BXBX NOVEL Chapter 91 - 91 Letter from Homei
After reading the intelligence brought by the Brocade Guard, Lu Chen’s face turned utterly dark. In a fit of rage, he tore up the report in his hands.
“It was bad enough being targeted for assassination three times, but now to collude with the Barbarian Tribe, absurdly thinking of leveraging their power to contend for inheritance!”
“This guy really is a beast; he has absolutely no bottom line.”
Seeing how angry Lu Chen was, Qin Yushan carefully said, “Prince, what do we do now?”
“Should we release the information about Prince Lu Shuyun’s collusion with the Barbarian Tribe?”
Upon hearing Qin Yushan’s words, Lu Chen calmed down and fell into deep thought. He didn’t immediately answer.
If he let out the news of Lu Shuyun’s collusion with the Barbarian Tribe, it would certainly deal a blow to Lu Shuyun, but without decisive evidence, there was no way to convict Lu Shuyun of his crime.
Moreover, the crime of betraying the nation could not be determined by a Seignior alone.
It would depend on the court, primarily on his imperial father’s opinion.
If his imperial father said Lu Shuyun betrayed the nation, then Lu Shuyun would be a traitor. If his imperial father declared Lu Shuyun innocent, then Lu Shuyun would probably get away with it.
However, looking at it from another angle, Lu Shuyun’s maternal family was the Wang Family, and what his imperial father was about to do next was to purge the Aristocratic Families. If his imperial father learned that Lu Shuyun and the Aristocratic Families from the South colluded with the Barbarian Tribe, perhaps he would use this as an excuse to make a move against them, wouldn’t he?
Thinking of this, Lu Chen asked, “Commander Qin, if my imperial father knew that Prince Lu Shuyun and the Aristocratic Families were colluding with the Barbarian Tribe to come down from the South, what do you think my imperial father would do?”
Qin Yushan was stunned by the question.
After all, it involved the Emperor, and Qin Yushan did not want to speculate rashly.
At that moment, Lu Chen added, “Speak your mind.”
Since Lu Chen said so, Qin Yushan spoke up, “Prince, in your subordinate’s opinion, his majesty would probably be very angry upon hearing this news but would not immediately move against Prince Lu Shuyun and the Aristocratic Families from the South. Considering the Barbarian Army of three hundred thousand is about to move South, cleaning up the Aristocratic Families at this time would likely be very disadvantageous for Great Sum.”
Lu Chen thought about it and felt there was some truth to what Qin Yushan said. If they released news now that Prince Lu Shuyun was colluding with the Barbarian Army, it might instead publicize the conflict between the Sum Emperor and the Aristocratic Families.
If that happened, others might simply not act, and the whole of Great Sum would become chaotic, which was not what Lu Chen wanted to see.
However, it wouldn’t do to just let it go.
He had been unhappy with Lu Shuyun for a long time; he had sent Blood Moon Tower to assassinate him three times, and now he had committed treason.
He couldn’t let such a traitor live so freely and easily; he must make him pay some price.
With this in mind, Lu Chen said, “Convey my orders to Commander Liang to try to assassinate Prince Lu Shuyun. It doesn’t have to succeed, but make sure to eliminate all the important people around Prince Lu Shuyun as much as possible.”
By doing this, Lu Chen wanted to give Prince Lu Shuyun a warning and also get back at him.
Of course, if they could directly eliminate the traitorous Lu Shuyun, that would be even better.
However, Lu Chen did not believe that Liang Zong and the Brocade Guard in the Capital city could eliminate a Prince in the Capital city, especially since Lu Shuyun had the backing of the powerful Aristocratic Family, the Wang Family.
The Wang Family would surely send many experts to protect Lu Shuyun, so whether Liang Zong and his men could even injure Lu Shuyun was in question.
But regardless of whether they could succeed, it was absolutely unacceptable for Lu Shuyun to act so recklessly and rampantly in the Capital city, as if he were lawless.
For the sake of contending for the heirship, he actually colluded proactively with an external enemy, completely disregarding the lives and safety of the common people of North City.
