Chapter 289 Past Events
After Prince Yu was deprived of power, he had anticipated the current situation.
Or Emperor Jing'an, out of consideration for the father-son relationship, would not investigate the matter and cover it up.
Either Emperor Jing'an is ruthless and investigates the matter thoroughly.
Now Emperor Jing'an has ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to conduct a thorough investigation, and it won't be long before they find evidence.
After all, no matter how hard one's mouth is, it will be pried open once it enters the Jinyiwei prison.
If he wants to break the current situation, he needs to suppress it with something bigger than the mistake made by the Ministry of War.
Prince Yu wiped his fingers with a white handkerchief and slowly walked to a map.
The Chancellor followed closely, and looking in the direction of Prince Yu's gaze, he saw a place called "Fengxing Mountain" which was specially circled.
He asked, "Your Highness, what is this place?"
Prince Yu's eyes darkened. Fengxing Mountain was a crucial place, perhaps hiding a way for him to survive.
Emperor Jing'an would stay in the palace for half a month every year.
Two years ago, Emperor Jing'an was spending the summer in the temporary palace. He took official documents to the palace to find Emperor Jing'an. When passing by Fengxing Mountain, he accidentally discovered the figure of Jiang Wang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
He thought Jiang Wang was ordered to handle a case at Fengxing Mountain and did not take it seriously until he did not see Emperor Jing'an at the palace.
It was not until noon the next day that Jiang Wang was seen escorting Emperor Jing'an back to the palace.
He vaguely guessed that Emperor Jing'an had gone to Fengxing Mountain, and his intuition told him that this matter was not simple. He did not dare to send anyone to investigate Emperor Jing'an, but waited until the following year when Emperor Jing'an went to the imperial palace, and then he paid close attention.
Sure enough, Emperor Jing'an went to Fengxing Mountain again.
Emperor Jing'an never mentioned this place, but he went there privately. It was enough to show that there were things hidden there that were very important to him.
Or maybe there is a secret that is unknown to the public.
Prince Yu never does anything without certainty. Before making any plans, he must first test the waters and judge whether his guess is correct based on Emperor Jing'an's reaction.
He threw away the handkerchief in his hand, took down the map hanging on the wall, slowly rolled it up, threw it into the brazier, took out the fire and burned it.
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In the Yangxin Palace, Emperor Jing'an sat on the dragon bed, preparing to read the memorials.
Eunuch Cao lit some calming incense and caught a glimpse of Emperor Jing'an's movements. "Your Majesty, Master Zhao specifically instructed me to retire early tonight." After a pause, he added, "If you continue to attend to government affairs, I'm unsure how to respond if Master Zhao asks about it tomorrow."
Emperor Jing'an felt somewhat helpless, but thinking of Zhao Yi's concern for him, he really did not take the memorial again. He slowly lay down on the bed and pulled the thin quilt to cover his chest.
Eunuch Cao felt relieved when he saw Emperor Jing'an close his eyes and fall asleep.
Ever since he started following Emperor Jing'an, Emperor Jing'an had trouble sleeping, often waking up in the middle of the night and having difficulty falling asleep again.
Recently, Emperor Jing'an has had difficulty falling asleep and nightmares have become more frequent.
After a long time, even the strongest body can't stand it.
Eunuch Cao left the bedroom.
When Emperor Jing'an heard the door close, he thought he would have a hard time falling asleep tonight. However, as he inhaled the elegant fragrance of the palace, he fell into a dream and fell into a deep sleep.
He was tied to a pillar, wearing a thin robe. The cold wind was howling and cutting his body like a knife.
He heard the sound of the iron chain shaking. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw the iron chain wrapped around the girl's neck several times and tied in the corner like a dog.
She was only wearing a middle shirt and no shoes. She was so cold that she curled up into a ball and wished she could hide her feet in her trouser legs.
Her face was blue from the cold, her lips were bloodless and cracked from dryness, and her eyes stared blankly at a silver bowl in front of her. The bowl contained fat, which had frozen into a thick layer of ointment.
Next to her, a sturdy dog was squatting, staring at her fiercely, as if it would pounce on her and bite her throat at any time.
He watched with a heartache, and cried out again and again: "Yizhen, Yizhen..."
Yizhen blinked slowly, looked at him, and moved her lips as if she wanted to speak.
But she was so hungry and cold that she didn't even have the strength to speak.
She had been tied to the doghouse for three days. If she survived for seven days, the powerful sons of the Northern Qi would release her.
They refused her water and food, trying to tear down her pride as a royal daughter and forcing her to compete with dogs for food.
Yizhen once said: "I can give up anything, but as a princess of the Great Zhou and the daughter of my mother, I cannot break my pride."
Yizhen wanted to rescue him, but she also believed in what she had said and would rather die than surrender.
He shouted, "Yizhen, don't worry about my brother, just go away."
Yizhen listened to his words, moved her fingers, and slowly turned over, lying on the ground. Just this one movement exhausted her strength.
She slowly crawled forward and came to the silver bowl.
The dog moved and walked over, staring at Yizhen for a long time, then lowered its head and ate a piece of meat.
Yizhen didn't know where she got the strength from, but she pulled the bowl in front of her, reached out and grabbed a piece of fat meat from the bowl and stuffed it into her mouth.
He looked at her as if she was extremely hungry, and as if she was afraid that the dogs would snatch away the remaining meat. She grabbed the fat meat with both hands and stuffed it into her mouth, making her eyes red.
He seemed to hear something breaking on the ground, and he struggled desperately, trying to stop her. But he was tied up and could only watch her, without dignity, like a beggar, snatching food from the dog.
Just to survive, let them let him go.
The veins on his forehead bulged, his hands clenched into fists, he hated his own incompetence, and shouted at her, asking her to go away.
When those people saw Yizhen eating, they burst into laughter and insults.
"Princess, is this meat delicious?"
"If you bark like a dog a few times, I'll give you a bone."
"Hahaha, you really treat the Princess of Da Zhou like a dog? She's a princess. Tsk, a princess of a dignified country, and yet she's worse than a beggar, reduced to competing with dogs for food."
"Today's drama was truly remarkable. It was truly amusing to see the proud and unyielding Empress Xiaoen, in her final resting place, helplessly watch her own daughter being humiliated and eaten by dogs."
These words were like sharp blades piercing his chest, pushing him to the brink of collapse.
He watched Yizhen look at him. Her eyes were red, but not a single tear fell. She just smiled at him with the corners of her mouth pulled up.
She said: "Brother Huang, we will all survive."
The cold liquid flowed down his face.
"Yizhen..."
Emperor Jing'an suddenly woke up with a start. The oppressive feeling made him breathless. Guilt, humiliation and grief were still tormenting him.
Eunuch Cao heard the noise and came in. He opened the curtain and was stunned when he saw the tears on Emperor Jing'an's face.
Emperor Jing'an wiped his face, looked at the tears in his palms, regained consciousness, and got out of bed with a gloomy expression.
Eunuch Cao hurriedly helped Emperor Jing'an clean his face, poured him a cup of warm water, took out a pill, and handed it to Emperor Jing'an to eat.
Emperor Jing'an handed the cup to Eunuch Cao and was about to speak.
At this time, the voice of the eunuch came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty, there is something unusual happening at Fengxing Mountain."
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