Chapter 1086: Ironclad Evidence of the Crime of Nailing
"Your Highness, please allow me to report that last night the Emperor dispatched the main force of the Imperial Guards to rescue you."
Fu Dong lowered his voice and reported: "I only brought back half of the troops, and the rest are still chasing in the northwest. The defense of the city is indeed insufficient."
Jiang Xue tapped the gilded handrail with her fingertips, and her wide black sleeves swept across the map on the table: "Pass on my order to dispatch the elite soldiers of the Cavalry Battalion to enter the city to assist in the defense. Three days later at noon, I want to see Ateli standing in front of Hanyuan Hall."
"I will do it immediately."
Fu Dong caught a glimpse of the blood on the princess's cuffs and leaned forward to advise: "Are you..."
"Change clothes immediately."
Jiang Xue suddenly stood up, her bloodstained robe soaked in dark red:
"Your Majesty is in the morning court at Xuanzheng Hall, and I am discussing important matters with you. Take my token and lead the Jinwu Guards to investigate those families who only send side branches into the palace."
She threw the plaque on the table, and the crisp sound startled the birds perched under the eaves: "Remember, what I want is ironclad evidence that can convict you of a crime."
When the Princess Regent, her court dress stained with blood, stepped into the Xuan Zheng Hall, the officials' breathing became lighter.
Jiang Heng, who was sitting on the dragon throne, stood up suddenly, and swept across the jade steps in his dark robe with twelve chapter patterns. He stopped abruptly when he was three steps away from her: "Aunt..."
"Your Majesty, please sit down." Jiang Xue fluttered her sleeves as she glanced at the ministers in the hall who were like frightened birds.
She was clearly smiling, but that smile was colder than the unmelted spring snow outside the palace, and it frightened several old ministers so much that the tablets in their hands trembled slightly.
At this moment, Fu Dong was leading his troops to surround seven mansions in the west of the city.
As the gilded token scratched across the vermilion door nail, she remembered the look in the princess' eyes when she was trapped last night - a look of determination that had been soaked in a sea of corpses and blood.
When the first box of privately cast armor was carried out from the cellar of the Lin Mansion, she finally understood why the princess asked her to focus on searching these "innocent" families.
The copper clock in Xuanzheng Hall had been ticking for three quarters of an hour. When Fudong entered the hall holding ten volumes of evidence, an official accidentally dropped and broke his jade tablet.
Jiang Heng looked at the shocking evidence in the report, his fingertips digging deep into the gold lacquer of the dragon chair armrests: "The Ministry of Justice will take him into custody immediately!"
After all the ministers left, Jiang Xue raised her hand to straighten the twelve-tassel crown for the young emperor: "Today's move of summoning officials and their families into the palace is a brilliant one."
"I was just thinking..."
The young emperor's Adam's apple moved slightly, and he grasped the corner of her bloodstained sleeve: "If I can't pry open these people's mouths, I will kill half of the dynasty to find my aunt."
The morning light shone through the caisson onto the hem of his clothes embroidered with golden dragons, making the blood in his eyes even more intense.
Jiang Heng clutched the memorial on the desk tightly, his knuckles turning pale. "Aunt, I thought I could become the benevolent ruler you all hoped for, but sitting on this throne is much harder than I thought."
He suddenly grabbed the cinnabar pen and threw it hard on the ground: "Last night, the secret guards reported that they found in the dungeon of Cining Palace..."
Jiang Xue stroked the young emperor's tightly bound jade crown, her fingertips still retaining the touch of combing his hair in the past.
The little child who curled up and shivered in her arms eight years ago can now hold up the twelve-tassel crown on his own.
"Your Majesty, do you know what Grandpa Taizu said when he ascended the throne?"
She picked up the broken pen and left a deep red mark on the rice paper: "Benevolence is the armor given to the people, and thunder..."
The tip of the pen suddenly penetrated the back of the paper: "It is the sharp blade that protects the armor."
Looking at the swaying reflection in the inkstone, Jiang Heng suddenly grabbed his sister's wrist and said, "Three days ago, Aunt Zhuier risked her life to break into the palace and report that the Queen Mother wanted to burn down your Princess's Mansion."
He swallowed the second half of the sentence with his Adam's apple rolling. The kerosene that the secret guards dug out from the tunnel at that time was enough to burn down half of the imperial city.
“It’s Zhuier…”
Jiang Xue's fingertips suddenly tightened, and the jade pendant tassel on her waist became tangled.