Although North City had already become his territory as the North Prince, in name it was still Great Sum’s North City.
If Lu Shuyun were to succeed in seizing the position of heir, North City would also fall under his rule. Yet, this fellow was willing to sell North City off just to win the struggle for succession.
Lu Chen also knew that his decision to assassinate Lu Shuyun was somewhat emotional and could even expose the movements of the Brocade Guard.
But if he didn’t do something, he simply couldn’t swallow this grievance.
Qin Yushan also saw what was in Lu Chen’s heart and knew that the Prince was very angry, so he suggested, “Prince, although the news of the eighth Prince colluding with the Barbarian Tribe should not be spread for now, you could hint at it to His Majesty.”
“When His Majesty finds out, he will definitely send the Shadow Guard to investigate. If it turns out the eighth Prince is colluding with the Barbarian Tribe, even if he doesn’t punish the eighth Prince now, once the matter of the Barbarian Tribe’s move south is over, he will certainly use the evidence to deal with the eighth Prince and the Aristocratic Families of the South.”
The Sum Emperor had already been looking for an excuse to crack down on the Aristocratic Families. And now, the Aristocratic Families of the South had conspired with the Barbarian Tribe, which was akin to handing the Emperor a knife voluntarily.
As for the sacrifice of an eighth Prince, it was of no concern to the Sum Emperor; the eighth Prince was a spokesman for the Aristocratic Families of the South, and the Emperor had no intention of choosing him as the Crown Prince.
The Imperial Family is heartless. The Sum Emperor hadn’t even bothered about the eighth Prince’s attempt to assassinate the North Prince; how could he care about sacrificing an eighth Prince?
He had many sons; the death of one or two meant no loss to him.
And being a Grandmaster, the young and robust Sum Emperor could produce children at an impressive speed.
After hearing Qin Yushan’s suggestion, Lu Chen pondered for a moment and then said, “1 will write a memorial to Father Emperor at once.”
Hearing Lu Chen’s words, Qin Yushan hurriedly said, “Prince, you mustn’t do that.”
Lu Chen was taken aback and then asked, “Didn’t you suggest 1 reveal something to my Father Emperor? If 1 don’t write a memorial, then how will 1 reveal the news about the Barbarian Tribe and the eighth Prince’s collusion to my Father?”
Qin Yushan explained, “Prince, what your subordinate means is that this matter cannot be passed to His Majesty through a memorial. If the Prince writes a memorial, it becomes a matter of state; after knowing, His Majesty might consult with the ministers. Additionally, the memorial might be intercepted by others before it even reaches His Majesty’s hands.”
“If the Prince wishes for this matter to be known to His Majesty, it should be communicated through a personal letter, for only a personal letter can be delivered directly to His Majesty.”
In Great Sum, memorials sent from the provinces needed to be reviewed by those below, and some memorials would never reach the Emperor’s hands.
If Lu Chen were to write a memorial, it would undoubtedly be intercepted by those aligned with the eighth Prince without any question.
But if it was a personal letter instead, that would be different. Written in the name of the ninth Prince, it meant it should be delivered directly into the Sum Emperor’s hands.
Hearing Qin Yushan’s words, Lu Chen was momentarily stunned.
A personal letter?
A Prince enfeoffed with a fief writing a personal letter to the Emperor?
Had there ever been such a precedent in Great Sum?
It seemed he had never heard of any Prince enfeoffed with a fief writing personal letters to the Emperor. Being enfeoffed with a fief meant one had become a subject, and the father-son relationship was diluted. At such a time, to write a personal letter, wouldn’t that be too…
After pondering for a while, Lu Chen felt that what Qin Yushan said made some sense.
If he were to submit a memorial, it was very likely that it would never make it to the Emperor’s hands.
But it was different with a personal letter. He didn’t believe anyone would dare intercept his own personal letter.
Although it seemed abstract for an enfeoffed Prince to write a personal letter to the Emperor, it didn’t mean he was unqualified to do so—after all, even as a Seignior, he was still the Sum Emperor’s son..