The head of the Red Mansion

Upstairs at Tianxiang Tower, Shen Ning watched the people and horses gradually disappearing down Ningrong Street, feeling a sense of unreality.

What she expected to be a bloody and turbulent battle turned out to be a disappointing failure.
No, no, no, it's a rat's head, how could it be worthy of a tiger?
The snake's tail was nowhere to be seen.

Although Prince Jin is not clever, he must have been very determined to win over the Ningguo Mansion and her. Since he has already made his move, there is no reason for him to act like this.

Or is his main target the palace, and he's just here to annoy her?
But the palace...

Looking towards the palace, Shen Ning felt alright; otherwise, Lord Dong probably wouldn't have been able to attend to her family's affairs.

So what exactly is wrong?

"Today's events are strange!"

Grandmother Jia was also looking in the direction of the imperial city. The old lady had experienced a lot in her youth, and now that she was old, she originally wanted to enjoy her wealth and status, but with the court unstable, her family would not be able to stay stable either. "Let's wait and see!"

What else can we do if we don't wait?
As Shen Ning sighed inwardly, Lan Zhi and other border generals, having received imperial orders, confronted the Imperial Guards led by Sang Qingyu.

When Jia Zhen was ordered to come to the rescue, more than half of Sang Qingyu's men had already been killed or wounded.

"Jia Zhen, I have a secret order from the Emperor Emeritus. Do you dare to stop me?"

The generals of the border towns needed to gain benefits from the emperor. Sang Qingyu is an example, but Jia Zhen is different. The Jia family are old ministers of the retired emperor.

"...Are you sure your secret order is genuine? Even if it is, when did the Emperor Emeritus give it to you?"

Jia Zhen never expected to encounter such a life-or-death situation so soon after arriving. "General Sang, others may not know that the Emperor Emeritus was angered by Prince Jin and suffered a stroke, but you don't know either?" At this point, he couldn't care less about anything else. "Prince Jin colluded with Japanese pirates, he has no emperor, no father, and no bottom line. Such a person doesn't deserve to be called a human being. Yet you still insist on guarding that secret order. Are you taking advantage of the fact that the Emperor Emeritus can no longer speak?"

Sang Qingyu: "..."

"Gentlemen, General Sang is confused. Are you all confused too? The Emperor Emeritus, the Emperor Emeritus, the Emperor Emeritus has long since abdicated. The current ruler of the Great Zhao is the Emperor. The Emperor has worked diligently and has recovered the Hetao region that the Emperor Emeritus lost back then."

He rushed to the capital overnight, determined not to let the Prince of Jin succeed.

"General Sang, do you also want to be a person without a ruler or father?"

Jia Zhen roared, "Did my uncle promote you back then so that you would implicate the Emperor Emeritus in an unjust way?" He suddenly understood why the Emperor had transferred him here. "Do you want to use that so-called secret order, whose authenticity is unknown, to plunge the Great Zhao into internal strife and allow foreign tribes and Japanese pirates to carve it up again?"

This?
The Imperial Guards who followed Sang Qingyu all trembled.

On the city wall, the emperor, hearing Jia Zhen angrily cursing Sang Qingyu, couldn't help but step forward a few paces.

"Put down your swords, Your Majesty..."

"I hereby pardon you for your ignorance!"

The emperor did not want too much bloodshed.

Many people have died.

He hadn't originally intended for Jia Zhen to come, but Sang Qingyu was someone promoted by Rongguo Gong Jia Daishan.

"Sang Qingyu~"

The emperor stood on the city wall, looking down at the besieged crowd. "Put down your swords. Either go to Japan, or go to the border town to atone for your crimes!"

He desperately wanted to kill him, but the mastermind behind this coup was the retired emperor.

Because of the internal strife within the royal family, many, many people have already died, and the emperor does not want to be involved any further.

Rather than killing them, it's better to send them to a wider world to atone for their crimes.

"Your Majesty, the Retired Emperor..."

"Do you want to see?"

The Emperor showed no remorse, saying, "I grant you permission to see him."

Sang Qingyu: "..."

He had already inquired about the Emperor Emeritus's condition from the imperial physicians he knew well.

Can be sent as a secret command...

He wanted to say that a secret order was a secret order, but the blood of his brothers, and what Jia Zhen had just said...

If we keep fighting, all the brothers will die.

Bang~
Sang Qingyu's knife fell to the ground, and he knelt down as well.

With their commander down, the others naturally wouldn't hold out any longer, and their broadswords clattered down.

With this major issue resolved, the rebellions of other smaller groups within the Imperial Guards were naturally no problem to deal with.

Moreover, Sang Qingyu has the Emperor Emeritus's secret order, but what about the others?
They only had letters from their respective masters.

The emperor showed no mercy to these people and ordered them all to be slaughtered.

At the same time, Dong Xiaoquan, who was less than halfway through fighting the fire and handling the case, was ordered by the princes to rush to the palace.

During the firefighting, this guy obtained a lot of witnesses and physical evidence.

