"Now that I think about it, my father may have known what my eldest brother was doing secretly, but he didn't say a word to me at that time..." The eldest princess' voice was hoarse: "My father just told me that the current situation is like this
, there is no second choice. He said that although the second brother is warlike, he has never fought for his own family. If the eldest brother is really willing to implement benevolent government, the second brother will definitely be a good minister and can definitely help the eldest brother stabilize the foundation of Daqing."
He will definitely be a good minister...
Xu Mingyi remained silent and did not speak.
The late emperor had a thorough understanding of his second son, but was this bullying a sensible child?
It seemed that he was aware of the eldest son's ambition and knew that the eldest son wanted to rob him but the second son did not want to rob him, so he unconsciously preferred the eldest son -
If the second son does not rob him, he is destined to be a good minister, and his life and death will be controlled by others.
The eldest son was ambitious, so he gave him everything, hoping to fill the other's ambition at once.
Such an arrangement may seem like "everyone gets what he needs", but can we really live in peace with each other?
Did the late emperor ever consider that some people’s ambitions are unsatisfactory?
Even if they get the biggest piece of meat, they still suspect that others will come to snatch it. Such people have never thought about the so-called "benevolence" from the beginning, and all they can think about is to kill them all——
Therefore, as soon as the late emperor left, he couldn't wait to attack Prince Yan's Mansion, resulting in Princess Yan's "one corpse and two lives".
Immediately afterwards, King Yan was separated from the capital and placed in the barren and difficult northern land. In the past eighteen years, he never stopped thinking about taking King Yan's life.
Did the late emperor ever think of all this?
Or maybe that’s what I thought of.
That’s why I left that edict in the hope that if one day comes, there is still the possibility of preventing everything from going to the worst——
But is it really too late?
Just like in the previous life, this edict was buried along with the murder of the eldest princess long ago, and no one even knew of its existence.
It cannot be said that the late emperor's method was too useless, but the situation is always unpredictable, and it seems that it is normal for things in the world to deviate from predictions. A truly exhaustive strategy has always been indispensable for the blessing of luck.
Moreover, no matter what the late emperor did at that time, it was already too late, and the most he could do was to make up for the situation.
Just as her grandfather once said to her, the real mistake of the late emperor was that he did not appoint a prince in time. His wavering attitude nourished the growth of too many ambitions. This was the source of all the bitter fruits.
.
When mentioning this, my grandfather would always let out a long sigh and say, the late emperor was also a man of great talent and strategy, but he had to deal with family affairs and couldn't understand clearly - so when it comes to having children, you really can't have too many complicated children.
Aren’t there enough lessons from the past to the present about the distinction between common people?
"...According to this, the second sister-in-law's death in childbirth may not have anything to do with the emperor's brother." Recalling the old events eighteen years ago, the eldest princess guessed with a chill down her spine.
"Princess Yan's difficulty in giving birth was exactly what the emperor did."
The girl spoke firmly, and the eldest princess looked at her with shocked eyes.
"There is a witness to this matter -" Xu Mingyi then explained Qiao Bingying's matter to him.
The eldest princess's fingers trembled when she heard this.
When the emperor's brother attacked her, she just thought that sitting on the throne for a long time had hardened people's hearts...
But now it seems that a long time ago, from the very beginning, her royal brother never had any human affection in his eyes!
All the benevolence and kindness are just an illusion for the world to see!
Tears flashed in the corners of the eldest princess's eyes, and a sad laughter burst out from her throat: "...if the emperor knew about it, I wonder how he would feel? That imperial edict was passed down to the eldest son of the emperor. I think that even if selfishness is put aside, the emperor will also feel the same.
I have no choice but to do it. At that time, the second brother went on an expedition, and the palace and the capital had already been controlled by the eldest brother... If the father did not issue an order to pass the throne to him, and if he broke his face, there would definitely be a palace coup..."
And many things, once they become clear, are easy for people to ignore. If chaos really breaks out, the courtiers who support the second brother, the Queen Mother, and Prince Yan's Mansion... may all be in disaster.
She knew and believed in her father. The reason why her father chose to suppress all the causes of her death was to stabilize the situation and preserve Prince Yan's palace.
The imperial edict passing the throne was like a comfort, trying to appease the beast that had quietly opened its bloody mouth.
But the appetite of the beast is insatiable!
