The Second Master of the Red Chamber

"Daddy hugs me!"

Noticing his trouser leg being tugged, Jia Lian looked down and saw that it was indeed his precious daughter.

I haven't seen you for half a year, and you've grown quite a bit taller.

She pouted, seemingly very dissatisfied with her father's neglect.

Jia Lian smiled, bent down and picked her up, kissed her increasingly delicate face, and then rubbed his nose and cheek against hers, making the little girl giggle.

Seeing this, Sister Feng smiled happily and stepped forward, saying, "The old lady, master and mistress originally wanted to host a banquet to welcome you back."

However, knowing you are busy with official duties, I dare not bother you without permission.

Therefore, let me consult you first and ask for your opinion.

How could Jia Zheng and his associates be so adept at handling affairs?
It's not uncommon for good intentions to backfire, or for flattery to backfire.

From the moment I heard that Jia Lian had led his troops back to the city this morning, to the fact that I haven't seen him all day, I can imagine how busy Jia Lian must be.

If someone is very tired and doesn't want to go home and make a fuss, and you keep doing this and that, wouldn't that just annoy them?
Moreover, it is currently the emeritus of the Emperor Emeritus. If Jia Lian, who has a deep bond with the Emperor Emeritus, is devastated upon hearing the tragic news, wouldn't it be inappropriate for you to be so happy as to throw a welcome party for him?
Jia Lian glanced at the dozens of cute girls in front of him who seemed quite expectant, and hesitated, "Well, it's getting late, wouldn't this be too much trouble?"

Sister Feng knows Jia Lian very well; if he didn't want to do it, he would have rejected it outright at this point.

So he quickly smiled and said, "No trouble at all. The master and mistress have prepared everything, and the venue is ready."

Now, my sister-in-law is personally waiting in the main kitchen.

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian said without hesitation, "Since everything is prepared, let's do it. It'll be a good opportunity for the whole family to have some fun."

Jia Lian could understand Jia Zheng and others' feelings of wanting to strengthen their bond with him, but also fearing that going too far would offend him.

They probably knew that their time in the Jia family was running out.

The Empress had already explained this to him when they were in the palace that morning.

His Pingliao Prince's Mansion has been thoroughly renovated and properly furnished. They asked him when he would move into the imperial city.

Upon hearing that Jia Lian had agreed to host a banquet, many people could not hide their joy.

The Jia family mansion used to be more lively and joyful than other noble families, which made Xiangyun want to come back again and again.

It's because Grandmother Jia was a lively and relatively open-minded matriarch.

At any banquet where she is present, the rules are never set too strictly.

Jia Lian, on the other hand, took Jia Mu's open-mindedness and generosity to the extreme.

Therefore, throughout the entire Jia family estate, from the masters and young ladies to the servants and maids, there was no one who disliked or did not look forward to the events organized by Jia Lian.

Moreover, with Jia Lian returning from his expedition, many people wanted to get close to him and exchange a few words with him.

And a banquet is undoubtedly the most suitable occasion.

Just as the Jia family was holding a lively banquet to welcome Jia Lian back to the mansion.

At the Crown Prince's residence, many of his advisors and newly recruited men who wanted to curry favor with the Fourth Prince also spontaneously gathered there.

"Your Highness! I have heard that the Prince of Pingliao, upon returning to the capital, cut off the Third Prince's arm right in front of you. Is this true?"

The fourth prince waved his hand, signaling the waiter to serve tea, but he himself was too lazy to reply.

Throughout the day, countless people came before him to denounce Jia Lian's crimes and to explain the "threat of the Prince of Pingliao" to him.

He was already fed up with it.

As expected, he didn't need to answer himself; others would take the initiative to explain for him.

Then, as expected, came the criticism of Jia Lian's insubordinate behavior.

"Your Highness, the Prince of Pingliao is so arrogant."

Now that His Majesty is still alive, he no longer takes your words seriously.

If His Majesty were to pass away in the future, who knows how arrogant the Prince of Pingliao would become.

"I hope Your Highness will make preparations as soon as possible!"

The fourth prince looked displeased: "What preparations do you want me to make?"

"This……"

Faced with the Fourth Prince's question, not only was the questioner speechless, but even the others who had been making the most scathing judgments earlier fell silent.

Everyone knows that Jia Lian was the primary contributor to the Fourth Prince's victory over the Third Prince and his ascension to the throne.

Jia Lian was also one of the earliest investors in the Fourth Prince.

It was precisely because of his unshakeable achievements and status that no one dared to speak ill of Jia Lian in front of the Fourth Prince.

But this doesn't mean they aren't jealous or have ulterior motives.

From the perspective of relativity...

The space next to the Fourth Prince was only so big.

If Jia Lian takes on too much, the number of his close advisors will decrease accordingly.

Therefore, now that they have the opportunity to oust Jia Lian, these cunning individuals are sparing no effort.

