The Later Three Kingdoms: Slaying Deng Ai, and Reviving the Han Dynasty

"Hmm? Whose carriage is this?"

At the palace gates, Chen Mingzhen, surrounded by a retinue, walked back to the palace from the silkworm rearing room.

She managed the silkworm house very diligently, and since she didn't have to serve the emperor, she would go to the silkworm house every day except when she had her period.

They all wore coarse linen clothes, showing great frugality. This frugality wasn't limited to Liu Chen.

Chen Mingzhen saw soldiers escorting a curtained carriage to the palace gate and asked curiously.

Curtained carriages were generally reserved for women. However, there weren't many women visiting the Northern King's palace. Moreover, most of them were noblewomen, so their curtained carriages were of a very high rank. This particular curtained carriage appeared rather ordinary.

The soldiers guarding the carriage didn't care; they all turned around and bowed to Chen Mingzhen.

The old eunuch and palace maid inside the carriage felt a chill run down their spines, thinking, "What a coincidence that we've run into the Queen."

Liu Chen's order was simply to bring Lady Lü back to the Northern Palace. They were not to concern themselves with anything else.

As long as Lady Lü continues to live in the inner palace, Chen Mingzhen will surely find out.

But at that time it didn't matter.

Now that they've brought Lady Lü back, Chen Mingzhen might misunderstand and think they're buying a beautiful father for Liu Chen.

But since things had come to this, they had no choice but to proceed. The old eunuch glanced at the palace maids, signaling them to keep a close eye on Lady Lü. He then took a deep breath, stepped down from the carriage, and bowed to Chen Mingzhen, saying, "Reporting to the Queen, the person inside the carriage is the widowed Lady Lü. His Majesty has ordered us to take her back."

"A widowed woman?" Chen Mingzhen was taken aback, but not angry. She was just puzzled; she had arranged two beautiful women for Liu Chen, so why was the king still...? After a moment's thought, she asked, "What is her age? How long has her husband been dead?"

"Reporting back to the palace, I am twenty years old. My husband died... well, less than a month ago." The old eunuch breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Chen Mingzhen was not angry, but he still answered cautiously.

"Less than a month???" Chen Mingzhen gasped, looking at the old eunuch with suspicion. Could it be kidnapping another man's wife? Although a prince kidnapping another man's wife shouldn't be a capital offense, but...

Unexpectedly, Wang was not only greedy and stingy, but also extremely lawless. Chen Mingzhen smiled bitterly to herself, feeling helpless. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Her husband has been dead for less than a month. If she has her ex-husband's children, things will be unclear. Go tell Wang that I should keep an eye on this woman for two or three months. Once I'm sure she's not pregnant, I'll send her to Wang."

The old eunuch wanted to say that Lady Lü and He Sui had not had children for many years. But he opened his mouth, dared not speak, and could only bow and agree.

Chen Mingzhen turned to the eunuch behind her and gestured. The eunuch nodded and took over the carriage.

Upon entering the inner palace, Chen Mingzhen first settled Lady Lü in a room. She then went back to bathe and change, donning a fine Shu brocade dress and precious jewelry before going to see Lady Lü.

She is frugal in private, but she still has to put on a show when she has guests.

When Chen Mingzhen saw Lady Lü, Lady Lü's expression was filled with sorrow, hatred, and resentment. A sudden realization struck Chen Mingzhen; she knew she had guessed correctly. It truly was a case of the king killing her husband and then abducting his wife.

She was flustered and only said a few words before instructing the eunuchs and maids to watch over Lady Lü and then got up and left.

After leaving the room, she hesitated for a moment, but still didn't dare to ask Liu Chen for details.

...........

Chengdu.

Inside the bedroom of Qiao Zhou's residence.

Qiao Zhou set up a seat under the bed, and knelt down, draped in his robe, to examine the bamboo slips. But his mind was not on the bamboo slips.

He had recovered from his illness, but he still feigned illness and stayed at home, completely disregarding Liu Shan. He used his influence to remotely control public opinion and criticize Jiang Wei.

Why then did he seek revenge?

"If we can seize this opportunity to uproot Jiang Wei, that would be a great achievement." Qiao Zhou's heart burned with intense desire.

Liu Han only had Jiang Wei. Once Jiang Wei died, people like Zhuge Zhan were nothing more than withered bones in a tomb, not worth mentioning.

But the difficulty was beyond his imagination. Thinking of this, his anger subsided slightly.

Just then, Qiao Xi walked in from outside, his expression strange.

"What is it?" Qiao Zhou put down his thoughts and looked up to ask.

"Father," Qiao Xi took a deep breath and told him what had happened.

"What did you say? It was Liu Chen, the King of the North, who did it?" Qiao Zhou asked, dumbfounded.

"Probably, otherwise Liu Chen wouldn't have acted so quickly, kidnapping Lady Lü and seizing Sui's property." Qiao Xi gave a bitter laugh and said in a low voice, "A beautiful wife, immense wealth. He ruined Sui."

Qiao Zhou's face was extremely ugly. He stood up and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.

He lived through the eras of Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, Dong Yun, and Chen Zhi, making him a true veteran.

He was suspicious when he was killed by thieves.

His keen intuition led him to suspect Jiang Wei first. Because Jiang Wei was utterly loyal to Liu Han, they were on the opposite side.

He Sui was his prized disciple and important assistant. He Sui's death was beneficial to Jiang Wei.

Therefore, his first suspicion was against Jiang Wei.

Liu Chen, the King of Beidi, is the least likely candidate.

Even Huang Hao is more suspicious than Liu Chen.

Huang Hao was, after all, a eunuch, dependent on the emperor. The fall of the country brought him no benefit whatsoever.

When Emperor Ling of Han died, the Ten Attendants, including Zhang Rang, were all rendered ineffective.

The truth is now out: it was Liu Chen who did it. And his motives are probably quite ridiculous.

It is beauty, it is wealth.

He Sui, a renowned scholar from Sichuan, died because of beauty and wealth. Marry a virtuous wife; beauty can be a source of trouble.

However, this doesn't seem surprising at all. After all, Liu Chen's personality changed drastically after he fell from his horse.

He was stingy, greedy, and lecherous. After being crowned king, he inherited countless lands and households.

He married the daughter of a wealthy merchant and received a large dowry.

During the four-hundred-year reign of the Han dynasty, such vassal kings were not uncommon. In fact, there were many more who went even further.

There were even cases of feudal lords having affairs with their fathers' concubines and daughters.

This is the truth.

He Sui died unjustly.

"Alas." Qiao Zhou stopped, looked up, and sighed deeply. He then composed himself and turned to his son, saying, "Whether it's Jiang Wei or Liu Chen, He Sui is my disciple, he is my man. If I cannot stand up for him, my power will crumble."

"Send someone to find Imperial Censor Jiang Yu immediately. At tomorrow's court assembly, directly expose Liu Chen's murder and abduction of his wife."

The feudal lords were not easy to deal with.

The emperor's son is even more difficult to deal with.

He couldn't do it himself, so he had to let his cronies do it.

If a memorial is submitted in writing, it may be confiscated by the emperor. The only recourse is to expose it during a court assembly, at which point the emperor will have no choice but to accept it.

Even so, he knew he couldn't bring down Liu Chen.

But... this is something that must be done.

"Yes." Qiao Xi bowed in response and turned to leave.

"Although we can't deal with Liu Chen, we can still use this to tarnish the reputation of the Liu Han dynasty. It's already a tiny country, yet it still produces such arrogant and lawless vassal kings. Shouldn't such a court perish?" Qiao Zhou said through gritted teeth.