"You said you were Yan Zhaonan's son?"
Zongzheng Qingqi hurried back to the Qianqing Palace, changed into a dragon robe under the service of the palace servants, and when he rushed to the front hall, almost all the ministers who heard the news were present.
The man who claimed to be Yan Chu did a simple bandage and changed into clean clothes. At this moment, he was kneeling in the middle of the Golden Luan Hall. Only his pale face could tell what kind of torture he had experienced before.
On the court hall, the little emperor Zongzheng Qingqi usually placed the same mascot, and because he was still young, the ministers couldn't help being curious, and turned towards the one kneeling in the center. The man asks his question.
Back then when the entire family of Yan's family was slaughtered, the Dali Temple faced the corpses, from the master to the servants, not one more, one not less.
The corpses of Yan Zhaonan's wife and three children were in the main hall. Could it be that the other party was Yan Zhaonan's illegitimate son raised outside
After a long time, Yan Chu was not very old at that time, and because he grew up in Dingfengguan, many ministers did not associate him with the eldest son of the Yan family when they heard the name Yan Chu.
"That's right, you said you are Yan Zhaonan's son, but what evidence do you have?"
You can't run out of a person and say that he is Yan Zhaonan's son, he is, if a big clan can recognize a child casually, wouldn't that be a mess
"This jade pendant is a jade pendant handed down from the Yan family. Each of the descendants of the Yan family will have a piece. I am the eldest son of the Yan family. When our Yan family was destroyed for no reason, my mother replaced me with the son of a nurse, and I It was hidden in the secret room by my mother."
Yan Chu left the capital to go to Dingfengguan when he was four years old. His wet nurse's family members were all in the capital, so they didn't go with him, but chose to stay in the old house of the Yan family and become a housekeeper. The other party's husband is the head of the Yan family's other village on the outskirts of the city. On that day, because Yan Xiaoshi wanted to choose a servant boy for his son, the nanny asked Yan Xiaoshi for the favor of having nursed Yan Chu once when he was a child. In a word, Yan Xiao specially asked her to go back to Biezhuang to bring her son to the mansion to see him. The killers didn't expect this episode, they only thought that the number of people matched and they completed the task, so Yan Chu escaped. After a catastrophe.
All the masters and slaves who stayed in the Yan Mansion were slaughtered, and the other servants who escaped by chance did not escape the crimes of treason and treason that the Yan family was later framed. All servants were exiled and sold.
As official slaves, you can check their current location through the transaction records at that time. As long as you find the village head he said, you can naturally tell the truth of what he said.
The other party spoke eloquently and passed the most stringent "mountain of knives" and "sea of fire". Let's put aside the matter of identity for now.
"Captain Xiao, what do you think?"
What can I ask, how can I ask
The other party is suing the Supreme Emperor, although the other party is incompetent and now he has become a toothless tiger, but he is still the Supreme Emperor after all. After thinking about it, it will take Xiao Jiuqian to offend people like this.
"You are suing the present emperor, saying that he sent people to massacre hundreds of members of the Yan family, and that he framed General Zhen Guo as treasonous, but there is evidence."
Yan Chu looked at the man kneeling at the bottom. The jade pendant in his hand was supposed to be at Wan Qilan's place. When he left Dingfengguan, the elders of both sides agreed that when they came back from the capital, they would formally conclude a marriage agreement for them. The marriage contract, the jade pendant symbolizing the direct lineage of the Yan family, was given to Wan Qilan by the original body as a token.
And now this man who claimed to be "Yan Chu" and came to rehabilitate the Yan family also held this jade pendant in his hand. One can imagine who sent him.
"Yes." Under Zongzheng Qingqi's complicated gaze, the man took out a stack of papers from his pocket.
Yan Chu motioned to the little eunuch standing behind him to take the stack of papers and hand them to him, and after reading through each one, asked the little eunuch to hand the stack of papers to the little emperor.
The courtiers waited eagerly, eager to know what was written on those papers.
"Everyone, my lords, please, also pass it on."
Zongzheng Qingqi's face was pale, and it was difficult to speak. He sat weakly on the dragon chair, and when he met Yan Chu's gaze, his heart trembled and he made a decision.
The common people said that Xiao Chu was good, and Jin Yiwei was good. Although they were afraid of Jin Yiwei's ruthlessness, they were even more afraid of Jin Yiwei's disappearance. In the eyes of the common people, his father was an incompetent and stupid emperor.
Now, given the solid evidence, he still chooses to cover up for his father, what will Xiao Chu think of him, and what will the people of the great merchants who know the truth think of him in the future.
Didn't he want to be able to take over the political power from Xiao Chu's hands one day and make him convinced? If he can't even do such a thing, why should he let the other party think that he can manage Nuo Da's country well? , he is qualified to be the emperor of the people of the great merchants.
Anyway, the father's infamy has been enough, and it's not bad.
The little eunuch distributed the stack of papers to those curious ministers, and as they flipped through them, surprise flashed across the faces of those ministers, suddenly, each of them heaved a long sigh.
If this confession was not forged, then the death of the Yan family would be unjust.
