vrcanaries Chapter 271 Rumors Against Rumors
Chapter 271 Rumors Against Rumors
The saying goes, "Three men can make a tiger," meaning that repeated rumors can lead to disinformation and even death. Rumors, if spread too often, can be taken as fact.
Xiao Yuan was alright; he was a powerful and ruthless minister who wasn't afraid of people's opinions.
Jiang Xinyu, however, suffered an undeserved misfortune. For any woman, having such a reputation as a femme fatale who brought ruin to the country would be a disaster.
The focus is not on the harm done to the country, but on the femme fatale.
Once you get involved with this, you'll become the object of lust for some libertines.
Some unscrupulous artists would paint erotic pictures using the names of historical femme fatales.
Even if the faces of the people in the paintings were all imagined out of thin air, the signatures alone were enough to make people feel disgusted.
Ye Xiao didn't want his mother's name to be passed down in this way decades or centuries later.
Rumors stop with the wise, but unfortunately, most people in this world are mediocre.
No one listens to a proper explanation; the only solution is to spread rumors and muddy the waters.
First, we need to extricate Xiao Yuan from Tuo Sai's death.
If it weren't for a woman's beauty that caused a national disaster, there wouldn't be any so-called femme fatales.
Soon after, another version of events began to circulate in the capital.
One theory is that Tosai died in internal strife.
The old emperor of Quanrong is getting on in years, and Tosai, as the second prince, is the most capable of competing with the eldest prince for the throne.
The eldest prince deliberately chose to clear his name during Tosai's diplomatic mission in order to eliminate his rivals.
The Great Jin Dynasty completely sacrificed itself for them. They made the Quanrong Crown Prince take the blame.
evidence?
The evidence is so obvious!
That Prince Tosai is skilled in martial arts, and the guards around him are also very powerful.
How could they, so wary of the Great Jin, be so easily and silently killed?
Of the more than 200 people in the delegation, only Prince Tosai and a dozen or so of his personal guards died. Doesn't that say something?
It was clearly one of their own people who did it, which is why they were completely unprepared.
Marquis of Zhenguo?
How could he possibly be the Marquis of Zhenguo?
Don't you all think about what kind of background the Marquis of Zhenguo came from? He entered the Eastern Depot when he was a teenager and has now climbed to the position of Marquis. Do you think he's a stupid person?
Even if he wanted to kill that prince, wouldn't he have used some slow-acting poison to wait for him to die suddenly in Quanrong?
The Eastern Depot is best at killing people silently, so why would they want to do it within the Great Jin territory and arouse suspicion?
This claim quickly became the mainstream view, even more credible than the other two possibilities.
No one would believe that Xiao Yuan was a loyal and virtuous man who would do something that would disregard the lives of ordinary people and cause a war.
It would be reasonable to say that someone from the Eastern Depot would have more sophisticated methods of killing.
The truth doesn't matter; people only want to believe what they think is right.
The Eastern Depot's chief eunuch, Xiao Yanwang, has always been perceived by the people as having clever, cunning, and treacherous methods.
That kind of person is so bad that even a single eyebrow is hollow. If you say he's bad, people will believe you; if you say he's stupid, people will immediately refute you.
The other two interpretations also captured a portion of the market.
One is the theory of great power rivalry.
It is said that the Northern Frontier and the Eastern Barbarians orchestrated this assassination in order to provoke a war between the Quanrong and the Great Jin so that they could reap the benefits.
This idea circulated widely among scholars, who would nod their heads and talk at length as if they had witnessed other countries plotting.
This is the unique insight of scholars, demonstrating that they are different from those ignorant women, peddlers, and laborers.
Only learned people can consider issues from a holistic perspective; their level of thinking and vision are incomparable to those of ordinary people.
Another explanation is the court conspiracy theory.
This view has some traction among scholars, but it is more widely accepted by the sons of officials, wealthy merchants, and gentry.
Because the subject of this statement is unclear, everyone has filled in a different one based on their own understanding.
Some believe it was the regent who did it, in order to ruin the reputation of the Marquis of Zhenguo and his wife and oust him from the court.
