Chapter 115 Xingxiangzi (VI)
On the tenth day of the twelfth month, the decree to grant marriage between Prince Jia and the daughter of Wu from Wanjiang was finalized.
Miao Jingzhen, the chief of the imperial guards, stood outside the Qinghe Hall holding a knife. It did not snow today, but the snow on the green tiles had not melted, and there were long icicles on the eaves. It was so cold that people had to breathe carefully.
The palace door creaked, and Miao Jingzhen turned around immediately. A burst of hot air mixed with the smell of medicine hit her in the face. Prince Jia, who was wearing a cloak with a fox fur collar, had thanked God for his grace and walked out.
"Your Highness."
Miao Jingzhen bowed and saluted.
The palace door behind him closed, and the cold wind made Prince Jia's fur collar messy. He glanced at the young man in armor, who was handsome and upright, and walked past him without stopping, "Thank you."
The sound was so soft that only Miao Jingzhen heard it.
Miao Jingzhen paused.
Of course he knew what Prince Jia was thanking him for.
When Prince Jia and his wife were imprisoned in Chongming Palace, he had slipped the poisonous pill into Prince Jia's pocket when the palace servants were not paying attention.
Miao Jingzhen stood up straight and turned around, only to see Prince Jia holding up his clothes and walking down the stairs.
The imperial concubine's niece in Wanjiang was already on her way to Yunjing, and the filial piety of Prince Jia in averting disaster for his emperor and father made Pan Youfang and others unable to do anything for the time being. Even though some officials petitioned the government to punish Prince Jia for disobeying the imperial order, the petitions were all kept in the palace and not sent out.
Ni Su heard about the emperor's decree of marriage when she was getting the nameplate at the Imperial Medical Bureau. But when she arrived at the southern suburbs villa, she didn't know how to tell this to Li Xizhen, who was extremely ill and emaciated.
"You seem to have something to say to me."
Li Xizhen spoke suddenly.
Ni Su was stunned for a moment, then said, "Yes."
"You are so embarrassed to say it," Xizhen was wrapped in a thicker quilt, and Ni Su stuffed a hot water bottle in her arms, which made her feel much better, "Is it about His Highness wanting to marry Wu's daughter?"
"princess……"
Ni Su withdrew her hand from feeling Li Xizhen's pulse. She looked up at her sick face and it was hard to tell whether she was sad or not.
Just then, a palace maid brought in some hot medicine. Ni Su said nothing, but helped Li Xizhen sit up, wrapped her in a cloak, and took the bowl of medicine from the palace maid.
Li Xizhen pulled her cloak tightly around her and leaned against the soft pillow. When she saw the maid leave, she spoke, "Young lady, don't worry about me. Since you told me that His Highness would return, I knew in my heart that this was a matter of time."
"Your Highness will not give up, and Your Highness can disobey the order to return to the capital, so he cannot disobey the order to grant marriage. I have already prepared for this in my heart."
Li Xizhen took the medicine bowl from Ni Su and drank it spoonful by spoonful. "Your Highness is a kind and honest person. I have always valued his character. Although he is a member of the royal family, he is willing to suffer for the people. Although my husband and I don't live as well as other members of the royal family, I have followed him for so many years and have never regretted it for a single day."
"But I also know that Yunjing cannot tolerate his character. The emperor cannot tolerate it, the queen cannot tolerate it, and the court officials cannot tolerate it either... He doesn't want to do evil with others, and he doesn't want to come back here, but the people here have never really let him go."
"I know the pain in his heart. First he lost his best friend, and then his mentor. As a wife, I hope he is safe, but as a person, I also hope he can take that step."
"We have lived in shame for so many years that we can no longer live for ourselves."
With a mouth full of bitter medicine, Li Xizhen tightened her fingers around the spoon, "Miss Ni, if you can see His Highness again, please tell him for me that our relationship as husband and wife has ended here. Whether it's me or him, we should be more open-minded. Justice and morality come first, and children's personal feelings are insignificant. I'm very happy that he made this choice. Even if we can't be husband and wife in the future... Commoner Li still respects him, loves him, and wishes him good health."
