Zhao Gupan was deeply favored and doted upon by the old prince. Not only was her words as sweet as honey, but she was also clever and knew how to please others. Even more remarkable was her gentle and docile nature, never competing with others. Even the concubines who had initially resented her arrival in the palace were eventually won over by her.

Zhao Gupan wasn't the kind of person who cared only for herself. She knew she couldn't monopolize the old prince's care, so she often urged him to be more tolerant and caring, so that the other sisters could also feel his love. Because of this, she was very popular in the Prince Zhan's mansion.

On a different note, Zhao Gupan was also a very clever person. On her first day at Prince Zhan's mansion, she confessed to the old prince the true purpose of Zhao Jian's sending her there. Upon hearing this, the old prince was naturally furious, but surprisingly, he didn't vent his anger on Zhao Gupan. On the contrary, when he learned that this poor woman was unloved and was being used as a pawn by her own father, he felt even more pity for her.

Out of affection for Zhao Gupan, the old prince was even willing to follow her advice and personally attend the palace to meet the emperor to demonstrate his loyalty. When Zhao Jian and Zhao Liangchen arrived at Prince Zhan's residence, the old prince was all smiles and jokes. While he nodded repeatedly in agreement with Zhao Jian's words, he was actually just being perfunctory.

But Zhao Jian failed to see through the mystery and was delighted to think that he had successfully persuaded the old prince!

Afterwards, he boasted about his achievements in front of King Liang. King Liang also failed to notice anything unusual and naively believed that his carefully planned plan was going smoothly!

Not long after Su Qin left, the palace held a beauty contest, selecting a total of six concubines, two for the position of consort and four for the position of imperial concubine.

Duan Liang made great contributions in treating the epidemic, so he successfully entered the Imperial Hospital and was responsible for regulating the emperor's body. He asked the emperor to abstain from sex. The concubines had been selected and brought into the palace. If they were not favored for a long time, the news would spread and King Liang would definitely take advantage of it.

Therefore, the emperor still went to the concubines as usual, but when he got there he just lay there and chatted and did nothing else.

At first, the concubines thought that the emperor was not familiar with them and wanted to get to know them first. Once he got familiar with them, the emperor would favor them. However, after this happened three or four times in a row, they realized that something was wrong.

Before being sent to the palace, they had all been taught about matters between men and women by their families. Since the emperor was so abnormal, they had to think more about it. However, at first they did not realize that there was something wrong with the emperor. They just thought that the emperor did not like them.

Since they themselves were not favored, no one was embarrassed to ask other concubines whether the emperor favored them. Instead, they tried their best to conceal the fact in order to maintain their own status and reputation.

In this way, the emperor's abnormality was concealed. Of course, this matter was not concealed for long. Although the last time the epidemic was used to purge many servants in the entire palace, there were not many palace servants who could enter the palace, especially eunuchs. They had to be trained and purified since childhood. If too many eunuchs were eliminated at one time, there would not be enough eunuchs to fill the vacancies. Therefore, there were still spies of King Liang in the palace.

Among the six concubines sent into the palace, there must be some people who belonged to King Liang. The emperor wanted to find out who secretly defected to King Liang, so he did not guard these concubines strictly, but also found ways to provide convenience for them.

At first, the concubines did not communicate with each other for the sake of their own face, but as time went on, they were still not favored by the emperor. Two concubines who had long since defected to King Liang secretly communicated with each other and realized that something was wrong, and immediately passed the news outside the palace.

King Liang was overjoyed when he received the news. He originally thought that the effects of the medicine for more than ten years had only affected the emperor's fertility. Now it seems that the medicine not only affected his fertility, but also made the emperor completely lose his ability to be a man.

He thought that it was because the emperor fainted last time and the imperial physician increased the dosage of the medicine, which had an effect.

This news was extremely important to Prince Liang. If it was true, he wouldn't have to wait for a few more months until there was no news of any pregnant concubines in the palace before taking action. As long as the news of the emperor's impotence spread, not to mention the people on his side, even Grand Tutor Yan and others would not support the emperor. At that time, he could win without a fight.

He knew that the emperor must have found a trustworthy doctor to treat the illness, and was afraid that the emperor would be cured. King Liang did not dare to delay and had the news spread.

When the civil and military officials heard the news, they were shocked. Most people did not believe it, but the people of King Liang's faction spared no effort to publicize the matter, and their stories were very convincing.

The officials did not dare to confirm this matter with the emperor, so they had to ask the officials of the six families who sent their daughters into the palace.

Two families admitted without hesitation that the emperor had never favored their daughters.

Although the remaining four families did not believe it, they also tried to pass the news to the palace. At first, the four concubines did not admit it because they felt embarrassed.

But when they learned that there were other concubines who were not favored, they realized that it was not them who had the problem, but the emperor, and they admitted it in order to clear themselves of responsibility.

The four officials who got the news were now panicked. They sent their daughters to the palace in order to improve the family's status and for the family's glory.

If the emperor cannot act humanely, then if he has no descendants, he will be replaced sooner or later, and at that time the families of the concubines of the previous dynasty will definitely be marginalized.

Although they did not publicize the matter, and even tried their best to conceal it for the sake of their family and their daughter's status, they were still anxious to find Master Yan and others to find a solution.

At first, Grand Tutor Yan and the Grand Preceptor did not believe this matter, thinking that it was a means for Prince Liang to discredit the emperor. However, when the other four families came to them, they had to take this matter seriously.

Grand Tutor Yan and the Grand Preceptor went to see the Emperor privately. Although the Emperor wanted to use this incident to force Prince Liang to rebel early, he did not want to hide it from Grand Tutor Yan and others. After all, he still needed allies.

When he was fighting with King Liang, he needed someone to help him stabilize most of the court officials.

The emperor had a frank talk with them, telling them about Prince Liang's persecution and conspiracy over the years, his speculation about the causes of his brothers' deaths, and how he wanted to use the same tactics to force Prince Liang to reveal his true colors in advance.

Compared to the concealment of some information from the Duke of Lu's Mansion, the Emperor was very frank with Grand Tutor Yan and Grand Preceptor Yan, and told them all his plans in detail, including the matter of raising private soldiers.

The two gentlemen felt a chill run down their spines after hearing this. They were both veterans in the court and had served in three dynasties. They had witnessed many intrigues and mutual harm in the fight for power.

They thought that King Liang just didn't want to return the power, but they didn't expect that King Liang had such deep scheming and patience.

He had actually started planning this more than ten years ago. The strange accidents that happened to the princes one after another were actually related to him. This was something they could never have imagined.

The two lords were glad that they did not give up on the emperor and did not think of supporting King Liang. Even if the emperor was no longer capable, he was still better than King Liang.

Prince Liang is so vicious and scheming. If he ascends the throne, this country will sooner or later perish because of his cruelty and ruthlessness.

The emperor looked at them solemnly and said, "You two gentlemen have been my mentors for many years. I beg you to help me one last time. I promise that I will become a wise ruler in the future, stabilize the court, and benefit the people."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like