Chapter 85 She was only observing because she didn't want to be seen as a fool...
Consort Jia didn't actually know what had happened outside the palace. After the conflict between Qi Jingxuan and Prince Ning, she asked Mu Kun to keep a close eye on Prince Ning's residence and see who else, besides the Xie family, had been frequently associating with Prince Ning lately.
Consort Jia was aware that Xu Guang was a spy for the Xie family in the Military Command. However, because Xu Guang held an important position, Prince Ning and the Xie family were always careful to maintain proper boundaries and rarely associated with him, lest they give others cause for gossip.
Today, Mu Kun was in charge of guarding the west gate. While checking people entering the city, he saw a familiar face and recognized him as a servant of the Xie family.
The Xie family servant took out a travel permit, the starting point of which was the border town of Yingzhou.
Mu Kun knew that the Xie family had an iron mine in Yingzhou, and he immediately became wary. He handed over the city gate matters to his subordinates and left under some pretext.
He followed the man, expecting him to go to the Xie family, but the man went straight to the Ning Prince's residence. Shortly after the man entered the Ning Prince's residence, someone hurriedly came out and rushed to the East City Military Command, leaving with Commander Xu Guang, seemingly also heading to the Ning Prince's residence.
First, a servant from the Xie family returned from Yingzhou, and then Prince Ning hurriedly summoned Xu Guang. Mu Kun sensed something was amiss and quickly sent someone to deliver a message to the palace.
When Consort Jia received the letter, she was immediately startled.
Unless something serious happened, Prince Ning would never summon Xu Guang so easily. Thinking back to the Xie family servant who had returned from Yingzhou… she had a rough idea: something had probably happened at the Yingzhou iron mine. But whether it was a mine collapse or the illegal mining had been discovered, she didn't know.
But either way, it's clearly not a good thing, and it seems that Prince Ning is preparing to take a gamble.
Consort Jia knew very well that even if the emperor was completely unprepared, they would only have a 30% chance of winning if they went all out now. If the emperor was already on guard, their chances of success would be almost zero.
Did the emperor... actually have any preparations?
Consort Jia carefully recalled the events and found that everything had been calm and nothing had happened recently. But for some reason, the more this was the case, the more uneasy she felt.
She said she didn't understand the feeling; it was like seeing a calm lake surface, without any ripples, but she couldn't tell if there were turbulent undercurrents beneath the surface.
Consort Jia wanted to confirm things further, but there was no time. She knew perfectly well that once things started, neither the Emperor nor Prince Ning would give her time to hesitate; she had to make a decision immediately!
So she wrote a letter to Prince Ning and had it sent out as quickly as possible...
While waiting for Prince Ning to enter the palace, she suddenly realized something was amiss. Mu Kun served in the Imperial Guard, and his messages to the palace usually took several twists and turns; why were they delivered so quickly today…?
Consort Jia's heart sank at that moment, and when she saw Prince Ning enter the palace so quickly again, she became even more certain of her thoughts.
The emperor knew; he knew everything.
It takes time for news to travel between the palace and the outside world. If he hadn't deliberately made things easier, Mu Kun's message wouldn't have been delivered so quickly, and her letter to Prince Ning wouldn't have been sent out so soon.
Consort Jia knew then that everything was over.
So when Prince Ning entered the palace, she didn't rush to ask him if he was going to mobilize troops, but instead asked him about the mines and the palace banquet in the first month of the lunar calendar.
Asking these questions is pointless; she just... doesn't want to be a fool.
As for outside the palace, while waiting for Prince Ning, she had already arranged everything in his handwriting and tone.
At this point, it makes no difference whether we do it or not; the Prince of Ning and the Xie family can never be absolved of their treasonous crimes. Since that's the case, let's just make the charges official.
The best outcome would be to seize that one in ten thousand chance, successfully force her son to abdicate, and allow him to ascend the throne.
The worst outcome...
Consort Jia glanced at Prince Ning, who was still groaning in pain while unconscious, and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "In the worst-case scenario, my son and I will have no choice but to die together."
…………
The usually peaceful capital city was suddenly thrown into chaos. Two battalions of the Five City Garrison suddenly donned their armor and charged towards the palace, while troops from the Western Camp outside the city were also being mobilized and heading towards the West Gate.
The people were in a panic, and while they were hiding everywhere, they vaguely heard someone shouting that His Majesty had been assassinated in the palace and that Prince Ning was leading troops to defend the emperor.
The assassination attempt on the emperor was unprecedented since the time of Emperor Gaozu. The people were terrified and fled even faster, fearing they would be implicated.
Shen Yan was practicing archery in the Prince's Garden when she suddenly heard a faint commotion outside, and her movements stopped.
Qi Jingxuan also heard it, but before he could figure out what the sound was, he saw A Qing nimbly climb and jump along the courtyard wall and stand on the tallest tree in the garden.
Aqing looked outside for a while, then gestured to Shen Yan.
Having spent some time together, Shen Yan and the others had gradually learned to understand his sign language and immediately grasped the meaning: "Troops are being moved; fighting has broken out."
Aqing nodded, then quickly climbed down from the tree, picked up her bow, and headed outside.
