Although the Fifth Prince's birth mother, Consort Shu, was only a concubine, she had a title. The Emperor's attitude towards the two of them—neither too close nor too distant—was a form of protection in itself.
The old emperor glanced at the stack of memorials piled up beside his bed, all impeaching Zhu Yu. He pursed his lips, and after a long while asked Zhang Zhongwei beside him, "Have you found out who assassinated him?"
Since those coffins were transported into Shengjing a month and a half ago, the entire city of Shengjing has been in an uproar, and impeachment memorials have been flying onto his desk like scraps of paper.
The emperor changed the subject too quickly, but fortunately Zhang Zhongwei had served the old emperor for a long time, and seeing the old emperor's gaze sweep over the stack of memorials, he understood what the emperor was asking: "I heard it's a Jianghu assassin organization called Fengyue Gang."
"Fengyue Gang..." the old emperor muttered to himself, his fingers rubbing together lightly. "A Jianghu assassin organization, what else have we found?"
Zhang Zhongwei shook his head: "I don't know. No matter how much information I find, this old servant can't find it."
The old emperor glanced at him, knowing that this old eunuch would never dare to hide anything from him: "What has he been doing in the mansion these past few days? He's the kind of person who can't sit still. Can he really just lie in bed and recuperate peacefully every day?"
“This…” Zhang Zhongwei hesitated, “Your Majesty, please forgive me, this old servant did not know, but when this old servant went to the Prince An’s residence, His Highness Prince An was reading in his study.”
The old emperor waved his hand: "Forget it. His Prince An's mansion is heavily guarded. No one can plant their own spies inside, not even my people. After the assassination attempt, the guards have been strengthened even more. How could you possibly find out anything?"
The old emperor sighed, casually flipping through the memorials impeaching Zhu Yu, and scoffed, "Hmph, he's living a carefree life now, driving me to this point. So many noble young masters' lives were lost because of him on the northwestern battlefield, he really dares! Doesn't he know how many people are impeaching him?"
Zhang Zhongwei stood respectfully to the side, thinking to himself, is there anything His Highness Prince An wouldn't dare to do?
The old emperor looked up and asked Zhang Zhongwei, "How many people died? Which families' sons were among them?"
Zhang Zhongwei lowered his head and replied, "Your Majesty, there are twenty-three people in total, all sons of officials of the fifth rank or above in the capital, fifteen of whom are legitimate sons. In particular, there is Guo Yun, the eldest son of the Marquis of Zhongyong, Qiao Wang, the second son of the Minister of Works, and..."
The old emperor interrupted, waving his hand and saying, "Alright, alright, let him come to the palace in a few days."
He patted the stack of memorials: "Let him explain this to them himself. I don't have the time to handle such matters for him."
Zhang Zhongwei said in a low voice, "Yes."
Just then, they heard someone whispering outside, and the old emperor frowned.
Zhang Zhongwei strode out and yelled, "What are you doing? What kind of people are you? Are you asking for trouble? Don't you even know where you are?"
The two murmuring eunuchs turned pale with fright and knelt down with a thud: "Eunuch Zhang, we...we heard..."
Zhang Zhongwei's face darkened: "Don't you want to lose your tongue? Straighten up and answer me."
A fair-skinned eunuch knelt forward and said, "Reporting to Eunuch Zhang, we just heard that Consort Duan has entered the palace and had some unpleasantness with Commander Xiao at the palace gate."
Zhang Zhongwei frowned and turned to look at the old emperor, who was half-reclining on the couch in the imperial bedchamber. He saw that the old emperor had a gloomy face and seemed to be trying his best to hear what the people outside were saying.
Zhang Zhongwei's voice rose almost imperceptibly: "Nonsense! Consort Duan is the birth mother of Prince An. It is perfectly reasonable for her to come to the palace to pay her respects. Why should she have any unpleasantness with Commander Xiao?"
The young eunuch kowtowed repeatedly: "We servants would never dare to speak recklessly. Consort Duan even called Commander Xiao a good dog who guards the Emperor's gate. Consort Duan has now been taken to the Empress Dowager's Cisui Palace by Granny Liu, and she is already there now."
Seeing Zhang Zhongwei's expression change every few moments, the young eunuch quickly added, "If Eunuch Zhang doesn't believe me, you can just ask him."
Zhang Zhongwei kicked the two eunuchs once each: "I think you've reached the end of your job. This happened and you didn't even report it to me immediately. You're still muttering here. What are you muttering about? Are you tired of having your heads on your necks for too long?"
The two eunuchs knelt on the ground, trembling.
Zhang Zhongwei waved his hand impatiently: "Go and each take twenty strokes of the cane. If there is a next time, you can forget about your life." After saying that, he turned around and went back to the imperial bedchamber.
Inside the imperial palace, the old emperor's face was grim. He casually flipped through the memorials impeaching Zhu Yu, the words of which were extremely harsh, all urging him to severely punish the fourth prince.
The old emperor glanced at Zhang Zhongwei as he entered. "Hmph, old man, don't think he doesn't know. Xiao Songhui didn't tell him when he entered the palace."
The old man subtly told him this through those two young eunuchs.
Bi Yueyi has become increasingly obsessive these past few years. He sighed softly, recalling his first meeting with Consort Duan. So many years have passed, yet it feels like yesterday.
But who would have thought that his relationship with Consort Duan would end up like this?
Twenty-seven years ago, before he ascended the throne, a heavy snow fell in the capital, causing a snow disaster that froze countless cattle and sheep to death in the suburbs.
As the only heir apparent to the throne, he was ordered to inspect the outskirts of the capital. Halfway there, heavy snow blocked the mountain passes, and he and his entourage entered a manor to take shelter from the snow.
The village was filled with red plum blossoms. A young woman, wearing a fiery red fox fur cloak, with an indescribably graceful figure, stood under the red plum trees, looking up at the trees in full bloom, a smile playing on her lips.
He was stunned and determined to get his hands on her. After returning to the capital, he made many inquiries and learned that she came from a merchant family.
Six months later, the late emperor passed away, and he hurriedly brought her into the harem.
In just six months, she rose from Beauty and Consort to Zhaorong and Zhaoyi.
After giving birth to Yu'er, she was further honored as Consort Duan.
Unfortunately, this woman injured her body while pregnant with Yu'er, which caused her temperament to become increasingly strange, and the affection between the two gradually faded away under her influence.
He couldn't even remember the last time he had visited Consort Duan's Yuqing Palace.
Later, he received news that she was far more than just a merchant by birth, and he was shocked when he learned the truth.
He is an emperor; he shouldn't make such a mistake!
He even considered ending her and Yu'er's lives with his own hands.
Their existence is a major threat to the Great Zhou!
He didn't even dare to imagine the consequences if the Northern Qi and other states found out.
However, he could never bring himself to do it.
Now Yu'er commands 200,000 Northern Army soldiers...
They were forced into that situation and sent him to the Northern Army, thinking he would die on the battlefield...
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