It turned out that the maid who always hid in the shadow of the corridor to embroider had already sewed her thoughts into every cloak she made for Xiao Zhan.
The apricot blossoms were blown into the window by the strong wind. The young emperor suddenly stood up and asked: "When the queen mother was torturing General Lan's wife in the dungeon, did she ever think about Madam Jiang's baby who had just given birth to her?"
The dark dragon robe brushed past the gilded incense burner. He grabbed the paperweight and put it down heavily: "Draft an edict immediately. The Queen Mother has died of a sudden illness. The Ministry of Rites is ordered to hold a funeral according to the standards for the Queen Mother."
"Heng'er!"
Jiang Xue was surprised to find that her brother was half a head taller than her.
When he turned around, the tassels on his crown swayed, just enough to hide the tears in his eyes: "Aunt always said that emperors should not cry, but if you want to scheme against even your closest relatives..."
The words stopped abruptly in his throat and turned into the trembling of his Adam's apple.
Jiang Xue looked at the falling apricot blossoms outside the window and remembered that when Jiang Xiaowei entered the palace for the last time, she was wearing just these pale pink petals in her hair.
She suddenly started coughing violently, digging her nails with nail polish into her palms:
"I asked the imperial physician to use Turtle Breath Powder on Feng Ziqing. Now she looks like a dead person, but she can hear all the sounds around her."
"That's great."
The young emperor raised his hand to catch the falling petals: "How about letting my mother lie in the ice jade coffin and listen to the funeral music of her grand funeral?"
The force with which he crushed the petals startled Chunyan from under the eaves and she flew away: "By the way, I dispatched the imperial guards to conduct a secret investigation overnight and found that the Cining Palace was indeed mobilizing the death squad."
In the Imperial Hospital, Jiang Xue's fingertips gently stroked the wrinkles of the swaddling clothes. The medical officer's report made her shoulders relax slightly - although this baby boy, who was born two months premature, was weak, he was not infected with any serious disease.
Looking at the faint smile on the baby's face, she held the baby in the swaddling clothes tighter, as if this could protect the last bloodline of the Lan family.
The sound of hurried footsteps outside the hall broke the scent of medicine.
Fu Dong held the secret report in his hand and stomped on the mottled light and shadows on the ground: "Bu Yuan came to report that the three hundred monks in Qixia Temple... including Madam Lan..."
Her voice suddenly choked.
The soothing incense on the jade table was still rising, but it could not disperse the suddenly condensed air.
Jiang Xue gently placed the swaddling clothes on the soft couch, and the gilded armor slid across the sandalwood table: "Prepare a plain carriage, I will personally send them back home."
The voice was as cold as ice hanging from the eaves; only the trembling fingertips in the sleeves revealed one's mood.
The white silk in the red lacquer tray suddenly became dazzling. It was the jade belt that she had tied for Jiang Xiaowei this morning.
At the same time, dust was flying outside the capital. Xiao Zhan pulled the reins tightly and looked up at the closed city gate, and the front hooves of the Ferghana horse neighed in the air.
The commander of the garrison leaned over the battlement and said, "Master Prime Minister, the princess has escaped danger at 1:00 pm and is now searching the entire city for the rebels."
The anxiety rolling in his throat instantly vanished into thin air. His Xiaoxue could always turn a dangerous situation into a brilliant move on the chessboard.
In front of the red gate of the princess's mansion, the guard on duty lowered his voice and said, "Your Highness took the Jinwu Guards to Minister Lan's mansion."
Xiao Zhan suddenly clutched the jade pendant, remembering the jar of pear blossom liquor that Lan Feng gave him when he left Beijing three days ago.
The dusk spread over the glazed tiles, dyeing his black official robe dark purple, like solidified blood.
"Lan Mansion?"
Xiao Zhan's hands trembled as he tightened the reins: "What is she doing there?"
"The two ladies of the Lan family have passed away."
Before the guard finished speaking, Jiang Xiaoan suddenly jumped up and grabbed his front, the black iron wristband reflecting a cold light in the morning light: "What did you say about Xiaowei just now?"
The guard squeezed out the news with his Adam's apple rolling: "Yesterday, on the way to Huguo Temple, there was an attack. The princess was kidnapped while trying to save the hostages. She escaped and returned this morning."
Jiang Xiaoan's loosened fingers made a harsh sound as they rubbed against the leather armor, and when his ink-black cloak was lifted up, he was already ten feet away.
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