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Chapter 886 Betrayal
Sheng Minglan quickly and efficiently resolved the issue of Wang Ruofu and Wang Ruohe poisoning their sisters, which completely led to the rift between the Sheng and Wang families. It is well known that Sheng Minglan is Su Ning's woman, so the Wang family will naturally direct all their resentment towards Su Ning. However, they are weak and can only try their best to hide this hatred.

"Mother, are we going back to Dali next?" To be fair, Wang Jialang was not willing to offend the powerful Suning, but some things were difficult to clarify.

"Hmph! What's there to be nostalgic about in a small provincial capital? Such a mean-spirited and ungrateful superior won't last long." At this time, Old Lady Wang said with disdain on her face, and cursed Suning endlessly.

"Huh? Mother means that I should resign from my official position?" At this time, Wang Jia Dalang widened his eyes with some reluctance.

"Yes! You should organize the evidence of Prince Ning's crimes that you have collected in the past few years, and continue to collect these important evidences. One day, these evidences will be useful."

"Mother, the current Prince Ning has absolute power in the court. We, the Wang family, are a small family and cannot compete with him." Seeing that his mother was going to confront Suning directly, Wang's eldest son emphasized the gap with fear on his face.

"Idiot! Can the royal family of the Great Song Dynasty let Prince Ning and Princess Huirou get what they want? I believe they are already preparing to take action against Prince Ning." In fact, Old Lady Wang is not a brainless and vicious person. Instead, she had already seen the opportunity hidden in the court at this time.

"what?"

Wang Dalang, who has limited talent, has begun to understand some things and realized that his mother is trying to fish in troubled waters. Although he is afraid of Suning's strength and power, he also knows that their Wang family has no way out. If their Wang family does not seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they may soon be forgotten by the entire Song Dynasty court, and his father Wang Dan, who is entitled to be enshrined in the Taimiao, will find it difficult to leave much shadow for them.

……

Time flies like water, and soon another two years have passed. At this time, Su Ning is already a 21-year-old young man. It has also been six years since he came to this world. During these six years, every day there are ministers urging him to personally lead an expedition to Western Xia. It was nothing more than the instructions of King Yong and others to get rid of him, so that it would be convenient for these guys with ulterior motives to start their actions.

Naturally, Suning was getting impatient with waiting, and he wanted to leave the treacherous city of Bianjing temporarily so that these clan members with ulterior motives could launch a coup as soon as possible. However, before Suning could lead the army to the battle, the Western Xia in the northwest was so frightened that the whole country fled to the Western Regions and simply gave up all its original territory. They must have realized that they were no match for the Ningyuan Army at this time.

At this time, Suning was not confused or stunned for long, but was pleasantly surprised. He immediately ordered the Song soldiers on the front line to quickly occupy the northwest land and maintain an offensive posture against the Western Xia Kingdom heading to the Western Regions. Step by step, he forced these decisive barbarians to migrate all the way west, which could also lay the foundation for the Ningyuan Army's subsequent large-scale attack on the Western Regions. Therefore, the surprised Suning intended to treat these "intimate people" well.

Immediately afterwards, Suning asked the obedient people in Indochina and Northeast Asia to migrate to the Northwest in large numbers. As for whether these people could get used to living in the Northwest, that was not something Suning needed to consider. Anyway, he had already shown them the greatest kindness. In this way, Suning once again strengthened his rule in Indochina and Northeast Asia.

At this time, Prince Yong and others were undoubtedly feeling depressed and angry. They did not expect that the destiny would really be on the traitor Suning. The Western Xia Kingdom, which had always been unruly in the northwest, would actually be scared away. This was something that they, the natives of the Song Dynasty, would never dare to dream of, but they did not expect that it would be accomplished by Suning and the Ningyuan Army.

"Prince Yong, we can't go on like this! News has come out from the palace that His Majesty's health is getting worse." Seeing that Prince Yong was reluctant to launch a coup, Prince Yan urged him anxiously.