"My own brother, I grew up with him, and I haven't seen through it yet, let alone my father who has always been indebted to him..." The eldest princess said in a sad and sarcastic tone: "Now that I think about it,
He has always been the best at taking advantage of his father
The emperor's feeling of debt... After his mother died of illness, he became more and more taciturn, which made his father feel more and more guilty. If it weren't for this guilt, how could his qualifications alone make him the second brother in his father's heart?
Same weight?"
Now that she thinks about her eldest brother's filial piety and kindness in those years, and the embarrassing helplessness of the eldest son, she just feels sick!
After his mother passed away, was he really as depressed and pitiful as he seemed?
He was probably just using his mother's death as a show to plan his own escape!
In terms of true love, my father naturally likes the second brother more. The second brother is smart, courageous, capable, upright and wins the hearts of the people——
But her eldest brother always found a way to win over his father's guilt in order to shake his father's judgment.
Every word and action is nothing but calculation!
But both the Queen Mother and the second brother were deceived by his pitiful and taciturn appearance. On the contrary, everyone was taking care of his emotions... How could he be able to defeat him if he was so calculated and unintentional, and treated with kindness and kindness?
?
Hearing the words "feeling of debt", Xu Mingyi sighed slightly.
What did the late emperor think he owed?
Did he marry the Queen Mother and put the woman who had been with him through thick and thin suddenly in an awkward situation?
Or, if the Queen Mother was not there, he would have regarded that woman as his first wife.
But with the Queen Mother, she and her son became inferior beings.
Therefore, the late emperor felt owed, especially after the woman died of illness, and she even died without a title.
This was probably a concern of the late emperor, and the always generous Queen Mother must have seen this in her eyes, so she agreed to the posthumous title.
The late emperor felt guilty, and indeed he should feel guilty for this——
But this is his fault alone.
What did the Queen Mother and her children do wrong?
When he married his first wife, was someone forcing the late emperor to marry him at knifepoint?
The Queen Mother came from a distinguished family, and her whole family spent almost everything they had to help the late Emperor achieve his great cause. The brothers in the Queen Mother’s family also sacrificed their lives to protect the late Emperor——
What did they do wrong?
In the end, because of the late emperor's debt and wavering, the queen mother stayed in the capital as a hostage, and was eventually poisoned and died in her previous life; the first princess of Yan was killed, almost killing two people. Wu Chao never dared to speak out in the Wu family for many years
The true identity of the father and son is that they have not seen each other for eighteen years; King Yan clings to the north alone, suffering from heart disease due to depression, and has to be on guard every day, always feeling like he is on the edge of an abyss.
The late emperor's guilt caused him to die at the hands of his own son, and even further affected the Queen Mother and the Yan family.
This is indeed a benevolent person, but this "benevolence" was given to the wrong person.
Although this cannot deny everything about the late emperor, it is obvious that the late emperor did a lot but also lacked in handling family affairs.
Especially when a person of ordinary origin suddenly ascended to the throne, everything was just a trial and error process, and in the process of trial and error, he chose to mix family affairs with state affairs——
He wants to be a good father.
This can be seen from the edict left behind.
He wanted to balance the situation as much as possible and wanted to save every child.
It was precisely because of the thoughts that an ordinary father would have that he lost his original decisiveness and chose the wrong path.
As a parent, even if the facts are in front of you, you will always find excuses for your children, and you will rarely think that your children are really hopelessly evil. Even if you are killed by your own child, you will still fantasize about what this son will be like in the future.
Maybe the so-called benevolent government will be implemented...
Xu Mingyi was silent for a long time.
In the final analysis, these are all things of the past. How the late Emperor considered it specifically and what kind of mental journey he went through are beyond anyone’s reach. It is difficult for outsiders to say what is right or wrong——
At the moment, the most important thing is stop loss.
And, let the real murderer pay the due price in order to end all mistakes as soon as possible.
"I was so stupid at first that I actually believed that after he got the imperial edict, the second brother would no longer threaten him, and he would no longer kill me or the second brother..."
Princess Jingrong's eyes gradually became cold and decisive: "If someone must disappear completely to stop all this, it should be him."
Xu Mingyi agrees with this statement.
"When do you need me to step forward?" the eldest princess asked.
"Everything is still being arranged. When the time is right, I will inform Your Highness again."
She came here today to persuade the eldest princess, and the current progress was much smoother than she imagined.
This is the best result.
