According to the Xuan Kingdom"s laws, anyone who broke into the Imperial Palace to steal would face a capital offence. Once they were imprisoned and all the evidence corroborated, they would be decapitated in less than ten days with no leeway for discussion.
No one believed that a weak woman like Feng Luodi, who had no authority to enter the Imperial Palace at will, could actually barge through the tightly guarded Imperial Palace"s warehouse and take Resonance away.
But it just so happened that there were both the testimony of a witness and material evidence. The witness claimed to have seen Feng Luodi entering the Imperial Palace by using the waist token the Emperor had specially rewarded to Qi Jianqiu. Claiming that she looked extremely nervous all the way to the warehouse. As for the material evidence, the zither that was originally supposed to lie in the warehouse was now in Feng Luodi"s hands. She was even caught red-handed by the Imperial Army Commander Du. It was a death warrant for Feng Luodi.
This was a trap, a trap targeted at Situ.
The First Prince understood that no matter how many people plead for leniency and ferret out the loopholes, the Emperor would be bent on not exonerating Feng Luodi from the capital offence. The Emperor was despicable enough to use a frail woman to deal with Situ. If Situ chose to give Feng Luodi up this time, he would naturally be pardoned for the time being and the Emperor would in turn use another method to deal with him. If Situ had deep feelings for her, there was only one way to rescue Feng Luodi, which was to break into prison and take his beloved woman away.
This was precisely what the Emperor wanted. The First Prince sighed lightly and looked at the people who had flocked together. No matter how hard he tried, he was unable to bring himself to dissuade Situ. Stemming from his selfish motives, he"d initially hoped for Situ to leave Feng Luodi be, but he knew that once he said that out loud, many officials supporting him would immediately change sides.
For instance, the support of the bitter-looking Chamberlain Feng, and the Imperial Treasurer, Gan Qingjia, who had a slight worried and pensive look on his face.
Situ sat at the main seat alone. A storm was brewing in the recesses of his eyes while his expression was filled with unbridled killing intent. The covert guards, who were present at the scene, suddenly recalled the expression Situ had on his face when he left the residence earlier, and they involuntarily s.h.i.+vered. They hadn"t seen such a callous and bloodthirsty look on their general"s face for many years already. Regardless of what decision their general would make this time, they would pledge their lives and follow him.
As soon as Situ thought about how Feng Luodi was placed in that dark, damp court prison which was filled with savage convicts culpable of the most heinous crimes, he was unable to sit still. He was fretting about whether his beloved woman had suffered from torture, whether she was afraid and whether she was terrified. d.a.m.n it! How he wished that he was beside her now.
The chair"s armrest had long been crushed into pieces by Situ. Just as Situ was about to stand up and walk outside aggressively, Chamberlain Feng suddenly spoke, "Your Grace, please do not act recklessly. It seems that there isn"t any way to turn this situation around this time but still, let me give it a try."
Chamberlain Feng was after all Situ"s future father-in-law and the woman incarcerated in the court prison was also his daughter. Even if he was grieved in his heart, he still had to appear calm, like he was taking the big picture into consideration, on the surface. Thus, he was hoping that Situ would do the same.
"I will immediately set off to Yu Zhang and travel using the fastest horse. The journey there and back will only need five days. Your Grace, please wait some more and don"t go to the court prison during this period."
When he was done speaking, Chamberlain Feng flung his sleeves and left without waiting for Situ to respond. He had to go home, and hide this incident from everyone in the residence. Afterwards, he must go and look for the Commandery Prince of Yu Zhang for his daughter"s sake.
Everyone present could hear the connotation in Chamberlain Feng"s words.
Situ also stopped moving, emotions tossing about in his eyes.
The hall sank into an awkward silence again.
After a long time, Gan Qingjia also stood up and told Situ in a low voice, "We still won"t know what the results are within ten days. I"ll go back to discuss this with my father and the Minister of the Right. You should continue executing your plan. All of us want to save her. You can"t throw yourself into disarray before that."
Then, Gan Qingjia bowed to the First Prince, turned around and left as well.
