The emperor always had more trust in his own sons, especially Prince Liang. He had always been more partial to Prince Liang. Although he had some thoughts in his mind because of his recent closeness to Murong Jie, he had never had any thoughts or been too defensive about Murong Jie before.
The foundation of trust is solid, so this time, he chose to believe King Liang, and the look he gave King Nan Huai became a little colder.
The royal relatives and ministers did not dare to say anything. Who would dare to speak at this moment when the situation was unclear
Prince Qi's identity was rather embarrassing. This was a matter of the Great Zhou, and he, a foreign prince, should not have listened to it. But he couldn't leave now, which really made him a little at a loss.
After hearing what King Liang said, King Nan Huai sneered a few times, "I really didn't expect you to be such a scheming person, Axin. I misjudged you. Shangqiu was in the room when you came in, and you came with Murong Jie."
The King of Liang said angrily, "Uncle, when did I take my Seventh Uncle with me? I haven't seen him since he went to war. What are you going to do tonight? When Shangqiu held me at swordpoint and asked me to leave, you said that the weapons were in the backyard. Do you want to rebel?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" King Nan Huai asked sternly. Putting all the events together, he realized that this was a conspiracy by Murong Jie and King Liang, trying to frame him with a charge of treason.
The emperor slowly raised his hand and said to Prince Qi: "Prince, I have made a fool of myself in my family affairs. This uncle and nephew have always had some conflicts in the past. I didn't expect that they would quarrel tonight. I am sorry for the disrespect."
Prince Qi said quickly: "Your Majesty, family affairs are hard to resolve. The palm of your hand is made of flesh, and the back of your hand is also made of flesh. But it doesn't matter. We are all family. If there are any misunderstandings, just clarify them."
He took advantage of the situation and stood up. "My young master will be leaving for his country tomorrow. I will go back and pack my things first. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your sincere hospitality. My young master will take his leave first!"
The emperor smiled and said, "Then you go first. I will see you off in the Golden Palace tomorrow morning."
This means that Prince Qi will have to go to the palace to say goodbye tomorrow.
Prince Qi bowed and said, "Yes, I will take my leave!"
Prince Qi left with a feeling of relief. Once Prince Qi left, the ministers naturally left as well. Everyone could see that the emperor deliberately interrupted the questioning and asked Prince Qi to leave so that he could deal with the matter privately.
As soon as the banquet was over, the emperor stood up and returned to the Xiwei Palace. Before leaving, he made a gesture to General Zhang, asking him to take the people to the Xiwei Palace.
Zi'an and Murong Zhuangzhuang did not leave either, and followed to Xiwei Palace. The emperor did not forbid them to follow. As Murong Jie's princess, she was very angry about her husband being framed, so she had to go and see.
Before returning to Xiwei Palace, he first called Sun Fanger in.
Sun Fang'er is not in the palace.
Just before Prince Nan Huai entered the palace, the secret guard reported that after Sun Fang'er met with Shangqiu and an arms dealer from Dayue Country, Shangqiu and the arms dealer left first, but Sun Fang'er had not left yet.
After confirming this, the emperor summoned people in.
"You just said that Axin brought the Regent to your house, is that right?" After the emperor sat down, he slowly asked Prince Nan Huai.
Nan Huai Wang knew that the emperor would not believe anything he said now, but he had no choice but to hold on. He knelt down and said firmly, "Your Majesty, I did not lie. I swear on my life that Murong Jie is back. He left the army without permission and came back. He told me that he was going to lead troops into the palace to rebel and was colluding with King Liang. He has a batch of bows and crossbows, which are in the residential area behind Jiaoheju."
"Lord Zhang," the emperor ordered expressionlessly, "take your men to search the houses behind Jiaohe Residence, and then take your men to search the backyard of Prince Nanhuai's Palace."
"Yes!" General Zhang took the order and went out.
After General Zhang left, the emperor went into the inner hall, leaving only Shangqiu, Prince Nanhuai and Prince Liang in the main hall.
Zhuangzhuang and Zi'an were outside the curtain, listening to the noise inside.
When Prince Nan Huai saw that everyone had left, he stood up and stared at Prince Liang, "You have such a vicious heart. You pretended to cooperate with me to escape, but it turned out to be a conspiracy between you and Murong Jie."
King Liang sat down and said angrily, "Okay, uncle, shut up. Father is not here now, and there is no need for you to blame me. I don't want to know what your intentions are, and I don't want to know what you are planning. I only ask you, for the sake of our uncle-nephew relationship, not to drag me into this."
"Murong Jie has no intention of rebelling. You are deliberately setting a trap to harm me, right?" King Nan Huai asked.
Although the emperor went in, he saw Eunuch Lu behind the curtain, and the pair of shoes could not be hidden from him.
King Liang snorted, looking as if he didn't want to pay attention.
Shangqiu stepped forward and said, "Your Highness Prince Liang, the prince is now loyal to the emperor, why do you have to frame him like this? You are uncle and nephew after all, why are you so anxious to harm each other? The regent is back tonight, you and I have seen it with our own eyes, the emperor only needs to send someone to the army to investigate and he will know everything, you can't deceive the emperor."
When Zi'an heard this, he opened the curtain and walked in, pointing at Shangqiu's nose and cursing, "You Jianghu charlatan, I have tolerated you for a long time. Are you afraid that the world will not be in chaos? It's fine to say that my prince is plotting a rebellion, but now you drag the King of Liang into it. It's simply crazy. I ask you, why did the King of Liang want to rebel? Does he want his uncle to be the emperor instead of his father? Does this logic make sense? The seventh brother is now on a military expedition and is injured, and you took this opportunity to frame him for returning to the capital without permission and to sow discord between him and the emperor. How vicious are you? Well, you said he is back, so why don't you find him? You block the city gates and search one by one to find him out."
Shangqiu was not offended by Zi'an's scolding, and just said calmly: "Princess, don't tell lies in front of the real person. As I said, don't play a trick. Everyone knows these things. I have seen the regent with my own eyes tonight. No matter who asks, I dare to swear, and I am not afraid of God's punishment."
"You are not afraid of heaven's punishment because you will be punished by it sooner or later. How did my seventh son offend you? You say he wants to rebel and become emperor, but why don't you show us the evidence? He and the emperor have a deep brotherly relationship. They have never had a quarrel over all these years. Everyone has seen how much he protects the emperor and how much he loves the Great Zhou. Do you think you can alienate their brotherly relationship by instigating a few words?"
"Since it's just instigation, why are you so anxious and upset, Princess? Look at you, the veins on your face are exposed. If it's not true, why are you getting angry?" Shangqiu said sarcastically.
"I'm not just angry. I even want to kill you. No, I'll kill you now. Even if the emperor blames me, I don't care. My man is not someone you can just frame up. If he wanted to be emperor, why did he wait until now? Couldn't he have seized power when the emperor was sick? If you say another word, I'll tear your mouth apart." Zi'an cursed like a shrew. She knew that every word she uttered tonight would reach the emperor's ears. She was reminding the emperor by scolding Shangqiu that Murong Jie had been loyal to him for so many years, and he had many opportunities to become emperor, but he didn't do it. Doesn't that prove something
Tonight, she knew that the emperor would not blame her no matter what she said or did, because the emperor still wanted her to quell the war with Beimo. In his current situation, he would rather avoid war if possible.
(End of this chapter)