Chapter 436: That Early Summer, Inside the Imperial Palace, Standing Like a Minion (5k)
Silence.
The chilly spring breeze blew past the hem of Zhao Duan's official robe from outside the gate and hit the faces of the ministers in the hall.
The expressions on everyone's faces seemed frozen, and some people even raised their hands to block their eyes, as if to block out the strong light pouring in from outside.
Zhao Duan... Zhao Duan... Isn't he already dead? Why is he here?
Resurrection from the dead?
The moment this absurd thought arose in the minds of many officials, they were choked off and realized the truth:
"suspended animation!"
Imperial Censor Yuan Li moved his lips and uttered these two words. His face flushed slightly and a look of excitement emerged.
Then a look of "sudden realization" flashed across his wise eyes. He turned his head and glanced at Luan Cheng. Seeing that the prefect was indeed calm, he became more certain of his judgment.
Yes... He had felt that Zhao Duan's death was sudden. Although anything could happen in the overseas struggle, perhaps the impression Zhao Duan left on people in the past year was too deep, and Yuan Li found it difficult to accept that he died like this.
However, during this period of time, neither His Majesty's reaction nor the Zhao family's grief made him notice anything strange.
Now it seems that he must have really concealed it from everyone in the capital...
Faking death...faking death...In Li Yanfu's deep eye sockets, the pupils suddenly shrank into a small dot. He subconsciously took two steps back, his hands trembling in his sleeves, and his good mood of the past few days was ruined in an instant.
Realized that I had been deceived.
Not only him, but all the officials in the Golden Palace, led by the Li Party, who had been celebrating in recent days, felt a chill running down their spines, and their mood plummeted to the bottom.
"Master Zhao...are you still alive?"
"This... could it be that the communication was wrong?"
"Your Majesty, may I ask what exactly this is..."
The ministers were in an uproar and rushed to speak.
Zhao Duan walked straight ahead, and under the gaze of the officials on both sides, he walked to the front of the hall like a sharp knife splitting the tide.
At this time, the ministers also noticed that there were two people following him.
They were Haitang, the head of the Narcissus Hall of Zhaoya, and Zhang Han, the head of the Peony Hall.
As for the senior brothers and sisters from Tianshi Mansion, as well as Jiyue Yunxi and others, it was not appropriate for them to be here, so they did not follow.
Haitang and Zhang Han were carrying the heavy box on the left and right. The three of them had entered the palace early and pulled Zhuang Xiaocheng from Eunuch Hai to complete this public ceremony.
"Everyone, please be silent."
The Queen of Dayu smiled and looked down at the commotion among her ministers. She waited for a while before speaking softly.
The eunuch beside him raised his whip and hit it hard on the shiny marble floor, making a crisp sound.
After the ministers shut up, Xu Zhenguan smiled and said:
"I know you are all wondering why Young Master Zhao is so safe and sound. Let Mr. Zhao explain this to you personally."
Zhao Duan bowed and said, "I obey your command."
After he finished speaking, he raised his head, but did not rush to tell the story. Instead, he slowly walked to the large box on the ground and said with a smile:
"Before I begin, there's an old 'friend' I need to bring out and meet with my colleagues."
After saying that, without waiting for everyone to react, he pulled the pull ring, and with a "bang", he opened the box that was as heavy as a coffin!
The old master who was in a coma with a talisman stuck on his forehead was exposed in the box.
"Zhuang... Zhuang Xiaocheng! It's Zhuang Xiaocheng! The leader of the rebels!"
A censor who was standing nearby was horrified and shouted.
The ministers, who had just finally calmed down, became restless again.
And this time, the commotion was even bigger than before!
"Zhuang Xiaocheng!"
Who would be unfamiliar with this name? As the leader of the rebel party, he is the most troublesome enemy for the court after the "Xuanmen Coup".
We have sent people to capture him countless times, but every time we tried, we failed.
This is also the reason why Zhao Duan’s “letting go” of Zhuang Xiaocheng caused such a big commotion - his identity was too special.
At this moment, Zhuang Xiaocheng, who had been "missing" for three years, appeared in the hall again. How could this not move all the officials?
"That's right, as you can see, this thief is the rebel leader, the former Taifu Zhuang Xiaocheng." Zhao Duan said loudly.
He put his hands behind his back, looked at Li Yanfu in the crowd, and raised the corner of his mouth:
"Three months ago, on New Year's Eve, the Prime Minister brought up the old matter again. I said then that within three months, I would capture the rebels I had let go. Now, fortunately, I have kept my promise."
Li Yanfu stared at him intently, without saying a word, only his beard trembling slightly.
The "young cabinet minister" Li Yinglong, who was also in the hall, stepped forward and supported his father to prevent him from losing his composure.
