On a dark and windy night, the prison
The Prince of Jin lay motionless on the straw, as if he had no breath, but his eyes were slightly open.
His mind raced. Clearly, there had been no such thing in his previous life. What had gone wrong? He was puzzled.
After his rebirth, he had been very careful and kept his distance in everything he did, but this time he fell heavily and sent himself to prison.
what to do?
Rely on the ally, the Fifth Prince? You can't count on him at all. The Fifth Prince is a person who puts his own interests first.
Besides, he was just using the Fifth Prince as a shield, pushing him to the surface to make it easier for him to do things secretly.
The court officials he secretly recruited? He hoped that there would be a smart one who could unite them all and speak up for him.
Why hasn't the news of the prince's death come yet? This shouldn't be the case.
Could it be that he didn't get the news because he was in the Heavenly Prison?
He heard a slight sound outside, and he turned over and looked ahead warily.
An old jailer walked in quickly, holding a food box in his hand, "Brothers, it's cold, have some wine to warm your body."
Having a sip of wine late at night, life seems like heaven, the guards come over happily.
As soon as you open the lid, you can smell an enticing aroma. Roast chicken, roast duck, and fried peanuts are all great side dishes.
We all sat together, eating and drinking, and we were so happy.
After a while, everyone was struck by sleepiness. One after another, they yawned and fell asleep on the table.
Only the jailer pushed everyone's bodies and called out softly a few times, but no one responded.
He sat up straight, the drunkenness on his face wiped away, walked quickly to the cell door, and took out a key from his pocket.
The door opened and the Prince of Jin looked at him blankly.
The jailer threw a package over and said, "Prince, please follow me. I will take you to a safe place."
"I won't leave." The Prince of Jin opened it and saw that it was a jailer's uniform. His heart sank. If he left, it would be like fleeing from the crime, which was tantamount to admitting his guilt and his reputation would be ruined.
Besides, he didn't know who this person was, and he might be someone who was deliberately trying to trick him.
The jailer said hastily, "The emperor has murderous intentions towards you. You will be executed in the autumn. If you don't leave, you will die."
"This is impossible, Your Majesty..." The Prince of Jin was stunned. In his previous life, whenever something happened to the prince, the emperor would go on a killing spree, purging everyone from top to bottom several times, killing countless people.
He might even be implicated!
Countless past lives and present lives came to mind, and for a moment I was confused, "Who do you belong to?"
"I'm the Queen Mother's man. She has ordered that you be sent out at all costs." The jailer took out a token, and the pupils of the Prince of Jin suddenly dilated.
This is... the token of the Qingyi Guard.
People only know about the Wuyi Guards, but do not know that there is a more mysterious team, the Qingyi Guards, which are specifically responsible for the safety of the royal family.
In his previous life, a mysterious man gave him this token, and he thus took control of the Qingyi Guards. Relying on this mysterious power, he evaded countless assassinations, both overt and covert, and survived to the end.
"Who gave this to you?"
The jailer said softly, "The Queen Mother gave it to you. Take this token and run for your life. She can't protect you anymore."
The Prince of Jin's mind went blank. The real master of the Blue Guards was actually the Queen Mother? In other words, the Queen Mother had given him this in his previous life?
But why? Why would a person without any relatives or friends be so kind to him?
There is something strange about this matter.
"I want to see the Queen Mother." He had many questions he wanted to clarify.
The jailer shook his head slightly, "You can't enter the Cining Palace. You should leave quickly. You won't be able to leave once these people wake up."
The Prince of Jin was hesitant. Deep down, he didn't want to leave.
Leaving means giving up everything, including the position of crown prince.
This was too passive and not conducive to his subsequent plans.
But, if I don’t leave now, is there still a chance to turn things around?
Even though he thought he was extremely smart and had seen through the direction of the future, he was now at the crossroads of life, wavering.
"Boom." A loud noise was heard and the ground shook a few times.
The Prince of Jin jumped up suddenly and rushed towards the only skylight, but the window was too high and he couldn't reach it.
"What's going on?"
The jailer swiftly jumped onto the railing, leaned over the skylight to take a look, and suddenly his face sank. "Oh no! It's from the direction of the palace. Something has happened in the palace."
The two looked at each other, and the same thought came to their mind: Queen Mother?
In the distance, there were sounds of running, screams, and panicked questioning.
"Prince Jin, if you don't leave now it will be too late."
Prince Jin weighed the pros and cons for a while, then gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go."
He changed into the jailer's clothes and followed the old jailer quietly.
The old jailer was very familiar with the terrain. He skillfully avoided crowded places and brought the people to the gate.
Just as he was about to step out of the door, a voice came from behind, "Lao Li, why is it you? Aren't you going to take a day off today?"
He was a yamen runner. He yawned and could not open his eyes. He looked very tired.
"Who's that person behind you? He looks unfamiliar, as if I've never seen him before."
The Prince of Jin's heart tightened and he lowered his head, not daring to breathe.
The old jailer said casually, his expression unchanged, "This is a newcomer. You may not have seen him. I came here to take a look because I had something urgent to do. What happened just now? Is there any trouble in the palace?"
The other party yawned again, "I'm not sure either. I've asked someone to check it out."
"Okay, I'll treat you to a drink some other day." The old jailer said this as he ran out with his men.
Seeing that the two were about to disappear before his eyes, the yamen runner seemed to have changed into a different person, and said in a serious manner, "Follow them."
