0p0 Chapter 454: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 58
Chapter 454: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 58
After Nian Shilan and the others left, the group of people in the distance rode over here on horseback. When the leading man saw Prince Guo, he immediately dismounted and bowed, "Your Majesty, I am late."
Prince Guo shook his head and did not blame him. The man stood up and looked up. It turned out to be Prince Guo's personal servant, A Jin. It was rumored that before the late emperor passed away, he gave half of the Dragon Guard's driving tokens to Prince Guo's biological mother, the former Concubine Shu, to protect his beloved woman and son.
This is exactly why the Emperor and the Empress Dowager are so wary of Prince Guo. Even though Concubine Shu has already retreated to Qingliang Terrace, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor still cannot rest assured. Not only are they constantly testing him, but they are also naturally monitoring him in secret.
If it weren't for the fact that Prince Guo always showed a love for traveling and had no desire for power, and if Concubine Shu had not stayed obediently in Qingliang Terrace to practice meditation, Prince Guo and his mother would have been dealt with by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor long ago.
"Have you found out what the Nian family is doing?"
Prince Guo pays attention to Nian Shilan's movements. On the one hand, it is indeed because he admires Nian Shilan, but more importantly, he wants to obtain the secrets of the Nian family and seek the cooperation of the Nian family.
"I am incompetent. I only found out that the Nian family has been secretly planning and bribing court officials since the beginning of the decade, but I don't know the specific reason."
As the leader of the Dragon Guard, Ah Jin naturally knew what Prince Guo wanted them to investigate, but unfortunately after spending more than a year, the Dragon Guard still could not find out the true purpose of the Nian family.
Even if they arranged spies to get close to the Nian family, it would not work. Either they would be discovered and completely lose contact with them, or they would succumb to temptation and be turned against them. No one knew what benefits the Nian family had given those people, and no matter how they bribed them, they would not be able to successfully pry open their mouths.
"No matter what the Nian family's motives are, if the emperor knows about their behavior of bribing officials, they will inevitably be charged with forming a clique for personal gain."
If Nian Gengyao had not returned the military power at this time, Prince Guo might have boldly speculated that the Nian family had rebellious intentions and had started planning for rebellion more than ten years ago. However, Nian Gengyao has been unemployed at home for a long time, and even traveled abroad with his eldest son. He has no contact with any powerful officials in the capital.
"Then should we disclose the affairs of the Nian family to the emperor?"
When A Jin came here just now, he saw Nian Shilan and others riding away on horses from afar. When he saw Prince Guo's expression, A Jin guessed that his prince's plan to cooperate with the Imperial Concubine had failed.
Now that the Nian family is no longer a help to them, I wonder if the prince will tell the emperor about this and use the merit of overthrowing the Nian family to exchange for the emperor's trust and the right to attend court?
"There is no rush for this matter. The King has his own plans."
When the late emperor passed away, Concubine Shu and Prince Guo were still relatively young and inexperienced. Even if they controlled half of the Dragon Guards, they could not defeat the Empress Dowager and the Emperor and their son. However, as Concubine Shu and the most beloved prince, who were the late emperor's favorites in his old age, it was really unwilling for them to just surrender in such an ignominious manner.
For this reason, after discussing with Prince Guo, Concubine Shu planned to let her son ascend the throne by confusing the emperor's bloodline. For this reason, Prince Guo had been refusing to get married, waiting for the emperor to select his concubines and then have an affair with them to confuse the royal heir.
Originally, the candidate that Prince Guo had his eyes on was Concubine Wan Zhen Huan. One reason was that Zhen Huan looked 50% like Empress Chun Yuan and would definitely be favored after entering the palace. The other reason was that Concubine Shu had connections with the Zhen family.
