Chapter 72 Peeling off the Queen's Skin
In fact, there was no need for Xie Shen to send a personal attendant to communicate. After learning that the Huangshaling incident was committed by the Queen's daughter, Prime Minister Xie sent people to monitor the trial.
When Xie Shen's personal entourage just arrived at Xie's house, Prime Minister Xie had already boarded the carriage bound for the palace. However, the guards sent by the prince were intercepted by several men in black in a dark alley and knocked unconscious.
Therefore, when the group arrived at the palace gate, the queen realized that Liu He had actually identified her.
She was so angry that she smashed a set of tea sets immediately. "How dare she, you little slave, treat me like this? Someone, kill her two children for me."
She never thought that Liu He would dare to betray her.
"Your Majesty, you can't do that." The man in black knelt down and advised, "If anything happens to Liu He's children now, Your Majesty will have no way to explain it.
Your Majesty, please calm down and wait a little longer. Once this is over, you will only need to raise your hand to deal with them.
Now, Your Majesty, you just need to keep your composure and deal with Liu He's accusations. Fortunately, there is no evidence of those things that happened before, so Your Majesty, there is no need to panic."
Despite this comfort, the man in black himself was still unsure.
After hearing what the man in black said, the queen slowly calmed down, but when she thought that the person who always followed her lead would actually bite her back, she was still so angry that she smashed another set of teacups.
"Come here, help me dress up." The queen ordered loudly.
When she heard that Concubine Shu had returned, she wanted to see what kind of trouble this crazy woman could stir up.
Seeing this, the man in black lowered his eyes and retreated.
But I felt a little uneasy in my heart.
When the Empress was young, she was smart and capable, and she only lost her composure when it came to the matter of Concubine Shu. Now, after so many years, the Empress still cannot keep her sanity when Concubine Shu is mentioned.
The Empress has had it so easy these past few years that she has lost her alertness and intelligence.
Liu He had pointed the finger in public, so even without evidence, Empress Yu's reputation was still bad.
What's more, she kept saying that the child was still alive. If she could leave a child without the Empress's knowledge, would there be any evidence left?
The Empress was still thinking about dressing up, but she was just worried about the fact that she had lost the Emperor's favor to Concubine Shu.
But the prince is twenty years old now. Compared with the prince's future and the honor that the queen will have as the empress dowager in the future, the love between them is nothing.
The man in black had many complaints in his mind, but he didn't dare to say a word.
While the queen was dressing up carefully, the emperor had sent people to urge her twice before she slowly went to the council hall.
In the Council Hall.
Liu He knelt down and admitted that the Protector General had indeed sent Yan Qing to Ganzhou to mobilize troops, but at that time they had received orders from the Queen, who forbade them to send reinforcements.
In order to prevent the matter from being exposed, they sent people to hunt down Yan Qing.
Prime Minister Xie immediately asked, "Do you have any evidence?"
He had already asked the leader of the secret guards around his daughter, and they had no evidence left in this matter.
Liu He smiled bitterly. She was loyal to the queen at that time and did not leave any evidence. In addition, the messenger burned the queen's handwritten letter on the spot after showing it to her.
However, "Yan Qing was skilled in martial arts, and our men were unable to kill him. He fled to Yongzhou. It was the Empress's secret guards who beheaded Yan Qing in the valley outside Yongzhou City.
Your Majesty, you can check the comings and goings of the secret guards around the Empress during that period, and you will know whether this matter is true or not."
"How ridiculous." The Queen happened to be outside the Council Hall.
She walked in slowly, saluted the emperor, and then scolded, "I live deep in the harem, how could I know that the people of Beiling would ambush General Wei?
If I don't know, how could I instruct you to harm others? As for trying to smear me based on the whereabouts of the secret guards, it is even more absurd.
Three years ago, Wudan surrendered, and the Crown Prince went to Wudan to sign the surrender document. As the Crown Prince's biological mother, I was naturally concerned about my child, so I sent my secret guards out to protect the Crown Prince.
After saying this, she turned to look at the emperor, "Your Majesty, Liu He colluded with Beiling before, and now that the matter has been exposed, he is trying to frame me. This is truly abhorrent and hateful. Your Majesty, please avenge General Wei and clear my name."
After saying that, she looked around the hall.
Didn't find the person I remembered.
The queen frowned. Didn’t they say that Concubine Shu was also coming?
"How did Your Majesty know that the Beiling people would ambush the Protector of the Nation? I don't know, but my master did so under Your Majesty's orders."
