Chapter 249 Killing Two Birds with One Stone?

When Jiang Yashuang was negotiating with Ou Bicheng to push the fight for the position of Crown Prince into a fiercer situation, in the empty and spacious hall, Empress Dowager Gu was ordering, “Let Qiu Dian immediately organize people to impeach the Jiang Family! Write down everything we got on them in the memorials, no matter big or small, true or uncertain. Anyway, if I don’t ask you to stop, you can’t stop!”

“And, the emperor wants to entitle some maids as concubines today? Tell him that he has to go to the Empress for an hour every day before he is allowed to leave. If the Empress agrees, then find a few more maids to entitle them as concubines! Anyway, try to distract the Empress and never allow her to concentrate on handling affairs!”

“Draw up the decree about Changping’s marrying Kuang Qingwu and stamp it. Call for someone of Xingkang around Kuang Qingwu who can take charge of things to come to see me. It’s time to do it. We don’t need to wait then!”

The maid was a little worried, “Your Majesty, I was ordered by you to visit Jiang’s residence two days ago. Although Marquess Qin was still lying on the bed, he was still in good spirits. There were not many of his children serving him in front of the bed. He didn’t look seriously ill.”

“So what even if he isn’t seriously ill?” Empress Dowager Gu sneered, “This old bastard has fought in Beijiang for half his life. Even though he is lucky that he has not been seriously injured like Sir Jibei, he has lived such a military life, and he comes from a poor background and climbs up step by step, so how can he have no unmentionable disease? This time he must have had a relapse. So, I definitely can’t give him a chance to recuperate!”

Marquess Qin was old. As long as he was overworked, he would get sick easily. What was more, he already had an indisposition.

Empress Dowager Gu would naturally follow up a victory with hot pursuit!

The maid said that she was wise quickly and reminded, “I heard the Imperial Army reported Jiang Yadan’s desertion a few days ago in Jing City because a son of his concubine died in the pool behind the house. It was said that it caused a lot of trouble in his family, and even the lady of Marquess Qin was caught in it! Your Majesty, if we want to get Marquess Qin in trouble, can we make a fuss about this?”

After all, “The Tao Family is the Empress’s mother’s family, and because of the legacy of Sir Tao in the previous dynasty, the Tao Family is not low among the many in-laws of the Jiang Family! If the Tao Family can be used by you, Your Majesty, not to mention Marquess Qin, even the Empress will.” The Empress would be furious at that!

Jiang Yadan had a lazy attitude at work, an improper style, and a chaotic harem. He did such kind of things so many times, and it wasn’t fresh at all. If there was no special reason, Empress Dowager Gu would not bother to talk about it. While at this time, hearing what the maid said, she asked about that carefully. In the end, the Empress Dowager pondered, “The Tao Family started to decline since Tao Yinsong. What happened this time is extremely stupid! It will do no good for us to win over such a good-for-nothing! But you are right. Think of the Jiang Family’s embarrassment after the Tao Family betrays them. It is worth our thought.”

She said, “Contact them secretly. Tell them Jiang Qianchuan is going to die and Darui is destined to be beyond the reach of the Jiang Family. For Tao Yinsong’s sake, I can give them a chance. If they are tactful enough, I can reward their family with a hereditary title of marquis!”

The maid smiled and said, “The rank of nobility Tao Yinsong earned for his family has now been reduced to the lowest. In the past 30 years, the Tao Family has made no contribution to the country, and there is not even a Jinshi in the Tao Family! The District Baron of Pingle is old now. Once he dies, the Tao Family will completely fall out of the ranks of nobles. Your Majesty, if you promise them a hereditary title of marquis, they will definitely be loyal to you!”

Empress Dowager Gu said indifferently, “They should figure out a way to keep a male heir alive first in the anger of the Jiang Family, otherwise my reward will just be a piece of meaningless paper!” Anyway, she would get something for nothing.

The maid smiled knowingly, “The Tao Family has been mediocre for generations. It will be a great honor for them if they can still get that piece of paper!”

“By the way, after it was reported that Jiang Qianchuan got into a coma at the family banquet, the reporter seemed to have met Princess Changping on the road, right?” Empress Dowager Gu changed her mind and said, “Changping has been with Shou’an these days. So Shou’an should have known about this as well, right?”

The maid did not dare to answer those questions casually. After thinking about it, she cautiously said, “The two princesses do have frequent contacts these days, but whether they are aware of this… The Jiang Family declared that Marquess Qin just got drunk in the banquet as he was so happy.”

“Hey! Alcohol can hurt the body. That old bastard cherishes his life so much, so how could he be so intemperate?” Empress Dowager Gu said disdainfully, “It can only fool those ignorant people!” She narrowed her eyes slightly, “Find a chance to let Shou’an know unintentionally that I want to win over the Tao Family to deal with the Jiang Family. Be fast. When the Tao Family agrees with that, you will do it immediately!”

The maid was slightly taken aback, “Your Majesty?” If Marquess Qin was really seriously ill, it was estimated that the position of Princess of Zhou would be replaced by the concubine Tang Xinqiong. The maid also knew that.

Princess Shou’an Gu E’nuo took a risk to entrap Prince of Yan last year for this position! Would she be willing to lose everything because of Marquess Qin’s sudden illness? If it wasn’t for the fact that Gu E’nuo was the grandniece of the Empress Dowager, the maid would have persuaded the Empress Dowager to keep everything from Gu E’nuo from now on.

However, the Empress Dowager should have asked her to take the initiative to reveal it to her!

Empress Dowager Gu glanced at her, “What are you afraid of! Think about those good-for-nothings in the Tao Family. They have no ambition at all! Even if we win over them, what can they do for us? It is better to win over them and sell them to the Jiang Family. We can save one or two of them then, making them our human testimonies. Isn’t it more useful to get the evidence that the Jiang Family murder their in-laws?”