Zhen Huan's father Zhen Yuandao once had a concubine, He Mianmian, who was a cousin of Concubine Shu. He Mianmian, the daughter of a criminal, gave birth to an illegitimate daughter with Zhen Yuandao. Zhen Yuandao, as an imperial censor, not only took the daughter of a criminal as his concubine, but also made her a maid and asked the illegitimate daughter to be a maid for the legitimate daughter. Concubine Shu had the leverage over Zhen Yuandao, so naturally she had a way to make Zhen Huan obedient.
Everything was originally planned well, and Prince Guo also understood Zhen Huan's personality. However, Prince Guo was love-minded, and after meeting Nian Shilan, he completely forgot about Zhen Huan.
He wanted to change the candidate, but he had no chance to get close to Nian Shilan before. He tried to attract Nian Shilan but was driven away because of playing the flute in the middle of the night, which made Prince Guo very frustrated.
He has been flirting with everyone for so many years, no matter if it was a palace maid or a daughter of an official, there was almost no woman he could not handle. It was not until he met Nian Shilan that he realized that his previous methods were not enough.
If he had not discovered Nian Shilan's secret by following her later, and had barely gained some evidence against the Nian family after investigation, he would not have dared to meet Nian Shilan casually.
If possible, Prince Guo still wanted to achieve his goal peacefully. If the Nian family's plan was to give birth to a prince to win the throne, perhaps he could have a frank talk with the Royal Concubine about the matter of "cooperation".
"Ah Jin, do you think the rumor that the Imperial Concubine is deeply in love with my brother is true or false?"
When Prince Guo mentioned this rumor, he couldn't help but think of the cold look the Imperial Concubine gave the Emperor on the night of the New Year's Banquet. He was feeling a little happy, but then he remembered the murderous look Nian Shilan gave him, and asked A Jin somewhat unwillingly.
"This? Your subordinate..."
"I have no experience and cannot tell. But since everyone says so, it must be true, right?"
Ah Jin gave an uncertain answer, and Prince Guo was very unhappy after hearing it. He denied it, "No, it's definitely not true. Rumors are just rumors!"
Humph, he didn't believe that he couldn't compare to the emperor. He was more handsome than the emperor, younger than the emperor, and more loyal than the emperor. The imperial concubine was about the same age as himself. When she stood with the emperor, they looked like father and daughter. When she was with him, they looked like a perfect couple!
Nian Shilan rushed back to the palace when it was almost dawn. Fortunately, the guards guarding the palace gate had already been replaced by Nian Shilan, so she and Songzhi were not discovered.
After returning to the palace, Songzhi could finally express her dissatisfaction that she had been holding back all the way. She pulled Baicao aside and complained about Prince Guo's behavior. She blamed him for blocking their way and delaying their return to the palace, and scolded him for being shameless and coveting the beauty of the empress. Finally, she planned to send someone to kill Prince Guo directly.
Nian Shilan did not stop Songzhi's behavior. She listened with great interest while thinking about Prince Guo's "abnormality".
There are different opinions on whether the feelings of Prince Guo towards Zhen Huan in "The Legend of Zhen Huan" are calculated or true. However, Nian Shilan is more inclined to believe that it is a combination of the two, that is, it was calculated at the beginning and turned into true love in the end.
In the previous few rebirths, Shi Lan and Prince Guo did not have much interaction. Only in the life when she was An Lingrong did she replace Zhen Huan's plot and had a prince with Prince Guo. Judging from Prince Guo's attitude of supporting his child to ascend to the throne, he was definitely not the kind of person who truly respected the emperor.
But judging from the fact that he focused on one person later, he was not the type who was completely obsessed with scheming, so Nian Shilan believed that Prince Guo would most likely remain the same in this life.
"It seems that he investigated the Nian family in order to get leverage over them."
Nian Shilan believed that in the absence of "love between men and women", if Prince Guo wanted to be as successful as An Lingrong in her previous life, he would have to get the bargaining chip that would make the Nian family cooperate. Obviously, he investigated the secrets of the Nian family just for that bargaining chip.