What he wanted to do wasn"t just discussing a countermeasure with the two ministers. His main purpose was to protect Qi Jianqiu. The so-called material evidence also included Qi Jianqiu"s waist token. He definitely wouldn"t let Jianqiu be implicated in this. He still had to follow up the clue and seize the culprit. His investigation started from the waist token, tracing it back to Concubine Yao and ultimately leading to the Emperor. That supreme person. He even schemed against his own concubine and his own child. In that case, who would be next? Would it be eminent and powerful Qi Family and Gan Family?
Sigh, "accompanying one"s sovereign is like accompanying a tiger", this saying can"t be any truer.
The hall was silent again.
After a while, the First Prince stood up to take his leave.
"Your Highness."
Situ suddenly called out after keeping silent all this while. The First Prince stopped in his tracks, but he didn"t turn his head back.
"May I request for Your Highness to make adequate preparations."
The First Prince suddenly smiled but his expression was profound. Immediately after that, he flung his sleeves and left.
At the morning court a.s.sembly the next day, a deathly silence hung over the court.
For a moment, no one dared to proffer a suggestion and the Emperor also didn"t speak.
The silence brought about panic and anxiety in everyone"s heart. But, they kept their emotions warped beneath their placid countenances.
The Eighth Prince was the first to step forward to speak. Ever since he"d caused the Emperor to lose the opportunity to get rid of Situ the last time, he hadn"t dared to face the Emperor as he was afraid that his painstaking efforts for many years would be destroyed in one go. This time, however, he was certain of the Emperor"s thoughts. That was why he was so confident to step out again.
"Imperial Father, I heard that Chamberlain Feng"s daughter actually committed the capital offence of trespa.s.sing the Imperial Palace to steal a treasure. Even though I find this hard to believe, I still think that she shouldn"t be pardoned so easily."
As soon as the Eighth Prince spoke, the chilly atmosphere in the hall turned a few degrees colder.
Situ gazed ahead but his killing intent had already s.h.i.+fted towards the Eighth Prince, except that the latter wasn"t aware of this yet.
The totally unaware Eighth Prince continued, "Duke of Anping is the fiancé of a sinner and the two of them already have an engagement. I don"t believe that Duke of Anping wasn"t aware of the criminal"s scheme. She"s simply a frail woman. How could she have stolen the Imperial Palace"s treasure successfully without Duke of Anping"s help? Hence, I feel that this matter requires a detailed investigation. Duke of Anping should also be culpable of the same crime."
The Eighth Prince"s thought that the Emperor wanted to make use of the opportunity to convict Situ of the same crime. He didn"t expect that the Emperor"s main aim was to compel Situ to send troops and revolt.
That was right. Before this, no one had expected that the Emperor would actually use his country as a stake. If he were to win, he would eliminate Situ and he would reasonably reclaim the military power without being castigated by the people in the world. If he were to lose, he would be reduced to a prisoner from now on.
No one amongst the Imperial Princes was as daring as the Emperor.
After the Eighth Prince finished speaking, no one spoke. None of the officials supported him nor did they object.
This was the Eighth Prince"s first time facing such a situation. In the past, no matter whether he was making use of his biological brother, the Seventh Prince, or secretly standing behind the deposed Heir, he was in his element.
The one who finally answered him was the Emperor. But every word the Emperor said pushed him further into the depths of h.e.l.l, he couldn"t struggle nor breathe. He felt like a drowning person, like a duckweed with no power to struggle.
"Son, your words are unfounded. It"s better that you don"t say such things anymore in the future."
The Emperor"s expression was unusually tranquil and his tone unusually gentle. When everyone was still in shock, he continued, "Since everyone is present today, I have something to announce."
He paused for a while before announcing, "When the First Prince was supervising the nation, he was deferent and virtuous, benevolent to the people and righteous to the officials. He is much to my liking. I have decided to confer the First Prince as the Heir. He will continue supervising the nation and the invest.i.ture will be held ten days later."
This news shocked the officials to the core.
Including the First Prince himself. Although he forced himself to remain calm on the outside, he was unable to conceal the surprise and hesitation in his eyes.