It wasn't that they themselves had any particular opinion of Jia Lian.

However, all they wanted was for the Fourth Prince to distance himself from Jia Lian.

For the vast majority of people, they wouldn't dare to lay a hand on Jia Lian even if they had twelve times the courage.

Without even seeing the arm of a prince, Jia Lian simply beheaded him.

And it happened in front of the Crown Prince.

Nothing happened.

No one with a sound mind would think that their neck is harder than the Third Prince's arm.

However, since the words had already been spoken, it was assumed that most of the people who came at this time were dissatisfied with Jia Lian.

So the questioner boldly continued: "Although the King of Pingliao has made great contributions, it is not advisable to act rashly."

However, his blatant disregard for His Highness's authority warrants punishment.

Your Majesty, I humbly believe that the Prince of Pingliao currently wields too much military power.

It not only controlled 100,000 troops in the Beijing Garrison, but also commanded the Tianjin Garrison New Army.

What's most terrifying is that he was ordered to go on several expeditions and won great victories each time, accumulating a great reputation in the army.

Even if the Prince of Pingliao is loyal to Your Highness, this situation is still very disadvantageous for Your Highness.

This poses a tremendous threat to the imperial court and to the entire nation.

Upon hearing this, the fourth prince sneered inwardly.

You're only just finding out about this?

You might not know this, but the Imperial Guards under my sister's command are not much different from those under Jia Lian's.

Let's not even talk about the small but powerful and important firearms battalion.

It was built single-handedly by Jia Lian.

Later, the imperial sister promoted Jia Lian's trusted generals to the positions of commanders of the three main guard battalions.

It's obvious they don't treat Jia Lian like an outsider.

Can this even be called a threat?
Even setting aside matters of principle, the power currently held by his own father, the emperor, might not even be as great as Jia Lian's.

"According to you?"

"Your Majesty should take advantage of His Majesty's presence to find a way to reduce the excessive military power of the Prince of Pingliao."

Only in this way can His Highness be kept safe, the court be kept stable, and the nation be spared from a crisis of turmoil.

The others breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

He thought to himself, "It's a good thing you didn't say you wanted to get rid of the King of Pingliao, otherwise I would have immediately severed ties with you."

No, I'll report you to the King of Pingliao.

So everyone agreed, saying that Jia Lian's military power was too great and that a way should be found to reduce it.

Seeing the crowd's agitated state, Wei Xian suddenly stood up and said indignantly, "Your Highness, colleagues, do you still remember when Jia Lian entered the city this morning, he led thousands of armored cavalrymen into the city in a grand procession?"

Upon hearing this, everyone thought to themselves, "That's nonsense."

Everyone knows that.

At the time, many people who were unaware of the truth were terrified, thinking that Jia Lian was going to take advantage of his great victory to return to the capital and force the emperor to abdicate.

After all, the commotion of thousands of cavalry marching through the streets could only be described as terrifying. Some people had already figured out how to switch sides and try to gain merit by supporting Jia Lian should he really rebel.

Unexpectedly, after the army entered the imperial city, it suddenly went silent.

The fourth prince rolled his eyes at Wei Xian and said rudely, "What are you doing jumping out here again?"

The Fourth Prince and Wei Xian can be described as childhood sweethearts and sworn enemies.

The two of them didn't like each other at first.

Unexpectedly, after he became the crown prince, this fellow actually clung to him like a leech.

After all, he was the heir of the Prince Duan's mansion. The man had already knelt down to apologize and pledge his loyalty, so even for the sake of the unity of the imperial clan, the Fourth Prince had no reason to kick him aside.

Wei Xian didn't care at all about the Fourth Prince's disrespectful tone.

After all, he had been used to being bullied by the Fourth Prince since he was a child.

He could have resisted before, but now he has resigned himself to his fate.

It's not shameful at all to be bullied by the future emperor; in fact, it's quite prestigious.

He adopted a posture of loyalty to his master: "Your Highness, it is not because I have a grudge against the Prince of Pingliao that I am deliberately slandering him."

Given his distinguished status, it was somewhat understandable that he would bring extra people to protect him on his way back to the capital from Tianjin.

But why did he bring so many troops into the city?

Doesn't he know the laws of the court that foreign troops are not allowed to enter the capital without an imperial decree?

Moreover, he led his troops directly into the imperial city!
Who was that commander guarding the imperial city? In my opinion, he should be executed on the spot.

"If the Prince of Pingliao harbors ill intentions, wouldn't allowing so many troops into the capital cause a great disaster?"

Everyone looked thoughtful.

However, not everyone present wanted to embarrass Jia Lian.

One person said, "As far as I know, most of the cavalry that the Prince of Pingliao brought back to the capital this time came from the firearms battalion."

The firearms battalion was part of the Imperial Guard and should have been stationed in the Imperial City.

Wei Xian scoffed, "Come on, how many people are there in the Firearms Battalion?"
In my opinion, he has ulterior motives.

