Chapter 133: Volume 1, Chapter 133: A Forceful Poaching

A day later, Rong Luoge received another message secretly delivered by Liu Yingying—the Emperor had fainted again!

Though it had happened the day before, Rong Luoge was only now receiving Liu Yingying's message, and no one outside knew of His Majesty's fainting—clearly, His Majesty had suppressed the news.

Why suppress this news?

Rong Luoge looked at Han Xinglan and said, "It seems His Majesty's health is very poor, and with him suppressing the news this time, I can't help feeling somewhat uneasy."

Han Xinglan's expression was also not too good. He looked at Rong Luoge and said, "I didn't expect that your alliance with Noble Consort Liu would turn out to be the right move—at least now we know more and faster than anyone else."

Rong Luoge gave a light laugh. "Even without Noble Consort Liu, you would certainly have gotten the news, just a little later. The current situation is not optimistic—what do you plan to do?"

"What do you think?" Han Xinglan asked with a smile, deliberately testing whether she had any good ideas.

Rong Luoge said, "The quickest and most direct method is to make Ming Zan unable to depart on his tour."

Of course, eliminating this person would be the best method, but Ming Yuhua had married Xiao Shen, so they also had to consider Ming Yuhua's feelings.

Therefore, Ming Zan could not die—otherwise it would hurt everyone's feelings too much. There were many ways to prevent him from departing; as long as he didn't die or get injured, that would suffice.

Han Xinglan gripped Rong Luoge's hand with slightly more force—clearly, their thoughts were aligned. He said, "Given the current situation, Ming Zan cannot leave the capital. I will make him stay. Apart from that, I wonder if Liu Yingying can persuade His Majesty… actually, she doesn't even need to persuade His Majesty. It would be enough for her to simply tell His Majesty about the chaos in the Qi Wang Fu."

Rong Luoge's eyes lit up. "Truly a case of not seeing what's right under the lamp—why didn't I think of this method? Even if His Majesty favors Prince Qi, if Prince Qi can't even manage his own household affairs properly, how could he manage an entire country? As long as His Majesty places great importance on the Nation of Xiao, he will reconsider this seriously."

Han Xinglan nodded, looking at Rong Luoge and saying slowly, "I plan to reveal the cannons and crossbows to the world."

Rong Luoge was startled. "So soon?"

"His Majesty's health is deteriorating by the day, and right now Prince Qi and Consort Ming are stirring. If internal chaos breaks out during a succession of the throne, it could very well give Qingxuan Nation an opportunity to exploit—such a thing must not happen." Han Xinglan's voice turned sharp and cold in an instant. "The only way to prevent these things from happening is to let His Majesty know that I, the Crown Prince, am no mere decoration."

"You intend to let His Majesty know that these things came from your hands?"

"Yes—only thus can we, at the fastest speed and with the most advantageous force, make the common people cheer and make the courtiers shut up." The look in Han Xinglan's eyes as he gazed at Rong Luoge softened. "These are all things you brought me, so you are my lucky star."

Rong Luoge couldn't help but feel amused. "Though making these things public is a double-edged sword for you, compared with His Majesty becoming even more wary of you, clearly winning the common people's support and the courtiers' backing is far more important."

Now was the time to build up prestige; His Majesty's wariness was secondary by comparison. If the Emperor stubbornly insisted on deposing the Crown Prince and installing Prince Qi, then in the future they could still raise the banner of "purging the sovereign's side" and counterattack.

"Right now, quite a few courtiers have been won over by Ming Zan. If His Majesty's health truly… at a time like this, we can no longer keep a low profile."

"Correct—we absolutely must stun the world in one stroke, only then can we achieve a deterrent effect." Rong Luoge understood Han Xinglan's meaning. "We could hold a military exercise."

"Military exercise?" Han Xinglan was somewhat unfamiliar with this term, but it sounded quite interesting.

Rong Luoge then remembered that this term didn't exist in this era, so she explained to him: "It's a large-scale military event held to boost morale and intimidate foreign enemies. At this exercise, we could legitimately unveil the pellets, crossbows, and cannons, letting everyone see the results more intuitively. Compared to words on paper, seeing with one's own eyes is far more convincing."

Han Xinglan immediately felt this was a good idea. He looked at Rong Luoge and said, "This method isn't bad—how did you come up with such a good idea? It truly has deterrent power."

Rong Luoge thought to herself that she had always assumed the Crown Prince needed to keep a low profile. Thinking of this, she sighed softly. "If I'd known you had intentions of being high-profile, I could have helped you make some even more flashy things. Though not very practical, they'd still be quite useful for boosting morale."

"What kind of things?" Han Xinglan asked curiously.

Rong Luoge said just one sentence: "For instance, making a golden dragon appear in midair in the form of fireworks?"

The Nation of Xiao had fireworks and firecrackers, but making fireworks appear in various shapes in midair was not yet achievable. Rong Luoge had learned some of this from others in the past—while she couldn't manage very complex ones, simple ones would be no problem.

Han Xinglan always felt that Rong Luoge was like a treasure trove—as long as he reached in to scoop around, he could always fish out something. This feeling was truly wonderful, and it made him look forward to surprises every time.

Han Xinglan took a deep breath and pulled her into his embrace.

Rong Luoge: …

"Meeting you is truly the greatest luck of my life," Han Xinglan said in a low voice.

"Meeting you is my good fortune too." Rong Luoge laughed. "Let's not flatter each other anymore."

That bit of unspoken tender feeling in Han Xinglan's heart was instantly blown away, and holding Rong Luoge, he laughed out loud. "You're right."

Rong Luoge leaned against him and said softly, "The matter of Ming Zan's border inspection needs to be resolved, and for the military exercise—how do you plan to get His Majesty to nod in agreement?"

Han Xinglan said, "That's easy. As long as Xiao Shen proposes a competition with the Capital Garrison Camp, His Majesty will certainly agree."

Rong Luoge felt this method might actually work. After all, given how vigorously the Emperor had promoted Xiao Shen, he would naturally want to see Xiao Shen win glory for him—which would also show that the Emperor had not misjudged the man.

One had to admit, Han Xinglan was formidable at reading the Emperor's mind. She thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, then don't you plan to personally present the cannons and such to His Majesty?"

Han Xinglan shook his head. "No need. I plan to hand these things over to the Capital Region Grand Camp."

"The Capital Region Grand Camp? Isn't that Ming Zan's territory?"

"Yes." Han Xinglan nodded.

Rong Luoge met Han Xinglan's meaningful smile and suddenly shivered. If that were the case, once the generals of the Capital Region Grand Camp saw that the Crown Prince could produce such powerful weapons, they would likely no longer be able to stand steadily aboard Ming Zan's ship.

Han Xinglan was poaching Ming Zan's supporters by sheer strength—crude and simple, perhaps, but powerful enough weapons to awe people's hearts.

"If that's the case, you'd best keep a backup plan," Rong Luoge said softly. What if Ming Zan had diehard loyalists?

If the news were passed to Ming Zan, that would be disastrous.