Chapter 131: Palace Coup
For the next two days, Jiang Lan was trapped in Mochi. Someone would deliver breakfast, lunch, and dinner to her on time. Except for not being able to go out or enter the backyard, she could also walk around in the front yard.
When it got dark, she would go back to her room and block the door with a chair and a vase. The light in the room would stay on all night. She would wake up after a short nap to check the door, not daring to fall asleep.
On the third day, dinner was not delivered on time and the situation became unusual.
All civil and military officials were urgently summoned into the palace and waited outside the Hongning Palace. They all held their breath and kept silent, with serious expressions. No one dared to whisper to each other.
Suddenly the palace door opened and the crying of palace maids and eunuchs came from inside.
Everyone was filled with grief and tears.
There was crying inside and outside the palace.
Then Eunuch Liu came out with a grief-stricken face and announced the emperor's will.
The crown prince was of poor moral character and unfit for important positions, so he was deposed and the third prince was made crown prince to inherit the throne.
Everyone was shocked and couldn't believe that the emperor wanted to depose the crown prince and pass the throne to Prince Rui. They looked at each other, and no one dared to be the first to speak.
After Eunuch Liu finished his announcement, there was complete silence outside the hall for a long while.
When Prince Rui came out, he glanced at Eunuch Liu.
Eunuch Liu knelt down and kowtowed to him, honoring him as the emperor. Seeing this, the palace maids and eunuchs also kowtowed.
Prince Rui glanced at Marquis Changxing again, his eyes as sinister as a knife.
Marquis Changxing gritted his teeth, bowed his head and kowtowed, followed by Duke Pei, and then the ministers who privately supported King Rui kowtowed, and the rest of the people also kowtowed after seeing this.
However, some ministers did not kowtow and questioned the authenticity of the edict. These people all supported the prince and felt that the emperor could not suddenly change his mind. There must be something fishy about this.
Jiang Shen was one of them, and he also had doubts about the will.
"Excuse me, Your Highness, where is the Crown Prince?" A senior minister raised the question first.
Prince Rui glanced at Eunuch Liu, who replied in a terrified tone, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince offended His Majesty and has been confined to his house for the past two days."
"Your Majesty has always valued His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. How could he suddenly pass the throne to His Highness? This old minister is confused." The veteran minister continued to question.
As soon as he finished speaking, two guards came over and took the veteran minister away. Jiang Shen tried to stop them and was taken away by the other two guards. The ministers who had protested were also taken away. Seeing this, everyone became even more silent and dared not say a word.
…
Jiang Lan stood quietly in the yard, gazing at the stars and the moon in the sky, as if waiting for something.
There was an unusual smell in the air.
Suddenly, a dazzling light exploded above the palace, and a flare rushed into the night sky.
Looking at the dazzling light, she felt relieved, but then became nervous again. She stared in the direction outside the palace and silently prayed that everything would go well.
…..
That night, Marquis Jin'an appeared outside the imperial city with the imperial seal and killed the rebel general guarding the city with a single arrow. After entering the city, he led the Black Armor Guards to kill the rebels along the way. They broke into the palace with unstoppable force and fought against the rebels led by Luo Cheng, the deputy commander of the imperial guards.
After Luo Cheng's defeat, Qi Wuhan ordered a team of Black Armored Guards to continue pursuing the rebels, and asked Ling Feng to lead a team of Black Armored Guards to the East Palace to support the prince, and another team of Black Armored Guards to protect the queen. He led the remaining Black Armored Guards to Hongning Palace.
Upon learning that Qi Wuhan had led the Black Armor Guards into the palace, Prince Rui asked Lu Ci to take Jiang Lan over. He then returned to the palace with a gloomy face and found that the person on the dragon couch was gone, and Eunuch Liu was also missing. He glanced around with a gloomy face, and his eyes fell on the bed. He then lifted the bedding and knocked on the bed board. Finding that it was empty, he immediately called for someone to come in and smash the bed board open.
"Father, I will be the winner in the end. Just wait and see."
After Lu Ci arrived at Mo Chi, he had Jiang Lan captured and taken away. When two guards approached her, she quickly sprinkled out a packet of medicinal powder. The effect of the medicine was immediate, and the two of them fainted on the ground with a thud.
This secret medicine was developed by Ye Rushui himself, and its efficacy is more than ten times stronger than ordinary drugs.
She immediately took out a flare, and the moment the flare was launched into the air, a hand grabbed her throat.
Lu Ci looked at her coldly, his fingers gradually tightening.
Jiang Lan struggled desperately to pry his hand open, but he threw her to the ground, causing her to cough violently. The next moment, the sharp blade of the sword was aimed at her arm.
"I will cut off one of your arms first and give it to Marquis Jin'an as a gift."
