Chapter 360 Provocation
Xie Shang felt a chill in his heart, and his eyes flashed with cold light. Upon hearing this, he hesitated because he had been disliked by his father, who had even forgotten that he was his son.
However, his desire to seize the throne never ceased. Su Tingwan was the daughter of the Su family, which held military power. When the day came to fight for the throne, he would do everything in his power to do so.
Seeing his hesitation, Su Xuan continued, "So it was Your Highness who deliberately revealed to me that the Thousand-Faced Gentleman disguised himself as a member of the Su family and hid the dragon robe in the Su residence. But how did Your Highness know that I had returned to Shengjing, and even that I would definitely return to Shengjing to rebel? I have military power at the border, so why shouldn't I raise an army to rebel? Wouldn't that give me a better chance of winning?"
Xie Shang said coldly, "Of course it's because Ye Susu gave birth to your precious son. Can't you come back and see the fruits of your labor? You gave me an aphrodisiac and orchestrated all of this. It would be a waste of General Su's long-term planning if I didn't cooperate with your act."
Su Xuan sneered, "Then Your Highness really doesn't understand me at all. Ye Susu and I are just using each other. There are plenty of women who want to have a son for me, Su Xuan. There's no way Ye Susu could put me in danger by having a child.
Xie Shang felt that Su Xuan was exactly the kind of person he described himself to be. He wouldn't come back for Ye Susu, much less put himself in danger for a child.
Xie Shang thought to himself: At that time, he and Jiang Fenghua had guessed whether Su Xuan would come back. After all, he was now a general, and without an imperial decree, he could not easily come back. It was Jiang Fenghua who said that he would definitely come back and might have already arrived in Shengjing.
"Could it be that Jiang Fenghua already knew about my affair with Ye Susu?" Su Xuan was also recalling carefully. When he entered the Crown Prince's residence, he disguised himself as a woman. Perhaps Jiang Fenghua knew at that time. Why was she so clever? He thought that things were foolproof, but Jiang Fenghua always found out.
He didn't believe Xie Shang was that capable, and that Jiang Fenghua had always been the real winner behind the scenes. So, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, he had to push the blame onto Jiang Fenghua.
If what Wanwan said is true, and there is an invisible eye watching them all along, could that person be Jiang Fenghua? He can't verify it, so let Xie Shang verify it himself!
If Jiang Fenghua becomes empress, then she will be the biggest winner.
If Xie Shang begins to doubt her, can she still remain Empress?
Su Xuan's heart was filled with darkness. "If Your Highness releases me, I will voluntarily hand over the military power of the Su family. Your Highness can even demote the Su family to servants. We don't want any wealth, fame, or power."
Xie Shang suddenly smiled, not wanting to waste words with him, and said coldly, "Do you still have the right to negotiate with me? I have wiped out your Su family's old nest, and you have nowhere to escape. Considering the merits of your Su family's old general for the Great Zhou, I can decide how to deal with the Su family, as long as you surrender obediently."
"What do you mean?" Su Xuan said coldly.
"You want to create a rift between me and the Crown Princess by fabricating this story to trick me into releasing you and letting you go back to raise an army in rebellion? It's a pity that your Su family's wine and meat pool has now become a burial ground for the heads of Su family disciples. The power of your Su family on the border has truly opened my eyes!"
"Impossible. The border is impregnable. Even if your men went there, they couldn't possibly leave alive." He was confident that unless a spy had infiltrated, but the Su family was strict in their vetting. Who could be the spy?
Xie Shang coldly shouted, "Send up the heads!" The reason he was late was because he was waiting for these heads to be delivered by fast horses from the border.
The guards threw familiar heads at Su Xuan, one after another. Upon seeing this, Su Xuan shook his head repeatedly, "Impossible, how could they?" They were all Su Xuan's trusted confidants; no one else knew.
Xie Shang said, "Perhaps you have offended too many people, and someone secretly helped me, which is why General Peng was able to eliminate the remnants who supported the Su family so smoothly."
Su Xuan's face was filled with shock and disbelief, as if he couldn't accept it. "Impossible, it can't be..."
The next second, he suddenly lifted the head off the ground and headed towards Xie Shang. In an instant, he seized the opportunity and used his lightness skill to escape into the night.
Xie Shang said coldly, "Release the arrows and follow me in pursuit."
Arrows streaked across the night sky and shot toward Su Xuan, but he was wearing soft armor, so the arrows couldn't penetrate him.
At the same time, Imperial Guards suddenly rushed into the main hall and surrounded the fake Imperial Guards who had just entered.
The man who called himself "this king" fought back desperately. He hadn't expected that Su Xuan, whom he had come to help, was already prepared. It seemed that he had no choice but to run away first.
The ropes binding Gao Hong were cut, and he instantly seemed to be fully revived, commanding, "Capture the traitor!"
He also turned his attention to that man, personally taking action to capture the traitor. As the commander of the Imperial Guard, he was almost made a criminal by being bound by the traitor.
Gao Hong's target was also the man who called himself "this king". Seeing that he was about to escape, he picked up a large knife, chased after him, and stabbed the man in the abdomen, sending him to his death.
Gao Hong spat at him, "Trying to harm me? Die!" He needed to hurry and capture other traitors to atone for his crimes, otherwise, if the emperor investigated, he would lose his position as commander of the Imperial Guard.
However, the number of rebels increased, as did the number of Imperial Guards. Each of them was agile and their long swords slashed through the night sky, leaving the enemy with nowhere to escape.
In no time at all, everyone in the hall had become victims of their blades.
No one expected that the "prince" who had just been killed by Gao Hong would come back to life and quietly crawl towards Su Tingwan's direction.
Meanwhile, Su Xuan's men were captured one after another. When the old lady Su saw this, she felt dizzy. Didn't Xuan'er say that the crown prince and his gang of men were all blown up in the Su residence? How come there are so many people?
The old house is destroyed, and the truth has been exposed. How can she face the old general in the underworld? She failed to protect the Su family!
People throughout the hall hid and concealed themselves. The young ladies of the Eastern Palace and the concubines of the palace also sought refuge near the Emperor, as he was protected by secret guards.
At the same time, Jiang Fenghua, seeing Su Tingwan lying in a pool of blood on the verge of death, didn't bother with her. The guards protecting the emperor came out one after another to protect them and take them to a safe place.
The Emperor pulled Jiang Fenghua aside, saying, "Fenghua, stay with me. You don't know martial arts, and swords have no eyes, so I don't want you to get hurt. Shang'er will catch the thief. We'll go out when it's safe."
Empress Cheng said, "The child... save the child."
The emperor stopped her, saying, "He's just a bastard child of the Su family. Let him live or die as he pleases." He had already heard from Physician Wang that the child didn't have long to live and was destined to die, but he had forcibly prolonged his life with medicine.
"I was referring to the Crown Princess's two young grandsons, the ones being held by their wet nurses," the Empress said.
Jiang Fenghua said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. I only brought two swaddling clothes to wrap the baby. Granny Wang and Hongxiu Lianye have already hidden the little prince, and His Highness has also sent people to protect him." There are also people that Lin Yu left for her to secretly guard the child. Once things settle down here, Wuxin will quietly send them away from the palace.
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