In an extremely cold winter, the sunlight is so weak that it only looks like a layer of light gold. It cannot melt the snow on the glazed tiles, nor can it bring any warmth to people.
To prevent the snow from accumulating too thickly, the eunuchs in the palace began to climb up the ladders to the roof to clear the frozen ice and snow. At this moment, the daughter of the Wu family from Wanjiang came to Beijing.
Wanjiang is the ancestral home of the Wu family. The imperial concubine's niece is the daughter of the eldest son of Wu Dai's half-brother in Wanjiang. Since she entered the palace, she has been by the imperial concubine's side and often goes in and out with Prince Jia.
Ni Su always kept Li Xizhen's words in mind, but never found an opportunity to convey his message.
As Prince Jia and the Imperial Concubine grew closer, the situation in the court changed again and again.
Wu Dai was once a friend of Duke Lu and Pan Youfang. Wu Dai might have some leverage over them privately, and the imperial concubine, as Wu Dai's daughter, more or less knew some secrets.
However, considering that Wu Dai had been involved in many things, the imperial concubine was cautious in front of Prince Jia and did not reveal everything. She only mentioned a Huang-killing case in the 13th year of Zhengyuan that had nothing to do with Wu Dai.
In the 13th year of Zhengyuan, a flood occurred in Chongzhou, submerging countless fertile fields. A large number of refugees fled all the way south. Liu Tingzhi, who was the governor of Rongjiang at the time, was ordered to pursue an insurgent army that was rebelling in Rongjiang Prefecture.
However, the leader of the Rongjiang Prefecture uprising was very cunning, and Liu Tingzhi, as a civil servant, had always been good at talking but not doing anything. He missed many opportunities to wipe out the Rongjiang Prefecture uprising. Despite having more than twice the number of troops as the enemy, he suffered heavy losses.
Liu Tingzhi was worried, fearing that he would be fired if he returned to the capital. It happened that a large number of refugees from Chongzhou were heading to Rongjiang Prefecture. Liu Tingzhi met them on the road. He had evil ideas and asked people to disguise themselves and sneak into the refugees, spreading rumors that the government had embezzled the disaster relief funds, and that the rebel army in Rongjiang Prefecture had tens of millions of wealth, which could support everyone in distress. If they went to join them, they would have a future.
Among them, a young man named Huang was inspired by this and called on everyone to join the uprising army in Rongjiang Prefecture. When Liu Tingzhi heard the news, he immediately raised his troops and massacred hundreds of people.
In the memorial submitted by Liu Tingzhi to the court, the young man surnamed Huang became the leader of the rebel army from Chongzhou, and those hundreds of refugees were definitely the ones who followed Huang in the rebellion and defected to the rebel army in Rongjiang Prefecture.
Liu Tingzhi was spared from the court's blame because of the Huang extermination case. From the 13th year of Zhengyuan to now, he was promoted to Deputy Privy Envoy this year.
In the 14th year of Zhengyuan, King Nankang died, and his legitimate son inherited the title of Duke of Lu. Between Wu Dai and Pan Youfang, he became closer to Pan Youfang, causing Manyu Money House to gradually transfer from Wu Dai to Pan Youfang. It was also in this year that Liu Tingzhi was transferred to Daizhou as a transport envoy. Because of his arrogant nature that easily looked down on others, he once tried to take over the business of Manyu Money House without authorization. How could the Duke of Lu and Pan Youfang allow him to take over their wealth?
In order to control Liu Tingzhi, they took great efforts to find out that there was something wrong with the Huang murder case. It was not until the 15th year of Zhengyuan that they clarified the whole story of the case. However, they did not make it public. Instead, they asked the then governor of Daizhou to threaten Liu Tingzhi with this matter and asked him, the transport envoy, to facilitate their interests.
Wu Dai was dissatisfied with the way the Minister of Lu used to let Pan Youfang take over Manyu Money House. He secretly found out the key witness of the matter, but he did not get angry because he was still in the same boat with them.
The so-called key witness is the confidant who followed Liu Tingzhi to Rongjiang Prefecture and suppressed the rebel army.
