After saying that, Liu Qiaoer used her sword to cut the Queen Mother's tendons.
A sedan chair was brought over, and the empress dowager was tied up and put inside.
The queen waited until all the bodies in the palace were moved to a side hall and the yard was cleaned before she opened the door of the bedroom.
"Come here, set up Kunning Palace. The Queen Mother is not feeling well. I will escort her back to the palace."
At this time, the guards surrounding the palace were all stunned. What was going on
But they were just following orders and watched helplessly as the Queen sent the Queen Mother back.
Liu Qiaoer quickly asked the eunuch to deliver a letter to the emperor, asking him to keep the father of Yang Song, the Minister of Rites, as the Yang family was planning a rebellion. If they arrested Yang and his son, they would be helpless.
In the hall, the emperor was getting anxious because of the ministers' pestering. He didn't know why there were so many questions today, one after another.
But as an emperor, he had been used to being calm since childhood, and he did not show his emotions, and he was suppressing the anger in his heart.
He glanced and saw that the eunuch beside the queen had arrived.
The emperor waved to him, and the eunuch hurried up and whispered something in the emperor's ear.
The emperor's face lit up with joy, and he relaxed completely.
"Okay, go ahead. Since the Queen Mother is not feeling well, I will go see her when I am done with my work."
The eunuch left, and the emperor paused for a moment before saying, "Lord Yang, what do you think of this matter?"
Now it was the turn of the emperor and his courtiers to start a tense dispute.
Since the Queen Mother had been subdued by the Empress, when something like this happened, he wanted to see who among the court officials were on the Queen Mother's side.
This time it was the Queen Mother who took action first. If she is not kind, don't blame him for being unfilial.
In the harem, the queen imprisoned the empress dowager in Kunning Palace and drove out all the palace maids and eunuchs there. She only replaced them with two palace maids she trusted to guard the palace.
Then the queen called the leader of the palace guards and asked him where the guards who surrounded her bedroom came from.
Why is the palace so unsafe
The guards arrested everyone who was not one of their number.
In the front hall, the queen came to the side hall with the commander of the imperial guards. The emperor was relieved to see that she was fine.
"Master Yang, Master Zhu, Master Wang, Master Song, you all stay here. The rest of you can go back first."
Something was wrong in the court today. The emperor kept them here for the entire morning, but the emperor himself was fine.
Some of the older court officials could not bear it, such as Lord Su, a student at the Hanlin Academy.
"I'm old and can't do it anymore. My legs can't stand it after standing for so long."
Lord Su's son hurried forward to support him.
However, he turned his head and glanced at the emperor, somewhat surprised: "Everyone said that the emperor was weak, but he has been in the palace for such a long time, and he still seems to be full of energy. There is nothing else wrong."
Others whispered, "I heard that the emperor secretly invited a miracle doctor to treat him, and now he is well again."
In fact, all the ministers in the court are shrewd, and each of them wishes he could have eight hundred tricks.
Everyone saw the Empress Dowager and the Emperor fighting for power. The Emperor had been in poor health for years, and if he could be cured, why didn't the Empress Dowager treat him
But now the emperor actually invited a miracle doctor from outside, which shows that he does not trust the empress dowager.
Lord Su seemed to understand something and nodded repeatedly: "As long as it's fine, it's fine."
"The Queen Mother is not present at the court meeting today?"
"Didn't you see that the ministers left by the emperor today are very close to the queen mother on weekdays? I'm afraid that the queen mother will not rule the country from behind the curtain in the future."
“Is the sky going to change?”
"Yes, the sky in Beiyuan is finally clear."
Among those who stayed behind, some of the calm ones had their clothes soaked with sweat, while some of the timid ones had already kneeled on the ground.
The emperor looked at these people, who were more or less related to the empress dowager, and snorted coldly.
"The Queen Mother is seriously ill and probably won't rule the country from behind the curtain anymore. Do you have anything to say?"
Whoever dares to say anything bad about the Empress Dowager and the Emperor will be left speechless.
The emperor waved his hand and said, "You all may leave. Lord Yang may stay."
The emperor kept the Minister of Rites, Lord Yang, and Yang Song as well. At the same time, he sent the Minister of the Dali Temple with men to raid Yang Song's house.
The Yang family’s property is all in the other courtyard. Although there are warehouses in the courtyard in the capital, there are not many of them, similar to those of ordinary officials.
But in the Yang family villa, a lot of longevity cream was seized.
The emperor was furious and said that the Yang family had disobeyed his orders. The entire family was executed and taken to the execution ground.
There was a disturbance in the palace, calm and invisible.
Outside the palace, no one knew that the Minister of Rites had his property raided. It was not until the emperor confiscated a lot of the Fu Shou Cream and the Yang family members were beheaded that everyone understood the emperor's determination to crack down on the Fu Shou Cream.
The next day, many officials secretly disposed of the longevity cream they had hidden in their homes.
The Marquis' Mansion was very quiet. Only the Marquis's wife, Xie Yiyi and others were left in the mansion.
Cui Boxiao's younger brother, Cui Bohao, went to school. On his way back, he saw the Yang family being arrested. He kindly went to Cui Boxiao's room and told Hu Bingxue.
After all, he was a man who had been good to her for many years. Hu Bingxue hurried to the execution ground and saw the scene of Yang Song being killed.
When Hu Bingxue heard that the Yang family was beheaded because they secretly stored a large amount of longevity cream, she felt sad.
The weather was getting colder and it was already the twelfth lunar month. Hu Bingxue vaguely remembered the last poetry reading where Cui Boyiao stole the show.
Unexpectedly, that time turned out to be the last time.
Now the capital has undergone tremendous changes. The Hu family was exiled and the Yang family was beheaded, all because of the Fu Shou ointment.
Hu Bingxue also saw with her own eyes those people who were tortured by the longevity ointment.
She seemed to understand something, yet seemed to understand nothing.
No one in the palace could threaten the emperor and the queen anymore, and Liu Qiaoer's mission was accomplished.
She stayed in the palace for another seven days, preparing the pills for the emperor. She left the palace only after thinking about Cui Boxiao.
However, as soon as she returned to the Marquis' Mansion, she received a letter from Cui Boxiao.
"I know you have done a great job helping my sister in the palace. I have always known that you are a very capable person. I guess you will definitely come to the south to find me. Don't come for now. Things have changed. Wait for me to return."
Liu Qiaoer didn't understand what had happened to Cui Boxiao and why he didn't let her go find him.
Aren’t they just some disaster-stricken refugees? If we arrest a few local corrupt officials, we can make up the shortage of food and relief funds.
As for those rebellious gang members, couldn't the soldiers of the Marquis of Zhennan recruit them
In fact, Liu Qiaoer really imagined things to be too good to be true.
Another month passed, and news came from Marquis Zhennan that the Insect Extermination Sect had been destroyed, and Marquis Zhennan was preparing to return to the capital in triumph.
Cui Boxiao's disaster relief work has not been completed yet, and the people affected by the disaster have not yet been properly resettled.
Marquis Zhennan planned to wait for Cui Boxiao to finish his work and then return to Beijing together.
Another half a month later, just as they were preparing to set off for the capital, a foreign army arrived from the sea and defeated the army of the Marquis of Zhennan.
The army of Marquis Zhennan was defeated, Cui Boxiao disappeared, and Marquis Zhennan fled back to the capital with his troops. For a time, the entire capital was in an uproar.