sjar Chapter 321: A famous teacher
Chapter 321: A famous teacher
More than 20 years ago, when Consort Shu was still the Crown Prince's concubine in the Northern Qi Emperor's pre-imperial residence, she was deeply favored.
At that time, the Northern Qi emperor had not yet ascended the throne. He met Yi Zhen, who was being harassed by the powerful nobles of Northern Qi. No matter what humiliation she suffered, she remained strong and unyielding.
Her proud spirit attracted the attention of the Northern Qi emperor, who greatly admired Yi Zhen.
She sensed an unprecedented sense of crisis and sent a message to her brother, vowing to break Yizhen's pride.
Her brother, along with other powerful figures, kidnapped Emperor Jing'an and forced Yizhen to fight dogs for food.
To save Emperor Jing'an, Yi Zhen abandoned her proud spirit and ate dog food in a sorry state.
When the Emperor of Northern Qi saw this scene, he did not feel disgusted with Yi Zhen, but instead felt pity for her.
He even released Emperor Jing'an back to the Great Zhou in order to obtain Yi Zhen.
Later, for reasons unknown, the Northern Qi emperor grew tired of Yi Zhen, and Yi Zhen truly faced her suffering, living with even less dignity than when she was a hostage.
Slaves and servants are people who can be trampled on and humiliated by everyone.
Despite her lowly fate, she gave birth to the eldest son of the Northern Qi emperor.
She harbored deep resentment towards Yizhen, resenting that she had received the favor of the Northern Qi Emperor and that she had given birth to a son for him.
Because she only had one daughter, she dreamed of having a son to rely on. And yet, Yizhen achieved what she longed for most; how could she not be jealous of Yizhen?
Fortunately, Yizhen soon fell out of favor.
Until the Mid-Autumn Festival twenty-one years ago, when she went to a palace banquet with the Emperor of Northern Qi, she saw Yi Zhen carrying a child in a hurry, not knowing where she was going.
The Emperor of Northern Qi stopped in his tracks, staring in the direction Yi Zhen had left, and remained lost in thought for a long time.
At that time, she had just given birth to her second daughter, who was three months younger than Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi was the only son of the Northern Qi emperor.
She felt threatened again, fearing that Yizhen would gain power through her son, and began to think about getting rid of Yizhen.
When the palace banquet ended, the Northern Qi emperor's younger brother, Prince Xian, prepared a special program, inviting them to move to the arena he had built to watch slaves fight wild beasts.
She covered her mouth and laughed, "Back then, Yizhen was in a cage with a wild dog and managed to tame it. I wonder if she can tame this beast?"
It was this one sentence that led to Yizhen's death at the hands of a wild beast.
If the Empress hadn't rushed to the scene upon hearing the news, seen the pile of white bones, and ordered them to be buried, those bones would probably have been fed to wild dogs long ago.
After eliminating the potential threat, she worried that the Northern Qi emperor would arrange for palace servants to take good care of Zhao Yi. Fortunately, the Northern Qi emperor did not care about Zhao Yi and simply assigned a palace servant to serve him, then ignored him.
When Consort Shu recalled this, she frowned, not taking Zhao Yi seriously, but pondering in her heart how to stop Zhao Yi from controlling the plague.
Now that my brother has spread the word that the Imperial Tutor is unwilling to treat the people of Yingcheng, he has done a favor by ceding Yingcheng to the Great Zhou.
If Zhao Yi fails to control the plague and it completely spirals out of control, spreading to other cities, then the Imperial Tutor will become a sinner, completely destroying his lofty position in the hearts of the people.
Consort Shu returned to her palace, wrote a letter, and handed it to her trusted confidante Hong Qiao, asking her to arrange for it to be sent out of the palace to her brother, Junior Chamberlain Lin Yi.
Hongqiao hid the letter in her sleeve and hurriedly left the palace.
She knew very well that Consort Shu had become enemies with the Imperial Tutor.
Initially, Consort Shu intended to bribe the Imperial Tutor by offering him her daughter, the Junior Chamberlain. The Junior Chamberlain complied, arranging for his second eldest daughter to stop the Imperial Tutor's carriage.
After the Imperial Tutor brought the person back to his residence, the second daughter of the Junior Chamberlain never left the Imperial Tutor's residence again.
