Chapter 682: Punishing Emperor An
Emperor An became extremely panicked after being thrown into the side hall. Although he was not imprisoned, the room was small and dimly lit. Even after dark, there was no one to light the lamp, and no one brought him food or tea.
At the beginning, Emperor An was still thinking about how he would answer if Xiao Yan came to question him, how he would promise benefits or what he would say to make him let him go. He even thought about using the fact that there was a private army hidden outside to threaten Xiao Yan when all was said and done.
But Xiao Yan didn't come at all.
Since he was locked in this dark room, no one has come to ask about him.
Emperor An's heart, which he pretended to be calm, became more and more panicked as night fell. He shouted and scolded loudly, and shouted at Xiao Yan to come see him, but no one paid any attention to him until his voice was hoarse. The people guarding the door paid no attention at all, as if they didn't hear his voice at all.
Emperor An understood that Xiao Yan was really serious about this.
He endured the whole night, and when the door was opened the next day, people rushed in from outside. Emperor An was taken out before he could say anything.
"What are you doing? Let me go! I am the emperor, let me go!!"
Emperor An struggled and cursed, but no one paid any attention to him.
When he was taken directly to the front of the Imperial Palace and looked at the place where he used to be high and mighty and everyone else was prostrating themselves, Emperor An became completely panicked.
He vaguely understood what he would face next, and his struggle intensified.
"Let me go, let Xiao Yan come to see me!! I know I was wrong, I shouldn't have treated him like that, let him come to see me, as long as he comes I will agree to whatever he wants, let him come to see me..."
"His Majesty."
A gentle and familiar voice was heard, and Emperor An froze suddenly. When he looked up, he saw Feng Lai waiting in front of the hall.
Feng Lai had half of his face wrapped in white cloth, covering his left eye. The cloth was faintly stained with blood, and his intact right eye revealed a sinister look when he looked at people.
"you!"
Emperor An's face turned pale as he looked at Feng Lai in fear.
Feng Lai asked, "Your Majesty, why do you look like this when you see me? Did I frighten you?" He smiled, but his tone was cold, "Your Majesty, don't be afraid. After this morning's court session, you will surely see a scene even more miserable than mine. Then you won't be afraid anymore."
Emperor An panicked: "Feng Lai, what do you want to do? You dog slave, you colluded with Xiao Yan and I spared your life, but you are so ungrateful and dare to treat me like this..."
“Bang!”
Feng Lai suddenly grabbed the whisk in his hand and hit Emperor An hard on the mouth, causing Emperor An to scream in pain.
Feng Lai touched the eye that was missing its pupil and said, "Your Majesty, you have been so kind to me. I will always remember this. But Your Majesty, please keep your voice down for now."
"You are still the emperor after all. All the clan members are listening in the hall. If you don't even want this last bit of dignity, I don't mind having you dragged in. But then you will probably be the most disgraceful emperor in history."
Emperor An suddenly became quiet.
Feng Lai smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please come in."
…
In the Golden Palace, the dragon throne was suspended in the air, and the entire hall was filled with court officials.
Everyone looked up at the man who was standing next to the dragon throne. Although he had not sat down yet, he was so imposing that he seemed to have already become the owner of the chair. When someone brought Emperor An in from outside, all the court officials were silent for a while as they looked at the embarrassed Emperor An.
Suddenly someone spoke up: "Duke Dingguo, His Majesty is the Emperor of Wei, how can you humiliate him like this?!"
Xiao Yan said calmly, "If it weren't for the fact that he still bears the title of emperor, he would have lost his head long ago. What's the point of humiliating him?"
"Dong Guo!"
The court officials from the aristocratic families had not expected that Xiao Yan would even throw away the superficial cover-up he usually put on the surface and speak so bluntly against his superiors.
Someone sternly said, "No matter what His Majesty did, he is the king and you are the subject. How dare you speak so recklessly of His Majesty? Moreover, the truth of yesterday's incident has not yet been ascertained. You are acting so arrogantly in the court. Are you planning a rebellion?"