"I remember that Li Yushi was imprisoned by the emperor three months ago. This confession..."
A minister who had been neutral in the past stood up, and he couldn't help but glanced in Xiao Chu's direction, only to see the old god on the other side sitting on the ground on the only grand teacher's chair above the court hall, savoring carefully. The hot tea on the tea table beside him seemed to have nothing to do with him.
But Li Jinzhong is under the supervision of Yan Chu, how did that man get this confession? Looking at the traces of pen and ink, as well as the newness of the paper, this confession should have been written recently. Could it be? Li Jinzhong knew that he would be killed by the emperor, so he wrote this thing before he was thrown into the sky prison
But how did he know that there was another descendant of the Yan family, and he found the other party and gave him this confession
All this, no matter how I think about it, I can't figure it out.
"Before His Majesty suffered a stroke, he had already handed over the matter of Li Jinzhong to the first-class guard Zhang Fan. Thirteen days ago, Li Jinzhong contracted a cold in the prison and died suddenly."
This is the first time the courtiers have heard of this matter. Because Emperor Chengqing had a stroke and the new emperor succeeded to the throne, they were busy inside and out. Who would care about a criminal who was thrown into the prison.
But Li Jinzhong's sudden death, isn't there no evidence for all this
"Your Majesty, there are still doubts in this matter, and we can't make a hasty judgment. It's better to let someone find out the identity of this man who claims to be the son of Yan Zhaonan." The loyal royalists stood up.
Since ancient times, it is only right for Lao Tzu to beat his son, but if a son turns against Lao Tzu, it is a big treason.
This statement not only applies to ordinary people, but also to the royal family.
Especially with such sensitive identities as the emperor and the supreme emperor, if there is any trouble, it will be magnified by the people. At best, they will praise the new emperor for righteousness and extermination of relatives if they help the Yan family to be rehabilitated. At worst, they will be disobedient and unfilial. Gangchang is broken.
At that time, it will be recorded in the history books, and how future generations will comment on the new emperor is still unknown.
Now that the new emperor is young and has not yet taken power, there is no need to ruin his reputation and foundation for an old case, making it more difficult for him to take power at that time.
Therefore, in the view of that minister, it is better to whitewash the peace, take advantage of Li Jinzhong's death, push everything on him, and then reward the son of the Yan family with a title without real power to show the kindness of the royal family, or simply make a mistake to the end.
All in all, the Taihuang can make mistakes, but this mistake must not be recognized by the new emperor during the new emperor's reign.
Conspiracy theories, everyone began to wonder if this incident was caused by Xiao Chu, because this incident was only good for him. The Taihuang was charged with murdering Zhongliang, and the new emperor was charged with disobedience. Only he, the governor of the East Factory, is innocent.
The royal family lost its prestige, so it would be easy for him to take the opportunity to reap another wave of power.
Before today, Zongzheng Qingqi probably thought the same way, but whoever went through today's experience and the warnings given to him by his mother before, he can see it more clearly.
He, the emperor, is just a puppet. If Xiao Chu really can't tolerate him, he can use hundreds of ways to make him step down, and replace him with a more obedient and sensible clan son. Old things come.
"I have other evidence."
The man obviously came prepared, and after hearing the courtier's doubts about the confession he handed over, he spoke slowly.
"Yan Zheng, my father grew up with my entourage. The so-called letters of my father's collusion with the enemy and treason that Emperor Chengqing searched out were actually copied by him based on my father's handwriting. He is the only one who has That ability, as my father's personal servant, he should have died in the disaster of exterminating the family, but because the few letters that Emperor Cheng Qing asked him to write after he bribed him, he saw the clues and left early. God has eyes, let me find him."
The man's eyes flicked across those courtiers and the little emperor who was sitting on the dragon chair. The wound that had just been bandaged had already oozing blood. He was weak and haggard, but his back was still straight and he did not fall into the Yan family the name of valor.
"There is also the dragon robe that appeared in our Yan family back then. For example, the fabric used for the dragon robe is special tribute. The consumption of every foot and inch is recorded by the Internal Affairs Office. Our Yan family has an extra dragon robe out of thin air. , either there is a problem with the tribute satin weaving workshop, or there is a problem with the Internal Affairs Department. The consumption of this kind of precious fabric, as long as we check the records of the Internal Affairs Department and the satin cloth workshop 23 years ago, and sort out the dragon robes. Of course, it is clear what the source of the extra dragon robe is."
The man presented a piece of evidence, apparently well prepared.
It's just that his injury is really too serious, and it's obvious that he can't hold on anymore.
"Come here, Imperial Physician Xuan Liu."
Zongzheng Qingqi bypassed Xiao Chu and gave an order that the other party could not die in the Jinluan Hall. If he wanted to reverse the case for the Yan family, he, the heir of the Yan family, had to live.
Just taking advantage of this time, he sent someone to find out his background and bring all the witnesses he said into the palace.
"Yan Chu"'s injuries are not clear, and when all these things are found out, his body will recover by 30% or 40%. Zongzheng Qingqi also wants to take this time to think about what he should do.
