They are all concubines, so of course they choose the future emperor.

Jiang Wanyue's explanation made Jiang Yang's expression change.

"What my sister said makes sense. I will go find someone to investigate in detail."

Jiang Yang turned around quickly and tried to leave.

Jiang Wanyue hurriedly reminded him, "Brother, remember to find someone you can trust. The situation in the capital is unclear right now, so be extra careful."

Jiang Yang nodded solemnly and strode away.

Jiang Wanyue did not return to Wutong Courtyard immediately, but continued to think.

If I were the person behind the scenes, taking advantage of the Wanshou Festival to plan something, what would I do?

Was the purpose of transferring some of the imperial guards away to weaken the defense of the capital? Or was it to ambush and surprise attack the emperor in the palace?

Or maybe both?

Jiang Wanyue slowly stood up holding the armrest of the chair.

Mi'er hurried over to help her.

"Don't worry too much, Auntie. We have so many people in the mansion! The prince and princess are not here, so you and the concubine are the ones in charge of the mansion. Even if something happens, everyone can protect you."

Jiang Wanyue had been thinking with her head down, but when she heard this, she suddenly raised her head.

"Wait a minute, Mi'er, have all the princes and princesses from various palaces gone to the temporary palace this time?"

Mier thought for a while and said.

"They should all be there, right?"

Jiang Wanyue grabbed her wrist.

"Go call the housekeeper and find out who went to each house."

Mi'er hurriedly shouted outside, and a servant ran to call for help.

The housekeeper came over soon.

"What do you want from me, concubine?"

Prince Jing had already asked for a concubine for Jiang Wanyue, but it would take a few days for the imperial edict to come down, but everyone in the palace knew about it. The housekeeper was shrewd and changed his mind in advance.

Jiang Wanyue waved her hand and asked directly without bothering to exchange pleasantries.

"Which families are going with you to the palace to celebrate the birthday? Who are the people going? Who are the people staying behind?"

The butler was a little surprised, but still answered as he was told.

"Every prince's palace went, in addition to the Duke of Longchuan, the Duke of Weiguo..." He listed a long list of names, "Many ministers from the court also went, all of them are relatives."

Jiang Wanyue frowned and raised her hand to signal, "Go on."

"As for the outsiders, only the gentlemen went, and most of the nobles brought their wives. By the way, the whole family of Cheng'en Marquis went."

Marquis Cheng'en is the emperor's uncle, so it is reasonable for the whole family to celebrate the emperor's birthday.

"In each palace, the prince brought his princess and young masters. The two old princes only brought their most beloved grandchildren, and several princes brought all their young masters."

The butler was talking and suddenly paused.

"No, the prince of Prince Qi's mansion was ill a few days ago and did not go this time."

Jiang Wanyue's eyes were shocked.

"Where is the Prince of Qi now?"

The housekeeper was very surprised.

"It should be in Prince Qi's mansion, right? He is sick, where else can he go?"

Jiang Wanyue closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"If my guess is correct, the prince of Qi is not in the palace of Qi at the moment. I'm afraid he has been sent away by the king of Qi in advance."

"Send away?"

The butler asked subconsciously, and then his expression changed slightly.

Being able to be the steward of Prince Jing's Mansion, he is not a stupid person. He understood what Jiang Wanyue meant after a little thought.

The butler's voice changed.

"Are you guessing that the King of Qi wants to seize the throne?"

Jiang Wanyue raised her hand and rubbed her eyebrows.

"Ask someone to check the residences of the King of Qi's close associates to see if there are similar situations."

The butler's heart was beating fast.

He swallowed and said, "If you guessed right, what should we do?"

Jiang Wanyue was relatively calm.

"The target of the Qi Wang's plan is the emperor and the prince. Our house should not be in danger. I am only worried that once the news gets back, someone will take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble. At that time, I will trouble you, the housekeeper, to lead people to guard the doors and prevent the thieves from breaking in. By the way, send more people to guard Liuyin Courtyard. Don't say it's my order, so as not to make Aunt Guan think too much."