Based on those witnesses and physical evidence, King Jing immediately sensed something was wrong.

The Prince of Jin was cornered and resorted to violence, even having his house burned down. But what were the Prince of Tang, the Prince of Kang, the Prince of An, and others doing?
The people they had stationed in his palace also joined in the chaos.

Arresting and interrogating someone is an order.

His grandmother.

Having secured the secret chamber where the imperial robes were hidden, he followed Dong Xiaoquan menacingly to the Tang Prince's residence.

The same thing happened to him; the people he had planted in the Tang Prince's mansion also set fire to the place.

The two brothers almost came to blows.

They argued and then went to Prince An's mansion with Dong Xiaoquan.

As a result, the same thing keeps happening...

By this point, even a fool would know something was wrong.

They clearly didn't issue any orders, but the seals and handwriting on those few undamaged slips of paper were all theirs.

One person can be confused or have amnesia, but so many people...

"It's the Prince of Jin, it must be the Prince of Jin!"

King Jing never expected him to be so audacious.

They actually made people copy the seals and handwriting of their brothers.

The incident at the Prince's residence was orchestrated by the Prince of Jin, and those rebellious imperial guards in the capital...

The princes rushed to the palace in a panic.

But by the time they arrived, it was already too late.

All the squads that were ordered to secretly assist Sang Qingyu in his rebellion were wiped out, not one of them survived.

Those who sensed something was wrong and didn't intervene were the lucky ones who survived.

……

"Sir, we should go now."

With the Prince of Jin's residence surrounded, this secret passage, though hidden, still had to be guarded against.

The two men in black glanced at the Prince of Jin, who was beaten beyond recognition, and said to Liu Yuan, "The rebellion has been quelled, and those princes have all found something amiss and have gone to plead their cases with the Emperor."

"Go ahead and shout!"

Liu Yuan also glanced at the Prince of Jin, "Don't rush, let them catch their breath."

Cutting flesh with a dull knife hurts more.

"Have you delivered the items I asked you to send to Shuntian Prefecture?"

"It's been sent. Today's trip to Shuntian Prefecture went exceptionally smoothly; apart from the two gatekeepers, there was practically no one else around."

"How is the situation at Ningguo Prefecture?"

It is said that the retired emperor suffered a stroke, but fortunately Jia Jing followed the same path as the crown prince.

Otherwise, that old scoundrel surrounded by a group of imperial physicians might still be alive and well.

"Of the Japanese pirates you tricked away, a small portion were captured by the Ningguo Prefecture, while the rest were captured by Chief Escort Lu of Shuntian Prefecture and his men."

It's impossible not to admire him.

Who would have thought that this gentleman, with just a pen, could cause such chaos among the most distinguished people in the world?

This further proves the King of Jin's stupidity.

Mr. Liu has been by his side for so many years, but he has never made good use of him.

"Alright, alright, let's just wait for the capital to be teeming with people again!"

Mr. Liu poured wine, offering three cups to the ground before pouring one for himself.

"Hopefully, the Emperor Emeritus can pull through this wave."

His sons were fooled by him.

hahaha~~~
Liu Yuan was very happy.

Not only were his sons fooled by him, but he was also going to send gifts to the emperor son whom he despised the most.

Whether those bastards, Prince Jing, live or die depends on whether the Emperor and the law will tolerate it. Even if they do…

Can they still be high and mighty princes?
So what if we know that the Prince of Jin is a fool and can't do these things?
He wanted to make it clear to them that even the rage of a common man could cause upheaval and bloodshed.

At this moment, the emperor looked at the various witnesses and evidence presented by Dong Xiaoquan, and then at his group of dejected brothers, and remained silent for a long time.

"You should go and tell Father Emperor about this yourselves!"

This matter is likely closely related to Mr. Liu, whom Dong Xiaoquan investigated some time ago.

The emperor felt not only shock, but also deep apprehension.

What exactly is this person trying to do?
"Lord Dong," he asked Dong Xiaoquan after his brothers had left, "what do you think of today's events..."

"I'm afraid it's not over yet."

Dong Xiaoquan frowned deeply. "Your Majesty, if Jia Zhen did not report it, could your men in the Beijing Garrison use any special channels to send news of the closure of the Beijing Garrison back to the capital?"

This?
"……Can!"

The emperor said, "I received news that they had closed their camp just before dawn today."

He's a bit late, so he won't be well prepared.

The emperor and his minister exchanged a heavy glance, both feeling deeply troubled.

If the other party had anticipated this, then this whole charade...

"Today, it's a military general who's making the move."

Dong Xiaoquan swallowed hard. "Most of the princes' people in the court... haven't made a move yet."

It looks like they're helping the emperor, but this way of helping...

Not only was it difficult for the emperor to bear, but it was also difficult for him.

How many people would die from this!
What exactly is Mr. Liu trying to do?
Is this just a way to send all the princes to their deaths?
"...Has the Prince of Jin been found?"

The emperor thought it over and over and felt that the problem still lay with the Prince of Jin.