Lu Ci swung his sword to kill, but at the critical moment, Jiang Lan threw a handful of air forward. Lu Ci thought she was throwing medicine powder and quickly dodged. She seized the opportunity and quickly got up from the ground and ran away. She didn't run far before she fell to the ground.
A dart hit her calf and blood immediately gushed out.
Lu Ci walked over with a grim expression and stepped on the dart.
A piercing pain came from her leg. Jiang Lan broke out in a cold sweat and her face turned pale. She gritted her teeth to prevent herself from screaming.
Lu Ci stretched out his hand, and when his fingers were about to touch her hair, his expression suddenly changed and he quickly dodged, but he still failed to dodge and a scar was cut on his face. The extremely sharp wind from the fan instantly cut through the flesh, and the fan bone was embedded in the palace wall on one side.
A figure quickly rushed to Jiang Lan and picked her up from the ground.
Looking at the pool of bright red blood on the ground, an extremely dark and murderous aura emerged in those peach blossom eyes.
He carried her to the wall and gently put her down, saying softly, "Wait a moment." Jiang Lan nodded lightly.
Qi Wuhan walked over and pulled out the bone fan embedded in the wall. His figure flashed behind Lu Ci like a ghost, and the cold fan bone pressed against his cervical vertebrae. His cold voice was as dark and gloomy as a ghost, "It would be too easy for you to kill you like this." As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Ci let out a shrill wail. His leg bone was broken by his kick. The next moment, there was a cracking sound on his wrist, and his wrist bone was also broken.
"Take him away and watch him carefully. Don't let anyone die." He gave a simple order.
Lu Ci collapsed on the ground like a disabled person and was dragged away by two black-armored guards.
When he came over, Qi Wuhan first wiped his hands with a handkerchief, then went over and gently picked up Jiang Lan, and whispered to comfort her, "It's okay." Jiang Lan nodded lightly, her throat was blocked, and she was afraid that she would cry if she opened her mouth.
"I'll take you to the Queen first, and then I'll pick you up when it's over." He said softly.
Jiang Lan nodded lightly.
After sending Jiang Lan to the Queen, Qi Wuhan rushed to Hongning Palace. He came alone and asked the Black Armor Guard to go first.
When he rushed over, the black-armored guards were confronting the guards inside outside the door.
The ministers who had surrendered to King Rui, led by Marquis Changxing, were still kneeling outside the palace.
When Qi Wuhan walked in, the guards pointed their blades at him, but they did not dare to act rashly.
"You are leading troops to force the palace. Are you planning a rebellion?" Prince Rui asked in a sinister tone.
Qi Wuhan sneered, "It was Your Highness who wanted to rebel. Your Highness secretly colluded with the Black Lotus Cult, thinking he had done it perfectly, but unaware that His Majesty had already noticed." He glanced at the ministers kneeling outside the palace and said, "If you don't repent, you will be treated the same as traitors."
The Marquis of Changxing gritted his teeth and told the truth, "My family is still in his hands."
At this time, Ji Quan came over with two of his men and saluted Qi Wuhan, saying, "My Lord, I have already withdrawn everyone."
Marquis Changxing heaved a sigh of relief. It turned out that it was Ji Quan who brought people from the Imperial City Bureau into the mansion and took his family under control. Now that he saw that Ji Quan was on Qi Wuhan's side, he boldly told Qi Wuhan how he was coerced. Other ministers who were coerced also explained the reasons to Qi Wuhan, saying that it was King Rui who forced them to surrender by threatening their families' lives.
Duke Pei and several other ministers who supported Prince Rui were trembling with fear, their faces pale. They had never imagined that the Imperial City Bureau would turn against them.
"You betrayed me?" King Rui stared at Ji Quan with a cold expression.
Ji Quan bowed and replied, "Your Highness must have misunderstood. I have always been your servant. I came to the capital to repay your kindness."
Prince Rui sneered twice and said to Qi Wuhan, "I underestimated your scheming."
Qi Wuhan said: "Your Highness must have overestimated himself."
Suddenly, Prince Rui's expression changed, and he stared at the person who walked in from the door with a sinister look.
The emperor walked in supported by Eunuch Liu.
When Marquis Changxing and others saw that the emperor was still alive, they were so excited that their eyes filled with tears.
Duke Pei and the others were terrified and trembling all over.
There is a secret passage under the dragon bed, and black-armored guards have been arranged inside to provide support.
After King Rui had the bed broken open, the guards sent in to arrest people were all dealt with by the Black Armor Guards.
Later, Luo Cheng was also tied up and brought over by the Black Armor Guards. Commander Li and Ling Feng also came back one after another to report that the rebels had been captured and the Queen and the Prince were safe.
King Rui saw that the situation was hopeless and stopped resisting in vain.
The emperor ordered that his status as a prince be abolished, and he be demoted to a commoner, imprisoned forever in the palace, and not allowed to leave for the rest of his life.
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