Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 255: The Eve of the Birthday Banquet

"Boss, the person sitting in the upper seat in the Clouds is not the Second Prince, but a stranger."

After the waiter delivered the wine, he immediately found Zhao Qian'an to report the matter.

Zhao Qi'an was already drinking in Tianyu Pavilion on the fourth floor.

There was a banquet with rich dishes. Ugly slave ate with great pleasure. Old Nie was addicted to the Immortal Wine and held the wine pot tightly and refused to let go. Zhao Wuwen sat next to Zhao Qian'an, put a piece of fish in the bowl, and picked out the fish bones for Zhao Qian'an.

After the servant whispered in his ear, Zhao Qi'an just nodded silently and waved his hand to signal the servant to leave. He was not surprised by this.

There must be more than just Ji Haoyu in this private room, as Ji Yunrui, a sickly man, rushed here in such a hurry.

The unfamiliar face that I have never seen before should be the eldest prince Ji Wuchang.

Whether it is Ji Haoyu or Ji Yunrui, they both value the eldest prince Ji Wuchang very much.

After all, Ji Wuchang was destined to never become the crown prince. Such a non-threatening brother of the emperor, yet he held a large army, could be said to be the one who could get the support of Ji Wuchang, and the tenuous balance in the court would be directly broken.

As far as Zhao Qi'an knows, there is a high possibility that Ji Wuchang supports Ji Haoyu.

After all, Ji Haoyu was born to the queen, so this relationship had to be taken into consideration.

The most important point is that Ji Wuchang and Old Master Zhou of the Zhou family in Ximo were not having a pleasant experience.

This matter... was also related to the Emperor's Arsenal Case of that year. The Zhengyuan Army went to the frontier to fight, but was cut off from food and supplies, and almost died in the frontier.

In the end, he used war to support war, massacred foreign races, plundered small wild countries, and fought his way from the northwest to the southwest. He was finally brought back to Daqian by Futu Linhu.

Logically speaking, during this period of time, the Blue-Eyed Fox Zhou Tiansheng should have responded to the imperial edict and come to Kyoto from the Western Desert to be held accountable. However, now there is no movement in the Western Desert. The court in Kyoto is rumored that Zhou Tiansheng is afraid of the eldest prince Ji Wuchang and dares not enter the capital.

In the Western Desert, Zhao Qi couldn't insert any personnel there, and he didn't know whether the information was accurate.

But the gap between the Zhou family and the eldest prince can be guaranteed to be real.

For this reason, in his opinion, the eldest prince could easily be instigated by Ji Haoyu and stand on his side.

But this... is not in Zhao Qian'an's interest.

Now that he has stirred up the conflict between the Second Prince and Prime Minister Wu, the Second Prince is in urgent need of a force to balance the Wu Party's civil servants headed by Prime Minister Wu.

Originally, this location should have belonged to the Zhao family of Donghai.

But now that the eldest prince has come to Beijing, it is very likely that he will replace the Zhao family of Donghai and become the new helper of the second prince.

Zhao Qi'an had never met Ji Wuchang, so he didn't know the eldest prince's true inner thoughts and was mostly guessing about his stance. That was why Zhao Qi'an let the third prince in when he came to disrupt the situation today.

Only when the water is muddy is there a possibility of fishing in troubled waters.

"If I were to go there, I would put some effort into this eldest prince..."

Zhao Qian held the wine glass and glanced at Chou Nu casually.

But the ugly slave was unaware of this. He held the chicken in his left hand and the lamb leg in his right hand, and ate happily with his mouth full of grease.

He drank the wine in his hand, then put it down, thinking silently in his heart: "But now...everything will be settled after I return from Mount Xumi."

He had a hunch that the trip to Mount Xumi might make him change some of his previous ideas.

……

The trip to Zhaixing Tower was just a small episode that happened by chance.

When Zhao Qi'an and his group left, the banquet at the Clouds on the third floor had not yet ended.

He and Chounu would never have thought that another princess of the Anuyi tribe, Chi Zhailuo, was so close to them.

In the afternoon, Zhao Qi'an accompanied Chounu and Zhao Wuwen to visit President An at the Treasure Pavilion in the West City Market.

However, when An Shoudao saw Zhao Wuwen brought by Zhao Qi'an, he was obviously stunned for a long time, muttering: "Similar, too similar..."

Zhao Qi'an asked, "Will Dean An go to the birthday banquet tomorrow?"

An Shoudao's gaze still stayed on Zhao Wuwen.

At this moment, Zhao Wuwen was sharing a large bag of sour jujube cakes she brought with Zhao Lingyun. Then she stroked the hem of her skirt, squatted beside Zhao Lingyun, and watched him play chess with her chin in her hand.

"Dean An?"

