Chapter 189 Lady Hu is too cowardly

Cheng Jiao looked at Honglian who was fooled by his few words, and felt a little guilty about Honglian's unreserved trust in him.

But for the sake of his dream of having many wives and concubines in the future, he felt that he could continue to use the skill of fooling others.

Honglian quietly pulled Cheng Jiao aside.

"Cheng Jiao, let me tell you, I have investigated the palace these past few days, and you may have suspected the wrong person. Lady Hu cannot be the tide demon."

Cheng Jiao subconsciously wanted to stroke the jade ring, forgetting that the jade ring had already been given to Li Wu as a token of trust.

I told Honglian a few days ago that the tide demon might be Lady Hu, just to give Honglian something to do. Of course, I know Lady Hu is not the tide demon, but now it seems that I have to take precautions.

"Not Miss Hu?"

Honglian wrinkled her delicate nose and glanced at Lady Hu who was standing next to Madam Mingzhu with her hands folded.

"It's definitely not Lady Hu. My maid often says that Lady Hu is often suppressed by Madam Mingzhu. If Lady Hu is the Chao Nymph, then Lady Hu is too cowardly. Also, I heard that Lady Hu has a sister named Madam Hu. I heard my brother say by chance that Madam Hu's daughter, Nong Yu, is in Zi Lan Xuan. If Lady Hu is the Chao Nymph, then Nong Yu must be problematic. I've met Nong Yu a few times, and I don't think she's a bad person."

Cheng Jiao couldn't help but grinned, and subconsciously glanced at his mistress, Lady Hu. It seemed that what Hong Lian said was right, but it was indeed a bit
Lady Hu had been keeping an eye on Cheng Jiao, and she found that Hong Lian and Cheng Jiao were looking at her with strange eyes, which made her feel a little puzzled.

"Then who do you think it is?"

Honglian's pretty face became serious: "I feel it is Madam Mingzhu."

The corner of Cheng Jiao's mouth twitched involuntarily, your feeling is really accurate.

"why?"

Honglian analyzed, "My father always mentioned that he could only sleep peacefully at Madam Mingzhu's place. I asked my father secretly. Madam Mingzhu would prepare a kind of incense. I suspect there is something wrong with this incense. When I have a chance, I will sneak into Madam Mingzhu's palace to steal some and see."

Cheng Jiao blinked, this was a bit of a difficult situation. He didn't know whether Honglian had hit the mark by accident or not, but he needed to talk to Madam Mingzhu and ask her to give in to Honglian. They were all family, and it would not look good to hurt either of them.

"Then be careful not to get caught by Madam Mingzhu."

Honglian nodded: "Of course, you said that we can't alert the enemy before we are sure."

Cheng Jiao wanted to scratch his head. Did he say that?

"Yes, that's right. Let's go back to the palace now. I'll help you delay Madam Mingzhu and Lady Hu for a while~"

Honglian's eyes lit up and she squinted her eyes: "That's great! Then I'll leave first!"

Glancing at Han Fei who was standing by Madam Mingzhu and Lady Hu, Cheng Jiao said, "Don't tell your brother, or you'll have to take a rest."

Honglian blinked: "I know, my brother has a lot of things to do, but I won't tell him. He doesn't take me to play, and he doesn't let me play. This is really unreasonable!"

After saying that, Honglian waved goodbye to Cheng Jiao.

"No more talking. I have to hurry up. You can just delay for a while, okay?"

Cheng Jiao nodded, said hello to Honglian and Han Fei and left.

I thought to myself, “If I, your man, hadn’t taken Madam Mingzhu down, I wouldn’t dare let you play like this.”

When Lady Hu saw Honglian leave, she felt relieved.

Although here in Zilanxuan, basically except Cheng Jiao and her, they knew that Madam Mingzhu was not Yemu's person, everyone else still thought that Madam Mingzhu still belonged to Yemu's side.

So Concubine Hu had to find a reason to leave Madam Mingzhu and go to Cheng Jiao's side.

"Sir, my sister?"

Cheng Jiao was about to go over, but when he saw Lady Hu coming over, he had to sit down again.

"I have sent your sister and her daughter Nongyu to Xianyang. You don't have to worry about my mother, Madam Han."

Lady Hu breathed a sigh of relief. Although she knew that her sister might have left, she still couldn't help but want to confirm with Cheng Jiao.

"Thank you, sir."

Cheng Jiao smiled and said, "Why thank you? You sisters followed me, so I naturally have to be concerned about your safety. How have you been in the palace these days?"

Lady Hu sighed softly, "It's not peaceful. The old man Han Wangan often summons Han Yu, and it seems that he wants to make Han Yu the next crown prince. Moreover, Madam Mingzhu's attitude is ambiguous now, and she is no longer as devoted to the young master as before."

Cheng Jiao smacked his lips. He had no opinion on who King Han An wanted to make the crown prince. The Kingdom of Han was almost gone anyway, so there was no point in having a crown prince.

As for Madam Mingzhu?
"Don't worry about Madam Mingzhu. As long as you don't provoke her, she won't embarrass you for my sake. This woman is not easy to get along with now. She is acting like a lady. When I destroy Korea, I will take her away as my concubine. Then you can bully her again."

