"Crown Prince?" Shuang'er thought for a moment. "It seemed that Pan Ren and Pan Bing, the two brothers of the Pan family in Huzhou, had supported the Crown Prince as emperor and called on everyone in the realm to rally to the throne. But they only had a little over a hundred household guards under them, and they were put down almost that same day. The main figures were executed, and the Crown Prince was escorted back to Lin'an."
"???"
Song Qingshu and Yuan Ziyi were both utterly bewildered. The former had thought that the Crown Prince's call to rally to the throne in Huzhou would cause a huge stir and shake the realm, yet it had been suppressed in the blink of an eye? The latter was equally astonished. Even the smallest tribes on the grasslands could muster over a hundred warriors. How could the Crown Prince of such a vast nation have only this handful of men?
"That's not right," Song Qingshu said gravely. "The Crown Prince isn't a fool. He couldn't possibly have been unaware of the court's strength. With only a hundred or so household guards, why would he agree to raise the banner of revolt?"
He had dealt with the Crown Prince in Lin'an before. Although the man's methods had been somewhat hasty, he was definitely above average. Several times, he had given Song Qingshu quite a headache. He would never have been so foolish.
Shuang'er shook her head. "I don't know the exact reason either."
Song Qingshu murmured to himself, "It seems I'll have to reach Lin'an before I can find out what happened."
This matter was riddled with strangeness. No wonder Ren Yingying had said in her secret letter that an unseen hand seemed to be controlling everything from behind the scenes.
"You're