Chapter 149: Secret Order to Execute Rong Jun and Changning Guard.
Heng Yang knelt and wept in front of the coffin in the Taiji Hall for a whole day before returning home at dusk. When he returned to the mansion, he was helped by a maid to step through the gate.
The maid helped her to the couch to rest. Heng Yang was about to raise her hand to rub her aching back when she suddenly gasped. She rolled up a section of her skirt and saw that her knees were swollen high. The skin exposed under the skirt was red and swollen, and even the slightest touch caused excruciating pain.
The noblewoman wept for three days upon hearing of the death; this was only the first day.
Chen Liangyu asked her maid to bring her medicine to reduce the swelling, but Heng Yang stopped her.
Heng Yang said, "No need to apply it, we still have to go to the palace tomorrow."
Chen Liangyu said, "The palace cannot prevent me from seeing a doctor and taking medicine. Please summon the physician to take a look."
Heng Yang leaned against the pillow, her exhaustion seeping into her body, yet a hint of tenderness appeared in her eyes and brows. She dismissed the maids in the room, gently placed her hand on her lower abdomen, raised an eyebrow at Chen Liangyu, and her smile deepened.
Heng Yang remained silent, but Chen Liangyu already understood.
"At this time, medication may harm the fetus, so it is absolutely forbidden to use it."
Heng Yang's eyes shone like stars as she said, "It's not yet three months, so it's not a stable time. The doctor repeatedly told us not to tell anyone yet, saying it's a taboo. But there's nothing to be ashamed of about you, so it's fine to tell you early."
Pregnant women should rest, but Heng Yang spent the entire day in the palace kneeling and weeping without stopping. No wonder she was exhausted and suffered terribly.
Chen Liangyu hurriedly told the kitchen to prepare more nourishing soup and asked, "Does Second Brother know?"
Heng Yang nodded: "The Marquis was the first to know. You didn't see it, but he spent day and night in his study searching through classic texts to name the child. He wasn't satisfied with this character, nor was he satisfied with that character. He kept looking and looking, but none of them were to his liking. The name still hasn't been decided. Although there's no rush to name the child, I think it would be best to decide after three months, so that we can send a letter home to Father and Mother to announce the good news."
Chen Liangyu asked, "How are Lord Heng and his wife?"
At this point, Heng Yang propped himself up on his elbows and prepared to stand up to thank Chen Liangyu.
Xie Yuan had long harbored resentment over the prolonged siege of Nanzhou. After Chen Liangyu instigated Zhao Xingli to deliver a scathing report against Heng Miao, Xie Yuan seized the opportunity to remove Heng Miao from his post as commander of the southern border. Heng Jinan, who had been imprisoned in the countryside, has now returned to the southern camp and resumed command of the troops. Heng Jinan has regained control of the Heng clan, giving his rebellious son Heng Miao a beating and banishing him to guard the reservoir.
Heng Yang wanted to express his gratitude for this.
"Thank you, General Xie, for saving my father."
Chen Liangyu stopped Heng Yang from bowing before she could accept the bow.
"Second sister-in-law."
It feels like being too distant.
Heng Yang said, "I should have said thank you long ago, but you have been busy and we rarely meet, so I have never found a suitable opportunity to express my gratitude. The Marquis also said that there is no need for thanks among family members. Since that is the case, I will pass on my father's message to the General."
Heng Yang composed herself.
Chen Liangyu had already guessed what she was going to say. Back then, Xie Wenjun had intended to bring Heng Yang and Chen Xingqian together, and that was the plan she had in mind.
With Heng Zhao dead and Heng Miao rebelling against his father, only Heng Yang remained as a direct descendant of the Heng family. Although Heng Jinan was also considering adopting a child from a collateral branch, there were still degrees of closeness to the family. Heng Yang had once served as a companion to a princess in the palace and later became the adopted daughter of the eldest princess. To outsiders, her relationship with the eldest princess's household seemed very close. With her marriage into the Xuanping Marquis's household, the Nanheng and Beichen families were now bound together. Therefore, when the Heng family faced another choice, they would have to consider the Xuanping Marquis's position.
