Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

Li Hongyun continued to watch the myriad dots moving ceaselessly within the city of Chang'an from a God's eye view.

Clearly, if the situation developed along these trends, soon the people around the Crown Prince would also be swayed to join the Lord Qin Faction.

The struggle between the two had an evident focal point: the issue of their basic support base.

Lord Qin had a very solid base, which was the group of renowned ministers and military generals centered around the Lord Qin Mansion who were known for their military achievements.

The group of military achievements had unconditional trust and support for Lord Qin.

While Lord Qin earned distinguished military merits, the immense prestige he had built with the army's grassroots and the common people should not be overlooked.

For many commoners, they only knew of Lord Qin, not the Emperor; this was not at all surprising.

Back then, Emperor Gaozu of Liang started his campaign from Jinyang and conquered Chang'an, leaving Prince Qi to hold the fort in the main base at Jinyang. However, Prince Qi misbehaved in Jinyang, taking pleasure in hunting commoners in the streets.

Thus, by the time Liu Wu Zhou came to attack, the Liang Dynasty had already lost the hearts of the people in Jinyang—they not only failed to assist the Liang Army but also hid themselves.

And when Lord Qin came to pacify Liu Wu Zhou, the people, upon hearing it was Lord Qin arriving, came out to support the Liang Army in droves.

In the eyes of the commoners, this was perfectly reasonable. Emperor Gaozu of Liang, high and mighty, meant nothing to them but an invisible, untouchable symbol; what did they have to do with him?

Lord Qin led the army to pacify the chaos of the world, and he sternly ordered his subordinates to commit no slightest offense against the common people. When comparing the two, it was obvious to whom the people would feel more favorable.

On the other hand, the Crown Prince did not have much of a basic support base.

If there had to be one mentioned, it would be the group of courtiers won over by his status as the Crown Prince.

These courtiers hoped to establish merits by helping the Crown Prince succeed the throne, but how many of them were truly dedicated to standing by the Crown Prince's side?

Among them, how many served him because of his status, and how many truly recognized the person he was?

That was difficult to say.

Therefore, in the first phase of both sides undermining each other, it was clear that Lord Qin held the advantage in all respects.

If this continued, the Crown Prince's position would be in grave danger.

Although, in hindsight, the stronger Lord Qin's power grew, the more evident Emperor Gaozu of Liang's willingness to show partiality would become. Thus, persisting in this deadlock meant it was nearly impossible for Lord Qin to dethrone the Crown Prince through normal means and take his place, but at that time, the Crown Prince, caught in the middle, would not have known this.

He could not fully trust his own father, Emperor Gaozu of Liang.

Therefore, in order to protect himself, the Crown Prince naturally had to strike back.

But how to counter?

The softer approaches had already failed; to sabotage the Lord Qin Mansion's camp, which was virtually ironclad, neither money nor personal charm could make a dent.

That left only the hard option.

Two dots emerged from the Crown Prince Mansion and made their way deep into the palace; these were the Crown Prince and Prince Qi preparing to meet with Emperor Gaozu of Liang.

At the same time, a dot arrived at Yuchi Jingde's residence, lingering outside the door.

Li Hongyun continued to watch the drama unfold, noticing that the dot at Yuchi Jingde's place had yet to take action and had not yet begun its move. He turned his attention first to the performance of the Crown Prince and Prince Qi in the royal palace.

"Father Emperor, your son begs you to execute Lord Qin!"

The Crown Prince and Prince Qi knelt in unison.

Emperor Gaozu of Liang frowned but didn't seem too surprised by their request, showing a hint of helplessness as he waved them off, "You two, stop causing trouble!

"Hasn't this been discussed countless times? Lord Qin has merits in stabilizing the realm, and he hasn't committed any serious offenses. In order to execute him, what reason would suffice to silence the endless criticism from the people?"

But Prince Qi persisted tenaciously, "Father Emperor! Even without an offense on record, sparing Lord Qin's life will surely breed disaster in the long run!

"After pacifying Luoyang, Lord Qin lingered and showed reluctance to return to Chang'an. Not only that, he privately distributed wealth and lavishly dispersed assets, constantly cultivating his own prestige along the way.

"At the time, Father Emperor, you issued an Imperial Decree for the two noble consorts to select treasures from the treasury, and yet Lord Qin brazenly defied the order, if this isn't rebellion, what is it?

"If Father Emperor is truly resolved to execute him, there will be no shortage of reasons!"

For an emperor, finding justification to kill someone is never a concern if that is truly their desire.

Prince Qi's words were rather extreme, for that was no ordinary military hero; he was the second son of Emperor Gaozu of Liang, his own second brother.

Logically speaking, when brothers make insidious suggestions against each other before their father, Emperor Gaozu of Liang, as the father, should have been furious and even punished Prince Qi.

However, he fell into silence.

The words of Prince Qi had clearly moved him.

To say that Lord Qin harbored intentions of rebellion, the current Emperor Gaozu of Liang hardly believed that.

But this did not mean that Emperor Gaozu of Liang had no misgivings about Lord Qin's actions.

Previously, when the two noble consorts used his Imperial Decree to pick treasures from the Luoyang treasury, only to be rejected by Lord Qin, Emperor Gaozu of Liang was very displeased and summoned Lord Qin to scold him fiercely, questioning, "Is my Imperial Decree not as good as your instructions?"

This had always been a thorn in Emperor Gaozu of Liang's side.

Moreover, what Prince Qi said, though exaggerated, was based on facts.

During the pacification of Luoyang, Lord Qin awarded all the treasury wealth to his officers and heavily recruited talent.

These actions depended on how one interpreted them.

They could be seen as rewarding meritorious officials and winning over people's hearts for the Liang Dynasty, or they could be viewed as him cultivating his own power base.

What would Lord Qin need his own power base for?