Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 416 has a saying: "A cornered dog will jump over the wall."

Qin Su, the second son of General Qin, strode in and said, "Ten miles outside the South Gate, we spotted one of the Yan family's groups leaving the mansion. We initially thought it was Yan Qu with Yan Liang's two children, but when we stopped them, we realized we'd been tricked!"
"Yan Qu is inside, but those two children are not the children of Yan Liang that we have seen!"

Of course, for the Yan family, it was a bit too early to start thinking about having an heir at this point, but given the unusual circumstances, they had to be cautious.

The young masters and ladies of the Yan family are not easily seen by outsiders. Therefore, Shen Qingzhou specifically asked the Qin family to handle the matter to prevent them from taking advantage of any loopholes.

They were definitely up to something!

"What about the other three sides?" Shen Qingzhou put down his sword.

Several carriages left at the same time, so there's bound to be something sinister along the way.

"General Huang is here!"

Before Qin Su could reply, the guards brought in Huang Yuan, the eldest son of Qin Su's aunt.

Before Huang Yuan could even speak, he presented a bamboo tube: "I was guarding the south side, pretending to be government officials out apprehending thieves, and I found this small bamboo tube on them!"

Shen Qingzhou took it in his hand and saw that it was a section of bamboo about three inches long, with nodes on both sides, and it looked like an ordinary piece of bamboo.

Just then, two more people entered from outside: "Qingzhou! Did Yan Liang trick us? We didn't find anything at the place we were guarding, but we found this thing on Yan Liang's guy!"

At this moment, Qin Su's older brother, Qin Qian, and Huang Yuan's younger brother, Huang Qian, walked in simultaneously. Huang Qian's face was full of gloom, and upon seeing them, he handed them something as well—a section of bamboo!
"Don't look anymore, mine is too!" Qin Qian also took out a piece of bamboo and gave it to him.

Upon seeing this, Qin Su immediately thought, "When we were checking those two children earlier, we seemed to have found a piece of bamboo on them as well!"

Everyone present was shocked: "Where's the bamboo?"

Qin Su had already run away.

He returned shortly after, carrying a section of bamboo: "This is it!"

Four sections of bamboo placed together still look quite ordinary.

Shen Qingzhou picked one up and examined it closely. Then, he squeezed it hard, and the bamboo with nodes at both ends split in two, revealing a piece of paper hidden inside!
Several people and more than a dozen eyes were all looking over!
It was just a limerick!

“He’s really playing us.” Lu Jia looked up.

"These are all of them!"

After discovering something unusual inside the bamboo tube, the group simultaneously crushed the remaining bamboo sections.

And then, almost simultaneously, they all pulled out a limerick.

"It seems this was all a smokescreen," Lu Jia said. "There's someone else who got him to release the city tonight!"

"Sister Lu!"

Shen Zhui's gruff voice carried in, and when he saw his brother standing there, he called out "Sister Lu," "Uncle Yu, who is by Father's side, is back!"

"Uncle Yu" is another loyal follower of Grand Commandant Shen. Since he had already sent one back a few days ago, it is surprising that he has sent this one back now.

Lu Jia asked, "Has Father returned?"

Following closely behind, Uncle Yu replied, "Young Madam, the Grand Commandant has already headed to the Northwest to join the others and will arrive in the capital soon."

"I came back directly from Hangzhou. Just as I arrived at the post station outside the city, I encountered two people who were extremely skilled and were riding Mongolian horses. At first, I thought they were just ordinary messengers, but after traveling a while, I realized that it was the Yan family's carriage that had been blocked by General Qin's men, and those two people seemed to have turned out from a side path, so we gave chase."

"After intercepting them halfway, we took this from them!"

He took out a wax-sealed paper package and placed it on the stone table among the group. Dawn immediately called for people to come over with lanterns.

The paper package was a slightly thick envelope, containing a very thin, folded map and a travel permit.

"The name on this travel permit is the same as one of the names on the list Liang Mi gave me! It seems it really is a member of the Yan family!"

After Lu Jia finished speaking, she glanced at the map again: "This is a map of the four sides of the palace! We found that Yan Liang's men were carrying maps of the capital region. Why are there now maps of the palace that are being sent out?"

"What is this guy surnamed Yan trying to do?" Huang Yuan took a step forward. "Who is he going to pass this on to?"

Shen Qingzhou looked up: "Where is that person?"

"After we caught him, he committed suicide by poisoning himself!"

"That's incredibly clever? There must be something fishy going on!" Huang Qian said. "So Yan Liang's real purpose in pulling all those stunts is to send this map out!"

"Could it be sent to Hu Yucheng?" Qin Su pondered. "Look at this map, although it's not exactly a secret, the main gates of the palace are marked very clearly. It even marks the sentry posts of the guards, as well as the locations of the five city garrisons and the city gates. If it weren't for combat, would it need to be marked with all these things?"
"With such intentions, could he be planning to collude with Hu Yucheng to rebel?"

“But Hu Yucheng has gone to sea, and the Grand Commandant personally guarded him until he boarded the ship to fight before leaving. There’s absolutely no chance of anything going wrong!” Qin Qian said confidently.

Obviously, everyone thinks this way, so there is no solution for the time being.

"Rebellion?" Upon hearing this, Lu Jia had a sudden inspiration. "If the Yan family truly harbors rebellious intentions, I don't think we necessarily need Hu Yucheng!"

"Have you forgotten that there was a Prince Ning in Hubei?"

This sentence struck everyone like a slap in the face.

Shen Qingzhou nodded: "The Emperor only has two sons alive, the Crown Prince and Prince Ning. Because the Crown Prince is the eldest, the court supported him as the heir apparent according to the order of seniority. However, the Emperor was willing to go against the wishes of the ministers and requested that Prince Ning be established as the heir apparent. It can be said that Prince Ning was one step away from moving into the Eastern Palace."

"This has probably become a thorn in Prince Ning's side as well!"

"If he had the opportunity to rise to power, how could he possibly refuse?"

“That’s very true!” Huang Yuan said. “Yan Song is still the Grand Secretary. No matter what his status is in the Emperor’s heart, he still holds great power.”

"If Yan Liang were to provoke him now, Prince Ning might very well waver!"

The meaning wasn't clear until it was explicitly stated, and by then everyone had realized what was going on.

Huang Qian chimed in, "The Emperor is wary of the Crown Prince, and the Yan family still has many followers. If the throne were to change hands now, they could continue to serve the new emperor openly as the Grand Secretary. It would indeed be a risky but extremely advantageous move!"

"The Yan family is so audacious! So this is what they were planning?!"

"When people are desperate, they're bound to do something rash!" Shen Qingzhou glanced at him. "In any case, if the two sides are truly colluding, then Prince Ning will find this map useful!"

Shen Zhui asked in bewilderment, "The Prince of Ning's mansion doesn't have many soldiers. How can a few scholars like them possibly accomplish anything?"

“Scholars may not have soldiers, but they have ideas,” Shen Qingzhou said. “What if the throne must be held by Prince Ning?”