Chapter 128
Zhu Youchang still didn't know what Qi Min and the Li family had done together, so he said angrily: "My Lord, since the emperor's eldest grandson is still alive, I will be a witness. I will use the tiger talisman in his hand as physical evidence. I am not afraid that I can't bring down Wei Yan!"
Xie Zhong also felt sorry for Meng Shuyuan for bearing the injustice for so many years, but as an outsider, he was more calm. He advised: "My Lord, General Zhu, there are still many strange things when you think about what happened back then. Wei Yan is also very capable. We should take a long-term view first."
Xie Zheng and Zhu Youchang were silent. He continued, "Wei Qilin was a general of the Wei family, and later became the son-in-law of General Meng. The Changzhou Tiger Tally he brought was real, but the Marquis can't find any record of the Tiger Tally being used in the files. This means that the Tiger Tally was either used by the late emperor, but the Ministry of War didn't record it in order to cover up the Sixteenth Prince's mistake. Or... Wei Yan was so powerful that he could privately use the Tiger Tally from the Ministry of War!"
The wind and rain outside had not stopped, and the dampness of the rain seemed to have seeped through the air and soaked the house with a layer of dampness. The truth behind the Jinzhou bloody case and the real cause of his mother's death made Xie Zheng's forehead bulge with veins and his head throb with pain.
His handsome face was pale and cold, like snow on the tip of a knife, and there was a faint scarlet at the end of his eyes: "The man behind the scenes went to great lengths to delay the delivery of grain to General Meng, and his real goal was to capture Jinzhou."
In other words, it means that Prince Chengde must die.
Everyone knows what the fall of Jinzhou means to Yu Dayin.
Even if Prince Chengde had not died in the battle of Jinzhou, he would have been stripped of his title of crown prince after returning to the court.
Xie Linshan was the victim of this struggle for imperial power.
After some explanation from Xie Zheng, Xie Zhong quickly figured out the key point. He was shocked and asked, "Could it be that the Sixteenth Prince deliberately put himself in danger? Just to let the Crown Prince Chengde die in Jinzhou so that he can fight for the position of Crown Prince?"
Zhu Youchang was a rough man, not as smart as Xie Zhong. Hearing this, he was puzzled and said, "The Sixteenth Prince's move is too risky. He is putting himself in danger. Is he sure that the late emperor will spare no effort to save him?"
In fact, the sixteenth prince did die in Luocheng.
Luocheng is easy to defend but difficult to attack. When the news of Jinzhou's fall reached Luocheng, the imperial army was in despair. Both Prince Chengde and Xie Linshan were dead, and the army's morale was dispersed.
After the Northern Jue people in Luocheng knew that the Northern Jue army could march straight down, they no longer kept the Sixteenth Prince as a hostage and directly killed him as a sacrifice.
The most popular prince and the most favored son of the previous emperor were both dead. Zhu Youchang suddenly realized that the reasons behind the fall of Jinzhou were not simple at all.
After hearing what Zhu Youchang said, Xie Zhong felt that his previous guess was untenable.
He pondered, "As the saying goes, 'When the snipe and the clam quarrel, the fisherman gains.' The late emperor favored the sixteenth prince, and in order to win the hearts of the people in the army, Prince Chengde went to Jinzhou to supervise the battle. In order to gain military merit, the sixteenth prince also petitioned the late emperor and took a military post as a grain and grass supervisor and followed him to the front. In the end, both Prince Chengde and the sixteenth prince died..."
He looked at Xie Zheng suddenly: "Is there another prince behind the scenes helping him fight for the throne?"
Zhu Youchang thought for a moment and soon gnashed his teeth and said, "Wei Yan! It must be Wei Yan! After the death of Prince Chengde and the Sixteenth Prince, the late emperor also died of grief. Wei Yan quickly overcame all opposition and supported the nineteenth prince, who had no foundation at all, to ascend the throne! He is a beast worse than a pig or a dog. For the sake of power, he even spared his own sister and brother-in-law! If he wasn't afraid of people's suspicion, he would have wanted to sit on the dragon throne himself!"
