Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 890 I am ill
Zhao Dun stood there stiffly, still reeling from the shock of seeing that Yang Yuan had taken control of the situation.

Is this the end?
How could it fail?

The plan was going perfectly!
Why wasn't it Yang Yuan who died?
Why am I... tied up here by him?

Suddenly, Zhao Dun felt a chill run down his spine.

The immense fear plunged him back into a state of mental confusion, causing him to fall into a state of schizophrenia once again.

He seemed to see Yang Yuan with a sinister smile, grabbing his cheek and forcefully pouring a bowl of poisoned soup down his throat.

Then, he saw himself floating in mid-air.

Yang Yuan, dressed in mourning clothes, solemnly announced to the court officials: "With unrest in all directions, Your Majesty is deeply concerned about the fate of the nation and has unfortunately passed away suddenly from a serious illness!"

As the officials knelt and cried out to heaven, Yang Yuan, dressed in mourning clothes, slowly turned around, looked at a certain spot, and gave a cold and sinister smile.

Floating in mid-air, Zhao Dun followed Yang Yuan's gaze and saw his coffin and memorial tablet placed there!
"No, no!"

Zhao Dun fell ill again, and the lines between reality and illusion blurred his mind.

With a thud, Zhao Dun knelt down straight.

"Yang... Yang Qing, Prince Yan, spare my life! I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong..."

Bound by a python-skin whip, Zhao Dun's upper body remained upright. He wanted to kowtow but couldn't, and could only tremble and beg for mercy.

Yang Yuan's eyes flickered for a moment, then she slowly stepped forward and helped him up.

Yang Yuan smiled and gave him a slight smile.

But Yang Yuan's smile overlapped with the smile Zhao Dun had imagined Yang Yuan to have, making life and death uncertain.

Zhao Dun's knees buckled, and if Yang Yuan hadn't been supporting him, he would have collapsed to the ground again.

Yang Yuan said gently, "His Majesty is merely ill and delirious, which is why he was misled by treacherous officials. What crime has he committed?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sick, I... I'm very sick..."

Despite his confused state of mind, Zhao Dun's survival instincts allowed him to quickly grasp the message, and he readily admitted it.

But then he immediately thought of the imagined scene where he was declared to have "been worried about the nation and died suddenly from an illness."

Then he quickly said loudly, "I...I just have a temporary heart ailment, it's nothing serious, it's nothing serious, I'll be fine soon."

"Of course, of course, His Majesty will be alright."

Yang Yuan smiled and brushed off non-existent dust from Zhao Dun's shoulder.

The python-skin whip that had bound Zhao Dun so tightly that he couldn't move suddenly slipped away like a snake.

……

Huang Xu, the Vice Minister of Revenue, was sitting in the Ministry of Justice at this time.

Zhang Fangxun, the Minister of Justice, knew that this Vice Minister had already taken over the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue and would soon be promoted to Minister of Revenue.

Therefore, they dared not neglect this God of Wealth who was about to take charge of the Song Dynasty's purse strings.

Minister Zhang was having tea with Vice Minister Huang, unaware of his purpose in coming.

Vice Minister Huang simply chatted with Minister Zhang, not in a hurry to reveal his purpose.

He hid two things in his sleeve.

It was the same secret edict issued by the emperor to search and confiscate the Prince of Yan's residence, but it was an "imperial edict" that had not been issued by the Secretariat and Chancellery.

Another item was a forged letter, which he imitated Yang Yuan's handwriting to create a secret correspondence between Yang Yuan and Li Renxiao, claiming that Yang Yuan colluded with Li Renxiao to create chaos in Xixia Road, using the crisis to force the court to seize power.

The letter mentioned a series of officials from Yang Yuan's faction, such as Qian Duanli, Ma Weiqing, Xin Qiji, Wu Ting, Zhang Xiaoxiang, and Li Dao...

He was quite ambitious, wanting to eliminate all those loyal to Yang Yuan or closely associated with him in one fell swoop.

This vice minister, who had always been in charge of finance and looked at reports every day, was really a novice when it came to the cruel political struggles.

The exercise of power is top-down.

Therefore, he naturally assumed that the formation of power also occurs from the top down.

However, this seems to be the case under normal circumstances and within the established rules.

However, its most fundamental formation is from the bottom up.

It's like an "n" shape, except that apart from the founding generation, most people's life trajectories are limited to the final downward stroke.

If he lacks the harsh realities of politics, he naturally wouldn't remember the first half of the "n".

He naively believed that as long as Yang Yuan, this rebellious minister who dared to be above the emperor, was eliminated, the court would be leaderless.

