I, who disguised myself as a woman, turned out to be a queen! ?

Chapter 1236 Your Majesty, might be a man
He was interrupted again, still in the emperor's indifferent tone, and still directly pointed out what Shen Yuanhao cared about most.

Shen Yuanhao's expression froze as he looked at the Great Xia Empress who had stood up.

The empress who is now referred to by many people as the "restoration ancestor" and even compared to Emperor Taizu Gao.

Su Chang'an stood up without saying a word and stood beside his wife.

Xia Fengxiang looked at Shen Yuanhao: "If you went to great lengths to deliberately leave something behind, just so you could see me and the Empress, and use those things..."

Xia Fengxiang pointed to the box that had not yet been taken out, "Prove your so-called talent. Then use what you are saying now to tell me about the future of me and the Empress, and the future of Great Xia. That would mean that you really have no talent at all, and what they said is all true."

As they walked and talked, when they reached the outer corridor of the main hall, Xia Fengxiang looked at Shen Yuanhao and said, “Because of Mr. Shen, after everything was settled, I decided to confer upon him the title of Duke of Anguo and enshrine him in the Great Xia Martyrs’ Shrine. You are his younger brother, so you will succeed him as Duke. Afterwards, I decided to send you to Liaozhou. Both the Empress and Du Yu said that it is very suitable for growing grain there and can be the granary of our Great Xia. However, the fertile land needs to be cultivated, and there are many complicated matters that require a capable person to supervise. I had discussed this with others before, but they all told me to think it over carefully, saying that you are not capable of shouldering such a great responsibility. Now it seems that I acted on impulse and wanted to make up for my guilt towards Mr. Shen by putting you in charge, but you really have no talent.”

"I gave you two chances, and the first time you said that your insignificant official position was not enough to display your great talents, and the second time you said the same thing?"

Shen Yuanhao stared at the Empress, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. The next moment, he shouted, "These!? Your Majesty! You said these?"

As he spoke, Shen Yuanhao took a step forward!
Aunt Sun, Feng Chun, Ru Yu, She Yue, Kuang Juan, and Lu Cai hurriedly stepped forward.

But Xia Fengxiang waved his hand, and no one came over.

Shen Yuanhao, however, looked at the others in the hall: "These? Ask them if they care about the position of Crown Prince of Great Xia! Of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no heir. You are the general of a nation, and although you are not yet ready to stand on your own two feet, you are still a man of great talent and ambition. But life and death can happen in the blink of an eye. It is not wrong for you to marry the Empress, but it is wrong to have no heir!"

Then, he looked at Mu Xu: "Mu Xu! Grand Master Mu! Do you care about this matter? You are a great literary figure. A hundred years from now, you will be able to be listed on the pages of the Confucian classics. The king has no heir, and you don't care? And you! Xun Kuang! You hide your ambitions, but I know you want the world to call you Master Xun. Your ambitions are something His Majesty can fulfill, but what about the next one? Who will be chosen? The King of Yue has become a monk, the King of Chu has entered the world of martial arts. Although he has a daughter, her wild nature is hard to change. The heir of the King of An, hmph. The other two kings are carefree and do not concern themselves with politics. Only the King of Shu is left. Are you going to bring Li Ni Chang's son here?"

Shen Yuanhao pointed at Li Lingyun, "You! Li Lingyun! I know that many censors in your Censorate have already written numerous memorials urging His Majesty to take a concubine, but you have blocked many of them. A few were even sent to the Secretariat and then to His Majesty, but His Majesty ignored them, wasn't he! Moreover, you deliberately sent those memorials there. You also know that the Crown Prince of Great Xia is vacant. It may not seem like a problem now, but in the long run, people's hearts will be in turmoil! You! Su Ziyu, when you were serving as the governor of a prefecture, overseeing military and political power, did you ever think about what would happen to your Su family if your adopted daughter were a man?"

Su Ziyu's face was grim, but he remained silent.

Shen Yuanhao clearly didn't let anyone off the hook, and pointed at Luo Anxu: "Lord Luo, you've always kept to yourself, just doing your own thing in your own little corner of the capital, but once you got drunk in your own residence and brought up the matter of the Crown Prince, saying how wonderful it would be to have an Crown Prince, right!"

Luo Anxu's expression froze for a moment, and he immediately looked at Xia Fengxiang.

Xia Fengxiang looked at Shen Yuanhao with a smile on his lips, but waved his hand, indicating that Luo Anxu didn't need to say anything.

Shen Yuanhao then pointed to Kuyue beside him: "Deputy Commander Shen Tu, I've heard that when you were drunk, you said something like this to outsiders: His Majesty and the Empress once argued about the children! You are a person before the Emperor."

Kuyue blinked: "We didn't say that."

Shen Yuanhao scoffed: "Didn't you say that?"

Ku Yue immediately frowned: "I'll kill you, believe it or not. When did I ever say that?"

At this point, Kuyue looked at Sheyue and saw Sheyue nodding with a worried expression.

