The fake daughter of a fallen ghost is reborn

Chapter 314 The Imperial Decree to Execute Huo Wuyou

Everything that followed went according to the pre-planned plan. Shen Qingwei declared Prince Gong guilty of treason and executed him on the spot, taking his body away. Sui Yunlang kept the emperor alive while he still had a breath.

After Shen Qingwei arranged Gu Shichong's body, the people who had just been sent out to look for Jiang Xu came back, only to find that they had brought back not only Jiang Xu, but also Shen Qingtang.

"Sister, why are you here?" He looked at the two people who were soaked like drowned rats, and his face was puzzled: "How did you two get into this state?"

Shen Qingtang sighed exhaustedly: "It's a long story, but what happened in the palace?"

"This..." Shen Qingwei didn't know how to explain it now, so she just said, "It's a long story. Anyway, Brother Jiang, please follow me first."

……

Jiang Xu knew what had happened. According to the plan, he should have appeared in time as one of the witnesses of Prince Gong's palace coup, but he did not expect that the emperor had already wanted to kill him.

Outside the Changsheng Palace, the guards of the Palace Front Department were guarding the gate. The queen hurried over and wanted to go in, but was stopped by the guards. When she saw Jiang Xu, her dignity was mixed with a bit of panic that was difficult to conceal: "Shen Qingwei, I want to see His Majesty. Why do you let the Palace Front Department stop me here?"

Shen Qingwei wanted to say something, but was stopped by Jiang Xu. He stood up and bowed: "Reporting to the Queen, Prince Gong tried to harm Your Majesty, but he has been executed. Your Majesty is frightened, and the Sui imperial physician is treating him. Your Majesty does not want to see anyone at the moment."

The Queen naturally didn't believe it. His Majesty was planning to deal with Prince Gong, and to prevent Shen Qingwei from causing any trouble, he asked her to bring Shen Qingtang into the palace and detain her. Now that Prince Gong is dead, His Majesty must be fine, so why did he turn her away?

She asked, "Why were you allowed in?"

Jiang Xu replied: "Your Majesty must have something important to tell you. Since His Majesty does not allow anyone to disturb you, Your Majesty should ask to see you another day."

"I am the queen!" She finally couldn't hide her anger.

"Your Majesty, the harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs." Jiang Xu said without question.

The Queen was stunned. She glanced in the direction of the Hall of Eternal Life, then looked directly at Jiang Xu and said, "How can I be sure that you are not trying to deceive the superiors and subordinates and control the government? Unless His Majesty speaks in person, I will not listen to you!"

"If this is true, Your Majesty will have me executed, and my fate will be the same as Prince Gong's."

"I have said that I want to see the emperor!"

But Jiang Xu just asked her expressionlessly: "Are you going to force your way into the Changsheng Palace?"

Suddenly, the Queen realized that she had been Queen for many years, but her legitimate son died early, and her family had no power. She had been living in seclusion for so many years and had nothing in her hands. She had no power to compete with His Majesty at all. If His Majesty did not need her this time, he would probably not have thought of her at all.

Thinking of this, her momentum weakened.

If this was really the emperor's order, then she would have no reason to break into the palace. If His Majesty was really completely controlled, she would not have the strength to confront him head-on, nor would there be any need for her to risk her life for such a man.

She just uneasily withdrew her angry gaze, turned around and walked away.

Jiang Xu's palms were covered with sweat... If he hadn't been forced to this point, he really didn't know how he dared to confront the Queen.

……

After entering the Changsheng Palace, Jiang Xu did not expect Xue Zhiyi to be here. At this moment, she was sitting quietly, while Sui Yunlang was giving acupuncture treatment to the emperor beside the bed.

"Awan?" Jiang Xu looked worried. "How can you set foot in such a bloody place when you are pregnant?"

Xue Zhiyi just stood up slowly: "I'm fine, don't worry, brother."

Suddenly, Jiang Xu saw Xue Zhiyi's hands with dried blood. Just as he was about to ask, Xue Zhiyi smiled in relief on his tired face: "It's not my blood, it's Gu Shichong's."

"You..." Even though he already knew her true face, Jiang Xu was shocked and couldn't help but blame her: "You are not afraid of taboos."

Xue Zhiyi smiled and shook his head: "The child will forgive me, after all, it is for the lives of his parents."