This is how it is said today, but it was different back then.
At that time, Heng Jinan was imprisoned by Heng Miao, who held sole command of the southern border's military. Although Heng Miao had been favored by the Princess and thus made meritorious contributions to the new emperor, he immediately sided with the new emperor after being ennobled. At that time, all the prestigious families were eager to arrange marriages with Heng Miao's own children. Heng Yang, backed by the Princess's residence, became insignificant in the Heng family.
The fact that Heng Yang married into the Xuanping Marquis's family did not cause much of a stir in Yongdu. Even Chen Luan himself said when considering the marriage, "The Heng family is a mess, what is there to scheme against?"
No one could have predicted that the Heng family of the Southern Border would change hands again.
Heng Yang said, "Father said that Heng in the south and Chen in the north are of the same mind and the same virtue."
After experiencing many ups and downs, Heng Jinan has come to realize that rather than making blind choices, it is better to find someone with clear vision and discernment to rely on in order to ensure his own safety and security.
The words were carefully chosen, and Chen Liangyu understood that Heng Jinan was indicating to her that from now on, the Heng family and the Chen family would be of equal standing and share the same position.
Since Heng Yang made this clear, it meant that Heng Yang knew perfectly well that she was the eldest princess's person.
Chen Liangyu smiled knowingly, which was her response.
The overcast and rainy day was already gloomy, and the last ray of sunlight outside the window had already set in the west. The servants of the Marquis's mansion lit up the lanterns under the eaves.
Dinner was reheated again.
Heng Yang glanced several times towards the gate of the mansion, "Why haven't they returned yet?"
Chen Liangyu said, "Second Brother may be preoccupied with Han Sheren's matter. Second Sister-in-law, please have your meal first, don't wait any longer. I'll send someone to the Imperial Prison to look for him."
Before the guards sent out to search for the missing person had even left the mansion, familiar footsteps came from outside the courtyard. It was Yun Shu, who was by Chen Luan's side. He quickly stepped forward, bowed to Chen Liangyu Hengyang, and said in a steady voice, "General, Madam, the Marquis has some matters to attend to and will be staying elsewhere tonight. He has asked that the mansion not wait for him for dinner and that Madam should also rest early and not worry about him."
Heng Yang agreed verbally, but a hint of worry appeared on her face.
Chen Liangyu said, "I'll go and see for myself."
Yun Shu said, "General, the Marquis specifically instructed you not to go looking for him. The Marquis does not want you to get involved in any trouble in Yongdu that has nothing to do with you."
Chen Luan was extremely good at understanding people's personalities. He had long anticipated that Heng Yang would wait for him at home upon hearing this, while Chen Liangyu would go out to find him without saying a word.
But she was already in the eye of the storm, so there was no storm that had nothing to do with her.
Since Chen Luan said this, he must know that it would be useless for her to go. There are only two possibilities: either he can handle this matter on his own, or no matter who comes or who intervenes, nothing can be changed.
Chen Luan did not return until 4 a.m. the following morning.
His robes were still stained with dried blood and some mud of indistinguishable color; Chen Liangyu could tell at a glance that the filth had been picked up in the prison. Yun Shu followed beside Chen Luan, keeping her head down as she walked, occasionally glancing at Chen Luan's cold expression.
Chen Luan wanted to take off his dirty outer robe, but when his fingertips touched the collar, he froze for a long time and didn't move an inch.
Chen Liangyu knocked twice on the door, "Second Brother," she said, her tone filled with concern and inquiry.
Chen Luan then turned his face and said calmly, "Han Song is dead."
