Chapter 859: False Imperial Decree
Cining Palace.
The empress dowager was wearing elegant and luxurious empress dowager clothes, with delicate makeup on her face. She sat dignifiedly in the main seat in the hall and watched the emperor come in.
The Emperor stared at the Empress Dowager for a moment before speaking: "Your Majesty, why did you ask me to come here? Is there something wrong?"
The Queen Mother stared at the Emperor. "I heard that you posthumously conferred the title of Duke on the Gu family and also conferred the title of Duke on Gu Jian?"
The emperor didn't say anything, which was considered as his consent.
The Queen Mother smiled and said, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten who poisoned the late Emperor and who set fire to Concubine Wan?"
Hearing this, the emperor's face turned grim.
He had been delaying in clearing his mother and uncle's names because he was worried that the Queen Mother and the Jiang family would mention these things. Now that the Jiang family has fallen, the Queen Mother still wants to use this to threaten him.
The Queen Mother ignored the Emperor's cold expression and continued, "Let the Jiang family go. Whether you expel them from the capital or send them into exile, spare their lives. As long as you agree, I will keep this secret forever."
The Emperor snorted coldly: "Have you, Queen Mother, also forgotten that it was you who gave the order?"
The Queen Mother did not argue with the Emperor: "I don't have many days left to live. Let the Jiang family go, and I will let you go too."
The emperor sneered and said, "What if I don't agree?"
The Queen Mother's face also turned cold: "Then I will make what happened back then public and poison the late emperor. Even if you are the emperor, you can't protect Gu Jian. I have already sent people to invite the royal family and ministers to the palace. They should be here soon."
Hearing this, the emperor looked at Eunuch An with a sharp gaze.
Eunuch An's expression changed and he quickly left the hall.
After a while, Eunuch An returned with a pale face and whispered in the emperor's ear, "Your Majesty, the young master from the Qianqing Palace is from the Jiang family. He pretended to be you and invited the clan members and ministers into the palace. Now everyone is heading towards the Cining Palace."
After hearing this, the Emperor looked at the Empress Dowager coldly and said, "Your Majesty, you are very resourceful. You can even place people in the Palace of Heavenly Purity."
The Queen Mother remained unmoved: "Your Majesty, my request is not excessive. As long as you release the Jiang family..."
"Let the Jiang family go and let them continue to wreak havoc on the world?"
Gu Jian, Xiao Yeyang and Daohua suddenly walked into the hall.
Seeing Gu Jian, the Queen Mother finally lost her composure. She no longer looked dignified as before, and her breathing became rapid. She said with some difficulty, "You really are not dead." After taking a few breaths, she said fiercely, "You are really a scourge for thousands of years."
Gu Jian looked at the Queen Mother coldly and said, "When it comes to disaster, who can be as harmful as you, Queen Mother?" As he said that, he strode towards the Queen Mother.
The Queen Mother's face turned pale with fear and she clapped her hands to summon the secret guards.
Unfortunately, the secret guards had already been secretly eliminated by the emperor.
The Queen Mother opened her eyes wide and looked at the Emperor: "You"
The emperor looked at the empress dowager expressionlessly: "Empress Dowager, you underestimate me too much. How could I not be on guard against you?" Now in the Cining Palace, except for the two palace maids close to the empress dowager, all the others are his people.
Seeing Gu Jian approaching, the Queen Mother was shocked and angry: "What do you want to do?"
Gu Jian: "You want to reveal the past, right? If you become mute, you should be able to keep it secret."
The Queen Mother stood up angrily: "How outrageous!"
Just then, there was a noise outside.
When the Queen Mother knew that the royal family and ministers had arrived, she opened her mouth to shout loudly.
When Gu Jian saw this, a pill quickly flew into the Queen Mother's mouth.
The empress dowager was old after all, and she couldn't swallow it, so it got stuck in her throat. After a while, her face turned red and her neck became thick.
Gu Jian was stunned, and the emperor also looked surprised.
Daohua and Xiao Yeyang looked at each other in confusion.
Thinking of the relatives and ministers outside, the emperor asked Eunuch An to appease the empress dowager.
