Chapter 1 Evening

Tonight, Marquis Zheng didn't stay at Little Sixth's Prince's mansion; instead, he came out.

Well,

after all, he's now a man who owns property in the capital.

He rode in Little Sixth's carriage, driven by one of Zheng Fan's men.

The Sword Saint sat in the carriage, eyes closed.

Marquis Zheng placed his hands on the hand warmer Little Sixth usually used in the carriage and said,

"How does it feel?"

Choosing the heir apparent in a roast duck restaurant; have you ever seen anything so absurd?

The Sword Saint still had his eyes closed, not speaking, only gently patting the scabbard of Long Yuan.

He'd personally experienced even more absurd things.

His son sent someone to borrow his sword, and the one he killed was his own father.

In an instant,

Zheng Fan understood and smiled.

The Sword Saint then smiled as well.

Marquis Zheng then rummaged under the seat in the carriage and found a snuff bottle. After hesitating for a moment, he didn't use it but instead put it in his pocket.

He continued rummaging, finding some incense. According to the principle of "if you don't use it, it's a waste if it expires," he tossed it into the small charcoal brazier in front of him to burn.

"So, in your opinion, these princes of my Great Yan are not bad."

At least, they haven't committed regicide or rebellion.

The Sword Saint shook his head and said, "The main thing is that the Emperor of Yan is far, far more formidable than the old Patriarch of the Si Tu family; there's simply no comparison."

The reason why the old Patriarch of the Si Tu family was killed by Si Tu Lei

was that Si Tu Lei had already nearly controlled most of the political situation and had exiled his two older brothers to Xue Hai Pass.

At that time,

everyone in the Si Tu family had tacitly agreed that Si Tu Lei would be the next successor. Even the old Patriarch himself had tacitly agreed.

After all, they were all his sons.

This was probably the awkwardness of the delicate relationship when ruler and subject and father and son were fused together.

When the transfer of power was tacitly agreed upon, the son replacing the father was an inevitable result, and everyone was already prepared to accept this result. Therefore, not many people would care about the process.

"Yes, if Ji Lao Liu and the Crown Prince were to switch places, if he had been the Regent for so long, I even think it would be hard to say whether His Majesty could ever return to his study from the back garden."

"I have indeed heard that the Sixth Prince of Great Yan has the name of a God of Wealth, and I also know that in the beginning, he seemed to have funded you, but I haven't seen the kind of special quality you speak of."

"It's just like you. When you're not out, you're feeding chickens and ducks at home, and Long Yuan is used to prop up the table leg."

"Alright, then I'll wait and see."

At this moment,

another carriage came from the opposite direction.

This was the inner city of Yan Jing, where high-ranking officials and nobles lived.

Little Sixth's Prince's mansion, Jing Nan King's mansion, and Zheng Fan's Marquis mansion were all in this area.

Here, having luxurious carriages was normal, but it was rare for traffic jams to occur.

In the first place, from a distance, the coachman or accompanying servant would already know whose carriage it was, the rank of the official, the seniority, the title of nobility, and the popularity. Those who should yield would have already yielded.

If they had to butt heads,

to put it bluntly,

high-ranking officials and nobles had their own places to butt heads. Putting on a show like monkeys in front of the common people outside would be a loss of decorum.

Therefore, in reality, situations where carriages faced each other and refused to give way almost never happened. Even if they did, it was probably because they knew each other well and were deliberately coming over to say hello.

"Whose carriage is it?" Zheng Fan asked the personal guard driving the carriage.

"Reporting to the Marquis, it seems to be the Prime Minister's carriage."

The Prime Minister's mansion?

Zheng Fan said, "Let's move aside or take another route."

The Sword Saint looked at Zheng Fan with some curiosity. "This doesn't seem like your style."

"I'm just too lazy to make a fuss."

"The Prime Minister doesn't seem like he's looking for trouble with you either," the Sword Saint added.

"I'm too lazy to exchange pleasantries."

"May I ask, is that the Marquis of Pingxi ahead?"