It turned out that she allowed Princess Shou’an to convey the message deliberately.

In this way, on the one hand, they could entrap the Jiang Family. On the other hand, they could use this excuse afterward to change Prince of Zhou’s wife, and people in Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang had nothing to say then! It was just killing two birds with one stone!

The maid immediately realized the Empress Dowager’s intentions. She felt at ease then and said respectfully, “Your Majesty, you are so resourceful. I’m sorry for my ignorance… I will do that immediately!”

And Gu E’nuo, who had been designed by the Empress Dowager to lose the position of Princess of Zhou as a traitor in the future, was seeing off the guests with a smile.

“Cousin Shou’an, you’re so kind today. Didn’t we have a deal that we would teach Xin a lesson today lest she is afraid of nothing and still like Jiang Qiyun after being the daughter-in-law of the emperor since she has been pampered for so long a time at home?”

Watching the three guests leaving with the maids behind them, Tang Xinqiong, the third daughter of Changping Princess, picked a rose, put it under her nose, and sniffed it slowly. While carefully pulling out the thorns, she said faintly, “When did you change your idea? Why didn’t you tell us? Even if you wanted us to be the evil persons and you the good one, if you had talked with us about that in advance, it would have been more convenient for you to achieve your goal, my cousin, right?”

The young ladies of the Tang Family grew up with Gu E’nuo together, and Gu E’nuo’s sister-in-law, Tang, was also the aunt of the young ladies in the Tang Family. They two were so close before, but they have held great grudges against each other since last year. What’s more, Tang Xinqiong served Gu E’nuo as the lady of the house at this time, so she couldn’t get close to her then naturally.

Gu E’nuo didn’t care about the ridicule and questioning in her tone. She smiled lightly and said, “Cousin Tang, have you forgotten the “drunken affair” of Marquess Qin that has been circulating outside these two days?”

“So, you talked so kindly just now and cared about Marquess Qin’s health in every sentence?” Tang Xinqiong snorted, “Xin and the others are not fools. After you asked and smiled at them for so long, have you got anything certain? I don’t think you have got anything from them. Cousin, you are a princess, but you were so humble when you talked to them, the noblest one of whom was just a Commandery Princess. It’s a shame if it’s spread out, isn’t it?”

Gu E’nuo smiled and said, “My cousin, don’t be so impatient! Let me tell you. Well, whether Marquess Qin is drunken or sick, it’s not convenient for him to take charge of things these few days. It’s a good time for us to handle the Seventh Prince. At this point, if we have a quarrel with Xin and the others, will the Empress let go of the chance to mess around? She is the best at messing around. We are bound to suffer a lot without the Empress Dowager’s protection when she messes around… In this way, we will delay the business of the Empress Dowager! It’s just because the invitation cards were sent out in advance, otherwise, I don’t want to entertain them today.”

Tang Xinqiong sneered and said, “You always make sense. I don’t want to bother you. You’ll explain it to grandma then. Anyway, you are the one who proposed to invite them before but said that you regretted it at this time!” After saying that, she stuffed the plucked roses into her sleeves and brushed her clothes, “Mom should have been awake from a nap. I’ll wait for her to freshen up!”

Then she left.

Upon seeing this, Tang followed a step subconsciously and wanted to call her, but after thinking about that, she finally sighed and turned her head to ask Gu E’nuo, “What is going on?”

“It’s just what I said just now. Cousin Tang doesn’t believe me. Sister-in-law, don’t you believe me as well?” Gu E’nuo looked at her innocently.

It was a bit unclear about the relationship between Tang, Gu E’nuo and Tang Xinqiong and others actually. Tang was the daughter of the deputy prime minister Tang Zimo and the sister-in-law of Princess Changping, the cousin of Duke of Guangyang, but she married Gu E’nuo’s brother… After Changping Princess and her husband’s family had a falling-out and the original Princess Royal was reduced to a princess by Empress Jiang, Empress Dowager Gu got they two together deliberately to make up for the relationship between the Gu Family and the Tang Family.

As the daughter of the Gu Family and the wife of the Tang Family, Tang was naturally particularly embarrassed when dealing with the estrangement between her sister-in-law and nieces. She looked at Gu E’nuo for a while but didn’t find anything wrong. While Tang also knew that this sister-in-law was good at pretending. It was unreliable to judge the authenticity by her expression. Anyway, she couldn’t find a reason to suspect her so she had to believe that. She reminded her in a deep voice, “You should have told Xinqiong about that in advance! She was confused in the middle as you didn’t tell her anything. You told her that in the end, so how could she not be angry?”

Gu E’nuo was grieved, “I have gone for her before and I wanted to tell her that, but she refused to see me… Sister-in-law, if you don’t believe me, you can ask Cousin Changping!”

Princess Changping nodded slightly, “Yesterday, E’nuo asked me to accompany her to find Xinqiong and the second sister-in-law, but the second sister-in-law said that she was tired and didn’t want to see E’nuo while Xinqiong asked the maid to tell her that she was not there.”

“Although you have offended both Xinyao and Xinqiong, if you had told the maid who conveyed the message that it had something to do with today’s countermeasures, they would have come out to see you.” Hearing her explanation, Tang didn’t feel relieved but frowned, “You must have made them think you had nothing serious to say. Then they didn’t want to see you certainly!”

Since the two princesses had said so, it was not good for Tang to continue to scold her since she had no evidence. After a short while of chatting, she left to comfort Tang Xinqiong. By this time, the face of Princess Changping who had just spoken for Gu E’nuo turned sullen, “Why did you do that today?”

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