Chapter 35: The Man Behind the Scenes (Part 2)

  Sixth Imperial Prince Tongping Palace

  "Rubbish! All rubbish! And you two just stood by and watched as Mao Zhong was taken away!" Tang Ping cursed, his face red with rage.

  "Your Highness, things have come to this, scolding won't do any good, it's better to think about what to do next?" A green-haired man in a strange outfit behind Tong Ping revealed an evil smile and said loudly.

  "What can we do? If you hadn't lost your hand in Duosai City back then, we wouldn't have to go through so much trouble today," Tongping blamed.

  The green-haired man smiled gloomily and did not refute.

  Tang Ping saw this, and a sense of fear arose in his heart. This man was the "Poison King", and he had just scolded him out of anger. What if he got angry and turned around to poison him? That would be unbearable.

  Thinking of this, he changed his expression and smiled: "Does Mr. Mang Feng have a good plan? If Mao Zhong is caught by Tong Huan and confesses, that little boy will hand us over to the Emperor, we'll be completely finished."

  Mang Feng disdainfully swept a glance at Tong Ping and said, "Sixth Highness, why bother with this? That Ma Zhong has already fallen prey to my Soul-Scattering Poison. Within three hours, without an antidote, he will succumb to the poison. By now, it's almost been three hours."

  "Is it really so? Is there truly no cure?"

  Mang Feng let out a cold hum, his face full of confidence, and said: "The poison I've set up can only be solved by me, no one else."

  Tang Ping finally felt at ease and repeatedly said: "It's still Mr. who is thoughtful, it's still Mr. who is thoughtful"

  Meng Feng smiled disdainfully and walked forward, lightly patting the shoulders of the two guards in front of him.

  With one move, two guards fell to the ground dead.

  "You......" Tongping looked at Mangfeng with a terrified gaze

  "It's just trash, what's the point of keeping it? Moreover, one more person means one more danger, only dead people can keep secrets." said Mang Feng coldly.

  Tang Ping nodded and ordered someone to carry the corpse away.

  "Although the plan to frame the Seventh Prince was not successful, it's not enough to be feared. Your Highness should now think about the evil disease in the palace and consider what to do next." asked Mang Feng

  "Your poison is extremely potent, Father Emperor asked all the imperial physicians in the palace and they all said it was a plague." Tang Ping praised.

  It turned out that this evil disease in the palace was actually a poison from the wild wind.

  With a complacent smile, he said, "Those mediocre doctors wouldn't be able to see that."

  Tang Ping accompanied by a smile, asked: "Will you continue to pretend to be a famous doctor and bring the medicine into the palace to treat everyone as previously discussed?"

  "This kind of troublesome thing can only be thought of by that old scoundrel Li Feng. Since the poison has been administered, why do I need to pretend to be a famous doctor and treat them? It would be better for me to just kill that old emperor directly and gain fame for myself."

  Tang Ping smiled unnaturally and said, "General Li's thoughts are reasonable. After all, the emperor is the ruler of a country. If he suddenly disappears, it will inevitably cause turmoil in the court. And King Huo Yan of Beijun is worried that there is no opportunity. If we let him take advantage of the situation, it would be disastrous."

  Mang Feng said disdainfully: "Li Ting has a strong army in his hands, why should he be afraid of Huo Ran coming to offend him?"

  Tang Ping furrowed his brow, and said: "Although General Li has tens of thousands of soldiers, the military power is still in the hands of the Emperor. General Li has made it clear that if he wants to ascend to the throne smoothly and steadily, he must be cautious and establish his reputation step by step, making the officials surrender and the people admire him, and gain more support. After the Emperor appoints me as the Crown Prince, we can think of ways to force him to abdicate. At that time, it will be a matter of course, and there will be much less resistance."

  Tang Ping paused for a moment, then continued: "If we were to abolish the Emperor at this time, there would be no crown prince in the court. If we follow the order of seniority, I have three older brothers, Tang Rong; if we follow merit, my seventh younger brother has already been enfeoffed as a king and his talent and reputation far surpass mine. Moreover, his mother is the virtuous consort, and her father Chen Gong is the Minister of Justice, whereas my mother is only a minor concubine, and her family is just a small official from a remote county, with a vastly inferior family background. In this case, I think it would be difficult for me to ascend to the throne, as it would not be proper or reasonable, and there would definitely be great obstacles."