Because Zheng Fan was riding in Little Sixth's carriage, the other party asked this question.

Sitting in the carriage, Zheng Fan said:

"Say it's a family member of the Prince's mansion, it's inconvenient."

The personal guard driving the carriage shouted:

"This is a relative of our Prince; it's inconvenient to receive guests."

"In that case, I have been presumptuous. I apologize to the Prince's mansion."

The messenger went back.

The Sword Saint became even more interested and said:

"Has it come to this?"

Zheng Fan turned his head slightly, lifted the curtain, and looked at the Prime Minister's carriage gradually moving away after passing by.

"Old Brother."

"Speak."

"Can you sense how many experts are protecting the Prime Minister's carriage, front and back?"

"I can strike that carriage with my sword right now, and then you'll have your answer."

"Don't, don't, I'm just asking."

"Heh heh, what do you mean by asking this question?"

"Aren't I always timid and afraid of death? I just want to see if others are like me," Zheng Fan explained.

"No," the Sword Saint denied. "You're lying to me."

"Brother, you're not as easy to fool as you used to be."

"Is that praise or… sarcasm?"

"Hahaha." Marquis Zheng laughed.

"You want to kill Zhao Jiu Lang."

"No, no."

"You just want to kill him. When you're not acting, especially when you're with people you trust, your emotions are very clear."

"Am I crazy? As a Marquis of Great Yan, why would I kill the Prime Minister of Great Yan?"

Hearing this, the Sword Saint helped to add: "And in Yan Jing City."

Zheng Fan shook his head and picked up the hand warmer again. "Great Yan has always had two secret agencies, one overt and one covert. The overt one is the Secret Intelligence Division, which you should know.

But because the Secret Intelligence Division is too overt, to the point where the ruler isn't very confident in this agency, there's also a covert one.

This covert agency

is controlled by Old Master Lu's family, who is now the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, His Majesty's milk brother.

This is something Ji Lao Liu told me a long time ago. Therefore, when his wife, Miss He, got married, her family chose to be in the Lu family. His eldest son, Ji Chuanye, is now being raised by the Old Madam Lu, who is also the Consort Fengxin, with the beautiful name of fearing that the Old Madam is lonely."

"How did it get back to him again?"

"Logically speaking, the Prime Minister doesn't have any direct agencies besides the Grand Secretariat."

"It seems that's the case."

"But our Prime Minister and His Majesty are just like Sun Youdao and Si Tu Lei, or even more unusual.

From the Prince's mansion to the Crown Prince's Palace to becoming Prime Minister.

Over the years, although he has been doing things according to His Majesty's will, how many people has he promoted and how many people has he placed in that position, from twenty years ago until now?

Why do the Prime Ministers of Qian State resign and change every now and then?

Because the Prime Minister's position is too easy to become deeply entrenched if held for too long.

He doesn't control the Secret Intelligence Division,

but there must be people in the Secret Intelligence Division who are his, and even in that Secret Agency of Young Master Lu's, there must be his people.

In the court, his people are actually more numerous;

more than the Sixth Prince's faction, more than the Crown Prince's faction, because many of his people are wearing the names of the Sixth Prince's faction and the Crown Prince's faction.

To a certain extent, the Prime Minister, like Wei Zhonghe, is the first point of dissemination of the Emperor's power."

The Sword Saint reached out and rubbed his eyebrows.

"It's giving me a headache to listen to."

People of the martial world aren't suited to hear this.

"But the Prime Minister isn't the same as Wei Zhonghe. Wei Zhonghe is one emperor, one courtier. The Grand Eunuch in the palace is the Emperor's confidant, while the Prime Minister is the inheritor of the Emperor's will, which is the national policy. This kind of inheritance is, to a certain extent, more reliable than the princes."

"I understand that. It's the difference between direct bloodlines and the successors of one's teachings."

"Yes."

"So what? You've said so much, and you've said so much to me, what's the purpose? In fact, you shouldn't have said these words to me in the first place. Or rather, you're actually saying it to yourself.

