The emperor's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.
The words of his trusted eunuch did indeed open up a new way of thinking for him.
If he were to go along with the plan and accept the proposal to take a concubine and establish an empress, he could not only strike a blow against Zhou Jing'an, but also fool those stubborn and pedantic ministers.
More importantly, he could easily find another excuse to dismiss the harem later.
But after a short while, his eyes dimmed again.
"If the Empress finds out about this, she will surely blame me."
Eunuch Zhang comforted you, saying, "Your Majesty, this is a special situation, and you are handling it in a special way. If you don't go along with those ministers, they might all dismiss you or even remonstrate to the death. You can explain this to the Empress later, and she will surely understand your helplessness and good intentions."
The emperor fell silent once again. Half an hour later, he issued an imperial edict stating that he was willing to take a concubine and establish an empress.
The happiest person was the Empress Dowager. She thought the Emperor had finally come to his senses and intended to ensure the continuation of the Zhou family's imperial lineage. She happily ate an extra half bowl of rice that evening.
The most surprised were Zhou Jing'an and his cronies.
The emperor had been quite resistant to the selection of concubines and the appointment of an empress before this, and they thought that this time they could also anger the emperor, causing him to clash with the ministers and ultimately lose his prestige.
But to their surprise, the emperor actually agreed!
This completely disrupted their plans.
"Your Highness, what should we do?" one of Zhou Jing'an's henchmen sighed.
Although Zhou Jing'an was displeased, he remained calm and said, "Let's wait and see."
Inside the general's mansion, Jian Hong's arrow wound on his leg had basically healed under the doctor's careful care and treatment. After a period of rest, he would be able to walk, run, and jump like a normal person.
He should have been resting in bed as usual.
But at that moment, he mounted his warhorse and galloped toward the palace at lightning speed, completely ignoring the complaints of the physician behind him.
"General, do you still want your leg? Riding a horse will reopen your wound..."
He couldn't hear what was said next, because he had already ridden his horse out of the general's mansion.
A moment later, Jian Hong arrived at the palace gate, dismounted, threw the reins to the guards at the gate, and galloped into the palace.
"Your Majesty, didn't you say you would be devoted to A-Yang? Why are you now taking concubines and establishing an empress? Have you considered A-Yang's feelings?"
Ignoring everything else, he stormed into the imperial study and roared at the emperor.
Fearing that he might harm the emperor in a moment of anger, Eunuch Zhang immediately stepped in front of the emperor and shouted, "General Jian, please calm down!"
The emperor patted him on the shoulder and said in a calm voice, "Go and fetch the imperial physician."
Zhang Gonggong was stunned, only then noticing that Jian Hong's right trouser leg was soaked in blood.
"Go ahead, I also have something to say to the general."
Eunuch Zhang dared not disobey the emperor's decree and hurried out of the imperial study.
The emperor pointed to a chair not far away, "General, please sit down."
Jian Hong stood still, determined to wait for the emperor to give him an explanation.
The emperor sighed almost inaudibly and said, "I know you feel wronged and think I broke my promise, but General Jian, I really had no choice but to do it."
He then explained his predicament and his plans to Jian Hong in detail.
Jian Hong then understood the emperor's predicament and felt a pang of guilt.
"It was my recklessness that led me to this position. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
Seeing that Jian Yang was about to kneel before him, the emperor quickly stopped him.
"Don't kneel anymore. You're so badly injured. If A-Yang finds out that I made her brother suffer, she'll definitely hold a grudge against me."
Jian Hong smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "Actually, the wound is almost healed, but it was torn a bit more when I was riding the horse just now. It will be fine after a few days of rest at home."
The emperor said gently, "Then General, you'd better hurry up, I have more tasks to assign you next."
Jian Hong became interested and quickly asked, "What kind of mission is it?"
The emperor said, "Go to Jiangzhou and retrieve the account books that the second son sent over."
Jian Hong was startled and blurted out, "Are you going to forcibly seize it? I can take 20,000 troops with me!"
The emperor laughed and said, "No need. The people I planted in Jiangzhou have already found out the exact location where the second son's maternal grandfather kept the account books. Now that the second son has been outmaneuvered, he will certainly not be able to pay attention to Jiangzhou. It is the perfect time to retrieve the account books."
Jian Hong immediately cupped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, I will certainly not fail in your trust!"
Just as the two finalized their departure date of five days later, the imperial physician arrived.
"General, your wound needs to be stitched up, otherwise it will burst open again and your leg will be practically useless," the imperial physician concluded after examining the wound.
“How can skin and flesh be sewn together!” Jian Hong thought he was just making things up.
The imperial physician smiled and said, "General Jian, you may not know this, but this method was taught to us by Empress Wende. We didn't believe it at first, but later we found that the wound healed faster after the skin and flesh were stitched up, so we continued to use this method."
Upon hearing that it was his sister who had taught him the method, Jian Hong immediately stopped resisting. He looked up at the emperor and saw that the emperor was also nodding at him. Now he completely believed the imperial physician.
"However," the imperial physician sighed, "wounds stitched with ordinary needles and thread must have the stitches removed in five to seven days, otherwise the wound will be at risk of infection and suppuration."
Jian Hongyi thought that he would be leaving in five days, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll come to you in five days to have the stitches removed."
The imperial physician smiled and said, "If the general is brave enough, he can simply cut the thread himself with a small pair of scissors and pull it out piece by piece. There's no need to make this special trip. Ah, if only the Empress were still here."
This imperial physician was clearly the kind of person who only knew how to treat illnesses but not how to navigate social interactions; otherwise, he wouldn't have repeatedly mentioned the "deceased" empress in front of the emperor.
Fortunately, the emperor knew the physician's temperament and did not blame him.
Jian Hong, having nothing better to do, proudly said upon hearing someone praise his sister, "Of course! If my sister A Yang were here, she would definitely be able to treat my wound very well."
The imperial physician chimed in, "That's right. The Empress told me that she had another method of suturing without needing to remove the stitches, but she passed away before she could tell me. Alas."
Jian Hong laughed and said, "It's no big deal. I'll ask around for you later."
The imperial physician was dumbfounded.
He looked at Jian Hong with eyes full of terror and said in a trembling voice, "General, there's no need for that."
Jian Hong then realized what was happening, looked up at the emperor, and saw that he couldn't help but laugh as well.
Five days later, Jian Hong removed the stitches, and together with his elite bodyguards, disguised himself as a merchant caravan and left the capital.
Five days later, Jian Hong and his party arrived in Jiangzhou. After evading layers of checks, they disguised themselves as servants and were bought by the Zheng family, who happened to be buying servants, at the slave market to work as guards.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
