Jiuxi

Chapter 614 Chapter 612 [Watching the Fire from the Other Side]

"See Queen Mother."

Li Zongben came forward and saluted meticulously.

"Greetings to the Queen Mother."

The important officials bowed and saluted on both sides.

Empress Dowager Xu glanced at her youngest son Li Zongjian who was kneeling on the ground and said indifferently, "No need to be polite, just stand up."

Li Zongben stood up, looked at the woman's face, which showed resentment and anger, and said calmly, "If you have anything to ask, you can summon me to the Cining Palace. Why do you have to go there in person?"

Empress Dowager Xu's expression changed slightly, and her tone became more gloomy: "How dare I trouble the emperor?"

This most noble mother and son in Da Qi seemed to be on the verge of a confrontation from the very beginning.

Right Prime Minister Xue Nanting and others couldn't help but frown.

They could understand the origin of the emperor's attitude.

Today's small-scale court meeting had nothing to do with the assassination case. It was just a very ordinary discussion that was held every now and then.

For a dynasty with a vast territory, countless government affairs occur every day, and many of them need to be handled by the central government. It is impossible for the emperor to discuss every matter at the grand court meeting, as the efficiency of doing so would be shockingly low.

In fact, most of the court affairs were screened by the prime minister and the heads of various departments. Suggestions were drawn up for the more important ones and then submitted to the emperor for review.

The emperor would usually summon a small number of important ministers to the palace for consultation based on the content of the agenda. For example, today the main focus was on two major issues: the Boundary Law and the Imperial Inspection.

Only seven days had passed since the assassination case, and no one, including Li Zongben himself, expected that there would be a result so soon.

Lu Chen entered the palace at a coincidence, as the two prime ministers were there at the time. It was impossible for Li Zongben to hide the secret from them, so the previous scene happened.

The problem is that Lu Chen's report to the palace was an emergency, and no one could have anticipated Xue Nanting's subsequent suggestion to summon Li Zongjian. How could Empress Dowager Xu, who was in the harem, know about this?
There is only one answer, that is, Empress Dowager Xu has actually been keeping an eye on the previous dynasty, or at least has never relaxed her attention on Qiushan Lane.

Up to now, she has this ability, because in the past ten years, because of Li Duan's trust in her, she has been in full management of the harem, and she has many trusted confidants.

Although Li Zongben immediately replaced Lu Shizhou with Yuan Yuji after he ascended the throne, Yuan Yuji was unable to fully control the Ministry of Internal Affairs in a short period of time.

In short, from the time Li Zongjian left Qiushan Lane to the time he entered Xiu'ren Hall, someone had already gone to Cining Hall to report the news, so Empress Dowager Xu arrived so timely.

This was the reason why Li Zongben spoke with veiled sarcasm from the very beginning when he met Queen Mother Xu.

Compared to his indirect attacks, Empress Dowager Xu's anger was more direct.

Li Zongjian was suddenly brought to the palace by Yuan Yuji from Qiushan Lane. She knew without even thinking that this was a bad omen, and therefore found it difficult to control her emotions.

In her opinion, Li Zongjian is now barely alive, barely keeping his life, while you, Li Zongben, are already the emperor, and the funeral of the late emperor has just ended. Are you so anxious that you must find a reason to put him to death?
As she thought of this, her eyes became even colder.

Li Zongben took a deep breath and said in a slow tone, "Your Majesty, your words frighten me. If I have done anything wrong, please reprimand me."

Empress Dowager Xu tried hard to suppress her sarcasm. After all, her beloved youngest son was still kneeling there. Seeing that Li Zongben seemed to be about to bow his head, she slowly said, "As a woman in the harem, I naturally dare not interfere in the affairs of the outer court. But when I heard that the emperor summoned Li Zongjian to the palace, I remembered that I had not seen him for more than a year. If the emperor does not allow him to enter the harem, I am afraid that we will never see each other again in the future. That is why I came here in a hurry."

She did not hide anything and seemed quite frank. After all, the position of empress dowager was too honorable, and she was also the empress of the previous emperor. No matter how dissatisfied Li Zongben was, he could only accept it. At most, he would speed up the process of taking complete control of the imperial palace.

At this moment, Li Zongjian seemed to come back to his senses, bowed his head to the ground and said in a trembling voice: "Your son greets the queen mother!"

Empress Dowager Xu's heart trembled. She didn't even look over there. She just looked at Li Zongben and said, "Your Majesty, I want to take Li Zongjian back to the Cining Palace to have a brief chat. This will not affect your discussion of state affairs with the officials in the court. Can the emperor allow it?"

This attitude is already quite humble, and it can be considered as giving Li Zongben a way out.

But the young emperor's eyes were slightly cold, and he bowed his head and said, "My Queen Mother, you don't know that the reason I summoned him into the palace is because he is suspected of planning a major assassination in front of the imperial mausoleum."

Empress Dowager Xu's expression suddenly changed, and she looked at her youngest son kneeling on the ground in disbelief.

Li Zongjian said anxiously: "Mother, I, your son——"

Li Zongben interrupted him without hesitation: "You are guilty now, I did not allow you to speak."

Facing the sharp gaze of his second brother, Li Zongjian was speechless and felt cold all over. Empress Dowager Xu did not care about her youngest son at this time, and said decisively: "Emperor, I know that Li Zongjian has a bad past, but I don't believe he would plot to assassinate the emperor. There are only two of you, the blood of the late emperor. Someone must be secretly plotting to lure the royal family to kill each other, so as to shake the foundation of the Great Qi."