Ku Yue frowned slightly, then suddenly realized something, and immediately bit her lower lip, looking pitifully at Su Chang'an and Xia Fengxiang.

Su Chang'an glanced at Ku Yue and smiled gently.

Xia Fengxiang didn't pay attention to Ku Yue, but looked at Shen Yuanhao: "Ku Yue said these words at the Yue Prince's residence. I remember it was about a month ago. When she sent them to me, I told her not to eat any snacks for a week. Go on."

Ku Yue stared wide-eyed, then counted the days on her fingers. Suddenly she looked up and realized, "No wonder Sun Shanggong and Yan Yunxiao wouldn't let me eat any snacks that week!"
What a cruel heart!

Shen Yuanhao clenched his fists, staring intently at Xia Fengxiang as he looked at the still composed Empress: "You don't care at all?! You don't care about Great Xia?!"

Xia Fengxiang said, "I simply don't care about the Great Xia you speak of."

After saying that, Xia Fengxiang sighed, "If you have nothing else to say, then get straight to the point and say what you haven't said yet. I'm a little hungry, and these ministers have been busy for so long, they should rest."

Shen Yuanhao's expression turned even uglier.

But Xia Fengxiang turned away from Shen Yuanhao and continued, "From the other people we arrested the other day, we learned that they each had people planted in many people's residences, from doormen to maids, using the same methods as you—either bribing them or setting traps and threatening them. You must have gotten your information from them. Moreover, after Lu Cai's interrogation, someone confessed that you had met Rao Jiang, the assassin who tried to assassinate Prince An and Prince Chu, once. Although he never saw him in person, you told them yourself. In other words, can I understand that there are other Rao Jiang assassins in the capital? Even if it's not the only one, Rao Jiang is skilled in using poison, which is a big problem."

At this point, Xia Fengxiang had already reached the low table. Su Chang'an brought out cushions and other things, helped her sit down, and then Xia Fengxiang looked at Shen Yuanhao: "I hope you're not talking about other assassins, otherwise, you'll disappoint me even more."

Su Chang'an glanced at Xia Fengxiang. It was true that the confessions Lu Cai sent contained information about people they had arranged for each mansion, but when did they get the news that Shen Yuanhao had met with the Raojiang assassin who tried to assassinate Prince An?

Is this a trap?
Su Chang'an remained calm, only glancing at Shen Yuanhao.

Lu Cai was somewhat taken aback, but he kept his head down, so no one noticed his expression. He also knew that he had to keep his head down, otherwise it would be bad if people noticed his expression.

Shen Yuanhao looked at Xia Fengxiang with surprise in his eyes, but the next moment he roared, "Xia Fengxiang, do you really not plan to consider the future of Great Xia! Let me tell you, you have no heirs, and these people! In a dozen years, no! In a few years, they will immediately fall into chaos. At that time, it won't be you, Su Chang'an, who can stop Xia Fengxiang from taking male concubines into the palace! They! All these people will oppose you!"

"A fall from grace is a fall from grace. At that time, all those people outside the palace, and all those who currently fawn over you throughout the Great Xia, will speak out because you have no heir, and will all point fingers at you, Su Chang'an, and call you a jealous woman because the Great Xia has no male consorts! Everything you have now, all of it..."

Xia Fengxiang said softly, "Kuyue, cut off your tongue."

Upon hearing this, Ku Yue, who was so small, took a step forward and reappeared with one hand pressing down on Shen Yuanhao's face, while the other hand produced a short knife from somewhere.

For Kuyue, cutting out a person's tongue is as easy as turning her hand.

Blood splattered.

Shen Yuanhao let out a 'woo woo' sound, his mouth full of blood.

Xia Fengxiang said, "Mr. Shen showed you leniency, and I've given you three chances to forgive you. You've used them all, so I have no reason to give you any more. And what you're about to say really is that Rao Jiang is still in the capital. By the way, those people didn't say you'd seen Rao Jiang. I was lying to you. After all, I've been thinking about what you could offer as leverage. Since it involves Shu, that's all I could come up with, so I was just trying to trick you. I didn't expect it to actually be true."

Xia Fengxiang continued, "I will not kill you. I will let you live and let you see the future of Great Xia. I will kill you when you see it! As for Mr. Shen, if he blames me for not taking good care of you in the future, then so be it."

"But Mr. Shen will probably tell me, 'His brother has caused me trouble.' As for you, you spread rumors and slandered the Empress, showed great disrespect to your superiors, and framed officials—who, of course, are a bunch of fools who lack official ethics! Furthermore, you disrupted the Great Xia, brought disaster to the court, and colluded with foreign powers to sell armor privately, which I don't care about! But fifteen ships of grain, a full fifteen ships! If you had sent them to Shu and let people eat them, I wouldn't be so angry! But you dumped them into the sea! They were all fed to the fish! Your crimes are so serious that I have no reason to forgive you. Throw you back into prison!"

Lu Cai and She Yue immediately clasped their hands in greeting. Shen Yuanhao clearly wanted to say something, but his mouth was full of blood and blood splattered out as soon as he opened his mouth.

