The morning after Ding Yun became the Imperial Crown Princess.
Prince Ning left a substitute to impersonate him, then he himself departed the imperial capital through secret channels, heading directly for Luoyang, the secondary capital located in the west.
The Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty was vast, so in addition to the imperial capital, four secondary capitals were established, situated at the cardinal directions relative to the imperial capital's center. To be precise, the imperial capital was at the center, and if the empire were divided into four sections from this center, the four secondary capitals would be at the center of each of these sections.
Since territories could not be guaranteed to be perfectly round or square, the so-called central positions were approximate, not absolute geographical centers.
These four secondary capitals held considerable status.
They were empowered to establish local mini-courts.
This was not a mistake; the four secondary capitals of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty were qualified to establish local mini-courts and manage civil affairs.
Many remote and economically underdeveloped areas were placed under the jurisdiction of the secondary capitals. These regions were not of great concern to the imperial capital, so most matters were left to the princes of the secondary capitals to handle. Only in major events like foreign invasions, natural disasters, or civil unrest did the secondary capitals have to report to the imperial capital.
The imperial capital would then intervene and investigate.
Assistance would be provided if needed. If civil unrest was caused by officials within the mini-court of a secondary capital,
they would naturally be rigorously investigated and brought to justice.
The four secondary capitals were situated in the four cardinal directions. The Eastern Capital, Huaihai Commandery, was guarded by the Prince of Zhen Dong. The Southern Capital, Minyang Commandery, was guarded by the Prince of Zhen Nan. The Northern Capital, Jihuai Commandery, was guarded by the Prince of Zhen Bei. The Western Capital, Luoyang Commandery, was guarded by the Prince of Zhen Xi. These four princes were the only ones in the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty with military power, political authority, and even their own territories.
Their territories were the commanderies where the secondary capitals were located.
However, these four princes did not inherit their positions through heredity.
All members of the imperial clan who reached the Martial Saint level were eligible to compete for the positions of these four princes, whether they were direct descendants or collateral branches. Regardless of how diluted their bloodline was, as long as they were of the imperial clan and bore the surname Zhou, they were eligible to compete. The victor became the prince, and the loser forfeited everything, with no repercussions even if they died.
Outsiders were not permitted to assist during challenges.
The two would duel directly on the combat stage.
While brutal, this practice did, to a certain extent, inspire those who were not qualified to inherit the throne and whose descendants were on the verge of becoming commoners. It fostered a spirit of self-reliance, confidence, and vigorous pursuit of martial arts excellence among ordinary imperial clan members.
It provided them with an opportunity to compete for positions.
This was equivalent to achieving a degree of social mobility within the imperial clan, preventing some declining imperial families from becoming utterly stagnant due to the lack of any possibility for status improvement.
Perhaps because the imperial capital had always maintained a strong force and methods, and these four princes with real power also had to cultivate diligently to prevent themselves from being overthrown, the four secondary capitals and their princes of real power had remained relatively stable for over six hundred years since the founding of the dynasty.
Until the imperial capital's attempted coup over a decade ago.
After the great battle, the imperial capital's strength was greatly depleted, and its control over the four secondary capitals was relatively weakened.
In the years since, although the four secondary capitals had maintained superficial stability and respect, it was impossible to say they harbored no ambitions. After all, many people were never satisfied.
What was more comfortable than being a diligent, fearful prince, constantly in danger of being killed and replaced, than being the master of the imperial dynasty? Since the four princes with real power in the imperial dynasty could compete for their positions, why couldn't the emperor?
Were they not all descendants of the founding ancestor!
Of course, this was merely speculation by some royal princes. Whether it was the truth was hard to say, as the four princes with real power appeared quite placid for now.
News of the establishment of the Imperial Crown Princess reached them.
None of them submitted a memorial to object.
However, Prince Ning, through the Martial Saint eunuch Xu Taiwei, whom he had urgently sent out of the imperial capital, had definitively investigated the Prince of Zhen Xi in Luoyang Commandery. He was far from being as outwardly placid as he appeared. Not only had he secretly trained a private army far exceeding specifications, but he had also contacted many collateral branches of the imperial clan who, though not direct descendants, were powerful and not weak.
It seemed they had reached some cooperative agreement.
Upon discovering these circumstances, Prince Ning felt a sense of smugness at having caught the Prince of Zhen Xi's leverage. He eagerly, and secretly, rushed to Luoyang Commandery. After meeting with Martial Saint Xu Taiwei, he instructed Xu Taiwei to use his token to represent him and negotiate confidential matters with the Prince of Zhen Xi.
In essence, this was a negotiation for a rebellion and a coup.
There was no other way; the secret treasure he possessed could not support real-time communication with Xu Taiwei, who was in Luoyang Commandery, while he was in the imperial capital. Discussing matters as critical as rebellion and a coup, which were close to treason, was best kept between as few people as possible. Moreover, making multiple trips back and forth to relay messages during discussions would be too time-consuming and prone to leaks.
To achieve his dream as soon as possible,
he had no choice but to risk it and personally travel to Luoyang Commandery, then use the secret treasure to contact Xu Taiwei privately and remotely direct Xu Taiwei to negotiate with the Prince of Zhen Xi.
Following this was, naturally, a meeting.
And secret discussions.
Although the entire process involved Xu Taiwei communicating with the Prince of Zhen Xi, Xu Taiwei himself had no personal agenda. He was purely a conduit for the secret treasure, relaying the Prince of Zhen Xi's words to Prince Ning and then conveying Prince Ning's responses back to the Prince of Zhen Xi. At most, he was a human telephone.
A definite tool.
Prince Ning's general message was that Emperor Gan Yu's act of establishing the Imperial Crown Princess was purely selfish, disregarding the common people and treating the entire Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty as his personal possession. This was detestable, and if not stopped immediately,
the future would inevitably descend into chaos.
He hoped for mutual cooperation and benefit.
Finally, he specifically instructed Xu Taiwei to convey that if he or his descendants successfully ascended to the throne, he would swear to guarantee hereditary succession for the Prince of Zhen Xi's position and abolish the current, highly unreasonable system of competitive selection, thereby saving him from the danger of being killed.
"Prince Ning, are you too self-important and lacking in sincerity? Do you think I've never seen a communication jade talisman? You don't even have the courage to come and negotiate this matter with me face-to-face, yet you have the audacity to propose how things will be if you ascend.
Do you perhaps think that if I succeed,
I won't be able to obtain the benefits you've promised?
And you only mention what you want me to do to help you; you don't mention how much strength you can contribute or how much help you can provide. Am I foolish, or are you stupid!"
The Prince of Zhen Xi was speaking with a sarcastic smile. It was ridiculous. A prince with no real power, no territory, and at most a closer blood relation to Emperor Gan Yu, was coming to him to propose cooperation, with the terms being to help him ascend to the throne and then receive benefits. This trick would be hard-pressed to fool a child.
Truly worthy of being called a waste, confined within the imperial capital since birth and forbidden from leaving, naively laughable.