Otherwise,

I might as well get out of the carriage now and stab him while the Prime Minister's carriage hasn't gone far, right?"

"He's a cornerstone of Great Yan, and I'm also a pillar of Great Yan. How could we possibly kill each other?"

The Sword Saint closed his eyes, too lazy to listen anymore.

The carriage

continued to move forward.

After a long silence,

Zheng Fan spoke again:

"Actually, killing him isn't difficult, is it? For example, like the situation earlier, not at his home, but on the street."

With the Sword Saint around,

assassinating anyone was possible.

Of course, not everyone in this world could afford to use the Sword Saint as an assassin.

The Sword Saint sighed

and said:

"Confirm that he's in the carriage, and if I strike, I have an 80% chance of succeeding."

That was already very, very high.

After all, no one knew which experts were around the Prime Minister, but there definitely were some.

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "Not enough."

Marquis Zheng began to count on his fingers.

He said;

"Xu Chuang, I brought him. A'Ming also brought his blood bag."

But,

it still didn't seem enough.

Assassination, even if it was 99% certain, lacking even a little bit would be a failure.

Most importantly,

in the capital,

the Prime Minister was shrouded in imperial power.

To a certain extent, the Princess dared to get a hothead and send someone to kill Ji Lao Liu back then, but she might not dare to send someone to kill Zhao Jiu Lang.

One was the Emperor's son. Before entering the Eastern Palace, princes, no matter how outstanding, were consumables. On this point, the Yan Emperor had already given an actual explanation.

"Actually, I don't think the problem should lie here." The Sword Saint looked at Zheng Fan. "As you said, the Prime Minister's position is transcendent. Perhaps it's because he's facing the truly brilliant and ambitious Yan Emperor that his light has been obscured.

But in the capital, he's practically invulnerable.

And, most importantly…"

"Say it."

"The most important thing isn't how many experts are protecting him, or how many experts you have available. Although I roam the martial world, if you want to kill the Prime Minister…"

"I don't want to kill the Prime Minister; I'm just giving an example."

"Alright, you want to kill an existence with a similar status to the Prime Minister. In the martial world, that would be breaking the rules.

People of the martial world value quick gratification of grievances, swords and blades are like dreams, while the imperial court values rules and appearances.

You definitely see this more clearly than I do.

The simplest method is not to pile up experts. You can directly mobilize troops like you did in Yingdu. You can mobilize troops even without the Jing Nan King's token on you, let alone the fact that the Jing Nan King's token is now on you.

Outside the capital, there are 10,000 Jing Nan troops stationed there.

Oh, you definitely won't do that, because that would break the rules even more than the martial world method. It would be like completely overturning the chessboard and scattering the pieces all over the ground."

"Yes, but you haven't said the most important thing."

"The most important thing is that Tian Wu Jing is in the capital. Just that one thing alone makes it impossible for you to kill the Prime Minister."

"Not the Prime Minister."

"Alright, someone with the same status as the Prime Minister." The Sword Saint smiled. "Success or failure aside, if the Prime Minister is really as important to this Great Yan as you say,

afterward, the first person to twist off your head will be Tian Wu Jing.

Don't take Tian Wu Jing's care for you as limitless.

The main reason he treats you like a younger brother is that you haven't crossed that line.

You have to know that

he has contributed his entire clan, contributed his wife, and contributed the opportunity to meet his son.

He definitely wouldn't be willing to kill you,

but if you cross that line…"

The Sword Saint shook his head

and said:

"Are you trying to immediately find me an opportunity to compete with Tian Wu Jing and get back at him?"

Zheng Fan shook his head, but then nodded.

"Here it comes again, here it comes again. You always deliberately show this kind of meaningful expression. Really, every time I see this kind of expression, I feel Long Yuan trembling."

Marquis Zheng let out a long sigh

and said:

"Everything has only just begun. What's the rush?"

At this moment,

Xue San's voice came from outside the carriage:

"Master."

