Chapter 279 Everyone in the Song family deserves to die!
Xiao Yan frowned tightly. He had never heard of any military token.
Back then, the late emperor allowed the Eastern Palace to confront the aristocratic families, but secretly suppressed the officials of the Eastern Palace. When my father was weak in the fight against the aristocratic families, he never mentioned that he had military power.
Even though there was a fire in the Eastern Palace and his father died, he had never seen the so-called military token.
Seeing Xiao Yan frown, King Cheng thought that he didn't understand the importance of the military token, and explained to him in a deep voice:
"Lord Governor Xiao is not a member of the imperial family, so he doesn't know that the Dragon Court Guards are the Xie family's private army. The outside world only knows that they take orders from the emperor, but in reality, they take orders from the person holding the military token. The Zhen'an Army also obeys orders, not people."
"That military token is usually handed over to the new emperor by the previous emperor himself upon his ascension to the throne. Therefore, only the person who carries out the order, as well as the commanders of the Dragon Court Guard and the Zhen'an Army, know what it looks like. Now that Emperor An is in power and there are no major wars, the people in the northwest have always believed that the military token is in his hands, and their daily deployments are also subject to the emperor's orders."
“But if someone else from the royal family shows up with a military token, the more than 200,000 troops in the northwest will switch sides in an instant.”
Xiao Yan frowned.
Prince Cheng said, "The late emperor never mentioned this matter to anyone, and the aristocratic families have always believed that they were the ones who defeated the crown prince. After Xie Tianzhao's death, the whereabouts of the military token were unknown. The late emperor forcibly suppressed this matter, and even Xie Tianyong was unaware of it."
"After the late emperor's death, this matter was only known to the eunuch who served him closely. Lu Qingfeng somehow learned it from that person, and has been searching secretly ever since."
Back then, everyone around Prince Li was killed or injured, except Rong Qian'an who survived the bloodbath.
It’s not that the late emperor didn’t want to take action against the Rong family, but Rong Qian’an had a special status, and he seemed to know the cause of Prince Li’s death. After taking the initiative to enter the palace and have a "conversation" with the late emperor, he retired from the court, gave up his power, and reached a strange "tacit understanding" with the late emperor.
After careful consideration, the late emperor did not touch the Rong family, and Rong Qian'an quietly guarded the Rong family school and never set foot in the court again.
Lu Qingfeng therefore concluded that the military token was in the hands of the Rong family.
Prince Cheng's eyes flickered as he spoke of the military talisman. "Lu Qingfeng wants to borrow the power of the aristocratic families, but she doesn't want them to coerce her and force the Fourth Prince to be controlled like Emperor An after he ascends the throne. She wants to find the military talisman and gather the Northwest Zhen'an Army and the Dragon Court Guard for the Fourth Prince."
"Is this also the reason for Tang Ning and the Lu family's marriage?"
"yes."
Prince Cheng said, "When Taifu Rong was seriously ill, Lu Qingfeng sent people to his house several times, intending to send the Fourth Prince and Lu Zhinian to the Rong family academy. Taifu Rong refused every time. However, he could not bear the manipulation of the Song family and secretly guided the young Tang Ning to get along with Lu Zhinian. He also let Taifu Rong see this several times."
"The Lu family coveted the Rong family's reputation, and with Lu Qingfeng's persuasion, they proposed that Lu Zhinian and Tang Ning be engaged. Naturally, Taifu Rong refused and rejected the proposal on the spot."
Xiao Yan said in a deep voice, "Then how did the marriage come about?"
King Cheng laughed and said, "Of course he did something."
"A few days before Taifu Rong passed away, I put medicine in Rong Yue's tonic soup, making her look exhausted and weak. When Taifu Rong died, she was unable to get up, so she left me and the Song family at his bedside. Taifu Rong was afraid that Tang Ning would lose her father and be treated harshly by the Song family, so he left a letter entrusting Tang Ning to his good friend. He also left a letter to the Song family to pass on, asking his student Wu Ziji to return to the capital to inherit the Rong family school and protect Tang Ning."
"Song Hong found someone skilled in copying, and they copied Taifu Rong's handwriting in exchange for his belongings. Furthermore, I, the prince, testified that Taifu Rong had agreed to the Lu family's marriage proposal before his death. Rong Yue was deeply grief-stricken by Taifu's death and fell seriously ill. By the time she recovered, Lu Qingfeng had already issued an imperial decree to grant Taifu Rong's 'last wish' to Tang Ning and Lu Zhinian a marriage."
Although Rong Yue was unwilling, the marriage was already a foregone conclusion.
The Song family, as the elder of Tang Ning's father's family, agreed, and he also persuaded her. In addition, the young Tang Ning was deliberately guided to "fall in love" with Lu Zhinian, so the marriage was settled.
Rong Qian'an never agreed to the Lu family's marriage proposal.
The so-called engagement was a scam from beginning to end.
For the first time, Xiao Yan felt that the most evil people in this world had no bottom line. Letting the Song family members be exiled like that was too easy for them.
This family deserves to die!
Prince Cheng observed the change in Xiao Yan's expression and spoke slowly, "I know that Governor Xiao loves Tang Ning and treats her like a sister. I have also seen everything you have done for her during this period. I will tell you about the Song family's affairs. I wonder if you can help Governor Xiao fulfill one of my wishes?"
