si-mexico Chapter 967: There are no brothers in the Heavenly Family
Chapter 967: There are no brothers in the Heavenly Family
Lingzhou folk song has a special drawl which makes it sound very funny, and the words “sucker” are full of irony.
Cen Ji, the wronged man, gnashed his teeth and cursed in a low voice, but fearing that the jailer would hear him, he could only utter a few guttural words, "The Princess of Beiyi is too much! The people of Beiyi are too much!"
"Are you still planning on going out?" Cen Che asked sincerely, crossing his arms and leaning against the wooden railing.
"Get out! Get out!" Cen Ji's lungs were leaking air.
Outsiders always say that the royal family is inexhaustible in wealth, wealthy and with endless money, but they don’t know that these princes are three times poorer than the poor people in the opera.
He was so poor that he wanted to cry.
The princes all had a fixed amount of money to spend in the palace. His fiefdom was hit by drought this year, and the group of termites in the Ministry of Revenue actually withheld 30% of his silver.
The salt wells in his fiefdom were taken by the third brother in the name of "repair" in the early years, and now they cannot be returned. The salt tax ambassador sent by the third brother brought with him twelve salt soldiers with swords, and there were 200 escorts just to protect the wells.
Anyway, 80% of the salt produced from those wells went to the government warehouse, and the remaining 20% had to be deducted for charcoal, leaving almost nothing in his hands.
He was poor! Otherwise, why would he come to Lao Wu to help him? This 500,000 taels almost emptied his private savings over the years, and his staff members would not be able to get any New Year's rewards this year.
Cen Ji struggled to raise the money and made the handover, and was not released from prison until the third day.
It was Cen Che who went to pick him up with the princess's seal.
When he came out of the prison, he passed by the government notice board. From the notice, he learned that Jiang Zhongxin's adopted son Jiang Shuyuan was imprisoned for knowing the truth but not reporting it, and was taken to the capital for trial.
Cen Che pointed at the notice and said to Cen Ji, "Look, the princess is ruthless and impartial. If I hadn't rescued you, you wouldn't be able to get out now."
Cen Ji was gloomy and did not answer.
Cen Che continued, "Should you thank me? For the sake of our brotherhood, I couldn't bear to see you die in a foreign country..."
Cen Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Thank you."
Cen Che smiled coldly and said, "Dear brother, there is no need to be so polite."
There are no brothers in heaven. It’s either you live and I die, or I live and you die.
Cen Ji became a pauper and became more and more concerned about the gold vein in the north wing.
But he knew very well that if he stayed in the North Wing with such an unclear identity, he would be caught and locked up in a cell for no reason if he was not careful.
If his identity is not checked by then, he will be cheated again, and I am afraid that even his last chance of turning the situation around will be ruined.
Cen Ji no longer had the capital to be cheated, and could not afford to lose any chips. He had never been able to find a way to get money, and he had to rely on the meager income from his fiefdom to survive.
He relied on his status as the eldest son of Emperor Yong and was very careful about his reputation. He always paid attention to his reputation and did not want to leave any handle for the censors in the Censorate to impeach him.
It is true that a penny can kill a hero. I came to Beiyi and got away with 500,000 taels of silver.
My heart aches, my flesh aches, and my whole body aches.
Cen Ji was about to return to Liang State. Before leaving, he invited Cen Che to have a drink in the private room of the inn where he was staying.
He mainly wanted to remind Cen Che, "Princess Beiyi is not as simple as you think. You will know if you ask around. She is very cunning. It is said that many things that happened in Beiyi were caused by her."
Cen Che drank, listened, and said nothing.
Cen Ji didn't know whether he had listened or not. If it wasn't for the gold mine, he wouldn't bother to talk nonsense. "What was Beiyi like before? You can find out if you ask around. When it encountered Wan State, it didn't dare to say a word. In just a few short years..."
"That's because Emperor Heng is the consort of the Northern Wing, and he is highly valued by Emperor Mingde, and he is also the general of Weibei." Cen Che put away his smiling face, and his expression was a little lonely. "Although I don't like him, I have to admit that he is very strong."
"What's his strength? He was forced to abdicate when he was eight years old and had nowhere else to go."
Cen Che looked over leisurely, "He was forced to abdicate when he was eight years old, and later you sent the useless Jingwei to hunt him down, but he died in the end? Either he is too strong, or your people are too useless. Do I need to say this again?"
When he learned that the dead was his fourth brother and the alive was Emperor Heng, he immediately told the news to his eldest brother, hoping that he would take revenge.
As a result, after so many years, he not only lived well, but he also married a princess, became a royal consort, had children, and became a general. He really didn't miss anything.
His fourth brother died such a tragic death... Cen Che suppressed his tears and drank another glass of wine.
It was this topic again. Cen Ji was so angry that his chest heaved. It took him a long time to calm down. "Emperor Heng had the royal death squad 'Twelve Killers' to protect him, so he was able to escape from the people I sent. You are right, my people were useless and were killed by Emperor Heng. Only one person escaped. He was afraid that he would die if he failed to complete the mission, so he made up a lie to mislead me. Not only did he mislead me, he also misled my father. I have executed this person."
Cen Che raised his eyes and said coldly, "Is there a possibility that the person who escaped was also deliberately leaked to you by Emperor Heng? The purpose was to use him to tell you that he is dead, and don't send anyone to disturb him from hiding."
Cen Ji was stunned. It seemed that he had thought of this possibility for the first time, and he inexplicably felt a deep fear of Emperor Heng.
Cen Che said lazily, "Actually, you don't have to explain it to me so clearly."
Cen Ji shook his head, suppressing the rage that was gushing out of his chest, "Fifth brother, I want to tell you that you are not in an advantageous position in Liang State, and I am the one with the greatest chance of winning, you should know that."
"I don't know." A hint of coldness escaped from the corner of Cen Che's mouth. "I don't have the upper hand, so do you have the upper hand? You don't even have money, how can you accomplish anything? Why should I trust you?"
"Do you know that there is a Luo family in Youzhou?" Cen Ji gritted his teeth. He would not be able to keep this guy without showing some sincerity.
Cen Che answered him after a long while, "The full name of the Northern Wing Prince Consort is Luo Cen Yuan. You are talking about the Luo family, right? He is the young master of the Luo family and the head of the Luo family."
Cen Ji nodded, "Yes, it's the Luo family of Youzhou in Beiyi. Their original surname was Cen, but they changed their surname to Luo because they wanted to go to Beiyi to mine gold. In addition, they are also a hidden family that protects the royal family."
"Then it's right that they are protecting Emperor Heng." Although Cen Che hated Emperor Heng, he was clear-headed about many things.
Everyone has their own stance. The Luo family is a hidden family that protects the orthodox royal family of Liang State.
Emperor Heng is the legitimate emperor, but even though his father, Emperor Yong, has been on the throne for more than a decade, he is still cursed by people today, saying that he is clearly not legitimate and his words are not right.
Cen Ji had no choice but to break it down and analyze it with him, "But Emperor Heng is dead, and the Luo family is like duckweed without roots."
"The body of Emperor Heng has not been found." Cen Che remained indifferent and unmoved, "I don't believe he is dead."
"How can you survive if you fall into a place like that?" Cen Ji couldn't help but want to pry open the idiot's head to see what was inside. "I heard that Emperor Mingde sent many people to search for it, but they couldn't find it."