Chapter 404: Heartfelt Confidence
Eunuch Liu was silent as a mouse. The father and son were arguing fiercely. The atmosphere in the hall was tense. He did not dare to take the private seal on his own initiative, but glanced at the Emperor of Northern Qi beside him.
The Northern Qi Emperor glared at him angrily.
Eunuch Liu trotted over, took the private seal with both hands and presented it to the Emperor of Northern Qi.
The Emperor of Northern Qi was convinced that it was Zhao Yi who stole Yizhen's bones, and he did not believe that the remnants of the previous dynasty were hiding in the back mountain of the National Temple, so he did not take this private seal seriously, but just wanted to see what tricks Zhao Yi was playing.
But when he got the private seal, he found that both the pattern around the private seal and the words "Changyuan Private Seal" engraved on the bottom were consistent with the pattern archived in the imperial history bureau of the previous dynasty.
The Northern Qi Emperor's expression suddenly changed. With a "pop", the private seal fell onto the table and rolled to the ground.
The former crown prince was indeed right under his nose, yet the men he and the late emperor had sent out had returned empty-handed. This showed that the remnants of the previous dynasty had infiltrated the imperial court in every way possible, allowing them to evade capture.
The Emperor of Northern Qi could not help but think of the rumors about the crown prince of the previous dynasty. It was said that he was extremely precocious. At the age of three, he could recite "Thousand Character Classic" and "Hundred Family Names" by heart, and could write articles at the age of five.
The emperor of the previous dynasty was extremely fond of the prince of the previous dynasty. Seeing that he was extremely talented, when he was three years old, he arranged a seat in the Golden Throne Hall for him to sit behind the curtain and listen to government affairs.
Because the previous emperor once said: "It is better to learn by observation than to talk about it on paper. The prince is the future emperor, and I will cultivate him from a young age."
The emperor of the previous dynasty never treated the prince of the previous dynasty as a child. He would tell him about the affairs of the court regardless of whether he could understand or not.
Not only that, the previous emperor protected the previous prince very well. Apart from the teacher who taught the previous prince and the palace maids who served him personally, no one had ever seen the previous prince's true appearance.
Because of the turmoil in the court and the fact that the previous emperor had only this one son, the emperor was worried that the former crown prince would be murdered, so he never brought the former crown prince to appear in public.
When the previous dynasty fell, the crown prince was less than seven years old and was escorted out of the palace by assassins.
To obtain the portrait of the previous crown prince, the late emperor captured the relatives of the six teachers who had taught him. He threatened them, "If you tell me the truth about your current status and the status you will maintain when you establish a new dynasty, I will exterminate all nine of your clans."
Faced with the threat from the late emperor, the six masters remained indifferent.
The late emperor was furious and chopped off the heads of their relatives in front of them.
Even though they watched their relatives' heads falling to the ground one by one, and even their own deaths at the hands of the late emperor, they never betrayed the master they were loyal to.
The more loyal the ministers of the previous dynasty were, the more the late emperor feared the young crown prince of the previous dynasty.
It’s not only because the crown prince of the previous dynasty was extremely talented, but also because of the loyalty of the ministers of the previous dynasty.
The late emperor could not kill all the ministers of the previous dynasty, nor could he eliminate all the aristocratic families of the previous dynasty. He was afraid that the crown prince of the previous dynasty would become more powerful and be able to gain the support of these old ministers and aristocratic families.
Only by eradicating the root of the problem can they rest assured.
This is indeed the case, and all the concerns of the late emperor have come true.
Eunuch Liu was shocked and quickly knelt on the ground to pick up the private seal. When he inadvertently saw these words, his face turned pale and he put the private seal back on the table tremblingly.
Zhao Yi, seemingly oblivious to the Northern Qi Emperor's misstep, continued his report, "The soldiers of the garrison were hunting down bandits when they stumbled upon traces of remnants of the previous dynasty. They tracked them all the way to the cliffs behind the National Temple and discovered traces of human life in a cave."
"After a thorough search, they discovered several ornaments in the cave engraved with patterns used by the previous dynasty's royal family. They suspected the cave was the lair of remnants of the previous dynasty. Fearing they might alert the enemy, they dared not act rashly and went to the Lingfei Mausoleum to report this to me."
Zhao Yi paused for a moment, lowering his eyelashes. "Today is my mother's birthday. I have asked for leave to go and pay my respects to her. It turns out I don't have to worry about official business."
"But this involves the remnants of the previous dynasty. I am afraid that missing the opportunity to eradicate them will bring disaster to the Chu family in the future. I have no choice but to put aside the matter of worshiping my mother and lead my troops to hunt down the remnants of the previous dynasty."
"Who would have thought that my mother's remains would be stolen from the National Temple at the same time? I, the humble servant, would therefore be charged with the crime of stealing my mother's remains."
At this point, Zhao Yi looked at the Northern Qi Emperor again and said, "I have one question. My mother's remains were clearly in the Lingfei Mausoleum, so why did they appear in the National Temple?"
"Even if I take a step back, as my mother's biological son, why would I steal her remains? I can openly take her remains away and let her rest in peace."
"Dare you ask me what crime I have committed?"
As he said this, he looked at the secret guards calmly.
The secret guard was speechless.
The Emperor of Northern Qi pondered Zhao Yi's words carefully, and then he realized that Zhao Yi did not know that Yizhen's bones were in the National Temple. Even if he wanted to steal Yizhen's bones, he should do it in Lingfei's Mausoleum.
In addition, Zhao Yi is worried that the remnants of the previous dynasty will bring disaster to the Chu family's kingdom. Does this mean that Zhao Yi cares about the Chu family's kingdom and has the ambition to compete for his throne?
The Emperor of Northern Qi judged others by himself. If he were Zhao Yi, he would never return to the Great Zhou to be an idle prince. Instead, he would choose to stay in Northern Qi to be a powerful prince and compete for the throne in the future.
No one in this world can resist the temptation of imperial power.
If Zhao Yi wanted to seize the throne, why would he steal Yizhen's bones?
When the Emperor of Northern Qi saw the private seal of the former crown prince, he dispelled his suspicion of Zhao Yi and determined that it was the former crown prince who stole Yizhen's bones and attempted to negotiate with Emperor Jing'an to overthrow the Chu family's rule.
If he wants to stabilize the Great Zhou, he cannot make things difficult for Zhao Yi.
"Yier, my father is so ill that he's confused. He believed the slander of treacherous villains and misunderstood you." The Northern Qi Emperor said softly, then turned his gaze to the secret guards and ordered, "Come, drag them away and chop them off."
The Royal Guards entered and dragged away several secret guards.
Zhao Yi was not surprised by this result. The Northern Qi Emperor's fear of the remnants of the previous dynasty had reached its peak. He was afraid that if he dealt with him, he would push the Great Zhou into the camp of the remnants of the previous dynasty. Even if he had many suspicions about him in his heart, he would not show them on the surface and would pretend to believe him.
Secondly, the Northern Qi emperor was obsessed with power and only cared about profit. Such a person would never believe that someone would be willing to give up fame and fortune after tasting the taste of power.
Whether the Emperor of Northern Qi believed him or not, he could always get away with it.
As he expected, the Emperor of Northern Qi did not ask any further questions and simply let the matter go.
The Northern Qi Emperor dismissed the attendants in the palace and slowly walked to Zhao Yi's side. "Yier, today we, father and son, will have a heart-to-heart talk."
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