The suspicious man was named Yang Tianming.
Yang Bo found the name rather suspicious as well, because the Imperial Royal Family's Su surname traced its ancestors back to a tribe called Yangyan!
Yangyan meant sunfire!
Yang Bo had identified this suspicious man so quickly through the process of elimination.
First, if the Emperor had secretly cultivated another successor,
then that successor had to possess sufficient prestige.
Because if someone had no reputation, no one would support them even if the Emperor nominated them.
The Crown Prince was not merely the Emperor's Crown Prince. He was also the Crown Prince of the entire Imperial Royal Family, and even the Crown Prince of the entire Empire.
And the entire Empire belonged to the Noble Council.
Therefore, the Imperial Royal Family's Crown Prince needed recognition from many parties: first the Emperor's recognition, then the Imperial Royal Family's recognition, then the Noble Council's recognition, and lastly, the recognition of the general public.
So becoming Crown Prince in the Empire was quite difficult.
Even if the Emperor wanted to nominate someone he had cultivated as a successor in the line of succession, that person needed sufficiently high prestige.
To gain the approval of so many groups, many professions could first be ruled out!
Among all professions, only two could be accepted by everyone. One was forging, and the other was medicine crafting.
Because every other profession had potential competitors. Take Mecha Pilots, for example!
Mecha Pilots were inherently in a competitive relationship with one another.
Besides, unless a Mecha Pilot could surpass Bart, they would not have much influence at all.
Most other professions were similar, serving only a portion of the population!
Forging, however, catered only to high-end groups, so its audience was not as broad as medicine crafting!
Thus, Yang Bo first settled