Chapter 78
"You old fool, I've been with you for so long! Even if I haven't contributed anything, I've worked hard. Besides, if I hadn't supported you from behind when you took advantage of the chaos to seize the throne, how would you have gotten the money to recruit soldiers and horses?"
Gong Heyuan sneered and helped the queen, who was still in fear, to her feet.
"If you hadn't wanted to share power and refused to ask the former crown prince to reform the government, how could I have been able to defeat these brothers who followed you through all this battle? It's because you wanted to enjoy a peaceful life and hold all the money in the world in your hands that you instructed me to poison them. You even killed your own Grand Tutor, Grand Master Xiao, right?"
The emperor was so angry that his beard blew up, and he angrily slapped the dragon throne and told him to shut up, but Gong Heyuan not only did not shut up, but became more and more excited. He swept his eyes towards the group of court officials standing in the center of the hall, and saw the children of the Ling family in front of the crowd.
"You say I'm greedy, but you don't know that I only covet one ten-thousandth of what the emperor has. He's the real tyrant who's enjoying himself by stepping on the corpses of the people. You think the emperor really didn't know about the sick horse case? He was the one who instructed the Imperial Household Department to embezzle the money. He didn't expect the people to suffer a disaster, so he couldn't hide it. He ordered him to kill a group of people to protect his reputation."
He sneered and spoke contemptuously to the eldest princess and the others.
"Since you don't know the circumstances, let me explain. That day, the Emperor summoned me to the palace to announce his intention to eliminate Ling Taigong and ordered me to prepare poisoned wine. Later, the Prince Consort also came to the palace to dissuade him. The damn Emperor, ruthless and unwilling to have the matter mentioned again, personally poured the poisoned wine for the Prince Consort. That night, both men perished without hope. Even more tragically, they hated me to death, not even realizing who the true culprit was!"
After hearing his words, the eldest princess looked at her brother whom she had always believed in with trembling eyes. She never thought that after enduring until today, she would get such a truth.
She couldn't believe it and shook her head, wanting to ask him for confirmation.
However, the emperor standing behind the guards didn't even spare her a glance, and kept shouting, "Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor! Go and call for help!"
The eldest princess staggered and hung her head as if she had aged ten years. Yue Qingning hurriedly supported her and stroked her back to help her breathe smoothly.
But the eldest princess raised her hand to stop her movements, and tears fell from her slightly old eyes in the blink of an eye.
She shed tears silently, feeling that it was not worth it for herself to have believed in her brother, and disappointed that she had to drag her frail body to protect him today.
Gong Heyuan did not let her go. He looked at the princess' pale face, chuckled, and continued to trample on her wounds.
"That day, everyone sent by the Imperial Hospital to the Princess's residence was ordered not to reveal a single word about the Prince Consort being poisoned. If you didn't trust your brother, the Emperor, so much, and had found a doctor from outside the palace to see him, perhaps the Prince Consort could still have been saved!"
Hearing this, the eldest princess swayed a bit, and then fell heavily into Yue Qingning's arms. Yue Qingning was terrified and went to feel her pulse, but heard a weak pulse that was about to disappear.
She raised her head to look for Que Ming, but was suddenly hugged by someone behind her. He also felt the eldest princess's pulse from behind and comforted her by holding her shoulders.
"It's okay! I just fainted due to a surge of blood. Don't worry!"
After saying that, he stood up and moved three inches closer to Gong Heyuan. It was a critical moment, the situation was tense, the Shuhu clan rebels surrounded Gong Heyuan and others, surrounding them in the middle, and on the other side were the emperor's Yulin guards, who were protecting the emperor and did not dare to be distracted for a moment.
He stood between the two and did not choose a camp. Instead, he asked the emperor, who was in a mess but still high and mighty at this time.
"Your Majesty! Is what he said true? Did my grandfather really die because of this?"
The emperor was too distracted to reason with him and only said perfunctorily, "How can you trust the words of a traitor like him?"
After hearing this, Gong Heyuan could no longer bear it and shouted loudly.
"Whether it's true or not, just ask Su Fu, who was right beside him. He was the one who ran around and passed on the news back then. How could such a thing be hidden from the Imperial Household Steward?"
After he finished speaking, the emperor seemed to have gone crazy. He suddenly snatched the sword from the Imperial Guard and slashed at Su Fu beside him.
Su Fu never thought that the Emperor, whom he had served for so long, would actually show no mercy to him and kill him based on just a few words from a traitor. He ran around to avoid the blow and was hit on the shoulder. Fortunately, the Emperor was old and weak and could not use much strength, otherwise the blow would have split his body in half.
He hurriedly climbed out of the encirclement of the Imperial Guards, with tears in his eyes, staring at the old emperor who had accompanied him for most of his life. The confusion and fear in his eyes had frightened him so much that he lost all thoughts of loyalty to the emperor and only cared about asking someone to save him.
Que Ming rushed forward to help the man down from the platform, only to hear Su Fu whispering something secretly in his ear.
The emperor was immediately furious. The sword that had just cut someone was still dripping with bright red blood, and he screamed.
"Rebels! They're all rebels! Another rebel has lurked near me. How can you trust him?"
After hearing everything, Que Ming raised his head. The persistence in his eyes turned into anger. He stared at the old emperor, looking at his old face without blinking.
"That year, General Ling's defeat was also caused by you, right?"
No one stopped Liu Jin from speaking. By now, he understood what was going on and laughed out loud while standing in Gong and Yuan's team.
"Yes! If it weren't for the Emperor's secret order, how could we have the courage to disobey military orders? We are loyal to the Emperor, not to General Ling. Naturally, if the Emperor wants us to die, we have to die!"