It was not until Zhao Qi'an asked again that An Shoudao came back to his senses. He looked at Zhao Qi'an and said with a self-deprecating smile: "If I go to the banquet tomorrow, I'm afraid many people will be nervous. It's not the time yet, so I won't go and cause trouble."

Zhao Qi'an stroked his palm and said, "I think if Dean An goes there tomorrow, the birthday banquet will be more lively."

An Shoudao raised his hand and pointed at Zhao Wuwen: "If you take her to the banquet tomorrow, it will be lively."

"It's not yet time."

"How do you calculate the time?"

"She can only appear in public after... the position of crown prince is settled."

An Shoudao was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "So that's what Mr. Zhao had in mind... But if you bring her out now, aren't you afraid of being discovered? Although there aren't many people in Kyoto who can recognize her now, at least there are still many old people who have experienced those things alive today, and they can recognize her."

Zhao Qi'an said: "I want Wu Wen to become the Imperial Master's disciple."

An Shoudao suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Zhao Qian'an, and for the first time he lost his composure.

At this moment, there were only four words in his mind - audacious!
After a while, An Shoudao calmed down and asked, "Aren't you afraid that Shui Yuexian will directly offer her to Emperor Tianwu?"

"Emperor Tianwu will not kill her." Zhao Qian'an was very firm.

An Shoudao looked puzzled: "Why?"

"Because Emperor Tianwu is still alive, his four princes and three princesses are all alive and well. How can Zhao Wuwen be a threat?"

"But she grew up under your lap. This is a threat. Others may not know your Donghai Zhao family, but how could Emperor Tianwu not know?"

"So I asked her to become the Imperial Master's disciple. From now on, I, Zhao Qi'an, will only have eight adopted sons and daughters, and no longer have the seventh adopted daughter, Zhao Wuwen!" Zhao Qi'an spoke in a firm tone, and every word seemed to carry weight. "After I recover the East Sea, I will fully support the Second Prince in ascending the throne!"

An Shoudao frowned slightly: "Then what should I do?"

Zhao Qi'an only answered with four words: "Everything remains the same."

Everything will remain the same as before, except that he will take the imperial examination next spring to serve as an official and assist the crown prince.

Internally, we should rectify corrupt officials in the court, pacify cliques that form cliques for personal gain, support new students to serve as officials in the court, and promote reforms.

In addition, he relieved the worries of the nine provinces, suppressed the local families, returned military power to the central government, governed natural disasters and man-made disasters, and provided relief to the victims.

To achieve this, a huge amount of manpower, material and financial resources are needed.

And Zhao Qi'an has all of these.

As long as An Shoudao replaces Wu Yong as prime minister, he can take the entire Zhao Company's wealth.

Talents, Bailu Academy has been preparing over the years. There are so many talents cultivated by the Zhao Family Charity Hall in the world, and they can also be sent to An Shoudao for his use.

This was the condition that enabled Zhao Qi'an to invite An Shoudao to come out of seclusion. A community of interests had already been firmly formed between the two.

But Zhao Qi'an did so much, was it to pave the way for the new emperor? To prepare wedding clothes for others?
An Shoudao understood these principles very clearly.

Zhao Dongjia is a man who cares about the world. But he is not a perfect man, he is not noble enough.

After all, what good person would gather an army and stand by in the East China Sea, waiting for the world to fall apart and preparing for a rebellion?
He is now willing to contribute to the world, but the prerequisite is... the new king must be the one he has prepared.

An Shoudao knew all this, but said nothing.

What he cares about is the peace and prosperity of the nine provinces of Daqian, and that the people of the world can live and work in peace and contentment.

As for who will be the emperor... as long as his surname is Ji, the rest doesn't matter.

An Shoudao looked at Zhao Qi'an, and after studying him for a long time, he said, "I don't know if it's my illusion, but I always feel that Mr. Zhao has become much more anxious after meeting Shui Yuexian. If it were before, you would never let your seven daughters appear in front of others."

"There is one thing that makes me have some bad suspicions, and I can't help but be anxious."

Zhao Qi'an rubbed his eyebrows and sighed softly.

An Shoudao asked in confusion: "What's the matter?"

"Your Majesty... maybe you can't hold out for much longer."

……

The city of Kyoto today is a little too busy.

The most obvious thing is that there are many more foreigners on the streets.

Daqian is the common ruler of the world, and has many vassal states under his jurisdiction. Now that the Emperor of Daqian is holding a birthday banquet, the vassal states from all over the country have naturally sent envoys to the capital, bringing with them many rare treasures from outside the Great Wall.

Zhao Qi'an didn't pay much attention to these foreigners. After coming out of the Treasure Pavilion, he took the two girls to stroll in the market for a while, then handed the two girls to Old Nie and went to the dock.