"The people below are still searching, and it's unlikely that Prince Jin will return to the Prince Jin's residence."

Dong Xiaoquan now suspects that Prince Jin, the tool that Mr. Liu used, may have already died silently somewhere.

That would make it even harder to investigate.

"Find him, you must find him."

The emperor took a sip of water. "We must find Prince Jin, and we must find Mr. Liu as well."

Especially this mysterious Mr. Liu, if he can't find him... he can't eat or sleep in peace.

Today, everyone in Beijing is trembling with fear.

Jia Zhen handed over everything, and by the time he returned home, it was almost dark.

"Mother!"

When they arrived at Shen Ning's courtyard, Grandmother Jia and the others were already there.

Jia Min and Jia Wen were also waiting there.

"Are you hungry? Let's eat first."

Seeing that Jia Zhen seemed to have lost weight, Shen Ning spoke up before Jia Mu could say, "Whatever it is, let's talk after we finish eating."

We've already waited this long, so what's a little longer?

The maids quickly served the food, and Rong-ge'er even served his father a bowl of soup.

Jia Zhen hadn't gotten much water to drink today. He took the lukewarm soup from his son and gulped it down in a few mouthfuls. His stomach, which had been so busy that he hadn't felt hungry, seemed to have been revived all at once.

He devoured the food on the table as if it were a whirlwind.

Before long, he had finished two bowls, and Jia Zhen finally slowed down a bit.

He hasn't been able to cook anything since last night.

I've been so busy all day, I haven't even had a proper drink of water!

"Home is still the best."

It's too scary outside.

"Grandma, Mother, Uncle She, Third Aunt, Fourth Aunt!"

Jia Zhen cried out, "You have no idea how terrified I was yesterday..."

He started from the Beijing garrison, then went to the emperor to ask him to borrow troops, then to guard the gate, and then was summoned by the emperor again to persuade Sang Qingyu to surrender. He recounted everything. "The emperor is benevolent and did not punish the surrendered soldiers. Sang Qingyu was sent to Liaodong to atone for his crimes and make meritorious contributions. The other imperial guards were also sent to the border city."

The blood there!
Jia Zhen refused to eat.

His stomach was upset again.

Jia Zhen shook his head, trying hard not to think about the corpses and pools of blood. "This matter today may not have been done by the Prince of Jin."

"Who is that?"

Jia She couldn't wait.

"……do not know."

Jia Zhen glanced at his mother and said, "The Prince of Jin has disappeared, and we still don't know if he's alive or dead."

He knew some of it.

The princes were all crying out that they were innocent.

Their letters and seals were stolen.

The one who can do all this...

Jia Zhen personally delivered the thief, Skinny Monkey, to Shuntian Prefecture.

"However, when I left the palace, I heard that things were even worse for the Emperor Emeritus."

The princes were all fooled.

Although they shifted all the blame to Prince Jin, the Emperor Emeritus suffered a stroke, not a mental breakdown.

"The princes angered the Emperor Emeritus, and they were all sent to the Imperial Clan Court by the Emperor."

This?
Grandmother Jia sighed inwardly.

One emperor and one courtier!

Fortunately, the Jia family had surrendered to the emperor early on.

Thinking of this, she glanced gratefully at Shen Ning, "Never mind, as long as our family is alright."

The old lady had been on tenterhooks all day, but now she could finally relax. "Zhen'er, you should get some rest," she said as she stood up. "We can talk more tomorrow."

"Eh~"

Jia Zhen hurriedly got up with his mother to see off the old lady and his uncles and aunts.

"That's enough for now, you all should take a rest."

Before they even left the courtyard, the old lady told them to go home.

Shen Ning didn't insist and watched them walk away.

"Mother, where is Madam You?"

The elders are all here, but Madam You is not.

While feeling slightly displeased, Jia Zhen was also worried that something might have happened to her. "Is everything alright at home today?"

"Not peaceful!"

Shen Ning returned to her room and waved for the maids to leave. "A group of Japanese pirates came to the back street. They killed eight and captured two alive. They have now been sent to the Shuntian Prefecture prison."

what?
Jia Zhen was surprised, "Only this one team?"

"There were some on the front street, but after Chief Constable Lu and his men killed some of them, they were all taken away."

Rong-ge answered for his grandmother, and then, with a look of joy on his face, he said, "Father, congratulations on becoming a father again! Mother is having my little brother."

A little sister is fine, but having a little brother would make their family more stable.

Jia Zhen: "..."

He couldn't believe it.

What do you mean he's going to be a father again?

He looked at his mother with surprise, "Mother, Madam You..."

"Yes, she wasn't feeling well after you left yesterday. We had someone check her over, and it turns out she's pregnant."

Shen Ning said, "She took care of all the arrangements for your father's funeral. The doctor said she's exhausted. You should go back and take good care of her."

"Eh~"

Jia Zhen's reply was crisp and clear, "Mother, I'll go check on her first. I have something else to tell you later." (End of Chapter)