I'm the Farmgirl You Can't Mess With-Chapter 1320: Side Story: The Cultivation of Disloyalty (2)

Chapter 1320: Side Story: The Cultivation of Disloyalty (2)

Editor: Atlas Studios

The important ministers that Concubine Shi mentioned were the ones who took the initiative to come to them, and who had Yan Du as their backer.

Of course, as the Right Prime Minister, Yan Du could not personally express his attitude and was just showing his friendliness to the Shi family. At this moment, Great Qi was in a precarious situation, so his attitude was very important.

Yan Du had garnered plenty of support for the Shi family and for him, the Fourth Prince. It was also at that time that he found out that there were also people who had pledged their loyalty to his fifth brother.

Of course, since he was only eight years old at that time, his fifth brother was even younger. The latter had just entered the Royal School and hadn’t even finished reading the "Three-Character Classic". Clearly, his mother, Madam Lu, was in charge.

At that time, Qi Wenmi’s mother consort advised him not to take his fifth brother seriously because he was too young, so young that he probably had to be carried to court meetings.

If the Emperor died and the Crown Prince was deposed, he and the Third Prince would be the best choice. However, the Third Prince was timid and had nothing, unlike them who had already prepared in advance.

However, it was useless.

Reason being, Fourth Uncle had rushed back faster than they had expected, so fast that it happened only shortly after he found out that Minister Yan was on his side.

The situation in the capital quickly came under control, and the hearts of the people and officials quickly calmed down. The Crown Prince was personally ordered by Fourth Uncle to supervise the country, and the capital and Imperial City were surrounded by the Forbidden Troops and the imperial guards. In addition, there were 100,000 soldiers from the West Mountain camp guarding outside the city.

Under such power, all schemes fell like fine dust, not having the slightest effect.

At that time, he did not know how Mother Consort and Uncle planned to depose the Crown Prince and help him ascend to the throne until he grew up many years later. Based on Mother Consort and Uncle’s words and the situation at that time, he could roughly speculate.

Royal Father didn’t like aristocratic families, and the Crown Prince, whose mother came from an aristocratic family, inherited this line of thinking and also opposed the idea of letting aristocratic families control the government. Therefore, although the aristocratic families had been very quiet, they had always wanted to regain control of the government.

To them, it was important to choose another Emperor who had a good impression of or relied on the aristocratic families. He was obviously chosen by the aristocratic family, while his fifth brother was chosen by the nobles who wanted to benefit from helping him seize the throne.

The Emperor suddenly fell into a critical condition. If at this moment, it was exposed that the Crown Prince was the one who poisoned the Emperor, and the matter was blown up by adding fuel to the fire, sowing discord between the Crown Prince and the ministers, and then framing Fourth Uncle and the Crown Prince for plotting a rebellion and fighting for the throne, then the people in the aristocratic families led by Yan Du would work together to quell the rebellion and push Qi Wenmi to the top. It would all be logical.

Since they did not have any concrete evidence, they had to be sufficiently prepared. Then, they had to launch a sudden attack and end it swiftly and accurately to succeed.

Unfortunately, Fourth Uncle returned shortly after they started preparing. Therefore, Uncle and Mother Consort often lamented that it was a pity in front of him. If Qi Haoran could have returned three days, or even just two days later, they could have had a shot.

However, he came back too quickly. Or maybe, they were too slow to receive news of Fourth Uncle’s return.

His uncle tried to drive a wedge between them using this matter. "Look, the Crown Prince had long sent a letter to King Rong, but he only told you when the latter was about to return. He even lied to you that the person who was tasked to send the letter had just left the capital. It’s obvious that he’s also guarding against you."

However, it was subsequently proved that Brother Crown Prince was really not on guard against him. The reason why Fourth Uncle returned so quickly was because of the other three children in the palace who were extremely unhappy about being kept in the dark!

Even Qi Wenmi could not help but sigh at how good of a job Little An, Little Lion and Tiger Head had done in disrupting the situation.

After his Royal Father was resuscitated, he’d wanted to retreat.

However, he had already taken a step forward and was standing on the cliff. Even if he retreated, he would not be able to return to his original position. There was also the possibility of a rock rolling down the mountain, shattering him entirely.

