Chapter 598: The Xie Family's Intentions

Jinling.

Imperial Palace.

Golden Throne Hall.

Xie Duan stood beneath the great hall, looking up at the Dragon Throne above.

The First Prince stood by his side, his gaze flickering.

"Uncle, what should we do now?" Zhao Gang sighed. "Father has gone to Yanzhou; what is to be done? If there is truly no other way, should I go to Yanzhou as well? To prevent Yan Wang from bewitching Father."

Upon hearing this, Xie Duan sneered, "Are you preparing to throw yourself into the net? Do you not know how the Imperial Edict naming you as the Imperial Prince was obtained?"

Zhao Gang shrank his neck; he had already heard from his mother, the Empress, that this Imperial Edict had been forced out of him.

"Brother, you must think of a way. The Emperor has now designated Yancheng as the Capital City; this clearly shows he has no intention of returning. And since this Yanzhou is Yan Wang's territory, we absolutely cannot go there." At this moment, Xie Huanghou walked in from outside the door.

She had just come from the Hougong. Although those two scoundrels Dou Wei and Xiao Cheng had not burned down the Imperial Palace, they had scraped away even the gold leaf on the palace walls.

"What to do? Hmph, Yan Wang took advantage of the chaos in Jinling to abduct the Emperor, holding the Son of Heaven to command the vassals, with malicious intent. A country cannot go a single day without a ruler. The First Prince is the Imperial Prince established by the Emperor; he should inherit the great throne in this time of crisis and rule over the world," Xie Duan said.

Originally, he had intended to rescue Zhao Heng, force Zhao Heng to abdicate to the First Prince, and then find a way to eliminate Zhao Heng.

Afterward, he would claim the orthodoxy of the Great Song Imperial Clan and take over the prefectures and counties of the Imperial Clan.

Once he had thoroughly controlled these prefectures and counties, he would then unite with other Rich Clans to deal with the intractable Yan Wang.

But Zhao Heng's departure to Yanzhou had completely disrupted his plans.

First, Zhao Heng going to Yanzhou was equivalent to a complete break with the Rich Clans.

Yanzhou was Yan Wang's territory; the Rich Clans could not influence it in the slightest.

Zhao Heng had thus escaped the control of the Rich Clans.

Moreover, Zhao Heng had no foundation in Yanzhou, yet he was still willing to take such a huge risk.

This was equivalent to leaning entirely toward Yan Wang.

From now on, Zhao Heng's intentions would basically be Yan Wang's intentions.

Regarding this point, not only his Xie Family but the other Rich Clans could also absolutely not tolerate it.

This meant that from now on, his Xie Family would have to serve a vassal king like Yan Wang, who slaughtered Rich Clans and whose interests were completely contrary to those of their Rich Clans.

Although in the past, their Xie Family had cooperated with Yan Wang.

But that was to obtain Yan Wang's support for the First Prince; they had held their noses and done it out of necessity.

In truth, deep down, he was filled with disgust.

Now that Zhao Heng had gone to Yanzhou, their interests were clearly no longer aligned.

Trust, naturally, had also vanished into thin air.

Even if Yan Wang continued to claim he supported the First Prince.

But if the First Prince went to Yanzhou to ascend the throne, would he not fall into Yan Wang's hands and be manipulated by him?

Therefore, after thinking it over, he believed there was only one path to take at present.

That was to have the First Prince ascend the throne in Jinling immediately.

To preemptively have the First Prince raise the banner of Imperial orthodoxy,

and seize the prefectures and counties of the Imperial Clan.

In short, he could not let Yan Wang hold the Imperial Edict and occupy the moral high ground of the Great Song.

Furthermore, Zhao Heng fleeing to Yanzhou was in itself equivalent to declaring war on the Rich Clans.

And since he had forced Zhao Heng to designate the heir during a time of crisis, there was no longer any room for reconciliation between them.

Currently, Dou Wei had also established the Southern Liang in Xiangcheng.

His Xie Family might as well tear off the mask and be done with it.

However, the threat of Yan Wang was also a substantial reality.

He also felt some worry in his heart.

Although the Rich Clans had parted on bad terms because of the sordid things Dou Wei had done.

But he felt that after the First Prince ascended the throne, he should still send people to consult with the other Rich Clans on a strategy to deal with Yan Wang together.

Each family stood on its own, fighting and struggling against one another, but in the face of a common threat, they also needed to cooperate.

