"Your subject, Jiang Chengfeng, pays his respects to Your Majesty." Jiang Chengfeng bowed solemnly to Xie Qiyu, who sat calmly at the head of the table.
Xie Qiyu quickly stood up to help him up, "General Weiyuan, please rise quickly."
With a dagger pressed against his head, Lu Tingyue felt dizzy. How, how did he come back to life?
Wasn't Jiang Chengfeng completely dead, with his ashes scattered in the river?
Empress Dowager Du also looked surprised and bewildered. Xie Qiyu said loudly, "Lu Tingyue plotted to murder the Emperor. From this moment on, strip him of his Buddhist title and imprison him."
Upon hearing this, Empress Du's legs went weak, and she almost knelt down.
Lu Tingyue's gaze was inscrutable as he glanced at Jiang Luoluo, who stood silently to the side.
She personally scattered the ashes of Jiang Chengfeng and his wife during a fire.
Yes, he suddenly laughed as he looked at it.
At this moment, he finally understood why Yao Shiyu had repeatedly urged him to kill Jiang Luoluo.
He had thought that a weak woman was not worth his attention, but it seems that he had been careless for the past few years because he had been living a smooth life.
He actually stumbled on this, but it didn't matter. He instructed Jiang Muyan to prepare a backup plan.
In the blink of an eye, Lu Tingyue's expression changed. He was no longer the dignified and enlightened monk he once was.
His true colors were completely revealed. He pointed at Empress Dowager Du, his repeated grievances seemingly endless.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is innocent! It was the Empress Dowager who threatened me. This sinner has already laid down his butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot."
They wouldn't dare entertain any other thoughts, and even if they did, they wouldn't have enough money to get things done.
Lu Tingyue showed no mercy, directly targeting Empress Dowager Du in an attempt to gain a sliver of hope.
"For so many years, the Empress Dowager has controlled the inner palace and interfered in the court, all with the aim of firmly grasping power in her hands. I am nothing more than a vicious dog under the Empress Dowager's command."
He spoke with such force and conviction that anyone who heard him would feel a pang of sympathy.
However, Xie Qiyu and Xie Yizhi were not just anyone; Jiang Chengfeng presented them directly with a memorial.
"Your Majesty, this is what I have gathered over many days in Jiaozhou. There are approximately a thousand households in Jiaozhou where the men have disappeared without a trace, and all the clues I have found point directly to Yuanhua Temple."
Xie Qiyu took the report and read it carefully. It matched exactly what Xie Yizhi had found.
For many years, Lu Tingyue has used Liuyun Pavilion's business to attract attention, bringing back batches of men from Jiaozhou.
These men all entered Yunhua Temple and shaved their heads to become monks. Lu Tingyue would train them there on a regular basis.
Those who could not endure the torment of pain have now become fertilizer under the wintersweet tree. Lu Tingyue has repeatedly obtained money from Empress Dowager Du and Jiang Muyan to support this private army.
Empress Dowager Du gave her heart and soul to Lu Tingyue, let alone material possessions.
Now that Lu Tingyue has ruthlessly pushed her out as a shield, she is heartbroken.
Empress Dowager Du clutched her chest, tears welling in her eyes. She had thought she had found lifelong happiness, but she never imagined that Lu Tingyue only saw her as a pawn in his game.
"All the evidence is here, Lu Tingyue. What else do you have to say to deny it?" Xie Qiyu unfolded the more than one hundred pages of names and testimonies from the people, and asked with a sigh.
"Prince Yan, Prince Yan, you choose not to take the road to heaven, but you choose to forge your own path to hell."
Yuanhua Temple is a forbidden Buddhist site. If you were to eat vegetarian food, ring the bell, and chant Buddhist prayers here, I might spare your life out of respect for my father.
But you dared to demand more, and instigated Consort Lu to murder the Empress.
He bribed Liu Dayong to plot against General Weiyuan and his wife, and Lu Anrou to get close to Prince Yi. He even plotted to frame Princess Yi.
Each and every one of these crimes deserves your death!
Lu Tingyue hadn't expected Xie Qiyu to investigate so thoroughly. He no longer dared to admit anything, but made a desperate gamble, shouting that he was innocent.
"Your Majesty, I am not a guilty subject, but the Empress Dowager. Everything was orchestrated by the Empress Dowager. I was merely following her orders."
Lu Tingyue shouted at the top of his lungs, as if he had shouted out his last hope for survival, "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, she, she is not your and Prince Yi's biological mother."
After listening to his heart-wrenching wailing, Xie Qiyu remained completely unmoved, as if she already knew about it.
He simply replied, "Steward Xiao, take him away. He's making a lot of noise."
Xiao Lingchuan scrambled to his feet, dusted himself off, and smiled broadly. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
Even Empress Dowager Du was stunned and dumbfounded. Xiao Lingchuan?
Everything flashed through Empress Dowager Du's mind: traitor, Xiao Lingchuan was the traitor beside her.
Previously, it was Xiao Lingchuan who had been relaying messages between Xie Qiyu and Xie Yi, and it was also he who deliberately sent some incorrect information to himself.
But what's the use of understanding now? The matter is settled, and in the end, she lost.
Empress Dowager Du closed her eyes in resentment, just then she heard Xie Qiyu speak.
"The Empress Dowager colluded with Lu Tingyue to frame the Empress and abused her power to wantonly kill Jiang Yuelan and Madam Gu. Her crimes are heinous. From this day forward, she shall be banished to the Cold Palace."
Empress Dowager Du held her head high with pride. She gave Xie Qiyu a deep look, then looked at Xie Yizhi, and finally fixed her gaze on Jiang Luoluo.
As if trying to etch their images deeply into her mind, she wiped away the tears on her face and forced a smile.
Jiang Luoluo, Jiang Luoluo, groveled before Empress Dowager Du, repeatedly promising to be Prince Yi's spy.
She managed to fool her several times in a row. Empress Dowager Du smiled bitterly to herself, thinking that she should not have been soft-hearted in the first place and should have killed her.
But things are never the same as before. Ever since Jiang arrived, the Xie brothers, Qi Yu and Yi Zhi, have become increasingly uncontrollable.
Unfortunately, Empress Dowager Du will never know who Jiang Luoluo is in her lifetime.
Xie Yizhi saw the piercing look in Empress Dowager Du's eyes and stepped in front of Jiang Luoluo, saying, "Empress Dowager Du, your mother was like a sister to you back then, how could you really bring yourself to do that?"
Empress Dowager Du's smile faded, her haughty demeanor unchanged. "How could I not go down? It's because she blocked my way. I am the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister's family. I can kill whoever I want."
These words ignited a fire in Xie Qiyu's heart. In Empress Dowager Du's eyes, everyone was just a pawn, a tool.
He is, his brother is, his wife is, his mother is, and probably his father is too.
He gave Empress Dowager Du a deep look. "Your Majesty, please take off your shoes today and walk back from Yuanhua Temple."
An hour later, the Wanxing Trade Fair had to be terminated, and many monks who had mingled among the common people were discovered one by one by the Flying Feather Army.
Xie Qiyu announced the crimes of Lu Tingyue and Empress Dowager Du to the world. Lu Tingyue and Empress Dowager Du had their shoes removed, their hands and feet bound with iron chains, and they were dragged along behind the imperial procession.
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