Speaking of grief, Zhu Youchang couldn't help crying out in a hoarse voice: "Wei Qilin is indeed a good dog raised by Wei Yan. General Meng treated him well! Sister Lihua was pregnant at the time. How could he bear to help Wei Yan frame General Meng?"
Fearing that Xie Zheng would have a grudge against the descendants of the Meng family because of Wei Qilin, he said, "My Lord, if the child left by Sister Lihua has Wei Qilin's blood, you don't have to treat her as a member of the Wei family. The Meng family does not recognize Wei Qilin, the ungrateful bastard! She is just the blood of the Meng family!"
When Xie Zheng heard Zhu Youchang mention Meng Qilin again, his pale face showed no emotion, his black eyelashes drooped, and he only asked: "The handwritten letter that Wei Yan wrote to General Meng can also be used as evidence to expose Wei Yan. General Zhu, do you know where the letter is?"
Zhu Youchang blamed himself: "When the news of Jinzhou's fall came, the army was in chaos. I didn't expect Wei Yan to frame General Meng at that time. I never thought that the letter would be so useful. After the court's accusation, I wanted to find the letter, but I couldn't find it..."
The headache was still severe, causing Xie Zheng to frown unconsciously.
The letter finally reached Wei Qilin's hands. Did anything else happen during this period? Zhu Youchang didn't know.
The paler his face became, the calmer it looked. He had gotten the answer he wanted, so he said, "Wei Yan has colluded with the rebels and has been impeached by the Li family. He will be questioned in the Golden Palace soon. General Zhu, you should take a good rest first. I will get back the blood debt from Wei Gou seventeen years ago!"
-
After leaving Zhu Youchang's residence, Xie Zhong followed Xie Zheng closely, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself several times.
The rain gradually subsided, and all that remained from the eaves of the corridor were tiny water droplets like a pearl curtain.
Xie Zheng was dressed in a brown robe, with one hand behind his back, standing quietly under the eaves, looking at the lush green bamboo in the yard. His handsome eyes and brows seemed nonchalant, yet gave people a sense of shock that even his noble appearance could not suppress the gloomy and murderous aura.
Xie Zhong hesitated for a long time, but finally spoke: "Mr. Hou..."
Xie Zheng didn't even blink, and just said, "No need to follow me, go down."
Xie Zhong said, "Madam, you did what you did back then, I think, to protect the Marquis. You had no choice but to do it. The Marquis should not feel sad. If the general and Madam knew what the Marquis is capable of now, they would also smile."
Xie Zhong's eyes suddenly turned cold and fierce: "Go down."
Xie Zhong raised his eyes and glanced at Xie Zheng's cold and hard back, and sighed softly in his heart.
He had always known that Mrs. Xie's suicide was a knot in Xie Zheng's heart that he could not untie.
Now that the truth has come to light, Yu Xiezheng will probably be in even greater pain.
In the past ten years, he hated Mrs. Xie for her weakness and for her cruelty in abandoning him and letting him be raised by his enemies.
However, after discovering Wei Yan's conspiracy, Mrs. Xie hanged herself in order to protect Zhu Youchang and the old members of the Xie family.
Wei Yan could imprison Zhu Youchang and others for their entire lives, but he could never imprison his own sister for the rest of her life. As long as Madam Xie was still alive, Xie Zheng would eventually know the truth of the incident.
With Wei Yan's methods, he would probably just cut the weeds and eradicate the problem completely.
Mrs. Xie chose to hang herself in order to save Xie Zheng's life. She left a will asking Wei Yan to raise Xie Zheng, and she also wanted to send Xie Zheng under Wei Yan's nose so that Wei Yan would be completely relieved.
A year ago, Xie Zheng heard those rumors and began to re-investigate the Jinzhou case. Wei Yan had indeed set a dead end for him, wanting him to die in the battle to suppress the rebellion in Chongzhou.
The mother whom he hated and missed for more than ten years actually died for him. Xie Zhong had no idea how painful it would be for this young man in front of him, who had been carrying the entire honor and disgrace of the Xie family on his thin shoulders since he was a teenager.
He knew Xie Zheng's personality well, and he didn't know where to start to say anything to comfort him. After bowing to Xie Zheng, he finally left.
The huge corridor was empty with only Xie Zheng left. The cold wind started to blow again, causing the drizzle to fly diagonally into the corridor and brush across his pale face, leaving only a cool and wet feeling.