Li Zongben said calmly, "This case is under the investigation of Lu Chen, the Duke of Shanyang. He has obtained confessions from the three assassins, and all the evidence points to Li Zongjian."

Empress Dowager Xu glanced at the young official coldly, and then said to Li Zongben, "Such a serious case, but the emperor only let him investigate it?"

"The Ministry of Justice is also involved."

Li Zongben had calmed down at this moment, and then added: "Mother, if Lu Qing had not rescued you in time, the assassin might have succeeded. Therefore, I trust him. Moreover, he has the ability to do so. The fact that he found out the clues in just seven days is proof of this."

Although Empress Dowager Xu lived in the deep palace, she also knew the details of the assassination case in the imperial tomb. Not to mention how she felt when she heard the news, she was inevitably full of suspicion at this moment.

The reason why she firmly believed in Li Zongjian's innocence was that not long ago Li Zongjian asked Xu Ruqing to send a message to Cining Palace through his relatives.

Empress Dowager Xu remembered very clearly that Li Zongjian asked her not to conflict with Li Zongben for the time being, and not to pay too much attention to his situation in Qiushan Lane.

If he really wanted to kill the king, why would he deliberately hide it from his biological mother?
This is clearly a not very clever frame-up!

Empress Dowager Xu suppressed her anger and said in a deep voice: "The so-called evidence is often just a frame-up by some people with ulterior motives. I just said that it is the ancestral rule of the Great Qi Dynasty that the harem cannot interfere in politics, and I will never violate the royal ancestral precepts. However, this matter is clearly someone deliberately plotting to alienate the royal family. Emperor, the funeral in the mountain mausoleum is still before us, do you really want to fulfill the wishes of those people and kill your own brother with your own hands?"

The atmosphere, which had been gradually easing, suddenly became tense again.

Especially since Empress Dowager Xu brought up the late emperor, it was obvious that she wanted to forcibly intervene in this matter.

In fact, this was also her helpless act. After all, how could a woman like her know how to investigate a case?
Even if she is really good at this, the officials in the outer court are not descendants of the royal family, so how can they obey her orders?

Regardless of the authenticity of the evidence, if the emperor wanted to pin the crime on Li Zongjian, the officials in the outer court would have plenty of ways to make the case an ironclad one.

If she wanted to save Li Zongjian's life, she had no choice but to put on the airs of a queen mother and force Li Zongben to make concessions in the name of filial piety.

Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Xu looked coldly at Lu Chen who was standing solemnly beside her, with no concealment of the resentment in her eyes.

Lu Chen, however, was like a stone Buddha, seemingly unable to sense the Queen Mother's gaze at all.

Li Zongben suddenly sighed and asked, "I wonder what the Queen Mother needs me to do?"

Empress Dowager Xu said without hesitation: "I don't know, it's all up to the emperor to make the decision. But in my opinion, the assassination case must be caused by someone stirring up trouble in the dark, and it seems inappropriate for the emperor to let the Duke of Shanyang investigate alone. Although he is loyal and capable, he can't do it alone, and he may listen to one side and believe it."

Li Zongben said solemnly, "Mother, I have just said that although Lu Qing is in charge of this case, he is not the only one who handles it. All officials from the Ministry of Justice are involved. If you do not believe me, I can summon Gao Huan, the Minister of Justice, to the palace and ask him about this matter in person."

Queen Mother Xu suppressed her annoyance and said slowly, "After all, you still don't believe in my judgment?"

"I don't dare."

Li Zongben bowed his head slightly, then raised his head, looked straight into the eyes of Empress Dowager Xu, and said sternly: "I know that you are reluctant, but people should be responsible for their own decisions. Since Li Zongjian dared to do such a rebellious thing, he must pay the price, because the laws of the court cannot be trampled. Otherwise, I don't know how to explain to the people of Daqi."

In fact, when Empress Dowager Xu appeared in Xiu'ren Hall, many things had no room for maneuver.

If Empress Dowager Xu could be patient temporarily and discuss the matter with Li Zongben in private, perhaps Li Zongjian would still have a chance to survive. After all, Li Zongben had never intended to take his life.

However, Empress Dowager Xu broke into Xiu'ren Hall and asked Li Zongben to bow his head in front of many important ministers. How could he give in easily?
To be honest, whether Li Zongjian is dead or alive is not the most important issue at the moment, but if she can't even assassinate the emperor, won't Empress Dowager Xu become even more aggressive in the future?
When Empress Dowager Xu forced him to allow Li Zongjian to attend the funeral at the mountain mausoleum, there was already a thorn in Li Zongben's heart. What happened today made the thorn go deeper into his flesh.

If you give in to some things, things will get out of control later.

Li Zongben was well aware of this, so there was no way he would bow his head on this occasion.

A look of determination appeared on Queen Mother Xu's face. She clenched her hands tightly, her nails pricking her palms so hard that they hurt, but she didn't react at all.

Looking at the young emperor in front of her who refused to retreat, she took a deep breath and said coldly, "In this case, Your Majesty, why don't you let me go with him--"

"Your Majesty, I have something to say!"

An old voice suddenly sounded, abruptly interrupting Empress Dowager Xu's resolute words which had not yet been uttered.

(End of this chapter)