When he arrived yesterday, Han Song's condition was already very bad. He went so far as to overstep his bounds and ask the head of the Imperial Hospital to come and treat him. His former comrades from Hanhong Academy, who came from humble backgrounds, had also signed a joint memorial, and the Censorate had written a guarantee. If he could just hold on for one more day, the news of his torture in the Imperial Prison would reach the Emperor's eyes, and there would be a chance for him to live.
He couldn't hold on.
Perhaps he didn't give up, but rather his will to die was not to live.
Only after his death did the joint memorial reach the emperor's desk.
Han Song died under torture after only one day in the prison. He vomited two or three times during the coroner's examination of the body. After the body document[1] was submitted to Yong'an Prefecture, the prefect of Yong'an Prefecture sent the body document to the palace without delay. After reviewing it, Xie Yuan immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the edict that did not avoid using the Empress Dowager's name.
The Ministry of Justice treated this matter as an urgent case and quickly found a clerk in the Secretariat named Yan Qu, who was responsible for copying drafted edicts for the Secretariat scribes. In Han Song's draft, the character that overlapped with the Empress Dowager's name was replaced with a phonetic loan character, but the clerk did not avoid this when copying it.
After a thorough interrogation, the clerk admitted that it was due to his own negligence that he made a mistake while copying the text.
This was clearly a wrongful conviction. The Ministry of Justice punished the prison officials who tortured Han Song, and then quickly signed the document, hastily closing the case.
This move aroused dissatisfaction among the upright officials from the Hanhong Academy, led by Gu Heng, a Hanlin scholar and Left Vice Minister of the Secretariat, causing a huge uproar in the court. The upright officials and students of the Imperial Academy spontaneously launched a large-scale petition, demanding a retrial of the case, to clear Han Sheren's name and severely punish the mastermind behind it.
The petitions piled up like mountains in front of Xie Yuan.
"Very well, a miscarriage of justice has occurred right under my nose!"
How could he not know that this was a show of force from a powerful family? If they thought that the death of a fourth-rank official would frighten him and make him back down, wouldn't the might of the emperor become a joke?
"Re-examine the case! Investigate it for me!"
However, just two days later, the Ministry of Justice issued another verdict.
Yan Qu dictated that he had been reprimanded by Han Song when he was copying the draft imperial edict, and he held a grudge, which is why he framed Han Song for taking revenge on him.
This claim is even less credible.
All the official records of officials, both high and low, in Yongdu were kept in the Ministry of Personnel. A simple check would reveal that Yan Qu's ancestral home was in Jiang Andong's hometown. Everyone in the court and the public knew that Han Song had strongly advised against abolishing the hereditary privileges of the Jiang family and had offended Jiang Andong. How could Yan Qu, a mere clerk, risk his life to frame Han Song without someone instigating him?
The Ministry of Justice couldn't find anything out during the retrial.
The tortures used on Yan Qu have already been applied. If the interrogation continues, not only will the torture fail to extract the desired information, but Yan Qu will also die from torture. The court is already deeply angered; if another incident like this occurs, the entire Ministry of Justice will suffer greatly.
The three-day mourning period for the noblewomen was initiated by the Empress Dowager. On the evening of the third day, Xie Yuan went to Shou'an Palace to pay his respects. After leaving the Empress Dowager's residence, he ordered Yan Qu to be beheaded and instructed the Ministry of Justice to close the case.
On his way back to Chongzheng Hall from Shou'an Palace, Xie Yuan's face was so dark it looked like it could be wrung out.
Chen Luan stepped into the main hall of the Ministry of Justice once again and took the seat of honor.
This time, the person standing below the hall was not the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, but Tan Xialing, the Minister of Justice himself.
Tan Xialing was a second-rank official, while Chen Luan was a third-rank official, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. According to rank, Tan Xialing was above Chen Luan, but because Chen Luan held the title of Marquis, he had to stand below him with his hands at his sides.
Tan Xialing said, "My lord, this case is closed. If you have any objections, I will write a memorial to request the Emperor to transfer this case to the Court of Judicial Review so that you may try it personally. What do you think?"
