tallest building

Chapter 274 Next step

The Queen is ill; she cannot sleep night after night and suffers from a splitting headache.

She threw the medicine prescribed by the imperial physician on the ground. She loathed bitter medicine to the extreme; for her, taking medicine was more painful than being killed.

She ordered someone to summon Wen Mingqian: "I only trust you now. Find a way to let me sleep for a while."

Wen Mingqian knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, since the incense I usually make is not working, the only way to make it work is to increase the dosage, but I'm afraid that this will harm your health."

“You don’t need to worry, this is what I asked you to do. Besides, it’s just incense, even if it’s harmful, it’s ultimately limited. Do you think taking those medicines won’t harm my health?” The Empress frowned and said, “My head is throbbing with pain right now. If I don’t get some sleep soon, I’m afraid I’ll go crazy.”

“If the incense I used for you was too strong, it might make you feel weak and affect your appetite, but otherwise it won’t.” Wen Mingqian said, “However, it would be best to have the imperial physician come and take a look before I dare to use it.”

"You're being a bit too cautious. Fine, it's your status, there's nothing we can do. Let's summon an imperial physician." The Empress urged someone to fetch the imperial physician.

After carefully examining the incense used by Wen Mingqian, Judge Wu said, "There is nothing wrong with this incense, but Your Highness should not use it too often. Using it once or twice occasionally is fine."

Wen Mingqian washed his hands, lit incense, and walked to the Empress's side, saying, "Your Majesty, let me give you a massage to relax you and help you fall asleep faster."

The Queen nodded with her eyes closed.

Just as Wen Mingqian finished massaging for a moment, Yu Lu came in and said to the Empress, "Your Majesty, the Princess just sent someone to say that she will be leaving the palace this afternoon to return to Bowang Mountain."

Knowing the palace was in such turmoil, the Empress naturally didn't want to get involved, so she said, "I understand, but I'm ill and cannot see you off. Mingqian, please see the Princess off for me!"

Wen Mingqian softly agreed.

About fifteen minutes later, the Empress finally fell asleep. Wen Mingqian quietly stepped aside. Since it was rare for the Empress to fall asleep, no one could be by her side; all the servants were waiting in the outer room.

Wen Mingqian left the Empress's palace and went to Mingcui Palace to see the Eldest Princess.

Princess Duanmin was also present at that time.

“Mingqian, the struggle between the King of Zhao and the King of Chu has reached this point, and although the outcome is still uncertain, the general trend has already been largely determined,” the Princess said. “Now that you are by the Empress’s side, she trusts you more and more, so I don’t need to stay in the palace for long. After I return to the mountain, I will write to Wuchou and tell him about the situation in the capital so that he can be prepared.”

"Thank you for your trouble. Things are proceeding roughly according to our plan. With Princess Duanmin's help, it's even faster than we expected." Wen Mingqian had already finalized the plan with the Princess and Prince Changliu before entering the palace.

"The conflict between the King of Zhao and the King of Chu resulted in mutual destruction, which also damaged the power of the Dong family." Princess Duanmin was in a very good mood. "I can finally let out some of the pent-up anger that has been weighing on my heart."

“Grand Tutor Dong will be arriving in the capital soon, and he will definitely find a way to help Prince Zhao salvage the situation,” Wen Mingqian said. “Our previous plan was to get both Prince Chu and Prince Zhao to leave the capital as much as possible, further dispersing the Dong family’s influence. But they certainly won’t want to leave, especially Prince Zhao,” the Princess said. “Mingqian, what do you think we should do?”

"His Majesty has probably already decided to move Ying Tong and Ying Bai out of the palace and allow the youngest son of the Prince of Chu to enter the palace. Although the Empress and the Dong family are unwilling, they have no choice but to make concessions since they are in the wrong."

But they were not giving up and still wanted Ying Tong to be the crown prince.

Therefore, to persuade the King of Chu to leave the capital, we must give him hope. This requires Princess Duanmin to convey to them through the King of Fenye that she is still willing to marry Princess Zhuolahan to Yingtong, and to suggest that the King of Zhao be stationed in the northern frontier so that they can jointly launch military operations in the future.”

Princess Duanmin laughed upon hearing this: "This is a brilliant idea. The most effective bait to persuade the King of Zhao to leave the capital is to make his son the crown prince."

"Don't worry! Qisi and Benyi also wanted Yingtong as their son-in-law. The age difference between the Prince of Chu and Zhuolahan is too great; a marriage between them is simply impossible."

"As for the King of Chu, now that his youngest son has entered the palace, the Dong family will never allow him to remain in the capital. That would be tantamount to letting him grow too powerful, which would inevitably threaten the Empress and others in the future."

However, the Empress would never allow the Prince of Chu to get out of control. Therefore, even if she moved him out of the capital, she would take him to a place where he could be managed. Wen Mingqian continued his analysis, "If someone could suggest to her that the Prince of Chu be moved to the place where the Prince of Changliu resides, then the Prince of Changliu could be used to control him. I think the Empress would most likely agree."

“That’s right. If the King of Chu goes to Wu Chou, Wu Chou can turn him against his own side. After all, the King and Queen of Chu hate the Dong family to the core, but they are reluctant to turn against them because of their own interests.” The Princess nodded. “If we want to get rid of the Dong family, it is impossible not to use force in the end. When the day comes that we have to fight, we will see whose army is stronger.”

The Dong family's influence is deep-rooted and complex; to completely eliminate them would require considerable effort, as well as favorable timing, location, and popular support.

“Mingqian, I always thought you were gentle and quiet, but I never imagined you had such strategic acumen.” Princess Duanmin had only known Wen Mingqian for a short time and didn’t know her very well. She only sided with him because of their shared interests.

But each encounter only deepened her respect for Wen Mingqian.

"Your Highness is too kind. I'm just applying what I've learned on the spot," Wen Mingqian said with a smile, lowering his head. "These past few years, I've just been reading history books repeatedly and copying the strategies of the ancients."

“Reading is indeed useful. Look at you, you have both the forbearance of Goujian who endured hardship and humiliation and the sincerity of Cheng Ying who entrusted his son to you. How rare you are!” Princess Duanmin said. “You will surely be recorded in history.”

"How dare this servant hope for such things? This matter cannot be accomplished by my own efforts alone. It requires the assistance of noble people like the two princesses. Otherwise, it would be like an ant trying to shake a tree, only to be laughed at." Wen Mingqian had always known these principles.

“His Majesty’s birthday is in a few days, and it’s time to send out my grand gift.” Princess Duanmin smiled. “No matter what, as long as I can annoy the Empress, I’ll be happy.”

“Once those two beauties are by the Emperor’s side, the Empress will probably have even less sleep,” the Princess said. “But at this moment, she can’t care about that. Speaking of which, in their Dong family, only Grand Tutor Dong is shrewd and calculating; the rest are just taking advantage of the situation.”

We stirred up this storm while Grand Tutor Dong was away from the capital. Once he returns, the Emperor will treat him with utmost respect.