Jiang Yuan explained: "Because there was a nail on the wall, Yongding Hou happened to hit it, and now the wound on his head is serious and bleeding."

Chu Lingxiao was the jailer who hit a wall when he was delivering food. It was obvious that he just wanted to pretend, but he ended up making things worse and really got himself into trouble.

Jiang Yuan couldn't believe that a man like this could be the princess's biological father.

After a pause, Jiang Yuan added, "The coroner from the Ministry of Justice knows some medical skills. He checked it out and said it was dangerous."

Chu Lingxiao's injuries were indeed serious, so the Ministry of Justice reported it to the emperor immediately. The emperor now knew about it and had sent several doctors from the Imperial Medical Bureau to the Tianlao.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the atmosphere was depressing and dreary. Only the emperor was walking back and forth, exuding an irritable and solemn aura.

This kind of atmosphere inevitably affected the palace maids in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and they all behaved themselves.

The emperor's face was so gloomy that ink seemed to drip out, and there seemed to be a fire burning in his heart, scorching him.

He is now also afraid that Chu Lingxiao is really dead.

As the emperor walked, he kept complaining, "This matter has finally been settled, and now the three courts have not yet held a joint trial. If Chu Lingxiao dies at this time, everyone will think that I killed him to silence him."

"Then, I will be unable to explain myself. People will only think that Chu Lingxiao framed Gu Jue and Qin Yao because of my instructions."

"And that Princess Chen..."

Speaking of Chu Qianchen, the fire in the emperor's heart burned even more vigorously.

I'm afraid that Chu Qianchen will take advantage of the situation and cut me again.

The emperor stopped in front of the window. A strong scent of osmanthus blew in from the window and lingered in his nose, making him even more irritated. He casually ordered that all the osmanthus flowers in the courtyard be cut down.

At the emperor's command, no one dared to disobey. Dozens of eunuchs acted together in a mighty manner, intending to pick all the osmanthus flowers on the branches.

Eunuch Ni personally closed the windows, had someone light some calming incense, and served tea and water to the emperor.

The emperor sat down casually on an armchair and asked in a deep voice, "Could this father and daughter have colluded with each other?"

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, besides the emperor, there were only Kang Hongda and Eunuch Ni. The emperor's words were obviously directed to Kang Hongda.

Compared to the furious emperor, Kang Hongda was unusually calm. He was holding a folding fan with a painting of cranes flying through the clouds in his hand and fanning it leisurely.

Kang Hongda said calmly: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the Marquis of Yongding might not have the courage..."

If Chu Lingxiao had this courage, the Yongding Marquisate would not have declined, and he would not have ended up in jail.

The emperor was also angry just now, and he said it casually. Now he has finally calmed down a little. Seeing this, Kang Hongda gently closed his folding fan, his expression became serious, and asked: "Your Majesty, how did you choose this Princess for His Royal Highness?"

Yesterday, after Kang Hongda left the imperial study, he ordered people to check on Princess Chen. However, this 14-year-old concubine of the Yongding Marquis's Mansion had a dull life. She rarely left the house on weekdays and had no sense of existence at all.

If it weren't for the emperor's marriage granting, Kang Hongda could have fully foreseen what kind of life this ordinary concubine's daughter would have in the future.

When the emperor thought of this, his anger rose up again, and it felt like he was stuck in his chest, neither going up nor down.

He was too lazy to say anything, so he just made a gesture to Eunuch Ni.

Eunuch Ni cleared his throat and explained the whole story in a concise manner.

The emperor picked up the teacup and drank tea, his face as gloomy as water and his brows becoming tighter and tighter.

In fact, the emperor had regretted it long ago. Even if Chu Qianchen's horoscope really was unlucky for Gu Jue and he was destined to be a husband-killer, he was almost angry to death because he saw that Gu Jue would not be killed within a few days.

As Eunuch Ni spoke, he observed the emperor's expression changes out of the corner of his eye.

Last night, he persuaded the emperor for half the night and did his best to belittle Chu Qianchen, and the emperor was slightly relieved.

