mtlumby2d Chapter 451: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 55
Chapter 451: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 55
The emperor, who knew everything, was furious in the Qianqing Palace. He wanted to rush to the Cining Palace to ask the empress dowager why she treated him like this. Wasn't he the empress dowager's biological child?
But the emperor was still the emperor after all, and after being weak for a while, he suppressed his inner resentment and began to deal with the matter.
"The musk incident could never have been done by the Queen."
The emperor hated the queen for doing this, but he also knew clearly that once what the queen had done was known to outsiders, he, the emperor, would also be condemned by all the civil and military officials in the court.
"Su Peisheng, go and pass on the imperial decree. Xia Wei, the Baoyi Zuoling, colluded with Jiang Zhongmin, the deputy chief steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and intended to control the heir to the throne. Xia Wei is sentenced to death, the Xia family's property is confiscated, Xia Changzai is banished to the cold palace, and Jiang Zhongmin is sentenced to death."
"The remaining palace maids and eunuchs involved in the Musk incident will be sent to the Ministry of Punishment!"
The Xia family's attitude of relying on the queen was too obvious, and the emperor had long been dissatisfied. Now the musk incident involved a lot of bondservants, and the emperor was too lazy to distinguish how many of them were bondservants of the Ulanara and Uya clans, so he pushed forward Xia Weixian to shut everyone up.
In the Yanxi Palace, Xia Dongchun was still angry that she had been tricked and had used a lot of items soaked in musk. She was planning to find time to talk to the Empress Dowager about it.
Then the maid ran in in panic with tears on her face: "My lady, the emperor has ordered the death of the master! He also wants to banish you to the cold palace!"
"What? Impossible!"
Xia Dongchun couldn't believe it. "You are talking nonsense! How could Ama be sentenced to death by the emperor for being loyal to the emperor and patriotic? You must be talking nonsense!"
"The emperor has ordered that the master has colluded with Jiang Zhongmin, the deputy chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to control the heir to the throne, saying that he only wants the young lady to give birth to a prince..."
"Impossible, ahhhhhhh, impossible, Ama is innocent, this must not have been done by Ama!"
Xia Dongchun and her personal maid who were pushed out by the emperor to take the blame naturally knew best that Xia Wei definitely did not do this, but the emperor's words were the imperial decree, and if the emperor wanted his subjects to die, they had to die.
Even if everyone knew that the Xia family was wronged, no one would be foolish enough to help Xia Dongchun seek justice, not even the Xia family who recognized the Queen as their master would do so.
The queen breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the news. Since the emperor had already given the result, she thought that she had passed the test again this time.
Before the Queen could be happy for long, the Queen Mother keenly discovered the problem.
"Alas, the Emperor must have known that this was done by the Empress."
Zhu Xi, who was standing by, didn't understand why the Queen Mother was worried, but she still spoke to comfort her: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Your arrangement is effective. The Queen Mother will not be exposed."
"No, Zhuxi, you are wrong."
"If my arrangement was really effective, we wouldn't have found out about the Xia family by now."
There is indeed some connection between the Queen and Xia Wei, and the Xia family is not completely innocent in the musk incident. It's just that Xia Wei doesn't know about it. The Queen even used his Xia family's connections to harm Xia Dongchun.
According to the empress dowager's original arrangement, the emperor should have investigated the concubines during the previous emperor's time. It was completely normal for their sons to use their connections in the palace to kill the emperor's offspring, as they were unwilling to accept their failure in the fight for the throne. The emperor would probably not have any suspicions after finding out.
However, she didn't expect that the emperor only investigated for a few days and stopped after finding Xia Wei. The subsequent arrangements made by the empress dowager were not used at all. How could the empress dowager not suspect that the emperor already knew who the "real murderer" was? Now, the only one who could make the emperor unwilling to continue the investigation was the empress.
"Alas, I am old now, and I don't know how long I can protect the queen. I just hope that after this, the queen will not do evil again."