The emperor was so annoyed by the series of accusations that his scalp tingled. He sneered and his crown fell off while he was dodging, and his hair was scattered and stuck to his face.
He looked around in panic, at the court officials and his own son. He knew very well that after today, he would not even have the face to go to court and face these court officials again.
Even Ah Heng was looking at him with an unclear expression among the crowd. His son should feel ashamed to have a father like him.
He absolutely cannot lose like this!
The old emperor was so angry that he couldn't stop gasping, and his already uncontrollable rationality was in danger. He held a knife in his hand and looked at the culprit who put him here - Gong Heyuan, and swung the knife at him in anger.
The knife was blocked by the rebels around Gong Heyuan, and Gong Heyuan laughed arrogantly.
"I've already sent someone to beat the drum for public information. I'm sure they've arrived by now. Listen!"
As he laughed contemptuously, everyone heard the sound of heavy drums coming from the palace.
"The drum sound is a signal. Do you think I haven't prepared for today? I knew you would betray me and kill me, the one who knows all your flaws. That's why I asked Liu Jin to gather 3,000 soldiers under the pretext of training. I want to see whether you can hold out until the king comes to his rescue, or whether these 3,000 of my men will strangle you all before then!"
Soon, bursts of shouts of killing were heard outside the palace gate. Everyone was frightened and looked at Gong Heyuan and his rebel gang. Some people actually took advantage of this opportunity to turn against them.
Gong Heyuan looked at the prince, reached out his hand, and helped the prince, who was still kneeling on the ground, to his feet.
"My son! There's no need to pretend anymore. You are the only child of your mother and I, and the hope of our Shuhu. From now on, whether it's Shuhu or Dasheng, the whole world belongs to you! Come to your father and help me kill this old immortal!"
The prince raised his head in a daze. He looked at his father, who always thought of him and doted on him. At this moment, complex emotions flickered in his mind.
The emperor also looked at him. He wanted to induce the prince to stand on his side, so even if he had to pretend, he had to put on a kind face. He smoothed his messy hair and said to him.
"Ayan, you are my son, the crown prince of my Great Sheng Dynasty. You should know who raised you. Haven't I been good enough to you? Think about the past, when you used to listen to your father holding court behind the golden screen. Did he ever blame you? Whatever you wanted, he always gave it to you immediately. You must never forget the kindness we have shown each other over the years! Kill this traitor quickly, and you will still be your father's good son in the future!"
Gong Heyuan stared at the old emperor, and seeing that he still refused to give up, he leaned close to the prince's ear, pinched his shoulder and whispered.
"Why don't you wake up! Since you are my blood, how could the dog emperor let you live!"
These words seemed to clear up all his confused thoughts. The prince closed his eyes tightly, and when he opened them again, he had drawn his sword and was moving closer to the old emperor with a fierce look in his eyes.
"Ah Heng, Ah Heng! Come and rescue me!"
Xiao Heng, who had not been mentioned for a long time, was now standing in the protection circle of the ministers, looking at the old emperor and suddenly smiled.
He has never cared about me over the years, and even left me in the Zen temple for so many years without even sending me a message. Now he remembers that he has a son like him.
He didn't move at all, just stood there, watching the prince approach the emperor with a sword, and said lightly.
"I dare not challenge the Crown Prince. Have you forgotten? He almost killed me, and even then you pardoned me."
He was talking about the fire at Nanshan Temple. In fact, the prince had wanted to kill him more than once before, but this was the first time he had used force so recklessly and unreasonably.
The prince seemed to understand something after hearing this. He stopped and stood in the direction of Xiao Heng, laughing so hard that he fell backwards, which was not at all ironic.
"So you really thought I did it! I'm not that powerful. I only sent two archers to kill the Yue girl. How could I dare to actually do it in the capital? You've probably forgotten that our father, the Emperor, would even resort to fratricide to consolidate his power. This was most likely orchestrated by him, so that you would stop pretending to be weak and truly stand up to me, so that he could reap the benefits and balance the power in the court."
"What a great plan! Your Majesty~"
Prince Shou slowly tightened his cheeks and looked at him questioningly, wanting to ask him if it was true.
But there was no need to even ask, the Emperor's face turned purple and red after hearing this, showing the embarrassment of being exposed.
He wanted to say, as a prince, could he gamble his life so easily? In order to check and balance Xiao Yan, he even took the risk of putting him in a desperate situation.
Xiao Heng suddenly lost all thought of saving him. Since he had done such a evil thing that put others in danger, he naturally had to bear all the consequences that came with it.
When the emperor saw this, all his secrets were exposed and exposed to the whole world, and he knew that there was no way to save the situation.
He laughed out of anger, struggling but not letting the Yulin guards protect him behind him. He walked in front of the crowd and smiled sinisterly.
"It was indeed me! I did it all! Are you satisfied now?"
He swung his sleeves, widened his eyes exaggeratedly, and stared at them, like a madman talking nonsense.
"Since ascending the throne, I have worked diligently for over ten years. I have lived up to the memory of my ancestors by defending our Great Sheng territory and even expanding it beyond the reach of our predecessors. I have shown sympathy for the people, distributing land and reducing taxes. For over ten years, I haven't broken ground on a single palace. And this one time, I've built a mausoleum in the name of Emperor Taizong. How can Ling Changye justify asking me to be sympathetic to the people?"
"Ten years of diligent work and hard work, can't it buy me a day of leisure and happiness? Is this world his, Ling Changye's, or mine?"
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