"Liu Tingzhi has been imprisoned in the Imperial Censorate..."
In the Duke's Mansion, Duke Lu picked up the tea bowl and put it down again. He turned around and saw Pan Youfang sitting there in a daze, "Li Yu!"
"ah?"
Pan Youfang realized it later and looked up. Seeing that Duke Lu looked unhappy, he said, "Duke, we can't help him. After all, Jiang Xianming has the ironclad evidence."
"Li Yu, don't forget that he is close to you and knows a lot about Manyu Bank!" Duke Lu couldn't sit still and stood up to pace back and forth. "Speaking of Jiang Xianming, this matter might have been deliberately pushed to him by Meng Yunxian. You also know Jiang Xianming. He is a stubborn person and is highly valued by the government. We knew that he was investigating the secret accounts of Manyu Bank. Wu Dai got epilepsy, and those officials in Daizhou were punished, so there was no follow-up to this matter. But this does not mean that Jiang Xianming gave up the investigation!"
"Liu Tingzhi committed a capital crime. According to the laws of the Great Qi Dynasty, the males in his family were to be exiled, and the females were to be sent to the Jiaofang Division. However, I have already hidden his youngest son. This news should have been sent to the Censorate. He should know what to say and what not to say."
Pan Youfang and Liu Tingzhi became close friends. When Liu Tingzhi was imprisoned, many rumors unfavorable to him spread in the court.
"That being said, if he still can't withstand the torture and Jiang Xianming pries out something..." Duke Lu frowned, "These days, the officials who are close to you have all been severely suppressed by Meng Yunxian. If we continue to be so passive, it will be bad."
"The Censorate is not the Night Bureau. If Liu Tingzhi went to the Night Bureau, I'm really afraid that he would blurt out something," Pan Youfang said with a pursed lip. "Jiang Xianming really can't be kept any longer. The Duke is right. I do know a little about Jiang Xianming."
Duke Lu paused after hearing that. He stroked his beard and stared at Pan Youfang. After a moment, his expression became much more relaxed. "Yes, Li Yu, how could I forget that without you, he would not have been able to rise to the top and secure the position of Chief Censor. Tell me, what are you going to do?"
Pan Youfang stood up and said, "You know, the confession that Tan Guangwen wrote at the beginning was not the one he wrote now. I want to give the original one to Jiang Xianming."
"Are you crazy?"
Duke Lu was shocked. "Are you trying to exonerate Xu Hexue?"
"We have been forced into this situation now. It will take some time for Jiang Xianming to try Liu Tingzhi. If we want to make Jiang Xianming an abandoned child of the government before Liu Tingzhi is convicted, we have no choice but to resort to this last resort."
Seeing that Duke Lu looked unhappy, Pan Youfang said, "Don't worry, Duke. There is no word from Prince Nankang in the confession, only from Wu Dai."
Tan Guangwen didn't know Pan Youfang. At best, he only knew Du Cong. The confession letter mentioned neither Prince Nankang nor Pan Youfang, only Wu Dai.
"I am not trying to exonerate Xu Hexue,"
Pan Youfang laughed at himself, "If I help him get rid of the crime, isn't that just punishing myself? Duke, we killed Tan Guangwen to suppress the incident so as not to make it bigger. But now the old case of Princess Wenduan's mansion, Liu Tingzhi's Huang extermination case, and Jiang Xianming's secret account of Manyu Bank are all very disadvantageous to us. In this case, let's just make Xu Hexue's case bigger."
The cold wind howled outside the door, like the howling of evil spirits. Pan Youfang looked sideways, and saw cold fog floating in the shadows of the lights. His eyes were dark, "This way, we can teach Meng Yunxian and the others whether all their plans can be fulfilled as they wish."
…
Ni Su woke up in the early morning with sweat all over her forehead. The candles in the room were almost burnt out, but there was no one beside her pillow. She got up and opened the bed curtains. A pale light shone in through the lattice window. On the desk opposite her, there was still a half-burned candle. A young man in a green robe was holding a pen in his hand, and no one knew what he was writing.