If there is a next time, I think even if Chun Yuan were alive, she would not be able to protect the queen.
The Queen Mother is still worried about the Queen, but she doesn't know that the Emperor has already decided to abandon the mother-son relationship and completely regards the Queen Mother as a political enemy who is competing with him for the throne.
Soon after, news came from the imperial mausoleum that the fourteenth prince had caught a cold, had a high fever, and was unconscious. When the empress dowager learned of this, she ignored her health and went to the Qianqing Palace to ask the emperor to let the fourteenth prince return to Beijing.
"Emperor, Yinzhen is seriously ill. How can he be cured in the imperial mausoleum where there is a lack of food and clothing? Empress Dowager, please let your brother come back!"
"Fourteenth brother is unconscious now, how can he move around freely? I will arrange for several imperial doctors to go to the imperial mausoleum to treat Fourteenth brother. Empress Dowager, don't worry. Fourteenth brother has always been strong and healthy, and he will definitely recover from this minor cold."
No matter how the Empress Dowager begged, the Emperor refused to let the Fourteenth Prince return to Beijing. The Empress Dowager could only leave with disappointment. However, the Empress Dowager was old and frail, and was worried about the Fourteenth Prince's serious illness. She fell ill after returning to the Cining Palace.
The emperor was very filial. Ever since the empress dowager fell ill, he would go to the Cining Palace to take care of her and feed her medicine personally whenever he was out of court.
"The Empress Dowager takes medicine."
The emperor held the medicine bowl, picked up the soup spoon and scooped a spoonful to feed the empress dowager. The empress dowager had been ill for two days and was weak all over. She turned her head away and refused to drink the medicine, "I don't want to drink it."
"My Queen Mother, for the sake of your health, you should take the medicine."
The emperor maintained the posture of feeding medicine and looked at the queen mother forcefully. The queen mother reached out and grabbed the emperor's wrist, looking at him beggingly: "If the emperor really wants to take care of my health, why not ask your brother to come back."
"I promise that I will control your fourteenth brother and will not let him go against you."
When the emperor heard the empress dowager threaten him with her body to release his fourteenth brother, his expression turned cold and all his previous worries disappeared. He threw the soup spoon back into the bowl with force and put it aside heavily.
"Since the Empress Dowager doesn't want to take the medicine, then don't take it."
"I still have some memorials to read."
The emperor left angrily, and the queen mother turned pale and cried bitterly: "This is all injustice! If I had known this would happen, I would rather have never given birth to an emperor!"
"Your Majesty!" Zhu Xi was startled by the Queen Mother's words and quickly spoke out to stop her. Unfortunately, it was too late for Zhu Xi, and the Queen Mother's words of resentment still reached the ears of the Emperor.
"Haha, yes, the Empress Dowager only has Fourteenth Brother as her son. I have known this for a long time."
After this incident, the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager reached a freezing point. Not long after, news came from the imperial mausoleum that the imperial doctors sent by the Emperor were too late. When they arrived, the Fourteenth Prince was already dead.
The Queen Mother had lost her son before her, and her condition had already deteriorated to begin with. Now her condition had become even worse. The Queen Mother was seriously ill, and the Queen began to organize the concubines in the harem to take care of her. However, Nian Shilan refused to go and directly reported herself as sick.
When the emperor learned about it, he just sighed silently and said, "Since Shilan doesn't want to, let her go!"
The emperor knew very well that Nian Shilan still hated the queen dowager because of the aborted child. Normally, he and the queen dowager kept their distance from each other for his own sake. But at this time, Shilan still refused to give in, and the emperor felt very uncomfortable.
However, whenever he thought about how the Queen Mother not only never treated him as her own child, but also secretly cooperated with the Queen in killing the royal heir with the intention of "the younger brother will inherit the throne after the elder brother's death", he felt that Nian Shilan was right.