Going to Yangzhou again
The moment the arrow pierced the air and hurtled toward the emperor's back, Yan Zhan moved like lightning, managing to catch the arrow with his bare hands before anyone else could react!
The Li Kingdom's guards surged out like a black tide, instantly subduing more than ten assassins.
"Your Majesty has been frightened." Yan Zhan knelt on one knee and presented the arrows with both hands. "These madmen dared to disturb Your Majesty's presence. I have captured them."
The emperor, still shaken, saw Yan Zhan pull a jade pendant from the assassin's robes—
The dragon pattern is engraved with the character "Huai," and it is a token of the Fifth Prince, Chu Huaijin!
The entire audience erupted in uproar!
The fifth prince's face turned deathly pale: "Father! This is absolutely not what your son..."
Xu Zhiyuan crouched down, his fingertips probing into the assassin's mouth, and suddenly pried open his jaw: "No ulceration in the gums, no gaps between the teeth—not the look of a death warrior."
He flipped the assassin's ear over, revealing a bluish-black tattoo. "A tattoo mark from the Yangzhou water stronghold. This is a water bandit who escaped during last year's bandit suppression!"
Fifth Prince Chu Huaijin said urgently, "Father, you are wise! How could I possibly collude with such scoundrels!"
Yan Zhan sighed, "If the Fifth Prince really wanted to assassinate someone, why would he use his own token? It's far too clumsy."
He then changed the subject, "Unless... someone deliberately framed him."
With a flick of her sword, Liu Rushuang caught the assassin's dagger in her hand: "This dagger is 'blood-sealing,' the kind that sells for three taels of silver a penny on the black market."
She suddenly slammed the hilt of her knife into the ground—
"Snap!"
The golden thread binding the rope snapped, revealing the emblem engraved inside: a fire-riding Qilin!
"The unique mark of the craftsmen of the Second Prince's residence!" Liu Rushuang exclaimed. "Last year, you hired craftsmen from Yangzhou at great expense to forge weapons, and I personally watched them carve this Qilin pattern!"
The Second Prince, Chu Chengjing, shouted angrily: "How dare you! The emblem of my palace is a coiled dragon!"
“Yes—” Xiao Zhouyan suddenly interjected, “So this Fire-Treading Qilin is the secret emblem of His Highness’s privately raised assassins!”
He waved his hand, ordering his guards to carry the chests on. "I have already discovered Your Highness's armory, and all the weapons bear this insignia!"
...
In the chaos, one of the "assassins" suddenly struggled to pull a blood-written letter from his robes: "Your Majesty! The Second Prince has promised to grant us fertile land in Yangzhou if the deed is accomplished..."
Yan Zhan's guards stepped forward to subdue the man, but accidentally tore open his collar—
A letter drifted to the ground!
Xu Zhiyuan picked it up and read it aloud:
"Once the Fifth Prince is executed, you can take the blame, and I will guarantee your family's wealth and honor."
——Jing
The vermilion seal was clearly the Second Prince's personal seal!
Chu Chengjing's face turned deathly pale: "Forgery! This is a forgery!"
Liu Rushuang scoffed, "The ink seeps into the paper three-tenths of an inch, and the inkpad carries the scent of sandalwood—are His Highness's favorite 'pine soot ink' and 'imperial sandalwood inkpad' something that others can imitate?"
Emperor Chu Huaiyuan trembled all over, snatched the letter, glanced at the handwriting and the red seal, and suddenly threw the jade tablet at the second prince!
"Treason!!!"
His eyes widened in fury. "Colluding with river bandits! Framing his own brother! Even plotting to murder the emperor and usurp the throne?!"
Chu Chengjing knelt on the ground and cried out, "Father! Yan Zhan and Xiao Zhouyan conspired to set a trap! That inkpad..."
"Enough!" The emperor kicked him over. "I've seen you use this inkpad to review memorials!"
He coughed up blood and foam. "Guards! Strip him of his python robe! Take him to the Imperial Clan Court!"
Yan Zhan suddenly bowed: "Your Majesty, I have something else to report."
He presented the account book: "His Highness once used the Jiangnan grain transport as collateral to borrow three million taels of silver from the Li Kingdom—the contract is here."
As the ledgers were turned over, Chu Chengjing's handwritten signature was revealed: "To offset the price with grain tribute!"
The emperor looked up at the sky and smiled bitterly: "Good...good son of mine!"
