After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 286 Companions

Hai Jiao had no idea about the death of the sixth prince.

In his previous life, when he became a Jinyiwei secret agent in the capital, it was already several years later.

At that time, the battle for the throne between the Eighth Prince and Prince Ji had become intense. The Sun family seemed to be extremely powerful, but in fact it was already on the decline. Even the Imperial Guards began to use spies to monitor their henchmen.

The emperor was very dissatisfied with the Sun family's strong support for Prince Ji's return to the clan. It was only that his illness worsened at that time and he was unable to take charge of the government. No one among the officials could compete with Mr. Sun Ge, and the clan was still adding fuel to the fire behind Prince Ji. That was why he was unable to overwhelm the opposition and establish his youngest son, the Eighth Prince. Store.

However, there were not completely no conflicts between Prince Ji and the Sun family. The main reason is that the relationship between Prince Ji's concubine Sun and her husband was not good, there were frequent disputes, and there was no heir for a long time; Prince Ji also had a favored concubine, but this concubine was lost to the Sun family twice in succession. The child in the womb.

Because he has no children, Prince Ji has a lot of dissatisfaction with the imperial concubine and the Sun family. He always hopes that the Sun family will give in. If the imperial concubine is unwilling to give birth to a son for him, he has to let someone else do it for him, right?

But the Sun family spent so much effort to support Prince Ji, who was displeased by the emperor, wasn't it just to enable the grandson of the Sun family to become the future crown prince, or even the king of a country? If Prince Ji's heir is not a grandson of the Sun family, wouldn't all their hard work over the years be in vain? !

The Sun family could only continue to support Prince Ji in restoring his status as a prince and establishing a heir apparent, while at the same time trying to persuade Prince Ji and his concubine to change her mind and at least give birth to a son for her husband!

When neither Prince Ji nor Crown Princess Ji could satisfy the Sun family, the Sun family and their followers inevitably brought up the sixth prince born to Concubine Sun.

This is a real grandson of the Sun family, and he has always been close to the Sun family, and his age is more appropriate. If he hadn't died early, why would the Sun family have spent so much effort promoting an unreliable Prince Ji? This is either a biological prince or not as reliable as a biological prince.

Look at the Queen Mother Zhou who promoted her concubine to become the emperor. How did the emperor treat the Queen Mother Zhou and the Zhou family? With such an example, followers of the Sun family were worried that Prince Ji would turn against him in the future.

Not to mention that Prince Ji and his wife had not yet given birth to an heir with Sun family blood. Even if Prince Ji and his wife did have a son and were appointed as heirs, who could say for sure what would happen in the future? Maybe if Prince Ji really comes to power, he will burn bridges! Didn't Emperor Deguang refuse to appoint the Queen's legitimate son with Zhou family blood as the heir apparent after he became emperor? When Prince Ji takes the throne, who can guarantee that the grandson of the Sun family will not follow in the footsteps of the legitimate prince? If a father is ungrateful, is a son a good person who repays his kindness? He has not yet resumed his status as a prince, but he already dislikes the daughter of the Sun family.

There were a lot of discussions within the Sun family faction, but no matter who mentioned the sixth prince, they only regretted that he died too early. No one said that he was murdered. Even those who disliked Concubine Sun and the Sun family could only talk about "karma" behind their backs.

"Concubine Sun killed someone else's heir, and her own heir will not end well. This is God's punishment for her evil deeds."

This is the most accepted statement.

The outside world generally agrees that the sixth prince died in an accident, but how the accident came about is unclear. Most people thought it was God's will, but some people - especially the Sun family - suspected that someone had deliberately done something wrong. However, because Concubine Sun had persecuted more than one concubine or two princes, and the Sun family had offended countless people, it was difficult to pinpoint this suspect. The Sun family had doubts about the Zhou family, but they felt that the Queen Mother Zhou would not take such a big risk for the descendants of her late sister. Moreover, their eyes and ears in the palace did not detect any unusual movements by the Queen Mother Zhou; then they doubted the Liu family, but Concubine Liu Shu was dead, the Liu family had declined, and the most promising members of the family had gone to the border to serve as officials, and it was impossible to reach out to the palace; then they doubted the clan, because at that time the sixth prince was already the emperor's only heir. , once he died and the emperor had no heirs, he would most likely adopt a son from the clan. Among them, the two princes, Prince Ji and Prince An, who had competed with the emperor for direct heirs, were the most suspected. Unfortunately, no evidence was found in the Sun family. Later, they chose to support Prince Ji's return to the family clan and formed a cooperative relationship with Prince Ji's Mansion. The previous doubts were naturally put to rest.

