Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1483: Legend of the Hidden Sea 3

Xiao Jinyue could hardly see how the situation was developing. Pingjin Hou, a neglected and excluded military marquis, was dragged into the court factional struggle just because his eldest son Zhuang Zhifu was the Minister of Works and was in charge of supervising the construction of the imperial mausoleum.

Then someone came forward and staged a drama of Concubine Li's apparition, which gave the Marquis of Pingjin and the court officials a passable excuse to move Concubine Li's coffin out and rebury it in the concubine's tomb, and to bury the empress dowager with the late emperor.

After entering the palace, Xiao Jinyue still couldn't understand why this drama existed other than distinguishing between friend and foe.

Seeing his precious daughter looking confused, indignant and dissatisfied, Emperor Zhenshun couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Even his daughter was more confident than him, a serious emperor, to ignore those evil spirits, but he could only rely on these shady ways to barely suppress the lineage of Prince Linzi and the Queen Mother for a while.

The father and daughter had a quiet meal without saying anything, but at the court meeting the next day, Emperor Zhenshun arranged for people to publicize Xiao Jinyue's original act of humility, emphasizing that the late emperor's concubine Li Guifei was buried in the imperial mausoleum when the late emperor was still alive. Even if the empress dowager wanted to be buried with the late emperor, there was no reason for her to disobey the late emperor and move Concubine Li out of the imperial mausoleum.

The literati pay the most attention to the so-called etiquette and laws, but etiquette and laws are not greater than the imperial power, not greater than the previous emperor, and not greater than the reigning Emperor Zhenshun. Whenever Emperor Zhenshun takes a tougher attitude, all the civil servants in the court will be helpless.

But Emperor Zhenshun himself could not see this truth clearly. For a long time, because he could not have an heir, he kept retreating from the court officials and even had to rely on unconventional means to give himself a little more sense of security.

Xiao Jinyue could not understand his feelings, and of course could not empathize with him. It was just that Xiao Jinyue was naturally wary of creatures like the emperor. After all, the jealousy of ordinary people could lead to irreparable tragedies, let alone an emperor?

Even if he only holds the power of life and death in name, it is enough to make others suffer.

Before leaving, Emperor Zhenshun only told Xiao Jinyue: "Recently, I have begun to pay attention to young talents who meet your two conditions. When necessary, you can't delay any longer."

Xiao Jinyue was upset but had no choice but to agree. After all, she was about to become the emperor, so she had to endure some grievances.

In the mansion of Marquis Pingjin, Zang Hai successfully entered the sight of Marquis Pingjin. Even though he was not in a hurry to meet Zang Hai, the young man who saved his entire family from death, he was still paying attention to him secretly.

Zang Hai's struggle was still limited to the Pingjin Marquis's mansion, so he used his wisdom only to eliminate those people who had served as executioners for Pingjin Marquis and killed his entire family. Naturally, he showed no mercy, so in less than a month, he successfully stood in front of Pingjin Marquis.

What's worse is that the emperor's tomb was leaking water at this time, and the emperor's coffin floated to the gate of the underground palace, where it was noticed by the tomb keeper.

Pingjin Marquis Zhuang Luyin did not dare to report the news of water seepage in the imperial mausoleum. After all, the imperial mausoleum was supervised by the Ministry of Works, and his eldest son was the current Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.

Zang Hai was unanimously recommended to Zhuang Luyin by Yang Zhen, the head of Zhuang Luyin's staff, and Chu Huaiming, who had colluded with Zhuang Luyin to kill the previous head of the Imperial Observatory, to deal with the water seepage in the imperial mausoleum and the relocation of the previous emperor's coffin.

Not long after the Empress Dowager and the late Emperor were buried together, and the imperial mausoleum had just been closed, such a major event suddenly occurred. Emperor Zhenshun summoned the Imperial Observatory to inquire about good and bad fortune. Chu Huaiming's qualifications were limited, and Zhuang Luyin had recently arranged a position for Zang Hai as a doctor of the Left Lingtai in the Imperial Observatory. Chu Huaiming thought that Zang Hai was doomed to die, so he recommended Zang Hai to Emperor Zhenshun.