Before he could finish speaking, he fainted.
**
As the night deepened, Yan Zhan stepped out of the palace gate and chuckled softly at the shadows: "Your Majesty's scheme of using someone else to do your dirty work is truly brilliant."
A gentle voice came from inside the carriage: "Not as ruthless as the Regent—he's willing to discard even the most carefully chosen pawns."
Yan Zhan toyed with the "blood letter": "Because he forgot that bandits hate treacherous people the most."
The letter was actually sent by a dying bandit seeking revenge against the second prince.
As the carriage drove away, Liu Rushuang jumped down from the roof and sneered, "Those two foxes put on a show and almost made the emperor die of anger."
Xu Zhiyuan looked towards the Imperial Clan Court: "The Second Prince has fallen, the next one will be..."
Xiao Zhouyan's sword sheath trembled slightly: "Jiangnan."
***
Three days later, the emperor awoke, and the first imperial edict arrived directly at Lichun Palace:
"Consort Li, Shen Rou, has rendered meritorious service in saving the Emperor. Her loyalty and bravery are commendable. She is hereby promoted to Imperial Noble Consort Li and granted residence in Fengyi Palace, enjoying double the palace privileges!"
The courtiers were in uproar. The Phoenix Palace had always been the residence of the secondary empress; what was His Majesty's intention in doing this?
Shen Rou—now known as Consort Shen—knelt to receive the imperial edict, her shoulder bandage still stained with blood, her face pale yet smiling: "Your Majesty, I am ashamed to accept this honor."
The emperor personally helped her up: "My beloved consort has shielded me with her own body; she deserves it."
He didn't see that her lowered eyes held no pain, only a cold smile.
...
The Fifth Prince, Chu Huaijin, was granted the power to act as regent. The emperor wrote in vermilion ink: "The case of corruption in the grain transport is to be investigated jointly by Huaijin and Zhiyuan. If any obstruction is encountered, they may be executed first and reported later!"
Others should also be banned.
Liu Rushuang received the plaque inscribed with "Righteous Knight" and was also bestowed with ten bushels of pearls from the East China Sea.
She pried one open and popped it into her mouth: "Ugh...it's hard on my teeth!"
...
The dungeon of the Imperial Clan Court was dimly lit.
Chu Chengjing stripped off his python robe, his hair disheveled and barefoot, and gripped the iron bars tightly: "Send Yan Zhan to see me! He promised..."
A soft laugh came from the shadows, and Yan Zhan, dressed in a black robe, slowly stepped out: "Does Your Highness still think of yourself as a chess player?" He flicked his fingertips across the iron bars, "From the day you embezzled the grain, you were a pawn to be discarded."
Chu Chengjing's eyes widened in fury: "Those river bandits should have committed suicide by poison! Why are they turning around and accusing me?!"
“Because their families—” Yan Zhan leaned down and whispered, “have long been taken to the Kingdom of Li by Consort Li to enjoy a life of luxury.”
Shen Rou had already laid out a backup plan. Knowing that her family was safe before the bandits took action, she naturally switched sides at the last minute!
...
***
Ten days later, at the Yangzhou Canal Transport Office.
Xu Zhiyuan and Chu Huaijin sat in front of the hall, with dozens of officials involved in the case kneeling at their feet.
“Zheng Min is dead, but the accounts are still alive.” Xu Zhiyuan pulled out a box of account books. “Last March, the Second Prince ordered you to falsely report 30,000 shi of grain as ‘sunken ship’. Where is the embezzled silver?”
The transport commissioner trembled and kowtowed: "The silver and money are all being transported to the Second Prince's villa..."
Liu Rushuang suddenly kicked the door open and threw down a blood-soaked bundle: "I've searched the villa, and all that's left is this gold and silver—and a ledger!"
The ledgers were opened, and they turned out to be records of the Second Prince's private salt transactions with merchants from the Li Kingdom!
Chu Huaijin slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "Your Majesty, how dare you colluded with an enemy country!"
That night, the Phoenix Palace sent over a "comfort soup".
After testing the poison with a silver needle, Liu Rushuang pouted and said, "It's not poisonous. It just had some 'forget-me-not' added—the kind that makes you stupid if you drink too much of it."
Xu Zhiyuan poured the soup into the flowerpot: "The Imperial Concubine is reminding us to know when to stop."
Chu Huaijin sneered: "She's afraid we'll find out about her affair with Yan Zhan!"
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