Chapter 87 Concerned about what's wrong with Old Seven?
When Xie Erye was shot and killed by Shen Yan and A Qing, the palace had already received news of the Xie family's defeated rebel army.
Consort Jia waited in Yongning Palace for a long time, and when she did not hear any commotion outside, she knew that everything had been settled.
If the Xie family had stormed the capital, the palace wouldn't be so quiet. This silence... means they haven't even stepped inside the palace gates.
What a failure, a complete and utter failure.
Consort Jia immediately instructed Granny Chang to change her into plain clothes, remove all makeup and hairpins, and let her hair down as she waited in her palace.
Finally, someone knocked on the palace door, and it was the emperor's personal guards who came.
The guard entered and saw her dressed in plain clothes with her hair down. He paused for a moment, but quickly regained his indifferent expression and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, His Majesty requests your presence."
Consort Jia nodded, and instead of having Granny Chang help her as usual, she lifted her robes and stepped out of the palace gate on her own.
Behind her, two eunuchs supported the Prince of Ning, whose legs were broken, and they followed him toward the Hall of Diligent Governance. This drew another strange look from the guard.
Prince Ning's legs were broken, and the wounds were initially treated with simple bandages. However, after Consort Jia changed into mourning clothes, she had the bandages removed from his legs.
He was being supported by others, and blood seeped out again, soaking through his trousers and winding down his calves, leaving two clear bloodstains along the way.
Prince Ning had fainted from the pain, but he has now been awakened by the intense pain again.
He groaned as he opened his eyes, initially not understanding what had happened or where he was, but the pain in his legs quickly brought him back to his senses.
His mother, it was his mother! Not only did his mother trick him into entering the palace, but she also cruelly broke both his legs!
He was about to unleash a torrent of curses when he realized that this was not Yongning Palace, but a palace path.
Where are we going?
Prince Ning's vision was a little blurry. He subconsciously looked for Consort Jia's figure and saw a figure in front of him dressed in plain clothes with her hair down.
Remove hairpin and await punishment
Prince Ning's heart sank suddenly, and a great fear rose from the bottom of his heart.
His plot to force the emperor to abdicate failed!
Prince Ning struggled violently, instinctively wanting to escape, to leave the palace, to leave the capital.
But he was seriously injured and could not break free from the two strong eunuchs. He was dragged along and continued to move forward.
"Let me go! I won't go! I won't go!"
His father will never let him go; he cannot go to see his father, he cannot!
No matter how much he struggled and screamed, the arms of the two eunuchs remained firmly clamped around him like iron clamps, preventing him from breaking free even slightly. These futile movements served no purpose other than to worsen his injuries and increase his pain.
Prince Ning's voice was hoarse and trembling, and large beads of sweat gathered on his forehead and slid down.
As he drew closer to the Hall of Diligent Governance, he struggled again, but his strength was not as great as when he had just woken up, and he was easily subdued by the two eunuchs.
To enter the Hall of Diligent Governance, one had to climb dozens of steps. The eunuchs showed no pity for Prince Ning and did not lift him higher so that his injured leg could avoid the steps. Instead, they simply dragged him forward, one on each side of his arm, just as they had done when they came.
Prince Ning's injured leg repeatedly slammed against the steps, causing him to bleed more and more, until he finally fainted again before entering the Hall of Diligent Governance.
…………
"Your Majesty! I am guilty!"
As soon as Consort Jia entered the hall, she knelt down and kowtowed heavily to the ground.
“Prince Ning and the Xie family have committed treason and plotted to force the emperor to abdicate. As Prince Ning’s mother and a daughter of the Xie family, I failed to investigate their actions in time and am therefore guilty. I beg Your Majesty to punish me.”
The Hall of Diligent Governance was not only occupied by the Emperor, but also by the Empress, the Crown Prince, the Consort Shu, and several important officials, including Shen Yan's parents.
The Emperor coldly glanced at the Imperial Concubine, then at the Prince of Ning lying unconscious on the ground beside her, and asked, "So, you knew nothing about this beforehand?"
"Yes," Consort Jia said, choking back tears. "Since his injury last time, Prince Ning has not entered the palace for a long time. I was worried about his injury, so I sent someone to deliver a letter to him, asking him to come to the palace when he had time so that I could see if his injury had healed, and also to come and see me and his younger brother and sister. Who knew that after he entered the palace today, he said that he wanted to take my son and me out."
“Your Majesty, we are concubines in the harem. The Third Princess and the Fourteenth Prince are your children. How can we leave the palace without your permission?” But Prince Ning seemed very anxious and insisted that I summon Yunying and Xun’er immediately, saying that he wanted to take us away right away, otherwise it would be too late.
"I had my doubts and refused to answer. I asked him what had happened, and he finally said that he and his maternal family had been illegally mining iron ore in Yingzhou. When the matter was exposed, he was going to take a gamble and force the emperor to commit treason."
Consort Jia wept bitterly, her voice filled with grief, and she banged her forehead heavily on the ground several times.
"Your Majesty, I was terrified and questioned him about how he could have committed such a heinous crime, demanding that he come to you immediately to confess his guilt and plead his case. But this child... this child has been away from the palace for several years and has been bewitched by the Xie family. He simply refuses no matter what, insisting that he doesn't know the outcome until he takes a gamble. He even said that... since you have already discovered the iron mine matter, he can't escape the charge of treason. Either way, he's going to die, so he might as well listen to his uncle and take a gamble."