The only thing that can comfort the emperor now is probably that Princess Chen Chu Qianchen is just a humble concubine. Among so many princesses of the royal family, Princess Chen has the lowest status. I'm afraid that other princesses would not bother to associate with a concubine and lower their status.

Moreover, Chu Qianchen is alone and has no support from any family.

Eunuch Ni's whole body tensed up, and before he knew it, a cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck.

Kang Hongda opened his folding fan again, fanned it slowly several times, and comforted the emperor, "Your Majesty, don't worry. If you hold the tiger talisman for too long, it will be the fault of the prince. But now, the court and the people of the world see that you, the emperor, are being aggressive."

Eunuch Ni felt his scalp tingling when he heard this.

Among all the civil and military officials in the court, Kang Hongda was probably the only one who dared to say that the emperor was being aggressive.

The emperor's expression was uncertain, and he looked at Kang Hongda with a sinister look as sharp as an arrow.

The air turned cold.

The room became quiet, with only the faint scent of incense lingering in the air.

Under the emperor's sharp gaze, Kang Hongda remained calm, still smiling slightly, and continued slowly: "Your Majesty, I think it is better to use a gentle strategy."

"Your Majesty, imagine if you are very kind to Prince Chen, but Prince Chen still holds on to the tiger talisman, then it is Prince Chen's fault. Prince Chen does not know what is good for him."

The emperor made a wrong move from the very beginning in dealing with the Prince of Chen, and now they can only try to make up for their loss.

Kang Hongda said patiently: "When he advances, I retreat."

"Prince Chen is only a prince. If he stays in the capital for one day, his wings will be broken. Even if there are 60,000 Black Armored Soldiers stationed in the capital, what does it matter? Can he still rely on these 60,000 people to rebel?!"

"Your Majesty, if he were to risk everything and abandon the Queen Mother, the Northern Army would number four hundred thousand."

"..." The emperor remained silent and slowly turned the jade ring on his thumb.

Looking at the emperor's unconscious little movements, both Kang Hongda and Eunuch Ni noticed that the emperor had listened to some of it.

If someone else, such as the crown prince, advised the emperor to treat Prince Chen well, the emperor would only be suspicious and suspect that the other party was bribed by Prince Chen. But when these words were said by Kang Hongda, the weight of their words was different.

Kang Hongda and Gu Jue have always been at odds with each other.

When Gu Jue was young in the capital, he once went out of the palace in disguise and had a fight with Kang Hongda.

Later, everyone knew that Gu Jue asked to go to the north at the age of fifteen. He was a young man with high spirits and a heart for his country, and he created a good story. However, few people knew that the emperor, who was still the crown prince at the time, was planning to recommend Kang Hongda to go to the north, but Gu Jue took the opportunity to recommend him.

If it weren't for Gu Jue, the person in charge of the Northern Army would be Kang Hongda.

If there was no Gu Jue, the generals in the court would be led by Kang Hongda, instead of being like now. Even if Kang Hongda was favored by the emperor, the generals would not submit to him, and the people of the world only knew the prince, not Kang Hongda! The emperor did not speak for a long time, and the imperial study fell into silence again. Eunuch Ni stood aside with a whisk in his hand, motionless like a sculpture.

Kang Hongda sipped his tea leisurely without rushing.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

After a while, the emperor sighed and whispered, "Indeed, I am too impatient."

For Kang Hongda, as long as the emperor would listen to him, the rest would be much easier.

He put down the teacup and continued, "Your Majesty, if you want to overthrow Prince Chen, you must plan every step, force Prince Chen into a situation where he is surrounded by enemies, and then annihilate him in one fell swoop, leaving Prince Chen and his followers with no chance of recovery!"

Instead of being like now, with such a big fuss, letting everyone in the world know that the Emperor is going to take action against Prince Chen, but the Prince Chen is fine, and in the end the Emperor has to cede land and pay compensation to appease Prince Chen, suffering heavy losses.

Besides, the emperor has waited for so many years, is he afraid that he can't wait for another year or two? Kang Hongda wanted to say something, but at this time, a young eunuch Wen came in and said, "Your Majesty, the imperial physician is here."