As she spoke, she walked to the emperor's desk and spread out a blank imperial edict: "The most urgent task now is to trouble you, brother, to write an imperial edict on behalf of His Majesty as usual, so that food and fodder can be sent to the front as soon as possible to ensure military supplies."

The war situation does not wait for a moment, which is why they would take risky moves and do things that could cost their own lives.

Jiang Xu also understood that this was a forged imperial edict, a heinous crime that could not be pardoned, but he still wrote it down as he was told.

It was not only for his own life, the life of Awan and his wife, and the safety of General Shen, but also to ensure that Jiangzhou would not be lost and the people would not be affected by the war. Otherwise, once Jiangzhou fell, including Cishui, the entire Jiangzhou would be flooded with blood.

The books of sages he read taught him the way of rulership and the relationship between subjects, and required him to be loyal to the ruler and patriotic, but he also acknowledged that the people were more important than the ruler. Even if he would be cursed for eternity, he would not sit idly by and watch a tyrant wreak havoc on the people.

He had been assisted the emperor in handling government affairs for many days, and the imperial edict written in his handwriting would not arouse suspicion, at least in the short term.

As Jiang Xu picked up his pen and wrote, Xue Zhiyi inadvertently glanced at an imperial edict that had not yet been stamped.

She picked it up with her bloody hands, only to see... it was written on it: Lin'an Hou Huo Wuyou disobeyed the imperial order and violated military orders, and was sentenced to death.

She sneered and tightened her grip on the imperial edict.

Fortunately, if he had hesitated a little longer, his decree of death would have been issued.

At this moment, Sui Yunlang said, "Your Majesty's life has been saved. What should we do next?"

Xue Zhiyi understood the meaning of his words. Sui Yunlang was asking to what extent the emperor should be treated.

Xue Zhiyi rolled up the imperial edict in her hand and placed it over the candlelight, letting the flames devour it. Her expression unconsciously became cold.

"If you keep him alive, his eyes can see and his ears can hear, but his mouth cannot speak, and it is even more difficult for him to control his body. He is like a dead tree, and life is worse than death."

It was not until the fire fell to the ground and turned into ashes that Xue Zhiyi smiled and asked, "Can you do it?"

Sui Yunlang was stunned for a while before nodding: "Okay, okay..."

……

On that day, the news that "Prince Gong forced the emperor to abdicate and was executed on the spot, and Your Majesty was frightened and seriously ill" spread throughout the court.

Xue Zhiyi returned to Jianzhang Palace and took the initiative to plead guilty to the empress dowager.

She knew what she had done, and even if she had ten thousand legitimate reasons, it could not change the fact that the one who died was the empress dowager's grandson, and the one who was disabled was the empress dowager's own son.

What's more, the Queen Mother is still the Queen Mother of Dayong, and she disrupted the political order of Dayong and went against the Gu family. If the Queen Mother wanted to blame her, she would have nothing to say, but she would never regret what she did today, and would not stop her next actions because of anyone.

After the Queen Mother knew this, she was silent for a long time, and her cloudy and old eyes seemed to have seen through a lot.

"Do you know? The blood of the emperors of Yong Dynasty seeps through the cracks in the bricks of this palace." Her eyes looked out the window, where a corner of the sky after the rain was confined by the red walls and green tiles. "Son kills father, brother kills brother. This has happened over and over again. It has happened too many times. The same thing finally fell on my own son."

She withdrew her gaze and fell on Xue Zhiyi who was kneeling in front of her: "You want me to forgive you?"

Xue Zhiyi's heart skipped a beat and he lowered his eyes without saying a word.

"However, how can we forgive the frontline soldiers who were put in danger because of his groundless suspicion? Wuyou fought desperately, but the imperial decree for his death was placed on the imperial desk. How can we forgive him? How can we forgive my daughter who was forced to death by him?"

A tear suddenly fell from the Queen Mother's eyes. She stretched out her hand to Xue Zhiyi. Xue Zhiyi was surprised, placed his hands in her palms, and crawled forward on his knees.

"I originally thought that you two could live a good life, but now that something like this has happened, you have already put yourselves in the vortex of power. If you are not careful, you will be wiped out. You will no longer have anything to do with the peaceful life of ordinary people in this life..."

She choked up in her throat and said, "You must do a million times better than the emperor, otherwise, your end will be even more tragic than his."

She wiped away the tears from Xue Zhiyi's eyes with her hands: "Grandma is a person who is about to be buried. She is already tired, but grandma doesn't want to see you buried here too. Do you understand?"