It's just that it's useless for him, a little emperor with no real power, to speak. After seeing Xiao Chu nodded slightly, the servant on the side helped "Yan Chu" go down.
At this time in the past, the little emperor should be angry again, but because of the foolish things done by the Supreme Emperor, he patronized his guilty conscience and didn't care about it.
There are still more than ten years to grind, and Zongzheng Qingqi feels that she has to get used to this situation.
*****
In the dead of night, Wan Qilan went to bed to rest under the service of the maidservant. Before she lay down for a long time, she felt a staring gaze.
"Who?"
She opened her eyes vigilantly, and her tense limbs relaxed after seeing the person coming.
"You came."
After arranging those things, she expected that the other party would come to her, but she never thought that the other party would be so bold as to talk about Yining Palace at night.
"I told you not to get involved in these things."
In the dim room, Yan Chu's figure became even thinner, Wan Qilan's heart tightened, and she couldn't help being a little worried.
"I just do what I have to do, I don't need your permission."
Wan Qilan understands him better than anyone else, no matter how much a person changes, his nature will not change, how could he allow the world to know that the eldest son of the Yan family has become a eunuch.
Therefore, his identity will become a secret between the two of them and will be sealed forever. Wan Qilan can't persuade him on this point, because for Yan Chu, the disclosure of his identity will bring him greater pain and harm .
This time, the man who replaced Yan Chu's identity was her secret guard. The so-called secret guard is a person who lives in the shadows, cannot have his own name, cannot have his own preferences, and exists like a shadow.
She asked the other party to pretend to be Yan Chu, and as long as the Yan family was rehabilitated, she would give him a name and set him free. This was a temptation that no dark guard could resist. The tempering of the "sea of fire" is not difficult.
When the time comes, "Yan Chu" will naturally disappear, and others will regard him as a vindication for his relatives. His wish is fulfilled, and he takes the initiative to stay away from the disputes in the court. This way of handling is already the best way she can think of.
What Yan Chu was asking for was to return justice to his relatives. Emperor Chengqing would lose his life for this, and those who participated in these things would also pay the due price, but the others were innocent. Wan Qilan didn't want Yan Chu to be lost In the hatred, the dynasty collapsed, and the people would only be hurt. Once Yan Chu woke up from the hatred and saw the desolation of the country, he would be the first to regret it.
These are the men of the Yan family, and their justice cannot be changed from the bottom of their hearts.
Wan Qilan knew that she was not qualified to persuade him, because his relatives who died in the massacre were also innocent, so why should his innocent family members die, while the Zongzheng royal family and the blood relatives of Emperor Chengqing could be good? live.
This is an unsolvable situation, Wan Qilan just wants to stop everything in the most appropriate position.
"Are you doing all this because you love me?"
Yan Chu took a step forward, and the dim yellow candle lamp that was lit all day beside Wan Qilan's bed hit his side face with light.
Unmistakably handsome, in an instant, Wan Qilan seemed to have returned to the past, the most carefree age.
"If I say this is not enough, when one day Zongzheng Qingqi and I stand on opposite sides, who will you choose?" Yan Chu approached step by step, he squatted down, and gently stroked Wan Qilan's cheeks. face.
In his previous life, Yuanchen was completely insane, perhaps because of Wan Qilan, she was his only obsession in life, but in the end she still chose her son.
Wan Qilan blinked, her eyes were moist. Before she became a mother, she could make a decision without hesitation, but there are some feelings that you can only experience after you become a mother.
That is a piece of meat that has literally fallen from your body, and there is no more important existence than him.
"Your choice is ultimately his." Yan Chu sighed softly.
Even if she was hurt in the previous life, she can do it all over again. What the original body wants is still only her choice.
"sorry."
Wan Qilan grabbed Yan Chu's hand that was about to leave her cheek: "But Yan Chu, I can die with you."
Her love for him has long since become a habit from an obsession at the beginning. In the balance between her son and her lover, Wan Qilan can only choose her son, but this does not mean that her feelings for him are Fake.
The original body has won against all the men in this world, but lost to a child. Maybe what he missed at the beginning, he missed in the end.
Yan Chu broke away from Wan Qilan's tight grip on his hand, stood up slowly, only took a deep look at her, and then left from the bedroom.
"Yan Chu!"
Wan Qilan hurriedly got out of bed and chased after her, not caring about walking barefoot on the stone brick floor.
"Empress Dowager?"
The palace maid who was on guard outside the house woke up when she heard the movement inside the house, and quickly trotted in with the palace lantern.
"Aijia is fine, it was just a dream."
The man had long since disappeared on the other side of the window. Wan Qilan wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. Only she and two maidservants with worried faces were left in the empty bedroom. What happened just now was really like a like a dream.
She could only smell the faint smell of medicine that hadn't dissipated, and feel the traces of the other party's past visits.
Under the service of the palace servants, Wan Qilan wiped her feet again, then lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.
Go to sleep, go to sleep, maybe when she wakes up, everything she has experienced these years is just a dream, they are still children, still living at the most carefree age.