The maid's road to success

An Wenniang walked slowly to the temple with red and swollen eyes. Since she came out under the excuse of burning incense and praying, she had better act well. On the way, An Wenniang was calculating An Zizhong's plan. It was obvious that Duke Cheng'en was raising private soldiers, the Queen Mother had an illegitimate child, the Fourth Prince had taken action against the Grand Princess, and the Sixth Prince himself did not have any major handle, but his princess had a crime behind her that was enough to exterminate the entire clan.

Now An Zizhong and his team have many secret lines, and the military power in Liangzhou has actually fallen into the hands of the old ancestor and his team, but distant water cannot quench immediate thirst, and they are undoubtedly the weakest. It is obvious that An Zizhong does not intend to use eggs to hit stones, so his current plan is to let those people kill each other, but he has not yet decided who will deal with whom.

However, based on An Wenniang's understanding of An Zizhong, An Zizhong will probably let the emperor test Duke Cheng'en's power in the end. After all, Duke Cheng'en's power is too great, and only the emperor and the empress dowager have legitimate reasons to deal with Duke Cheng'en and make him suffer.

In this trial at the Dali Temple, actually the most serious cases had already been dealt with by Lord Cheng'en. None of the remaining cases, such as the sale of official positions, corruption, murder, incompetence and abuse of power for personal gain, would really cause Lord Cheng'en serious harm. However, the Emperor was obviously very wary of Lord Cheng'en now, and he directly issued an edict that Lord Cheng'en was unable to restrain himself and his family, and had infringed upon the interests of the country and the safety of the people, and was not qualified to continue to manage the safety of Kyoto, and directly removed the management rights of the five city defense armies.

Although he handed over the new commander-in-chief position to Marquis Wu'an, Marquis Wu'an's wife was a close friend of his ancestor. Although they did not suffer much from the incident in Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion, that was because Marquis Wu'an was at the border at the time and could not be reached. Marquis Wu'an's wife herself was attacked by the censor and was unable to take care of herself. Even so, she took extra care of the women in Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion. If it were not for her protection, Prince Li's Mansion and the Bai family, those women would not have survived to Liangzhou.

Although the imperial edict stated that it was exile, according to the law those exiled were pardoned from the death penalty, and 80% of the people had to be guaranteed to stay alive despite the bumpy journey. However, Duke Cheng'en did not want to leave any chance for the people in Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion to survive, and was always thinking about letting them all die on the road. If it were not for these in-laws and friends who tied down Duke Cheng'en's main forces, they might have died out long ago.

An Zizhong was very happy when he knew that Marquis Wu'an accepted the position of commander-in-chief of the five city defense armies. Regardless of other things, if they really had to fight, Marquis Wu'an would definitely not harm the people in Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion.

They have kept it a secret all these years. The reason why the wife of Marquis Wu'an is on good terms with the ancestor is simply because Marquis Wu'an has been fighting outside, and some villains wanted to attack Marquis Wu'an's family when his wife was giving birth, so the ancestor sent people to protect them. It was simply because of the affection between Marquis Wu'an and the old marquis when they were young. When Marquis Wu'an left, he left a message with Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion, hoping that they would take good care of his family.

Later, because both governments were military generals in charge of military power, in order to avoid being punished by their superiors, they deliberately kept their distance and even acted as if they would never have any contact with each other. In fact, all this was done to dispel the suspicion of the superiors and make them feel more at ease with them.

According to the ancestors, the wife of Marquis Wu'an had been in contact with her and had promised to bring them back from the bitter cold region of the northwest. An Zizhong himself also said that Marquis Wu'an would be a great help to them in the future.

So now they don't have to worry too much about the security of Kyoto. What they need to pay more attention to is how to let those forces obtain the information more naturally. The emperor is still very suspicious about who passed the matter of Eunuch Cheng'en to him. If it weren't for the fact that Eunuch Cheng has been entrenched in the harem for many years, he would probably be found soon.

After all, the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince were both candidates who once had the hope of competing for the throne, so they are naturally not stupid. If they rashly obtain this information, they will naturally first suspect whether someone is setting up a trap, so the key is how to let them know these things.

An Wenniang came to the temple unsteadily. There were many pilgrims here, including many officials and their wives. She walked up the mountain and thought a lot. She guessed most of An Zizhong's future plans. The emperor was the best candidate to deal with Duke Cheng'en. The Sixth Prince was the opponent who pulled the Fourth Prince. The Sixth Prince left Beijing at that time, but the Fourth Prince contributed a lot. In the Sixth Prince's heart, the Fourth Prince was the person he hated the most. The only thing he needed to pay attention to was whether the Sixth Princess and the Empress Dowager would stop the Sixth Prince from attacking the Fourth Prince.