"Oh? Is it still that Concubine Rong?" At this time, Prince Yong looked at Prince Yan in front of him with a meaningful expression and asked.

"Hey! Prince Yong should know what happened back then. Rong Feixue and I are childhood sweethearts." Prince Yan felt a little embarrassed at this time. After all, having an affair with the emperor's concubine was a big trouble.

"Hmph! I knew about it back then, but I didn't expect you to still be in contact with her. I don't know what's so good about this butcher's daughter." Prince Yong found it somewhat difficult to understand the deep affection between Prince Yan and Concubine Rong. After all, women were nothing more than clothes in Prince Yong's eyes.

"Prince Yong..."

"Alright! As long as Concubine Rong helps us complete the task of eliminating the thieves, I promise to let her leave the palace safely. As for the future, I will also let you two live together."

"Thank you, King Yong, for your help." At this moment, King Yan hurriedly bowed his head in surprise to express his gratitude, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised to reveal an imperceptible sneer. He was naturally prepared to be the "yellow bird" who had the last laugh.

"Since Prince Ning has left the city and returned, let's try a different approach to tire him out."

"Oh? Prince Yong, do you have any plans?"

"Hmph! Thanks to our Prince Ning's overbearing ways, he's already offended many people without realizing it. We should simply make a move in the court to severely criticize Prince Ning. At the very least, we should force him to stay indoors and temporarily lose his military power."

"..."

……

The standard of a politician's growth is whether he can be ruthless. Under Suning's unremitting training, Princess Huirou is no longer the soft little girl. Instead, she has clearly realized that the royal family of Zhao Song has become a burden to her. Only by completely eliminating this group of royal family members with ulterior motives can she and her son Zhao Ren firmly sit on the throne of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Princess Huirou has always known and supported Suning's plan.

"Your Highness, your feint this time has disappointed many people!" Princess Huirou looked at Su Ning in front of her with a bit of a smile and tears in her eyes. She felt that the power of Su Ning and the Ningyuan Army was too powerful. Just one move of "Mount Tai Pressing Down" was enough to force the Western Xia Kingdom to flee far away to the Western Regions.

"Humph! This will probably push them to desperate measures. The Imperial Guards reported that Prince Yong and his men have already begun their operation."

"Oh? Such a hasty coup?"

"That's not the case! Prince Yong and his men are planning to impeach me in court, hoping to force me to temporarily give up my military power."

"Tsk! These people are so childish." Princess Huirou was of course well aware of Suning's control over the Ningyuan Army. Without Suning's approval, no one could transfer a soldier.

"Hui Rou, don't be careless! In fact, the emperor also wants to give me a warning, so I am worried that the emperor will be stupid and uncomfortable with me." Suning was worried that the old emperor would not sit idly by and would definitely take advantage of this attack by the royal family to weaken him.

"Huh? It shouldn't be possible, right?"

"Everyone knows I don't like attending court meetings, yet the emperor has issued an order requiring me to attend the grand court meeting three days later. Isn't this just a pretext for making trouble for me at the grand court meeting that day?"

"Your Highness, why don't you not go to the court meeting?" Princess Huirou was a little worried at this time.

"It's okay! I just need to cooperate with them. Otherwise, it would be pointless to keep waiting."

"..."

Three days passed quickly, and then Suning came to attend the grand court meeting wearing the clothes of the prince of the Song Dynasty. Wherever he passed, the ministers bowed their heads and greeted him. Of course, there were also well-informed people who looked at Su Ning with strange eyes, feeling that today's grand court meeting must have been very quarrelsome.

Just as the old emperor was dragging his sick body to sit on the dragon throne with difficulty, the drum at the entrance of the palace was suddenly struck. Soon, a eunuch ran into the hall and reported to the old emperor, "Your Majesty, the one beating the drum is the widow of the late Grand Chancellor Wang Dan."