And he did understand Emperor Zhenshun's temperament well enough. Emperor Zhenshun did not summon Zang Hai, but he let Prince Qinghe Xiao Jinyue be responsible for supervising the relocation of the late emperor's coffin.

The faction of Prince Linzi has been very active recently. The Prime Minister Shi Yiping seems to be impartial, but in fact, several of his deputy prime ministers are secretly colluding with Prince Linzi. Xiao Jinyue even suspects that someone from Prince Linzi's mansion has secretly come to the capital, so he is searching secretly now.

Emperor Zhenshun directly reported the issue of water seepage in the imperial mausoleum to the Ministry of Works. Even though Zang Hai finally determined that the water seepage in the imperial mausoleum was caused by the diversion of the underground river and not due to human error, the Ministry of Works still fell into Xiao Jinyue's hands.

As for the Assistant Minister of Works Zhuang Zhifu, he was extremely corrupt. Thanks to Marquis Pingjin's military achievements and the help of his grandfather, the Minister of Revenue, he escaped the death penalty. However, Marquis Pingjin's wife Jiang Xiang lost all her dowry and property, and Zhuang Zhifu had both his legs broken by caning, becoming a disabled person.

In this way, it would be convenient for Zang Hai to get closer to Zhuang Luyin.

However, Prince Linzi insisted on linking the water seepage in the imperial mausoleum with the legitimacy of Emperor Zhenshun in the court. Xiao Jinyue followed suit and forced the Imperial Observatory to say that the Empress Dowager and the late emperor were in conflict and should not be buried together. The two sides quarreled again, and Xiao Jinyue successfully found the whereabouts of Prince Linzi's son.

The imperial mausoleum was still under renovation, and the construction period was almost three months. Xiao Jinyue certainly couldn't visit in person every day, so on this day he invited King Yongrong to narrate the story on the Qujiang flower boat.

As soon as Prince Yongrong came up, he complained that the flower boat was not exquisite enough, "It might as well be in the back garden of your palace."

Xiao Jinyue raised her glass and smiled apologetically: "The emperor's uncle is a well-known elegant man. In his old days, he was a handsome man pursued by young girls in the capital. I am a young girl, so naturally I am far inferior to him."

Prince Yongrong stood up and left. "This is clearly a Hongmen Banquet. I dare not stay any longer. Goodbye!"

Xiao Jinyue quickly stood up to stop him, "Oh, uncle, we have a nephew relationship again, why bother——"

Prince Yongrong shook his sleeves and stopped at the door. He turned around and took out the gold-sprinkled folding fan in his hand, and pointed at Xiao Jinyue's brow, "Your uncle has lowly organs and cannot bear your excellent banquet. His body is also weak and cannot bear the kindness of you, Prince Qinghe."

Xiao Jinyue quickly pulled Prince Yongrong back to the table and said, "I have a good idea to make the Linzi Palace fight each other. Uncle, don't you want to listen?"

Prince Yongrong turned the tables and said, "What a great niece you are!"

"You had such a good thing, but you tried to hide it from your uncle. You almost ruined my plan!"

Prince Yongrong is addicted to acting, and Xiao Jinyue can only cooperate. After all, she is now standing in a position closer to the front than Prince Yongrong.

"Uncle Rong, please report..."

"I don't know if the Prince of Linzi was too confident. He actually sent his son to the capital secretly. It took me some time to track him down. At that time, whether he tried to sow discord between the Prince of Linzi and his son, or to sow discord between his eldest sons, or to let the Prince of Linzi die quietly in the capital, and then stir up internal strife in the palace—"

Prince Yongrong nodded slightly and said leisurely, "Although our two families have been fighting to the death, I am still their uncle after all. How can I bear to see my nephews lose their future?"

Xiao Jinyue praised him: "Yes, my uncle is a man of high character and integrity, not everyone can compare to him."