Since the Sixth Princess has raised private soldiers without the knowledge of the Sixth Prince and her father, she must have her own plans. If the Sixth Prince takes action against the Fourth Prince at this time, it will definitely expose many forces behind the Sixth Prince's Mansion, including the Sixth Princess's people. If she really has any plans, she certainly does not want the Sixth Prince to take risks at this time.

So someone has to hold the Sixth Princess back. The Grand Empress Dowager seems to have serious health problems. Recently, Eunuch Cheng has been able to exchange letters more easily. For example, in the current Shou'en Palace, Eunuch Cheng has enough say. Eunuch Cheng can even contact the two concubines sent into the palace by Black Hawk. It can be seen that the Grand Empress Dowager can no longer influence Eunuch Cheng's actions.

So there is no need to worry too much about this. The Sixth Prince is more sentimental than the Fourth Prince and is easily controlled by his emotions. He was suppressed by the Empress Dowager at the beginning, so he seldom made mistakes. The Sixth Prince's Consort is also a powerful person, so he has the power to fight with the Fourth Prince and the Emperor. However, the Empress Dowager is old and not as energetic as she was when she was young, so it is inevitable that there will be omissions. The Sixth Prince's Consort was not liked by the Sixth Prince and her jealousy made it impossible for the two to communicate, which resulted in her being driven out and demoted from the title of Prince to the rank of Duke.

But as long as he keeps a close eye on the Sixth Princess to prevent her from trying to stop the Sixth Prince, and as long as the Sixth Prince knows what is happening between the Fourth Prince and the Grand Princess, he will surely take action. Although the Grand Princess is a very smart woman who can help the Fourth Prince become the most powerful prince today, it is because she knows that her own Princess Mansion is only supported by herself. Once she is old and no longer in this world, Princess Baozhu and Bai Shoude will surely lose their protection. They are too arrogant and domineering, and I am afraid they will not have a good end. That is why she wants to help the Fourth Prince ascend the throne and fight for a rich and leisurely future for her children.

But she thought too beautifully and let a wolf enter the house. She mistakenly took the Fourth Prince as a man with conscience. She really thought that after he obtained the throne he wanted, he would fulfill his promise and make Baozhu the imperial concubine and Shoude the prince.

Yes, even though Princess Baozhu had become notorious, she had planned to let the Fourth Prince inherit the throne, and then have Princess Baozhu enter the palace as a widow and then gradually be promoted to become an imperial concubine or even a noble concubine or queen, and then give birth to a prince.

The Fourth Prince himself agreed, and he also promised that if Baozhu and he had a child in the future, he would give priority to making that child the Crown Prince.

As for herself, she is already the Grand Princess, but the credit for following the dragon can be transferred to Bai Shoude, making Bai Shoude the first heterosexual king in this dynasty. Her daughter will be the imperial concubine and will give birth to a prince in the future, and her son will become the heterosexual king. Then they will have unlimited glory and wealth. This is the Grand Princess's plan. She can even manage the government and become the hand behind the control of the court.

But she had misjudged the man. The Fourth Prince was a vicious person. On the surface, he promised her that he would give her the best of everything, but behind her back, he felt that she had not done her best and used the safety of her children to force her. That was a different story.

Prince Consort Bai still thinks that the reason the Grand Princess knew about what the Fourth Prince did to Bai Shoude and did not choose to take revenge is because the Grand Princess has always been obsessed with power and did not care about her family. In fact, An Zizhong and An Wenniang know that she cares too much. The Grand Princess knows very well that the Fourth Prince is no longer the young man who knelt on the ground and begged her for protection. He has already grown into a ferocious beast. A rash attack may succeed, but if she cannot completely drag the Fourth Prince into the abyss, he will definitely kill Baozhu and Bai Shoude completely. Then not only will she not be able to take revenge, but she will also have to endure greater pain.

Therefore, if the Sixth Prince knew about the Fourth Prince's actions against Baozhu and Bai Shoude at this time, he would definitely take advantage of the situation to sow discord between the Grand Princess and the Fourth Prince. An Zizhong wanted to hand the Sixth Prince to the Grand Princess and let her realize that she could use the Sixth Prince to completely defeat the Fourth Prince. Although all her previous plans were wasted, it was not too late. She would help defeat the Fourth Prince together and help the Sixth Prince. Although the rewards she could get would be greatly reduced, she had no other choice now.

Although she had to stand on the same side as the Empress Dowager, she could endure everything as long as the Fourth Prince got his comeuppance.

As for the matter of the Queen Mother, only the Fourth Prince was left to deal with it. The Emperor did not want to keep the child, firstly because he was afraid that it would threaten his throne, and secondly because he wanted to cover up the scandal and deal with it before it broke out. However, if the Fourth Prince knew that the Queen Mother dared to do such a scandal that harmed the royal family, gave birth to a child with another man, and wanted to quietly make this child a possible successor to the throne, he would certainly try his best to expose the matter. On the one hand, he could directly defeat the Queen Mother and cut off her hopes, and on the other hand, he could take the opportunity to interfere with the Emperor. How much torture could the Emperor's body withstand now?

