Chapter 754 Gathering - Chase
The old minister intended to persuade the eldest prince to back down, but by this point, the eldest prince was already ready to act.
"My lord, there is no need for further words. My mind is made up. Today, no matter what, I will sit on this dragon throne."
Now that everyone has seen the problem, the eldest prince no longer hides anything and speaks frankly and directly.
Upon hearing such treasonous words, it was inevitable that some people would stand up to condemn them. However, no matter who it was, the Crown Prince silenced everyone with just one sentence.
The words were, "If you are stubborn and insist on opposing me, then your wives, children and elderly parents will soon be going to meet the King of Hell."
As soon as the Crown Prince finished speaking, the Imperial Guards swarmed in and surrounded everyone. Now, who would dare to say another word?
Compared to the lives of his entire family, whether the eldest prince became emperor or committed treason was clearly no longer that important.
The eldest prince used force to coerce the emperor, and even without the emperor's edict of abdication, he still ascended the throne he had always dreamed of the next day.
At dawn that day, the guards who had quickly searched the palace returned to report that they had found a hole, slightly larger than a dog hole, near the palace wall close to the back mountain. It appeared to be a newly dug hole.
Upon hearing this, the eldest prince laughed, "To escape in this way, Father, I'm afraid your illustrious reputation will be ruined from now on."
"Order the city gates to be closed, and have every house searched, including Bai Moqin's residence."
The eldest prince gave the order, and the guard looked at him with some difficulty, then said with a forced smile, "Bai Moqin disappeared early this morning."
"What? Why is it taking so long to report something so serious?"
The eldest prince slammed his hand on the table, and the guards almost collapsed to their knees.
"I didn't dare say it this morning."
The guards were naturally punished by the eldest prince, and the search of the palace had to continue. At the same time, the eldest prince's own squad of personal guards also chased after them out of the city.
Bai Moqin and her group rushed towards the Great Zhou overnight, but unfortunately, because there were elderly people and women among them, their progress was slowed down considerably.
Two days later, the group arrived at a small town, intending to rest for half a day, buy some dry food, and continue their journey.
No sooner had the supplies been prepared than the person at the rear caught up, saying that the pursuers had arrived.
"Gather everyone and set off immediately. Leave ten men with me to hold off the enemy."
Bai Moqin had long known that the Crown Prince would send people to chase after them, but she didn't expect them to catch up so quickly.
The Emperor and Ru Xue were helped into the carriage. Qingfeng led the group away first, while Wuying, who was extremely skilled in martial arts, stayed behind with Bai Moqin.
The ten men found a secluded grove of trees, a necessary route to the Great Zhou, and also the best place for an ambush.
The group waited there for about half an hour, and sure enough, they saw a group of more than twenty people chasing after them.
Wuying had a lot of practical experience following Yun Yichen, so the group left here were all under his command.
As soon as he made a gesture, ten men rushed out and, with lightning speed, took care of the ten men behind who were focused on riding their horses.
By the time the people in front noticed something was wrong, their companion had already fallen to the ground.
Upon seeing this, a dozen or so people quickly drew their long swords from their waists, leaped up, and engaged in fierce combat with Bai Moqin's group.
In just a few dozen moves, the Crown Prince's side, outnumbered, was defeated and their heads were handed over to Bai Moqin's men.
However, this is not their fault. They are just ordinary guards. No matter how skilled they are, they are no match for Bai Moqin's well-trained secret guards.
As soon as Bai Moqin won the battle, she led her men and quickly withdrew from the battlefield.
Because they knew that this wouldn't be the only group the Crown Prince sent to hunt them down; they were just cannon fodder sent up by the Crown Prince to help them ascertain their whereabouts.
Bai Moqin knew that on this long journey, all that awaited them was more pursuit and killing.
While the Wei Emperor and Bai Moqin were fleeing, the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty was also in turmoil.
At the beginning, the situation in the court was leaning towards the Fifth Prince, but at this moment, the Emperor suddenly vomited blood in the hall in front of all the officials.
The imperial physician rushed over and, amidst the anxious gazes of the officials, delivered a terrifying message: the emperor had been poisoned, and the poison had now seeped into his bones, beyond the reach of any medicine.
This was like a thunderclap to anyone.
"The emperor has been poisoned, and the palace is probably in complete chaos now."
September was already the time when Gu Shuyan was due to give birth, but she still received news from the palace as soon as she got up for her morning walk.
Pearl and Yufei, who were behind her, couldn't help but ask, "His Majesty has been poisoned for a long time, and it has not been discovered until now. Why did he suddenly vomit blood at the morning court this day?"
The Fifth Prince's poisoning of the Emperor was not a recent occurrence. The reason he dared to act so brazenly must be that he was absolutely certain that his poisoning would not be detected.
If that's the case, even if the emperor was seriously poisoned and vomited blood, it shouldn't have been discovered that he was poisoned.
Faced with the two maids' questions, Gu Shuyan smiled faintly, "If it were just him who poisoned the girl, he would naturally have done it flawlessly. But do you still remember the Fourth Prince's Gu poison?"
When the Fourth Prince was in Suzhou, he used this tactic to delay the construction of the new city.
The Fifth Prince was so eager to poison the Emperor, so how could the Fourth Prince remain inactive? Especially after learning that the Emperor had a son named Gu Renjie and intended to pass the throne to him, the Fourth Prince could no longer ignore the situation.
"Does Madam mean that the poison used by the Fourth Prince has been discovered?"
“Of course not!” Gu Shuyan shook her head. “Gu is not a real poison. Even if it is administered, it is extremely difficult to detect. This can be seen from the incident in Suzhou. If I’m not mistaken, the reason why His Majesty was found to be poisoned is that, under the influence of the Gu worms, the poison that should not have been detected by the Fifth Prince became easily detectable by the imperial physicians.”
With Gu Shuyan's explanation, Yufei and Pearl immediately understood.
"So that's how it is! Does that mean the Fifth Prince is in trouble?"
Pearl wasn't genuinely worried about the Fifth Prince; she was only saying that because she was concerned that Gu Shuyan's plans would be disrupted.
We finally managed to get the situation under control, and if it gets disrupted like this, wouldn't that just create a lot of unnecessary trouble?
"What I'm more worried about is that the Fourth Prince is secretly carrying out other plans behind our backs."
Gu Shuyan had never really trusted the Fourth Prince, and now that he had taken it upon himself to cause such a scene, she couldn't help but suspect him.
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