At that time, others could be manipulated at will, and could be dealt with arbitrarily based on an imperial edict.

As Vice Minister Huang sipped his tea, he secretly calculated the time. Had the Emperor already succeeded?

Thinking of this, his hands trembled, his heart pounded with excitement, and he felt an overwhelming surge of exhilaration...

Minister Zhang looked at Vice Minister Huang with surprise and asked in astonishment, "Vice Minister Huang? Vice Minister Huang?"

"what!"

Huang Xu suddenly came to his senses and gave Zhang Fangxun an apologetic smile.

He had people stationed outside Hening Gate, and once the palace succeeded, they would immediately send someone out to inform them.

At that time, he would immediately present the imperial edict to the Ministry of Justice, ordering them to send people to accompany him to search and confiscate the residences of the Prince of Yan and the Marquis of Anshun.

Then, he would secretly place the forged secret correspondence he had created into the studies of Yang Yuan and Li Renxiao respectively.

However, because the Ministry of Justice was the one who discovered these secret letters, therefore...

Huang, the Vice Minister, was very meticulous and thorough in his thinking.

Suddenly, a few words of conversation, seemingly questioning and obstruction, rang out outside, followed by the rapid sound of boots.

Huang Shilang was suddenly overjoyed and immediately stood up, looking towards the entrance of the second hall.

"It seems you've come looking for me?"

That's what Vice Minister Huang said.

Then, a person appeared at the door.

Dressed in a bright red robe, he was as handsome as a wedding groom, possessing a kind of androgynous beauty that was hard to distinguish between male and female.

Liu Shangqiu stepped over the threshold and bowed to Minister Zhang with a smile.

Zhang Fangxun returned the greeting with surprise, and asked in astonishment, "Liu Ducheng, what brings you here?"

Liu Shangqiu smiled and said, "I apologize for disturbing you, Grand Minister of Justice. I have come here to arrest someone."

Liu Shangqiu pointed at Huang Xu, who looked utterly astonished: "Take him down!"

Immediately, a group of fierce secret agents from the machine room surged out from behind Liu Shangqiu and rushed up to pin Vice Minister Huang to the ground.

Liu Shangqiu politely bowed to the astonished Minister Zhang, saying, "Grand Minister of Justice, I apologize for disturbing you..."

Then he turned and left. With a flick of his sleeve, he left behind only a bewildered Grand Minister of Justice.

……

Fei Yuye sat on the low table on the couch, writing something with a pen.

Her son, Yang Ye, had grown into a robust and chubby boy, holding a wooden ball and wanting his mother to play with him.

"Go away, go play with your brothers. Take him away..."

Fei Yuye gave the order without even looking up.

Xue Bingxin picked up Yang Ye: "Little darling, don't bother your mother, she's busy right now. Be good, Auntie will get you some malt candy."

"Remember to eat less, and rinse your mouth after eating. Erlang said that eating too much sugar will ruin your teeth."

Fei Yuye spoke while burying herself in her writing, multitasking with composure.

Leng Yuchan paced back and forth in front of the bed.

She has long legs, and with each stride of her long thighs, she turns around with ease, which she herself finds graceful, but to others, it appears as if she is very busy.

Without even looking up, Fei Yuye snapped, "Sit down, stop turning around, it's making me dizzy."

Leng Yuchan plopped down on the edge of the couch: "It's because my husband needs it urgently. We need to rush to deliver it to Minister Huang's residence."

"Alright, alright, almost done writing this, this is the last one!"

Fei Yuye, who is skilled at forging documents, is busy fabricating a secret letter that Huang Xu and other ministers conspired to frame Yang Yuan and others.

In this respect, Yang Yuan and Huang Xu are truly of the same mind.

Yang Yuan also entrusted all his plans to use this opportunity to purge his political rivals from the court in one fell swoop to Huang Shilang's secret letter.

However, he was confident in carrying it out.

Wu Ting, the commander of the Infantry Division, only received the news after Luo Kedi and Mo Long, leading the Inner Palace Guards, Outer Palace Guards, Golden Spear Guards, and Imperial Dragon Guards, had taken control of the entire inner court.

He immediately went to Donghua Gate and personally took charge there, controlling the entire palace city and the six ministries located within it.

None of the ministers and high-ranking officials in the Hall of State Affairs could escape.

Yang Ze, the deputy commander of the Palace Guard, immediately took control of the Imperial Academy, the Imperial College, the Lin'an Prefecture, and other government offices involved in the daily management and cultural and educational affairs of Lin'an City.

