Chapter 139 Finale (Part 2)
The eldest princess clucked her head when she heard this, like an old hen laying eggs, full of joy at harvest. Compared to her usual image, this abrupt laughter was simply inappropriate, but she was completely unaware of it, and even gloated a little: "Your Majesty, you are a little bit ignorant of people."
Tang Ying: “…More than that, right?” He was still confused and wanted to pursue immortality, and was fooled by others to eat random things.
The Southern Qi Emperor sat up straight, anger boiling in his stomach, but the dignity of the emperor was like a tightly sealed lid, firmly suppressing his anger, making him... at least on the surface he looked calm, but his eyes were fierce, and he asked: "Tang Ying, what do you want to do?"
"Your Majesty, please be patient and you will know the answer soon."
Gan Jun emerged from his hiding place, guarded the Emperor of Southern Qi, and watched Tang Ying vigilantly.
But within a moment, there were deafening shouts and cries of killing outside, the sound of weapons clashing, and many people running. There were also eunuchs breaking in through the door, kneeling in front of the Southern Qi Emperor and begging for help: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang is coming in with his men..."
The Southern Qi Emperor felt as if he was in a dream when he heard that "Prince Xiang killed the Crown Prince". Then he panicked when he heard Prince Xiang rushing in: "Gan Jun——"
Gan Jun bent down and whispered something to him, and his expression calmed down a little.
Prince Xiang came very quickly, and there were not even many guards encountered along the way from the East Palace to the Qingliang Palace. He led his men to charge forward, and the success was beyond his expectations. He had to marvel at the ability of the Grand Princess - with her help, he was even more powerful.
When he broke into the Qingliang Palace, he held the head of the Crown Prince in one hand and a long sword in the other, and was followed by several brave warriors, guarding him on both sides. His sword was still dripping with blood, which was the blood of the guards and palace servants outside.
The father and son met again after a long separation. The father's eyes were wide open, and he pointed at him and cursed: "Rebellious son! Beast! Killing one's own flesh and blood is unforgivable!" The son threw the crown prince's head to the side of his bed with a "bang", his face was indifferent and without any regret: "Father, don't blame your son, it's all your fault! The crown prince is gone, and according to reason, it should be your son who is the crown prince, but you insisted on making him the crown prince. How am I worse than him?"
"Yuan Yi was not killed by me, he died because of your love!"
Tang Ying was amazed at his skill in shifting the blame and laughed out loud without hesitation: "Your Highness the Prince of Xiang, what he said makes sense!" This made him look at her. He was quite surprised to see her in Qingliang Palace. Considering her official position, it seemed ordinary to him. He was just surprised that she actually praised his words so much.
"You bastard!" The Southern Qi Emperor was saddened by the innocent and tragic death of the Crown Prince, and was also angry at the ruthlessness of the King of Xiang, who killed his own flesh and blood. He even forgot the advice of the imperial physician and roared, "Rebellious son, how did Yi'er let you down that you have to do such a cruel thing to him?!"
The King of Xiang did not feel that he had done anything wrong. He calmly questioned, "It is not Yi'er who has let me down, but you, the Emperor, have let me down. You have doted on me for many years, and knowing that I wanted that chair, you turned around and expelled me from the capital. You canonized Yuan Yi as the crown prince, but it was all fake. Your doting was all fake! If you had made Yuan Yi a vassal king earlier and let him leave the capital with his princess, I would have made him the best uncle and rewarded him generously every year. It's a pity that you insisted on forcing him to sit on that seat. Isn't it the Emperor's fault that he lost his life?"
He had been holding these words in for two lifetimes.
In his previous life, he waited for him to return to the capital to attend the funeral and forced the emperor to abdicate, so he never had the chance to question the Emperor of Southern Qi. However, he was still resentful about his favoritism towards the Crown Prince. In this life, God took pity on him and finally gave him the opportunity to ask him face to face.
The Emperor of Southern Qi could never have dreamed that the Prince of Xiang would be so narrow-minded that if he couldn't get what he wanted, he would destroy the other party.
"You..." In his whole life, he had never thought that one day he would meet his own son on a narrow road and be speechless when he saw the court officials fighting each other.
Tang Ying: “…” His Majesty the Emperor’s ability to talk nonsense is clearly not on point, and his unreasonable and rogue thinking needs to be improved.
But - she found an embroidered cushion and sat down by herself, crossed her legs and supported her chin, watching with great joy.
Father and brothers, your heroic spirits are still here, have you seen them?
The Emperor of Southern Qi looked around the inner hall. The eunuchs and palace servants who were serving him were trembling with fear and huddled aside, not daring to make a sound.
Yuan Heng and Tang Ying were in a leisurely mood, both looking like they were watching a show, and it was obvious that it had nothing to do with them. The Prince of Xiang had a blood-stained cloak but he did not look crazy at all, as if he had tried to seize the throne more than once, and killing the Crown Prince was as common as slaughtering a lamb.
"You...you are in the same group?" His whole body was shaking, especially the other half of his body which was still quite agile, which seemed to be out of control. However, he still couldn't suppress his anger: "You guys are teaming up to rebel?"
Tang Ying quickly raised her hand to correct him: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, you guessed wrong. The King of Xiang and I are not in the same group." She raised her little finger and gestured: "But I just helped the King of Xiang with a small favor, such as... falsely passing on the imperial decree to transfer most of the palace guards to facilitate the King of Xiang's actions."
