Before Sun Jian arrived, he didn't mention he had urgent business. Even after Sun Jian had been there for a while, he still didn't mention his urgency during the initial greetings. It wasn't until after everyone had chatted for a while that he finally brought up his urgent matter.
Isn't this clearly an attempt to use an urgent matter as an excuse to skip the process of changing clothes?
Under such circumstances, how could Consort Xian possibly allow Li Gancheng to succeed?
Of course, it was a firm refusal.
Moreover, she didn't give Li Gancheng a kind look. Other concubines might not dare to treat the Crown Prince like this, but Li Gancheng was raised by Consort Xian when he was a child, and she raised him for three years. Consort Xian could naturally do this.
Even after being rejected by Consort Xian, Li Gancheng was still somewhat unwilling to give up.
He argued forcefully, "Your Highness, everything I have said is true. If you don't believe me, ask Lord Sun Jian!"
"Well……"
Seeing Li Gancheng shift the blame onto him, Sun Jian felt incredibly embarrassed.
It seems he always ends up taking the blame for His Highness the Crown Prince, no matter where he goes!
At this moment, Princess Chang Le and Princess Tai Ping covered their mouths and chuckled. They naturally knew what their imperial brother was planning.
They didn't mind that Li Gancheng had interrupted their conversation with Sun Jian. If they could get Sun Jian to take Li Gancheng away from here, they could take a break from supervising Li Gancheng's changing of clothes. And maybe they could even find a secluded place to be alone with Sun Jian. Why not?
The only one who felt awkward at that moment was Sun Jian; the others were fine.
Seeing Sun Jian's somewhat complicated expression, Consort Xian turned her gaze back to him and asked, "Lord Sun, is His Highness the Crown Prince's statement true?"
"Uh... this..."
Sun Jian was momentarily at a loss for words.
Although in normal circumstances, he can lie without batting an eye.
But the situation is different now; who knows what Crown Prince Li Gancheng is up to?
If I were to conspire with Crown Prince Li Gancheng to deceive Consort Xian, and the Crown Prince were to try to sneak out of the palace and something were to happen, wouldn't I be the one to take the blame again?
However, in this situation, Sun Jian himself is in a dilemma. If he doesn't help Li Gancheng, it would be tantamount to exposing Li Gancheng's lies in front of everyone, which would be somewhat unrighteous.
After hesitating for a moment, Sun Jian finally made up his mind and decided to help Li Gancheng carry on with this lie to the end.
Because this is the only thing we can do right now.
"Your Highness Consort Xian, this is indeed true!"
Sun Jian bowed respectfully to Consort Xian, and then gave his affirmation with a natural expression.
His words elicited completely different reactions from the people around him.
First, Li Gancheng's eyes visibly flashed with a hint of joy.
If there weren't so many people around, he would have loved to lean over and take a deep breath of Sun Jian's face.
Brother Sun truly lives up to his name; he's always willing to help me with anything.
Liu Jin and Li Zigeng, along with other guards of Crown Prince Li Gancheng, wore complicated expressions. Having served the Crown Prince for many years, they naturally knew that he wanted to sneak out to play on the eve of his wedding, which would inevitably be another difficult task.
However, they also felt great sympathy for Sun Junhou. After all, they had been blamed for this kind of situation countless times before, and the scenes were remarkably similar.
Alas, this is truly a difficult situation for you, my lord!
Although His Highness the Crown Prince is excellent in every way, his playful nature has not changed much over the years.
As for the two princesses, they were secretly smiling to themselves.
It seems that Lord Sun Jian still favors his elder brother, the Emperor. Even the two princesses can see through such a clumsy lie, so how could the wise and righteous Consort Xian not understand?
Now it all depends on what Consort Xian says. In any case, she certainly won't punish him, but the lie is too clumsy, and Consort Xian will definitely not agree to it.
After all, even the Emperor had praised Consort Xian, saying that she was not only virtuous but also wise.
The two princesses originally thought that their elder brother would be punished along with Consort Xian, but unexpectedly, Consort Xian's attitude changed completely after listening to Sun Jian's words!
For a moment, the hall fell silent once again.
Everyone fell into deep thought, the oppressive atmosphere intensified, and everyone's breathing became rapid.
This state of affairs lasted for a long time until the eunuch reported that several ministers from the Imperial Study had arrived, and the oppressive atmosphere in the hall eased somewhat.
"Summon them to the palace!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
With a command from Emperor Qianwu, several high-ranking officials strode into the Taiji Hall.
There were seven people in total. The leader was Lin Xuanfu, the powerful prime minister. The others were, in order, Yi Youwei, the censor-in-chief; Mi Zhu, the minister of the Ministry of Revenue; Zhuang Qishi, the chief justice of the Supreme Court and tutor to the crown prince; Wei Xian, the minister of the Ministry of War; Li Kui, the minister of the Ministry of Personnel; and Xing Kang, the minister of the Ministry of Works.
With the addition of Yao Tianzheng, eight of the eleven ministers of the Imperial Study have now gathered.
Those who did not arrive were the Governor-General of Bingzhou, the Governor-General of Yizhou, and the Governor-General of Sizhou.
These three individuals are not usually in court, so they can be ignored.
The officials all knew perfectly well that for Emperor Ganwu to summon them so urgently, especially since they were all top leaders of Gan, something of great importance must have happened.
After the seven people finished paying their respects to the old emperor, they began to pay their respects to Crown Prince Li Gancheng.
During this time, Wei Xian's gaze met Sun Jian's, and both of their expressions twitched almost imperceptibly.
As the saying goes, enemies are especially hateful when they meet. The moment Sun Jian and Wei Xian locked eyes, his anger quietly surged up. However, given the current situation, he could only suppress this anger for the time being.
"Show them all."
With a cold face, Emperor Ganwu handed the memorial in his hand to Wang De beside him.
Wang De dared not be negligent. He bowed and quickly handed over the memorial, which was then reviewed by several ministers of the Imperial Study.
After reading it, everyone's eyes widened, their faces turned ashen, and they looked incredulous. Some even had beads of sweat on their foreheads.
"This...this!"
After reading the memorial, Master Zhuang, the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, began to stammer.
"May I ask Your Majesty, has the statement in the memorial been verified?"
Lin Xuanfu's expression wasn't much better, but compared to Mr. Zhuang, he was more shrewd and calmer in the face of adversity.
Emperor Ganwu did not speak, but instead gave Wang De a look.
Wang De immediately understood and handed over the straw roots he had prepared beforehand for the officials to inspect.
Everyone who saw it was speechless.
The densely packed locust eggs, combined with the analysis in the memorial to the throne.
It seems that an impending locust plague is now a foregone conclusion!
"My lords, this is straw from the Eastern City Imperial Estate. The news was brought to us by Lord Sun Jian, the Deputy Commandant of the Tiger Army."
Wang De explained from the side.
Emperor Ganwu, with a cold face, said to the crowd: "This locust plague is a once-in-a-century event, and it seriously threatens the country and the lives of hundreds of millions of people in my great Gan. I have summoned you all here urgently to discuss this matter."
"What are your opinions on this, my esteemed ministers?"
The ministers who served in the Imperial Study immediately began to discuss the matter.
Before long, the group reached several conclusions, which were then put forward by Prime Minister Lin Xuanfu.
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