The prince ordered: "Qi Feng, you immediately order five hundred soldiers to go to the Duke of Zhou's mansion and capture three Piao people."
Qi Feng was surprised and thought he heard wrongly. "Your Highness? Are you asking your subordinates to go to Duke Zhou's mansion to get someone?"
"That's right, go ahead. If they dare to stop you, they will force their way in."
Qi Feng smiled bitterly and did not dare to obey the order for a moment.
Li Yunxian reminded: "General Qi, Wu Chengsi is still in the Criminal Department."
Qi Feng's face straightened, he cupped his hands and said, "The last general will take your orders."
After Qi Feng left, Li Yunxian reminded: "Your Highness, Wu Chengsi is the nephew of Her Royal Highness the Queen after all. I'm afraid the Queen will intervene after learning about it."
The prince hummed: "Then I will go see my father immediately and tell him this matter!"
"Your Highness is wise."
Before noon, Qi Feng arrived at the Duke's Mansion with his troops. After hearing the news, Wen Rong and Han Cheng came to the door together.
Han Cheng glanced at the armored East Palace guards and said coldly: "General Qi, what are you doing? Do you want to rob the Duke's mansion?"
Qi Feng said in a deep voice: "I'm sorry, the general has arrested three Piao people on the order of His Highness the Crown Prince. Please cooperate with me."
Han Cheng said coldly: "What if we don't cooperate?"
"This is an order from His Highness the Crown Prince. If the Duke's Mansion does not cooperate, we will have no choice but to do it forcefully."
Wen Rong said to Qiu Chan behind him: "Go and get the gold medal."
Qiu Chan responded and quickly entered the palace. When she came out, she held a tray covered with gold and silk.
Wen Rong opened the gold medal, held it high with both hands, and said loudly: "Her Royal Highness the Queen has given you the gold medal here. Let's see who dares to be bold!"
Qi Feng hesitated for a moment, got off his horse, knelt down on one knee and said, "Kowtow to Her Majesty the Queen." The people behind him also knelt down on the ground.
After bowing, Qi Feng stood up and told a captain behind him: "Go back to the East Palace quickly and tell His Highness the Crown Prince about the gold medal."
He didn't want to offend Wu Chengsi, so when he saw the gold medal here, he just happened to go down the slope.
The captain nodded, pulled the horse around the corner, then got on the horse and galloped towards the East Palace.
Outside the palace, Qi Feng led his men to confront Han Cheng and others.
In the palace, the prince had just requested the order from Li Zhi and returned to the East Palace. After receiving the news from Qi Feng, he was very angry and came to the Duke's Mansion in person.
Han Cheng and others did not dare to stop him anymore and asked the prince to search the palace, but could not find any trace of the three Piao people.
The prince sat down at the head of the hall and said angrily: "Quickly tell me, where did you hide the people?"
Wen Rong said lightly: "I wonder who your Highness is talking about?"
"Don't pretend to be stupid, they are the three Piao people who were taken away by you yesterday!"
"Going back to Your Highness, there are no Piao people in the Duke's mansion. If the Duke is not here, how can we dare to make any arbitrary decisions and keep foreigners in the mansion?" Wen Rong said without hesitation.
The prince said angrily: "You still dare to quibble. This matter was witnessed by Master Li with his own eyes. How dare you deny it?"
Wen Rong said: "If Your Highness says so, you might as well ask Daoist Li to confront us. I would like to ask him how he saw us taking away the Piao people."
"Sooner or later, I will find those three people. By then, not only you, but also Wu Chengsi will not be able to escape the blame!" The prince snorted angrily, stood up and left the lobby.
Wen Rong walked him all the way to the gate, watched the prince disappear with the others, frowned and said: "General Han, have you noticed that the prince has changed a lot compared to before."
Han Cheng said coldly: "Maybe it's because King Pei's fight for the heir apparent irritated him, but no matter how his appearance changes, his true nature will never change."
Wen Rong sighed: "It really doesn't matter how the prince changes, but he is obviously hostile to the father-in-law, which is not a good thing."
Han Chengdao: "Don't sigh too much. You stay in the mansion, and I will go to the Ministry of Punishment to report the situation to Mr. Ming."
…
As soon as the prince returned to the East Palace, he heard that Princess Taiping was here. When he came to the warm palace where guests were received, he saw Princess Taiping sitting on a brocade couch drinking tea.
"Taiping, why are you here?" The prince frowned.
Princess Taiping smiled and said: "I offended the emperor's sister-in-law last time at Da Ci'en Temple, and I felt very uneasy. I happened to get a jade ornament yesterday, so I wanted to give it to the emperor's sister-in-law to apologize."