"Haha," Zhao Duan did not pursue the matter relentlessly. He smiled faintly and said:
"The reason I discussed this with Magistrate Luan and sent out the news of his death was to safely escort this thief back to the capital..."
Then he talked freely and recounted the entire experience of the arrest.
And explained why it did so.
After everything was narrated, all the officials finally knew everything.
After understanding what had happened, he realized that Zhao Duan had probably returned to Beijing early, waiting to go to the palace today to slap Li Yanfu in the face.
"Wait..." Someone suddenly recalled the empress's suppression of the Li Party during this period, and his expression suddenly became interesting.
If the Empress had known that Zhao Duan was alive, then wouldn't the suppression have been intentional? Did the Li Party suffer a loss?
Thinking of this, Yuan Li and other members of the Qingliu Party immediately cast "sympathetic" glances at their group of mortal enemies.
"Good...good trick..."
Li Yanfu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, opened them again, and stared at the high-spirited Zhao:
"What a fake death, what a scheme."
Zhao Duan looked at him with a smile:
"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, are too kind. Actually, I have to thank you for urging me on this. Otherwise, I might not have been able to apprehend this thief so quickly."
Li Yanfu remained silent.
Haitang and Zhang Han found it very interesting. It was rare to see the Prime Minister being humiliated in public.
"As Zhao Shaobao said, the arrest of the rebel leader today is a result of the tremendous efforts of his subordinates, and the Prime Minister also bears great responsibility."
Xu Zhenguan chuckled and said this. This remark, which was more of a mockery than a compliment, was like a slap in the face of Li Yanfu.
However, today's purpose is not to target Li Yanfu after all.
The empress stopped at the right time and began to enumerate Zhuang Xiaocheng's crimes. She publicly rewarded Haitang and others who had participated in the battle and had made contributions.
The only exception is Zhao Duan - because nominally, his meritorious service this time can be considered as "atonement for his sins."
As to whether there was any compensation in private, the ministers had no idea.
Finally, the empress announced publicly that she would hold an open trial for Zhuang Xiaocheng and other rebels, and after the case process was completed, they would be beheaded together at Caishikou.
All the officials shouted "Long live the emperor" and no one raised any objection.
…
After the court was dismissed.
Zhuang Xiaocheng continued to be taken away by the palace masters to ensure that he would live to see the day of his beheading without any accidents.
Zhao Duan walked among the crowd and went out of the Meridian Gate together.
Before they knew it, the ministers tacitly separated, leaving him and Li Yanfu behind.
One is too young, the other is too old.
Two officials from the old and new courts walked down the white jade steps step by step, and the sunlight cast their shadows on the ground.
"Mr. Prime Minister, do you still remember the scene when we first met at the Meridian Gate?" Zhao Duan put his hands in his sleeves and walked down the long steps, looking straight ahead and asking softly.
Li Yanfu remained silent.
Zhao Duan said to himself:
"It was the time when Pei Kaizhi was stripped of his official position. I was standing at the Meridian Gate at the time. I was not yet qualified to attend court, so I just watched the officials leave after the court was dismissed. The Prime Minister didn't pay much attention to me at that time.
I told Pei Kaizhi a joke, and he was so angry that he vomited blood. Only then did the Prime Minister turn around and look at me.
Li Yanfu said nothing.
Zhao Duan continued:
"But before that, the thing that left the deepest impression on me about the Prime Minister was the afternoon when I 'let Zhuang Xiaocheng go'. I went to the palace to apologize to His Majesty, and the Prime Minister was in the study discussing state affairs with His Majesty.
When you came out of the study, I was standing in the corridor with a group of ladies-in-waiting and called out to you. You didn't even look at me.
Li Yanfu walked to the last step and took a deep breath.
Zhao Duan stopped, clasped his hands together, facing the sun, raised his head slightly, and smiled brightly:
"From you ignoring me, to looking back at me, to just now in the throne room you regarded me as a thorn in your side... It took me nearly a year to go through these changes."
He turned his head and looked down at Li Yanfu who was walking down the stairs and straight ahead. The corners of his mouth turned up and he said teasingly:
"How many decades did it take for the Prime Minister to reach this position?"
Li Yanfu paused, his slightly hunched body trembling slightly, as if he was trying hard to suppress his anger, his gray hair shaking in the spring breeze.
"Don't be complacent for too long!"
He uttered these words, walked away, and disappeared outside the palace gate.
Zhao Duan stood on the steps with his sleeves rolled up, looking disappointed.
Unfortunately, this old thief is far less fragile than Pei Kaizhi.
"Then... let's wait and see."
…
…
After Zhao Duan dismissed the court, he went straight to the imperial court with his two "survival" colleagues.
As expected, it caused a sensation.
The brocade-clad soldiers in Lihua Hall went through a huge ups and downs in just half an hour, from sadness to stupor to ecstasy.
