The mistress died of overwork, and after rebirth, she was bad at raising her cubs

Shen Qinglan was aroused by Huo Zhanting and looked at him with a puzzled look.

Huo Zhanting smiled, then took out a secret letter and handed it to Shen Qinglan.

Shen Qinglan took it and listened to Huo Zhanting while reading:

"My people sent back news that the Fourth Prince experienced thirty-nine assassination attempts on his way to the South Land and is now trapped in Song County."

"The magistrate of Song County is the Ninth Prince's man. He is now locking the city gates and searching for the Fourth Prince."

Shen Qinglan raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and said with some emotion:

"The Eighth and Ninth Princes are ruthless enough. No wonder the Fourth Prince sent a message back to ask for help from our Zhan Palace."

Even though Shen Qinglan had always known that since ancient times, the fight for the throne had always been about standing on the corpses of others, he couldn't help but sigh when he saw it with his own eyes.

After the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince learned that the Fourth Prince wanted to compete with them, they had no intention of showing mercy to their brother.

Although the Fourth Prince seemed to be cooperating with the Zhan Wang Mansion temporarily, in fact, both sides knew that this so-called cooperation was just a layer of window paper, which would be broken with a simple poke.

But it is also enough to show that the Fourth Prince is really on the verge of death, otherwise he would never ask for help from Prince Zhan's Palace.

Huo Zhanting was not surprised to see Shen Qinglan's expression, and couldn't help but ask:

"You already know?"

Shen Qinglan shook his head and said, "I only know the result, but not the process."

When Marquis Jing'an came just now, he only said that the Eighth Prince and the Ninth Prince ambushed the Fourth Prince. If Huo Zhanting hadn't told her the details, she wouldn't have known that the other party was so ruthless.

Huo Zhanting nodded, without further ado, and said:

"However, even if we don't take action, the Fourth Prince won't die. Except for the deposed Crown Prince, all the other princes in the court are dead or disabled. If the Fourth Prince doesn't have a trump card, how can he survive?"

Emperor Jingren had quite a few descendants, but unfortunately, most of them had bad luck.

Except for these four living princes and the imprisoned deposed crown prince, most of the other princes have died.

Many princes seemed to have died in accidents, but there were so many accidents that no one thought it was an accident anymore.

Shen Qinglan naturally understood what Huo Zhanting meant, and couldn't help asking:

"You mean, even if the Fourth Prince doesn't ask us for help, he will be fine?"

Huo Zhanting smiled and nodded, then found a comfortable position to lean against, and said slowly:

"About fifty miles from Song County, there is a Black Swallow Mountain. It is said that there are bandits entrenched there all year round. These bandits are particularly brutal, but they can always avoid the government and people with some background."

As a bandit, it's like he knows in advance who he can and cannot mess with.

If they hadn't really hit a wall, they would have been wiped out by the government long ago.

Therefore, it is very likely that there is someone behind these bandits who tipped them off.

The fact that they were able to avoid government officials and important figures shows that the person who tipped them off must be someone in the imperial court.

Is it because of someone's protection that they have been able to stand firm for so many years?

However, Shen Qinglan also knew that Huo Zhanting would not bring up Black Swallow Mountain for no reason, so he immediately asked:

"You mean, this Black Swallow Mountain is related to the Fourth Prince?"

Huo Zhanting was silent for a while, then looked at Shen Qinglan meaningfully and said:

"I heard that the Fourth Prince and his wife Fang first met near this Black Swallow Mountain. Moreover, I heard that the leader of the Black Swallow Mountain also has the surname Fang."

If there are too many coincidences, they may not be coincidences, but inevitability.

At their position, if they make a mistake, they might lose everything.

Therefore, no matter whether it is true or not, they must treat it as if it is true, so that they can ensure their own safety.

Shen Qinglan heard this and there was a hint of realization in his eyes. He said in a low voice:

"And the Fourth Prince spends money like water. We have always speculated that he must have raised private soldiers outside, but we have never found a place. Now, it is very likely that the place where he stationed his troops is this Black Swallow Mountain."

You know, although Shen Qinglan and Xie Shaoshang slaughtered the Fourth Prince mercilessly at the beginning, even if the Fourth Prince did not win the emperor's favor, he would not be so easily reduced to a point where he could not make ends meet because of their calculations.

In addition, the Fourth Prince seemed to be in great need of money. If it was not for recruiting soldiers, why would he spend so much?

These days, neither Shen Qinglan's people nor Huo Zhanting's people have found any clues, which shows that the Fourth Prince is also hiding very deeply.

Now, unexpectedly, they have guessed where the Fourth Prince's troops are stationed.

It is no wonder that the Fourth Prince dared to go to the South even though he knew it was a dangerous place, because he knew that as long as the people from Black Swallow Mountain were there, he would not die!

But in this case, the Fourth Prince clearly had a trump card, but he still came to Prince Zhan's Mansion for help, which shows that he had no good intentions.

It would obviously be easier to resolve the Fourth Prince's predicament by directly contacting the private soldiers of Black Swallow Mountain. Why would he send a letter all the way to ask for help from Prince Zhan's Mansion?

It was obvious that he just wanted to use the people from Prince Zhan's Mansion as a shield to preserve his own strength.

even……

Perhaps after Huo Zhanting's men go there, the Fourth Prince's men will take the opportunity to eliminate them all.

Huo Zhanting naturally understood. Seeing Shen Qinglan's angry expression, he smiled and patted her on the back and said:

"Don't be angry. He wants us to be part of this game, right?"

Shen Qinglan nodded, naturally understanding.

Although she understood it in her heart, Shen Qinglan looked down upon the Fourth Prince more and more.

A person who appears to be a vegetarian, chants Buddhist scriptures, and talks about benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but what he does does not have any good intentions at all.

"The Fourth Prince was clearly there to provide disaster relief, but because of these petty thoughts, he ignored the safety of the people. As expected, he is unworthy of being a leader."

You know, disaster relief is like saving lives.

The sooner we reach the south, the sooner we can issue decrees and save the victims from disaster.

However, the Fourth Prince was negligent in disaster relief due to his own selfish reasons.

You know, if he arrived a step later, it is possible that one more victim would die!

Seeing that Shen Qinglan's cheeks were puffy due to anger, Huo Zhanting couldn't help but stretched out his hand to pinch her face and said:

"But didn't you already have plans?"

Shen Qinglan glanced at Huo Zhanting, slapped his hand away and said, "What did I arrange?"

Huo Zhanting found it funny that Shen Qinglan didn't admit it, so he said:

"My people have reported back that the price of grain in the south has been raised by more than ten times, and the relief grain and silver from the imperial court have not yet arrived. The people are in dire straits. But guess what happened now?"

"what happened?"

Although Shen Qinglan already knew it in her heart, she hadn't admitted it yet. She just smiled and looked at Huo Zhanting and asked.

Huo Zhanting looked at Shen Qinglan with admiration at this moment, and said seriously:

"But within just a few days, the price of grain has returned to normal and is even a few cents lower than usual. As a result, the corpses everywhere in the Southland that might have happened will no longer happen."