Chapter 33 King Qin
The next day, Dou sent someone to the Shenwu County Duke's Mansion to deliver a letter, asking her brother to go and pay a visit to Ju Duke Xiao Cong. Dou then ordered someone to deliver a visiting card to the Jin Prince's Mansion, and only set off after Jin Prince's wife replied.

Dugu could not sit still, so she sent someone to write a letter to her brother, Duke of Zhao Dugu Luo, asking him to ask her son-in-law, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat Xiao Yu, to find out what the Xiao family meant.

If she was the legitimate daughter of the Xiao family of Lanling, it would be fine, but if she was a concubine's daughter, then even if the Prince of Jin and his wife personally acted as matchmakers, it would not work.

Xiao Yu was the seventh son of Emperor Ming of Liang, Xiao Kui, the King of Xin'an of the Liang Dynasty, and the son-in-law of the Dugu family.

When Li Jiancheng came back from work to visit his grandmother, he saw his mother and grandmother talking happily, and he knew that the marriage was most likely a done deal.

"Grandmother, mother."

Li Jiancheng took the medicine bowl from his mother's hand and served the medicine to his grandmother. Dugu smiled at her daughter-in-law and said, "The Princess of Jin is kind. I heard that she doesn't like extravagance and is quite fond of literature. I have a few rare ancient books in my box. You can give them to her one day."

Dou responded with a smile, and then the two of them looked at Li Jiancheng, but obviously they were not looking at him, but looking into the future. They were probably looking at his son.

Li Jiancheng coughed uncomfortably. Dou came to her senses and said to her son, "I went to see the Princess of Jin. She said she was her eldest brother's legitimate daughter. Ten years ago, she was a princess. So we are well matched."

Li Jiancheng was also a little surprised. The eldest brother of the Princess of Jin was the Emperor Guangyun of the Liang Dynasty and the current Duke of Ju, Xiao Cong. To say that his daughter was a princess was well deserved.

Of course, it is not the case that the Li family was marrying up. After Chen Baxian established the country, the Xiao family only restored the country in Jiangling under the protection of Guanlong. The country was small and weak. Later, in the seventh year of Kaihuang, Xiao Cong was ordered by the Emperor of Sui to serve as an official in Sui. The Liang State was abolished since then, so it was not a taboo to marry into the Liang State.

But no matter what, the Xiao family of Lanling was also a prestigious family that was once prominent and illustrious. It was once known as the Wang family of Langya, the Xie family of Chenjun, and the Yuan family of Chenjun. The Wang, Xie, Yuan, and Xiao families had a profound academic background and outstanding children.

"I have never heard that the Duke of Ju has a daughter?"

Dou rolled her eyes at him and said, "How can outsiders easily know that a girl is not yet of marriageable age? Besides, I heard from Princess Jin that the girl likes to be quiet and rarely goes out."

Li Jiancheng looked at his overjoyed mother and grandmother and said, "I haven't even seen her appearance and character, why are you favoring her so much?"

Dugu said, "You have met the Duke of Ju, his wife, Cai, is also a person of good character and beauty. I think the girls born to her will be of good appearance and good character."

Li Jiancheng had nothing to say. If there was anyone in the court who could compare with the handsomeness of Prince of Jin Yang Guang, it would be the Duke of Ju, who was truly a suave and romantic figure.

Dou smiled and said, "The princess said that the girl looks more like her."

Well, Li Jiancheng really has no opinion at all.

The two families began formal contact, but because both of them were not yet of marriageable age, they were not in a hurry to perform the six rituals. However, those in the capital who were more informed had already heard the news.

.........

The crown prince has been deposed and the emperor is nearly sixty years old, so appointing a successor is now the top priority. Civil and military officials have submitted petitions one after another, and there is no doubt that the Prince of Jin has the highest voice.

