He was almost strangled to death by a palace maid with her belt?
Zhu Yuanzhang's worldview shattered, and clinging to a sliver of hope, he asked:
"Are you sure she's a palace maid? The one who serves tea and water in my palace right now?"
Zhu Di began to speculate about conspiracies: "Is someone behind this? Yes, it must be those treacherous officials who don't want to see the emperor hold power."
Even Crown Prince Zhu Biao frowned: "Such a clever emperor couldn't possibly have been murdered by a palace maid so easily. It's absurd."
It wasn't that they didn't believe it, but the contrast was just too great. They had just come to accept that this Daoist Emperor was a born ruler who was naturally adept at playing the game of imperial power.
The next second, you tell me he was almost strangled to death, and it was a palace maid who did it, and the murder weapon was just a belt instead of a rope.
Liu Xian's eyes held amusement, and she glanced at the three people with a mixture of mockery and pity, shattering their self-deception.
"It's absolutely true, and these palace maids are all very young and thin, with figures as small as little girls. The one who conspired with them was just a minor concubine in the harem."
Zhu Di clapped his hands and said confidently, "This concubine must have a son. She wanted her son to ascend to the throne as soon as possible, so she launched the assassination, right?"
Or perhaps this concubine had fallen out of favor, harboring resentment and seeking revenge against the emperor.
The King of Yan's guess sounded reasonable and well-founded, and almost everyone present believed it.
That's right. If it weren't for these two reasons, why would mere concubines and palace maids bother to assassinate the emperor?
But Liu Xian smiled and rejected them one by one:
"You're completely wrong. Although this concubine was not favored, she also had no children. Moreover, the fact that the palace maids were willing to risk public condemnation to assassinate her was more because they couldn't bear the torture anymore."
Everyone was taken aback; neither of the two answers was correct, it was simply that they couldn't bear the torment.
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. He felt that although the palace maids worked hard, it was not to the point of torment.
Moreover, the palace women all came from respectable families. They had families to rely on while in the palace. Weren't they afraid of being executed along with their entire families if they went to assassinate the emperor?
Thinking it over, Old Zhu asked:
"What kind of torture could make a palace maid take such a risk?" As he finished speaking, his heart pounded, as if something bad was about to happen.
The next second, Liu Xian personally confirmed that his premonition was correct:
"After Emperor Daojun seized control of the court, he began to pursue immortality through Taoist practices. He summoned alchemists, built Taoist palaces, and frequently held rituals. Officials who wrote good petitions could gain the emperor's favor."
Liu Xian first spoke of matters unrelated to the palace maids, making no attempt to conceal her disdain for cultivating immortality through Taoism:
"A mere mortal, lacking both the affinity for the Dao and the inspiration for enlightenment, dares to dream of ascending to heaven and becoming an immortal. I have cultivated for a thousand years and endured countless tribulations, yet I find the road ahead long and arduous. How laughable!"
Zhu Yuanzhang: I have never done such a thing, so why do I feel that Liu Xian also cursed me...?
After mocking the Daoist Emperor's wild ideas, Liu Xian crossed her arms, rested her chin on them, and said calmly:
"He wanted to achieve immortality, and a Taoist priest offered him a recipe for an elixir of immortality, which required the use of a virgin's 'Heavenly Sunflower' to refine the pill..."
Liu Xian deliberately drew out her voice here, pausing for a moment.
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes widened in shock. Using that to refine pills meant consuming them!
That's a ruthless person... Ugh!
The pillars of the Ming Dynasty exchanged glances, their eyes saying they had learned something new. Some ministers casually glanced at the emperor and his family.
Yes, His Majesty's fists were clenched so tightly that the veins were bulging, and his face looked like he was about to vomit.
The King of Yan seemed lost in thought, his expression blank with disbelief, utterly humiliated.
Crown Prince Zhu Biao was indeed magnanimous. Even when faced with the disgusting things done by the descendants of his rival's younger brother, he still gently comforted his father and brother.
Here, Liu Xian seemed to find pleasure in the suffering of others, and continued with great enthusiasm:
"In order to refine more elixirs, the Daoist Emperor purchased a large number of young girls from the common people to enter the palace. Even if they were underage, they were given a harmful medicine called 'Quitting Heavenly Sunflower'."
What if that's still not enough? After all, if he wants to live forever, he needs to consume more elixirs. So, the women in the palace are given medicine almost all year round, and the elixir is used to refine pills.
In addition, because they needed a sorcerer to say that the nectar was good, these palace maids had to get up at dawn every day to collect it.
Liu Xian sighed softly:
"The methods you humans use to torture your fellow humans are terrifying even to me, a demon. If you don't like them, just eat them whole. Why torture them like this?"
"If this were still when the spiritual energy was at its peak, such torment would not have made it possible for the Dao Emperor to achieve immortality, but it would be very likely to create a nest of resentful ghosts."
Sensing the regret in Liu Xian's words, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
Some even projected their own experiences onto these palace maids, vaguely realizing that if they were to be tormented to death day after day like this, it wouldn't be impossible for them to strangle the emperor.
She turned her head to look at Zhu Yuanzhang and asked lightly:
"Your Majesty, if you were one of those palace maids, wouldn't you want to kill the Emperor?"
Zhu Yuanzhang fell silent. He had raised an army to conquer the country, and his hands had shed countless lives. At this moment, he had no words to say.
How should I answer this?
After a long silence, everyone in the hall heard His Majesty say in a deep voice:
"If it were me, I would not only kill him, I would also tear him to pieces!"
Ministers: Our Emperor is truly wise and upright, even putting righteousness before family ties, but something feels off. His imposing presence belies a "slender" palace maid...
Clap clap clap clap clap, the crisp sound of clapping drew the attention of the stunned officials, who saw Liu Xian clapping:
"So, you can understand to what extent the Dao Emperor's cultivation had gone mad."
From high-ranking officials like Xu Da and Tang He, who had made outstanding contributions, to minor officials who were barely qualified to attend court, everyone felt the same way at this moment.
Yes, yes, I can understand. We have no right to question the determination of an emperor who can take such elixirs.
Zhu Di spoke in a vacant, ghostly tone:
"What became of those palace maids? Why didn't they manage to strangle the emperor?"
Emperor Chengzu was frustrated and frustrated. If his son had been a complete waste of talent, it would have been one thing, but this descendant was capable of becoming a wise and illustrious ruler who would be remembered in history.
Since you've done all these disgusting things, you might as well have been strangled.
"How would I know? Perhaps he is too weak and lacks strength, or perhaps this emperor has a special talent for holding his breath?"
Liu Xian told a lame joke, but no one could laugh. Seeing this, she continued out of boredom:
“Those palace maids were naturally executed by slow slicing, and their entire families were also killed. In addition, the concubines who helped and another innocent favored concubine were also killed.”
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