"Yes." Several figures emerged from the darkness and quickly chased after him.
Under the arrangement of the jailer, the Prince of Jin first took a horse carriage and then a mule cart. When the city gate opened at dawn, he blended into the crowd and left the city.
After one stick of incense, the governor of the Five Gates ordered the city gates to be closed urgently in order to capture the evil criminal.
On the official road, a carriage was speeding, "Prince, the Crown Princess is still pregnant..."
The Prince of Jin, who was sitting in the carriage, lowered his eyebrows and eyes, showing no emotion. "Let her bear with it for a few days, and I will compensate her later."
A few days later, the Prince of Jin appeared in Weicheng, thousands of miles away. He was dressed in a grayish green robe and his face was so painted that even his mother couldn't recognize him.
After several days of traveling, he was exhausted and wanted to find a restaurant to have a good meal.
The jailer was tired of hiding from place to place, so the two men chose a restaurant that was neither too big nor too small to have their meal.
The Prince of Jin ordered a table full of food and asked people about the situation.
He didn't dare to go back to his fiefdom directly, but took a long detour.
A voice came from my ear, "Have you heard? The Cining Palace was struck by thunder and the Queen Mother was burned to charcoal on the spot. What a wicked thing she must have done."
The people at the next table were gossiping enthusiastically, looking inexplicably excited.
The Prince of Jin's face changed drastically. The Queen Mother was tortured in the palace in her previous life, and she could not escape her fate in this life.
However, the Empress Dowager committed suicide half a year later, and she died after accusing the Emperor and Empress of mistreating her in front of all the civil and military officials.
From then on, the emperor and empress lost the support of the people and their morality.
The other onlookers were so excited, "Is this true? The Queen Mother is the mother of the country, how could it be..."
"It is said that in order to gain power, this queen mother had her hands stained with blood. She eliminated all the concubines who were more outstanding than her. She also murdered the royal heirs and even spared no children."
"Oh my God." Everyone exclaimed.
"How can anyone who can make it in the deep palace be a kind person? How many of them have clean hands?"
Prince Jin closed his eyes slightly. This must be the rumor spread by the emperor. Everything is different now.
Will the throne fall to him?
Suddenly, the guest sitting by the window exclaimed, "The government has posted an imperial edict. Let's go and see what happened."
The government office is diagonally opposite, very close, and anyone with a sharp eye can see it at a glance.
The diners who loved to join in the fun ran over and came up soon, their eyes sparkling and their emotions very excited, "The prince of Jin was imprisoned in the Tianlao for treason, and his accomplices broke into the Tianlao at night and kidnapped him."
Without even taking a breath, he finished speaking in one breath, "The Crown Prince of Jin has been deposed from his position as Crown Prince, demoted to a commoner, and a wanted notice has been posted."
Diners: ...
The Prince of Jin's face turned pale. Although he had expected this day to come, he felt a knot in his throat when it finally came.
The world is so big, but I feel like I have nowhere to go.
One day, he will return in glory.
He wants everyone to kneel at his feet.
By the way, did the prince die of poison today?
Capital
Two major events happened in succession, and the people in the capital were both excited and terrified, fearing that there would be another bloody storm.
Seeing the emperor's expression getting worse day by day, all the civil and military officials kept silent and did not dare to provoke him.
In the Imperial Study, the Wuyi Guards handed over a file. "Your Majesty, this is the Queen Mother's information from childhood to adulthood."
The Wuyi Guards mobilized in full force and managed to collect detailed information in just a few days.
The emperor, who made the ministers panic, drank a sip of tea calmly, looking completely unaffected.
The Empress Dowager sent a message to him to go to the Cining Palace overnight, originally intending to die with him.
The emperor didn't go at all and ignored it.
The Queen Mother had no choice but to seek her own death, and it was a glorious death. Her life was just suffering and meaningless anyway.
The first was to have him denounced as unfilial by his subjects, and the second was to divert the emperor's attention and buy time for the Prince of Jin to escape.
The emperor was not afraid at all. He directly guided public opinion and it was not considered as throwing dirty water on her. She did do those things.
What bothered him was that when searching the Cining Palace, they found a secret passage under the bed in a side hall. It was as complicated as a spider web, and he knew nothing about it before.
Although he had sealed the exit, he still had some worries in his heart.
He flipped through the pages one by one, and suddenly, his eyes fixed, "The Queen Mother gave birth to a child only one day apart from the Princess of Jin? Go, get the family tree."
The eunuch quickly brought the family tree to the emperor. The emperor quickly turned to a certain page and immediately found the problem. In the family tree, the age difference between the two children was one month, not one day.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. This was not right. This could not be a typo. "Who was responsible for recording the genealogy?"
"Prince Han, the Zongzheng, passed away seven years ago."
The person is dead? Does that mean there is no evidence? The emperor frowned and said, "Call in Prince Han's family members for questioning."
"yes."
The prince sitting opposite had a rosy complexion and no longer looked sickly.
"Are you suspecting that it might be a case of a cat replacing a prince? But, the Queen Mother gave birth to a prince!" Only a fool would replace his own child. This is irrational.
The branch of the King of Jin inherited the title of king from generation to generation and enjoyed the same status as the country. They were extremely noble, but no matter how noble they were, they could not compare to the royal prince.
The emperor shook his head slightly and told an old secret of the palace, which was truly shocking.
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