"Well, please come up."

"Yes! Your Majesty."

Soon, the eunuchs in the palace brought Old Lady Wang and her son to the main hall. They knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, we are suing Prince Ning for setting up a private court and persecuting my little daughter, Queen Ruoyu, who died of illness in the Jinyiwei's prison. We are also accusing Prince Ning's Ningyuan Army of endless slaughter in the southwest and Indochina, leaving nine out of ten houses in the southwest emptied out."

"Prince Ning, what do you say?" The old emperor looked at Suning with excitement, because he had been suffering from Suning for a long time and hoped every day that someone would impeach the domineering Prince Ning.

"Your Majesty, I have nothing to say."

"Hmph! Prince Ning, are you too lazy to explain to me and my ministers now?" Seeing Su Ning's indifferent and lazy attitude, the old emperor couldn't help but scold him in anger.

"Your Majesty, I have absolutely no such intention!"

"Humph!"

The old emperor's face was filled with displeasure, as if signaling a clarion call for some to attack. A censor employed by Prince Yong stepped forward and reported, "Your Majesty, I accuse Prince Ning of ordering his Jinyiwei commander, Su Yi, to kill someone in the street, forcibly abducting the victim's sister, Zhu Manniang, and bringing her into the palace for incest. He also ridiculously organized a troupe of performers to entertain him nightly. Furthermore, Prince Ning allowed his troops to forcibly disband while leading the Ningyuan Army to annihilate Dali, Jiaozhi, the Liao Dynasty, and Goryeo. These traitors must be eliminated as soon as possible."

"Censor Qin, do you have any evidence?" the old emperor asked, his face flushed. "Your Majesty, one of the victims, Zhu Manniang, is outside the palace. There are also retired soldiers from the Ningyuan Army who are willing to testify in the palace. Furthermore, I suspect that Fang La, the ruthless bandit involved in the Yangzhou salt merchant case, is Prince Ning himself."

"What? This..." At this moment, all the ministers in the hall were immediately shocked and frightened. After all, the Bai family of Yangzhou was the maternal family of Prince Ning's direct relatives, and this made everyone imagine again.

"Imperial Censor Qin, you must produce the necessary evidence. You must know that falsely accusing a prince is not something that can be reported on hearsay." At this time, the old emperor was also frightened by what Iimperial Censor Qin said. He glanced at Su Ning, who was calm and composed beside him, and couldn't help but feel a chilling fear.

"Your Majesty, I have solid evidence. Nanny Chang, the old maid of the Bai family, the former salt merchant from Yangzhou, is willing to identify me in the palace. Furthermore, this Nanny Chang was also the personal maid of Prince Ning's mother, Gu Bai, and was also one of Prince Ning's former confidants."

"Oh?" The old emperor on the dragon throne looked at the equally stunned Su Ning in surprise. Suddenly, he realized with joy that he might have hit Su Ning's weak spot. "Bring the witness to the palace."

"Yes! Your Majesty."

Soon, all the witnesses that Prince Yong and others had painstakingly gathered came to the hall, but Suning looked at Nanny Chang in the crowd in surprise. When Suning wanted to bring Nanny Chang to Jiangning Mansion for support, Nanny Chang refused on the pretext that she was already old. At that time, Suning did not think much about it and gave her a large sum of money to let her go home to retire. He just didn't expect that Nanny Chang would betray him one day.

"Prince Ning, you damn beast! Back then, my brother and I just accidentally bumped into your carriage, and you brutally killed my poor brother. You also forcibly abducted me into the Ningyuan Army's opera troupe to be an actor, and forced me to sing for those soldiers every day for their entertainment. Why don't you get struck to death by the thunder of God?" At this time, Zhu Manniang saw Su Ning in the hall and immediately started roaring like crazy, regardless of anything.

