Chapter 103 The Revenge for the Severed Arm: The entire Ziwei City was in complete chaos! ...

Huangfu Lizhen exclaimed, "The Magic Machinery Sect is on fire?"

Li Han helped Huangfu Li get dressed, putting a chainmail on him before putting on his outer garment: "The fire wasn't big; it destroyed two halls and some blueprints and parts."

Huangfu Li hurriedly asked, "Which ones?"

Li Han said: "All the firearm blueprints and parts."

Huangfu Li narrowed his phoenix eyes slightly: "Have you caught the arsonist?"

Li Han shook his head: "Under interrogation. According to the Imperial Guards, a magician entered the palace with a token at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), and people have already been sent to find him."

Huangfu Li fastened his hidden dart and coldly asked, "Have you checked which magician it is?"

Her name is Gong Xiaoyang.

Huangfu Li kept fiddling with the hidden dart in his right hand. He usually kept the hidden dart on his left arm, and without his left arm, it was not as easy to use. "I remember, he and Jin Suiqing were classmates at the National Academy?"

Li Han's bloated body shuddered violently, his face trembling: "Did Jin Suiqing sense something?"

"That's probably it," Huangfu Li laughed, "After several instances of underestimating his opponent and suffering heavy losses, he would be a fool if he didn't learn something from it. "Suiqing is so smart."

Li Han remained silent for a long time before tentatively asking, "Does Your Highness still have feelings for her?"

Huangfu Li smiled frankly: "Yes, how could I not? In our several encounters, she always managed to turn misfortune into good fortune. Such a clever and capable woman is adept at manipulating people's hearts. Who wouldn't be tempted?"

But even though he was moved, he could no longer dwell on it.

If the coup succeeds, he will capture her, chop off her feet, and force her to remain in the palace, unable to go anywhere else.

Li Han bowed his head, and Huangfu Li smiled and said, "I don't want to see him again, do you understand?"

"yes."

After a moment's thought, Huangfu Li said, "Give me that prosthetic leg."

After putting on the prosthetic leg, Huangfu Li swayed it, stared at it for a long time, silently pulled up his sleeve to cover it completely, and said coldly, "Let's go to the Zichen Palace to see Mother."

Huangfu Li strode toward the Zichen Palace, but stopped just before entering.

He stood for a moment before knocking on the door and saying, "Mother."

He spoke softly, his tone unexpectedly gentle.

Separated by a door, Huangfu Ying spoke with her usual authoritative voice: "Enter."

Huangfu Li chuckled softly, his heart growing colder and colder, but he said nothing more. He pushed open the door and entered, where he saw Huangfu Ying sitting upright on the couch, a small table in front of her, frowning as she reviewed memorials.

Upon entering the hall, Huangfu Li did not kneel, but bowed his head and said, "Mother is not asleep yet."

Huangfu Ying didn't even look up: "If I fall asleep, will I still be able to see the sun rise tomorrow?"

Huangfu Li tightened his right hand: "Mother is joking. I don't want Mother's life."

"That won't be long," Huangfu Ying said coldly. "They've sent everyone away from me, aren't they just after my position? The Crown Prince has already forced the palace; do they think he can leave me a way out?"

Huangfu Li trembled slightly: "I can give up my mother's life, as long as she gives me the edict to pass the throne to me."

Huangfu Ying burst out laughing after hearing this.

Even her own son wanted to kill her.

Huangfu Ying beckoned to him, beckoning Huangfu Li to the bedside, and pointed to the memorials on the table, saying, "Ali wants to be the emperor. Come to my side and see what you will see and do every day after you become the emperor."

Huangfu Ying had not called him by his childhood name for decades. Huangfu Li was in a daze, and when he came to his senses, the person was already standing in front of the bed.

Huangfu Ying handed him the memorials one by one: "Ali, do you know what happened in Kyushu when you forced the emperor to abdicate?"

Book 1: Bandits are rampant in Fang County, Shannan East Circuit, roaming the mountains and fields, affecting the mining of sulfur-based gold mines, and troops are urgently needed to suppress them.

Huangfu Ying said, "Ali, since you are at the palace today, the troops sent to Fang County will arrive a few days later."

Huangfu Li slammed the memorial back onto the table: "I will send more troops to reinforce you in the future."

