PDLP Chapter 191: Winners Take All, Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood
Chapter 191: Winners Take All, Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood
When the news reached the Prime Minister's Residence, the first thing Qiu Ning thought of was the safety of the imperial concubine in the palace.
Even she, a girl in the boudoir, could see that this was probably the secret plot of some people. They first joined forces with the concubines in the harem to poison the emperor, and then took this opportunity to seize power and control the guards in the palace.
In this way, wouldn't it be possible for King Yong to unscrupulously eliminate his enemies under the pretext of looking for the murderer?
Qiu Ning was extremely worried about the Imperial Concubine and Gu Li's current situation. However, the palace gates were heavily guarded, and even with a token, the guards wouldn't let anyone in.
On that day, Prince Yong pulled out a murderer from the harem. It was Concubine Liu, the concubine who slept with the emperor on the night he was poisoned.
According to Lady Liu, she was the only one among the new batch of concubines who had not yet served the emperor in bed, so she asked the imperial concubine to help arrange it.
The reason why she poisoned the emperor was that she was coerced by the imperial concubine and had no choice but to do so.
As for the reason why the imperial concubine ordered someone to poison the emperor, it was because the emperor had been wavering on the issue of changing the crown prince, so Concubine Wan wanted to take action directly against the emperor in order to support the sixth prince to ascend the throne.
The news shocked the court and the public. The ministers immediately criticized Concubine Wan, calling her a scoundrel who brought disaster to the country. Even the Sixth Prince was implicated.
In fact, everyone understood this matter. Prince Yong wanted to eliminate the Sixth Prince, who posed the greatest threat to him, so he casually pulled Concubine Liu as cannon fodder and pointed his spearhead directly at the Imperial Concubine.
Those ministers who supported the Sixth Prince raised questions, claiming that there must be something hidden.
The Imperial Concubine is the most favored among the six palaces, and the Sixth Prince is very talented, so she has no reason to do this.
But these voices were quickly suppressed by other ministers. At this point, everyone actually knew that this was a factional dispute. Prince Yong wanted to use this move to force the ministers to take sides, to support himself or the Sixth Prince.
As for the prince, he was completely out of his consideration.
Because the Guo family fell, the prince lost the protection of his mother's family and was at best like a toothless tiger, at the mercy of others.
The Pepper Room, which was once filled with palace ladies and was rich and magnificent, was now surrounded by imperial guards.
Some timid palace maids ran away before hearing the news. In the huge palace, only the imperial concubine and her trusted maid Qingye were left.
At this moment, the door of the palace was suddenly opened from the outside, and a ray of sunlight shone in from outside and hit the person who came.
Wan Rongyue looked up and saw Queen Guo wearing a phoenix robe, walking slowly towards her.
Seeing Wan Rongyue trapped in this palace without freedom, the queen felt quite happy.
Wan Rongyue was not surprised at all when she saw the queen coming.
"Sister has to take care of the affairs of the six palaces, so she should be busy now. How come she still has time to come to her sister?" Wan Rongyue asked calmly.
Just after Liu Qingqing betrayed Wan Rongyue, Prince Yong ordered the palace to be sealed off and no one was allowed to enter. The Queen's appearance here was self-evident.
If she guessed correctly, the queen should be the one who actually poisoned the emperor.
There were only two of them here, and the Queen finally dropped her disguise. She stared coldly at Wan Rongyue and said, "I came here just to see. Even though you were the most favored concubine in the six palaces and held great power in your hands, you can still be trapped in this luxurious cold palace with just one word, and it's difficult to even get out."
Wan Rongyue didn't care much about the queen's ridicule. On the contrary, she only cared about one thing.
"I just want to know, Your Majesty has treated the Guo family with all his heart and righteousness, so why do you still do this?"
She was referring to the Queen's poisoning.
When the truth was revealed, Empress Guo showed no sign of panic. Instead, she smiled sarcastically and said, "You ask me why?
Oh, this is ridiculous. Xiao Qi actually wants to depose my son for no reason and make your son the crown prince. If it were you, would you tolerate this?"
Wan Rongyue remained silent. Empress Guo, as if finding an outlet for her anger, continued:
"Yes, the Crown Prince is indeed not as intelligent as the Sixth Prince, but so what? The heir apparent is chosen over the virtuous one. This is the rule passed down by our ancestors. How could Xiao Qi ignore the ancestral laws and act recklessly? How is this any different from that tyrant emperor?
"The Crown Prince was given high hopes from birth, and I have carefully nurtured him, finally securing his position. But why did you want to leave the cold palace? You stole the favor of everyone in the harem, and let your son shine so brightly, giving rise to thoughts that shouldn't be there? Tell me, as a mother, and the mother of a country, how could I tolerate you and your son?"
"So, you joined forces with Prince Yong to rebel and secretly poisoned His Majesty!" Wan Rongyue said suddenly.
The queen's smile froze on her face. She straightened her phoenix robe and smiled elegantly.
"That's right. So what? Even if I give this position to Prince Yong, I will never let you get away with it."
"But have you ever considered that Prince Yong has long harbored rebellious intentions? Your actions will only sacrifice more innocent people. For your own selfish reasons, how is this any different from bringing disaster upon the country?"
Faced with the imperial concubine's questioning, the queen's expression froze for only a moment, and then she quickly relaxed.
"The victor is king and the loser is a bandit. Since ancient times, which man has ascended to a high position without treading on mountains of corpses and seas of blood? Even Xiao Qi, didn't he scheme to get Prince Yong out of the palace in order to ascend to the throne?
Prince Yong's move can be considered as restoring order."
Wan Rongyue's beautiful eyes opened slightly. She seemed to have not expected that the Queen would actually protect Prince Yong so much.
"It seems that you and he have already reached a private agreement. So, are you here to take my life?"
The Queen was very unhappy with the Imperial Concubine's fearlessness in the face of danger, feeling like she was punching cotton.
She snorted coldly, "I do want to, but I underestimated your father. He actually rallied so many ministers to die for you and the Sixth Prince. I'm here just to tell you, don't expect to have a chance to leave here. Once Prince Yong has freed himself and dealt with your father, I'll come back to take you and your family back home to reunite."
After the queen said this, she swung her sleeves and walked out of the Pepper Room.
Outside, the maid was still standing there with a tray. Seeing the queen suddenly come out, she couldn't help but wonder:
"My Lady, do we still need to send these things in?"
The queen glanced at the things on the tray: a bottle of poison, a foot of white silk, and a dagger.
Then she ordered in a cold voice, "I have temporarily changed my mind. I cannot let her die so easily. I want her to live and watch with my own eyes the son I carefully nurtured being trampled underfoot. His father, too, must be slaughtered like my own tragically deceased father."
The trusted maid was startled and quickly responded respectfully, "Yes, your Majesty."