Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1490: Legend of the Hidden Sea 10

Prince Yongrong didn't want to continue this heavy topic, so he put on a smile and asked, "So you sent people out to sea to cut off Lao Jiu's financial resources and recapture Jiangnan?"

Xiao Jinyue shook his head and said, "Strike against Prince Linzi's party and purge the Jiangnan officialdom is just a side job. I want to openly lift the maritime ban and also want to see what the situation is like in the four vassal states."

Prince Yongrong smacked his lips for a moment, then looked up to the sky and sighed, "Qinghe, Qinghe, why aren't you a prince?"

Xiao Jinyue rolled her eyes at Prince Yongrong and said, "Uncle, even if I were a prince, I would probably prefer to give birth to a good grandson to save me from all the hard work."

Prince Yongrong found it even more ironic, as that was exactly what happened to his older brother who was sitting on the throne. In the past, they brothers had lost the protection of their biological mother at an early age, so they could only hide their incompetence deliberately to ensure their safety under the hands of the empress dowager. And their father, the emperor, knew very well that Emperor Zhenshun was not fit to be an emperor, but because he was too wary of the empress dowager's ability, he gave up his legitimate son, Prince Linzi, and chose the actual eldest son to fight with the empress dowager.

To be honest, Prince Yongrong felt that Prince Linzi might not be better than Emperor Zhenshun, otherwise why would the late emperor have put Emperor Zhenshun, who was certain to have no heirs, on the throne?

Could it be that when Xiao Jinyue spread the rumor that Prince Yongrong had difficulty having children because of the Queen Mother and Prince Linzi, the late emperor did not investigate whether the Queen Mother and Prince Linzi had taken any action against Emperor Zhenshun?

What’s even more ironic is that the Empress Dowager, the successor to the throne, was personally selected by the late emperor and even trained to be his assistant in handling state affairs!

Prince Yongrong laughed heartily, and then he said goodbye: "Ah, your uncle, I'd better go back early to prepare the money so that I can join the group."

Xiao Jinyue stood up to see him off, and Prince Yongrong walked a few steps and then turned back and said, "Liu Chu has some ideas in Jiangnan. I'll ask her to cooperate with me. I think I can get rich as soon as possible."

Xiao Jinyue would not refuse: "Thank you very much, Uncle Wang."

Actually, for a person of Prince Yongrong's status, money is insignificant. What is most important is that he can control the court officials and his descendants can take advantage of these opportunities to connect with the court officials.

After all, even if the lineage of Prince Linzi was gone, when the next emperor came, he and the Prince Yongrong would probably have to leave the capital and become a fiefdom.

Two days later, the people sent by Shen Mudan to Qingquan Town came back. It turned out that there was something fishy about Zang Hai's background. Many factory guards died outside Qingquan Town. Even if someone had deliberately cleaned up the mess, the people under Xiao Jinyue's command were not vegetarians, and no clues could escape their eyes.

Even their mission was not to explore Zang Hai's origins or who was hiding behind him, but it was enough to conclude that Zang Hai's background was indeed strange, and even that there was a considerable force behind him.

Therefore, Zang Hai's life experience was exposed to Xiao Jinyue's eyes because of his entry into Pingjin Marquis' Mansion.

Others didn't know about the relationship between Emperor Zhenshun and the former director of the Imperial Observatory, Kuai Duo, so how could Xiao Jinyue, the only daughter, not know? Even when Xiao Jinyue was young, before she was canonized, she heard the joke that Emperor Zhenshun, who was still a prince, wanted to take Kuai Duo's eldest son as a county horse.

Xiao Jinyue felt a little overwhelmed. Ten years ago, Emperor Zhenshun had pushed a personal eunuch out to take the blame for Marquis Pingjin. She remembered that it was Marquis Pingjin's poor performance that caused the collapse of the Winter and Summer Fengshan Terrace. But at that time, Marquis Pingjin was the supervisor, and the person in charge of the construction was Kuai Duo, the chief supervisor of the Imperial Observatory.

Although Kuai Duo was not punished for this, his entire family was wiped out. In fact, because of the intervention of Marquis Pingjin, no one even mentioned this small fifth-rank official in the court.

Therefore, if Zang Hai was really the son of Kuai Duo, the former director of the Imperial Observatory, then the death of Kuai Duo's family was probably because Emperor Zhenshun allowed Pingjin Hou to silence Kuai Duo's family after he obtained the Gui Seal.

Xiao Jinyue thought about it and finally did not tell her guess about Zang Hai's life experience. Now she wanted to find out how many waves of people Emperor Zhenshun sent to seize the Gui Seal.

After instructing Shen Mudan to continue keeping an eye on Xiang Antu and Cang Hai, Xiao Jinyue went straight into the palace.

Emperor Zhenshun was still fiddling with carpentry work in Hanzhang Palace. Xiao Jinyue asked everyone to leave, lowered his voice and leaned over to ask, "Father, how many people did you send to Dongxia to look for the Guixi back then?"

Emperor Zhenshun was somewhat surprised, but asked, "Why are you suddenly interested in the Guixi?"

Xiao Jinyue said helplessly: "My people found Xiang Antu and discovered that she was trying to get close to Zhuang Luyin. I originally thought that she wanted to abolish Zhuang Luyin, the general who defeated Dongxia and made her a hostage. I didn't expect that she actually wanted to find the Guixi through Zhuang Luyin."

Emperor Zhenshun knew that Xiao Jinyue would not deceive him about these irrelevant matters, and he immediately felt relieved.

Although he still felt that his beloved daughter Xiao Jinyue did not know the value of Guixi by treating it as a discarded shoe, didn't this just prove that she had not concealed anything on this matter?

Emperor Zhenshun stood up and gestured on a wooden beam, and said casually: "Then the identities of Xiang Antu and Zhenlou can be hidden from others, but can they be hidden from you?"

"You all know that Xiang Antu is the proton of Dongxia. It is only natural that he wants to find the treasure of Dongxia."

Xiao Jinyue immediately quit, "Father!"

"You didn't tell me Xiang An Tu's identity yourself, Father. I found it out myself!"

"And Xiang An Tu knew that Zhuang Luyin was the person you sent out to find the Guixi, but I knew nothing about it!"

Emperor Zhenshun was quite helpless. Xiao Jinyue's words made it seem as if he treated the Dongxia proton Xiang Antu better than his only precious daughter.

There was no other choice, Emperor Zhenshun could only open his private vault which had just received some new stuff, and let Xiao Jinyue go in to pick out the treasures. He also told Xiao Jinyue almost everything about the people he had sent out to look for the Gui Seal.

Why almost?

Of course it’s because Emperor Zhenshun did not mention Kuai Duo.

However, Xiao Jinyue knew that the people who were looking for Gui Xi included not only Zhuang Luyin, but also Cao Jingxian, Zhao Bingwen, etc., and even many people from the lineage of the Queen Mother and Prince of Linzi.

It was enough for Xiao Jinyue to know about the Guixi matter, and she had no plan to do anything about it. Anyway, those people outside had spent ten years of effort and still did not relax, and in the end, they would end up with nothing.

Moreover, it would be a good idea to use the Gui Seal to distract the attention of the Linzi Prince's lineage. So after Xiao Jinyue left the palace, she released the news that Dong Xia secretly sent people to Dayong to look for the Gui Seal.

The first person to take action upon hearing the news was indeed Xiang An Tu. She teamed up with the Eighth Young Master to hype up the news that Zhuang Zhixing was trying to win the football match, thus covering up the news about Gui Xi.

This would make it easier for Xiao Jinyue to fish, because only someone who is truly interested would keep chasing for news about Guixi.