Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 343 Retribution is coming
"Your son has gone mad!"

Cold palace.

When Consort Yan returned, the first thing she said to Consort Wang was to pronounce the Second Prince's fate.

"Ah ah ah ah ah--!!"

Consort Wang, her eyes bloodshot, lunged forward.

What should have been a scene of tearing each other's hair apart, however, was that Consort Yan remained almost completely still, letting the other party vent their anger.

Until the other person is exhausted and collapses to the side.

Although the two women were not abused in the Cold Palace, they were originally powerful concubines who could command the harem and were not even respected by the childless empress. In an instant, they were reduced to female prisoners with no personal freedom. The change in their situation naturally made their lives extremely difficult.

Consort Wang suffered from several serious illnesses and was truly powerless to even kill a chicken.

In comparison, Consort Yan was more resilient.

So at this moment, she still had the strength to say a second sentence: "You shouldn't hate me. This was the outcome from the moment someone let me out!"

Consort Wang's body trembled as she fell to the ground, and she finally collapsed to the ground, weeping bitterly.

Her hopes were dashed.

She endured the bitter days in the cold palace, hoping that one day her son would inherit the throne and take her out.

Unexpectedly...

The crown prince died, and the Prince of De went mad.

None of them had a good ending!
"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

Consort Wang's wailing pierced through the gates of the Cold Palace, but Consort Yan simply returned to her bedside, her fingers stroking a faded baby bib.

"I still can't forget how happy His Majesty was when his son was born. He had been on the throne for over a decade without an heir, and he was extremely anxious..."

Before the baby was even a month old, we named him 'Zaiji' and were filled with anticipation...

"But ever since the number of princes increased, His Majesty has changed..."

"Knowing that my son is seriously ill, you are unwilling to release me from the cold palace so that I can see him one last time!"

"He only let me leave the palace after my son died, so that he could use me to get rid of people he couldn't get rid of!"

At this point, an unprecedented flame suddenly ignited in Consort Yan's empty eyes: "He deserves retribution! He deserves retribution! He deserves retribution!!"

These are curses that weep blood.

The crows that had been roosting under the eaves of the cold palace were startled into flight.

Startled, Consort Wang stopped crying and her face turned pale: "What are you going to do?"

"You know what I'm going to do..."

Consort Yan stared at her intently: "Don't say you've never hated! Don't say you've never thought about it!"

"Of course I hate it, of course I want to..."

Consort Wang trembled and hissed, "But it's impossible...it's impossible!"

At this moment, the two former imperial concubines reached an agreement with the historical Consort Wang Ning.

They all harbored deep resentment towards their former closest bedmates, and out of desperation, they were willing to take a desperate gamble.

But reason tells them.

It's impossible!
If it happened before the Renyin Palace Incident, and the palace was unprepared, then it would be alright; if someone was prepared but caught off guard, there would actually be a chance.

But now, these two women, who couldn't even get close to the Qianqing Palace, were pinned down.

"Killing the emperor is indeed impossible, but what if we change the target?"

"Over the years, the number of concubines in the palace has increased to more and more, with three thousand beauties, yet the cry of a newborn baby has never been heard again..."

Consort Yan's withered fingers traced across the mottled wall, her voice as sharp as ice scraping bone: "He can no longer bear children, our child is gone, so the best punishment is to make him childless!"

Consort Wang was shocked and moved: "How can this be done?"

Consort Yan said coldly, "Why not?"

During her departure from the Cold Palace, she used the process of frightening the Second Prince into a madness to observe many things.

There are two most important points.

First, since the Renyin Palace Incident, the number of guards around Jiajing Emperor has increased several times.

Whether it was day or night, a large number of imperial guards patrolled around the palace.

Jiajing was not Yang Guang after all. He took the imperial guards to the river and wouldn't let them go home. In the end, he directly rebelled and murdered the emperor. The guards in the Forbidden City were still loyal to this emperor.

But this way.

The distribution of the palace's protective forces was very uneven.

Secondly, the treatment of the princes is getting worse and worse.

Just as the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace was dilapidated, and he could only barely move in three months after his formal investiture, this is actually a manifestation of how servants act according to the emperor's wishes.

The father and son had a close relationship, and the son was able to gain the emperor's favor by pleasing the prince, thus gaining influence from both above and below.

Conversely, one should avoid it at all costs.

The most extreme case in history was that Prince Yu did not receive the annual allowance from the court for three consecutive years, leading to financial difficulties for the prince's palace.

Having no other choice, Prince Yu exhausted his family fortune and borrowed another 500 taels from a eunuch, raising a total of 1,500 taels of silver to bribe Yan Shifan, thus finally being able to receive the backlog of annual stipends.

Yan Shifan then boasted, "Even the emperor himself uses gold; who dares not use gold?"

This act of withholding funds is a form of political suppression against Prince Yu.

As everyone knows, the Jiajing Emperor disliked his older son, who was the de facto crown prince.

Oppressing him is, in effect, currying favor with the emperor.

The same principle applies now.

If even the biological father doesn't care about his son, and is suspicious and prone to overreacting to the smallest things, the son's situation is predictable. It was precisely because she was certain of these two points that Consort Yan devised the best method of revenge: "The Prince of De's residence has many people from the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs. Without their cooperation, I can't impersonate my son's ghost..."

