Chapter 1985
Not a Noble Consort 6
The forces of the previous dynasty are well hidden and cannot be found at present.
However, the problem of the three kings with different surnames is urgent.
The emperor had placed spies in the territories of the three kings of different surnames. The messages sent back by the spies revealed that the three families had secretly formed an alliance and were about to rebel at any time.
The emperor wanted to eliminate them before they could rise up in rebellion.
However, this is very difficult to do.
In order to delay the rebellion of the three families and lull them into a false sense of security, making them believe that the royal family had not discovered their plot, princesses would be married into the three families starting from the late emperor.
Unfortunately, none of the three princesses gave birth to a son, so they were unable to take over the three families.
In this generation, naturally, the princess was again married into one of the three families.
Before the late emperor passed away, two princesses had already been married.
The other princess is young, having just reached the age of marriage, and is therefore not yet married.
Her husband's family was the Nangong family.
The Nangong family has four sons, all with different mothers, and none of them were born to the principal wife.
The four men are close in age, and they are said to be fighting fiercely for the position of heir.
One of the sons was disfigured and crippled, forcing him to withdraw from the succession struggle.
The princess will not marry until the other three have determined a winner.
After all, the princess is to marry the next prince of the Nangong family.
Dongfang Zeng looked at the message sent back by his spy in the southeast: The succession struggle in the Nangong family has ended. The eldest and third young masters were assassinated; the eldest young master died instantly, and the third young master, Nangong Yi, went missing. The remaining second young master, Nangong Fan, was named heir apparent and has gone to the capital to fulfill his agreement with the royal family.
Nangong Fan? Gong Fan?
It was hard for Dongfang Zeng not to connect the two people.
Dongfang Zeng frowned. If Gong Fan really is Nangong Fan, then who is Mu Ying?
Dongfang Zeng had realized that he had unusual feelings for Mu Ying. It wasn't brotherly affection; he had an impulse to imprison Mu Ying in his harem.
Is he gay?
It doesn't matter if he has children or not; pampering a man doesn't prevent him from having women bear his children.
In any case, there have been quite a few emperors in history who had male lovers.
In that case, it would be wise to make Liu Qingya the Empress...
Thinking about the future, God gave Dongfang Zeng a wonderful surprise.
Mu Ying was not a man, but a woman, the daughter of Duanmu Zhuo, the minister he valued most.
With her status, Mu Yingshi, Duanmu Ying, was absolutely qualified to be his empress.
Dongfang Zeng immediately abandoned Liu Qingya again, focusing all his attention on marrying Duanmu Ying.
Dongfang Zeng did not reveal his identity; he wanted Duanmu Ying to fall in love with him, not the emperor.
In order to prevent Nangong Fan from hindering his relationship with Duanmu Ying, he had someone pretend that Nangong Yi was still alive in the southeast, forcing Nangong Fan to return to the southeast territory.
As a fellow man, Dongfang Zeng could tell that Nangong Fan had developed feelings for Duanmu Ying.
Because Duanmu Yingxian and Nangong Fan had known each other for a longer period, Duanmu Yingxian's feelings for Nangong Fan were deeper than her feelings for Dongfang Zeng.
Dongfang Zeng couldn't stand it. He wanted to divert Nangong Fan away and take the opportunity to enter Duanmu Ying's heart, becoming the most important person, even her lover.
Upon receiving the news, Nangong Fan hurriedly left.
Duanmu Ying was somewhat unhappy.
She had developed romantic feelings for Nangong Fan.
After all, Nangong Fan was the most handsome and outstanding man she had met since she transmigrated to this world. Although Dongfang Zeng appeared later, the first one always left a deep impression.
Dongfang Zeng tried every means to make Duanmu Ying happy.
Duanmu Ying was not a naive girl from ancient times. Modern girls might have been dating since kindergarten, having read many romance novels, watched many TV dramas and movies. Naturally, she could see that Dongfang Zeng liked her and was pursuing her.
Duanmu Ying thoroughly enjoyed this pursuit. Dongfang Zeng was a handsome man no less attractive than Nangong Fan, so it was impossible for Duanmu Ying not to be moved.
Dongfang Zeng would visit Duanmu Ying whenever he had free time.
On one occasion, when Dongfang Zeng was with Duanmu Ying, he thought of the troubles in the court, and his expression showed it.
Duanmu Ying inquired with concern.
Dongfang Zeng then spoke up.
Duanmu Ying: "Ah, this..."
Duanmu Ying had read many time-travel novels and ancient political intrigue novels, which contained similar problems and solutions.
Duanmu Ying told Dongfang Zeng the solution.
Upon hearing this, Dongfang Zeng was overjoyed: "Aying, you're amazing! From now on, be my... strategist?"
He wanted to tell Duanmu Ying to be his empress, but then he realized that Duanmu Ying didn't know his true identity, so he quickly changed his mind.
Duanmu Ying smiled and agreed, "Okay!"
Duanmu Ying lowered her eyelids, concealing the sharp glint in her eyes.
My father said that the emperor was a promising young man, only twenty years old.
The men around me are the right age.
The question he just asked was one she had seen in her father's study.
Besides his father, only the emperor and Prime Minister Liu Huai knew about this.
Equation, Dongfang Zeng!
The naming style is just like my own.
Now that she knew Dongfang Zeng's true identity, Duanmu Ying's heart sided with Dongfang Zeng.
Although Nangong Fan was also outstanding, he was at a disadvantage in terms of social status.
Since I've transmigrated to ancient times, I naturally want to be the most outstanding woman in the world, and that would make me the Empress or Empress Dowager.
……
Liu Tong has a toothache.
The four siblings had previously wiped out an organization while traveling.
The people there were not indiscriminate killers, had not committed many evil deeds, and were not on the government's wanted list.
Furthermore, since those people sincerely pledged their allegiance, Liu Dong and his group brought them under their command.
To control these people and prevent them from betraying him, Liu Tong placed life-and-death talismans on them.
Those people told them that their organization was very large, far more than just their number, and that they had branches in other places.
Those people begged Liu Dong to give them time, and they went to persuade the people in the branch to submit, and all of them became the subordinates of the four Liu siblings.
Liu Tong then gave them several bottles of "Three Corpse Brain God Pills" and told them to take the "poison" to subdue the people in the branch.
—Liu Heng: Three Corpse Brain God Pill? What the hell is that?
—Liu Tong: ...It contains dormant corpse worms. Users must take the antidote before noon on the Dragon Boat Festival each year to suppress the corpse worms. Otherwise, the corpse worms will awaken and invade the brain, causing epileptic seizures and attacking close relatives.
—Liu Heng: How terrifying! Third Brother, how could you make such a terrifying thing?
—Liu Qingya: He's lying to you! Although Ping Yizhi's medical book has the name of this elixir, it doesn't have the method for refining it. Ah Qiu doesn't know how to refine it at all.
—Liu Tong: "..." (*^▽^*) Actually, he knows how to refine it.
With the help of the "Three Corpse Brain God Pill", his subordinates have subdued the people in each branch. Now they bring the leaders of the branches to see the two masters. Liu Qingyu has no desire for power, and Liu Heng is a naive and innocent person. Neither of them wants to be the leader of any organization.
After listening to their subordinates' words, Liu Dong and Liu Qingya realized they had taken on a huge problem—these people were actually a force formed by remnants of the previous dynasty! (End of Chapter)