After all this, the empress dowager could only breathe heavily and could no longer speak.
The emperor glanced at Daohua and said, "Take your uncle away." The uncle must not be seen here by relatives and ministers. Even if he did not mention what happened that year, everyone could definitely guess that his uncle had a grudge against the Jiang family.
Daohua nodded and quickly took her master out through the back door.
At this time, the emperor looked at Xiao Yeyang again.
Xiao Yeyang nodded, walked out of the hall, and welcomed in the royal family and ministers.
When the clan members and ministers entered the hall, they saw two palace maids helping the empress dowager to calm down, and the emperor standing beside them with a worried look on his face.
Upon seeing this, the expressions of the royal family and ministers changed. They stepped forward and saluted politely. No one dared to ask what was wrong.
The emperor sighed and said, "The Empress Dowager called me here today and asked me to let the Jiang family go, but I didn't agree." As he spoke, he sighed again.
"Forget it, let's help the Queen Mother into the bedroom first and ask the imperial physician to come and take a look."
As soon as he finished speaking, Eunuch An immediately brought several palace maids to help the Queen Mother.
After the Queen Mother was escorted away, the Emperor sat down and looked at the clan members and ministers present. He asked in surprise, "Why are you entering the palace at this time?"
When Prince Yong heard this, he realized that the emperor had not summoned them. He knelt down and said, "A eunuch came to the palace and said that the emperor summoned us, so we came to the palace."
The emperor was surprised and said, "I didn't send anyone to call you."
After these words were spoken, all the clan members and ministers present looked at each other in bewilderment.
At this moment, Wei Qi brought Xiao Liuzi, who was going to invite the royal family members, forward.
After interrogation, all the clan members and ministers knew that it was the empress dowager who summoned them into the palace in the name of the emperor.
Prince Yong knelt down and pleaded guilty: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I really don't know."
The others also knelt down quickly.
The emperor showed a helpless look on his face: "The Queen Mother wants me to spare the Jiang family's death penalty, but I don't agree. Maybe she wants you to help speak up for her?"
Upon hearing this, the clan members and ministers all lowered their heads and dared not speak.
At this time, the imperial physician came over.
The emperor looked at the imperial physician and said, "Go and take the Queen Mother's pulse."
The imperial physician entered the bedroom and soon came out with a pale face: "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother is old, and recently..." He knelt down to plead guilty, "Your Majesty, please forgive me, the Queen Mother's pulse is very weak, I'm afraid..."
The emperor stood up suddenly and said: "How could this happen? I order you to do your best to treat the empress dowager." Then he asked Eunuch An to call all the doctors in the Imperial Hospital.
The emperor paced anxiously in the hall, then looked at his relatives and ministers and said, "Since you have all entered the palace, you should all wait here."
When the clan members and ministers heard that the empress dowager might be in danger, they were all shocked. It was obvious that they were being used by the empress dowager, who wanted to use them to put pressure on the emperor.
After all, in Daxia, filial piety is more important than anything else.
After realizing this, the clan members and ministers dared not speak anymore.
The emperor had the palace maids serve tea and snacks, and he and his relatives and ministers waited in the hall.
Meanwhile, Daohua sent Gu Jian to the Qianqing Palace to rest. "Master, don't worry. The Queen Mother is now unable to speak and won't tell anyone about what happened back then."
Gu Jian frowned, feeling that the Queen Mother might have a backup plan. He hurriedly urged Daohua to go to the Cining Palace: "You go over there and keep an eye on it. If anything happens, send someone to tell me immediately."
He cannot show up now, otherwise, he will not be helping the emperor, but will be a burden to the emperor.
Daohua nodded and took Mei, Lan, Mei and Ju out of the Qianqing Palace.
On the way, they met the empress and concubines who were rushing to the Cining Palace.
Daohua saw it but didn't pay much attention to it. But when she was about to reach the gate of Cining Palace, she suddenly noticed a palace concubine with an extremely pale face.
After hesitating for a moment, Daohua looked at Meilan and asked her to stop the concubine.
(End of this chapter)
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