Lady Hu glanced at Madam Mingzhu who was not far away and chuckled, "Sir, you must suppress her when the time comes."

As for Madam Mingzhu, Lady Hu has always wanted to turn the tables and become the master. If anyone has been suppressed by the same woman for many years, she will not let it go if she has the chance to control him.

Cheng Jiao looked at the beautiful Lady Hu and thought: "Do you plan to stay in Korea or come with me?"

He had not thought much about whether Lady Hu should stay or leave before, but now that Lady Hu is here, he could ask her.

Lady Hu said softly, "I plan to stay in Han for now, and when the young master destroys Han, he will take me and Madam Mingzhu away with him."

She had her own thoughts. Although she had no doubts about whether Qin was capable of destroying Han, she still chose to wait and see. What if Cheng Jiao was unreliable and returned to Qin without any action? She would abandon her status as a beauty and follow him. That would be a shame!
As for Madam Mingzhu, she was not too worried. Chao Nuyao had already betrayed Ye Mu. Unless she wanted to expose herself and was not afraid of the revenge of Ji Wuye and Xue Yi Hou, she would continue to cooperate with Cheng Jiao.

Her sister and Nongyu were both on Cheng Jiao's side. Although Cheng Jiao was lustful, he was nice to the people around him and would definitely not let herself be killed by Madam Mingzhu. Madam Mingzhu also knew this fact.

After so many years of palace fighting, Concubine Hu is no fool. It is important for her to put herself in a position where she can attack or defend.

Cheng Jiao didn't know what Concubine Hu was up to. If Concubine Hu wanted to go with him, it would be difficult for him to do so given the current situation.

According to history, around the 16th year of King Qin's reign, he would launch a war to destroy Han and begin the process of unifying China. Now that I have him, making arrangements in the seven countries in advance will definitely speed up this process.

You should know that two years before you and General Meng Ao fought against Pang Nuan at Yaoshan, Qin State, with Meng Ao as the commander, attacked Wei State in two directions and captured 20 cities including Suanzao, Yan, Xu, Taoren, etc. Afterwards, Meng Ao captured Chaoge of Wei State and established Dongjun.

After the establishment of Dongjun, Qin's territory bordered Qi, forming a three-sided encirclement of Han and Wei.

As a result, the countries in Shandong became nervous, and no one wanted to have a sword hanging over their bed.

Under the leadership of Zhao State, the last coalition in the Warring States Period was organized. General Pang Nuan, who was over 80 years old, was appointed as the commander of the coalition.

The five countries joined forces with a force of up to 300,000. They crossed the river from Anyi, the former capital of Wei, and left the Shaoliang Mountains, heading south to attack the former capital of Qin, Liyang. After the coalition forces reached Zhi, they were repelled in one battle by the Qin army led by Meng Ao.

Since the formation of the alliance, whenever the five-nation coalition was defeated once, they would each preserve their strength and withdraw, and there has never been any talk of fighting again as a whole.

Unfortunately, maybe destiny is on Qin. You know, Zhidi is only a hundred miles away from Xianyang City. If the five countries were united, Qin might have become history. It is worth mentioning that General Pang Nuan felt embarrassed and attacked Qi by the way. After capturing Rao'an, he returned to the court.

In the same year, in order to avoid the threat from Qin, the State of Chu moved its previous capital to Shouchun, but it was still called Yingdu.

After that, the recovered Qin State launched its revenge against the Five Kingdoms, which was why Lu Buwei tricked him and Meng Ao into going to the front line to fight Pang Nuan.

He later pondered the most likely motive of Lu Buwei in eliminating him. It was not just to seize the Han faction's voice in the Qin court as he had initially thought.

In his opinion, there might be a deeper motive behind this, which forced Lü Buwei to take action against him. That was the reason Fan Yuqi had mentioned before, and it was also the reason that made him believe it.

It was clear that Cheng Jiao was the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin, which led to the Qin royal family and ministers being very close to him.

Lu Buwei's family knew his own business and was well aware that as long as Cheng Jiao existed, he would be a serious threat to him.

Because Cheng Jiao could always pull out a bunch of Qin royal family nobles to support him, even replacing him as prime minister would not be a difficult task. After all, Cheng Jiao was young and could wait, but Lu Buwei was old and could not wait.

This was also his guess as to why Lu Buwei was willing to sacrifice 50,000 soldiers and force him to die.

To get back to the point, after the battle between me and Meng Ao and Zhao commander Pang Nuan last year, the battle did not end completely just because the old general Meng Ao died and I returned to Xianyang.

On the contrary, the situation has been getting worse, which is why King Han An felt under great pressure after the death of Queen Mother Xia Ji, and why he was so friendly after arriving in Xinzheng.

During the six months when he returned to Xianyang and then went to Xinzheng, Qin continued to mobilize its war machine.

If he remembered correctly, it was before Zheng Ge was crowned.