King Xiang: "...Thank you very much for your help, Miss Tang."
Emperor of Southern Qi: “…”
The Grand Princess: “…”
You could hear a pin drop in the hall, which made the sounds of fighting outside, which had not yet subsided, even clearer.
Gan Jun was puzzled: "Tang Ying, why do you do this?"
Tang Ying asked back: "If I don't do this, how can it be convenient for His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang to commit the heinous crime of killing the Crown Prince and forcing the emperor to abdicate and seize the throne?" She waved her hands: "Your Highness the Prince of Xiang doesn't have to thank me, just continue with what you want to do!" She looked at Gan Jun with her eyes and nose, and seemed to have made up her mind to stand by and watch, not prepared to answer Gan Jun's questions.
The palace door was suddenly kicked open, and the secret guards of the Imperial Cavalry Division on duty in the palace escorted Imperial Concubine Wan into the palace. Concubine Wan's hair was disheveled, her hairpins were askew, and she looked embarrassed, obviously having been caught in a hurry. There was a long sword across her neck, and a blood mark was left where the sharp blade was close to her skin.
She had taken good care of herself over the years, and her skin was fair and smooth, so a single bloodstain was truly shocking.
Prince Xiang was shocked: "Mother--" He had never experienced such a thing in his previous life, and he never thought that the Emperor of Southern Qi would be so cruel as to use his beloved woman to compete with his son.
Wan's tears flowed down her cheeks. She looked at her husband and then at her son, and smiled tragically: "Son, from now on... you have to take good care of that silly girl A'shu!" She actually rushed forward towards the blade, and blood spurted from her neck. The sword was so sharp, but it ended her life just like that.
"Mother..." Prince Xiang was extremely sad. He never expected that his own mother could not bear to see him being held hostage and actually committed suicide.
The secret guard who held the hostage did not expect Wan to be so stubborn, so he quickly let go of Wan's arm. The body fell down and fell at the feet of Prince Xiang who had rushed over.
The Prince of Xiang felt heartbroken. He hugged his mother and hurried to see her, but she had already died. How could she be saved?
Tang Ying felt happy: "Is His Royal Highness Prince Xiang sad?"
Prince Xiang held his mother tightly in his arms and refused to let go. The people he brought with him protected him in the middle, fearing that the secret guards in the palace would hurt their master.
Tang Ying stood up, with her hands behind her back. Seeing that the King of Xiang seemed to have no mood to answer her questions, she asked and answered herself: "Your Highness looks very sad, and even can't speak." She spoke each word carefully: "At that time, I was even sadder than you are now. I was completely hopeless."
Everyone in the hall was surprised that she said this, and they all looked over.
The Emperor of Southern Qi was naturally heartbroken. His most beloved son was gone, and his most beloved grandson was also killed by his own son. Yuan Yi's head was not far from his feet. He could still see his unwilling and wide-open eyes, his bloodstained cheeks, and his broad and intelligent forehead. Every time he looked at him, his heart would twitch and hurt even more. It was as if someone was pinching his neck and stabbing his heart with a knife, one knife after another, one knife after another. He couldn't scream but couldn't stop the pain. It was a despairing and suffocating pain...
The Prince of Xiang witnessed his own mother committing suicide with his own eyes. He almost stopped breathing. He held the still warm body of Consort Wan and couldn't stop crying. He kept calling out, "Mother... Mother..."
Tang Ying was extremely happy to see the scene in front of her, and she didn't even mind making them suffer more. She reminded the father and son who were already immersed in the world of sadness and couldn't extricate themselves: "Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang know about the Battle of Baicheng, right?"
The hall fell silent again.
The Southern Qi Emperor stopped shaking with anger and sadness, and the Prince of Xiang also stopped crying. Only Tang Ying's cold voice rang out in the palace: "Three years ago, when Baicheng fell, my father, brother, fiancé and his father all died in the battle, along with 20,000 young men from Baicheng. If I had been brought back to the capital by His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang and agreed to the marriage, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang had used the support of the generals from the Tang Army to force the emperor to abdicate and seize the throne, if it had succeeded as planned, it would have been His Royal Highness the most proud achievement, right?"
King Xiang was so shocked that he forgot his sadness: "You...know everything?"
"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself." She said, "I have to thank your majesty for his appreciation, which gave me the opportunity to serve in the Imperial Cavalry Division, and fortunately I found out the truth. His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang is very cunning. He first instigated his trusted officials to withdraw the main force of the Tang army in the name of changing guards; then he instigated his trusted officials to delay the Baicheng army's pay and food under various pretexts; he also estimated that the northern barbarians had a severe snowstorm in the winter of the previous year, and they would definitely enter the pass to rob food in the summer, and they would fight to the death. With the Baicheng army already running out of food and grass, they simply couldn't support reinforcements. Besides, His Royal Highness the Prince of Xiang was not going to rescue before the city was broken." She taunted, "Otherwise, how could he take in the orphans of the Tang family? How could he have the opportunity to win over the other generals from the Tang army?"
An absurd idea came to the mind of Prince Xiang. He suspected that Tang Ying had been reborn like him so that she could see through all his plans. However, the facts proved that he was just thinking too much.
For the sake of that high throne, he finally paid a heavy price and watched his own mother die in front of him.
"When did you know?"
