Chapter 803: Not a Step Back
"Your Majesty, are you really not going to let the imperial physician treat the King of England?"
Yue Jian followed Tang Ning and stood at the corner, watching Prince Ji being helped away, and finally couldn't help but whispered:
"When we caned him outside the palace earlier, the men below didn't dare hold back. The King of England is old after all, and has lived in luxury for many years. If no one treats him after forty strokes, he probably wouldn't have survived more than two days."
The people who were good at caning in the palace were all experts. Tang Ning ordered the caning but did not give any other instructions. In that situation, no one dared to hold back. After that beating, the King of England's leg was broken on the spot.
Seeing Tang Ning remained silent, Yue Jian continued, "After all, the King of Ying is a relative, and he is your Majesty's great-uncle. If he died in the Taimiao, the others would probably make a fuss..."
"They don't dare."
Tang Ning held the hand warmer in his arms and said calmly, "If they really had that kind of courage, they wouldn't have watched the King of England being dragged out today without anyone stepping forward to stop them."
Yue Jian hesitated: "But..."
"Nothing to worry about."
Tang Ning knew what Yue Jian was worried about. She rubbed the warmth on the hand warmer with her fingertips, her eyes calm.
"My brother is not in the capital. Those people who were suppressed by him earlier will definitely have second thoughts. If we can't deter them all at once, chaos will surely break out in the court."
She withdrew her gaze and said softly:
"Do you really think that today's incident was just the King of England and those royal relatives causing trouble? They were merely someone testing the sword in the palace. If I show even the slightest bit of fear today, or even give in because of their senior status, the sword will fall on our necks tomorrow."
"These people know how to push their luck. If you take one step back, they'll take ten steps forward!"
Yue Jian was stunned when she heard this: "Isn't King Ji behind King Ying and the others?"
Tang Ning sneered: "Prince Ji? He was just instigated by someone."
Considering Prince Ji's decisiveness in abandoning his wife and daughter that day, and his wisdom in staying in seclusion afterwards, he would never have taken action if someone had not given him an illusion or made him think that his brother intended to settle accounts with them in the future.
Tang Ning pinched the handle of the hand warmer:
"Few people in this court have clean minds. They appear peaceful on the surface, but little do they know how many people who appear to be submissive have ruthless hearts and are ready to rebel against me at any time."
"The King of England is both foolish and evil. He has been guilty of numerous crimes and should have been punished long ago. My brother spared his life temporarily in order to quickly stabilize the court, but he remains unsatisfied. If I can use his life to suppress those with ulterior motives, I don't mind bearing the reputation of the Demon Queen."
Don't think that she doesn't know how those people outside are plotting against her. As early as when my brother abandoned the six palaces and favored only one person for her, someone was secretly spreading rumors that she was flattering the emperor and seducing him.
She is already the Demon Queen, so she doesn't mind carrying some bad reputation.
Tang Ning looked up at the vermilion palace walls after the winter snow melted. "The war in the northwest is urgent. I will not allow anyone to disrupt my brother's plan."
"The King of England's injury is his own fault. Since he keeps saying that his ancestors are the king, let's see if the Xie ancestors in the Taimiao are willing to bless him."
"If even the ancestors of the Xie family are unwilling to protect his life, then there is no need for him to live."
The palace maids around felt a chill down their spines when they heard the Queen's extremely cold words.
…
In Prince Hui's palace.
"Did the Queen really say that?"
"It's absolutely true. The Queen Mother said that the King of England cares so much about the country and the reputation of his ancestors that the ancestors of the Xie family will surely be grateful for his filial piety and bless him. In that case, the imperial physician won't have to go."
There was silence in Prince Hui's palace, and everyone's face was pale.
Old Prince Hui said in a deep voice, "Where is Prince Ji?"
"Prince Ji refused to come."
Another servant whispered, "I was standing guard at the gate of Prince Ji's mansion and saw him being helped down from his carriage. He was barely able to stand. I said the princes had invited him to their mansion to discuss important matters, but Prince Ji refused on the spot, claiming he wasn't feeling well. He also asked me to tell the princes not to provoke the Empress."
He paused.
"When I left, I saw Prince Ji's palace hastily summoning a doctor. Prince Ji looked as if he had suffered in the palace."
The expressions of several royal relatives in the room changed when they heard this.
Prince Ji was left alone in the palace by the Queen. As soon as he came out, he called a doctor. It was obvious that he had suffered in the palace. The Queen not only beat King Ying, but also did not let Prince Ji go.
King Hui and King Ying are brothers. They are of similar age and are the two oldest members of the royal family. When he heard the report from his subordinates, his face turned pale with anger and he waved his hand to knock the things on the table away.
The teacup fell to the ground with a clatter, and he said angrily:
"What a demon queen! It's fine that she bewitched His Majesty, but now she's treating us like this. Does she still have the Xie royal family in her eyes? If she dares to kill the King of England, I will never forgive her!"
"All of you, follow me to see Liang Guangyi. I don't believe those people from the aristocratic families are willing to let a woman manage the affairs of the court..."
Before King Hui finished speaking, someone whispered, "Prime Minister Liang is still in the palace."
"Then let's go to the Fan family, the Wang family..."
"Lord Fan was punished by the Empress to help out at the Arms Department because he and the King of England broke into the Imperial Dragon Palace and violated etiquette. Old Madam Wang is ill, and the Wang family is closed to outsiders."
“…”
King Hui's old face turned pale and blue, and he slammed the table and said that he would rescue King Ying to teach the Evil Queen a lesson. But when he finished speaking, he found that the other royal family members in the room were avoiding his gaze, and no one responded to his words. King Hui became even more angry.
"Are you also afraid of the Demon Queen?"
No one in the room spoke.
After a long while, someone whispered, "Uncle Hui, this Queen seems to be cruel. His Majesty has given her all the imperial seals, and she controls the entire imperial guards and the four battalions. She doesn't even care whether Uncle Ying lives or dies. Prince Ji also punishes people whenever he wants. If we continue to make trouble, I'm afraid we won't end well."
"Yes, Granduncle. Although women shouldn't abuse their power in the court, she hasn't made any mistakes in her recent administration. Besides, with Cao Dejiang and Liang Guangyi watching over her, the Queen can't do anything she shouldn't. There's no need for us to confront her head-on."
"I think so too. The Queen is just like Your Majesty. She doesn't care about respect for elders at all. She even beat Uncle Prince Ying whenever she wants. How many of us can she be afraid of?"
The King of England is still lying half-dead in the Taimiao, and they don't think their bones are harder than the King of England's.
What's more, they went to the palace to make trouble today only because His Majesty had been unwilling to show up, and they thought something had happened in the palace. They were afraid that after the defeat in the northwest war, they would lose the wealth and status of royal relatives. But now the Queen has said that His Majesty is fighting in Southern Qi and is well aware of the situation in the northwest.
If the Queen was a weak person, they would naturally be able to do something while His Majesty was away from the capital, but the Queen was clearly not one of them.
Her ruthlessness and decisiveness were no less than Xiao Yan's.
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