Chapter 15 Li Chengze wants to win over
After Guo Youzhi left the Eastern Palace.

The eldest princess Li Yunrui walked out slowly from the other side.

She stared at the prince with her watery eyes and asked softly:
"I wonder how Your Highness intends to deal with this matter?"

The prince looked at the eldest princess in front of him, his eyes full of tenderness, and said slowly:
"Aunt, my sixth brother has gone too far this time. I will report this to my father and ask him to severely punish my sixth brother!"

"Even if you are a prince, you cannot beat up an official in the street. This will have a very bad impact!"

The princess nodded slightly, her expression calm, and whispered softly:

"Your Highness, if this matter is reported to His Majesty, what kind of punishment will the Sixth Prince receive?"

Upon hearing this, the prince was stunned and thought about it.

The princess continued leisurely:
"The Sixth Prince is now weak and powerless. Unless Your Majesty is furious, he will be expelled from Kyoto and ordered to guard the border like the eldest prince."

"Otherwise, any punishment will be meaningless and just scratching the surface."

"However, this crime is not enough to shake your majesty's heart. Since your highness has already made up his mind and wants to take action against the Sixth Prince, he must be defeated in one fell swoop, or at least driven out of Kyoto!"

The princess sighed softly, "Otherwise, the Second Prince will take advantage of the situation. He will definitely take the opportunity to win over the Sixth Prince to his side. By then, Your Highness's situation will be precarious!"

When the prince heard this, he understood what the princess said was true.

He and the Sixth Prince are enemies.

If he wanted to win him over, he would have to give up the Minister of Rites, his capable assistant, but this would be tantamount to missing the forest for the trees.

The prince thought about this and couldn't help asking:

"Then according to Auntie, what should we do? Should we just let it continue like this?"

He knew clearly that he had just promised Guo Youzhi, and if he regretted it now, he would lose his credibility.

However, if we report this to His Majesty, we can completely win over the Minister of Rites to our side.

By then, Guo Youzhi would no longer be able to please both sides.

The eldest princess raised her lips in a sarcastic smile.

"What should we do?" She asked calmly, her voice revealing an unquestionable determination.

"Destroy Li Chengyun!"

"Wasteful?!" Upon hearing this, the prince was shocked and his voice was full of confusion.

"Deposing a prince is a serious matter. How should we proceed?"

The eldest princess's expression remained calm as water. She said slowly:

"With Li Chengyun's character, if he dares to hit the son of the Minister of Rites today, he will dare to challenge the Minister of Rites himself tomorrow."

"We can start with Fan Xian and Fan Sizhe. They don't hold any official positions, so Jingzhao Prefecture can easily arrest them."

"Tomorrow, you will go to the Jingzhao government office in person and bring Guo Youzhi and Guo Baokun with you to sit in on the trial."

"Given Li Chengyun's character, he will definitely go."

After hearing this, the prince fell into deep thought.

……

the other side.

In Li Chengze's palace.

He sat at his desk, deep in thought.

Today, Li Chengyun actually beat Guo Baokun, the son of the Minister of Rites.

And Guo Baokun is the right-hand man of his third brother, the crown prince.

This conflict may be manipulated by the prince behind the scenes.

Li Chengyun beat Guo Baokun mercilessly, which was undoubtedly a blatant break with the prince.

From today on, Li Chengyun has almost cut off the possibility of reconciling with the prince.

Unless the prince is willing to give up the important help of the Minister of Rites and at the same time endure the disappointment and betrayal from everyone.

Li Chengyun and the prince stood on opposite sides.

This is undoubtedly a great turning point for Li Chengze.

Although he is often seen by the world as competing with the prince in the court.

But I know that I am actually in a weak position.

As the crown prince, the prince has unique advantages, and he is just a whetstone for Emperor Qing to sharpen the prince's knife. It is extremely difficult to shake the prince's position.

Those forces that could really help him were either under the Crown Prince's command or were wavering, and almost no one would stand firmly on his side.

The prince was well aware of this, and when fighting with him, he always treated neutral forces with courtesy and rarely offended them severely.