When he arrived at the dock, Zhao Nishang was already waiting there with the people from the trading company.

As soon as he arrived, everyone started to get busy and began to count the birthday money brought by the Donghai family one by one. The sound of abacus beads clacking was heard.

In fact, these birthday gifts had been counted before they were put into the warehouse, and now they are just checking for omissions and filling them up to avoid any mistakes.

"Ten pairs of ruby ​​corals!"

"One hundred and twenty East Sea Night-Shining Pearls!"

"Eight hundred spiritual jades!"

After each item is counted, the accountant in charge of that item will shout loudly.

Zhao Nishang, who was standing next to Zhao Qi'an, would tick off each item in the notebook and match them one by one.

And Zhao Qi'an's role seemed to be just standing there.

But in fact, his eyes were always scanning everyone.

Each person's panel appeared clearly in front of his eyes, and what Zhao Qi'an mainly looked at was their loyalty value.

"One hundred and twenty pairs of gilded jade articles!"

At this moment, Zhao Qi'an suddenly said, "Stop."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Zhao Qian'an.

Zhao Qi'an raised his hand and pointed at the person who had just counted the gilded jade artifacts: "Check!"

The accountant's face turned pale instantly.

Everyone else around looked at it suspiciously, and then the other accountants walked over and counted the gilded jade items again.

After a while, someone looked up in surprise and said, "Boss, twenty pairs are missing!"

Before Zhao Qi'an could make any move, Zhao Nishang's face turned cold and she shouted, "Take him away!"

As soon as she said this, the accountant immediately became weak and kowtowed vigorously, "Boss, please spare me! Boss, please spare me!"

Zhao Qi'an just looked at him indifferently and let several guards force the man down.

After the man was taken away, he looked at the others and said calmly, "Continue."

Everyone didn't dare to delay any longer and hurried to continue with the work at hand.

Zhao Qi'an glanced at Zhao Nishang standing beside him and said, "Check the people who have been guarding the birthday gift these days. They can even bribe the accountant of the Treasure Pavilion... Haha, they are quite courageous."

"Yes, I will find out when I get back."

Zhao Nishang responded respectfully, and then looked at Zhao Qian'an with some admiration.

My godfather can tell that there is something wrong with a person at a glance. How does he do that?
She was actually quite puzzled by this question and could only sigh that her adoptive father had an inhuman vision.

After she regained her composure, she asked, "Foster father, now that things have gone like that between you and the Second Prince, are you going to present the Enlightenment Tea Tree as the finale gift?"

Zhao Qi'an had promised Ji Haoyu that he would not offer the Wudao tea tree at the longevity banquet.

But now Ji Haoyu is obviously unwilling to get involved in the Zhao family's affairs. In Zhao Nishang's view, it was the Second Prince himself who broke off relations first, so why should she still save his face?
Zhao Qi'an shook his head and said, "There are no eternal enemies in this world, only common interests. Besides, there is no hatred between me and the Second Prince. When I need him in the future, I must not fall out with him."

"Besides, I have another use for this Enlightenment Tea Tree, so it would be inappropriate to give it to two owners."

Zhao Nishang asked in confusion, "What should we use as the finale gift? Although the gifts sent by our family this time are valuable, I'm afraid that none of them will really catch the eye of His Majesty."

"I have other plans."

Zhao Qi'an turned sideways and asked Zhao Nishang, "How is Zhao Wang doing?"

Zhao Nishang didn't understand why the sixth brother was mentioned, but she still said truthfully: "Sixth brother has never left the yard. You said not to let anyone disturb him, so no one dared to disturb him except the people who delivered meals every day."

Zhao Qi'an looked around at everyone present, confirmed that there was no problem, and nodded, "Leave this to you. I'll go to the charity hall."

Zhao Nishang bowed and said, "Yes."

……

When Zhao Qi'an arrived at the charity hall, the sky was gradually darkening.

Without disturbing anyone in the hall, he walked straight to the backyard and came to Zhao Wang's courtyard.

When Zhao Qi'an arrived at the door and was about to raise his hand to knock, the door creaked open by itself.

He was slightly stunned. His skill of concealing his energy was extremely extraordinary. Even Emperor Tianwu could not see any clues. He did not expect that Zhao Wang could actually sense his arrival.

It seems that Lingyuan's method of cultivation has its unique advantages.

Zhao Qi'an entered the room. Candles were on in the room and Zhao Wang was writing furiously at his desk.

He noticed Zhao Qi'an and was about to stop writing and stand up, but Zhao Qi'an stopped him: "Just do your thing."

Zhao Wang nodded and continued writing.

Zhao Qian'an looked towards the room at this time. There were many boxes in the room, and each box was filled with books.

There were a few scattered books on the ground, some of whose pages were spread out, and the ink on them was still fresh.

(End of this chapter)