Chapter 543 Committing a Serious Crime
Lord Lin took the order and left.
Emperor Jing'an looked at the solemn Third Prince and asked, "What do you think about this matter?"
"Father, I don't believe that my brother would have such thoughts, and would intentionally plead for Lord Tan." The Third Prince's expression was complicated. "But I know that you have your own intentions in doing this."
Emperor Jing'an raised his eyebrows: "What is my intention?"
The Third Prince uttered, "You are protecting your brother and me."
Emperor Jing'an seemed to have not expected that the Third Prince could see the deep meaning behind his behavior, and smiled with relief.
The third prince lowered his eyelashes and sorted the rice papers one by one, thinking to himself: What a pity, we are going to disappoint your expectations.
There is no right or wrong between him and Prince Yu, it's just that they have different positions and conflicting interests.
No one is willing to put his life in the hands of the other, so they are destined to kill each other.
Seeing that it was getting late, Emperor Jing'an asked the third prince to go to rest.
On the second day, Emperor Jing'an invited several close ministers to discuss the agricultural policies proposed by the third prince. The ministers did not leave until dusk.
At this time, Eunuch Cao said to Emperor Jing'an, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine requests your permission to invite her sister-in-law to the palace to discuss the arrangements for Prince Yu's wedding the day after tomorrow."
After a pause, Eunuch Cao added, "The Imperial Concubine also said that she couldn't leave the palace to attend Prince Yu's wedding. She was worried about it and wanted her sister-in-law to help her."
Emperor Jing'an's first thought was to wonder what Concubine Ling was up to.
He pondered for a while and finally agreed.
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Yanxiang Palace.
After receiving Emperor Jing'an's reply, Concubine Ling instructed Huichun, who was by her side, to send a letter to her parents' home.
Today, she suddenly received a letter from her parents' home, saying that they wanted to discuss Prince Yu's wedding with her.
She thought of Prince Yu's fear that her incompetent brother would get into trouble outside, and that he had forbidden the Ling family members to leave the house, so she decided to reject the request.
Unexpectedly, she saw her brother's private seal at the end of the letter, engraved with his handwriting.
They had an agreement before, so in order to prevent the contents of the letter from being leaked, they left a secret code in the letter.
If it is a matter of life and death concerning the Ling family, a private seal with my brother's handwriting engraved on it will be stamped on the letter.
If it was a minor matter within the Ling family, Mrs. Ling's seal would be used.
If it's just a casual meeting, there's no need for a seal.
Now it seems that the Ling family is in trouble.
Concubine Ling thought about her and Prince Yu's situation, and worried that someone would do something bad to the Ling family, so she sent someone to ask Eunuch Cao to help convey a message to Emperor Jing'an.
I thought Emperor Jing'an would not agree, but unexpectedly he agreed.
Early the next morning, Concubine Ling, feeling anxious, sent someone to bring her sister-in-law into the palace.
Seeing that Concubine Ling was fidgeting, Xiudong handed her a list to distract her: "Your Majesty, this is the list I drew up. Could you take a look?"
Concubine Ling was thinking about the Ling family's affairs and did not sleep well all night. She leaned on the wide couch, waiting for Madam Ling anxiously.
She calmed herself down, took the list and carefully checked if there was anything missing.
Tomorrow Prince Yu will welcome Princess Guangning into the palace. Listed here are the gifts she will give to Princess Guangning when she pays her respects to the palace.
Even if she didn't like Princess Guangning and was not satisfied with Princess Guangning's identity, as long as Princess Guangning entered Prince Yu's Mansion and became Prince Yu's princess, they would be in the same boat.
She brought dignity to Princess Guangning, which in turn brought dignity to Prince Yu.
She was kind to Princess Guangning in order to protect Prince Yu's interests.
In this way, Princess Guangning would always think about Prince Yu's Mansion and would not be instigated to stand against Prince Yu.
Concubine Ling was quite clear about this: "When I got married, my mother gave me a pair of bracelets, which I will also add to it."
Xiudong looked surprised and turned to prepare.
At this time, Huichun welcomed Madam Ling into the hall.
When Concubine Ling saw it for the first time, she was shocked and sat up straight.
Madam Ling was seen wearing a phoenix crown with three phoenixes on it, with a pearl peony at the head and embellishments of green leaves. She was wearing a red straight-collared, double-breasted shirt with wide sleeves, and a dark green shawl embroidered with clouds and mandarin ducks on her shoulders.
Such a festive and solemn imperial robe could not hide Mrs. Ling's pale face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her whole demeanor was listless, tired and haggard.
Madam Ling bowed deeply first: "Your Highness, I pay my respects to the Imperial Concubine."
Just by looking at Madam Ling's appearance, Concubine Ling realized that the Ling family was about to face a disaster.