Li Chengze has been searching for a suitable opportunity.

And today's incident brought him such an opportunity. Li Chengyun, his sixth brother, the sixth prince of Qing.

This dandy prince actually completely offended the crown prince today and stood against him.

Although Li Chengyun has no power or influence at the moment, he is a prince after all and has an extraordinary status and position.

What's more, Emperor Qing personally granted marriage to Li Chengyun a few days ago, closely linking him with the Fan family.

Just now, Fan Sizhe and Li Chengyun worked together to attack Guo Baokun.

Once this happened, the Fan family could no longer escape responsibility.

What kind of existence is the Fan family?
It represents the lifeline of the inner treasury and is also the family of Fan Jian, the favorite minister of Emperor Qing.

Although Fan Jian usually does not show his talents, Li Chengze is keenly aware of the extraordinary qualities of this Si Nanbo.

The emperor's trust in Si Nanbo is by no means ordinary, and there must be a deeper meaning behind it.

At this moment, Li Chengze already had a plan in mind.

He only needs to win over his sixth brother Li Chengyun to bring the entire Fan family under his command.

If Li Chengyun could stand on the same side with him, his power would increase greatly.

Li Chengze fell into deep thought. He must seize this opportunity to win over Li Chengyun and use him for his own purposes!
……

Inside the restaurant.

Li Chengyun, Fan Xian and others have finished their meal.

After beating Guo Baokun, Li Chengyun naturally invited Fan Xian and others to have a meal together.

Out of gratitude, Fan Xian and others gladly accepted it.

However, most of the time, Fan Ruoruo still remained somewhat distant from Li Chengyun.

Fan Sizhe, on the other hand, seemed quite excited and talked incessantly when talking about the recent beating of Guo Baokun.

After leaving the restaurant, it was getting dark and everyone was about to go home.

At this time, Li Chengyun looked at Fan Xian and Fan Sizhe, with a little expectation in his eyes, and suggested:

"Sizhe, Brother Fan Xian, we are quite drunk right now. Why don't we continue to the next place, Zuixianju, and chat about romance?"

This proposal caused a stir in Fan Sizhe's heart.

He longed to go to Zuixianju with Li Chengyun to experience the unique customs.

However, when he turned around, he saw his sister's face was gloomy, and his heart suddenly trembled.

The same was true for Fan Xian. He knew very well that his sister was there, so he could not go to the place of fireworks with Li Chengyun.

He looked embarrassed and declined:
"We appreciate your kindness, Sixth Prince."

"It's just that my brother and I have some important matters to deal with, so we can't accompany you."

Seeing that Fan Xian politely rejected his proposal, Li Chengyun did not take it too seriously.

He smiled faintly, then left with his guards.

Fan Ruoruo looked at Li Chengyun's back as he walked away, and stomped her feet in anger.

She was indignant and felt that Li Chengyun's actions were too much.

He actually mentioned the brothel in front of her.

The two of them had a nominal engagement after all, but Li Chengyun obviously didn't take her seriously.

Fan Ruoruo didn't want to marry Li Chengyun, but at this moment she was unable to calm down her anger.

The slight good impression that Li Chengyun had originally had for his heroic act had now vanished into thin air.

She turned around angrily and said to Fan Xian and Fan Sizhe:

"Brother, Fan Sizhe, the Sixth Prince is definitely not a good person, and Zuixianju is definitely not a place for upright gentlemen! You must never set foot in that place again in the future!"

When Fan Xian and Fan Sizhe heard this, they looked embarrassed.

But considering the kindness they had received from Li Chengyun before, Fan Xian still made a few excuses for Li Chengyun:
"Your Highness the Sixth Prince went to Zuixianju, perhaps just to cover up his tracks."

"As far as I know, he didn't do anything out of the ordinary there. He was just drinking."

Fan Sizhe also echoed:

"Yes, sis."

"Fan Xian and I have been there several times before, and it is indeed true."

"The girls in Zuixianju sell their art instead of their bodies, and we can't force them to do that."

He rolled his eyes, trying to reassure Fan Ruoruo in this way.

(End of this chapter)