Meanwhile, Yan Du was stripped of his position and the Yan Clan was suppressed, making him even more unwilling to give up on Qi Wenmi. Not to mention him, even his Mother Consort was forced to continue forward.

Since they’d cooperated, the other party would have something to use against them. While they had something to use against Yan Du and his men, the other party naturally had something to use against them too.

If they didn’t want to die, they could only walk further and further down this path.

In the beginning, he was lured by benefits to seize the throne, but somewhere in the middle, he was forced to move forward. Later on, when he became used to this kind of coercion, he continued advancing forward on that path even when there was no one threatening him to do so.

He kept sowing discord between his Royal Father and Brother Crown Prince, constantly causing trouble for the latter, constantly making more contributions, all the while acting like a filial son and a virtuous grandson.

However, it was not of much use. Among his many sons, Royal Father still doted on the Crown Prince the most. That was despite the fact that the Crown Prince left the capital to travel around three to four months a year after entering politics, and arguing with Royal Father in court when they had disagreements. Even though Qi Wenmi would accompany his Royal Father 365 days a year to entertain him, he was still far inferior to his big brother.

Ultimately, it was because of Fourth Uncle and his children!

Fourth Uncle and his children were simply too good at causing trouble. Other than dealing with the court affairs, Royal Father spent half of his attention on Fourth Uncle’s family. The remaining half was divided between Brother Crown Prince and Cousin Little Bear, with very little left to spare for Qi Wenmi and his other brothers.

Because of this, although they always caused trouble for the Crown Prince, they were all small troubles that didn’t cause much damage, if any at all.

Hence, they decided instead to bully Little Fu, who was still attending the Royal School.

It couldn’t be helped. Prince An and Fourth Uncle were both determined, and it was well known that they were extremely chummy. In fact, they were so close that Prince An sent his son to Qi Haoran’s side to be educated.

Tiger Head and his siblings were also by Fourth Uncle’s side. Other than Tiger Head and his brothers, only his cousin, Little Fu, was an outsider in the Royal School.

Of course, study companions didn’t count!

However, it was precisely because they bullied Little Fu that they had been suppressed by Little An since they entered politics at the age of 16. Little An even had Tiger Head and Little Lion as his helpers.

Not only was Little An Prince An’s son, but he was also the top scholar of three governmental examinations. Furthermore, his father was the Chief Minister in the Imperial Court. Although his status was not as high as the princes, he held far greater power than them.

Moreover, he had the help of Tiger Head and Little Lion, two cousins who were doted on by his Royal Father. During that period of time, Qi Wenmi was simply living in abyss and suffering. Nothing he did went smoothly.

Yan Du didn’t expect that the prince he had painstakingly supported would be completely suppressed by Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran’s sons before he could even fight with the Crown Prince. Not only was he so angry that his liver hurt, but he was also disheartened and lost interest in fighting for power.

Without Yan Du’s full support, there was not much that Qi Wenmi could do. free𝑤ebnovel.com

Until Royal Father abdicated the throne to his big brother, the most he could do was to sow discord between his Royal Father and Big Brother and cause trouble for the latter.

He did not expect his Royal Father to live so long. He often wondered if his Royal Father had not abdicated the throne at that time and continued to be the Emperor for another 20 years, would a 50-year-old Crown Prince still be filial to his Royal Father as he got old day by day?

Unfortunately, there were no ifs in life.

Now that Royal Father had passed the throne to his big brother, everything was settled.

Other than the Crown Prince, Royal Father had five other sons. However, only Second Brother was lucky enough to be personally conferred the title of Prince by him. Meanwhile, Third Brother and Sixth Brother’s mother consorts were also promoted to consort under their protection. That left only him and the disloyal fifth brother.

Royal Father did not give them any rewards, and even their mother consorts were implicated, merely holding the rank of concubine their entire lives. It was only when they passed away before Royal Father did the Imperial Court propose to posthumously promote them to consorts.

However, what was the use of receiving such glory after death if they did not get to enjoy it while they were still alive?

Regarding this point, it was not that Qi Wenmi had no regrets. After all, although his mother consort had her own selfish motives, she did it all for her son, unlike his second brother’s mother consort, Concubine Zhao.