710 Empress Deposed (3)
Yu Wan slapped the table. “Vicious woman! Wait, did Madam Tan say who poisoned him?”
Eunuch Wang sighed. “She was the one who poisoned him, but she didn’t do it to poison the General. The General had already been poisoned by the Empress, so she had no choice but to fight poison with poison to keep the General alive.”
Yu Wan muttered, “I see.”
It seemed that Yan Jiuchao was right. It was indeed Madam Tan. However, the Empress had interfered before her.
Yu Wan thought of something and looked at Eunuch Wang. “Then what secret did Helian Sheng discover that made the Empress want to silence him?”
Family scandals could not be aired in public, but the little commandery princess was not an outsider. Prince Yan and Xiao Zhenting… were the little commandery princess’s father-in-laws. In a sense, they were family!
Eunuch Wang said the earth-shattering news. “…The Empress was having an affair with the former State Preceptor, Yuwen Zhao. Nangong Yan might be their bastard child.”
Yu Wan frowned. “What do you mean by possible? If she is, then she is. Didn’t you investigate?”
Eunuch Wang said, “It’s precisely because Madam Tan isn’t sure that the Emperor went to look for the Empress to verify it. As for the results of the verification, I wasn’t around at that time. By the time I went over, something had already happened to His Majesty.”
It seemed that the results of the verification were not good. It was most likely that the Emperor wanted to execute that bastard Nangong Yan in a fit of anger. In order to protect her daughter, the Empress had no choice but to be ruthless to the Emperor.
If that was the case, then the Empress’s rebellion made sense.
It did not matter if Nangong Yan was a bastard child. What was important was that the Emperor was certain that she was a bastard child. Then neither Nangong Yan nor the Empress would live.
The Emperor had exiled his own child, but he was raising a bastard child for others. Once this matter was exposed, Yu Wan felt that killing the Empress’s nine generations was a light punishment.
A rabbit would bite when it was forced into a corner. Moreover, the Empress had never been a simple woman.
“I’ve never believed the so-called twin prophecy of fortune and misfortune, but… the matter of having an affair with the former State Preceptor was beyond my expectations.” That woman was really bad. “She was also the one who framed my grandmother, right?”
With Consort Yun’s personality, Yu Wan would never believe that she would climb into an emperor’s bed.
Eunuch Wang pondered and said, “This, I didn’t hear it, but I think that Her Highness should have been framed by the Empress. The Empress didn’t give birth a few years ago, and the Empress Dowager urged her. I’ve been in the palace for a long time, and there are some dirty things that the little commandery princess can’t think of, but I’ve seen them all. The Empress… might have planned to use Her Highness to have children, but she didn’t expect that after Consort Yun was pregnant, she would also be pregnant with children. At this time, not only would Consort Yun’s child be worthless, but they would also become a threat to her. That’s why she colluded with Yuwen Yuwen and forcefully gave the Eldest Princess a fate of a jinx.”
Yu Wan said coldly, “A crooked stick will have a crooked shadow!”
With such a mother, no wonder she gave birth to a shameless daughter like Nangong Yan.
Eunuch Wang said anxiously, “Little Commandery Princess, let’s not talk about this first. His Majesty and the Honored Consort are both in her hands. Let’s think of a way to save them.”
The safest way to save them was to depose the Empress.
However, not everyone was qualified to write the imperial edict. Just the heirloom seal and royal paper were not enough. The person who wrote the imperial edict also had strict rules. It was either a dedicated minister or the Emperor himself.
“Is it too late to capture a minister now?” Yu Wan rubbed her little hands.
Eunuch Wang could not help but splash cold water on her. “I think the minister might have been captured by the Empress.”
Everyone looked at Prince Yan in unison. It was time to show his true skills. In the world, only Prince Yan could pass off the fake as the real one.
In the Central Palace.
On the other hand, after Eunuch Li handed the stolen heirloom seal to the Empress, the Empress immediately ordered someone to capture the secretary of the Hanlin Courtyard.
The secretary was a minister who specially wrote imperial edicts for the Emperor. Of course, the Emperor could also write them himself, but wasn’t the Emperor unable to move? So she could only let the secretary do it for her.
The Empress placed the knife on the Emperor’s neck. “If you don’t write, I’ll kill His Majesty.”
This was much more effective than threatening the secretary himself. The secretary wrote with tears in his eyes and handed the royal paper to the Empress with trembling hands.
The Empress drafted an imperial edict for Nangong Li. She called over her trusted sacrificial soldiers. “Go to the Princess Manor and ask Li’er to make preparations. He’ll ascend the throne tomorrow.”
“Yes!” The trusted sacrificial soldier left the palace without stopping.
Eunuch Li entered with a bowl of cooked barley porridge. “Your Majesty, remember not to be wrong tomorrow. His Majesty has contracted smallpox. It’s extremely contagious and can’t be cured, so he had no choice but to abdicate the throne to Commandery Prince Li. He’s the Emperor Emeritus, and you’re the Empress Dowager.”
“I’ll remember it.” The Empress nodded. After a pause, she said, “However, do I have to be the Empress Dowager? Li’er…”
Eunuch Li explained, “The Commandery Prince is a little young. I’m afraid there are some things that he can’t deal with. You can only enter and leave the court after you become the Empress Dowager.”
The Empress hesitated. “But I don’t know anything about politics.”
Eunuch Li smiled and said, “I will assist Your Majesty.”
The Empress patted his hand in relief. “Fortunately, I have you.”
That night, the news that the Emperor had obtained smallpox leaked. Before dawn the next day, the Empress brought Eunuch Li and the drafted imperial edict to court.
Everyone was stunned when they saw that the Empress did not see the Emperor.
The Empress stood on the steps, directly under the throne. She looked at the civil and military officials dignifiedly and luxuriously and said with a pained expression, “I have bad news to announce to everyone.”
Everyone looked at her in confusion.
Her eyes turned red and she choked as she said, “His Majesty’s health is not good. He has contracted smallpox.”
The court exploded!
Smallpox was an incurable disease. Almost no patients survived. Not only that, but they were also isolated in a special village. On the surface, it was a concentrated treatment, but in reality, they were waiting for death in the village.
Their Emperor had actually contracted such an evil illness?
“If everyone doesn’t believe me, you can come with me to visit later.” Eunuch Li had already made arrangements. Whether it was his pulse or appearance, they were all symptoms of smallpox. She wasn’t even afraid of the imperial physicians, so there was nothing to worry about a group of courtiers.
The Empress held back her tears and said, “His Majesty feels that he doesn’t have much time left and drafted an imperial edict overnight. Eunuch Li, please issue the edict.”
“Why don’t I see Eunuch Wang?” A minister asked.
The Empress choked and said, “Eunuch Wang was also tainted with smallpox. It acted up last night… It was a high fever… This morning…”
She did not say what, but everyone could guess that Eunuch Wang could not make it.
“Announce the decree,” the Empress said sadly to Eunuch Li.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The eunuch opened the imperial edict. “By the will of the heavens, the Emperor has decreed that I’m infected with an evil illness. I’m afraid it won’t be long before my fate. The country can’t go without a ruler for a day. Nangong Li is magnanimous and virtuous…”
“The imperial edict has arrived—”
Outside the hall, the eunuch’s high voice suddenly came. Everyone shuddered. Didn’t they say that Eunuch Wang had also been tainted with smallpox? Why was he in the court?
Eunuch Wang walked in with a bright yellow imperial edict. He was refreshed and his face was clean. There was no sign of smallpox at all.
The Empress and Eunuch Li’s expressions changed.