Looking at Xia Fengxiang's appearance, Su Chang'an placed a hand on Xia Fengxiang's stomach, somewhat worried.

Inside the hall, no official dared to look at the emperor; they all bowed their heads.

But Mu Xu glanced at the Emperor and happened to see the Empress's actions, then quickly lowered his head.

Xia Fengxiang glanced at Su Chang'an and shook his head, indicating that he was fine. Then he looked at the people in the hall and said, "Gentlemen, interrogate those people outside thoroughly and find out if they know anything else. As for how to convict them, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Secretariat can decide. I have no other requirements, only four words: 'to serve as a warning to others!'"

Dugu Ruyuan and Lu Qingxu immediately stepped forward, bowed, and accepted the order.

However, Li Endi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, looked at Xia Fengxiang and said, "Your Majesty, what about the assassin from Raojiang?"

Xia Fengxiang said, "You don't need to worry about it. Making a big fuss will only alert them. Just have the Thirteen Valiant Guards and the Sword-wielding Guards investigate. Besides, if they are from Raojiang, even if they are not at the Zhijing level, they are still experts in poison. If we are not careful, it could cause a big mess. There are many people in the capital now, and envoys from other countries that have not yet been destroyed are also arriving one after another. We cannot afford to cause any trouble in the capital now."

Lee Eun-ji immediately clasped her hands in a fist and said, "Yes."

Xia Fengxiang glanced at Li Endi: "Li Wei's ship is about to dock, right? Any news?"

Li Wei and the others were the students who went to Japan last October. There had been news that they were on their way back.

Li Endi immediately said, "If it were the normal Jiaozhou Port, it would probably take three or even four quarters of this year to return. But we're going through the former site of the Joseon Dynasty, where Lord Du built a small port and we're docked there. If we don't stop along the way, we should be able to get back by the end of the month."

Xia Fengxiang nodded, but before he could speak, he saw Su Chang'an looking at him.

Seeing that look in his eyes, Xia Fengxiang immediately looked away, avoiding Su Chang'an's gaze. He was mainly feeling guilty because his old habit had resurfaced, and he had suddenly started asking about politics again.

Then he looked at Lee Eun-ji and said, "Yes, we will reward them when we get back. If the Empress's method of exchanging silver for gold is fully implemented, they will all be people who have made great contributions."

Lee Eun-ji immediately said, "My son is just learning from you."

Xia Fengxiang nodded and then said nothing more.

Su Chang'an said with a smile, "Please have some supper first. There are so many people outside, we'll be busy."

Everyone in the hall clasped their hands in greeting.

There's not much more to say after that.

After all, everything that needed to be said has been said, and everything that needed to be known has been known.

Everyone should leave now and go to the interrogation.

But since the Empress had prepared a late-night snack, we naturally had to stay and eat it first.

However, while eating, everyone noticed that Deputy Commander Shentu fawned over the Empress, massaging her legs and feet, but was thrown away by the Empress.

Moreover, the Empress was chatting and joking with the Chief Minister and others.

It felt like we were back to the easy-going Empress we all knew.

But since everyone is upright and has nothing to fear, why would they care about the appearance of those empresses before?
Moreover, in the eyes of Lu Qingxu, the Minister of Justice, that was the proper dignity that an empress should possess.

After midnight snack
Everyone left.

Mu Xu left with Xun Kuang's help. He didn't need to participate in the interrogation; he only needed to be present when the verdict was handed down.

On the carriage after leaving the palace, Xun Kuang looked at his teacher with his eyes closed in deep thought, and Xun Kuang hesitated several times before speaking.

Mu Xu said, "You'll be a little tired tonight. Go to Dugu Ruyuan's place later to listen to their interrogation and find out if there are any people they arranged to be in the Imperial Academy."

Xun Kuang immediately nodded: "Yes, teacher."

But after saying that, Mu Xu opened one eye and looked at Xun Kuang: "Spit it out if you have something to say. I'm not stupid enough to take it."

Xun Kuang pursed his lips, thinking, "Teacher's mouth is really something."

But looking at Mu Xu, Xun Kuang said, "Tonight, Shen Yuanhao."

But before he could even speak, Mu Xu laughed and scolded, "You care about what he said?"

Xun Kuang shook his head: "What he said, as His Majesty said, is the Great Xia he speaks of, and has nothing to do with us."

Mu Xu nodded in satisfaction, but looking at Xun Kuang, Mu Xu laughed and scolded, "You've already said that, yet you're still hesitant to ask me. Have you also noticed that His Majesty is acting strangely?"

Xun Kuang swallowed hard: "Teacher, it's not just His Majesty who's acting strangely, but the Empress is too. And from Shen Yuanhao's disrespectful words and His Majesty's response, I feel... I just can't quite put my finger on it."

Mu Xu was silent for a moment: "If you think about it, if Her Majesty were a man, would everything make sense?"

Xun Kuang was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Mu Xu: "Huh?"

……

P.S.: I was probably too tired yesterday and fell asleep last night, sleeping until this afternoon, which is why I'm only updating now.

(End of this chapter)