The Phoenix Palace is about to collapse
Prince Jing Xiao Jinghong was stripped of his crown, dressed in prison garb, shackled, and forced to kneel in the brightly lit main hall of the Qianqing Palace. Xiao Jingche sat atop the dragon throne, his face sullen. Aside from Cao Jin, the Imperial City Supervisor and his most trusted advisor, no one else was inside. Even the eunuchs who attended were dismissed.
Outside the palace, the night was deep and the palace walls were silent, but one could almost hear the nervous heartbeats of countless forces.
"Uncle Emperor," Xiao Jingche's voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying an extremely suppressed coldness. "At this point, what else do you have to say?"
Prince Jing raised his head. His expression didn't reflect the dejection of a prisoner, but rather a calmness bordering on insanity, even a hint of sarcasm. "Winners win, losers lose. What's there to say? I only regret that Heaven won't help me!"
"Why?" Xiao Jingche pressed. This was what he couldn't understand the most. "You are my uncle, the brother of the late emperor, and you are extremely wealthy and powerful. Why would you do such a heinous thing, collude with foreign enemies, and bring chaos to the country?!"
"Why?" Prince Jing laughed as if he had heard a huge joke. His laughter was shrill and sad. "Wealthy and powerful? Hahahahahaha... Xiao Jingche, you sit in that position, so naturally you think everyone in the world should be grateful to you! Do you know that if your mother (referring to Consort Duanhui) hadn't passed away early, and if the late emperor hadn't favored your father (referring to the late crown prince), your family might not have been able to sit on the throne!"
His eyes burned with decades of pent-up resentment. "I've bided my time for decades, watching you and your son seize the throne. I watched you eliminate your brothers and ascend to the throne... On what terms?! The Xiao family's kingdom should belong to the capable! You, Xiao Jingche, are so mean and ungrateful that you even allowed your wife to be poisoned. How dare you sit on this throne?!"
The word "poison" was like thunder, striking Xiao Jingche's heart fiercely! He stood up from the dragon chair abruptly, his face pale in an instant: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Lu Qinglan's name was like a taboo, a scar that he had deliberately avoided but always existed, and was revealed by Prince Jing in the most cruel way.
"Nonsense?" Prince Jing sneered, his gaze like a venomous snake, tightly wrapped around Xiao Jingche. "Why would I talk nonsense? Do you really think that the Queen Mother and those idiots of the Lin family could have independently planned that cup of poisoned wine? Without me secretly providing channels, without 'Ninth Brother's' people pulling the strings, how could they have found such a colorless and odorless overseas poison that even a silver needle can't detect? Without my people whispering in your ear that the Queen is too powerful, would you have so easily acquiesced to their attack on the Queen?!"
With every word he spoke, Xiao Jingche's face paled, his body trembling imperceptibly. The suspicions and guilt he had deliberately obscured, buried deep within his heart, were now laid bare before his eyes. It turned out... it turned out that he had not only acquiesced, but had also unwittingly become an accomplice of "Ninth Brother" in eliminating Lu Qinglan!
"You...you..." Xiao Jingche pointed at Prince Jing, his fingers trembling, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a while. The huge impact made him dizzy.
"I was merely following the trend," Prince Jing said with a vindictive pleasure. "Eliminating Lu Qinglan would not only clip your wings, but also render her forces leaderless, making it easier for me to recruit them later. Unfortunately... man proposes, fate disposes. She actually..." He seemed to realize his slip of the tongue and abruptly stopped talking, a flicker of surprise and doubt in his eyes. Lu Qinglan's rebirth was clearly the only, and incomprehensible, variable in his plan.
The conversation in the palace was transmitted back to Kunning Palace word for word by the secret agent who was arranged by Fu Yu in the most secret place and was proficient in lip reading.
Lu Qinglan listened quietly to the secret agent's retelling. When she heard Prince Jing personally admit that he provided the poison and acted as a matchmaker, and Xiao Jingche's almost collapsed reaction, she slowly closed her eyes.
The last vestiges of emotion from her past life were completely shattered at this moment. The truth was indeed cruel. Her former husband, her ally in battle, had indeed played a role in acquiescence and even instigation in her past life's end.
When she opened her eyes again, her eyes were filled with icy determination, without a trace of emotion.
"It's time." She whispered to Fu Yu.
Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Xiao Jingche had not yet recovered from the huge shock when he suddenly heard a steady and dense sound of footsteps outside the palace, accompanied by the clanging sound of armor rubbing against each other.
The palace door was pushed open with a bang!
Lu Qinglan, dressed in the empress's court robes and crowned with nine dragons and four phoenixes, slowly entered the main hall, accompanied by Han Mingyuan, Wei Zheng (who had secretly entered the capital!), and dozens of sharp-eyed guards in lightly armored frontier troops. Behind her was a dense mass of soldiers, dominating the perimeter of the Qianqing Palace. Among them were border troops, some defecting imperial guards, and officers and soldiers from the capital's garrison.
Xiao Jingche suddenly raised his head and looked at the scene in front of him, his pupils suddenly shrinking: "Lu Qinglan! You... do you want to rebel?!"
Cao Jin subconsciously wanted to protect the emperor, but was forced back by Wei Zheng's cold eyes. The people from the Imperial City Division he brought with him had already been silently subdued by the border army masters who had sneaked into the palace at some point.
Lu Qinglan didn't look at the embarrassed Prince Jing on the ground. Her gaze fell directly on the pale Xiao Jingche sitting on the dragon throne. Her voice was clear and calm, but it carried an unquestionable power:
"Your Majesty, Prince Jing is guilty of treason, and the evidence is irrefutable. His confession involves palace secrets, poisoning the Queen Mother, and destabilizing the nation. This heinous crime is not just a family matter for Your Majesty, but a public one for the entire nation."
She raised her hand slightly, and Han Mingyuan immediately stepped forward, unfolding a pre-written memorial. He spoke in a clear voice, "Your Majesty, we implore you, for the sake of state security, to temporarily relocate to the Western Palace for rest and recuperation. The Empress should oversee state affairs, and together with the civil and military officials, we will discuss the aftermath, eliminate the remaining evildoers, and bring peace to the people!"
This isn't a request, it's an ultimatum! It's a military warning!
Xiao Jingche looked at His Highness's solemn army, Wei Zheng's stern face, Han Mingyuan's resolute eyes, and finally, his gaze fixed on Lu Qinglan's eyes, which were calm but seemed to see through everything.
He understood. From the moment she stepped into this hall, the kingdom had already changed hands.
All his struggles and calculations seemed so ridiculous and powerless in the face of absolute power and the situation that had already been set up.
A fishy-sweet taste surged up his throat, but he forced it down. He slumped back onto the dragon chair, as if all his energy had been drained away in an instant.
The Phoenix Palace is about to collapse, and the Dragon Throne is already cold.
Lu Qinglan stood alone in the palace, the phoenix crown and pearl curtain swaying slightly, reflecting her clear and determined gaze.
A new era began under her feet.
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