Using the previously established Dongjun as a springboard, the Qin army would capture cities such as Yuan and Pu in the eastern part of Wei State, and then move eastward to capture Ren, Pingqiu, Xiaohuang, Jiyang, and Zhencheng, and then attack Pu River to expand the scope of Dongjun.

Thus, "the waist of Qi and Zhao was cut off, and the backbone of Chu and Wei was severed. The world was united five times and six times, but no one dared to save it." The six states in Shandong had no chance to launch a coalition to resist Qin again, and could only draw a line in the sand and fight each other. At the same time, it also laid the foundation for Zheng Ge's unification.

Cheng Jiao couldn't help but sigh that this enlightenment pill was really good. It made his brain become very sharp and he could clearly remember some popular science history that he had read before.

If I had thought of it earlier, maybe I would have stayed in Xianyang and competed with Lao Lu.

Lady Hu saw Cheng Jiao's dull eyes, which gradually made him look like a dementia patient, so she called out softly, "Young Master, Young Master."

Cheng Jiao came to his senses and looked at Lady Hu calling him, feeling full of confidence.

"Don't worry, in two or three years, I will snatch you and Madam Mingzhu away and make them my concubines!"

Lady Hu breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that he didn't become stupid. If he did, she wouldn't be able to hold it in.

"I am waiting for you, sir."

As a beauty, even if she didn't understand much politics, she knew about the current situation of Korea from King Han An. To put it bluntly, the country was in danger of being destroyed at any time, and it all depended on whether Qin wanted to let Korea continue to stay.

This is why Han Wangan knew that the Jubao Pavilion might be Cheng Jiao's doing, but he could only put the blame on Liusha, Yemu and Baiyue. If the money is lost, it is lost, but if the throne is lost, it is a big loss.

Han Wangan was also very annoyed with Ji Wuye and Xueyi Hou. They were used to being arrogant in Han, but they could make Lü Buwei assassinate them again and again. Did they really think that Cheng Jiao was so simple behind the scenes? But he had no choice. Yemu was deeply rooted in Han, so he could only continue to weigh the pros and cons.

Cheng Jiao felt a little sorry that Lady Hu came at the wrong time.

"Come visit your sister's residence when you have time."

Lady Hu asked coquettishly, "Why don't you dare go to the palace?"

Cheng Jiao said seriously: "Please waste my time. I am very busy."

Lady Hu was speechless, and took a look at the beauties in the room. Even without her sister and Nongyu, there were still many stunning beauties around Cheng Jiao, which made her feel a little bit of crisis.

"My sister is not at home. What if someone finds out?"

Cheng Jiao thought so too. With his sister-in-law not around and Lady Hu having a sensitive status, it was indeed a bit inconvenient.

"Then what do you want to do?"

Lady Hu was helpless. It was obviously you who was impatient, but you still asked me for advice? !

"I haven't been to the theater to watch opera for some time. The theater has a plan for it tomorrow night."

Cheng Jiao smiled and said, "It's really good. It's nice to visit it occasionally."

Although Lady Hu was not happy on the surface, she actually wanted it in her heart. She hadn't played with Cheng Jiao for many days, which made her feel lonely. She knew that now was not the right time. There were too many people in the room and it was not convenient to continue talking to Cheng Jiao.

Returning to Madam Mingzhu's side, she glanced at Lady Hu with her narrow and long phoenix eyes.

"Are you done asking?"

Lady Hu said softly, "My sister just went out for something."

Madam Mingzhu and Lady Hu both knew that when they were out, they had to maintain the proper attitude, at least to avoid letting Han Fei and the others notice that something was wrong.

If their affair with Cheng Jiao were to be exposed one day, there would probably be many unexpected twists and turns.

Han Fei's mind was not on Madam Mingzhu, but on how to deal with the next envoy from Qin.

Cheng Jiao drank a cup of ordinary tea served to guests at Zilanxuan, breathed a sigh of relief, slowly stood up and walked to Madam Mingzhu. He knew that Madam Mingzhu did not take Tianze away immediately, and she must have something to say to him.

Madam Mingzhu said to Zi Nu, whom Cheng Jiao often mentioned in her ear, "Chang'an Jun and I have some private matters to discuss."

Zi Nu responded: "Zi Lan Xuan has private rooms."

Han Fei came back to his senses, watched Madam Mingzhu and Cheng Jiao enter the house, and whispered, "The Chao Nüyao wants to talk to Chang'an Jun. It seems that Ye Mu is not having a good time there."

Lady Hu did not express any opinion and just listened without saying anything.

Zi Nu frowned slightly. Her woman's sixth sense told her that the relationship between Madam Mingzhu and Cheng Jiao might be a little unusual.

"Yingge, do you know anything about the tide banshee?"

Yingge heard Zi Nu's question and said, "The Tide Demon is very mysterious. I don't know much about her, but I can be sure that the Tide Demon has a close relationship with the Blood Robe Marquis."

Han Fei smiled and said, "Ji Wuye, the Emerald Tiger, the Blood-Robed Hou Chao, the Female Demon, and the unidentified Straw-Robed Guest, this night is quite lively."

　Thanks to [肆简1][书友20230219][美人为填] for their monthly tickets!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)