  Mang Feng listened to Tang Ping's lengthy lecture, growing somewhat impatient. Though he nodded along in agreement, his mind was already made up on a different course of action.

  Tang Ping saw that he was showing impatience and knew that he didn't like to hear these tactics, so he politely let him go down to rest.

  As for Mang Feng, Tong Ping really both feared and hated him.

  After the storm subsided, Tong sat on a wide and comfortable armchair, raised his head and let out a deep sigh.

  For this throne, he has done quite a few things that are against his conscience.

  First, colluding with the Northern Rong, they made the Xuan army suffer consecutive defeats, weakening the military power of General Fu Yu Lei. Then, through the Northern Rong, they forced the Emperor to coerce high-ranking officials in the court to offer their daughters, causing widespread resentment among the ministers. They then used the handling of Pu Ji Nian's case to silence the ministers, suppressing their grievances and anger. Finally, taking advantage of the Crown Prince being harmed and Snow Fragrance giving birth to a deformed child, they spread ominous rumors, creating an atmosphere of panic and fear. Then, using the Mang wind to poison people, they manufactured a plague, making the rumor of heavenly disaster come true. Some ministers linked the successive disasters with the two compromises with the Northern Rong, including ceding land and offering tribute, and concluded that it was the wrath of heaven. At this time, when the Emperor's prestige was damaged, he himself stood out, cured the people, and eliminated the plague. The people would naturally think it was the will of heaven, and his reputation would rise.

  In this process, Xue Fangyi gave birth to a monster baby which was beyond his expectation. Originally, he and Li Tingzhi's daughter Li Jieyu joined forces, only wanting to kill the fetus in Xue Fangyi's belly, weakening the Fu family's power. Who would have thought that not only did the fetus die in the womb, but it was also born as a monster baby, which enraged the Emperor and made him think that Xue Fangyi was an unlucky person, directly sending her to the Cold Palace. This can be said to be an unintentional move, for which Tongping truly felt that even the heavens were helping him.

  As for Crown Prince Tonghao, he didn't think of making a move to kill him, but rather wanted to use a scheme to make the Emperor abolish him. So, he thought of a way to hook up with Zhang Fengyi, who was not favored by the Crown Prince, and let her do things for him, in order to obtain some information from the Crown Prince's mansion. Who knew that on the day of the Crown Prince's wedding, he went to congratulate him, but couldn't hold back and had a romantic encounter with Zhang Fengyi? He was actually caught by the Crown Prince! That little cheap woman Zhang Fengyi didn't know what she was thinking, and took advantage of the situation when the Crown Prince was arguing with him, and stabbed him from behind.

  Even thinking about the scene at that time, Tongping still feels frightened.

  The prince was stabbed, and once the matter was exposed, the emperor would not forgive him. So, evil arose from his gallbladder, and Tongping decided to take a risk and kill the prince. Unexpectedly, the prince's martial arts were far superior to his own. Only then did he see the prince snatch the knife from Zhang Fengyi's hand, killing Zhang with one stroke, and also injuring him. Just as all hope seemed lost, the prince suddenly let out a pained cry and fell to the ground. It turned out that Mang Feng, disguised as a guard, had used a poisonous needle to kill the prince.

  To make it seem like the Crown Prince was killed by Zhang Fengyi, Mang Feng smeared poison on the knife and the Crown Prince's wound. This way, others would think that Zhang Fengyi used a poisoned knife to harm the Crown Prince.

  To give Zhang Fengyi a motive for killing the Crown Prince, Tong Ping had Mang Feng capture one of the servants who delivered goods to the palace, someone who looked somewhat like him. He killed this servant next to the bodies of the Crown Prince and Zhang Fengyi, and also smeared poison on their wounds. This created the illusion that Zhang Fengyi was having an affair with someone, and while killing the Crown Prince, he was stabbed by the Crown Prince's knife and died from poisoning.

