Chapter 481: Justice is clear, retribution is inevitable

Sima He was held high by the crowd, and even Xiao Bicheng looked at him expectantly, "Right Prime Minister..."

The Right Prime Minister was his maternal grandfather. This time, because of his wrong decision, so much food and fodder was lost. His maternal grandfather should at least come up with something practical to help him restore his reputation.

Sima He, who was originally prepared to make a fortune, could only grit his teeth and admit: "Yes, those things are the food and fodder that I prepared for Beiguan."

When these things were purchased, the prices were higher than the market price. Now they are all being sent to Beiguan for free. I don't know how big a hole this will leave on the account.

Unfortunately, Xie Zhuoning got the list from somewhere, so he couldn't prepare less.

Shen Lian immediately pushed the Minister of War and said, "What are you still standing there for? Why don't you send someone to register the materials donated by the Right Prime Minister and send someone to escort them to the North Gate?"

He looked so anxious, as if he was afraid that Sima He would regret it if he was late.

But they obviously didn't intend to let Xie Zhuoning go, and they also planned to use her relationship with Ye Wuque as an excuse.

Unexpectedly, before he could even open his mouth, a eunuch suddenly came running over and shouted, "Your Highness, the Emperor has woken up and wants to see you!"

Emperor Zhaowen has been in a coma for many days. No one talks about it openly, but everyone is privately guessing when he will die.

Unexpectedly, he woke up at this time.

Xiao Bicheng hurried over, and a group of ministers followed closely behind, wanting to see the current condition of Emperor Zhaowen.

But they couldn't enter the hall and could only kneel outside. Only Xiao Bicheng walked quickly to the bed in the hall.

Emperor Zhaowen woke up as expected and was half-sitting up with the help of someone.

The moment he saw his son, he spoke weakly, "Slap..."

Before Xiao Bicheng wanted to ask who should be slapped in the face, he saw the chief eunuch Li Mingying walk up to him, say "Your Highness, please forgive me," and then slap him in the face.

"Father!" Xiao Bicheng covered his face with his hands, he was so shocked that he didn't even care about the burning pain on his face.

Emperor Zhaowen looked very disappointed and said, "You are so confused!"

He withheld the food and fodder from the border generals and not only lost it, he himself wasn't even dead yet, but his own son was about to destroy the country.

He was almost dying, but was brought back to life by sheer anger.

He took a breath and said weakly, "From now on, you will have to rely on King Xuan for everything... After I die, the first thing you will do when you ascend the throne is to appoint him as the Regent King... to assist you... Do you remember this clearly?"

"Your son has remembered it." Xiao Bicheng lowered his head, looking as if he was listening carefully to the instructions, but his eyes were full of reluctance.

Emperor Zhaowen's voice was so weak that it was almost inaudible. "Release...Princess Xuan...Don't embarrass her..."

"Yes." Xiao Bicheng agreed with gritted teeth.

He didn't know why his father was jealous of Xiao Jinxuan and wanted to rely on him for everything and appointed him as the regent.

It was already a good thing that he didn't chop off Xiao Jinxuan's head for a reason.

But Emperor Zhaowen was still unwilling to rest assured, so he asked someone to come in and prepare writing materials, intending to leave a will to prevent Xiao Bichen from disobeying his orders in the future.

After the imperial edict was written, Li Mingying sealed it and kept it so that even Xiao Bicheng could not check or touch it.

As soon as he ascends the throne, Li Mingying will take out the imperial edict.

After Xiao Bicheng left the palace, he told the ministers the news that the emperor had woken up, and had Xie Zhuoning sent back politely.

Not only that, he also gave many honors and awards to reward Xie Zhuoning for his contributions to Daye.

The ministers looked at each other in bewilderment.

Could it be that Emperor Zhaowen spoke? But he had been unconscious for so long, how could he know what had happened recently?

Xie Zhuoning was also very curious about this matter. When she saw Xiao Jinxuan, she immediately ran over happily and asked, "When did you come back?"

Xiao Jinxuan held her tightly in his arms, "An hour ago."

Originally, after he heard that Xie Zhuoning was brought into the palace, he rushed over to rescue her, but unexpectedly he ran into Li Mingying on the way.

Li Mingying told him bluntly that Emperor Zhaowen had woken up.

Nowadays, the prince has the final say in the court, but if Emperor Zhaowen wakes up, the situation will no longer be controlled by Lord Xiaobicheng.

So he did not go to the study, but went directly to Emperor Zhaowen and told him everything about the prince's lost food and fodder.

Xie Zhuoning nodded in understanding, "So that's how it is. But why would Li Mingying, the chief steward, help us?"

Xiao Jinxuan said, "Didn't I say before that someone in the palace has been guiding me to find out the truth about my mother's death? That person is Li Zongguan. He was favored by my mother in the past, so he couldn't bear to see my mother die in obscurity."

Xie Zhuoning asked him, "Have you asked him about your mother?"

"I asked him, but he said very little. He only said that my mother was a very good person, but good people often don't live long because they have too many moral shackles in their hearts."

Not much was said, only two or three sentences, but Xiao Jinxuan's mind kept appearing the worried face of his mother.

Xie Zhuoning noticed that he was distracted, so he asked, "Didn't you go to track down the stolen food and grass? How is the situation?"

Speaking of this, Xiao Jinxuan looked serious. "I have made some unexpected discoveries while investigating. You may not imagine that the stolen food and straw were not sent to other places, but to the Xichuan Army."

The Xichuan Army, it's the Xichuan Army again.

It was already very unusual that Duke Xin violated the contract between the two countries and openly closed the trade.

Now Princess Jing'an's food and fodder have been delivered to Duke Xin.

Also, Shen Yanyu said before that there was something wrong with her sister Shen Shuyu.

They are all from the Shen family...

Xie Zhuoning thought of a possibility, but found it very absurd. "It is true that those who are righteous have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous have few supporters. It seems that even the Shen family is not really on Xiao Bicheng's side!"

Xiao Bicheng thought he was in control of the two large armies of Xichuan and Southern Ming, so he paid little attention to the Zhenbei Army.

Maybe it is not appropriate to use the word "ignore" but rather "destroy".

He could not control the Zhenbei Army, so he hoped that this uncontrollable Zhenbei Army would be destroyed by Northern Qi, and he took the opportunity to support a brand new team that would obey his orders.

Unfortunately, he had too much in mind and didn't expect that even Xichuan and Nanming didn't belong to him at all.

This is the law of nature, retribution will come!

Having had enough fun, Xie Zhuoning began to discuss with Xiao Jinxuan how to deal with Princess Jing'an.

She has developed too much power over the years and it is deeply rooted. It is not easy to uproot her.

We have to find an opportunity to force her to reveal her true colors.

Princess Jing'an, on the other hand, also felt that the situation was becoming urgent after learning that Emperor Zhaowen had woken up briefly.

Knowing that Xie Zhuoning and Right Prime Minister Sima He had a conflict in Yu's study today, she fiddled with her armor and said, "Then let's stir the water even more."