After An Wen Niang figured it out, she went to burn incense and pray with peace of mind. Looking at the group of people surrounding the yard, she wanted to go out, but their words made An Wen Niang stop.

"I'm so sorry. Our child looks a lot like this young master from a distance. I was wrong. I'm not a human being or a kidnapper. When my child comes back, you'll know that what I said is true."

The discussions around gave An Wen's mother a rough idea of ​​what was going on. It turned out that the woman saw a child and thought it was her naughty son, so she rushed over to grab the child and started scolding him, wanting to take him home. As a result, the child's real mother came out and saw the woman trying to take the child away. The child was so scared that he started crying, so he thought the woman was a kidnapper, so he immediately hugged the child and shouted.

Immediately, the woman was surrounded by pilgrims. The woman then looked at the child carefully and found that there was indeed some difference between the child and the woman herself. She explained immediately, but the child's parents did not believe it at all and refused to let her go, wanting to take her to see the officials.

An Wen's mother watched as a child was carried by a man into the crowd. Sure enough, the woman's child was brought over by her own brother. Everyone saw what the woman said was indeed correct. The two children were of the same height and looked very similar. Even the clothes they wore were very similar, both were short gray cloth jackets. The woman had indeed recognized the wrong child.

After knowing that these were all misunderstandings, everyone dispersed. The two women looked at the two children who looked 60% similar and felt that they were destined to meet each other. They met another person who looked very much like their children in the temple. The two families felt that this was fate and they started chatting enthusiastically, as if they wanted to ask whether there was any blood relationship between their ancestors.

An Wenniang got inspiration from this incident. Now the empress dowager's illegitimate son is protected very well and is not even allowed to step out of the courtyard gate. The Fourth Prince has no connection with that royal family member. If he is brought to the house rashly, firstly, it will be difficult to really meet the child. Secondly, the royal family member is now very cautious and will not allow anyone who comes to visit to enter casually.

Therefore, how to make the Fourth Prince aware of the child himself is a difficult problem. If the message is delivered to him voluntarily, the Fourth Prince will probably first suspect the person who delivered the message, or that there is someone behind the scenes manipulating the matter. But what if the child is seen by the Fourth Prince himself?

Of course, I am not talking about letting the Fourth Prince see it, but a child who looks very much like the Queen Mother and the Emperor. The current Emperor looks very much like the Queen Mother, unlike the other princes in the royal family. Although the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince also look like their mothers, they also inherited some of the late Emperor's genes, and the Second Prince completely inherited the Queen Mother's appearance.

If the Fourth Prince himself saw a child who looked like the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, he would definitely be suspicious or have other plans for the child's face. In any case, as long as the Fourth Prince was willing to pay attention to the child, they could guide the Fourth Prince to discover the child's father and origin, and thus let him discover the Empress Dowager's conspiracy.

Thinking of this, An Wenniang immediately rushed back to Kyoto to discuss it with Master Yuxi, and they both agreed that it was feasible.

"Miss, you are smart. We are now considering how to let the Fourth Prince know about this matter. However, I am afraid that this matter will still trouble Miss An Yun. I will go find a suitable child. Miss An Yun will trouble you to change the child's appearance when the time comes. Leave the rest to us."

An Wenniang nodded and asked the others if they had any proper plans.

"The young master will directly tell the Sixth Prince about the Fourth Prince's attack on Bai Shoude. The Emperor has never given up on Duke Cheng'en and is still searching for the place where Duke Cheng'en trained his private soldiers. However, Duke Cheng'en hid very well and nothing has been found so far."

An Wenniang has forgotten that the Sixth Prince still thinks that he has successfully instigated An Zizhong to rebel. After all, he did not completely trust An Zizhong in the beginning. He just simply wanted to win An Zizhong over to his side and keep a spy here with the Grand Princess. However, the half of the account book from Duke Cheng'en made the Sixth Prince believe An Zizhong 70%. An Zizhong directly told the Sixth Prince these two things, and the Sixth Prince would naturally check them out.

They are all smart people, and they have spies and informants everywhere. Even if they don't find out all the clues, they will definitely find a lot of clues. By then, can the Sixth Prince still resist going to find the Grand Princess?

And now the Grand Princess will naturally not continue to help the Fourth Prince. She has seen clearly that if the Fourth Prince becomes the Emperor, not only will their faction not benefit from anything, but they will be regarded as a thorn in their side because there are too many things that restrain the Fourth Prince. Then, if the Sixth Prince instigates a rebellion in time, it will be natural for the Grand Princess to join hands with the Sixth Prince.

But before that, An Zizhong still had to make some arrangements, an arrangement that would allow the Fourth Prince to eliminate the Sixth Prince's forces.