"San'er, what's wrong?"

Xue San got into the carriage.

The Sword Saint was surprised to find that Xue San was wearing beggar's clothes today.

Very realistic, a veritable dwarf beggar;

He was also carrying a broken bowl with quite a few copper coins inside, much thicker than the red envelopes that Marquis Zheng had given to Ji Lao Liu's two children earlier.

But what the Sword Saint cared about was,

what was he doing with this getup?

He had just talked with him about assassination,

so,

was this Third Master of the Marquis' mansion

scouting the location?

"Master, Fourth Mistress asked me to inform you that the Prince of Jin's mansion has sent someone to invite you to a banquet."

"The Prince of Jin's mansion?"

"Yes."

Zheng Fan subconsciously looked at the Sword Saint.

The Sword Saint didn't say anything.

The last time he entered the capital, Zheng Fan had gone to the Prince of Jin's mansion;

but he didn't see the Prince of Jin, Yu Ci Ming, only the Empress Dowager Jin. Yu Ci Ming was said to be performing some kind of ritual at the ancestral temple at that time. Zheng Fan really forgot what it was specifically, whether it was true or false, but he only remembered that the Empress Dowager was becoming more and more attractive.

The Prince of Ren's mansion sent someone to the current Marquis of Pingxi's mansion to invite people.

Fourth Mistress didn't come herself but instead sent Xue San, who was currently scouting the location, to notify him. This was obviously a thoughtful move, so that it wouldn't be inconvenient for her Master to have an affair when she was around.

Perhaps, Fourth Mistress was even thinking that princesses and princesses were not challenging enough, and a Empress Dowager would be more interesting.

"Should I go or not?" Zheng A'Man sought the Sword Saint's opinion.

"Go and take a look," the Sword Saint said.

He had already let go of what he should have let go of, so taking a look wouldn't matter.

Zheng Fan said to Xue San: "Go back and tell Fourth Mistress that I will accompany the Sword Saint to the banquet at the Prince of Jin's mansion."

"Yes, Master."

Xue San sniffed and then said, "There's some kind of smell."

As he said that,

Xue San squatted down and took out a brocade box, opened it, and inside were many bottles and jars and pills.

"Oh ho."

"What's wrong? These are some Qi-boosting medicinal ingredients sent by the Sixth Prince."

"Master, you're lacking in this? Just tell me, San'er, don't you trust my skills?"

"Isn't this a tonic?"

"It is a tonic, a very potent tonic. This one, this one, and this one are for women, and this one and this one are for men."

"Tiger and wolf medicine?"

Xue San shook his head: "No, no, not really. In short, the ingredients in these medicines aren't for aphrodisiac purposes, but they can help with conception."

"Heh."

Marquis Zheng once again felt the smugness from Ji Lao Liu.

"These medicinal ingredients are quite good, quite precious. Even if this subordinate wanted to concoct them, it would be quite difficult to gather the materials. This Sixth Prince has capable people under him; ordinary people don't have this level of skill."

"Alright, alright, just help me take them back."

"Yes, Master."

Xue San hugged the brocade box and went back.

Zheng Fan then signaled the carriage to head towards the Prince of Jin's mansion.

………

At the same time,

the Crown Prince's Palace;

"Your Highness, it's time to take action. The situation is already very clear. The two Princes don't intend to interfere, nor are they willing to interfere. What they want may just be a lively show."

A middle-aged scholar knelt before the Crown Prince, advising him.

But the Crown Prince

was still sitting in his chair, in his hand, stroking two shoe patterns.

During the years when his mother was insane, she would occasionally be lucid.

She would make shoe patterns,

saying that she was making a pair of shoes for her son and her younger brother, one pair for each.

His mother was skilled.

It was just a pity that

these shoes had never really been made.

When she was lucid, she would be making them, but when she was muddleheaded, she would crazily cut and tear the almost finished shoes with scissors.

"Your Highness!"

"Mr. Zhu." The Crown Prince looked at the middle-aged scholar with some exhaustion in his eyes.