Fortunately, the same explanation had been given several times, and he explained the situation with ease. The group of troublemakers who were originally leaderless and listless immediately became radiant.
Zhao Duan waved his hand and paid hundreds of taels of silver in his personal name. He ordered Qian Kerou to prepare a banquet and celebrate with his colleagues later.
As for the "bonuses" of the Jinyi men, they were transferred from the account, and for a while the whole hall was filled with joy.
…
"How are the prisoners who were brought back?"
In the Governor's Hall, after Zhao Duan arrived, he asked Ma Yan.
As the sharpest knife in the empress's hand, although Ma Yan did not attend the court today, he had already learned the information that Zhao Duan was not dead earlier.
And last night, according to Zhao Duan's arrangement, Yunxi was sent to the imperial prison.
——This time it’s not about detention, but about persuading surrender.
"According to the list you provided, the prisoners with a long history of bad behavior and no hope of redemption were tortured to extract as much information as possible. As for those who showed promise as spies, they were held in solitary confinement. However, I heard that group of people were quite stubborn, so persuading them to surrender alone would probably be ineffective."
Ma Yan sat in the hall, holding a teacup, and answered.
Zhao Duan pondered for a moment and said:
"I'll go and see for myself."
…
…
Lin Yuebai woke up from a nightmare.
She pried open her eyelids, sat up suddenly, and shouted "Seven feet!?"
In the next cell, the young boy Kou Qichi stared at his messy hair and rushed to the railing:
"Sister, I'm here!"
Lin Yuebai gasped for breath. In the dim dungeon, a look of fear appeared on her face. She raised her chained wrist, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, shook her head and said:
"It's okay, it was just a dream."
In the dream, Kou Qichi was dragged out by the jailer, thrown onto the execution platform and skinned, his screams echoing throughout the dungeon.
Lin Yuebai shook her head to clear her dizzy mind. The Confucian robe she wore as a man was gone, replaced by a tattered and smelly prison uniform.
There were several people imprisoned in the cell. The rest of them were awakened and were looking at her with either indifference or concern.
No one spoke.
Everyone was waiting for the torture to come.
Since they were detained last night, their detention has been "disrupted". They don't know what happened to their other companions, but they can hear shrill screams that lasted the entire night.
What really demoralized this group of people was not the fear of torture, but more of confusion.
On the way, they learned that the Grand Tutor had died together with the Zhao thieves.
The death of Zhao Ze was certainly a cause for celebration, but the death of the Grand Tutor made this group of people lose their "guiding light" and feel at a loss.
Lin Yuebai could only continue to comfort the others:
Princess Wen is still there, the Crown Prince is still there, and core members like Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun are still there.
The brothers and sisters of Kuangfu Society are still fighting in various places.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, the sound of a cell door opening was heard in the corridor. Along with the sound of footsteps, several jailers walked in and glanced at everyone: "Lin Yuebai, come out for a moment."
"Sister!" The boy next door screamed heartbreakingly.
But he couldn't stop it, and Lin Yuebai was dragged out roughly by the jailer.
When the sorceress had a blank look on her face and was ready to be beaten, she found that the jailers did not take her to the torture chamber.
Instead, they came to a quieter area.
In the dungeon corridor illuminated by a brazier, Lin Yuebai, who was shackled, saw Wu Ling and Qingniao. The two were standing on the left and right, guarding the outside of an interrogation room like door gods.
"It's you! Traitors! Running dogs of the court!" Lin Yuebai glared and cursed the two traitors.
Wu Ling was too lazy to say anything. Qingniao looked at him with pity and a sneer on his lips:
"I hope you'll be the same when you come out later."
Lin Yuebai was pushed into the interrogation room, looking a little confused.
…
There was only a table and a few chairs in the room.
At this moment, sitting in the interrogator's position were a man and a woman, one of whom was Lin Yuebai's former friend Yunxi.
The other one...put his feet on the table, leaned back in his chair, flipped through the documents in his hand, with a look of contempt and a sense of superiority in his eyes.
"Zhao! Thief Zhao?!"
Lin Yuebai was struck by lightning, his eyes widened, staring at the treacherous minister Zhao Duan who was smiling at him in disbelief.
She had secretly seen Zhao Duan's appearance in the crowd and was not unfamiliar with him.
"Lin Yuebai, right? The information says that you're in charge of a small branch within the society, and you were involved in Hu Ting's assassination attempt on me? Haha, interesting... During the Battle of Fengcheng, when you were threatened by the Blue Bird, you clashed with the rest of the society and fought each other... Tsk tsk, even more interesting..."
Zhao Duan threw the booklet in his hand on the table, folded his hands, and stared at her with interest:
"Are you interested in turning over a new leaf and becoming a new person? In consideration of Yunxi's strong recommendation, as long as you turn from evil to good, I will forgive your previous assassination attempt."