She helped Madam Ling up and asked, "Sister-in-law, what happened?"
When Madam Ling heard Concubine Ling call her sister-in-law, tears began to fall before she could finish her words. "Your Majesty, I beg you to save your brother. He has been framed and committed a capital crime."
Concubine Ling was anxious to know the details: "Tell me, what did brother do wrong? Didn't Jing'er send someone to tell you that you are not allowed to leave the house during this period of time?"
Her brother was a worthless man, having received the honorary title of Fifth Rank Fengyi Dafu through family patronage. With nothing to do on weekdays, he simply collected a salary from the court and didn't report to the office, which was not a big deal.
Madam Ling cried, "Prince Yu sent someone over the other day to tell us to stop operating the shipping company under his name and to cancel all the orders we had received. The last time we were transporting government grain to Qingzhou, such a big incident happened. If it weren't for Prince Yu's help, our Ling family would have been in trouble long ago."
"This time, the master did not dare to pretend to obey but secretly disobey. He listened to Prince Yu's words and did as he was told."
"But just before Prince Yu sent his men, the shipping company had just sent a large ship out to sea, and we couldn't stop it even if we wanted to."
"The master thought to himself that this order was from a regular customer, and since they were doing business overseas, it shouldn't be a big deal."
"But...but it just happened that something happened to this ship."
"Yesterday afternoon, Master received a letter saying that when the ship docked at the next port, officers from the coastal garrison came to inspect it and found a box of weapons among the cargo."
"The officer said the transport vessel was carrying weapons out to sea, a serious crime. According to the Great Zhou military law, anyone who takes people and weapons out of the country or puts them to sea will be hanged. The officer seized the ship and took away everyone on board."
"The master heard that anyone involved in this incident would be sentenced to death. He was extremely anxious, fearing that Prince Yu would be implicated, so he asked the concubine to deliver a message to the palace."
At this point, Madam Ling knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, we are useless and have burdened you. Please consider that the master and you are of the same mother and sister and save him once more."
While Concubine Ling was waiting for Madam Ling to enter the palace, she had been repeatedly thinking about what the Ling family might do.
But she had thought of countless possibilities, and she never expected that the Ling family would commit such a serious crime.
If the person who framed the family was cruel, he could also accuse the Ling family of collaborating with the Japanese.
By then, she and Prince Yu would certainly be affected.
Thinking of this, Concubine Ling swayed unsteadily.
"Your Majesty..." Xiudong quickly supported Concubine Ling and helped her sit down on the wide couch.
Concubine Ling was not stupid, so she naturally knew that the smuggling of weapons was closely related to the Third Prince.
Her brother from her mother's side had already received the news of such a big thing, but it had not yet reached the ears of Emperor Jing'an. It was obvious that someone was deliberately suppressing the news, waiting for the Ling family to come to her for help.
Once she lets Prince Yu step in to settle the matter, a catastrophe will be waiting for them and their son.
Although Concubine Ling is loyal to her natal family, she can also distinguish between close and distant relatives and the severity of the situation.
Concubine Ling suppressed her hatred for the Third Prince and said, "Sister-in-law, I am powerless to do anything about this."
Before Madam Ling could open her mouth to plead, Imperial Concubine Ling continued, "Jing'er only met with Lord Tan a few days ago, and the Emperor dismissed Lord Tan from his position. It's clear that the Emperor has no regard for Jing'er. I'm afraid that Jing'er's attempt to save her brother will only make his end even worse."
"Besides, my brother's case won't be handled in a short time. Jing'er will be leaving for her fiefdom soon, and by then, it will be too far for her to intervene in the affairs of the capital."
Madam Ling understood that Concubine Ling wanted to protect herself and knew that Concubine Ling wanted to kick their Ling family out, but their Ling family also suffered because of Prince Yu.
Her face turned pale, and she felt as if she had swallowed a piece of ice, with the chill running through her heart and stomach.
"Your Majesty, you can't abandon us. You have to save our entire family." Madam Ling's eyes were filled with despair. She clutched Concubine Ling's sleeve, clutching it tightly, as if grasping at a last straw. "Those people behind the scenes attacked our Ling family because of you and your son. Do you think you can save yourselves by sitting back and watching and letting the entire Ling family be executed?"
"No, no, those people behind the scenes are targeting you and your son. They will definitely find ways to pin the Ling family's crimes on you."
Seeing that Concubine Ling remained unmoved, she gritted her teeth and said, "Don't forget, the Emperor wanted to appoint the Third Prince as Crown Prince, and fearing Prince Yu would fight for power, he sent Prince Yu to his fiefdom. But Prince Yu's fiefdom is only a city away from the sea. At this critical juncture, the officials discovered that the master had smuggled weapons out to sea, intending to collude with the Japanese. What do you think the Emperor would think?"
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