Xie Zheng leaned against the porch column, propped up one leg and sat on the wooden railing. His long, dark eyelashes half covered his eyes like a fan, staring at the bamboo leaves in the distance without blinking. The raindrops had accumulated on the bamboo leaves too much and could not bear the weight, so they dripped down from the tips of the leaves.
He tried very hard to recall, but still could not remember what the woman looked like. In his mind there was only a vague shadow smiling very gently, as if there was no fault in the world that could not be forgiven by her.
But the last memory she left him was him standing at the door, looking at the hem of her skirt floating in the air from inside the room.
This scene tormented him on countless nights, causing him to wake up from nightmares in a cold sweat and trembling with fear.
He hated her for being weak and selfish, but she went there to protect him.
The cold wind blew the strands of hair on his forehead onto his eyelids. Xie Zheng raised his head slightly and put his hands in front of his eyes, maintaining this position for a long time without moving.
-
Wei Mansion.
This autumn rain seems to wash away the dust from heaven and earth.
In front of the tall gate and magnificent house of the Wei Mansion, two lights were on, hidden in the dense shade of the tung and poplar trees in the night, like a pair of scarlet beast eyes.
In front of the study window, a field of wild chrysanthemums had their buds standing upright in the cold wind and rain, their thin stems struggling to hold on, it was hard to tell whether it was out of pride or stubbornness.
Everyone in the court knew that Wei Yan loved chrysanthemums, but he did not like those expensive flower species. He only liked the wild chrysanthemums that could be seen everywhere in the mountains and plains.
The most planted thing in the entire Prime Minister's Mansion is the wild chrysanthemum, which grows everywhere. With its wild growth, if the servants in the mansion are a little lazy in taking care of it, the wild chrysanthemums will force other flowers and plants in the flower garden to have nowhere to grow.
There was a three-foot-high warm light in front of the desk. An old man with strong muscles was reading a book with a pen in his hand. He was only wearing a single piece of clothing in the cool night when the autumn rain had not stopped, but his figure did not look thin.
The person kneeling below reported what happened during the day with cold sweat: "... Two groups of people came to rob the prison. You have been looking for the Changzhou Tiger Talisman for many years without success. It was Zhu Youchang who sewed the tiger talisman into his own broken leg. When the previous group of people took him out of prison, he was entangled by the Tianzihao people. His legs were inconvenient to walk, and he was afraid of dragging those people down, so he picked up a dagger to cut open the flesh of his legs and gave the tiger talisman to those people..."
"Later, another group of people came to kill us. Judging from their martial arts skills, they must be from the Xie family. They took advantage of the Tianzihao to chase the previous group of people who took the tiger talisman and rescued Zhu Youchang..."
The old man did not stop writing. The ink marks reflected in the dim candlelight were square and powerful, and each stroke seemed to bend iron or cut gold.
People at that time admired running and cursive scripts, and those who entered officialdom were highly respected for their ability to write in the official style. However, Wei Yan was famous for his Slender Gold style.
The handwriting reflects the person, with thin tendons and hard bones.
Without hearing the old man's words, the man kneeling below began to sweat more and more on his forehead. When the fear of the unknown reached its peak, he kowtowed heavily in front of the case, his forehead resting on the cold floor tiles, and tremblingly said, "Please punish me, Prime Minister!"
The old man finally stopped writing and cast a faint glance downwards: "Go to the punishment room to receive your punishment."
For the assassins raised by the Wei Mansion, entering the torture chamber was tantamount to losing half their lives. When the people kneeling below heard the old man's words, they only felt ecstasy for having saved their lives.
He bowed to the old man again and left the study quietly.
The waiter came forward to help the old man wash his ink brush and whispered, "Prime Minister, I'm afraid that what happened back then... can no longer be kept secret."
Wei Yan stood up and walked to the window, letting the cold wind fill his sleeves and make a rustling sound. The trembling candlelight made his shadow look particularly long and slender, like a mountain.
He looked at the wild chrysanthemums in the cold rain that filled the courtyard and said, "Send a message to the palace. It's time to send the Western Expedition Army to Beijing to receive the title."
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