Huangfu Ying smiled and gave him the second volume: Japanese soldiers have fled to Ryukyu and are fighting with weapons, urgently needing reinforcements.

Huangfu Ying said, "I won't go into too much detail about how the magical weapons flowed to Baekje and Japan. As for the distant mainland of the Militia, their reserves of magical weapons were already lagging behind. Do you know how many people these Militia soldiers will kill when they land?"

Huangfu Li hurriedly replied, "In the future, I will use the pretext of privately possessing legal weapons to send troops to the island and wipe out the rebels."

Huangfu Ying: "What about those civilians who were forced to pick up weapons and armor left behind by deserters in order to protect their families and defend their territory?"

"It's better to kill a hundred innocent people than to let one guilty person go free," Huangfu Li said. "That's what you taught me."

Huangfu Ying shook his head: "I'm teaching you to use it against the enemy, not against the common people. You can't be foolproof. Even if you kill ninety-nine civilians and finally kill the roving soldiers, the children left behind by those ninety-nine civilians will grow up and become roving soldiers because of hatred, endlessly. Can you keep killing them forever?"

Huangfu Li was stunned: "Why do they hate the emperor?"

“Why not?” Huangfu Ying said. “Huangfu Li, nothing is a given, not even the fact that you are my son.”

Huangfu Ying threw down the memorial and went to Huangfu Li: "I once suffered from the pain of blood feuds, leaving only you, the father and son, and also leaving a name for Princess Qingyang, all so that you could gain a good reputation in the world and ascend the throne smoothly."

"Teaching you to be ruthless is because of your position, which requires decisiveness and the inability to be indecisive, but it does not mean that you should use schemes and tricks at will."

“Ah Li, I’ve taught you everything, but the one thing I haven’t taught you is how to be a person.” Huangfu Ying sighed. “If you can’t be a person, you can’t sit in this position, let alone govern the people of the world.”

Hearing his mother reject him with her own ears, Huangfu Li felt like his world was collapsing. He raised his arms and shouted, "Even you are rejecting me! By what right? By what right do you say I don't know how to behave?"

Huangfu Ying sat down by the bed and coldly watched him go mad.

"I came to see Mother, and you say I don't know how to behave?" Huangfu Li's vision blurred, and he raised his hand to wipe it, but when it reached his eyes, he remembered that his arm had been broken long ago. He held up his prosthetic arm and said blankly, "My hand is broken, the wound is festering and stinking, and Mother, you didn't even think of looking at me. You even let that culprit go to Dengzhou, so that she can return to the capital in glory and get what is rightfully hers, while I die in the Eastern Palace. Is this what Mother wants?"

Huangfu Ying lowered her eyebrows slightly, opened her mouth, and after a long while, turned her head away, no longer looking at him.

Looking at Huangfu Ying's graying temples, Huangfu Li suddenly realized that his mother had aged, her eyesight was failing, and she was no longer capable of being relied upon. Even he had to reject her. With this excuse, he looked up to the sky and roared, "Mother, I don't want you to die. I want you to see with your own eyes how I, the son you don't approve of, will sit on the throne."

Looking at his severed left arm, Huangfu Li said fiercely, "I will repay this debt of a severed arm by tearing Huangfu Feng to pieces."

After saying that, Huangfu Li strode out of the Zichen Palace. Li Han, who was waiting to the side, stepped forward and said, "The guards delivered a message and arrived at the Jin residence, but they did not find Jin Shiyu and Jin Suiqing. They interrogated the servants and said that the two left the residence in a rhinoceros-horn carriage at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM).

"The hour of Chou?" Huangfu Liping calmed his breathing, pondered for a moment, and said with certainty, "Then there's no need to look for them. The two of them should have entered Ziwei City with Gong Xiaoyang."

As for why he went to the Dharma Machine Sect, it was probably related to the sulfur combustion machine.

It doesn't matter, he's already given up. Huangfu Feng sneered, "Where's Jin Guizhong?"

Li Han: "The Death Guard found him in the red-light district and is already on his way back. It's just strange that he bumped into him bleeding. The Death Guard thought he was going to commit suicide, but after checking, he found that the scars on his arm were overlapping and dense, which showed that the bleeding had not been going on for just a day or two."

Why bleed someone out of nowhere?