This Mr. Zhu, named Zi Cong, was well-versed in both literary and martial matters and was currently the number one strategist in the Crown Prince's Palace.

Back then, Ji Lao Liu had even been alarmed to investigate whether some capable person had been added to the Crown Prince's side. It was actually this Mr. Zhu.

"Your Highness, it's time to make a decision. If we continue to stand still this time, it will be useless. This time, His Majesty will no longer step in!

This subject has even smelled the killing intent coming from the Sixth Prince's mansion.

This is the Sixth Prince's last chance; he will definitely not give it up."

The Crown Prince nodded slightly.

"Your Highness, the First Prince will return tomorrow. Will Your Highness go to welcome him?"

The Crown Prince shook his head. "Elder Brother is one of Sixth Brother's people."

"The First Prince may support the Sixth Prince, but the First Prince can only be like that Marquis of Pingxi; they actually can't do anything. Your Highness, you should go tomorrow."

"I, won't go." The Crown Prince shook his head.

Mr. Zhu was silent,

and could only say:

"There will be a banquet in the palace tomorrow, and His Majesty will definitely hold a grand court assembly the day after tomorrow. This subject believes that the Sixth Prince will definitely launch an attack before the grand court assembly."

"Mm."

The Crown Prince responded.

"Your Highness, no matter what, you must hold on during the grand court assembly."

"I know."

"Your Highness, please think of the ten thousand people of Great Yan, think of the people of Great Yan resting and recuperating, and do not be dispirited."

"I'm not dispirited. Actually, Mr. Zhu, you're wrong."

"Your Highness?"

"In the past two years, whether I do anything or not, whether I fight or not, it actually doesn't make much of a difference. Whether I win or not, in the end, Father Emperor is there to support me.

Actually, it's better for me to do nothing; it's more suitable for me to be Father Emperor's puppet, to be used to confront Sixth Brother.

That way,

Father Emperor and Sixth Brother can both play to their heart's content."

"Your Highness, now, the final moment has arrived. You must not…"

The Crown Prince smiled, sniffed,

and said:

"Tomorrow, I won't go to welcome Elder Brother. As you said, Elder Brother and that Zheng Fan are important in status, but this is the capital. It's impossible for Zheng Fan to mobilize troops into the city as he did in Yingdu.

Tomorrow,

I will go to the Jing Nan King's mansion to drink a cup of wine at my Uncle's housewarming celebration."

Hearing this, Zhu Zicong showed a bitter smile,

and said:

"Your Highness, how can you still…"

"Alas."

The Crown Prince sighed

and said:

"Sir, it's not that I deliberately want to disappoint you, but the truth is that when it comes to factional struggles and scheming, we won't be a match for Sixth Brother. I knew this when I was still young, when I saw Father Emperor holding Sixth Brother on his lap, saying that Sixth Brother was most like him.

We can't possibly win against the 'Father Emperor' of his youth, no matter how we fight.

Since we can't win, let's not fight on these trivial matters. Let Sixth Brother attack. That's how I've been dealing with it for the past two years.

Let's focus on the big picture. If the big picture is on my side, then it's me. If the big picture isn't on my side, then everything is useless. If I, sitting in this position, really go down to fight, it would be a loss of my true presence."

"But, Your Highness, the Marquis of Pingxi is one of the Sixth Prince's people…"

"You're wrong."

The Crown Prince shook his head slightly.

"Perhaps he was before, but now, no, actually, he hasn't been for a while.

As for saying that the Jing Nan King will also be one of Sixth Brother's people because of the relationship with the Marquis of Pingxi, hehe.

It won't happen,

it won't happen,

the Jing Nan King will never be one of Sixth Brother's people,

even,

I think,

the Jing Nan King isn't one of Father Emperor's people either.

Alas,

I really miss my Uncle…"

As he said that,

the Crown Prince again turned his gaze to the two shoe patterns in his hand.

"By the way, send the shoe patterns made by Mother to Uncle."