Either they realized their mistake after entering the imperial city and didn't dare to make a move.

Or he's demonstrating against His Highness.

He wanted His Highness to know that he could bring a large army into the capital at any time if he wished!

Wei Xian's words made some truly shrewd people curse him as an idiot.

If I really wanted to rebel, I would be eager to hide my trump cards so that I could strike a fatal blow on the day I launched the rebellion.

Oh, so you, the King of Pingliao, are quite something. You let me see in advance that I can mobilize troops into the capital, so that you can target me, right?

Although that's what they thought, seeing that many people agreed with Wei Xian's words, some of them echoed his sentiments.

Anyway, anyone can fish in troubled waters.
Then they noticed that the fourth prince's complexion was getting worse and worse.

This greatly excited Wei Xian, who thought he had hit the nail on the head with the Fourth Prince.

He and Jia Lian had a grudge, although neither of them had attacked the other in recent years.

But watching Jia Lian end up like this, he is undoubtedly one of the most heartbroken people.

Therefore, it was something he really wanted to do to make things difficult for Jia Lian, or even to make the Fourth Prince dislike Jia Lian.

He was also the main person in charge of organizing the gathering today.

However, Wei Xian and the others had no idea what the Fourth Prince was thinking.

The Fourth Prince knew all too well why Jia Lian was in such a hurry to return to the capital.

Following this line of thought, how could he not guess why Jia Lian would bring so many troops back to the capital?
His elder sister and Jia Lian were both his father's right-hand men.

After Jia Lian left the capital, until his elder sister was "assassinated," his elder sister was in charge of the overall situation.

One can imagine how panicked and furious Jia Lian would be upon hearing the news of his elder sister's assassination attempt in Tianjin.

But he is also a meticulous person.

He wouldn't be foolish enough to run back to the capital alone.

If something unexpected were to happen in the capital that no one would know about, not to mention the potential threat to one's own safety.

It also prevented the situation from being corrected in time.

Thinking back to what Jia Lian said to him that morning, he was very disappointed in him.

So, did Jia Lian think he was so foolish as to have allowed his third brother to turn the tide and even harm his own sister, so he led troops back to "purge the court of corrupt officials"?

Then I thought about how Jia Lianming knew his elder sister was alright, yet he still killed Wei Yan right in front of him.

What if something really happens to my elder sister?
Others may not know about their relationship, but don't they know it themselves?

If that were the case, I'm afraid Wei Yan would have lost not just an arm, but his head today!

Now that Wei Yan is dead, what about me? Will he take action against me, one of the culprits?
Thinking of this, the fourth prince felt a chill run down his spine and was deeply grateful that his elder sister was alright.

Otherwise, he really couldn't imagine what Jia Lian would do in that situation.

He took a deep breath, about to get rid of these annoying people in front of him.

Zhang Bao, however, bowed and walked to his side.

"Why are you panicking?"

"Master, Chu Liang has escaped."

"Who?"

"He is one of the guards newly recruited by the master last year, and also one of the people who were ordered by the master to monitor Prince Yun not long ago."

I haven't seen him since the morning.

The guards reported earlier that someone had seen him leave the city that morning and hadn't returned yet.

The head guard said that he had already sent people to search his room, and that valuables had been stolen.

It's confirmed that he/she has absconded.

The fourth prince couldn't understand Zhang Bao's meaning for a moment: "Why would he run away for no reason?"

Zhang Bao explained: "In the morning, didn't the Prince of Pingliao publicly instruct that people be sent to investigate all of Prince Yun's whereabouts after he left the Imperial Clan Court?"
It is highly likely that Chu Liang is secretly in league with Prince Yun; no, he may even be a spy planted in Prince Yun's residence.

Now that Prince Yun has been beheaded, he is afraid that the truth will be revealed.

So he fled to avoid punishment.

This old servant just mentioned this to Commander Tian, ​​who came to verify it, and he came to the same conclusion.

The fourth prince's face immediately turned extremely ugly.

He could still deceive himself into thinking that Wei Yan was sincerely repentant and that he just wanted to live.

Everything was because his elder sister and Jia Lian were too arbitrary.

But the fact that this has now come to light undoubtedly proves it.

His elder sister and Jia Lian might be right.

He was deceived by Wei Yan once again.

Like a fool.

"Is it possible to catch them?"

"We've already sent people out of the city to search, but it will be very difficult to bring them back in a short time."

The fact that the other party fled in advance indicates that they are a cautious person.

We've already been out of the city for half a day. If we're disguised, it will indeed be difficult to find us in a short time.

"Damn it."

The Fourth Prince finally understood why those incompetent officials at the Dali Temple had been investigating for so long without finding any clues.

It turns out the traitor was right next to him.

I ask you, where would the people of the Dali Temple dare to investigate his people?

"Let's go see if that bastard is dead yet!"

...(End of chapter)