Yunxi glanced at him: So direct?
"You... aren't you dead?!" Lin Yuebai was at a loss, leaning against the iron gate, as if he had seen a ghost.
Yunxi had no expression on her face and quickly explained the matter briefly.
After hearing this, Lin Yuebai's eyes suddenly lit up: "So, the Grand Tutor is still alive?"
"He's not far from death," Zhao Duan said lazily.
"In a few days, there will be a beheading at Caishikou. As long as you publicly accuse Zhuang Xiaocheng of his crimes, I will..."
"Bah! You bastard official! I will never surrender!"
Zhao Duan was not surprised at all. Looking at this familiar reaction, he seemed to see Yunxi, whom he had personally trained.
He sighed softly and took out a recording scroll from his sleeve:
"After reading this, I hope you can still curse."
Then, a light and shadow shone through the scroll, which was particularly clear in the dark dungeon.
It was the scene in the Zhao family study where the empress and Zhao Duan interrogated Zhuang Xiaocheng.
"Is all the Grand Tutor's concern, how to oppose me all day long, how to fabricate history, throw dirty water on me, whitewash Xu Jianwen's evil deeds of rebellion, and deceive the people?"
"I am the meat and the butcher..."
The original conversation also echoed in the interrogation room.
Zhao Duan arranged for Gongshu Tianyuan to take secret photos outside at that time. The empress probably guessed his thoughts and did not stop him.
During the entire conversation, although Zhuang Xiaocheng didn't say much and looked like he was asking for death, he didn't retort when faced with the questions from the empress and Zhao Duan.
It's a default attitude.
And many times, the default itself means a lot.
Lin Yuebai was stunned. After the image in the scroll finished playing, she still couldn't believe it: "This is..."
Yun Xi sighed softly and sneered:
"Why else do you think I turned back to the imperial court? Do you think I was weak? Or was I forced into a coercive act? No, it was because I saw through the true face of the old villain Zhuang and tore through his lies..."
Then, she recounted her experience of enlightenment and showed her a large amount of information prepared on the table that could prove Zhuang Xiaocheng's hypocrisy and lies.
Finally, Zhao Duan looked at him with pity:
"You should have noticed that too many people in the Kuangfu Society don't uphold the ideals of supporting the country. There are also too many people who knew Zhuang Xiaocheng was lying and just tacitly maintained this lie."
He stood up and walked out:
"You are a smart person. Think about it carefully. I hope you make the right choice."
Zhao Duan walked out of the interrogation room and stared at the dust floating in the light by the window at the end of the corridor. Suddenly, he touched his pocket and thought regretfully that a cigarette would be appropriate at this time.
About a quarter of an hour later, the door of the interrogation room opened. Zhao Duan did not look back and continued to look at the light coming through the fence on the wall.
"how?"
Behind him, Yunxi came over and said calmly:
"She was convinced by me and agreed to return to the cell to help me recruit more people to stand up and expose the hypocrisy of the old thief."
Zhao Duan was not surprised: "Just follow the method I demonstrated and continue."
He sneered:
"Actually, these people aren't stupid, so they've definitely been thinking about it for a while now, realizing they were once abandoned by Zhuang Xiaocheng. Whether it's because they don't want their faith to collapse or because of the opinions of their companions, they're just clinging on.
When facing this group of people, there is no need for punishment. All we need to do is to win over their hearts and minds, and give them a reason to justify surrendering to the court and becoming ‘traitors’. They will naturally change their stance…”
One of the reasons why Zhao Duan divided the prisoners into two groups was to artificially create divisions.
And he used screams all night long to terrify Lin Yuebai and his group.
"Everyone is afraid of death. Few people are not afraid. They are just trapped by some empty moral shackles and can't get out."
"It's like when a foreign race attacks a city. Even to avoid being blamed, they have to hold out. But if the foreign race holds up a puppet emperor of their own, the defenders along the way will surrender with peace of mind."
Zhao Duan said this without any emotion, he was as cold as an ice-cold machine.
He had seen too many similar things in history books.
Yun Xi pondered, "What they lack is a legitimate reason to change their stance?"
"What else?" Zhao Duan turned around and pinched the girl's face:
"Do you really think that those rebels are just as foolish as you, thinking of death all the time?"
Um... Yunxi's eyes were wide open with anger, but she was too timid to say a word.
Zhao Duan laughed heartily and walked past her out of the prison.
"The rest of the people are in your hands. Those who have been persuaded to surrender can be converted into spies, so you and Wu Ling will lead them. After that, you must continue to eliminate the remaining remnants of the rebels and atone for your sins. Oh, thinking that you can wash away your sins by just betraying once is too wishful thinking."
(End of this chapter)
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