Xin Qiji, the commander of the cavalry, immediately dispatched troops from Xixi to strengthen the defenses of Lin'an.

The Censorate suspended all leave and rest days, and all staff were mobilized.

The incriminating materials that had been prepared long ago, and those that were being added one after another, were all placed on the table.

Furthermore, the newly discovered secret letter that will soon be seized from Vice Minister Huang's residence will form a complete chain of evidence for the investigation.

Inside the imperial palace, Princess Zhao Ning'er of the Jia Kingdom was chatting with her mother and learning needlework.

Although as a princess, she had almost no opportunity to cook or do needlework, it was a necessary course for the royal daughter's upbringing.

You may choose not to do it, but you cannot be incapable of doing it.

Empress Dowager Xie looked at the purse embroidered by her daughter. The stitches were fine and dense, and the mandarin ducks on it were made using the extremely exquisite Hangzhou embroidery technique. She couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

At this moment, an eunuch announced from outside: "The Empress Dowager has arrived!"

Empress Dowager Xie often went to the Empress Dowager's palace to pay her respects, but the Empress Dowager rarely took the initiative to come to her.

Upon hearing that the Empress Dowager had arrived, the mother and daughter were very surprised and quickly got up to greet her.

As Wu entered the room, she said with concern, "You're not feeling well, so please don't get up."

Empress Dowager Xie was taken aback, not understanding why her mother-in-law said that.

After a brief exchange, Madam Wu immediately realized that something serious had happened.

Otherwise, the Emperor would never have tricked her out of Cining Palace and sent her to the Empress Dowager's residence.

Empress Wu immediately dispatched a palace attendant to return to Cining Palace to investigate the matter.

By the time the eunuch scrambled back to report the news, Yang Yuan had already "captured the dragon in his hands," and the imperial guards of the inner palace had already entered the inner palace.

After hearing the eunuch's stammering explanation of the situation, Madam Wu plopped down in a chair, lost in thought and silent.

"How could this be? How could this be?!"

Empress Dowager Xie panicked: "He's been perfectly fine all along, how could Dun'er do something so foolish?"

Even though Empress Dowager Xie had never seen much of the world, she knew that once the royal family was overthrown, the entire royal clan would suffer a miserable fate.

Especially those members of the royal family whose identities are most sensitive—who among them didn't die mysteriously?

Empress Dowager Xie looked at Grand Empress Dowager Wu with a deathly pale face.

She was also aware that the Empress Dowager had always been quite kind to Yang Yuan, and had an even closer relationship with Yang Yuan's wife, Lu Xi.

Given the Empress Dowager's immense prestige throughout the Song Dynasty, perhaps only by sacrificing her dignity could the situation be salvaged.

But Ms. Wu immediately shattered her illusions.

Wu also knew that Yang Yuan respected her very much.

But now that things have come to this, all considerations of face and personal relationships are useless.

If it had been Yang Yuan who was captured in Cining Palace, he would have been beheaded.

Yang Yuan's wife, children, and the rest of his family, at best, were exiled, and then died or perished due to hunger, disease, or other reasons.

At this point, is that fragile friendship still of any use?

Before Empress Dowager Xie could plead, Madam Wu gave a cold laugh and closed her eyes.

“Our Zhao family has had two emperors in a row, and both of them wanted to kill him. How can I possibly have the face to speak to him?”

Upon hearing this, Xie fell silent in embarrassment.

With her eyes closed, Madam Wu gently shook her head and said sadly, "Since I married into the royal family, I enjoy the royal family's honor and wealth."

So, when trouble comes, don't complain; accept it whether you're killed or tortured!

Upon hearing this, Xie trembled and exclaimed, "Empress Dowager, you...you mean, the Prince of Yan will kill us?"

Ms. Wu was very tired and didn't want to talk anymore.

However, in Xie's view, the fact that the Empress Dowager did not deny it meant that she had admitted it.

Will he soon be met with a cup of poison or a long white silk ribbon?
Empress Dowager Xie swayed, and in her shock, she fainted.

Ms. Wu remained seated in her chair, eyes closed and silent.

If we are about to face annihilation, what's the point of whether we faint or save them now?
Zhao Ning'er, along with the eunuchs and palace maids, hurriedly carried her mother into the imperial bedchamber and placed her on the imperial bed.

Zhao Ning'er pursed her lips and asked the eunuch who brought the message, "Where is His Highness the Prince of Yan now?"

Upon learning that Yang Yuan was still in Cining Palace, Zhao Ning'er took a deep breath and resolutely went out.

(End of this chapter)