Even though Tang Ning and Xiao Yan had been intimate many times, doing both what was proper and improper, she still couldn’t help but blush at his close, handsome face and the suggestive words he breathed out.
“You’re right here; how else should I think of you?”
“Like this, naturally.”
Xiao Yan leaned in, kissing and teasing her until she pushed him away, breathless.
Tang Ning pressed her hand against his approaching face, her lips red as if painted with rouge. Just as she was about to scold him, her palm warmed—Xiao Yan had lightly kissed it. Her eyes widened, cheeks flushing red.
He grabbed her hand as she tried to pull it back, chuckling. “Such thin skin. How were you so bold back then, hugging a eunuch like me and offering to pledge yourself?”
“I remember you saying you admired me, stammering that the carriage wasn’t the place, but once we got back to the mansion, mmm…”
“Xiao Yan!”
She rarely called him by name like that, both angry and embarrassed, covering his mouth to block the rest of his mortifying words.
Seeing Xiao Yan’s muffled laughter and shaking shoulders, Tang Ning, fuming, landed a couple of punches on him, only to be caught and pulled into his arms.
“I rather like my little crabapple,” he teased.
“Shameless!” Tang Ning spat.
Xiao Yan, thick-skinned as ever, grinned. “Shameless? Let me see…”
As he leaned in to take advantage again, Tang Ning tried to retreat, but he pulled her back and shamelessly teased her until her eyes were teary.
After a long while, Xiao Yan wrapped his long arms around her, satisfied. “Emperor An knows about the Dragon Jade Order. When Shang Qin and the others make their move, I’ll first restore the He family’s identity.”
Tang Ning, still catching her breath, looked up at the mention of serious matters. “Why the He family?”
She thought he’d be eager to clear the Crown Prince’s name.
Xiao Yan’s expression cooled. “Because the He family won’t push him to a desperate fight to the death.”
“My father was Taizu’s chosen crown prince. Without treason, nothing could have shaken his position. Emperor An’s throne was gained through underhanded means. If he learns my father’s bloodline survives and the past is exposed, he’ll do anything to drag everyone down with him.”
Emperor An had been on the throne for over a decade, with loyalists in the court and military. The court was no longer what it was when his father was alive. The old ministers loyal to his father had long been replaced. If the truth came out and Emperor An realized he couldn’t hide it, he’d flip the board, plunging the court into bloodshed and the realm into chaos.
Xiao Yan could control Emperor An and stabilize the capital, but that was a last resort.
Not only would few recognize him, now so different from the imperial grandson of old, but vassal princes like Prince Pingshan, already harboring ambitions, would seize any chance to swarm the capital during a coup.
Playing with Tang Ning’s fingers, Xiao Yan said, “Don’t be fooled by Emperor An’s apparent incompetence. He’s cunning and trusts no one.”
“Twenty years ago, the nearly million taels of relief funds my father escorted to the south vanished. Later, the treasures and silver the Lu family offered over the years also disappeared.”
“Qian Baokun searched tirelessly but found no leads. Yet, he discovered in the Ministry of Revenue’s old ledgers that, before his tenure, there was an annual secret expenditure of 200,000 taels, personally withdrawn by Emperor An, with no trace of where it went.”
“The palace’s large expenditures are all recorded, but there’s no record of such consistent spending. Emperor An’s private treasury isn’t flush— it’s empty. Where do you think all that silver went?”
Tang Ning frowned. Two hundred thousand taels a year, accumulating to millions, plus the over million in relief funds and the Lu family’s “tributes” over the years—enough to pave the capital’s streets. Even if Emperor An ate dragon liver and phoenix gall daily or rebuilt the palace, it wouldn’t consume so much.
From handling Xiao Yan’s business in the capital, she knew such sums entering the market would cause chaos. To spend it cleanly, unnoticed, and willingly empty his private treasury…
Tang Ning gasped. “Emperor An’s secretly raising an army?”
Not for the court or Great Wei, but for himself.
Xiao Yan hummed. “Most likely.”
Tang Ning’s eyes widened. “Does the Lu family know?”
Xiao Yan shook his head. “Probably not. After the Lu family was imprisoned, I interrogated two of Lu Chongyuan’s confidants. They said the Lu family never touched that silver to gain Emperor An’s trust. After he married Empress Lu, he was always short on funds for some reason.”
“The Lu family, to secure his rise and their ties, sent tributes every year, even after he took the throne.”
Tang Ning was dazed. The Lu family had truly been played for fools. But who could imagine an emperor, secure in his power, secretly raising a private army?
Xiao Yan’s expression was unreadable. “Emperor An’s been discreet. Even I couldn’t find who’s handling this for him. With an unknown private army that could appear anytime, if he learns my father’s bloodline lives and threatens his throne, he’ll fight to the death at all costs.”
“The Zhenan Army can’t be touched. The Dragon Court Guards can only be used, not fully controlled. Beiling is already eyeing the south. If Great Wei falls into chaos, war in the northwest is inevitable.”
“Beyond that, tribes in the southern regions and western borders are restless, and vassal princes are stirring. If war breaks out, the realm will collapse, and the people will suffer.”
Tang Ning shuddered at the thought. “So you want to clear the He family first?”
Xiao Yan nodded. “Unlike my father, the He family was exterminated for alleged treason but isn’t royal blood.”
“If a He family heir survives, Emperor An will lose face when they’re cleared, but if we pin it on the already-destroyed Lu family and he issues a decree confessing past wrongs, it can be smoothed over.”
“I’m the last of the He family. Even if cleared and honored, I won’t threaten his throne. Compared to a living imperial grandson who could seize his crown, a He family heir will anger him but won’t push him to desperation.”
Tang Ning understood. Xiao Yan wanted to clear the Crown Prince’s name without plunging Great Wei into chaos. Restoring the He family first was the safest path to transition power smoothly.
“But…” Tang Ning hesitated. “If Emperor An learns you’re a He, he won’t trust you anymore.”==================
You can read ahead to chapterr 470 (100+ extra chapters) here
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