Su Ning was too lazy to pay attention to this crazy and silly woman. Instead, he kept staring at Nanny Chang, who was evasive in front of him, because he had also ignored Nanny Chang's affairs. Even his own Jinyiwei had forgotten to monitor and pay attention to her. He realized that Prince Yong and others must have decided to fight to the death with him, so what followed was an unprecedented decisive battle.

"Madam Chang, I have always treated you well. Why would you harm me like this?" Su Ning ignored everyone in the hall and looked at Madam Chang in disbelief.

"Brother Ye, although you are now the prince of Ning, it still cannot change the fact that I am a slave of the Bai family. If the old man of the Bai family had not rescued my entire Chang family, my entire Chang family would have been beheaded long ago. Naturally, I don't want to see the old man's descendants die in unclear circumstances." Although Nanny Chang felt a little guilty and didn't dare to look Su Ning in the eye, she still said through clenched teeth under the gaze of Prince Yong and others.

"The Bai family? How ridiculous! When my grandfather was young, he and his mother were expelled from the family tree by the Bai family you are talking about. May I ask, Madam Chang, which Bai family are you loyal to?"

"Brother Ye, does this mean you admit that you are Fang La, the man who massacred the entire Bai family?"

"Humph! Childish! Do you have any evidence?"

"Brother Ye, my evidence is that you are the biggest beneficiary of the Bai family's destruction, and you also raised wealth for your subsequent rebellion against the court."

"Evidence! I want real evidence! Not your own wild speculations."

"I……"

"Your Majesty, we have evidence! We have evidence that Prince Ning and the Ningyuan Army looted the Liao royal treasury and the Goryeo king's inner treasury." At this time, the burly men kneeling on the ground immediately looked at Su Ning with hatred on their faces, and then looked at the old emperor on the dragon throne whose face was flushed with excitement and explained.

Before the old emperor could say anything to them, Su Ning once again looked at them with confusion, noticing their strange accents. "Who are you? Since you claim to be soldiers of the Ningyuan Army, which guard of the Ningyuan Army are you from?"

"Humph! We are the slave guards of the Ningyuan Army. We are all civilians forcibly conscripted by your Ningyuan Army in Yalu Prefecture."

"Oh? After all this time, you turned out to be Jurchens?" At this moment, Suning couldn't help but reveal a bloodthirsty smile. He almost forgot about this poisonous and viperous clan.

"That's right! We are the Jurchens. It's because your Ningyuan Army is too brutal and has killed people wantonly in my Jurchen gathering place. Today, the Emperor of the Song Dynasty will abolish your royal title and take back your military power." Several Jurchens looked at Su Ning in front of them with a fierce look on their faces, and felt that the old emperor on the dragon throne and the officials of the Song Dynasty present gave them courage.

"Haha, it seems I'm too kind to you foreigners. Since you Jurchens have taken the initiative to run into us this time, then prepare to completely disappear from this world."

"You..." Several Jurchens immediately looked at Suning, who was full of murderous intent, with fear on their faces.

"Your Majesty, Prince Ning was, after all, a prince conferred by the imperial court of the Great Song Dynasty. Naturally, we cannot convict him based solely on these so-called witnesses. Otherwise, it will chill the hearts of soldiers and civilians all over the world." Seeing that he had achieved the desired effect perfectly, the instigator, Prince Yong, immediately came out and explained to the old emperor.

"Ah? This..." Seeing that it was Prince Yong who spoke up for Suning, the ministers in the hall immediately began to whisper to each other. Of course, some ministers who were quick-witted had already guessed Prince Yong's intention.

"Oh? Prince Yong, it seems you have some ideas?" Then the old emperor and Prince Yong performed in unison, but their poor acting skills were not as good as that of Zhu Manniang.

"Your Majesty, I beg you to thoroughly investigate all the matters so as to give justice to Prince Ning. Also, before the matter is clarified, I ask Duke Ying to come out and temporarily take charge of the world's military affairs, and dispatch troops to the northwest and the western regions as soon as possible to pursue the fleeing Western Xia Kingdom." Prince Yong then stated his purpose in a blunt manner, which was nothing more than wanting to use this incident to cut off the military power in Su Ning's hands.

