A group of people remained silent.
Only Academician Chi stepped forward. "To Your Majesty, my youngest granddaughter heard that Your Majesty had summoned the Regent's Consort to the palace.
Today is also the day when Prince Chen and his consort offer tea and express their gratitude. Fearing that the Regent's Consort would be bullied, she insisted that I come to support her. That is why I followed the Regent's Consort into the palace."
King Nan's lips curved slightly. "I am also here. My son insisted that I come to support the Regent's Consort when he heard that she and Prince Chen were entering the palace together.
I was curious when he developed such a relationship with the Regent's Consort, but now I think, perhaps the Regent entrusted him with this?
Prime Minister, did you also come to support the Regent's Consort at the Regent's behest?"
Prime Minister Wen, supporting his aching waist, revealed a helpless smile. "The King and Marquis Lu have both gone on campaign. I must let them go with peace of mind!"
The three elders most trusted by Emperor Jingyou had all come to support her. Lu Qingwan blinked in surprise, then her eyes curved into a smile.
She reached out and tickled Feng Xiwu's palm. Their eyes met, and a tender affection flowed between them, so much so that it was unbearable to watch.
"Duke Pei, Marquis Ning, you wouldn't also be here to support the Regent's Consort, would you?"
Emperor Jingyou coughed twice, interrupting the tender exchange between the young couple.
"And you, Duke Hua, Jing Chunan, Qu Huaian... Who can tell me why you are all appearing in Weiyang Palace at such a coincidental time?"
"This..."
Duke Pei stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.
Just as the ministers were uniformly quiet as quail, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Gu Ci'en, suddenly stepped forward.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, when the Regent's Consort was attending to you earlier, I took the opportunity to chat with the esteemed officials.
I discovered that apart from the three officials who were entrusted by Miss Chi and the Regent to support the Regent's Consort, the other colleagues encountered matters in their respective official duties that required Your Majesty's ruling.
Therefore, all these colleagues appeared in Weiyang Palace so uniformly this morning."
This was an unexpected gain. Lu Qingwan raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Emperor Jingyou said leisurely, "All encountering matters that require my personal ruling. What are these matters? Tell me." Gu Ci'en held his tablet and said solemnly, "To avoid speculation, take myself as an example. I have been investigating the case of the military provisions being replaced with moldy rice, but there has been no progress. Yesterday, however, a clue suddenly appeared.
For instance, Minister Chen of the Ministry of Revenue, while auditing accounts at the end of the year, unexpectedly uncovered that the Governor of the Northwest, Su Bojun, had created false pretenses and imposed exorbitant taxes.
These matters do indeed exist, but all of them achieved a key breakthrough yesterday. I believe this may not be a coincidence."
With Gu Ci'en's opening, the Minister of Revenue, Jing Chunan, hurriedly added, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I also received news yesterday that scholars from various regions preparing for the imperial examinations had collectively fallen ill.
The symptoms are peculiar, but it seems to only spread among scholars. I believe there is something suspicious about this and have come to the palace to request Your Majesty's decision."
...
After the ministers spoke one after another, they were surprised to find that, apart from Duke Pei, Marquis Ning, and the later Prince Guangchang, everyone else actually had their own reasons for entering the palace.
Moreover, if all these matters had not converged at the same time, and were considered individually, there would have been no apparent abnormality.
"In this situation, the absence of an anomaly is the greatest anomaly."
Feng Xiwu's words were sharp. "Du Huihuang, the Imperial Guards are responsible for the safety of the nine gates of the imperial city, and the Shence Army is responsible for the peace within the palace. Their duties are clear, and their jurisdictions are distinct.
Who allowed you to bring troops into the palace?"
"I, this..."
The commander of the Imperial Guards, who had been arrogant and imposing moments ago and had ordered Feng Xiwu's arrest, was now speechless, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.
Just as Du Huihuang was still trying to find an excuse, Prince Guangchang, ever the opportunist, immediately sold him out.
"He had the Emperor's golden token. I, too, was deceived by him upon seeing the Emperor's golden token, believing that the Regent's Consort had impersonated the Regent. Therefore, I invited Imperial Concubine Wen to identify the Regent's Consort!"
"My golden token?"
Emperor Jingyou asked suspiciously, "I have reigned for twenty-seven years and have never given a golden token to anyone. Du Huihuang, where did you get the golden token in your hand?"
Du Huihuang looked astonished. "Wasn't it given to Duke Pei by Your Majesty?
This morning, Duke Pei's heir came to me with a golden token, saying that the Regent's Consort intended to harm Your Majesty, and that the Shence Army had already sided with the Regent's Consort, ordering me to lead the Imperial Guards into the palace to defend the Emperor.
To prevent the Imperial Guards from being intercepted outside the palace gates, he gave me the golden token. It was with this golden token that I led the troops through the palace gates."
Du Huihuang, with a look of utter panic, took out the golden token that read "As if I were personally present" and respectfully presented it with both hands.
Feng Xiwu meticulously took the token and examined it for a long time before handing it to Emperor Jingyou. "It is indeed my imperial brother's golden token. Could it have been stolen?"
A golden token was sometimes equivalent to Emperor Jingyou's presence. Emperor Jingyou would never be careless enough to give it away and forget.
He said he hadn't given it, but since it had appeared in Du Huihuang's hands, the only possibility was that it had been stolen.
The ministers were repeatedly shocked, and by now, their faces were expressionless.
Only Qu Huaizhong, the Minister of Justice, asked perfunctorily, "But, Your Majesty's golden token is either kept under strict guard in the Imperial Study or carried on your person. Who could have obtained it?"
Prime Minister Wen's expression turned displeased. "It's not just the golden token, is it?
The silver needles in Your Majesty's body also had to be inserted at close range. Using silver needles to assassinate Your Majesty and frame the Regent's Consort, stealing the golden token and using the pretense of 'defending the Emperor' to carry out a coup. Are these two incidents possibly the work of the same person?"
As Prime Minister Wen spoke, Weiyang Palace fell into a dead silence.
The people who could get close to Emperor Jingyou were few. However, to insert silver needles into his body without being discovered was even rarer.
Lu Qingwan said leisurely, "Using silver needles to injure His Majesty's internal organs and stimulating him to vomit blood with a blood-activating medicine to exacerbate his previous condition is an extremely complex procedure in medical theory.
I believe that even if the esteemed officials had the intention to assassinate His Majesty, they would not have the ability.
However, Consort Yu, who is by your side, has eyes and ears everywhere and is extremely capable. Perhaps Your Majesty could question Consort Yu?"
Lu Qingwan did not know that Feng Xiwu could arrive so promptly. Her plan beforehand was to do her best to wake Emperor Jingyou and have him personally expose Consort Yu's enormous lie.
Now that Feng Xiwu had returned, it did not prevent her from continuing her accusation.
"After Prince Chen and his consort left, you fainted almost without being able to say a word.
But Consort Yu adamantly told the esteemed officials that you discovered I was poisoning the Regent's Consort, and that you were afraid of being held accountable, thus resorting to killing me to silence you!
When Consort Yu cried out, the esteemed officials arrived. At the time, there was no time to think, but now that I think about it, Consort Yu and the esteemed officials were indeed very tacit."