"These people will definitely be dealt with afterwards; they will seize every opportunity!"

"Everyone in the palace knows that His Majesty wants to depose his three sons, but the ministers are blocking it. If they want to live, they have to keep doing their jobs!"

"The Third Prince and the Fourth Prince are to be handed over to them. As for the Fifth Prince... the Fifth Prince wants me to handle it personally..."

"No! We can't take them one by one! We have to catch them all at once! Catch them all at once!"

Consort Wang's face contorted as she listened. She felt that the woman in front of her had gone mad, speaking so calmly right in front of her.

"There was a eunuch named Huang Jin in the Directorate of Ceremonial, who was most loyal to him, but now he has lost power and is seriously ill with no one to take care of him. He is on his deathbed. This most loyal old dog can no longer protect his heartless master..."

"It can happen!"

"It can work!"

Consort Yan muttered to herself for a moment, then turned her gaze back to her: "Are you coming?"

Consort Wang shook her head repeatedly and slowly retreated.

"You're not coming..."

"It's fine if you don't come..."

"Anyway, you won't tell on me!"

Consort Yan muttered to herself as she walked out, carrying the baby's bib. She drifted out of the palace like a ghost, her tattered skirt brushing the threshold before disappearing into the night.

In the empty room, Consort Wang slumped to the ground. After a long while, she dug her fingers deep into her cheeks and cried out in anguish, "Why did it turn out like this... why!"

……

"father!"

Yan Shifan strode into the inner courtyard, his expression grave.

The clappers and flute music lingered in the air. Yan Song was enjoying the opera when he heard this. He slowly straightened up and tried to sit up, supporting himself on the armrest of his recliner.

Yan Shifan quickly stepped forward, helped him sit up straight, and then waved his hand.

Immediately, the servants of the Yan family took the opera troupe away, leaving only the father and son in the hall.

Yan Shifan then said in a deep voice, "The messenger in Jiangxue Pavilion has disappeared..."

Yan Song was not surprised: "Making friends with princes is a major taboo. Who arrested him?"

"Jinyiwei!"

Yan Shifan said, "News has come from the Northern Garrison Command that many servants have recently been arrested in the imperial prison; they were all people who had been entering and leaving the palace."

Upon hearing this, Yan Song hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Lu Bing didn't take it to heart..."

"Yes!"

Yan Shifan's eyes flickered: "With Lu Bing's methods, if he really takes someone away quietly, we won't be able to find out. This is just going through the motions."

"Hey! I didn't expect even Lu Wenfu to become disloyal to him!"

He sneered, "That's right! This emperor is currently staying in the alchemy room and can't even see the concubines in the harem. Each palace is looking for its own way out. We're not the only ones contacting the Third Prince. The Embroidered Uniform Guard can't possibly take down all the spies from the previous dynasty. It's normal for them to turn a blind eye."

"Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger; though the tiger may be thin, its spirit remains strong, so one must not be careless..."

Yan Song still offered a word of advice.

For many court officials, an emperor who only knew how to refine elixirs and take medicine, and who couldn't even command the court, was already nearing his end.

But even when this tiger is old, sick, or in its twilight years, its desire for power will only grow stronger until its death.

Of course, there are opportunities in this.

Yan Shifan's thinking was exactly like this: "His Majesty's precautions are thorough, which is a timely help for the Third Prince! All other officials have been blocked, and only my Yan family can be relied upon by the new dynasty!"

He paused, then whispered, "Father, I want to try harder for this year's imperial examination!"

"Ok?"

Yan Song glanced at his son: "You haven't immersed yourself in scriptures for many years, how can you make any effort?"

"Isn't the chief examiner this time a disciple of my Yan faction?"

Yan Shifan laughed and said, "I don't expect my son to be at the top. As long as he makes the list, that's enough. Next year's palace examination might be the one where the new emperor will be testing him."

Yan Shifan had been playing the role of a playboy for so long because he had seen through the current emperor's temperament. He needed to find some weaknesses in his father, the Grand Secretary, in order to ensure his father's stable position.

But now that Grand Secretary Yan is a true powerful minister, it would be a waste if he didn't do something to pave the way for his own career.

Moreover, the title of Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) is a perpetual source of pain.

We must make up for it.

"Fine! You should give it a try!"

Yan Song was well aware of his son's obsession.

In any case, the fact that the son of the current Grand Secretary is so determined to obtain the Jinshi degree and returns to the imperial examinations after many years in office is a good example to promote. With a little guidance, the literati will praise him.

If that's the case, why not do it?

The father and son were making arrangements and feeling quite pleased with themselves when a figure suddenly rushed in, bringing devastating news: "Oh no! Oh no! The three princes have been attacked on their way to the Imperial Study!"

"what?"

Yan Song was stunned, while Yan Shifan found it absurd: "Has something changed in the palace again? Have any of the princes been injured?"

"The Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince accidentally fell into the water... By the time they were rescued... they were already... they were already dead!"

"How could this be?"

The Yan father and son looked at each other in shock, realizing the gravity of the situation. Yan Shifan took a step forward, his voice suddenly rising: "Third Prince... how is the Third Prince?"

"The Third Prince is seriously injured! The imperial physicians have all rushed to the palace, and there is a fear... a fear that he may be maimed!"

(End of this chapter)