However, the Prince of Jin had a lot of influence on the Crown Prince issue, so some officials thought that since the eldest prince was deposed and the most virtuous were chosen, the other princes, who were also legitimate children of the empress and empress, could also enter the East Palace. Originally, it seemed that there were only two factions in the court, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin, but after the Crown Prince fell, officials suddenly appeared to support the King of Shu and the King of Han. Even Yang Jun, who had been dismissed from all his positions and only had the title of King of Qin, had supporters.

It was obvious that these people were waiting for the fisherman to benefit from the quarrel between the snipe and the clam, and no one knew what they said to the emperor. The emperor, who had originally decided to make Prince Jin the emperor, began to hesitate again.

Inside the Prince of Jin's mansion, all the civil and military officials had gloomy faces. The duck that was about to reach their mouths had flown away, and they could not eat the meat for a while, so they were naturally in a bad mood.

Yang Guang remained calm and tried to comfort the crowd, saying, "My dear friends, Sun Tzu said, if you are not overjoyed when things go your way, or feel discouraged when things go your way, or are not frightened when things go your way, and if you are not afraid when things are dangerous, and if you have thunder in your chest but a calm face, you can be promoted to general."

"It's just a minor setback now. You are all talented people and will definitely help me overcome it. Why should I be depressed?"

Li Jiancheng had to admit that Yang Guang was very charming at this time and had the ability to make people willing to go through fire and water for him.

Under the leadership of Yang Guang, plans targeting the remaining princes began.

Li Jiancheng decided to make some efforts. In fact, from what he could see, the King of Jin had already won the upper hand, and he had both civil and military forces under his command. It was almost inevitable that he would win in the end. Those princes each had their own shortcomings and weaknesses, and they could be targeted and defeated.

This was also a process of rewarding meritorious service and dividing the meat, but he did not want to be too conspicuous, so he signaled his father to take on the task of completely cutting off Qin Wang Yang Jun's ambition to seize the throne.

This made some officials who were not in high positions feel resentful. The great achievements of the King of Shu and the King of Han must have belonged to the Duke of Yue and the Duke of Bao. They did not dare to go up and share the meat. The only one left was the King of Qin, who was the simplest one and almost got it for free. He offered them soup, but it was snatched away by the Li family.

But no matter how much they complained, they couldn't afford to offend Duke Tang and his men, and they still had to drink the soup, a few drops was better than nothing, so they all came up to Li Yuan eagerly, flattering him and wanting to offer help.

Li Yuan's other abilities are not apparent for the time being, but his ability to make everyone happy is indeed amazing. He gave tasks to all the useful and useless people, big and small, and promised to report their contributions and hard work to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin in detail.

If you want to solve the problem without being able to directly solve the problem's problems, then all you can do is resort to coercion, inducement, and framing.

As for Prince of Qin Yang Jun, it was a little difficult to deal with him. It was not because he was so strong, but because his elder brother had brought about his own death. In his palace in the vassal state, the walls were painted with perfume, the steps were built with jade and gold, and the beams, pillars, lintels, and rafters were all surrounded by mirrors and interspersed with precious pearls, making it an extremely beautiful palace.

Not only did he love luxury, he also liked women. He specially built a water palace in his fiefdom, where he often gathered guests and spent his days singing and dancing with dozens of dancing prostitutes. As a result, his fierce wife found out about it, and she poisoned him in anger, and he was almost poisoned to death.

After the poisoning was exposed, the Queen was furious and the Princess of Qin was ordered to commit suicide. The King of Qin, who had violated the two taboos of extravagance and women, had already lost the favor of the Emperor and Empress before the Crown Prince.

Therefore, those who recommended the Prince of Qin as the crown prince were only trying to fish in troubled waters. However, Yang Guang not only wanted to ascend to the position of crown prince, he also wanted to strengthen his power and prepare for his future ascension to the throne, so he had to give his younger brothers a severe lesson.

A few days later, after Li Jiancheng had discussed with his father, he allowed him to enter the palace to ask for an audience with His Majesty and to plead for the King of Qin.

…………

　I barely made it to the second round of recommendations (^ー゜) so I'll read it later~
　　

(End of this chapter)