Shen Yan was about to follow, but Qi Jingxuan grabbed her arm: "Aci, where are you going? Didn't we agree that if there really is a mutiny, we shouldn't leave the mansion unless absolutely necessary?"
The guards at Prince Ping's residence are much stronger than before, and after the emperor learned that the Xie family was illegally mining iron ore, he secretly provided them with a large number of weapons for self-defense. As long as Prince Ning's troops don't go crazy and abandon the palace to attack them, they will be fine.
But this only means that their defense can hold out for a while; it doesn't mean they can get involved in the chaos outside.
With only two or three hundred men from the Prince of Ping's mansion, if they really charged out, the cavalry would easily throw them into chaos.
Shen Yan, of course, wouldn't be so presumptuous, and said, "I'm not going out, I just want to take a look."
He then pulled his hand away and ran off.
Qi Jingxuan exclaimed "Hey!" and hurriedly chased after them while ordering people to fetch weapons and protective gear.
Fortunately, Shen Yan did not rush out of the mansion recklessly; she simply stood on the wall with a ladder and looked out.
Qi Jingxuan also climbed up the ladder, took a heavy helmet from a servant at the base of the wall, and put it tightly on Shen Yan's head: "Wear it, just in case someone sneaks up nearby and shoots a sneak arrow."
Shen Yan's vision blurred, and she felt as if her entire head was covered.
This helmet is different from ordinary helmets; when worn, it only exposes the eyes, covering even the mouth and nose.
Because the helmet was too heavy, Shen Yan was almost pulled backward and subconsciously let out a soft cry.
Aqing and Qi Jingxuan simultaneously reached out to stop her from falling off the ladder.
Qi Jingxuan steadied Shen Yan with his hand in front of him, then slapped A Qing's arm a few times and glared at him fiercely.
Ah Qing ignored him completely, took a similar-looking helmet from another person, put it on, and turned back to look outside.
Qi Jingxuan snorted coldly, put on his helmet, and peered out.
Shen Yan had never worn such a thing before and was quite unaccustomed to it. She asked, "Why is this helmet different from the ones worn by the soldiers outside? Where did Your Highness get it?"
The helmets worn by the soldiers on the street only protected their foreheads, backs of their heads, and necks, leaving their faces exposed. But the helmet Qi Jingxuan gave her completely covered her face.
Qi Jingxuan was still a little angry when he talked about this, and glared at A Qing again: "He shot me to death before, and I specially hired someone to do it to save my life."
Then he muttered under his breath, "In the end, it was all for nothing. He still died."
But in this life, he still had another copy made, better than nothing. After marrying Shen Yan and wanting to find out the truth with her, he had several more copies made, just in case. And today, they came in handy.
Ah Qing had good hearing and heard what he said next, letting out a muffled chuckle from under his helmet.
He was very confident in his archery skills, hitting the bullseye every time. Although he didn't remember what Qi Jingxuan had said, since the helmet exposed the eyes, he figured he could just shoot the eyes; that's how Qi Jingxuan died when he was wearing this helmet.
"You're still laughing!"
Qi Jingxuan was even angrier. If it weren't for Shen Yan standing between them, he would have loved to kick over the ladder that A Qing was standing on.
Shen Yan knew this was Qi Jingxuan's sore spot and didn't know how to respond, so she remained silent and simply took out her telescope from her waist and looked outside.
The mutinous soldiers did not come in their direction, but since the major princely residences were not far from the palace, they could be seen from a distance.
Among the dense crowd were several men who looked like generals. Shen Yan looked at them for a moment and wondered, "I don't see Prince Ning."
Aqing also had a telescope, though not as exquisite as Shenyan's, it was still enough to see clearly at this distance.
He nodded in agreement: Indeed, no.
Qi Jingxuan squinted and looked into the distance: "No way, such a big thing, the fourth prince isn't leading the troops himself, I heard them shouting... it seems like the Prince of Ning is leading the troops to defend the emperor."
The shouts from afar could be heard very clearly from here; it was indeed Prince Ning leading his troops to defend the emperor.
Shen Yan handed him the telescope and told him to look for himself. Qi Jingxuan searched for Prince Ning's figure in the dense crowd, looking carefully several times, but he couldn't find Prince Ning.
"How strange! Where did he go? Could he have already entered the palace?"
He had only spoken casually, but upon realizing what he had said, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "Could it be that Consort Jia is colluding with him from the inside to directly attack Father Emperor?"
Ever since he learned that the emperor had turned a blind eye to the matter of Prince Ning framing him, Qi Jingxuan had been unhappy and was no longer as close to the emperor as before, but that did not mean he was willing to watch the emperor die.
It's uncertain who will benefit from the emperor's death, but it will certainly be detrimental to him in every way.
Qi Jingxuan was so anxious he almost fell off the ladder. He asked He Yuan, who was standing beside him, "How is things in the palace? Is Father alright?"
He Yuan was ordered by the emperor to stay by his side, so he had no idea what was happening in the palace. However, he still said with great certainty, "Your Highness, rest assured, His Majesty has made preparations. Even if Consort Jia and Prince Ning join forces, they will not be able to succeed."
Qi Jingxuan breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and handed the telescope back to Shen Yan: "Let's observe for a while longer. I think we'll have a result soon."
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