Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 98 What the Third Prince wants is exactly what I want!
"Did the person who sent the invitation say anything?"

"No, after hearing that you were going to the Second Prince's dinner party, I left after dropping the invitation."

Zhao Qi'an was not surprised and said to the ugly slave, "Don't worry about it. If there are any more letters from the Third Prince, just give them to Butler Gou."

"Oh."

The ugly slave took note of it.

Zhao Qi'an continued to drink the half-bowl of tea, put the empty bowl on the tray, and ordered the ugly slave: "Go and tell Butler Gou to come to my study."

The ugly slave looked out the window in surprise and asked, "At this time? I'm afraid that Butler Gou has gone to bed at this time."

"Probably not. Go and have a look."

"Okay, wait a moment."

……

A moment later, in Zhao Qi'an's study.

Gou hurried towards the west.

He had obviously not gone to bed yet. He was dressed neatly and waiting for Zhao Qi'an to return home and summon him to discuss matters.

When I arrived at Zhao Qi'an's study, I saw Zhao Qi'an sitting behind the desk, flipping through a few unfamiliar books in his hands.

Next to the oil lamp on the table was an open book box.

Gou Xiangxi saw all of this clearly and knew that Zhao Qi'an had gained something tonight.

He walked forward, stood before Zhao Qi'an, bowed, and said respectfully, "Lord."

Zhao Qi'an put the book in his hand on the table, pushed it in front of Gou Xiangxi, and said, "These are what the Second Prince gave me tonight. You can take a look at them too."

Gou Xiangxi bowed and accepted the order, walked to the desk, picked up the books, and flipped through a few pages.

Upon seeing this, his brows couldn't help but frown slightly.

Zhao Qi'an smiled and said, "Who said that our emperor is ruthless towards his relatives? At least he still has a side of mercy."

In the 20th year of Emperor Tianwu's reign, when the system was reformed and the feudal lords were reduced and their territories were recovered, Emperor Tianwu also issued several policies to benefit the royal family, which could be regarded as a way to stop the people from complaining.

The previous restriction that prohibited royal family members from participating in the civil and military imperial examinations was abolished, and an additional special examination was opened, allowing only royal relatives to participate.

Theoretically, it is easier for royal relatives to become officials in the court than candidates from other aristocratic families.

However, the opening of the special examination was presided over by Emperor Tianwu himself.

But Emperor Tianwu had ignored state affairs for many years, and this rule became a mere decoration. The last time an imperial examination was held to select officials was more than ten years ago, and the officials selected were only to fill vacancies in the Zongzheng Temple and the Imperial Palace Guards. They were all marginal people in the court and could not touch the center of power.

In addition to the "opening of special examinations", there is also a policy that benefits the royal family.

Before Emperor Tianwu, royal relatives were not allowed to join the army. Although this was not a written rule, it was a rule that was followed by all dynasties.

Emperor Tianwu explicitly abolished this rule, allowing and even encouraging royal family members to join the army. If they unfortunately died on the battlefield, they would receive pensions as usual, and a sum of money would be allocated from the treasury, and even royal land would be distributed to the families of the dead royal relatives. The pension was very generous.

Although this is the policy.

But who among the royal family members would be willing to give up their distinguished background and join the army as a private? Therefore, since the policy was opened up, few royal relatives responded to this, and only some royal relatives who embarked on the path of martial arts would go to the army to seek a future.

But just seven years ago, the number of royal relatives joining the army began to increase sharply.

Moreover, the annual mortality rate is somewhat alarming. If ten people die, there may only be two left alive in a year.

Coincidentally, the army that these royal relatives joined were all the Western Desert Army.

What’s more coincidental is that the third prince’s maternal family, the Zhou family, is the largest warlord in the Western Desert, and the entire Western Desert has been run by the Zhou family for generations.

The Gao family is also a Western Desert family that is dependent on the Zhou family.

After Gou Xiangxi read the books, he also saw the clues. He laughed and pointed to a place in the book and said, "Lord, look here. There is a man named Ji An. He joined the army in the 57th year of Tianwu. In just one year, he has made outstanding military achievements. He personally killed more than 1,200 Hu enemies and was promoted from a mere soldier to a sixth-rank lieutenant. This promotion speed is simply shocking. What kind of brave general is he?"

"Unfortunately, at the beginning of this spring, I led my troops to advance recklessly and was surrounded by the Hu enemies. Unfortunately, I died. After my death, I was given a pension of 160 taels of silver and 200 acres of land."

He clicked his tongue a few times, as if sighing, but the smile on his face was even more playful: "But the strange thing is that this Ji An had never practiced martial arts for even half a day before joining the army. Even the neighbors said that he was suffering from tuberculosis and would not live long... Can tuberculosis be cured in this army?"

As he spoke, he flipped through a few pages of the book in his hand and said, "And here, there is a man named Ji Heqing, an eighty-year-old man who can still fight in the battlefield with a crutch. He is really respectable and admirable!"

Examples similar to Ji An and Ji Heqing are everywhere in the books that the second prince gave to Zhao Qi'an.

From this we can see that the second prince had actually been investigating this matter for a long time and had a lot of evidence in his hands.

But he didn't move for a long time, and Zhao Qi'an could guess the reason.

"But these alone are not enough to bring down the Third Prince." Gou Xiangxi closed the book in his hand, a trace of regret on his face, "The procedures for these royal relatives to join the army are all in compliance with the law, and there is nothing wrong with them."

"If you want to investigate the forgery of military merits, even if Your Majesty sends an imperial envoy to investigate, the Western Desert is 18,000 miles away from the capital. Moreover, the Western Desert is where the Zhou family has been operating for many years, and it is also a place of border wars. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. If they kill the imperial envoy with a knife and pass the blame to the Hu people, who can do anything to them?"

"Even if they do find out something, the one who really handled this matter was the Gao family. Is there any evidence to prove that the Third Prince was involved in this matter? The Third Prince can just give up the Gao family. Although he loses an arm, as long as the Zhou family's military power remains, it is an acceptable loss for him."

Even if anyone with a discerning eye can see the clues, I'm afraid no one would dare to do anything about it.

The Third Prince was able to compete with the Second Prince, who had the Queen and Prime Minister Wu standing behind him, for so long, so he was certainly no ordinary person.

But just when Gou Xiangxi frowned and thought about how to break the impasse.

Zhao Qi'an asked suddenly, "Why do you want to overthrow the Third Prince?"

Gou Xiangxi was puzzled for a moment: "My Lord, what you mean is..."

"How to deal with the Third Prince is something the Second Prince should consider."

It’s not yet time for Zhao Qian’an to take his place in the fight for the throne.

His goal was clear from the beginning.

"The reason why we need to investigate the Zongzheng Temple is because what the Third Prince wants is exactly what I want!"

Zhao Qi'an took out a map and placed it on the desk.

Gou Xiangxi took a closer look and saw that it was a map of the distribution of all the imperial fields of the Daqian Kingdom.

The map he drew for Zhao Qian'an during the day was only of the imperial fields around Kyoto City, but Zhao Qian's map showed the distribution of all the imperial fields in the entire Daqian Kingdom!
Moreover, the map looked old, and it was obvious that it was frequently looked at, and it did not seem to be something that had been prepared recently.

There is one more chapter, which is being revised and will be updated soon
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(End of this chapter)