Three days had pa*sed since the previous Tong Shen Realm battle in the Imperial City.
When the powerful families who had gone out to escape the disaster returned, they only saw that nearly half of the inner city was covered with debris, even the Imperial City had collapsed by half, that scene was simply shocking.
There were also corpses of Jianghu people strewn everywhere. All these people who were watching the fun ended up paying with their lives for the fun.
But it was good that not many residents of the Divine Capital City died. Not many people had the guts to run from the outer city, which is far from the centre, to the Imperial City, as the area near the Imperial City is where the rich and powerful live.
The collapse of the buildings was only a minor matter, but the real event was that the Emperor of Northern Zhou was seriously ill and had appointed three princes to oversee the imperial government.
Among these three sons, there is the eldest prince, Feng Guan Yu, the eighth prince, Feng Qiwu, and the ninth prince, Feng Jiu, but there is no sixth prince, Feng Chaonan. This is a bit interesting, even the unpopular Feng Jiu can become the supervising prince, but the sixth prince Feng Chaonan is not.
It is said that in recent days, the Sixth Prince has been on a rampage, killing more than ten of his attendants.
“The Sixth Prince, Feng Chaonan, is actually the most emperor-like of the many imperial sons.” Inside one of the palaces in the imperial palace, Qing Yu said to Feng Jiu.
“The word Chaonan represents the emperor’s greatest ambition, which shows how much the emperor once loved Feng Chaonan, the son who most closely resembles himself.
But it was also the most resemblance that made the emperor gradually alienate the sixth prince afterwards. After all, the emperor himself knows what kind of man he is, and who would like a man who is so deep-rooted that he would kill his own family for power, especially when that man’s most desired throne of power is right under his own a*s? And it is expected that this throne will remain in place for decades or centuries.
So the two most similar fathers and sons are destined to be estranged from each other, to the point of being hostile.”
“But the Sixth Prince is powerful and has the support of the Si family, and his strength is the strongest among the emperors, so if Father does not choose him as the overseeing prince, he is cutting off the possibility of him succeeding as emperor, and he is afraid that he will be resentful.” Feng Jiu said.
“A resentful heart is for sure,” Qing Yu said with a light smile, “I think the Sixth Prince even has the heart to rebel and force the palace now. See, it’s because of his nature that the emperor won’t choose him to be the overseeing prince. If he had been chosen to be the overseeing prince, he might not even need four years to decide on the crown prince in a year, after he really got a taste of presiding over the court. The price for this, of course, would be the death of all the remaining princes who wanted to compete for the throne.”
“Choosing you, the First Prince and the Eighth Prince as the overseeing prince will be just the right thing to balance the current situation. The eldest prince and the eighth prince are from the same mother, both born to the Empress, and are the eldest sons, so it would be logical for them to become the crown prince, but because the eldest prince is a poor martial artist and a mediocre writer, he is unable to achieve anything in literature or martial arts, which is why the crown prince position is still pending. But after all, he is the one who can best represent the court.
You are the only prince who stands for the Shanhe Academy and is highly regarded by the Academy. At a time when the Zen Sect is like the Northern Zhou, you are the one who can stabilise the Confucian Sect’s dissent.
As for the eighth prince, caught between the academy and the emperor, both sides value him, but it is difficult for either side to give him the burden, just so he can act as a balancing act and grind both sides together.”
“So it seems that I have a great advantage.” After listening to Qing Yu’s analysis, Feng Jiu smiled and said.
It was a big advantage. The eldest prince was only able to squeeze in as the overseeing prince by occupying the position of the first eldest son, the first eldest son’s advantage was actually the smallest instead. If the first son was useful, why would the crown prince’s position still be up in the air?
The eighth prince is, to put it bluntly, a wallflower. He has been hovering between the emperor and the Mountain River Academy, saying that he is neutral but actually wavering. Some lecturers in the academy had already been discontented with him, and after Feng Jiu took the academy’s side in a clear-cut manner, the scope of discontent rapidly expanded.
Feng Jiu, on the side of the academy, was certainly subject to the hostility of the royal family, but even if he did not stand on the side of the academy, as a concubine son born of a palace maid, he would still be subject to hostility.
Moreover, the academy was already the strongest in Northern Zhou, and after Feng Tianming was seriously injured, there were many places to rely on the academy. At least, without the academy, the Golden Wolf Khanate might have already fought over.
So Feng Jiu felt that he had a big advantage, and that if he survived the four years, the emperor’s throne would be his.
“It’s not good to just think about boiling, usually what happens when you boil yourself up so hard is that you end up boiling yourself to death.” Qing Yu saw Feng Jiu’s intention and said, “Four years is too large a time frame to operate in, if you only think about surviving the four years without doing anything, you will definitely be among those who fail in the end.”
“After all, the academy is not good enough to directly interfere with political affairs, and you have no army or power, and you don’t have much of a party in the court, if you want to become the final victor with this so-called selection of the best for the crown prince, you’re basically dreaming.”
Besides ——
This person, the Grand Prince, is by no means simple.
This sentence, Qing Yu did not say.
Last time at the Rakugo Festival banquet, although it was only a shocking glimpse, Qing Yu’s “Heavenly Son Lookout Technique” could still see that the Grand Prince possessed profound merit.
This was completely at odds with the Grand Prince’s usual persona. I thought it was said that the Grand Prince had no talent for martial arts.
Moreover, the eldest prince did not seem to resent the loss of his position as crown prince, and he had a good relationship with his many brothers, but from the information that Yun Wuyue had recently handed over, the eldest prince had never broken his mind about the throne.
Doesn’t this practice of hiding one’s light in the dark look familiar? That’s right, it’s what Feng Jiu has been doing all along. Seemingly having no thoughts about the throne, but in reality quietly plotting all the time.
“Then what should I do?” Feng Jiu asked.
“The Sixth Prince should be very impatient right now.” Qing Yu said in reply.
“Hmm?” Feng Jiu was puzzled.
“You go and show the Sixth Prince that you have no ambition and only want to be a man of learning, for the sake of ‘Hao Rang Zheng Qi’, he will believe you, and your actions have always shown that you have no ambition for the throne. But this is not enough, you have to find a way to push your position as the overseeing prince to the sixth prince.” Qing Yu said.
“Push it to the sixth prince?”
Feng Jiu was also a person with a sharp mind, and combined with what Qing Yu had said earlier, she immediately thought of Qing Yu’s plan, “You want the Sixth Prince to clear out the other contenders?”
“A very suitable knife, isn’t it? When the time comes, all we need to do is deal with the Sixth Prince.” Qing Yu laughed, “Four years is too long, we’re only fighting for the night.”
But before that, there was one more thing that had to be resolved, and that was the tracking of the heavenly machines over at Mount Longhu.
After the Great War of Northern Zhou, the confusing celestial planes had begun to clear up, and the people from the Destiny Altar invited by Mount Longhu should have started to measure Gong Zi Yu’s whereabouts.