The butler said "yes" with a serious look on his face, then quickly retreated.

"King Qi..."

Jiang Wanyue murmured in a low voice.

The Prince of Qi would most likely kill several of Prince Jing's princes under the banner of "clearing the court of evil officials" and then force the emperor to make him the crown prince. The literati's nature is to have a legitimate reason for everything they do and to gain a reputation for "righteousness".

If it were Prince Jing, he would not care about these things. If he was really forced into a corner, he might lead his army to fight his way in and out, and then sit on the throne himself, and he would not care how others scolded him.

Wasn’t that what happened in his previous life when he forced Wei Fuxue into the palace?

He doesn't care about fame.

But the King of Qi was not.

The King of Qi was careful about his reputation.

So he won't kill people indiscriminately.

There are only a few women and children left in Prince Jing's Mansion now, so Prince Qi will not take action against them.

Even if we want to eradicate the problem completely, we have to wait until the matter is settled, so we can rest assured for the time being.

But what does the King of Qi rely on?

If you want to seize the throne and force the emperor to abdicate, you must at least have some troops, right?

It is not so easy to deal with the 30,000 imperial guards. Even if we lure the tiger away from the mountain and divide them, it is only a partial solution.

Where did he get his soldiers?

The imperial guards are loyal and cannot be used by him. The troops near the capital are restrained by each other, so if he wants to mobilize them, he cannot hide it from the eyes and ears of the surrounding people.

Unless it is a frontier army far away from the border...

Jiang Wanyue clenched her sleeves tightly.

"Liaodong!"

Her pupils trembled.

Pieces of information flashed through her mind.

The Wei family formed an alliance with the Liaodong general...but the originally scheduled wedding date was postponed.

Why postpone?

She had made many guesses before, but they were all just guesses that the Liaodong general hesitated, but she never thought of another possibility.

He probably didn't regret his hesitation.

Maybe, it just has to be postponed because of other things.

Jiang Wanyue took a deep breath, pressed her throbbing temples, and held Mi'er's hand.

"Take me to see the leaders of the Shen Ce Army."

Seeing her pale face, Mi'er also became very nervous and quickly helped her out.

The leader of these two hundred Shen Ce troops was a captain named Zhang.

He doesn't look like a military man, but more like a scholar, with a long beard and a friendly smile.

If it weren't for his dark skin and the scars on his hands and neck, Jiang Wanyue would have believed it.

When the leader heard others introduce her as the prince's concubine, he immediately clasped his hands together.

"Zhang has met the concubine."

Jiang Wanyue gave him some support.

"No need to be polite. Captain Zhang seems to be a straightforward person, so I won't waste words. I came here this time to ask, if someone intends to stir up unrest in the city, can your general lead people to defend the city?"

Captain Zhang was shocked by her words.

But he quickly calmed down and thought for a moment before replying.

"According to the rules, without the tiger talisman, the government troops cannot move around at will, let alone enter the city on their own initiative. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Jiang Wanyue asked anxiously.

"Unless someone attacks the capital first, the government troops can enter the capital in the name of suppressing the rebellion."

Jiang Wanyue felt a little relieved.

She then asked.

"What if someone wants to assassinate the emperor? Do the imperial army need the tiger talisman to protect him?"

This time Captain Zhang was really shocked.

"Concubine, what do you know? Is there someone trying to assassinate you? Why would you care about the tiger talisman? Of course you should go and protect the emperor first!"

Jiang Wanyue didn't know much about how things worked in the army. Now that she had found out, her face became serious and she spoke solemnly.

"In that case, I would like to trouble Captain Zhang to bring a few trusted men back to the camp immediately to report the news. Please ask your general to contact other troops and split the troops into two groups. One group will go north to rescue the emperor, and the other group will enter the city to guard. If my guess is correct, the rebels should have entered the capital by now and are lurking in various places in the city."