Some believe it was done by the maternal family of the former second prince, in order to sow discord between the regent and the Marquis of Zhenguo.
That family probably wanted to take the opportunity to join forces with the Marquis of Zhenguo to overthrow the regent and install a new emperor.
After all, if it weren't for the regent, it might have been his nephew, the second prince, sitting on the throne.
Some people say it was the Grand Marshal of the Border Region who did it, so that he could earn military merits when the two countries were at war.
Generals may not necessarily hope for peace in the country, after all, the imperial court's provisions and pay are limited, and only by fighting can they burn, kill, plunder, and make a fortune.
Once the country is at peace, weapons are put away and horses are released to graze freely; in more serious cases, even the "hunting dog is cooked after the cunning rabbit is dead" scenario is possible.
Military generals are valued when the country is unstable, but they have no standing in the court when the country is at peace.
Anyone can do the math.
Indeed, the human heart is the most unpredictable thing; once conspiracy theories take hold, all sorts of people can have the most despicable thoughts.
The first theory, "Chief Supervisor Xiao is not stupid," was Ye Xiao's work, while the theory of great power game theory was proposed by He Zhang.
The third conspiracy theory, which involves internal strife, was discussed by the two of them together, which reveals their respective styles of handling affairs.
But regardless of whether the scope is large or small, in terms of probability, it far surpasses the initial theory that the Marquis of Zhenguo would instigate a war.
That theory was too simple and lacked any technical sophistication. Through their deliberate dissemination, it was as if anyone who believed the first theory was a stupid fool who couldn't think straight.
No one wanted to admit they weren't smart, and gradually the first voice disappeared without a trace.
Xiao Yuan was very satisfied with the two children's actions, and even Jin Zekang felt that some branches of the second and third theories were correct.
After all, Tosai was truly dead, and Xiao Yuan hadn't actually sent anyone to do it.
They also suspected this, and secretly sent spies to several surrounding countries to collect information.
If someone truly wanted to instigate a war between the Quanrong and the Great Jin, they couldn't possibly be completely unprepared.
Just look at which countries are secretly buying up grain in preparation for war, and you'll know they have ulterior motives.
Jiang Xinyu's reputation as a femme fatale who brought ruin to the country only lasted a few days before it died down, leaving Jiang Wanqiu, who was hiding in the shadows, seething with hatred.
The spies planted around Jiang Wanqiu had already reported her spreading rumors to Xiaodie.
After listening, Jiang Xinyu sighed that this guy was still up to no good, but she only told them to continue monitoring.
Jiang Wanqiu is a reborn person; it's not worth killing her over such a trivial matter as spreading rumors.
She should be especially discreet at this time, and it would be best if her nominal family could remain peaceful and avoid any trouble that might attract attention.
I heard that the household is becoming increasingly impoverished and struggling to make ends meet, and Liu is busy taking care of Jiang Song every day, putting his needs first.
Jiang Wanqiu wasn't having a good time; she was enjoying delicacies every day, so she didn't bother arguing with a complaining woman who ate meager rations.
Why bother with her?
The right way to get revenge is to live your own life well and completely ignore her.
Jiang Xinyu's idea was indeed correct. After several days of unchanging life, Jiang Wanqiu herself started to break into the house.
The fact that he had someone spread rumors wasn't exactly a secret, so the Eastern Depot couldn't possibly have failed to find out, given its capabilities.
Jiang Xinyu completely ignored her, and this dismissive attitude made her feel insulted.
After enduring so many days, Jiang Wanqiu was really going crazy, and even forgot her grand ideals, wishing that Jiang Xinyu would kill her.
The contrast between being a noble duchess and becoming a poor, neglected concubine's daughter was far more unbearable than he had imagined.
From food and snacks to tea and clothing fabrics and bedding, everything was unbearably rough.
Unable to enjoy the good or tolerate the bad, she finally understood what it meant to have the body of a young lady but the fate of a maid.
But she has to endure this kind of life for a long time, and there's no guarantee that things will change.
Sometimes she really wished she could die again, so that when she woke up she could be the noble and precious Duchess of the State again.
Poverty is like being cut by a dull knife; she can't eat or sleep well, and she doesn't have a single comfortable day now.