Prince Ning had a loud voice, which the Grand Princess heard before she even reached the door. Her eyes flickered.
The eunuch announced that she had been carried inside.
A person who can stand up during the day can only ride in a sedan chair when he goes to the palace to plead guilty in the evening.
Supported by others, she knelt down shakily, "Your Majesty, I have come to beg for forgiveness."
She rarely knelt before the emperor in the past, but recently she has knelt several times.
"oh?"
The emperor feigned ignorance, asking, "What offense does my imperial aunt/grandmother wish to plead?"
The Grand Princess's eyes darkened. The Emperor's feigned ignorance meant he was indeed planning to harm her.
She sighed, "At my age, I'm being slandered by Yin Jiu Niang, and I can't swallow this insult. So I wanted to make her suffer a little."
Women of the martial world are often unpredictable; I don't know where she's hiding. I sent men to the General's Mansion and the Marquis of Zhongyong's Mansion, but I didn't expect to alert His Majesty. It's my fault.
She described the assassination attempt as merely a lesson.
Furthermore, if they do not admit to assassinating the young mistress and the old mistress of the Marquis's mansion, the nature of the crime is completely different.
The royal guards serving the Grand Princess were trained from the very first day to learn to endure beatings and various forms of torture before they could begin practicing martial arts.
In this way, if they fall into enemy hands in the future, they will not betray their masters because they cannot withstand torture.
The Grand Princess was certain that her secret guards would not confess their true purpose in going to the Marquis's residence.
The emperor, however, also had his own thoughts at this time.
Training bodyguards starts with children, but how many children can withstand those brutal tortures before they even learn martial arts?
Therefore, those who could be trained to serve the Grand Princess were all top-notch individuals selected from among hundreds.
Although Emperor Renzhao only assigned four royal bodyguards to the old princess, in order to prevent the old bodyguards from dying and having no one to replace them in time, the eldest princess has been training new bodyguards in recent years.
The emperor didn't know exactly how many secret guards she had under her command, which was one of the reasons he was wary of her.
“Grandmother, Yin Jiu Niang has rendered meritorious service to the Da Yuan state. Your sending someone to assassinate her will make the people think that our royal family is ungrateful.”
The emperor pretended not to understand her sophistry and withdrew the assassination charge.
The old princess usually liked to interfere in the emperor's affairs under the pretext of thinking about the royal family. The emperor retaliated in kind, elevating her personal behavior to the level of royal behavior.
As the eldest princess of the royal family, she has done things that have caused the royal family to be condemned by the people, which has betrayed the royal grace and harmed the family's heritage. She must not be let off lightly.
The Grand Princess understood the Emperor's meaning perfectly well. She was displeased, but she knew that you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub.
She entered the palace today with the intention of making some sacrifices. "Your Majesty is right to blame me. I have made a mistake. I am willing to return the royal secret guards and their training grounds."
"I only beg Your Majesty to spare Jiang's life, considering my advanced age and short lifespan."
The emperor frowned slightly and asked Chen Banjun, "Has Lei Ce returned?"
Lei Ce sent a message saying he would arrive in the capital in the next two days. The message also briefly mentioned Fu Jiang's crimes. The emperor had no intention of sparing Fu Jiang's life, and with the charges against him being irrefutable, it was even less likely that he would be released.
Marquis Zhongyong replied, "When I returned to the capital, I ran into him. Vice Envoy Lei did not enter the palace because it was late at night."
The emperor then ordered Chen Banjun to deliver the thunder strategy.
While everyone waited, Xie Tingzhou asked, "Does the Grand Princess mean that the assassins who went to the General's Mansion were also sent by you?"
The old princess was determined to take the blame for Kang Le, and she had clearly heard outside the door that the assassins had not confessed.
Therefore, he readily admitted, "Yes."
Xie Tingzhou didn't ask any more questions.
Prince Ning looked at him and finally realized what was going on.
They clearly determined that the assassins were acting under Kang Le's orders, yet Xie Tingzhou made him lie, apparently to deliberately tell the story to the Grand Princess.
This means they need to bring down the Grand Princess first, and then deal with Kang Le.
These two princesses are indeed a handful. Xie Tingzhou is right; they are truly sharing the burden of their father.
But when did Xie Tingzhou become so clever? He's almost as clever as that fox in the Crown Prince's eyes.
Could it be that the Crown Prince was really hidden by him? I'll have to try and find out later.
But for now, he still has to cooperate with Tse Ting-chou.
He glanced at Marquis Zhongyong as if making casual conversation, "Lord Xie, why did you return to the capital first? Weren't you going to suppress bandits?"
Marquis Zhongyong bowed and said, "Your Highness, after I surrendered the bandits, I went to Qingzhou to investigate the past of my elderly mother."
Prince Ning became interested, "Do you also suspect that your mother isn't your mother?"
That's what he believed; otherwise, what mother would treat her son like that?
If his future princess were to cheat on him and his mother found out, his mother would definitely kill the other woman to vent her anger and would never protect her.
Thinking about the analogy he had used, he silently spat twice, wondering why he had cursed himself.
Little did he know that such a thing would actually happen to him later.
Marquis Zhongyong paused for a moment, then recounted the information he had obtained from Old Woman Cai.
After hearing this, Prince Ning's mind raced, and he exclaimed in surprise, "The old lady of the Marquis's mansion isn't your mother, she's Fu Jiang's mother. She's the one who married Butcher Fu?"
Marquis Zhongyong nodded, "That's true."
"Then who is your mother? Could it be that the Grand Princess's daughter is your biological mother?"
His eyes darted back and forth between the Marquis of Zhongyong and the Grand Princess. "So you're the Grand Princess's grandson?"
"Your Majesty was unaware. I had intended to take Old Lady Cai back to the manor to ask my mother for clarification, but upon learning of the assassination attempt at the Marquis's residence, I went to the palace first."
Xie Tingzhou thought of Cai Yu who had come to his door, and looked at the emperor, "Your Majesty, I have learned of an old matter today, which concerns my grandfather and Princess Nianxi."
Cai Yu of the Cai family is in the know; therefore, we implore Your Majesty to allow Cai Yu and Old Lady Cai, among others, to enter the palace.
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