Ning Hongxi desperately tried to signal to the emperor with his eyes that something was wrong with the contents of the iron box.
But now the emperor and others seem to believe that when the crucial moment comes, he is reluctant to send his nephew to his death, so they are hesitant and dragging their feet.
In short, he was deliberately stalling for time.
Now, apart from the emperor's ultimatum, Xuanwang, Fan Tieshan, and others are all staring intently at him, pressuring him.
His gaze was silent, but the oppressive aura was undeniable, as if he were protecting his own nephew if he didn't read it aloud.
Ning Hongxi knew that he had no other choice.
He had no choice but to flatten the letter again and again, take a deep breath, purse his lips, and then speak—
"General Qin Tianrui, listen to my command. I order you to immediately send 10,000 elite troops from Yanming Pass to secretly enter the capital to protect me. Also, borrow 5,000 elite troops from the Northwest Camp to secretly garrison Yanming Pass. If the Sky Eagle Iron Cavalry dares to attack, kill them without exception."
When Ning Hongxi said this, everyone was stunned, thinking they had misheard. The letter used the pronoun "朕" (zhen, meaning "I, the emperor").
Ning Hongxi, fearing that a second attempt would lead to exhaustion, finished reading the following in one go: "I bestow upon you the Dragon Pattern Military Tally for the purpose of mobilizing troops. Except for the necessary personnel, the matter of protecting the Emperor shall not be known to any third party."
After the words were spoken, there was silence, a long silence.
After an unknown amount of time, the emperor finally came to his senses, strode down from the high platform, and snatched the letter from Ning Hongxi's hand: "What rubbish are you reading!"
"Yeah, what nonsense are you reading?" Yun Xun and Fan Tieshan thought at the same time. "Isn't this a letter from the emperor secretly ordering Qin Tianrui to mobilize troops?"
That's not what they want!
What they want is evidence of Yun Zhuo's rebellion!
This should contain information about Yun Zhuo and Qin Tianrui's secret communications and plot to rebel, as well as Yun Zhuo's clandestine collusion with the Heavenly Eagle Holy Kingdom!
When the emperor tried to take the letter away, Ning Hongxi immediately bowed and presented it with both hands.
After glancing at it, the emperor's pupils contracted sharply, and he even roared, "Prime Minister, how dare you switch the contents of the letter! When did I ever send such a secret letter to Yanming Pass! Guards, search the Prime Minister!"
Fan Tieshan was immediately filled with righteous indignation. The Prime Minister was really too bold. In order to save his own nephew, he actually dared to switch the contents of the letter in front of the emperor!
However, the palace servants did not find anything else on Ning Hongxi. They searched him thoroughly, including his undergarments and shoes, but found nothing!
However, Prince Yu, taking advantage of everyone's stunned moment, broke free from the guards' grasp, ran to the emperor, and looked at the letter.
He shouted, "Brother, this secret letter bears your personal seal. If a secret letter can be forged, can a personal seal also be forged?"
He then emptied the contents of the metal box.
Pick up the dragon-patterned military token from it.
"And this dragon-patterned military talisman is indeed yours, Your Majesty. Such an important thing, besides Your Majesty, who would dare to touch it lightly?"
"Besides, this thing is usually guarded by special people. It takes at least two months to go from here to Yanming Pass and back. If someone really stole the Dragon Pattern Military Talisman, wouldn't the people below have noticed it? And didn't Your Majesty notice anything at all?"
Prince Yu's questions, though seemingly posed by various individuals, were in fact a series of statements—
"Such an important item, guarded by dedicated personnel, would anyone dare touch it if you hadn't handed it over privately? Even if someone did steal it, how could you have gone unnoticed for so long? Does that make sense?"
"This is unreasonable, so it could only be the emperor himself who sent out the dragon-patterned military tally. This secret letter also came from the emperor's hand."
"So, the meaning is quite clear: the one requesting the troop deployment is the emperor himself, not someone else! Not Yun Zhuo, and Yun Zhuo has not rebelled!"
Those who are standing here today are not fools; in fact, most of them are intelligent, so they quickly figured out the key to it.
It was precisely because they had figured it out that they were all dumbfounded.
Who would have thought that the one who actually mobilized the troops was the emperor himself!
Not to mention Fan Tieshan, Cui Shao, and others, even Yun Xun didn't expect this!
Prince Yu spoke up: "Your Majesty, you ordered General Qin to secretly send troops, and Prince Jing, as General Qin's apprentice, was arranged to meet the soldiers to rescue Your Majesty. As a prince, how could he not go for Your Majesty's safety?"
"It's a pity that Prince Jing went there, but he was accused of mobilizing troops without authorization! Now he's even being falsely accused of rebellion! How wronged and aggrieved he is!"
"Even in this situation today, when the iron box was presented to him, he even wanted to take the blame for unauthorized troop deployment to prevent Cui Shao from opening the iron box, all for the sake of Your Majesty's reputation... Your Majesty, are you clear about what you are doing?"
Prince Yu's last question was not loud, but every word seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, carrying a deep sense of incomprehension and heartbreak.
It's as if you're asking: "As emperor, how can you not break the hearts of your subjects? As father, how can you not break the hearts of your children? What are you doing?!"
The emperor's face turned pale and then red.
He held the letter tightly, his knuckles turning white, as if he wished he could crush it into dust with his fingertips.
How could this happen?
The contents of the metal box shouldn't be like this!
He picked up the split iron box from the ground. From its workmanship and materials to its mechanism, it was the same as the previous one. Ordinary people could not easily open the mechanism.
Given that the iron box entered Prince Jing's residence in such a short time, even if someone had noticed its presence, how could they have opened it and replaced its contents in such a short period of time?
Moreover, he had just noticed that the mechanism of this iron box had never been opened!
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