"Well, Prince Yong's words are indeed a mature and wise policy for the country." At this moment, the old emperor immediately showed a look of approval. The other ministers realized Prince Yong's intention and could not help but look at each other in confusion. Then the old emperor looked at the Duke of Ying beside him solemnly and said, "Duke of Ying."

"I'm here." The old Duke of England immediately stepped out and looked at the old emperor.

"I order you to be in charge of the military affairs of the world temporarily. After King Ning Zhao Ning's injustice is redressed, the military affairs will be handed over to King Ning." The old emperor immediately looked at the Duke of Ying in front of him and gave the order, not caring about Su Ning's attitude at all.

"Yes! Your Majesty."

"Prince Ning, from now on you should cultivate yourself in Prince Ning's Mansion. I believe that the ministers will give you justice soon." Then the old emperor looked at Suning in front of him, without considering whether he could mobilize Suning's troops.

"Your Majesty, I, Zhao Ning, thank you very much." Suning looked at the old emperor on the dragon throne with a pitiful look. He did not expect that Song Renzong, who had been smart all his life, would make such a stupid move at the last moment of his life.

Seeing that Suning had obediently chosen to return to Prince Ning's Mansion and close the door to visitors, and that Princess Huirou was also sent back to the mansion by the old emperor and no longer asked about the government affairs of the court, Prince Yong and others immediately couldn't help but get excited. Then the Duke of Ying led the army to the northwest to pursue the fleeing Western Xia Kingdom. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, he took away the elite troops of the Ningyuan Army in Bianliang.

At this time, Su Ning was looking at Nanny Chang in front of him in the palace, still puzzled by Nanny Chang's behavior, "Nanny Chang, why did you betray me?"

"Brother Ye, I know that there is no possibility of survival for me. I just hope that you will not implicate my family. Besides, I really want to know if it was you who massacred the Bai family in Yangzhou?" Nanny Chang knew that she had no way of escaping from Suning, so she simply looked at Suning in front of her and asked.

"Madame Chang, don't worry! I won't kill you or your family, because I know that sometimes living is more painful than dying. I want you to live in self-blame and pain all day long."

"Ah? Brother Ye..." At this time, Nanny Chang felt frightened.

"Take it down."

"Yes, Your Highness." Soon, several burly Jinyiwei dragged away the bewildered Nanny Chang. However, Nanny Chang was still shouting there, "Your Highness, can you please answer this old slave? I just want an answer..."

Soon, Nanny Chang's voice slowly faded away. I believe she must be extremely painful and self-blaming for the rest of her life. At this time, Princess Huirou looked at Su Ning with some doubts, because she knew that Su Ning had never been a hesitant person. "Your Highness, are you just going to let this old hag leave like this?"

"Ah! After all, she is the old lady who raised me. I really can't bear to kill her. An ordinary person like her can't pose a threat to me, so I'd better give her and her family a way out." Suning shook his head helplessly, feeling that the development of the situation had far exceeded his expectations.

"Your Highness, she betrayed you, didn't she?" Princess Huirou looked at Su Ning in front of her with some confusion.

"So what! Even if there is no return, I don't want to lose my mind." Suning looked at Princess Huirou with a domineering face and said.

"This……"

Although Nanny Chang's betrayal was somewhat beyond Suning's expectations, the final effect was indeed perfect. Now in the eyes of Prince Yong and Prince Yan, he was a tiger with its teeth pulled out. Then they began their great cause of eliminating the bandits. Almost all the royal family members of Zhao Song contributed their strength, only because they were oppressed too harshly by Suning and the Ningyuan Army, and they had to get rid of the rebels who were harming the country and the people at one time.

……

(End of this chapter)