in order to have a good New Year, the governor's office in each state will hand over all accounts and things to the treasury before submission in November.
According to the accounting of the Ministry of Household Affairs, it can be said that the end of the year is the busiest time for all levels of government offices.
Now the autumn harvest has ended, even the autumn taxes have mostly ended, and October is not far away.
The place was peaceful, and even the two thousand Yanzhou troops who were guarding the prince and following the prince into the capital were in harmony, and no rumors were heard at all.
These people are all elites selected from the Yanzhou garrison. They are first-class in kung fu and fighting. Even if there are occasional people mixed in with the sergeants on the march, they suddenly attack the prince's carriage, but it is often not the case.
Can't get close.
It was General Wen's eldest son, General Wen, who led the army to follow the prince to Beijing this time.
He was probably also afraid that there would be assassins among the army, so the soldiers surrounding the prince's carriage were all his and the Wen family's trusted confidants, and they would never betray him.
After two assassinations, the team became much quieter. Looking at the calm situation, it seemed that the other party was at the end of its rope.
But no matter whether it was the prince and his entourage or General Wen, they did not relax their vigilance.
Little General Wen didn't know who wanted to kill the prince, and he didn't want to know. As his father said, as long as they knew it was the prince and that the prince had a military talisman in his hand, then they just had to obey orders.
Don't worry about anything else.
They had a smooth journey along the way. The disputes between the DPRK and China did not affect the local area. When they saw a large army guarding the crown prince entering the capital, they didn't think much about it.
There are only two thousand people, and the prince's appearance is worthy of it.
Therefore, they collected grain and grass from the counties, Yazhou and Prefectures they passed along the way, and went to the capital smoothly.
There are so many people, so the speed is a bit slow.
But the capital was no longer so quiet. Five days ago, there was a sudden local message saying that the prince was heading to the capital with an army of 20,000 people.
There was an uproar in the court. There were some people who believed it, but there were also many people who doubted it, so everyone suggested sending someone to check.
But there has been no news of the people sent out, and they seem to have disappeared.
As a result, the discussion in the court became even louder, and rumors spread that the prince led troops to Beijing to force the palace.
Even Wei Zhi, who had been silent all this time, couldn't help but go into the palace to see the emperor, but the emperor didn't see him and didn't give him any advice on how to deal with it. He just heard that several sets of cups and cups were smashed in the Taiji Palace.
Today, someone finally wrote a letter openly questioning the prince's intention of leading troops to Beijing. His suggestion was to send a large army from Hebei Province to keep the prince out of Hebei Province and not allow him to enter Guanlong.
The emperor did not agree, but said angrily: "Let him come, I want to see what he wants to do."
Then he walked away.
Returning to the palace behind the Tai Chi Hall, the emperor angrily picked up a cup and glanced at it when he raised his hand to smash it. Gu Zhong immediately bowed and whispered: "It's cheap. I've exchanged it for cheaper ones in the past two days."
The emperor smashed it out with an expressionless face, and there was a crisp "crack" sound. Not to mention, it was quite comfortable to hear. It would have been even more comfortable if it wasn't his own cup that was smashed.
General Gu Zhong sent all the people who were waiting inside and outside the palace to leave. Not long after, Yin Li came into the palace and reported back: "Your Majesty, Qin Shu has been waiting in Zhengzhou with the imperial army. The prince will be able to meet him as soon as he arrives."
The emperor asked: "How is Luozhou?"
"There is no unusual movement in Luozhou."
The emperor breathed a sigh of relief and said to Yin Li: "You go to the other palace to bring Prince Gong's family back, and tell him that I miss him and will celebrate the Double Ninth Festival. I want to spend the Double Ninth Festival with him."
Prince Gong went to the capital in the spring of this year to lose weight and take care of his health. He has been staying in the capital since then. In addition to the other palaces, he occasionally visits the palace to see the emperor and the empress. The whole family is enjoying themselves.