  However, Tong Ping Wan did not expect that the Crown Prince, who was severely poisoned, did not die immediately, but instead received news of his death in the evening. At that time, he was also terrified and feared that the Crown Prince had revealed the truth. He went to mourn with trepidation, but did not see anything unusual. Now that so many days have passed, no one has come to deal with him, and only then did he put his heart at ease.

  "Your Highness, remember that Mang Feng cannot stay for long." Li Tingzhi's reminder had been etched in Tang Ping's mind. Although this person was good at using poison and had helped him a lot, he was too ruthless and didn't consider the consequences, which would inevitably implicate himself in the future. Take the Crown Prince's matter, for example. He originally didn't want to bring him along, but that green-haired man insisted on going to gain experience. Under duress, he could only have someone disguise him with a fake wig as a guard and take him to the Eastern Palace. When he was socializing with Zhang Fengyi, he had him stand guard outside, but who would have thought that he would disappear without warning, allowing the Crown Prince to barge in directly? This led to that thrilling scene. And earlier, when Tang Ping went to the border town of Duosai to investigate the traitor, Li Tingzhi ordered him to take advantage of the opportunity to get rid of Tang Ping. Unexpectedly, Mang Feng, who claimed to be the "Poison King", would fail and let Tang Ping escape.

  If Mang Feng had eliminated Tang Xuan at that time, after Tang Huan's death, there would be no one to compete with him for the position of crown prince, and now he doesn't have to think so hard about how to deal with Tang Xuan.

  Actually, according to his idea, apart from Tang You, there is no need for such trouble. However, Li Tingzhi had repeatedly warned him to be cautious, and Tang You's power in the court should not be underestimated. The best time to get rid of him has passed, and now it is impossible to use extreme methods, but rather to use a natural approach to trap him into evil, borrowing the emperor's hand to deal with him. It was because of this that today's layout was created, only because of that heavy rain, which delayed the eighth prince's journey, ruined his plan, and today's affairs became like a farce.

  Tang Hong, consider yourself lucky. If it weren't for that heavy rain, you and Pu Qing would have been exposed in that shameful affair, and your reputation would have been ruined next time. You might not be so lucky then. Tang Ping thought maliciously.

  Inside the secret chamber of King Seong's mansion

  "Can't be saved?" Tang Xun asked

  She nodded slightly

  Tang Xun disappointingly swung his sleeves and walked out of the dark room.

  Originally heard that Yi caught the eunuch who impersonated Xiao Dezi, and was overjoyed in his heart, but unexpectedly he died of poisoning before interrogation.

  Although he didn't get a word out of his mouth, seeing his appearance, Tong Xun had basically determined that this person was the "Little Dezi" who cheated Qing Sang and Ba Di, and indeed his figure and appearance were very similar, no wonder Tong Jun and Qing Sang both found it difficult to confirm.

  Actually, as early as when the Crown Prince and he were acting together to lure out the traitor, there were many signs pointing to Tongping and Li Fengzhi. However, the Emperor said that the timing was not right and had not taken action yet. After he returned from Yu State, the Emperor secretly ordered him to investigate Li Fengzhi at the border and promised that if successful, he could be exempted from his engagement with Ge Yun'er. He collected some evidence with great difficulty, but on his way back, he was ambushed by someone, not only losing the evidence but also nearly losing his life.

  Recently, many changes have taken place, and Tong Xun couldn't be sure if it was Tong Ping's doing, but today's events made him feel that Tong Ping has started to take action.

  Crisis is looming everywhere, this is Tong Hua's current situation.

  "Sixth brother, since you've completely disregarded the fraternal bond between us, then let's just wait and see!" Tong Xun gazed forward, revealing a cold smile like frost and snow. (This chapter involves schemes and plots, which is quite brain-draining. It took me four hours to write because I wanted to clearly express my thoughts in words, but it was really difficult. Well, it's actually because my writing skills are not good enough, so I need to strengthen my learning! Also, some readers may ask why the crown prince didn't immediately die and instead said a sentence to Qing Sang, and why he didn't reveal the murderer? Hehe, don't worry, readers, I have foreshadowed this point in the scenes after the crown prince's death. Keep reading and you'll find out!) Finally, if you think my writing is okay, please give me a recommendation vote! Thank you!