Liang Guangyi looked deeply at the person on the high platform and said aloud: "Duke Dingguo, no matter what, he is Your Majesty. If he is wrong, the royal family will judge him. Your Majesty can issue an edict of repentance..."
Xiao Yan: "Has he issued insufficient edicts blaming himself?"
Liang Guangyi was choked for a moment.
After Xiao Yan waved his hand to let go of Emperor An, he spoke condescendingly to everyone:
"Xie Tianyong exploited my biological mother, the Queen Dowager Xuan, and, under the guise of hosting a banquet, ordered the Imperial Guard Commander Liu Tongen to drug and murder the Crown Prince, blaming the daughter of a court official. He then used the Queen Dowager Xuan's life to falsely attempt to frame my wife for the crime of murdering the royal family."
"Jinyun."
From outside, Jinyun and another person came in carrying a box, and placed it in front of the hall with a "dong" sound.
"These are the confessions of those who witnessed what happened yesterday. In addition to them, there are also confessions from Liu Tongen's close associates and the palace maids in Shoukang Palace. Your Excellencies may take a look at them."
Someone immediately handed the charges to Liang Guangyi and others who were in the lead. It was a thick stack, and almost every court official standing in the front row received a copy.
Everyone in the palace who was slightly more informed had already known about what had happened in Shoukang Palace last night, and also knew about the existence of these confessions, but there were still some people who were unaware. When the confessions were passed to them, many people were shocked and some even spoke out directly.
"Duke Dingguo, is this all true?"
"Whether it's true or not, you can ask Grand Tutor Liang and the others. Several of these confessions were written by people from their mansion. If you still don't believe it, I can have you confront the witnesses in person."
Liang Guangyi's face froze for a moment, and he looked at those people without saying a word.
Emperor An opened his mouth and said hurriedly: "I can explain it. These are all the Queen Mother's doing. I know nothing..."
"What about the collusion with Lu Jiuan, sending troops to besiege me in an attempt to kill me, and sending assassins to kill Marquis Wenxin and General Yin?"
Xiao Yan glanced down as he spoke, and Jin Yun shouted, "Bring the person in."
Someone outside the hall forced three people into the hall, and when they arrived in front of the hall, they forced them to kneel on the ground.
The three men were covered in wounds and looked extremely miserable. One of them even lost his balance and almost fell to the ground, with blood on his hands, obviously having been severely tortured.
Before Xiao Yan could ask anything, one of the people kneeling upright spoke.
"I'm Yang Kunliang, the commander of the Longkang patrol camp. I'm in charge of all the garrison troops in Longkang. After Prince Pingshan rebelled, he sent me money, hoping that I would join forces with him to capture Longkang."
"Because my parents and relatives were all in the capital, and I didn't want to collude with the rebels, I threw the money away. Later, Marquis Wenxin and his men arrived with their troops. It was only through cooperation with Marquis Wenxin that we defeated King Pingshan and allowed the imperial army to enter Longkang smoothly."
Everyone looked at each other in surprise when they heard this.
Then this person is a hero, but how...
The man seemed to see the crowd's confusion and lowered his head, whispering, "Marquis Wenxin and General Yin were master military commanders. They quickly contained the rebels' offensive and forced Prince Pingshan and the rebels back to the Shuipan and Yuanchuan areas. The fighting is stalemate, but each side has won and lost. Furthermore, with the continuous flow of food and reinforcements from the court to Longkang, victory is inevitable."
"But who would have thought that just a few days ago, an official escorting military supplies found me and brought me a decree from His Majesty."
"His Majesty ordered me to find a way to evade Marquis Wenxin and his men and allow some men into the city to create chaos and assassinate Marquis Wenxin and General Yin. He also ordered me to capture several lieutenant generals in the city after their deaths and join forces with those waiting outside to quickly take over the city's military."
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