PFC Chapter 322 Secret Transfer
Chapter 322 Secret Transfer
At this moment, a voice came from outside the door, breaking the silence in the room: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince requests an audience."
Emperor Kang Zhong raised his eyebrows, with a hint of surprise in his voice, "Please ask him to come in."
When Prince An saw the Crown Prince walk in, he quickly stood up and respectfully stepped aside.
"Your son greets the emperor, father, and uncle five."
The prince's tone was full of respect and courtesy.
Prince An quickly returned the greeting, his attitude serious yet intimate, "Greetings, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Upon seeing this, the prince quickly extended his hand to help him, "Uncle Wu, why are you so polite? You are my uncle and my elder."
Prince An corrected him with a serious face: "Your Highness is wrong. National laws are more important than family rules. As the crown prince, you should always put national interests above your family."
The prince smiled bitterly, recalling that his fifth uncle used to joke and play with him, but now as the crown prince, his fifth uncle has become more solemn.
Seeing the politeness between the two, Emperor Kangzhong could not help but say, "Okay, I have an order that from now on, Prince An does not need to perform formalities when he sees the Crown Prince."
Prince An was about to speak when Emperor Kang Zhong continued, "After all, you are his uncle, and this is a fact that cannot be changed. I understand your thoughts, but I hope that there will be more family affection among our royal family, rather than just coldly following the rules and losing the warmth of family."
"Thank you for your advice, my brother. I will keep it in mind."
Prince An answered sincerely.
Emperor Kangzhong then asked the crown prince, "What's the important matter that brought you here at this time?"
The prince presented a letter, "Father, I received a letter from the late emperor's second son, Fan Dejun, today."
Emperor Kang Zhong took the letter and read it carefully.
Then he handed the letter to Prince An and asked, "Prince, what do you think of this letter?"
The prince thought for a moment and answered frankly: "I know Fan Dejun well, and the letter should be true. But how does your Majesty plan to deal with it?"
Emperor Kangzhong exchanged a meaningful look with Prince An, and then said to the Crown Prince: "Crown Prince, I plan to send your fifth uncle to Linzhou, and secretly mobilize troops from Yangzhou, Huzhou, and Youzhou to approach Linzhou and Wuzhou, just in case."
"As for the allocation of food and fodder, I have fully entrusted you to handle it, but this matter must be kept absolutely confidential. Only the three of us know about it at the moment."
The prince promised firmly: "I will obey your order and handle it immediately."
After the prince left, Prince An raised his doubts: "Brother, to whom should I entrust the troops of Jingzhou that I am in charge?"
Emperor Kang Zhong hesitated for a moment and said, "Give it to Prince Huai. Recently, some officials have complained that I am too strict with your nephews, saying that other royal children can lead troops outside, but my own son is just an idle prince in the capital."
When Prince An heard this, his face suddenly changed and he immediately knelt on the ground. "It is my fault for not considering it carefully. I am willing to voluntarily hand over the military power."
Emperor Kang Zhong then realized that his unintentional words might have caused misunderstanding. He hurriedly stepped forward, personally helped Prince An up, and comforted him, "Get up. I was referring to those people around Prince Huai, especially the Wei family. They may have ulterior motives."
Prince An's face was solemn: "Brother, do you mean that Prince Huai has second thoughts?"
Emperor Kang Zhong sighed deeply, his eyes showing complex emotions. "It's still unclear, but their recent actions are indeed a bit big, but they shouldn't cause any major unrest. Go back and prepare, find the right time to leave Beijing secretly, I'll be waiting for your good news."
Prince An bowed and left the imperial study with firm steps, his heart filled with plans for the future and responsibilities to the royal family.
Princess An's eyes were gentle. She noticed that Prince An was sitting alone in front of the window, with a look of worry between his brows. She walked towards him with gentle steps and asked with concern in her tone, "My Lord, is there any problem that makes you so worried? Why don't you talk to me about it?"
Prince An slowly raised his eyes, a hint of complexity flashed across his eyes, and then he regained his composure, and gently shook his head to reject Princess An's kindness: "No problem, it's just an errand, and I have to leave tomorrow morning."
At this time, Xiao Zhixue was playing with the little Niu Bao in the sun-dappled courtyard. The childish laughter was like the sound of nature, penetrating the air around them. Although the little guy was not yet a year old, he could already learn to speak, uttering a few simple syllables intermittently, and every pronunciation made the people present happy.
Fan Yanmu walked into the room with a doting smile on his face. He felt very warm about the scene of him and Fan Mingxing laughing and joking. He said, "Look at this kid. The first thing he learned was to call me 'Grandpa'. I guess he learned it first because he lives with you, his mother, every day and always hears you mention Grandpa. But he still can't say the word 'Dad'."
Hearing this, Xiao Zhixue couldn't help but laugh out loud, with the corners of her eyes curved into crescents: "You, you are jealous of your own son. He is so young, less than a year old. Take your time, sooner or later he will affectionately call you 'Dad'."
Changing the subject, Xiao Zhixue expressed her concern for Fan Yanmu being summoned by her father: "What is the important matter that your father summoned you for?"
Fan Yanmu did not respond directly, but signaled to Nanny Zhang and Siqin and other servants beside him to take little Niu Bao away first to ensure that the content of the conversation would not be caught by young ears. Then he slowly said: "Father plans to leave the capital tomorrow morning to deal with some urgent matters. It seems that the situation in the capital is likely to be turbulent recently."
When Xiao Zhixue heard this, her face changed slightly, revealing a bit of nervousness: "Can you tell me in detail what happened?"
Fan Yanmu chuckled, his eyes revealing a hint of deep meaning: "Of course you can. Listen carefully. The news we received today shows that there are signs of rebellion in Linzhou and Wuzhou. Father's trip is to quell this disturbance."
"In addition, there is news that has not been fully confirmed. We need to continue to observe, but the situation is urgent and we cannot ignore it."
Xiao Zhixue was so anxious when she heard this: "Tell me quickly, what's going on?"
Fan Yanmu leaned close to Xiao Zhixue's ear and whispered a few words.
After hearing this, Xiao Zhixue's eyes suddenly lit up, and her voice was anxious: "What is the chance of success of this?"
Fan Yanmu stretched out his five fingers and shook them slightly, lowering his voice: "After midnight, I will quietly take you to a place. Remember, you must never mention this to anyone. In case of any danger, when I am not with you, you must protect your mother, little Niu Bao and yourself. Our meeting place is Lingyun Inn in Linzhou Prefecture."
It has been more than half a month since Prince An arrived in Linzhou. Through secret investigations and reports from his confidants, he gradually realized that Linzhou's general Bao Jiande and deputy general Chen Changping had indeed placed the entire Fan family under house arrest.
What is even more worrying is that they seem to be colluding with the generals of Wuzhou and secretly planning a major move.
However, the exact time of the uprising is still unknown. They must find out the enemy's details as soon as possible to help their father and brother prepare for the future and reduce the harm of war to innocent civilians.