The Young Master Becomes a Wife Chapter 76 Part 1

Chapter 76: The Real Culprit

Prince Kang was the fifth son of the current emperor. His mother had been a concubine serving the emperor while he was still a prince, but she had passed away many years prior, and her clan had also fallen into decline. Coupled with his own mild, dull, and taciturn nature, lacking accomplishment in both literary and martial arts, he did not earn the emperor's favor and was almost like an invisible presence in the palace.

Since learning from Mu Chongyan that Prince Kang might be involved in the poisoning incident at the Ministry of Justice prison where he was once held, Jiang Chenghan had inquired about Prince Kang from the Duke of Anguo and Dowager Lady Yan.

Although he was of imperial descent, Prince Kang was known in the capital for his gentle, humble, benevolent, and righteous character, and he had a reputation as a thoroughly good-natured man. However, Jiang Chenghan understood clearly that anyone who could emerge from the depths of the imperial palace and remain unscathed through multiple succession struggles was unlikely to be as harmless as he appeared.

After all, he was a prince who had already established some influence in the capital. Even Mu Chongyan had to proceed with extreme caution. It took him, intermittently, nearly half a year to finally tear open a corner of Prince Kang's hidden side, revealing the wolfish ambition and madness concealed beneath his meek exterior.

Although Jiang Chenghan understood that princes cultivating their own power to compete for the throne was to be expected, Prince Kang's actions had crossed a line he could not accept. Because he discovered that Prince Kang had indeed colluded with the Bei Di people.

Da Qi and Bei Di had been on bad terms for many years. Jiang Chenghan had been in the army for nearly a decade, and most of the battles he fought were to resist Bei Di's invasions of Da Qi's borders. Over the years, while he had killed many Bei Di people, he himself had repeatedly stared death in the face, and witnessed countless comrades fall in battle, never to rise again.

Jiang Chenghan had long held a deep-seated hatred for Bei Di. So when he and his men, disguised as bandits, intercepted a merchant caravan—operated by the maternal relatives of one of Prince Kang's concubines and traveling between the capital and Ningcheng—and uncovered Prince Kang's personal letter to the Bei Di King Mutuo hidden among the goods, that hatred extended to include Prince Kang.

In the letter, Prince Kang pledged his full cooperation to King Mutuo's planned invasion of Da Qi. He promised that when Bei Di forces attacked, he would use his agents within the capital and Ningcheng to sabotage supply lines, spread disinformation, and undermine Commander Kou Shijun, ensuring the Ningcheng army's defeat. To guarantee Mutuo's trust and provide crucial resources for the campaign, Prince Kang included 100,000 taels of gold and vast quantities of grain, cotton, salt, medicine, and other supplies scarce in Bei Di, gifting them to Bei Di under the guise of merchant goods to show his sincerity in cooperating.

Before coming to the capital, Jiang Chenghan had heard Kou Shijun say that because he commanded heavy troops, he had been courted by more than one prince. However, he was unwilling to get involved in the succession struggle, fearing that any mishap would implicate his family, so he refused all offers. But he knew that as long as he held command of Ningcheng's five hundred thousand troops, those watching him and wanting to seize his military power would not be few.

Jiang Chenghan could understand a prince seeking to strengthen his position by winning over powerful ministers. But for Prince Kang to then, without any hesitation, join forces with a hostile foreign power to massacre his own people—simply because he failed to recruit them—was an act of such deranged betrayal that Jiang Chenghan found it completely unconscionable.

Prince Kang's personal letter was found in the lead carriage of the merchant caravan. The leader of the caravan seemed like an insignificant figure—he hadn't even entered Prince Kang's residence once under their surveillance. But since Prince Kang dared to entrust his personal letter to this man, he must be someone Prince Kang trusted immensely.

So, on one hand, Jiang Chenghan sent people to inform Mu Chongyan of this matter. On the other hand, he immediately began interrogating the leader. This interrogation lasted three days and three nights.

After three days, the leader was reduced to a barely breathing mass of flesh, and Jiang Chenghan had obtained a thick stack of confessions. Although he had gotten what he wanted, Jiang Chenghan felt not the slightest bit relieved.

The caravan leader was indeed someone Prince Kang's trusted deeply. Not only did he safeguard Prince Kang's personal letters, but he was also responsible for liaising and dealing with the Bei Di side. Before this, he had also carried out many tasks for Prince Kang according to his instructions.

For instance, he was tasked with infiltrating spies into both the Ningcheng garrison and Kou Shijun's residence. These people were ordered to sabotage the alliance between Da Qi and the Danu tribe. Additionally, he orchestrated the theft of the strategic defense layouts for Tianming Pass, among other critical operations.

Prince Kang, disregarding the interests of Da Qi, the safety of the borders, and the lives of the Ningcheng garrison and its people, ordered all these actions just to get leverage against Kou Shijun, to pull him down and replace him with his own man, thereby gaining control of the military power of Ningcheng's several hundred thousand troops to aid his bid for the throne.

As for the poisoning of Jiang Chenghan in the Ministry of Justice prison, that was indeed Prince Kang's doing. Simply because Jiang Chenghan had discovered the fake Zhao Dali stealing the defense maps of Tianming Pass, which ultimately led to all the people Prince Kang had planted in Ningcheng being uprooted, destroying years of meticulous planning in one fell swoop. How could he not hate Jiang Chenghan?

When Jiang Chenghan was in Ningcheng, under Kou Shijun's protection, Prince Kang could do nothing. But later, when Jiang Chenghan arrived in the capital and became entangled in the assassination case, it coincidentally presented Prince Kang with a perfect opportunity to exact revenge. However, Prince Kang did not expect that he would still be a step too late—by the time he had arranged the matter, Jiang Chenghan had already been taken away by Mu Chongyan.

After interrogating and learning all this, aside from calling Prince Kang insane, Jiang Chenghan could think of no other term more suitable.

Unlike Jiang Chenghan, the Prince of Chuxiang had witnessed the filth within the imperial family since childhood. For the sake of the supreme position, acts like fratricide and patricide were not uncommon, let alone the lives of mere commoners, which were seen as utterly insignificant in the eyes of the imperial family.

Since the truth had been uncovered, the Prince of Chuxiang did not delay. He immediately sent the confessions provided by Jiang Chenghan, the leader of the caravan, the 100,000 taels of gold hidden among the merchant goods, and other evidence of Prince Kang's crimes before the emperor.