She lit lamps every day, and Qingqiong made reed flower dew tea for Xu Hexue every day, but his presence was still so faint.
Ni Su realized that since the day he left her in the palace and went to the Council Hall, both his injuries and his soul were recovering more slowly than before.
He didn't even have the ability to use the lamp she lit to make his soul look more real and no different from that of an ordinary person, as he did before.
The deadline given by Youdu is getting closer and closer.
"Xu Ziling."
She suddenly spoke.
When Xu Hexue heard her voice, he raised his head and realized that she had woken up without him noticing. He immediately put down his pen and said, "Put on your clothes. There is no charcoal pot in the house yet."
Ni Su sat on the bed without moving, "What are you writing?"
Xu Hexue stood up with one hand on the table. His injuries had not healed yet and his knees were in great pain. He walked slowly to her, took the dress draped over the screen and handed it to her, "You'll know when I finish writing."
Ni Su smiled as she put on her clothes. "Why don't you tell me a lie? Like, maybe you're practicing calligraphy or something. You're just making me want to know right now."
Xu Hexue sat next to her and saw that her hair was a little messy, so he reached out and tidied it up for her. Before she could say anything, she heard a knock on the door.
"General Xu, Miss Ni! Are you guys up?"
Qingqiong's voice sounded very anxious.
Xu Hexue immediately stood up by holding the bedpost, walked over and opened the door. Qingqiong, who was standing outside, was covered in snow and his nose was red from the cold.
"What's wrong?"
Xu Hexue asked him.
"I went out to buy breakfast, but I ran into soldiers searching for people everywhere! I heard from those who were interrogated that they were searching for a convicted official, and that person..."
"What about that guy?"
Ni Su hurriedly came over with her hair tied up.
"That person secretly compiled the poems and essays of the late Mr. Zhang, and hid Mr. Zhang's last words among them, and what else, for people to circulate..."
Qingqiong couldn't remember all those flowery words.
But this was enough to make Xu Hexue's heart tremble. He immediately asked, "What's that person's name?"
"Dong Yao."
Qingqiong answered.
Dong Yao.
Dong Yao, who went to Daizhou to check the grain tax report for his teacher, was the son of Lu Heng, the captain of Princess Wenduan's mansion.
For five consecutive days, government officials searched for the person who hid the "Collected Works of Mr. Jingchen" compiled by Dong Yao. Among them were officials, scholars, and ordinary people in the market.
In total, there were hundreds of people.
In the Qinghe Hall, Zheng Jian, a Hanlin scholar, bowed and said, "Your Majesty! These people secretly kept the Collected Works of Master Jingchen, and they often gathered together based on Zhang Jing's last words. I have found out that many of them secretly asked about Xu Hexue's treason case and wanted to overturn Xu Hexue's verdict!"
"Just based on what Zhang Jing said before his death, are these people going to overturn Xu Hexue's case?"
Emperor Zhengyuan sneered behind the curtain.
"Officials,"
At the right time, the Imperial Censor Ding Jin stepped forward and said, "I think they are not only trying to overturn Xu Hexue's case, but also to feel sorry for Zhang Jing."
"Xu Hexue is a traitor, and they are so disregarding the facts and inciting people. If this continues, won't there be chaos?"
"Yes, sir, you must not encourage this trend!" Zheng Jian immediately agreed, speaking earnestly, "If more people are like them, wouldn't that be a disregard for the law?"
"Yonggeng."
Emperor Zhengyuan suddenly called out.
Ding Jin and Zheng Jian were surprised to find that there was another His Royal Highness Prince Jia behind the curtain.
Prince Jia was sitting on the edge of the bed with a bowl of medicine in his hand. He stood up when he heard the sound.
"Zhang Jing is also your teacher,"
Emperor Zhengyuan was still ill, his voice hoarse from coughing, "Do you believe his last words?"
Prince Jia immediately bowed and said, "Although Yonggeng is your student, I also understand that what you said before your death is unfounded."
"Yes, words without basis and evidence are not credible."
Emperor Zhengyuan's tone suddenly turned cold, "But there are some people who think that I am unfair and that I killed Xu Hexue wrongly."
