Tianliangyuan

Chapter 67 Working together

The marriage between the Wang and Feng families has been settled, and Lord Feng has personally guaranteed that he will not utter a single word that would harm the Wang family.

Although Madam Feng was unwilling, she had no choice, since the master was still the one in charge.

Wang Wenxiu then settled down at the Marquis's residence. Anyone would feel embarrassed in such a situation, so she didn't want to see her closest friends and family.

Xu Zhaozhao focused on continuing her money-making endeavors, while also keeping a close watch on Jiang Ning, that scoundrel.

Who knows what kind of crazy things this mentally unstable woman will come up with to harm people?

In a private room on the second floor of Baishun Restaurant, Jiang Ning was secretly meeting with Prince Zhong.

This was the first time the two had met since the rumors of Jiang Ning and Princess Leyang fighting over a man came out.

Jiang Ning had actually wanted to meet with Prince Zhong as soon as she recovered from her injuries, but Prince Zhong always used being busy as an excuse not to see her.

Jiang Ning felt that the Prince of Zhong was doubting her feelings for him.

In the meantime, Jiang Ning still managed to send several letters to the Prince of Zhong. Not long ago, she even helped the Prince of Zhong devise strategies to successfully promote officials from the Prince of Zhong's faction to the Ministry of Revenue, which restored the Prince of Zhong's trust in Jiang Ning.

“Your Highness, the previous rumors are all false. I have always been in love with you, so why would I compete with Princess Leyang for your man? Besides, that young man is no match for Your Highness in any way. He has neither good looks nor charisma. There is no way I could be attracted to him.”

This combination of criticism and praise indeed earned Prince Zhong a pleasant expression.

People like the Loyal King, who have been pampered since childhood, naturally enjoy hearing compliments.

"Then tell me, if it's not true, why admit it?"

After careful consideration, Jiang Ning decided that she could neither tell the truth nor fabricate anything too outrageous.

"Your Highness, to be honest, what I was actually targeting at the banquet that day was Xu Zhaozhao."

The Loyal King frowned, seemingly pondering whose family this was.

“It’s Xu Zhaozhao from the Marquis of Anxin’s residence.” Jiang Ning quickly explained when he saw that he had no recollection of Xu Zhaozhao, while also feeling fortunate that he had gotten to know the prince first.

The Prince of Zhong nodded; she was just a woman from the inner quarters, and he didn't care about her.

"Since she is Xu Han's daughter, why are you targeting her? Do you two have a personal grudge?"

Jiang Ning shook his head and sighed, "I have no personal grudge against her. In fact, strictly speaking, I only resorted to this tactic for the sake of the prince's great cause."

The Loyal King was slightly displeased. How could a mere woman possibly affect his grand ambitions?

Why is he so skeptical?

"I dare not deceive Your Highness. The rumors circulating in the capital that Xie Sanlang was cursed to bring misfortune to his family, and the subsequent illness and weakness of Xu Zhaozhao, were all orchestrated by me. I originally intended to use this opportunity to ruin their marriage, but I did not expect that it would not work out. I had no choice but to come up with that method, which will only destroy the marriage alliance between the Xie and Xu families."

The Loyal King was even more confused.

However, he didn't rush to ask, but instead tried hard to recall the relationship between the Xie and Xu families.

General Xie and Lord Xu were both the emperor's study companions; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they grew up together.

Therefore, the two of them must have had a good relationship since childhood, so it was reasonable for their families to marry, and there was not much difference in their social status.

It's simply that one is a duke's mansion and the other is a marquis's mansion.

Although Xu Han's rank was low, he held real military power and was always a highly trusted minister in the emperor's court.

Therefore, no one in the court dared to underestimate this Marquis Xu.

"Your Highness, the two families are all related by marriage, and both are mostly military officers. As far as I know, General Xie is very close to the Second Prince. If we can also win over Marquis Xu, their combined military strength will be quite formidable."

The Loyal King raised an eyebrow. "General Xie is getting close to the Second Prince?"

How could he not know?

At this moment, his gaze towards Jiang Ning held a hint of wariness.

How did she know about such a secret?

Jiang Ning was unaware of the Prince of Zhong's thoughts and was still thinking about how to explain and get the Prince of Zhong to also try to break up the two's marriage.

"Your Highness, if you want to achieve great things, you can't do without military power. Don't you want the Xie and Xu families to obey your every command?"

The Loyal King became interested: "Then tell me, how can we make them work for me?"

Seeing that the prince had finally relented, Jiang Ning quickly said, "As long as we break them up, and then let Xie Sanlang marry the daughter of one of your subordinates. Xie Sanlang is the heir of the Duke's mansion, and he is both brave and resourceful. He was even praised by the Emperor as a talented leader who is proficient in both literature and martial arts. If we win him over first, the entire Xie family will naturally obey your orders."

This method sounds reasonable.

After all, in-law relationships are generally considered to be relatively reliable.

The problem is, breaking up Xie Sanlang and Xu Zhaozhao is extremely difficult.

Moreover, Xie Sanlang will soon be leaving the capital, and Xu Zhaozhao usually doesn't go out. How can this be handled?

“Your Highness, men are fond of women. Xie Sanlang is stationed in Jizhou and usually trains his troops. He probably doesn’t have the opportunity to witness the tenderness of women.”

The reminder is quite obvious.

The idea was to have the Loyal King send someone to use a honey trap.

But could someone like Xie Sanlang fall for such a trick?

"What is Xu Zhaozhao like in terms of appearance and talent?"

Jiang Ning's expression stiffened slightly. Weren't we talking about seducing Xie Sanlang? How did it get involved with Xu Zhaozhao again?

Jiang Ning wanted to smear Xu Zhaozhao as much as possible, but he didn't dare, since it would be easy for the Prince of Zhong to investigate these matters.

"Your Highness, Xu Zhaozhao is beautiful. As for her talent, I dare not presume to comment, but I have heard that she is quite adept at making money."

King Zhong's eyes lit up. "Making money?"

That's great!

What he needs most right now is money.

If we could bring Xu Zhaozhao under our command, that would be great.

Moreover, judging from Jiang Ning's words, she is quite good-looking and is the daughter of a marquis, so it's not unreasonable for her to become my concubine.

According to the laws of Daxing, a prince could be married with two concubines, which is equivalent to having a secondary wife.

Using a honey trap on Xie Sanlang doesn't seem easy, and even if it succeeds, what good will it do?

It's perfectly normal for a man to have several women in his backyard.

Therefore, trying to sabotage the marriage between the two families by using a honey trap on Xie Sanlang would be completely ineffective.

It would be better to simply make Xu Zhaozhao change her mind; that would actually give us a better chance.

This is a good method.

The more King Zhong thought about it, the more satisfied he became.

"I will have someone handle this matter. However, before that, I need to ascertain what kind of person Xu Zhaozhao is. If possible, I have quite a few talented young men under my command. If I could marry Xu Zhaozhao, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?"

Jiang Ning froze for a moment, completely unsure how to react.

At this moment, she was unaware that the King of Loyalty actually intended for her to take the beauty as his concubine.

"Your Highness is right. However, Xu Zhaozhao doesn't like to go out. If you want to spend some time with her, you'll probably have to wait patiently."

"That's alright, I have plenty of patience. I'll go back and compile a list of promising young talents first. As for Xie Sanlang, I'll make arrangements accordingly."