This puts all the blame on Prince Ning and the Xie family.
The Emperor watched her coldly, his mind perfectly clear. All the court officials also knew perfectly well that while Consort Jia might genuinely be unaware of Prince Ning's sudden coup, the Xie family had been illegally mining iron ore for years. As a daughter of the Xie family, with close ties to them, how could she possibly be completely ignorant?
But seeing Prince Ning lying on the ground like a lump of mud, no one could say anything for a moment.
Consort Jia is the birth mother of Prince Ning. Whether what she said is true or false, Prince Ning's treason means she, as his mother, will not escape death. Right now, she is shifting the blame onto Prince Ning and the Xie family, not for her own sake, but for the sake of the Third Princess and the Fourteenth Prince.
As she said, Prince Ning and the Xie family could not escape the charge of treason. However, the Third Princess and the Fourteenth Prince were the Emperor's own children; one was unmarried, and the other was young and naive. It was impossible for Consort Jia to be completely unaware of the Xie family's actions, but these two might not be. If they truly were unaware, it was hard to say whether the Emperor would hold them accountable.
If the ministers were to speak up and refute Consort Jia at this moment, thus involving the two of them and displeasing the emperor, it would be a loss rather than a gain.
Regardless of whether Consort Jia's words are true or false, she, Prince Ning, and the Xie family are all guilty and cannot escape death. Now that she has admitted her own guilt, as well as the guilt of Prince Ning and the Xie family, that's enough. As for who among the three is more guilty, that's irrelevant. In a coup d'état, the ringleader, no matter how serious their crime, faces certain death.
As the mother of Prince Ning, she was willing to sacrifice her own family to personally capture the rebels, which actually made it more likely that she could save her other two children.
Everyone admired her decisiveness, and the emperor did not refute her words, only saying: "Prince Ning, as a son and a subject, has been disloyal, unjust, unfilial, and disrespectful to his brothers. He shall be immediately demoted to a commoner and imprisoned in the imperial prison. The Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate shall jointly investigate and find out all his crimes and punish him according to the law. The Xie family shall be treated the same way."
"Consort Jia... is stripped of her title and given a white silk noose."
With just a few words, he dealt with the three parties, and he didn't even bother to interrogate Consort Jia; he simply ordered her to be executed.
Although Consort Jia held a noble status in the palace, she had been in the palace for many years and had gradually lost control over the Xie family and Prince Ning, who had established his own residence outside the palace. She knew little about their schemes outside the palace, so there was no point in her staying.
Prince Ning and the Xie family were the real masterminds. The emperor wanted to know from them how many other people were involved, so he couldn't just kill them immediately.
Consort Jia was relieved to see that he did not mention her other two children in his words, and knew that even if the emperor was angry, he would not take their lives. She kowtowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
She would be willing to die if Yunying and Xun'er could be alright.
Consort Jia's tears fell on the floor of the Hall of Diligent Governance. She gave the Emperor a final bow, then staggered to her feet and followed the palace servants out.
The sky remained clear, as if nothing had happened, but for her, it was a world turned upside down...
…………
"Father, Mother!"
When Shen Yan entered the palace with Qi Jingxuan, she immediately spotted her parents. She rushed over, looked them up and down, and grabbed their hands, asking, "Are you alright?"
Three days ago, when the emperor learned about the Yingzhou mines from Qi Jingxuan and his wife, he knew that Prince Ning might rebel at any time.
Shen Yan was worried about her parents, especially her pregnant mother, and wanted to bring them to the Prince of Ping's residence. The Emperor thought this might alert the enemy and didn't allow her to do so, but assured her that he would ensure her parents' safety.
As soon as Prince Ning made a move today, the people guarding outside the palace immediately and quietly brought Shen Mingshan and his wife into the palace, taking them directly to the Hall of Diligent Governance.
The two were both surprised and delighted to see their daughter. Madam Su stood up and asked, "Aci, how are you? I heard the Xie family led troops to attack the Prince of Ping's residence. Are you alright?"
“It’s alright,” Shen Yan said, tears welling in her eyes, as she gripped her mother’s hand tightly. “Mother, we’ll be alright this time.”
Those who harmed them in their past lives are either dead or captured and can no longer harm them.
Qi Jingxuan first went to check on Consort Shu, and after confirming that she was alright, he followed Shen Yan to Shen Mingshan and the other woman, repeatedly saying, "Father-in-law and Mother-in-law, don't worry, Aci and I are perfectly fine, not hurt at all. We even personally shot arrows to drive back the chaotic army!"
He was terrible at archery and could never hit the target, but today he actually hit quite a few people.
It wasn't that his archery skills had improved and he was more accurate, but rather that there were too many people crowding outside, and targets were everywhere. Even if he was completely inaccurate, he could still hit the target three or four times out of ten.
When Su heard that he was personally fighting against the rebel army, she felt a little relieved, but then became anxious again and asked him about the details.
The emperor looked at the group of people, a loving mother and her children, and his eyes twitched. His already bad mood worsened.
Shen Yan went to Shen Mingshan and his wife first because she was worried about her parents' safety, which is understandable. But what's wrong with Seventh Brother?
Today, Prince Ning and the Xie family want to kill him, the emperor, and he doesn't even care about his father?
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