Liu He covered his injured eye and suddenly laughed at himself, "My master has no grudges against the General Protector of the Nation. Otherwise, why would he do this? As for collecting the 50,000 taels, it was after we received the Queen's order.
Since we have decided to follow the Empress' orders, we are now enemies of the Protector General. Only if she dies will she not trouble us later. At this time, Beiling has sent us 50,000 taels and asked us to stand aside and watch. This is the same as the Empress's intention. We should not refuse this silver."
She knew that these words were too pale and could not punish the Queen, but she had to say them.
The prince and the Xie family father and son felt relieved after hearing this.
Liu He really has no evidence!
The queen was slightly pleased, with the corners of her lips curled up imperceptibly.
Wei Qingyan, disguised as a guard of Prince Rong's mansion, was standing outside the palace, but he had an idea in his mind.
Before, she couldn't understand how the Queen knew that the Beiling army was going to ambush him. As the Queen of Wei, she would never collude with Beiling.
But after hearing what the queen said, she had some ideas.
The Queen did not allow Wu Yuchu to transfer troops to her because she wanted her dead. So, before the ambush by the Beiling people, did the Queen have the idea of assassinating her and not letting her return to the capital alive?
If that was the case, the secret guards would have been sent out early to keep a close eye on her whereabouts. If she was ambushed by the Beiling people, the secret guards would have been nearby.
The secret guard sent a pigeon to deliver the message, and the time it took for her to deal with Beiling was enough for the message to travel back and forth.
There is another possibility.
The Queen killed her to help the Crown Prince cut off Shi Yu's aid.
After defeating Wudan, the emperor sent the crown prince to Wudan to take over her negotiations with Wudan on surrender, and ordered her to return to Beijing to report on her work.
The prince was worried that Wu Dan would not give up and cause trouble again, so he asked her to leave behind 80,000 national defense troops. She took 20,000 national defense troops back to the capital.
If it was the Crown Prince who truly intended to kill her, he would have also sent someone to follow her. He would have known the situation immediately and informed the Queen...
Wei Qingyan half closed his eyes.
The fat monk said that the process of resolving grievances and eliminating demons is like peeling an onion. You always need to pull it off layer by layer to see the real appearance inside.
Finding out what happened back then is her obsession.
No matter what the truth is, the queen's hands are not clean, and this layer of onion skin should be peeled off. As for whether the layer inside is the prince, she will always be able to find out.
Inside, after Liu He finished explaining the Huangshaling incident, she changed the subject and said, "Your Majesty, I know that I have committed a grave sin, but my child is innocent.
Your Majesty, please spare my child's life, considering that I risked offending the Queen to raise Concubine Shu's child for you?"
Concubine Shu has returned. The emperor heard from the eunuchs that her child is still alive when they entered the palace.
But he was determined to be a wise king who put national affairs first. In front of all the ministers, he did not rush to ask about the child and Concubine Shu after Liu Hexian mentioned the Huangshaling incident.
Finally, when Liu He took the initiative to speak, he hurriedly asked, "Where is Concubine Shu's child?"
Where is Concubine Shu?
"Your Majesty, please spare the lives of my children for the sake of my careful upbringing of the two princesses." Liu He insisted and knelt down to beg.
"How dare you! Your Majesty is not someone you can threaten," the Queen scolded. "Your Majesty saw with your own eyes what the child born to Concubine Shu looked like. How dare you, a child you found somewhere, pretend to be the heir to the throne and even threaten Your Majesty like this?"
The emperor looked at him coldly. Others didn't know, but he knew best what the queen had done in the Huangshaling incident.
He looked at Liu He and said, "If what you said is true, once it is proven that the Wu family children are innocent, I will spare their lives."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." Liu He raised her hands high, prostrated herself on the ground and bowed deeply. Then she told him how the Queen was jealous that Concubine Shu got pregnant before her, so she bribed the midwife and the maidservant around Concubine Shu to switch Concubine Shu's children with a skinned kitten.
"Nonsense, I was the Crown Princess. Even if Concubine Shu gave birth to a child, it would still be a bastard's. Why should I do this?" The Queen still argued calmly.
"You have a vicious heart and want to do evil. What other reasons do you need?" Lan Shu's voice suddenly rang out, and she entered the hall carrying an old woman with a broken leg.
He gave a Jianghu salute to the emperor on the dragon throne, then looked at the queen, "Xie Yunmian, do you still recognize this person?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