Looking back, Jin Guizhong was physically inactive, and as he got older, his premature aging became more and more obvious. I thought it was because he had ruined his body by indulging in a life of pleasure, but now I think there is probably another reason for his poor health.

Huangfu Li: "Jin Guizhong is weak and cowardly. He only responds to force and not persuasion. Time is of the essence. Take him directly to the East Palace and I will interrogate him personally."

*

Under the cover of night, the three of them hid and made their way to the inner palace. From afar, they could see an increased number of imperial guards in front of Yongtai Gate.

Jin Shiyu decisively raised his hands, pressing Jin Suiqing and Gong Xiaoyang's heads back to the left and right: "We've already found Gong Xiaoyang's head. Now, instead of going out, go to Shangshi Kitchen."

Gong Xiaoyang asked in confusion, "What are we going to Shangshichu for?"

Jin Suiqing explained: "If Huangfu Li wants to force the palace, he will definitely need to stock up on enough food. Even if someone comes to pick him up, he will still need to store it in the Imperial Kitchen. Perhaps he can find a chance to sneak out of the palace there."

When they arrived at the Imperial Kitchen, the palace maids and eunuchs were indeed busy.

Despite the hustle and bustle, the atmosphere was relatively relaxed. A palace maid yawned and said, "Why wake people up so early in the morning? I wonder what's going on."

"Don't overthink it, just do it."

"Is there some kind of celebration? Could it be that the Princess is coming back?"

A eunuch rushed over, interrupting the palace maids' idle chatter: "A batch of new ingredients has arrived at the Meridian Gate. We need to go and receive them ourselves. Quickly sort out the rotten vegetables that are about to be sent out and replace them at the Meridian Gate to save us from having to make another trip!"

Upon hearing that he would personally receive the order, the palace maids were not happy: "Shouldn't the dirty and hard work be done by the eunuchs of the inner palace?"

The eunuch said sternly, "It's not your place to interfere with the work assigned by the master! If you don't want to do it, then get out. There are plenty of people who will do it."

After saying this, carts were pushed into the Imperial Kitchen, with a guard carrying a knife following every two carts. The cold glint of the blade terrified the palace maids, who dared not delay any longer and hurriedly went to pack up.

In an inconspicuous corner, Jin Suiqing blinked and saw a smelly vegetable bucket in the corner. She quickly walked over, opened the lid, and saw that the rotten vegetables inside were only half full. She pointed at the bucket and said, "Quick, Gong Xiaoyang, hide it in here."

Gong Xiaoyang leaned closer, rolled her eyes, took a deep breath to prepare herself, and then nearly fainted from nausea: "It stinks too much, I can't take it, I really can't."

Jin Suiqing: "If it doesn't work, then die."

Gong Xiaoyang was fine again and quickly crawled inside. Jin Suiqing opened the other buckets and was about to put rotten vegetable leaves on Gong Xiaoyang's head when Jin Shiyu stopped her: "I'll do it."

He rolled up his sleeves and started scooping up the swill. Jin Suiqing was dumbfounded; Jin Shiyu was a clean freak.

Jin Suiqing whispered, "Brother, you...aren't you disgusted?"

Jin Shiyu remained unfazed: "I can't let you do it."

As he spoke, he had already emptied the second slop bucket and was about to carry Jin Suiqing inside when, before he could even reach out, a palace maid suddenly darted out.

Jin Shiyu was tall and conspicuous, so Jin Suiqing quickly told him to hide behind the bucket.

The palace maid turned her head and saw Jin Suiqing. She frowned and looked her up and down: "I've never seen you before. Which department are you from?"

Jin Suiqing chuckled, then, realizing that the clothes he was wearing seemed to belong to the Imperial Household Department, he made up a story: "The Imperial Household Department... uh, I accidentally threw something away, and His Highness the Crown Prince punished me by making me look for it. I searched every toilet in the entire Ziwei City, and the only one left was from the Imperial Kitchen."

The palace maid rolled her eyes at her and pinched her nose: "Don't you find it smelly?"

It seems they managed to get away with it.

Just as Jin Suiqing breathed a sigh of relief, the palace maid suddenly said, "Stop looking, all this garbage needs to be disposed of soon. There's some medicine that needs to be delivered to the East Palace, His Highness is urging us to go, you can go now."