kingnovel Chapter 301: Lan Lao's Advice
Chapter 301: Lan Lao's Advice
The emperor frowned and paced back and forth, his expression gloomy: "Overnight, the identity of Concubine Ming as a spy was suddenly exposed. The King of Qi planted spies in the palace. If these were only matters of the inner palace, it would be fine."
"Someone suddenly showed up in the court with solid evidence, proving that the former crown prince was framed by the King of Qi. Such solid evidence was not brought out earlier, but appeared at this moment. This is clearly an attempt to disrupt the court!"
"Who is it? Who is it? Who is stirring up trouble right under my nose?"
Thinking of this, the emperor stopped pacing and ordered with a sharp look: "Announce, Prime Minister Li Zhu. Minister of Justice Xing Zhang..."
But before the emperor could finish his words, a young eunuch came hurriedly, looking flustered, knelt down and saluted, saying: "Your Majesty, Prince Li and former Prime Minister Lan have entered the palace."
"Send a sedan chair to pick him up immediately..."
However, today was destined to be an uneasy day. As soon as the emperor finished speaking, reports came in from several places, rushing over eight hundred miles away.
The emperor read one of the letters, which was a secret letter from the General of Zhenxi. The letter said that the Tatar spies, with the help of the old men of the previous dynasty, had infiltrated the army, causing chaos in the command of the army and problems in the supply of food and grass!
Attached to it was a letter of apology from the General Zhenxi.
When he opened another one, he found that it was actually the one of Wei Zheng, the border envoy who died half a year ago. It contained irrefutable evidence that the officials of Anxi were corrupt and levied heavy taxes, causing the people to suffer, and that the King of Qi was the mastermind behind all this.
Combined with all the things that the Purple-Robed Envoy had found out with the help of Chu Ci, the emperor felt cold all over.
The dense evidence of crimes was laid out before his eyes, and each one was shocking, like a sharp knife piercing the emperor's heart. "Prince Qi, Prince Qi! What on earth does he want to do?"
Because of his anger, the emperor staggered and almost fell.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Rang reached out to help, but was angrily rejected by the emperor.
It was at this time that Prince Li and Lord Lan arrived at the door of the imperial study.
Zhang Rang was delighted when he heard the news from the eunuch at the door. He immediately ran to the emperor and reported, "Your Majesty, Prince Li and Elder Lan have arrived. Should we let them in now?"
The emperor naturally understood Zhang Rang's intention to divert his attention and ease his emotions.
But at this moment, he wanted to know the news brought by his uncle and Lord Lan.
Therefore, after a brief pause, the emperor took a deep breath, tried to calm himself down, and said in a deep voice: "Transmit..."
Zhang Rang was delighted and immediately summoned all his strength to shout at the top of his voice, "Yes, Prince Chuanli and Elder Lan Zhilan are here to see you—"
As Zhang Rang's voice spread, Prince Li and Lan Zhi soon walked into the imperial study.
Prince Li and Lanzhi were about to salute the emperor, but the emperor quickly raised his hand to stop them, saying, "Uncle, Master Lan, there is no need to be so polite. Please stand up quickly."
Prince Li stood up and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, I think you have guessed the purpose of our entry into the palace!"
The emperor's face froze upon hearing this, his eyes filled with deep contemplation. He then waved his hand to dismiss the eunuchs and palace maids, and lowered his voice to ask, "Uncle, do you mean that everything today is because of Feng Yan? So how is Feng Yan now?"
Seeing that the emperor still did not understand the point, Prince Li could not help but look disappointed. He sighed and said, "Emperor, don't you understand yet?"
"The key point now is not Feng Yan himself. It is that the Great Zhou has been riddled with holes by some greedy termites. They are like evil ants lurking in the dark, quietly but constantly eroding the foundation of the Great Zhou."
"If we don't take drastic measures and crack down on it severely, I'm afraid the Great Zhou won't be able to hold out for much longer."
"The country is in danger and the society is in turmoil. Your Majesty, can't you see clearly?"
Being accused so bluntly and mercilessly, even though the emperor usually respected Prince Li, he couldn't help but feel murderous in his heart at this moment.
Just the next second, the emperor saw Prince Li raise the founding emperor Wu's cane without hesitation.
The emperor's heart sank.
The murderous intent instantly dissipated, replaced by deep fear and uneasiness. He could only ask reluctantly: "Uncle, what do you think I should do?"
Upon seeing this, Prince Li was about to tell everyone the whole story, but was stopped by Lord Lan who gently stretched out his hand.
Although Prince Li didn't understand why, he didn't continue his original action because of his trust in Master Lan. Instead, he turned his puzzled eyes to Lan Zhi and asked anxiously, "Master Lan, what are you doing here today?"
Lan Zhi did not answer Prince Li immediately, but turned to face the emperor, with a serious look and tone, and said: "Your Majesty, you should have discovered many inappropriate things about His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi."
"The situation is so chaotic and complicated now. Why don't you take advantage of the situation and push all the blame onto the King of Qi? In this way, although you are guilty of not educating your son properly, you can avoid the embarrassment and difficulty of issuing an edict of self-criticism. This may help temporarily stabilize the government and appease the people."
The emperor heard this and cursed in his heart, "Old fox, when did I say I would issue an edict of guilt?" This Lan Zhi is really calculating.
But he knew the two old men in front of him better, and they would never fight an unprepared battle.
So he suppressed his dissatisfaction and asked tentatively, "But if that happens, Second Brother... I can't bear it after all. Is there any other way to have the best of both worlds?"
As soon as the emperor said such shameless words, Prince Li almost couldn't help cursing on the spot. His face instantly turned red and his fists clenched tightly.
Fortunately, Lan Zhi beside him coughed in time, allowing Prince Li to suppress his temper that was about to explode.
Even so, what Prince Li said was not very pleasant.
"You feel sorry for the second child, why don't you feel sorry for the third child?"
"A diligent prince was punished to stay in the imperial mausoleum for many years just because of your groundless speculation!"
"If you had cared about the father-son relationship at the beginning, you wouldn't have made the Queen suffer for so many years."
"Look at what you have done to the harem. And look at the court, it's a mess, and you still have the mind to protect the second brother!"
Chu Ci had no idea that because of his sound sleep, he was severely scolded by the emperor in the palace.
If she knew, she would definitely put her hands on her hips and sigh proudly: "How could I be so talented! I could trigger such a chain reaction."
However, the news was not kept secret for long, for the reason that Chu Ci, Fan Jingrui and Feng Yan had just come out of the secret room and unlocked the Feng Mansion's absolute guard order.
Prince Li and Marquis Wucheng rushed in aggressively with their personal guards.