Princess An calmed down and said, "On the third day after you left, Queen Wang died. Qin Zhou killed her."
"What?" Everyone was shocked.
Zi'an shook his head, "I don't believe it. Qin Zhou would never kill the current queen." The world finally settled down, why would Qin Zhou start a mess at this time? Killing the queen is a serious crime, and the emperor cannot protect her.
"There are both witnesses and evidence." Princess An said solemnly.
"Who is the witness? What is the physical evidence?" Zi'an asked.
Princess An looked at the astonished expressions of the crowd and said with a wry smile, "The witness turned out to be the old lady of the Qin family. As for the physical evidence, it was Qin Zhou's sword, which was seized on the spot."
Zi'an and Murong Jie looked at each other and it seemed that what they had guessed just now was almost right.
Princess An took a deep breath before telling the whole story.
"That day, Queen Wang summoned the old lady of the Qin family to the palace early in the morning. Because she was granted the title of the first-rank imperial edict, the old lady was supposed to enter the palace to express her gratitude. The decree did not specify that Qin Zhou should enter the palace. It was the old lady of the Qin family who asked Qin Zhou to accompany her. After entering the palace, she went to the Queen's Yixuan Palace. I heard that she also called several concubines over. Later, Qin Zhou and Queen Wang quarreled about General Long's marriage. In the end, Qin Zhou stabbed Queen Wang with a sword, and Queen Wang died on the spot."
Zi'an gasped, "You mean to say that there are several other concubines who saw Qin Zhou kill people with their own eyes?"
"The concubines didn't see it, but Old Lady Qin did. When they were arguing, Old Lady Qin invited the Queen and Qin Zhou to the inner hall, saying that she wanted to talk in private. But after they went in, Qin Zhou was still very angry and kept cursing. The concubines heard it. Later, they heard Queen Wang scream. When they went in, Queen Wang was already dead."
"This is unbelievable." Zi'an said, "What on earth are Qin Zhou and Queen Wang arguing about?"
"It was Qin Zhou's marriage. Queen Wang said that General Long had found her and asked her to be fair and grant Qin Zhou and Long Taisun a marriage. Qin Zhou was disgusted, so Queen Wang said that the prince looked down on General Long's grandson so much. Could it be that he wanted to marry into the royal family? Qin Zhou was furious. He disregarded his status and contradicted Queen Wang. Queen Wang was of noble status, so how could she tolerate it? She scolded him a few words. Qin Zhou was a hot-tempered person. She even said that Queen Wang was trying to sow discord between her and the emperor. Because these words were very indecent to say in front of the concubine, the old lady of the Qin family was present, so she slapped Qin Zhou in anger, took her to the inner palace to teach her a lesson, and then invited Queen Wang in to let Qin Zhou apologize for her. However, after entering, Queen Wang even made sarcastic and provocative remarks, so Qin Zhou killed Queen Wang..."
Murong Jie figured out the problem. "That is to say, the only person who saw Qin Zhou killing someone was the old lady of the Qin family?"
"Yes, but the old lady of the Qin family would not lie, right? That is her precious granddaughter." Princess An said.
Murong Jie said calmly: "Who knows?"
Princess An was startled and looked at Murong Jie. Seeing that he had a strange expression, she began to think deeply.
Zi'an asked, "Princess, how is Qin Zhou now?"
"Old Madam Qin tied her up with her own hands and has already put her in the prison. In the court, Old Madam Qin knelt down and confessed that she had failed to discipline her grandson and had given birth to a violent and evil grandson. She asked the emperor to punish the entire Qin family and also said that Qin Zhou should be expelled from the army first and removed from his military status."
Murong Jie said coldly: "If you don't have military status, you can't control the military power. The old lady is playing a good trick."
"Can you see Qin Zhou?" Zi'an asked the princess.
Princess An shook her head. "How can I see him? I can't even see Prince Qi. The murder of the queen has already alerted the Ministry of Justice. Even if the emperor wants to be partial, it's impossible. Moreover, the emperor sent someone to find me overnight and told me to find the prince and princess, saying that you two will definitely find a way to save Qin Zhou."
The new emperor had just ascended the throne. Everything he had now was given by Qin Zhou. He didn't even have his own connections. Without Qin Zhou, his throne would be meaningless.
He had no way of releasing Qin Zhou privately without the permission of the Ministry of Justice.
Zi'an suddenly remembered what Xiao Tuo had said just now. Could it be that this was a conspiracy from the beginning? Burning Wolf Tail Mountain and starving the victims of Ancheng to death were all a conspiracy. The purpose was to make Qin Zhou rebel, and then to take away Qin Zhou's military power with a big move. Because, without Qin Zhou, what would the new emperor be? Isn't it just meat on the chopping board, waiting to be slaughtered
Xiao Tuo has always been a careless person, but maybe he has glimpsed the truth now.
Thinking of this, Zian quickly asked, "Princess An, do you know who the eunuch following the emperor is?"
"Eunuch?" Princess An narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment, "Are you talking about Master Liu?"
"I don't know, but at the state banquet that day, there was such a person standing next to the emperor. Lingli said he looked very much like Chu Jing." Zi'an said.
"My Lord," Princess An looked at Murong Jie, "Brother Prince Qi told me that the Emperor... the late Emperor is not dead, right?"
"What Prince Zhenguo said should be true." Murong Jie said.
Princess An sighed, "In fact, I felt that everything was going too smoothly, so I kept paying attention secretly. I just felt that although things were strange, I couldn't find out anything. But Old Lady Qin, who didn't manage things much before, suddenly became active, which I found strange at the time. And Master Liu was someone who served Chu Yue for many years, and was also rewarded to Chu Yue by the Empress Dowager. In fact, the Empress Dowager also placed people around many princes and princesses, and I also had people around me, but I sent them away later. If the emperor didn't die and stayed in the palace, then..."
Princess An felt so horrified even as she spoke that she couldn't go on.
Zi'an asked doubtfully, "If Chu Jingruo is not dead, why is he putting on such a big show just to undermine Qin Zhou's military power?"
Zi'an felt something was not right, there must be something he had missed.
Murong Jie's mind suddenly flashed like lightning, and he said sternly: "No, not only that, Emperor Kangping signed a peace treaty with us, we left, and at the same time, Xiao Xiao withdrew his troops."
Zi'an stood up suddenly, his face pale, "That's right, Xiao Xiao has retreated, Qin Zhou is now in prison, and the military power is in the hands of Old Lady Qin and General Long. If they rush to catch us and kill us by surprise at this time, our Great Zhou will definitely be defeated!"
Su Qing also said with a pale face: "That's right. If we didn't see through the conspiracy and held this peace letter, we would think that the border was peaceful. Why would we leave sentries to spy on the military intelligence? By then, I'm afraid we won't even know when the enemy is at the gates."
Murong Jie slammed the table and said angrily, "What a vicious plan."
Although Zi'an was furious, he had to admire Chu Jing for his risk-of-life strategy. He was even willing to temporarily abandon his own throne just to swallow up the Great Zhou. His ambition outweighed everything else. If he succeeded, the Great Zhou would definitely not be their ultimate goal.
And if they take this letter of peace back and the whole country relaxes its composure, and then the Northern Desert invades on a large scale, they will be the sinners of the Great Zhou, sinners who will be infamous for eternity!
(End of this chapter)