Hai Jiao only knew so much about the death of the sixth prince. This was the first time he heard today that Concubine Sun once believed that the murderer came from Cining Palace and was related to the Wu family. It just so happened that Cining Palace housed the three survivors of the Wu family during the years when the palace was closed for self-isolation.

Hai Jiao thought of the news he heard in his previous life, and when he looked back at Mrs. Gui's remarks at the Zhenguo Palace, he felt that something was very wrong.

There is Concubine Sun in the palace, but there are also Sun family members outside the palace, and they are all equally at risk. The Empress Dowager Zhou suddenly sent Gui, her daughter, and Wu Ke out of the palace. It was certainly not for no reason.

Concubine Sun threatened to search Cining Palace, which is probably true. At that time, Concubine Sun claimed that the murderer of the sixth prince was related to Cining Palace and was from the Wu family. It was not an excuse made up by Huang Kou and Bai Ya.

Did Concubine Sun know that Queen Mother Zhou took in three people from the Wu family in the palace?

——She may not know the existence of Wu Ke, but the Empress Dowager Zhou sent someone to Gui's home to take Gui's mother and daughter into the palace, but it may not be a secret. During the years when Concubine Sun was in charge of the palace, she only needed to ask the person guarding the palace gate. It was not difficult at all.

She insisted on taking people into Cining Palace to search. Did she really find any clues?

So, was Madam Gui really involved in the revenge against the Sixth Prince, or was it someone else who lived in Cining Palace and was related to the Wu family who did this? Madam Gui knew who it was, but kept silent. ?

Hai Jiao's head ached thinking about it: "Aren't these three people from the Wu family the only ones who survived? How could there be others living in Cining Palace?"

But Haitang remembered someone: "Concubine Xu Xian... Concubine Xu Xian escaped to Cining Palace when the Kunning Palace burned down!"

Hai Jiao immediately retorted: "How could it be Concubine Xu Xian?! Although she was sent to the palace by the Wu family, she was neither a servant of the Wu family nor had she been employed in Kunning Palace for a few days. How much could she care about Empress Wu? Loyalty? She also had a husband and children outside the palace. If something happened, she would just want to escape from the palace. If the palace had not been tightly guarded at that time, she would have fled home long ago! She was forced to stay in the palace to do It was only a temporary measure to kill the palace servants. It was impossible to risk losing one's head to kill the sixth prince for the sake of the Wu family. Besides, if she really did such a thing, could Queen Mother Zhou allow her to be the emperor's concubine? Can the emperor still make her son the crown prince?"

The survivors of the Wu family could not escape the suspicion of killing the sixth prince. Even if the emperor Ji'en granted Wu Wen'an the title of Duke, they would not be able to live peacefully in the capital. They could only live under the protection of the Empress Dowager Zhou and the Marquis Cheng'en. Hiding in Tibet, now he has fled to Chang'an. Before she gave birth to the eighth prince, Concubine Xu Xian was just a little concubine born in a palace. Who was she? How is it possible to get the emperor's forgiveness?

Hai Jiao didn't take his younger sister's guess seriously, but Haitang reminded him: "When Concubine Xu Xian fled to Cining Palace, she had just entered the palace not long ago, and it was impossible to know the road. And so many people in Kunning Palace failed to escape from the fire. , how could she, a little wet nurse who had just arrived, escape? I suspect...she might have had a companion at the time, and that person led her the way!"

Hai Jiao was startled, and then realized: "You mean...some of the people in the palace around Queen Wu fled to Cining Palace with Concubine Xu Xian, and then stayed in Cining Palace? Empress Dowager Zhou sealed the palace. , and others don’t know that she has a new member in the palace..." He pursed his lips, "If this person is Empress Wu's confidant, then it would not be surprising to take revenge on Concubine Sun and the Sixth Prince."

(End of this chapter)