He initially thought that his Imperial Father didn"t like him and looked down on him because he represented his Imperial Father"s cowardness and powerlessness. Even though the late Empress Zhao Ren had showered him with love and he had the Villa of Mount Baicha backing him up, he was still unable to make his Imperial Father like him and act more lenient towards him.
With his good friend Situ as the turning point, he"d obtained the support of Gan Qingjia, Xue Yiqi, the Minister of the Right as well as a group of minor officials along the way. In the end, Chamberlain Feng and the Minister of the Left had also swung to his side. No matter whether it was the support of Concubine Hui, the Minister of the Imperial Clan or other people, he had fought for all of these step by step through arduous efforts.
The largest bargaining chip in his hands that could deter his Imperial Father was Situ"s military power. If he were to issue a command, forcing the Emperor to abdicate and seizing the supreme position by force would be a piece of cake. He could use his future glorious achievements to negate whatever infamy he had. After all, history was written by victors.
However, he wouldn"t choose this path. He couldn"t bear to let his Imperial Father suffer a tragic ending and he couldn"t bear to see his good friend burdened with the criminal charge of plotting a rebellion.
To think that, right at this moment, his Imperial Father actually conferred him as the Heir. What was the meaning of this? Was he telling him that everything in the past was just a test? Or was he threatening Situ, the Minister of the Left, the Minister of the Right and the rest? Implying that if they were to plead for Feng Luodi and if they were to cook up a scheme, he would remove him from the position of the Heir?
Imperial Father, what are you thinking exactly? And what choice am I supposed to make?
"Cough, cough."
The Minister of the Right, who was standing at the front of the right aisle, lightly coughed a few times.
Only then was the First Prince brought back to his senses. He hastily knelt on the ground to thank the Emperor for his grace, while peering at the expressionless Situ Muye, his good friend and his future subject, from the corner of his eye.
After the court a.s.sembly was dismissed, the First Prince was about to walk up to Situ, Gan Qingjia and the rest when Palace Attendant Yu called out to him and invited him to the Imperial Study.
In the Imperial Study, the Emperor was sitting on the imperial chair with a tired look on his face, ma.s.saging the s.p.a.ce between his eyebrows. He no longer bore the heroic bearing of the previous years. Palace Attendant Yu was feeling apprehensive at one side and didn"t dare to step forward.
He was his Imperial Father, they have a father and son as well as a ruler and subject connection.
At this moment, the First Prince"s heart welled up with mixed feelings, and he felt something stuck in his throat, unable to speak for a moment.
"Imperial Father."
In the end, he only managed to utter these two words in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"Come closer, let me take a good look at you."
The First Prince walked a few steps forward with his head lowered slightly.
the Emperor chuckled. "Why? Were you startled by this decision of mine?"
The First Prince raised his head and then cautiously answered, "Indeed. Imperial Father"s decision has made me very puzzled. There are many misgivings that make me uneasy."
Hearing this, the Emperor revealed a meaningful smile.
"The position of the Heir has always been yours. The next emperor of the Xuan Kingdom has always been yours to take. Otherwise, I wouldn"t have indulged the deposed Heir, indulged the Eighth Prince and purposely pretend that I doted on the Eleventh Prince the most."
The First Prince was shocked to the core upon hearing this. Was his Imperial Father telling the truth? Did he truly do all that for his sake?
The Emperor"s next words shocked the First Prince even more.
"I"m aware that Duke of Anping has been a.s.sisting you and that the Minister of the Right has also been supporting you in secret. The Villa of Mount Baicha or whatsoever, I understand that this was just a cover for you to return to Chang"an. I intentionally promoted the Gan Family"s child and the Xue Family"s child to become your pillars of support. Otherwise, did you really think that I will increase that person"s influence and power when I fear him that much?"
"That"s because I know that if Duke of Anping supports you, those people will also help you. However, Ran"er, you have to understand that Duke of Anping"s usefulness ends here. Your power in court is already very firm. Now that you have my support and you"re also the Heir, no one will be able to stop you. Duke of Anping needs to be eliminated now."
"To me, he is only a meritorious subject who has rendered outstanding service. To you, he is the core of founding a country. If you don"t get rid of him now, when you ascend the throne, there will no longer be anyone who can control him. Ran"er, everything I have done is for your own good, do you understand?"