Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 30 The emperor is seriously ill, is the evil concubine the culprit?
In order to reassure her son, or perhaps out of guilt, Empress Dowager Li issued a stern decree before everyone left.

No one was allowed to tell anyone that the emperor had suffered a stroke.

Since there had already been an imperial decree to appoint a crown prince, this time it could be considered that the emperor had personally summoned all the ministers to make the decision in person.

Everyone knew what kind of turmoil an emperor who had suffered a stroke would cause in the court.

The news will eventually leak out, but at least it can be delayed as long as possible so that people won't panic immediately.

Zhu Yijun did not object to letting the Queen take care of him personally and accepted it silently.

After the emperor was carried to Kunning Palace, Empress Dowager Li called Zhu Changluo to the Buddhist temple and talked to him for a while.

Later, Chen Ju was called over.

The imperial edict he received was: Since the crown prince was to be formally appointed and Zhu Changluo had already moved to the palace, all necessary preparations had to be prepared there, and some things that were commonly used in Jingyang Palace had to be moved out.

In addition, since Concubine Wang Gong's son will be the crown prince, things naturally cannot be the same as before.

So Zhu Changluo went to Jingyang Palace first.

He has been under house arrest in Ciqing Palace these days, and Concubine Wang Gong is of course very worried.

Wang An was also left here.

Outside Jingyang Palace, Zhu Changluo knocked on the door personally.

"Who?" Wei Gang's voice rang out.

The one who answered him was Chen Ju: "Your Highness has arrived, please open the door quickly."

There were hurried footsteps and the door opened.

Wei Gang looked at Zhu Changluo with doubt as he walked proudly into the palace. Behind him followed Chen Ju and a large group of unfamiliar eunuchs and palace maids.

"Excuse me, Eunuch Chen. Wang An knows what I need. I will go and pay my respects to my mother first."

"My slave takes orders."

Chen Ju watched his back as he walked towards the main hall, and also saw Wang An rushing out from inside.

Then, he said to Wei Gang, "According to the order of the Empress Dowager, you should pack up first and leave Jingyang Palace to wait for instructions. The Holy Mother Empress Dowager has already selected someone for Jingyang Palace."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "You should go to the Empress Gong first to pay your respects and listen to her instructions."

"Yes……"

Wei Gang asked in confusion: "Eunuch Chen, this is..."

Chen Ju just glanced at him and said, "Just obey your orders."

At this time, Wang An came over from the main hall, overjoyed, and couldn't help shouting in front of him: "Godfather..."

Chen Ju frowned and said, "Do your job well! Point out what His Highness wants to move to Ciqing Palace."

"Yes." Wang An lowered his head obediently, "It's mainly in the back hall..."

Seeing Wang An taking Chen Ju over and thinking about Chen Ju's words, Wei Gang suddenly felt a chill all over his body.

In the hot summer, he was sweating profusely and his face was pale.

A few days ago, there were rumors that the eldest prince was imprisoned in Ciqing Palace, and he had done that thing while the eldest prince was away in Jingyang Palace.

And now that Chen Ju was here, the first thing he said was to ask them to pack up and leave Jingyang Palace.

The grandeur of the eldest prince as he entered… Wang An’s delight… the eunuchs and maids chosen by the Empress Dowager…

Wei Gang's body felt like a sieve and his legs were getting weaker and weaker.

A eunuch led some people over and said, "Master Wei? I have been appointed as the new master of Jingyang Palace by the imperial decree. I still need to hand over some matters..."

Wei Gang saw that after the new eunuchs and palace maids respectfully retreated from the main hall, they had already started looking for tools and were ready to do a thorough cleaning.

"Master Wei? Why is your face so pale?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Gang's eyes rolled back and he fainted.

When he woke up, he saw Chen Ju standing in front of him, looking at him solemnly.

Wei Gang came to his senses, and immediately crawled over with tears streaming down his face, kowtowing repeatedly: "Grandpa, save me! Grandpa, save me! I had no choice, I confess! I confess everything!"

Chen Ju's eyes showed doubt, and then became extremely solemn.

He just didn't understand why this guy suddenly fainted.

Now it seems that...

Zheng Mengjing doesn't know about this incident yet.

She will soon learn that the dispute over the national foundation has been settled. But she doesn't know the reason yet, and may only think it is the Queen Mother's fault.

The previous tense house arrest decree was lifted, and Zheng Mengjing went to ask for an audience with the emperor, but was also rejected.

She didn't know that the cabinet was already going through the process of drafting an edict, but when she returned to Yiku Palace, she saw the palace official coming towards her in a panic.