Chen Luan said, "Then write it down. Give him paper and pen!"
Tan Xialing only wanted to tease him, not really refute the Emperor for causing trouble for himself. Seeing that Chen Luan was serious, he quickly admitted defeat and advised, "This matter was pressured by the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor ordered the case closed. My lord, listen to my advice, if the Empress Dowager wants to protect him, no one can do anything about it."
There had long been criticisms within the palace and among the people, and there was something unclear about why Jiang Andong relied on the Empress Dowager.
This actually confirmed the rumors.
Tan Xialing said, "The Marquis comes from a noble family and his title is hereditary. Right now, why should you care about Han Sheren? The important thing is to figure out the Emperor's intention to the Ministry of Rites."
On the day the Ministry of Justice closed and filed the case, Xie Yuan issued an edict to the Ministry of Rites, ordering the Ministry of Rites to select the late emperor's mausoleum within three days, and to bury the late emperor on time after the coffin had been kept for twenty-seven days.
Now it was the Ministry of Rites' turn to be in a dilemma.
Emperor Xuanyuan's tomb is located in the Guangdi Mausoleum area. It was originally completed, with three main underground palaces side by side. The late Empress and Empress Huixian, who died young, were buried in two palaces on the left and right respectively, while the middle one was reserved for Emperor Xuanyuan himself. However, the Eldest Princess declared that the late emperor would not be buried with Empress Huixian and that the Ministry of Works should select a new site and build a new underground palace before Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin could be interred. Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin has been sitting in the Taiji Hall for more than half a month now, and with only ten days left, it is impossible to complete the construction of the new underground palace.
The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works decided to simply excavate the underground palace of the late Empress, carry Emperor Xuanyuan's coffin inside, and bury the emperor and empress together. The underground palace in the middle would be empty, acting as a barrier separating Emperor Xuanyuan and Empress Huixian, thus fulfilling the wishes of the eldest princess.
This is a win-win solution.
After reaching an agreement, the memorial was submitted, and Xie Yuan immediately wrote his approval on the rough paper without saying a word.
The Emperor was so eager to arrange the burial of the late Emperor that he acted so hastily that even the routine funeral preparations seemed to be rushed.
"Only if I give up my life and die in the imperial prison will the emperor be wary of the aristocratic families' counterattack, and only then will the new policies have a chance to survive."
During the period of mourning, any reforms or changes concerning the stability of the country were considered to be contrary to filial piety and disrespectful to ancestors. After the late emperor was laid to rest and Buddhist rites were performed, it was self-evident what Xie Yuan would do.
The sweltering air seemed to stagnate, without a breath of wind, making it difficult to breathe.
After Chen Liangyu finished her last shift at Taiji Hall, she saw Xie Yuan's trusted bodyguard Yan Feng waiting at Jiazhi Gate, but he did not summon her to the emperor's presence.
Yan Feng presented the secret order, rolled into a thin tube, with both hands. "General, this is His Majesty's oral decree, and you must open it yourself."
Chen Liangyu unscrewed the wax seal, revealing two lines of vigorous ink characters.
Each line of text carries an imperial edict.
The first imperial edict ordered her to return to the northern border after Emperor Xuanyuan's burial.
The second imperial edict ordered her to complete the unfinished tasks at Emperor Guangdi's Mausoleum on the day of Emperor Xuanyuan's burial.
Execute Rong Jun and Changning Guard.
In the distance, dark clouds rolled in, quickly engulfing the already gray sky, like a long-planned ambush.
Suddenly, a gust of wind rose from the ground.
The real storm is coming for Yongdu.
Author's note: [1] Corpse report: autopsy report.
In addition, there is the “Yuan Shu”: which is equivalent to today’s forensic identification conclusion and on-site investigation report.
If you missed Qixi Festival, then I wish everyone a happy Baxi Festival!
Thank you for reading this far!
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