After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

The man glanced at Lu Zhiyuan, neither confirming nor denying.

Lu Zhiyuan poured a cup of tea and handed it to the man: "The Marquis of Yongchang is not doing this for the throne!"

"How do you know he's not after the throne?" The man put down his chopsticks. "The emperor? Who doesn't want to be the emperor? Marquis Yongchang has the ability to do so."

“A besieged city!” Lu Zhiyuan uttered two words softly: “Life is like one besieged city after another. Those inside want to get out, and those outside want to get in. This is true for relationships, marriage, power, and especially the imperial city.”

The man clenched the end of his chopsticks but didn't say anything.

“Those outside the palace don’t know what’s going on inside. You’re from inside the palace, so you should know that what I’m saying is true.”

As dawn approached, the temperature inside the room dropped further. Lu Yun found a garment and covered Lu Zhiyuan's legs. Lu Zhiyuan stared into the man's eyes, remaining motionless.

"People who have never been emperors think that they can do whatever they want once they become emperors. Little do they know that even the most notorious tyrants in history cannot be as they imagine; they are still bound by rules and regulations."

The man lowered his head.

When he was a commoner, he envied the emperor in the palace, thinking that the emperor could have three palaces and six courtyards and do whatever he wanted. In reality, it was not like that. They could have three palaces and six courtyards, but who they married and who they didn't marry was not up to them. They needed to balance various forces and relationships. They could take in beauties from all over the world, but they couldn't love whomever they wanted.

Those with power and connections fear that the other party will become arrogant because of this favor, and that the other party's family members will abuse their power and hold military power because of this favor.

Those without power or background fear for their safety. The palace is a complex web of intertwined forces; how could a humble, solitary woman possibly break in?

Besides beautiful women, he also envied the emperor for being able to eat well and dress warmly. However, after entering the palace, he realized that while the emperor was well-dressed, he wasn't warm enough. Wearing too many clothes would damage his imperial image. Wearing too many layers would make him prone to laziness and lack of diligence.

The food in the palace was good, but not very tasty. The imperial chefs tried their best, but the flavors were just so-so. By "so-so," I mean the kind of flavors the emperor found acceptable, not unpleasant.

Is it because the imperial chef's cooking skills are not good?

No, it's because they were afraid of being punished and beheaded, so they dared not prepare anything new or exciting for the emperor.

In addition, there were strict rules governing the emperor's meals, and the same applied to the crown prince. Each dish could only be eaten a maximum of two bites; eating more was considered a sign of excessive gluttony and a lack of character. Anyone who ate too much of a particular dish would never be seen again.

The man thought for a moment. If he had been born in the palace and never seen anything outside, he might have been obsessed with the throne. But once he had experienced the freedom outside the palace, he would rather be a carefree prince with royal connections.

No, that's not right. It seems like he's being led by the nose by the Crown Princess.

When he looked up, Lu Zhiyuan was squinting at him. He suddenly panicked and lowered his head: "What the Marquis of Yongchang wants to do is more important than the emperor's immortality."

"What he wants is not just the emperor to live forever, but for all the people of Beiliang to live forever."

Gu An's bowl fell to the ground.

"To grant immortality to everyone in Northern Liang? Has the Marquis of Yongchang gone mad?"

“He’s not crazy, he just has an overly idealistic view of immortality.” Lu Zhiyuan turned to look out the window.

She asked the system, and it gave her a perspective she had never considered before. If only the emperor desired immortality, the Marquis of Yongchang wouldn't have gone to such lengths, much less orchestrate the Ganzhou case. What he wanted wasn't the lives of those soldiers, but rather a high-stakes gamble, using those lives to save many more.

It was only after arriving here that Lu Zhiyuan learned that the average lifespan of the people of Beiliang was less than fifty-five years, due to war, poverty, hunger, and various diseases. For ordinary people, living past fifty was considered long-lived, and most died in their forties.

The infant mortality rate was even more alarming. Not to mention ordinary families, even in the palace where children were carefully raised, how many princes and princesses died in the womb or did not reach adulthood?

Yongchang Hou has carefully studied this medicine. In addition to increasing lifespan, it can also enhance physical fitness, increase strength, and reduce illness.

The fact that he was less prone to illness was enough to win over the Marquis of Yongchang.

He used the pretext of finding the elixir of immortality for the emperor to secretly gain the emperor's support and approval for his actions.

At the beginning, he did not mobilize the imperial army or notify the local officials. Instead, he went deep into the bandit camp, offered benefits, and used those unforgivable robbers and bandits to explore snake dens and find precious medicines for him.

After obtaining some key information, they began to build an army.

He formed an army not to rebel, but to catch snakes. He failed because the snakes were still there.

Recruiting soldiers is easy, but recuperating them is difficult.

Thousands upon thousands of people would be a menace if left down in the mountains, but keeping them in the mountains would require a huge amount of food and fodder. Where would the food and fodder come from? Farming? Not to mention that the barren land in the mountains wouldn't yield anything, which of the people he recruited up the mountain were actually skilled farmers?

He did have some money, but it wasn't enough to buy much grain.

The emperor could use his private treasury, but his every word and action was being watched. If any official found out, the emperor would be finished, and the Xiao family's empire would also be finished.

After much deliberation, he set his sights on the batch of grain and fodder.

The man pondered, "The Marquis didn't expect to cause such a huge mess. The imperial army's grain was transported in multiple batches. The first batch had already arrived in Ganzhou and Yanzhou, relieving the urgent needs of the two prefectures. Subsequent batches of grain were also prepared. Even if this batch was lost, there was time to procure more with the support of the subsequent batches. In the eyes of the former Marquis of Yongchang, it was just a matter of losing some grain and losing some soldiers who escorted it. The grain was for people. Even if the soldiers didn't die on the way to escort the grain, they would have died on the battlefield. They were all sacrificing themselves for Beiliang, just in different ways."

"Marquis Yongchang never expected that our Northern Liang was so poor, let alone that he would take advantage of every opportunity. The first batch of grain transported to Ganzhou and Yanzhou was less than half of what it was when it set out, which was not enough to feed us at all. In addition, the second and third batches of grain failed to arrive on time, which delayed the battle and caused our Northern Liang soldiers to die innocently."

Where is the Marquis of Yongchang?

"I don't know, I was just following orders." The man lowered his head. "I am not only the Marquis of Yongchang's man, but also the Empress's man. I left the capital on the Empress's orders to secretly observe the Crown Princess and protect His Highness the Crown Prince. After leaving the capital, I received instructions from the Marquis of Yongchang to create trouble for the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince, so as to prevent them from finding out the truth of what happened back then."

Lu Yun drew his sword with a "whoosh" and pointed it at the man: "Was the assassination of the Crown Princess your doing with the Marquis of Yongchang?"

The person acquiesced and slowly closed their eyes.

Lu Yun had murderous intent, but was stopped before he could act. Lu Zhiyuan stared into his eyes and asked, "Does the Marquis of Yongchang know about this place?"

The man shook his head: "I came with the carriage, and I haven't had time to send a message yet."