"My queen, this is bad!" he said in fear, "Jingyang Palace... Wei Gang and the others have all been replaced... Wei Gang has also been taken away by Eunuch Chen."

Zheng Mengjing's face turned pale. Wei Gang...

……

"How dare this witch do this?!"

Inside the Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Li was looking at the things in front of her and Wei Gang, who was kneeling beside her, was extremely furious.

"Please spare me, Queen Mother. I had no choice but to do this..."

Chen Ju didn't say anything in the back.

Zhu Changluo also remained silent.

He was planning on this matter, but he didn't expect Zheng Mengjing to play this trick.

Considering what his father said about "where is the evil spirit", and given his relationship with Zheng Mengjing, Zhu Changluo had reason to believe that Zheng Mengjing was sure of what he did.

At least she thought the emperor would not resist such an argument, and they had even communicated about it.

Otherwise, how could she be so stupid as to use such a method to incriminate the eldest son?

If I didn't have a warning image of the day after tomorrow, when Zheng Mengjing's arrangement exploded, my father didn't like me anyway...

Zhu Changluo clenched his fists.

Empress Dowager Li was so furious that it took her a long time to calm down.

Then he said to Chen Ju: "You did a good job. Did you interrogate him alone?"

Chen Ju said respectfully, "Yes, I knew it was not good as soon as I heard it. The old and new servants in Jingyang Palace only know that Wei Gang might have done something wrong, but we don't know why. I led him to find these evil things myself. The matter was of great importance, so Wei Gang didn't dare to let more people know. Or maybe he knew that Your Highness had been living in Ciqing Palace before, and he wanted to take credit, so he took the opportunity to put the things into Your Highness's bedroom."

Living in seclusion in Ciqing Palace was a respectable statement, but to people other than Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Yijun, wasn't it just confinement?

Empress Dowager Li looked at Wei Gang with a grim face.

In front of him were those witchcraft objects, and before him was Wei Gang's confession written in black and white.

"...Empress Dowager, please spare my life..." When Wei Gang heard Empress Dowager Li say that Chen Ju did a good job, he already felt that something was wrong.

At this moment, Empress Dowager Li no longer looked at him and said coldly, "Take him away first, and don't make any noise."

"This slave takes the order."

Chen Ju was not surprised by this result.

Who would have thought that just going to handle a handover and relocation task would lead to encountering such a major case?
Dealing with this daring eunuch is just a small matter. The key is that the emperor has not recovered yet. We can't make a big move now, lest the emperor be shocked and angry again.

Since the matter involves the Imperial Noble Consort, how can we deal with it without going through the Emperor?
Only the grandfather and grandson were left in the Cining Palace. Empress Dowager Li took him to the Buddhist temple silently, knelt in front of the Bodhisattva and shed tears: "I have committed serious sins. If the Buddha wants to blame someone, just blame me..."

She kept the secret from the emperor for such a long time out of love for her son, but she did not expect that he would find it hard to accept the secret and actually had a stroke.

And there was a witch concubine in the palace who was causing the trouble. Although the witches wanted to put the blame on the eldest grandson, how could they know that the emperor's sudden illness was not caused by them?

Wei Gang was able to be so bold because he had imprisoned his eldest grandson in Ciqing Palace just to be on the safe side.

The evil concubine and that damn servant did not know the truth and thought that it was Changsun who had wronged them, so they took such a desperate risk?

Empress Dowager Li cannot deal with this matter in a high-profile manner now, lest the Emperor's condition worsen after hearing about it.

"Grandmother...if it was really the Imperial Concubine who ordered it, she would naturally know that Wei Gang was punished. I wonder what she would do..."

Zhu Changluo was telling the truth, but Empress Dowager Li could only close her eyes in pain.

"To deprive him of his imperial title and punish him, only your father can issue an order. But now..."

"Although she didn't know that the emperor had a sudden stroke, she would definitely ask to see the emperor when the Weigang incident happened. The emperor is very close to her, and if he doesn't see her for a day, he might remember to summon her... This matter can't be hidden." Zhu Changluo hesitated, "Besides, if the emperor finds out in the future... I wonder if he will think that the grandmother and grandson are harming her to eliminate future troubles."

Empress Dowager Li turned and looked at him.

Zhu Changluo said calmly, "It's a small matter that my grandson was almost framed. Now my father is suffering from a stroke. How can we know that he was not harmed by that evil creature? Grandmother, my father and her have a deep affection for each other. If we want father and son to work together to turn the tide in the future, my grandson must not have any unclear grudges in my father's heart!"

Empress Dowager Li also knew the seriousness of the situation and slowly stood up.

"Okay! Grandma asked Chen Ju to check!"

(End of this chapter)