When they saw a lantern at the entrance of the Imperial Tutor's residence, they realized that the man had died at the hands of the Imperial Tutor.
Consort Shu realized that she had offended the Imperial Tutor. As long as the Imperial Tutor held power, her son would not be able to sit on the throne. Therefore, she wanted to bring the Imperial Tutor down from his post.
-
At the Lin residence, Lin Yi, the Junior Chamberlain, received a letter from Consort Shu. After pondering for a moment, he summoned his trusted confidant.
"Go to Yingcheng yourself and instruct the people there to take special care of Zhao Yi," Lin Yi said coldly. "Find a way to settle him in a patient's home and move that family. Don't let him notice anything amiss."
Under normal circumstances, eliminating a person would be no easy task.
In the midst of a raging plague, it's far too easy for someone to die quietly.
The trusted aide replied, "Yes."
After giving his instructions, Lin Yi threw the letter in his hand into the stove and burned it.
He received news early this morning that the situation in Yingcheng was very serious, and that the two cities of Northern Qi adjacent to Yingcheng had also been infected with the plague.
Lin Yi looked out the window; everything was covered in silver, and long icicles hung from the eaves.
I only hope that after this heavy snowfall, the plague and the Imperial Tutor will melt away along with the snow.
-
As Lin Yi arranged for his trusted confidants to go to Yingcheng, a caravan of carriages slowly approached the capital.
One of the carriages opened its curtains, and snow drifted in.
"Oh, what a heavy snowfall!" Liu Yue quickly lowered the carriage window curtain, brushed the snowflakes off her body, and looked at Shen Qingtan, who was deep in thought beside her: "Second Madam, we're about to enter the city."
Shen Qingtan came to her senses, leaned against the window, and lifted the curtain to look at the ancient and solemn city gate in front of her.
She never imagined that she would leave her hometown and come to the capital of Northern Qi.
Her three older brothers escorted her all the way to the border before saying goodbye.
Once outside the border, Zhao Yi led his troops to Yingcheng.
Before Zhao Yi left, the Imperial Tutor gave him a letter and a token.
This confirmed her guess: the Imperial Tutor would not let anything happen to Zhao Yi.
"Second Madam, now that you've come to the capital of Northern Qi, will the Emperor of Northern Qi detain you as a hostage?" Liu Yue, who had been holding back all the way, finally couldn't help but ask.
“No.” Shen Qingtan said calmly, “The Imperial Tutor arranged for Second Master to deal with the plague in the capital of Great Zhou, which gave Second Master and Emperor Jing’an ample time to prepare. If they wanted to harm Second Master, they could have arranged for him to go to Yingcheng after leaving Great Zhou.”
They would not give Zhao Yi a letter and a token when he went to Yingcheng, so that Zhao Yi could mobilize his troops.
Liu Yue seemed to understand, but not quite.
"You just need to know one thing: the Imperial Tutor didn't simply send the Second Prince to Northern Qi as a hostage." Shen Qingtan caught a snowflake in her hand. "Otherwise, the Imperial Tutor wouldn't have needed to arrange for the Second Prince to manage the plague and gain power from it. He's a prince with no power or achievements; wouldn't he be easier to manipulate?"
Thinking further ahead, Shen Qingtan even suspected that the plague in Yingcheng was orchestrated by the Imperial Tutor. He wanted to force Zhao Yi to acknowledge his identity as a prince of Northern Qi, so that he could bring Zhao Yi back to Northern Qi and then arrange for Zhao Yi to deal with the plague.
In this way, Zhao Yi was no longer an unknown prince, but left his name in the hearts of the people.
If the Imperial Tutor is willing to support Zhao Yi, he could use Zhao Yi's achievements in controlling the plague to push him into the center of power.
After all... they now have a legitimate reason to act.
This time, Liu Yue understood that the Imperial Tutor was not only using the Second Master as a hostage, but also had other schemes against him.
Before achieving our objective, we will absolutely not allow the Northern Qi emperor to touch the Second Master.
Thinking of this, Liu Yue said excitedly, "Second Grandmother, do you mean... the Imperial Tutor is using you, and you should take advantage of this to gain a foothold in Northern Qi?"