It's not too much to say that a beauty is a little bit stronger

A faint light appeared in Xiao Huai's eyes.

A smile appeared on the corner of his lips, and a low and clear voice slowly rang out in the sea of ​​flowers:

"He's ruthless to you, what about you?"

This sentence was like a thin needle, accurately piercing Xuan Ji's disguise.

Her smile froze slightly, and a complex emotion flashed across her eyes.

After a brief silence, she smiled lightly, but with an unconcealable sense of helplessness.

It was like a layer of veil was quietly lifted, revealing the true fragility.

"Your Excellency sees things clearly." Xuan Ji said in a low voice, with a hint of fatigue in her voice, but also like a kind of relief after being seen through.

Her eyes were lowered, and her slender fingers lightly touched the edge of the swing, as if she was using the slight shaking to conceal her inner turmoil.

"Do you have feelings?" she murmured to herself, her voice as soft as a feather floating in the wind, so light that it was almost inaudible. "Of course not."

She raised her head and looked at Xiao Huai again.

Calm and decisive.

The wind blew her long hair, interweaving with the colors of the sea of ​​flowers around her.

"He sees everything as a chess piece." She spoke slowly, her voice low but clear. "And I, too, have never considered him my support. I'm meeting you today to ask for something."

Xiao Huai stared into Xuan Ji's eyes, his gaze slowly moving down to her slightly clenched hands.

Xuan Ji raised her head, the corners of her lips moved slightly, and the words she uttered were like a sharp knife, piercing straight out:

"kill him."

The sea of ​​flowers around seemed to have lost its color at this moment.

As soon as those words were spoken, the whole world became still.

Even the breeze stopped, leaving only Xuan Ji's clear and firm voice.

Xiao Huai did not answer immediately, but turned his head slightly to look at Lu Yuanshi beside him.

He leaned against a tree, his eyes relaxed, as if he was not surprised by the request.

"You want me to kill King Zhou?" Xiao Huai smiled, his tone light and airy, "But have you ever thought about what your situation will be like after I kill him? What will happen in the capital?"

Xuan Ji lowered her eyes, her voice so low that it was almost inaudible:

"After killing him, whether I am still alive or not...is not important."

The woman in front of me had countless layers of emotions hidden in her smile.

Tired, resentful, desperate...

"What will it benefit me if I help you?" Xiao Huai looked at her coldly.

In ancient times, there were people who used the emperor to control the princes.

This kind of thing is not a small-scale political intrigue, but only people with huge ambitions and supreme power can do it.

His tone was gentle, "My forces are the weakest. Empress Xuanji, why did you ask me for help when you could ask anyone else?"

Or, she's lying.

Or maybe the person she really wanted to say these words to was not herself at all.

Xuan Ji did not show any panic, "Sir, you are too suspicious."

"Really?" Xiao Huai's smile deepened, but his eyes were cold.

"In that case, let me ask you this: if I really help you kill King Zhou, what will you use to repay me? What I'm worst at is doing business that loses money."

Xuan Ji's tone was surprisingly calm: "If you are willing to help me, Xuan Ji is willing to tell you everything I know."

She paused for a moment and then read out the words word by word: "Including the king's true secret."

After the words were spoken, neither side spoke.

The real secret.

The word "secret" is really attractive no matter when it is used.

Although Xiao Huai didn't react on the surface, his mind was already racing.

If she really wanted to kill the King of Zhou, she could logically rely on the power of other princes. Those who had their own troops were more capable of achieving this.

And she was the King of Zhou's concubine.

If she no longer cared about her own life, then she would most likely have assassinated King Zhou.

But she chose Qinglan Hou, a prince with the weakest military force and the most insignificant power.

Does this mean that her real purpose is to use Xiao Huai, or his existence, to convey some kind of message to another person?

And here, besides himself and Xuan Ji, there is only Lu Yuanshi.

Not only that, Xuan Ji's purpose was definitely not simply to kill King Zhou.

After hearing this, Xiao Huai just turned around and left.

Before leaving, his voice gently floated to Xuan Ji's ears.

"I don't know whether what you said is true or not, but I am sure of one thing - your so-called request for help does not mean you want to rely on me at all."

Xuan Ji was stunned for a moment, looking at Xiao Huai's departing back.

Then his gaze shifted to the swing swaying beside him, and a faint wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Hope...was never an option for me."

She never had hope.

When Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi returned to the carriage, Lu Yuanshi finally spoke:

"Don't you want to know King Zhou's secret?"

Xiao Huai lazily leaned against the inner wall of the carriage, as if he hadn't woken up yet. "Trading a secret for life... If someone told me this secret directly, wouldn't it be boring?"

A faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, casual and lazy.

Wouldn't it be more interesting to check things like this yourself?

Xiao Huai closed his eyes, as if thinking, or perhaps just muttering to himself casually: "If she really wants King Zhou to die, and hasn't done it yet, there might be another reason."

"She couldn't move her hands."

No one knows how many people know about her meeting with Xiao Huai.

What if this meeting was originally arranged by King Zhou?

Xuan Ji's request may be a test or a bait.

The Zhou king's method of lighting beacons to trick the princes was clearly to test the loyalty of all the princes.

Anyone who disobeyed him or hesitated to come died.

This method is for cleaning.

Cleanse out those forces that are unable to serve him.

He is centralizing power.

The existence of princes would take away his power.

When ancient emperors granted fiefs to princes, it was not a simple gift, but a compromise they had to make.

Due to the vast territory and the lagging information and transportation, no king could personally control all local affairs, so decentralization naturally became a feasible strategy.

But the price of decentralization is the weakening of imperial power. The rise of each prince will pose a threat to the central power.

He wanted to centralize power and hold all the power in his own hands.

why?

Xiao Huai said calmly, "King Zhou's goal is definitely not just to be an ordinary king. He wants immense power, so that no one can stop him."

Lu Yuanshi leaned against the side of the carriage, looking at him with a smile, and said in a low voice:

"To go against the will of heaven requires immense power."

"Yeah." Xiao Huai responded softly, but there was a hint of coldness in his tone, "He is concentrating power, perhaps because he wants to do something that no one can accept."

The main task is to save the fate of the Zhou Dynasty and help the dynasty continue.

Can killing the King of Zhou really save the fate of the Zhou Dynasty?

If one Zhou king falls, won’t there be thousands and thousands of Zhou kings rising?