As he spoke, he took out something, but it was a little wolf carved from white jade, very delicate and cute.
When Li Hong saw Princess Taiping giving a gift to Ashinad Yaruo, he was even happier than when he got the gift himself. Moreover, Princess Taiping also called Yaruo the emperor's sister-in-law, which made him very satisfied.
The prince took the little wolf and said with a smile: "You are interested, Ya Ruo will be very happy."
Princess Taiping smiled and said: "I heard that Turks all like wolves, so I thought this little wolf is the most suitable for the emperor's wife to hold."
The prince nodded repeatedly and suddenly said: "Taiping, you seem to be very close to Wu Chengsi. What's the reason for this?"
Princess Taiping sighed and said, "Brother, you have the nerve to ask. You don't even play with me, and only my second cousin will take the time to play with me."
"Humph, he did it intentionally to accompany you, just to please you. He didn't do it out of sincerity."
Princess Taiping smoothed her hair and said calmly: "My little sister doesn't know. But after all, he is my mother's nephew and a cousin. He usually comes to my little sister for some small work, so I can't refuse."
The prince said solemnly: "Then the emperor wants to ask you, if he wants to go against the emperor, will you help him or me?"
Princess Taiping laughed dumbly: "Brother Huang is joking. No matter how good he is to my little sister, he is just a cousin. You are my biological brother, so naturally my little sister will be on your side. But brother Huang, your relationship with your second cousin is not always the same."
Is it good? How can you ask such a question? "
The prince gritted his teeth and said, "That's because I didn't see his true face clearly before." He waved his hand and asked everyone around him to go out. He also asked everyone to stay away from the door. Princess Taiping also asked the maids to leave together.
Suddenly, only the brother and sister were left in the room. Li Hong lowered his voice and said, "Sister Huang, do you know why the sixth brother suddenly wants to fight for the throne?"
Princess Taiping was secretly shocked and shook her head.
Li Hong took a few deep breaths and said slowly: "This matter is the biggest secret of the royal family. Very few people know about it, but you are a member of the family, so it's okay to tell you. But once you know it, don't tell others."
Princess Taiping nodded vigorously and said seriously: "Brother, don't worry, my little sister will definitely keep her mouth shut."
Li Hong walked to the door, pushed it open, checked outside, and closed the door again when he saw no one was there.
Princess Taiping saw that he was so solemn, and her curiosity aroused in her heart.
The prince walked back slowly and said in a trembling voice: "Sister, don't be surprised when I hear this. King Pei...he...is not actually the queen's son!"
Princess Taiping was stunned for a while, and then said: "Then... he is..."
"He is born to the emperor and his Korean wife!" The prince's voice was low and hoarse.
"..."
After a while, Princess Taiping recovered from the shock and asked, "What does this have to do with my second cousin?"
The prince snorted coldly: "Do you still remember what happened that day at Da Ci'en Temple?"
Princess Taiping nodded numbly, because of the news about King Pei, her head, which was always nimble, was not spinning as fast as usual.
The prince said in a hoarse voice: "The next day, King Pei quietly made an appointment with me and met in secret. He told me the news personally."
"And he also told me that this news was told to him by Wu Chengsi. Originally, he and I were brothers, and he never thought of competing with me for the position of crown prince. It was only after he learned about his life experience that he became interested in competing for the crown prince.
"
Princess Taiping said blankly: "Do you think that the second cousin deliberately told the emperor the news?"
"Is there any need to ask?" the prince gritted his teeth.
"But why would he do this?"
The prince said bitterly: "He is deliberately causing us brothers to quarrel. Only the Wu clan can benefit. King Pei also knows this."
"You said...Wu family, what about the queen mother?"
The prince said nothing, looked at her deeply, and said nothing.
Princess Taiping patted her chest, never expecting that by asking for information, she could find out such a secret.
She understood what the prince meant. He suspected that the Wu family deliberately caused an internal fight between the prince and King Pei, so that the good fisherman would benefit and firmly control the government in the future.
It is not uncommon in ancient times for relatives to control the government.
Princess Taiping glanced at Li Hong with pity and thought: "This silly brother actually told me such important news because of a jade pendant."
After inquiring about the news, Princess Taiping said goodbye. Li Hongfei asked her to see Ashina Deyaruo, and Princess Taiping had no choice but to agree.
After exchanging a few polite words with her Turkic concubine, she hurriedly left the East Palace and went straight to the Criminal Department.
It snowed again a few days ago, and the snow turned into ice, making the road very slippery, causing the carriage to move very slowly.
Princess Taiping was anxious to tell Wu Chengsi the news, so she simply got off the carriage and rode directly to the Ministry of Punishment, attracting the attention of countless passers-by along the way.