Xiao Yan raised his eyes: "What do you want?"
Prince Cheng turned his head and looked at the messy grass pile: "I want to ask Governor Xiao to help me bury the child and find a good place for him."
"I am the one who has let him down and let his mother down. He shouldn't have done this."
Xiao Yan was silent for a while. He thought he would say something else, or ask him to avenge him, but he didn't expect him to make this request.
Seeing King Cheng looking at him intently, with a hint of pleading in his eyes, as if he was afraid that he would refuse, Xiao Yan didn't feel moved at all. Instead, he found it ridiculous. However, he didn't refuse. He just lowered his eyes indifferently, stood up, and walked out while speaking.
"I agree."
After leaving the imperial prison, Jinyun hid a thick stack of "confessions" obtained from Prince Cheng in his sleeves.
Seeing Prince Cheng being dragged onto the prison cart, Jin Yun lowered his voice with some curiosity: "Master, is the Fourth Prince really not Prince Cheng's son?"
Xiao Yan glared at him, "How would I know?"
“???”
Jinyun was surprised: "But you just..."
"I just said that the Fourth Prince doesn't look much like him."
There are no ugly people in the royal family. Empress Lu is extremely beautiful, otherwise how could she have attracted Prince Cheng and Emperor An back then? In addition, Emperor An and Prince Cheng are not bad looking, so the Fourth Prince's appearance is naturally not bad either. But coincidentally, he looks neither like Prince Cheng nor Emperor An, but more like Empress Lu in his eyebrows and eyes.
Xiao Yan stood with his hands behind his back, looking distracted. He was not lying. The Fourth Prince did not look much like Prince Cheng, but he did not say that he looked like Emperor An.
As for Prince Cheng’s wrong thoughts, can we blame him?
Jinyun: “…”
Touching the thick stack of "confessions" in his sleeve, Jinyun thought of Prince Cheng's confession of everything he knew just now, and the guilt and remorse he felt after his sudden realization, and he reached out and touched his heart.
Never mind. It’s not his conscience that’s broken.
As long as it doesn’t hurt, it’s fine.
…
Prince Cheng was executed and there were many people watching. When he was put into the prison cart and taken to the place of execution, Prince Cheng looked up at the sky with a dazed look on his face. Suddenly he remembered that carefully planned encounter many years ago. The girl from the Rong family was standing on the stone bridge holding a rabbit lantern, her eyes full of bright beauty.
The lake was rippling with moonlight, and he saw her at a glance among the bustling crowd.
The little girl who had just come of age was wearing a bright red dress, dazzling like the sun among the crowd at night. When she laughed and played with her elder sister beside her, her voice was as sweet as an oriole.
Rong Yue...
Prince Cheng thought he would not remember what happened back then, but before he died, the person who appeared most clearly in his mind was not Lu Qingfeng, but the person he had spent nearly twenty years with.
When he was in a trance, he actually saw Rong Yue above the crowd.
He could still recognize her in the open window of the restaurant opposite, even through the crowd.
"Mother Yue..."
Prince Cheng suddenly became excited and stared in that direction. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but as soon as he made a sound, he was hit hard on the jaw by the escorting jailer and then dragged onto the platform.
The executioner read out the charges against King Cheng. Rong Yue looked at the extremely disheveled man in the execution ground. He was pressed to the ground, his mouth wide open as if he had thousands of words to say, and he looked over here with guilt in his eyes.
Gu Helian beside her subconsciously wanted to reach out to cover Rong Yue's eyes.
Rong Yue tilted her head: "What are you doing?"
"What's so good about beheading? It's so bloody. Be careful or you'll have nightmares when you go back..." Gu Helian said as he looked viciously at the platform over there.
This bastard Xie Tianyu actually wanted to seduce Rong Yue before he died!
Rong Yue had no idea what he was thinking. She simply reached out and grabbed his wrist, pulling down the hand covering his eyes. "I've already had my worst nightmare. What's there to be afraid of?"
She turned her head and looked at the execution ground. She had to see with her own eyes the stupidity of her past and see his end before she would be satisfied.
Gu Helian didn't listen to Rong Yue's words at all. He just looked at his wrist which Rong Yue was holding and had not let go, and his ears turned red.
Rong Yue took his hand.
She pulled him, pulled him, pulled him!!!
Rong Yue was thinking about the past, and she seemed to be trying to gain some strength and did not let go for a while. When she looked directly at King Cheng, her cold eyes made King Cheng stunned. He stared at the woman who once loved him the most, watching him being pushed onto the beheading platform, and watching the person behind him raise his knife and kill him.
Even when the head fell to the ground and blood splattered, he was not moved at all.
Rong Yue heard the exclamations from the crowd and saw the bloodstains before she let go of his hand: "Let's go."
Gu Helian: Rong Yue pulled him!
"Gu Helian?" Rong Yue turned around: "What are you daydreaming about?"
Gu Helian grinned: "What a nice weather today."
Rong Yue looked up inexplicably: "Okay?"
"Okay! Ask Mu Feng!"
Mu Feng couldn't bear to look at the worthless smile on the face of his master. He turned his head to look at the dark clouds floating outside the window and brainwashed himself silently.
This was the head of the household, who paid him a monthly stipend, had saved his life, and would occasionally throw gold at him.
Mu Feng showed his eight white teeth and smiled sincerely: "The master is right."
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