It was just that even if they cooperated, he would exclude the Dou Family.

Dou Wei had ransacked Jinling City, and he hated him to death now.

"Brother is right, let's do just that. The Emperor is so heartless, abandoning us mother and son to go to Yanzhou; why should we still be considerate of him? Let's just treat him as dead," Xie Huanghou said.

In her heart, her own son's throne was far more important than Zhao Heng.

Zhao Gang cared even less about whether Zhao Heng lived or died; he was already thirty-two years old.

He had long been hoping for Zhao Heng to die so that he could become Emperor.

Upon hearing this, he smiled and said, "Thank you, Uncle."

Xie Duan nodded. "There is no time to lose. We shall arrange the Enthronement Ceremony for Gang Er in these next few days, so as to avoid any complications."

In truth, deep down, he wished more for the Xie Family to establish its own country like the Dou Family.

But the prefectures and counties of the Imperial Clan and the remaining Imperial Guards held more appeal.

Currently, the Dou Family and the Xiao Family were in an alliance, and the Wang Family and the Han Family were as close as one family.

Only his Xie Family stood alone, but if he successfully took over the Imperial Clan's territory.

The territory controlled by his Xie Family would be the largest among the seven families.

Added to the fact that the world's grain came from the Xie Family, he had grain, he had soldiers, so what was there to fear?

And this was the fundamental reason why he was so eager to have the First Prince ascend the throne.

Xiangcheng.

Dou Wei and Zhao Mu—no, Dou Mu—were in the city discussing matters regarding the construction of the palace.

Although he had ascended the throne and become the Emperor of Southern Liang.

He currently did not have a residence that befitted his status.

However, he did not care about such things, but his father, Dou Wei, was very persistent about it.

"Father, it would be better to save this silver to recruit troops and horses; my ambition is to unify the world, not to focus on this," said Zhao Mu.

Now that his wish had been fulfilled, endless grand aspirations rose in his heart.

"The wealth brought from Jinling is enough to build you an Imperial Palace; you are now the ruler of a nation, so you must have a palace and imperial carriage that befit your status. This is the majesty of the Imperial Clan and cannot be skimped on; it will not affect your quest to conquer the world," Dou Wei said with a smile.

As the two were speaking, a Cavalry of the Dou Family arrived on horseback.

Stopping before Dou Wei, the Cavalry originally intended to salute Dou Wei.

But Dou Wei glared at the Cavalry; the Cavalry understood, turned toward Zhao Mu, and said, "Your Majesty, news has come from Wuguan that envoys from the Northern Di have arrived; they say they wish to come to Xiangcheng to congratulate Southern Liang on its founding."

"The Northern Di." Zhao Mu subconsciously looked toward the North Territory and exchanged a glance with Dou Wei; he said, "You go to Wuguan immediately and lead the Northern Di envoys to an audience."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Cavalry replied.

Dou Wei then said, "The Northern Di coming this time must be to make an agreement with our Southern Liang to jointly resist Yan Wang. Your Majesty should take this opportunity to cooperate well with the Northern Di people; in this way, the Border Market can continue to bring profits to the Dou Family, and we can also cooperate with the Northern Di from the north and south to keep Yan Wang in check."

Zhao Mu nodded; after the establishment of Southern Liang, he had to think about his next layout.

In his view, since Southern Liang had just been founded, it was not appropriate to immediately attack cities and seize territory.

Doing so would arouse the hostility of other powerful clans.

It was better to wait and see the movements of the other powerful clans first.

"Also, news has come from Yanzhou that Zhao Heng has gone to Yanzhou and is currently in Yancheng," the Cavalry added.

The expressions of Zhao Mu and Dou Wei sank simultaneously.

Dou Wei said, "Zhao Heng has gone to Yanzhou, and Yan Wang is like a tiger that has grown wings; now he will surely claim to be the orthodox Imperial Clan. However, let us not worry about it for now; the ones who should be most nervous are the Han Family, the Wang Family, and the Xie Family. We can just watch from the sidelines."

"But if Yan Wang defeats them one by one, I fear Southern Liang will eventually be unable to stand alone," Zhao Mu said worriedly.

"Haha, Your Majesty is overthinking. Right now, the various powerful clans likely still harbor grudges against our Dou Family. Let them suffer a bit first; that way, they will remember the good of our Dou Family," Dou Wei said with a confident face.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Mu nodded.