Chapter 394: Feeling Resentful
The guards turned pale with fear and fled from the palace in terror, only then daring to look back.
The statue, which was sinking inch by inch, suddenly broke apart and collapsed with a loud bang.
Everyone's eyes widened. They had never expected the statue to collapse.
The commander of the Royal Guards had a tense face. He waited for the thick dust to settle, then strode over and saw clearly what was going on.
In the ruins, apart from stone slabs, there was only a pile of copper wire and copper ropes made from several strands of copper wire.
He picked up a bronze ratchet and suddenly realized that the statue was not solid, but was made using sophisticated mechanical techniques.
It's just that it was too old, causing problems with the sophisticated mechanism, which led to it collapsing when they accidentally touched it.
If he wanted to check the base of the statue, he had to clean up the pile of broken stone pieces, but he didn't dare to act rashly before the imperial teacher gave the order.
The commander of the imperial guards turned to look at the imperial tutor outside the palace. Just as he was about to step over, he saw the queen looking at the imperial tutor with a subtle and complicated look.
He paused and did not go forward to report, but stood there waiting for the imperial teacher and the queen.
The Queen looked at the Imperial Preceptor with mixed feelings. It turned out that as an outsider, she had always suspected that the Lin family's murder was related to the Imperial Preceptor. He used the excuse of worshiping Buddha in the National Temple to clear his suspicion and then pushed the blame for the murderer to the remnants of the previous dynasty.
After all, the Imperial Master had a grudge against the Lin family, and he also had the ability and means to silence the Lin family silently.
If the murderer was indeed the Imperial Tutor, she had new doubts. The Lin family massacre left no clues, leaving it open to investigation. There was no need for the Imperial Tutor to point the finger at the forces of the Former Dynasty and create panic among the Northern Qi Emperor.
As the trusted teacher of the Northern Qi Emperor, the Imperial Tutor was well aware of the influence of the remnants of the previous dynasty on the Northern Qi Emperor.
By doing this, the imperial teacher was undoubtedly stabbing the Emperor of Northern Qi in the back.
But the imperial tutor had no motive to betray the Emperor of Northern Qi.
He followed the Emperor of Northern Qi when he was a teenager and personally pushed the Emperor of Northern Qi to the throne. He held a status second only to the emperor and was respected by all the people.
If he was not content with this and wanted to usurp the throne, but he had no children, who would inherit the throne he had seized?
She couldn't figure this out and even suspected that she was too suspicious.
Because the Imperial Master was so unfathomable, every time she saw his calm and tolerant eyes, she inexplicably felt that they were filled with a dangerous aura, so she was very wary of him.
Once there is any sign of trouble, people will start to blame him.
It was not until a statue of the previous emperor Taizu appeared in the palace that she came to investigate the situation but unexpectedly met the imperial teacher there. The thoughts that she had suppressed before surfaced again, and she could not help but try.
Then, she saw the Emperor's hand touching the statue, and she felt a strange feeling in her heart, but she couldn't remember what was strange about it.
When she saw the Imperial Teacher take out a handkerchief to wipe his fingers, she finally realized what was strange.
The imperial teacher had mysophobia, but he touched the statue regardless of the dirt.
An absurd idea is about to come to mind.
The next moment, the statue collapsed, burying her thoughts along with it.
The statue of Emperor Taizu of the previous dynasty is of great significance.
If the imperial tutor was related to the previous dynasty, how could he watch the statue of his ancestor turn into ruins?
The Imperial Tutor turned to look at the Empress who was staring at him in ecstasy: "Your Majesty?"
The Queen came back to her senses and faced the Imperial Tutor's questioning gaze. She twitched the corners of her lips slightly and said, "This palace remembered something. Every time the Imperial Tutor left Northern Qi for more than seven days, something major would happen in Northern Qi."
"The first time, more than twenty years ago, you left Northern Qi and Yizhen was killed by a wild beast."
"The second time, you were on a diplomatic mission to Great Zhou, and a plague broke out in Northern Qi."
"The third time you debate with Master Xuqing, the Lin family will be exterminated."
The imperial teacher frowned.
"If the Imperial Preceptor had been in the capital during these times, this tragedy could have been avoided." The Queen said with an ambiguous tone, "It would be better if the Imperial Preceptor left the capital less often in the future."
The Imperial Preceptor said, "Where does your Majesty's words place you?"
The Empress's expression changed slightly. The Imperial Preceptor was a clever man, and he understood the meaning of her words. If the Northern Qi Emperor had heard them, he would have only heard that she was implying his incompetence.
She pursed her lips slightly, knowing that she had said something out of turn.
"Tomorrow morning, I will report to Your Majesty the Empress's intentions. Local officials' failure to supervise the outbreak led to the plague. The Ministry of Justice's negligence led to the extermination of the Lin family. I implore Your Majesty to order all officials to fulfill their duties and personally attend to all matters. Any further negligence will be severely punished."
The Imperial Master continued, "Have you considered the consequences, Madam?"
The Queen's face darkened. If the Imperial Preceptor did this, memorials impeaching her for interfering in government affairs from the harem would fly like snowflakes to the Dragon Table of the Emperor of Northern Qi.
The imperial tutor bowed to the empress calmly and then walked towards the statue.
The queen looked at the imperial teacher's back, her fingers tightly clenched around the handkerchief, and suddenly she coughed violently.
Luzhi was startled and quickly patted the queen on the back to calm her down.
She knew why the Queen lost her composure. It was not only because she was suspicious of the Imperial Teacher, but also because she was still brooding over Princess Yizhen's death.
The queen fell ill before the Mid-Autumn Festival and did not attend the palace banquet, so it was too late to prevent the tragedy from happening.
The imperial tutor happened to be away from the capital, otherwise, with his overall perspective, he would definitely have stopped the Emperor of Northern Qi from throwing Princess Yizhen into the cage of wild beasts.
This became a hurdle in the Empress' heart.
The queen stopped coughing and did not go in again. Instead, she returned to Changle Palace and announced that her illness had relapsed and she could not go to the Yangxin Palace to visit the Emperor of Northern Qi.
The imperial tutor was not influenced by the empress and ordered people to clean up the rubble of the statue. He found that the base of the statue was connected to the entrance of the underground palace.
However, with the statue's collapse and the entrance closed, they were unable to enter the underground palace to investigate. They could only confirm that someone had activated a mechanism to raise the statue buried in the underground palace.
The news from the palace also reached the ears of civil and military officials outside the palace.
Two elderly ministers who had served in two dynasties, after hearing a hint of wind, stood in front of the window with crutches, pushed open a window, and looked into the distance in the direction of the imperial palace.
They knew the origin of the statues in the palace. Before the death of the previous emperor Taizu, he gathered extraordinary people from home and abroad who were proficient in mechanical engineering and built a giant statue for him. It stood in the Chengtian Hall on the east side of the palace, facing the direction of the Jinluan Hall, with the intention of guarding the Zong Zheng family's kingdom.
It took the craftsmen thirty years to build this giant statue. Every part of it is equipped with a mechanism and is connected to the underground palace of Chengtian Hall.
Before the fall of the previous dynasty, this statue stood on the grounds of Chengtian Hall, watching over the Zongzheng family's empire. It was not until the previous emperor rebelled and attacked the capital that the statue was hidden in the underground palace of Chengtian Hall.
Before activating the mechanism, the king of the previous dynasty leaned on the statue and said, "When the statue of Taizu sees the light of day again, it will be the day of the restoration of the country."
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