Yan Huisheng personally went to the dungeon, accompanied by the head eunuch who served the Emperor, as well as an official in charge of drafting edicts. The head eunuch carried a tray, on which was placed a jug and a cup for wine. The official held a scroll of the imperial edict in his hands.
Yan Lin, hearing a noise, immediately turned his head and saw Yan Huisheng. Noticing the people accompanying him and the jug and wine cup, he turned pale with intense fear.
This scene was all too clear to him, a prince, and he understood what it meant.
From a young age, he knew that when the Emperor granted someone death, this was the usual procedure.
"The second prince, please take this edict." Although generally only responsible for drafting edicts, eunuchs would deliver them—though they were rarely sent—except in the case of important individuals.
Presently, Prince Yan Lin was such an important individual. Yan Li, degraded to commoner status and hiding in Prince Yan’s residence, did not require the eunuch’s personal attention anymore.
Stunned, Yan Lin retreated, feeling terrified at the sight of the wine jug. It was as if he perceived the reaper descending to harvest his soul. As he backed away, he suddenly knelt down and begged Yan Huisheng, "Crown Prince, my third brother, I was wrong! Please spare me. I will no longer compete with you..."
Once he began pleading for mercy, he found it hard to stop, begging Yan Huisheng incessantly.
Yan Huisheng’s gaze was indifferent. He looked at Yan Lin for quite a while before slowly saying, "Second brother, it’s too late. This order was issued by our father, the Emperor."
"How can it be too late? We are brothers. Please spare my life! I’ll serve as your horse or ox, listen to you obediently and never harbor any ill intentions again." Yan Lin was pallid. He could not believe it was the Emperor who had decreed his death. Yan Li had merely been degraded to a commoner, and he concluded that Yan Huisheng was trying to murder him. The Emperor was no longer in a position to intervene. In desperation, he would have broken bones to beg Yan Huisheng to spare his life.
Yan Huisheng, realizing his thoughts, addressed him, "This really is our father’s decree—ordering your death, as well as Yan Li’s."
Yan Lin was shocked. Yan Li was also ordered to die? Wasn’t he degraded to commoner status?
"Even though Yan Li was reduced to a commoner, he remained unsatisfied. Our father probably does not feel secure keeping you two alive," Yan Huisheng calmly intoned. "Second brother, maintain some spine. There is no need to plead with me. I will not intercede on your behalf, despite the order handed down from our father."
He sighed before adding, "If our eldest brother had been able to learn from his fall to commoner status and if you had been able to act as a warning for him at the time, perhaps I would have looked upon your awareness of the situation and let you off the hook. After all, I’m not that ruthless. But not only were you unable to learn a lesson, you also harbored our eldest brother and continued your scheming. How could I bear with you?"
He did not want to waste more time on meaningless conversations with Yan Lin, nor did he want to hear his pleas to spare his life. He waved his hand and said, "Go on, send my second brother on his way."
Hearing his words, the edict-drafting officer started reading the imperial edict aloud. The head eunuch was very adept at forcing someone to drink poison, and so, before the imperial edict was even finished, some people already forced a full cup of poisoned wine down Yan Lin’s throat.
The poison, a wine known as Crane Top Red, worked quickly and did not allow the condemned to suffer too much before death.
The last words Yan Lin spat out were, "Yan Huisheng, I curse you, you will not..."
Naturally, the head eunuch could not let him finish his sentence. He instantly covered Yan Lin’s mouth and nose with a handkerchief, forcing him to swallow his words. At the same time, he spat twice and then said, "The second prince brought this upon himself. Blaming others is unjustified. Crown Prince, your virtue is profound, your prosperity immense. Fortune that will last for thousands of generations is not something anyone can take away from you."
Having personally witnessed numerous lives come and go in the palace, Yan Huisheng was indifferent to Yan Lin’s final words. Seeing his eyes already shut and his body lifeless, he ordered, "Prepare the coffin and give him a dignified burial."
Leaving behind those four words, he exited the dungeon.
There was no need for him to go to Prince Yan’s residence; sending others to do it would suffice. Therefore, after forcing the poisoned wine on Yan Lin, the head eunuch took his people to find Yan Li at Prince Yan’s residence.
At the same time, Prince Yan’s residence was sealed off by the Imperial Guard as officials went there to confiscate the family’s property.
On this night, all the main officials implicated in Prince Yan’s faction were arrested and their families’ properties confiscated. They were thrown into the dungeon to await their fate under the Emperor’s decree the following day.
Yan Huisheng moved swiftly. With Yan Lin sentenced to death, he would not allow the faction of Prince Yan to cause further chaos. It was also necessary to weed out the hidden informants planted by Zhang Ping in the capital.
That night, cries could be heard from almost half of the official residences in the capital city. The prisons, including those at the Department of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the city’s Government Office, were packed to the brink.
Yan Li was dragged out of a woman’s bed by the head eunuch and his crew. He was so drunk that he resembled a sloppy pile of mud and did not put up much resistance. A cup of poison was poured down his throat, and before he could sober up, he mumbled, "Beautiful woman, why is this wine so spicy and unpleasant? I don’t want it."
After saying that, he vomited blood. Following his vomit, his drunkenness appeared to have evaporated. He opened his eyes wide, as if wanting to say something, but was incapable of doing so. Soon after, he drew his final breath.
He probably died without understanding why he was given poisoned wine to end his days of ceaseless drinking and dreaming.
The virtuous consort had long been banished into the Cold Palace, and the wise consort had been demoted to the rank of concubine, but the Emperor still sent them poisoned wine.
The palace maids and eunuchs who served them were to await their fate.
Concubine Li, hearing the cries from next door and sending someone to inquire, found out that the Emperor had executed the mothers of Yan Lin and Yan Li. She was terrified.
Who could have thought that even after going to live in the Cold Palace, the virtuous consort couldn’t avoid death?
She felt relieved at the thought that she hadn’t done anything in all these years, was honest and diligent. She had been framed and her maternal family was wiped out, but she was very much alive. Not only had she retained her position, but her son was also well.
Her son, smarter than Yan Lin and Yan Li, was wisely loyal to Yan Huisheng from an early age. Perhaps it was his age - he was too young to be used by the Emperor to counter Yan Huisheng. Therefore, Yan Huisheng accepted the allegiance of his brother, benefitting her, his birth mother, in the process.
The Empress was also informed immediately. She thought to herself that the Emperor had finally done something for the benefit of the Crown Prince. At this juncture, compared to imperial rule, the paternal affection between father and son seemed to pale. The importance of preserving the ancestral throne, held firmly even when Yan Li was reduced to a commoner, had shown itself in the face of unrest, and Yan Li and Yan Lin both harbored some sort of connection to each other. A potential threat, they were harmless on the surface but ready to strike dutifully given the right circumstances.
The Emperor had taken quick action to eliminate this threat, for the benefit of the Imperial Court and the Crown Prince.
She asked the Eunuch at her side, "What is the situation outside the palace now?"
The Eunuch responded, "The fourth prince has led plenty of officials to confiscate properties. It is said that even the jail is full. From this wave of property seizures, the happiest man is the Minister of the Revenue. He no longer needs to worry about how to fill the national treasury."
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