The eldest princess nodded: "Yes, it requires an appropriate time."
The persuasiveness of the imperial edict requires, in addition to the imperial edict itself, the ability to control the overall situation.
Otherwise, it would be equivalent to handing over the trump card early and waiting to be accused of forging a will.
"...Thanks to Miss Xu for arriving in time, I'm not afraid of Miss Xu's jokes. A few days ago, I heard that my third brother was escorted to the capital and that the emperor wanted to punish him for death, so I had already thought about revealing the posthumous edict." said the eldest princess.
: "If another big accident happens, there's no guarantee that I won't take it out rashly."
Xu Mingyi was shocked when he heard this.
"Could it be that—the imperial edict is still in the hands of His Highness?!"
The eldest princess nodded: "Yes."
"Then the one that His Highness led the Emperor to find... was a fake?"
"No, it's true too."
Xu Mingyi was surprised and slowly realized.
Therefore, the late emperor left two identical edicts to the eldest princess!
"My father told me back then that if my brother was aware of the existence of the edict, I would try to hand over one to eliminate his suspicion, and then secretly deliver the other to a trustworthy person." The eldest princess said: "After I became ill,
Although everything is relatively stable, the imperial brother still made people secretly pay attention to the movements of the eldest princess's palace, so I never found a chance to take out another edict."
She is also afraid that if she puts something in the hands of others and shows it too early, its original meaning will be lost.
A thing must be used to its maximum effect to be considered worthwhile.
Because of her cowardly nature, she was able to stay under the suspicion of the emperor for so many years, perhaps just for this day.
Now, she was finally able to hand it over.
"Please also ask Miss Xu to come over -"
Since she still had to wait, in order to prevent another accident from happening, she had to tell the girl in front of her where the treasure was hidden.
Xu Mingyi leaned slightly to listen.
"..."
The eldest princess's voice was very low, only the two of them could hear it.
Xu Mingyi nodded lightly: "Junior has taken note of it."
Princess Yufeng outside the window could not hear it, and she was not very curious about it. The shock of what she heard just now overwhelmed everything.
But these shocking past events are just old events after all, and what she needs to worry about most at the moment seems to be herself.
When she heard that Xu Mingyi had stood up to say goodbye, she hurriedly left the window.
Xu Mingyi walked out and she quickly walked forward to greet him.
"Have you finished? I'll give it to you."
At this time, a voice came out through the window——
"Xie Jiaojiao, why don't you come in?"
There was a hint of laziness in this voice, and the end of the words was faint, but Princess Yufeng heard a roar in her head.
Is this really "back"?!
The big thing hasn't been accomplished yet, why don't you consider... pretending again?
She had a complex look on her face, forced a smile, and replied: "I'll give Zhao Zhao a gift——"
Saying that, he quickly took his friend's arm.
Xu Mingyi gently took her hand and said, "No need, I know the way."
Princess Yufeng's eyes widened - human affairs?
But the person in front of me had an expression of "I'm doing this for your own good".
——The eldest princess is still in the torment of learning the truth about the past for the first time, and she can't think of losing her temper. If she takes the opportunity to comfort her with a few words, she might be able to make up for the evil deeds in the past.
Therefore, Xu Mingyi gave Princess Yufeng a wish-for-blessing look and left ruthlessly.
She didn't know whether Xie Jiaojiao's arm was pinched or her ears were twisted in the yard behind her, but thinking about it, she was destined to not be able to leave unscathed.
…
On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, it snowed heavily in Beijing.
Along with this snow came a report from the north.
Different from the past, this report is not about which city King Yan captured, where the people resisted the conscription, or where food and grass were not dispatched in a timely manner. It was about how King Yan's army had conquered Cangzhou a month ago.
There was no more movement.
This was undoubtedly abnormal for the Yan army, which was so unstoppable along the way and eager to join the Wu army.
Is it not advisable to march in snowy weather?
Stationed in Cangzhou to recuperate?
Or is there another agenda?
You can’t just see the New Year approaching and want to stay in Cangzhou to celebrate the New Year, and then continue playing after the New Year, right? - It doesn’t have to be so ceremonial!
The courtiers had many speculations about this, and Jie Shoufu sent orders to all parts of the north to investigate the matter in detail.
After waiting like this for another ten days, there was still no movement from King Yan's army, and a new secret message had been sent back.
"..."
In the cabinet, all the ministers were astonished by the contents of the letter.