The emperor knew it was about Chu Lingxiao, so he raised his eyelids. Eunuch Ni said, "Let them in."

The chief imperial physician, along with two other imperial physicians, trembling with fear followed Eunuch Wen into the Palace of Tranquil Longevity. They looked around inconspicuously and soon noticed that the osmanthus trees in the courtyard outside the window had become bare, as if winter had arrived early.

The chief physician's eyelids twitched. When he came to examine the emperor's pulse yesterday, the osmanthus flowers were still growing fine.

"Your Majesty, I have just visited the Yongding Marquis in the Heavenly Prison." The Imperial Physician reminded him, bowing to the Emperor with trepidation, lowering his head, not daring to look at the Emperor's expression, "The Yongding Marquis is not well. The wound on his head is too big and the bleeding is not stopping. He is now unconscious."

"If the bleeding from the wound doesn't stop, he might..."

The meaning of the imperial physician's order was very clear: Chu Lingxiao was in great danger and had barely escaped death.

The emperor gritted his teeth and rebuked: "Since the bleeding won't stop, try to stop it. There are so many doctors in the Imperial Hospital, can't they even do this little thing?"

There was a coldness in his voice, like ice that had been frozen for thousands of years.

"Forgive me for my incompetence." The imperial physician's head felt as big as a bucket and sweat was pouring down.

The other two imperial doctors also bowed their heads even lower, their legs felt weak, and their palms were covered with sweat.

"Good-for-nothings!" the emperor shouted angrily, "If you can't even cure such a minor injury, what's the point of me keeping good-for-nothings like you around?!"

The emperor really disliked these imperial doctors. They were all hesitant and didn't dare to treat this or that. Even when his eldest grandson was seriously ill, he was cured with the help of Taoist Xuan Jing's Nine Returns Golden Pill.

The emperor was furious, and all the doctors were frightened, and all three of them fell to their knees.

The imperial physician said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

"Marquis Yongding is seriously injured. Doctors have different specialties. Marquis Yongding's injury is in the head, and it is an external injury. We, the ministers, are really powerless to help."

The Imperial Medical Bureau serves the royal family and clan members. Compared with ordinary doctors, their medical skills are far superior, but they mainly specialize in internal medicine.

The doctors who treat the most external injuries are military doctors, and they have many ways to stop bleeding. However, on the battlefield, whether military doctors can save lives depends entirely on the luck of the wounded. If God lets you live, you live, even if you have a broken leg; if you are unlucky, you can die even if you have a small cut on your arm.

It would be a waste if he died, and no one would hold the military doctor accountable.

For those who are seriously injured, even if there are ten people, it may not be possible to save one.

However, the Chief Physician only thought about these words in his mind. Even if he told the emperor, it would be useless as the emperor would only think that they were shirking their responsibilities.

The emperor got angry when he saw them kneeling at every turn.

To put it bluntly, kneeling means incompetence.

"Drag him out..."

The emperor said this with gritted teeth. He knew he was venting his anger on someone else, but he just wanted to vent his anger on someone else.

"Your Majesty, please spare my life. Perhaps someone can save Marquis Yongding." An old doctor said in a trembling voice. He thought that he was already old, and if he was dragged out, he would be killed with just ten sticks, so he might as well give it a try.

"Who?" Eunuch Ni asked on behalf of the emperor in a bad mood, "In front of the emperor, why are you keeping us in suspense, Doctor Wang?"

Doctor Wang was sweating profusely, and said with gritted teeth: "Maybe the miracle doctor at Jishidiang has a solution."

Everyone in the Imperial Hospital knew that the miracle doctor at Jishidiang cured the emperor's eldest grandson with the Zixuedan. However, the emperor refused to acknowledge it and thought that it was the elixir that cured him and that the miracle doctor was just a name.

Doctor Wang knew that he might anger the emperor, but he really had no other choice, so he continued, "Not long ago, a woman had a stick stuck in her eye. After the stick was pulled out, the wound was torn bigger and bleeding. It was the miracle doctor from Jishidiang who cured her and saved her eyes."

(End of this chapter)