A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 293 Burning and Killing
Springtime is late, and the first rays of dawn appear.

Chang Le Palace, Shenlong Hall.

Liu Che first arrived here.

Quiet and spacious, it truly is a fine "cage".

Looking at the Han-style towers on all sides, the intermittent sound of flutes drifted from the towers. The layered palaces exuded a serene and mysterious atmosphere like a canyon. Could I be content to spend the rest of my life here?

As Liu Che strolled into the hall, he was slightly dazed. It resembled, very much resembled, the Xuan Shi Hall. The layout and furnishings were almost identical to the Xuan Shi Hall, only smaller.

"Small" in the true sense.

The hall is small, the objects are small, and everything is a small-scale creation by skilled craftsmen.

Liu Che walked to the table, picked up the bamboo slips containing the memorial, and unrolled them. Even the characters on them were small, like ants crawling by, making them difficult to read.

He couldn't help but put down the memorial and sigh softly.

"Your Majesty, the Empress and the Princess request an audience."

The sound of Chun Tuo.

Liu Che turned around abruptly, his imperial face showing emotion, "You're not dead?"

Chun Tuo had served the Emperor for many years and was quite used to His Majesty's outrageous remarks, but no one could handle such offhand words.

"Your Highness is merciful and considers that I have served you diligently for many years. You have granted me permission to serve Your Majesty for the rest of my life," Chun Tuo replied, carefully choosing her words.

He understood His Majesty's meaning.

His Majesty had little hope for the life of a retired emperor, thinking that his close attendants and ministers would be purged and that he would be under the surveillance of the Crown Prince's spies, spending his later years in a life of debauchery and decadence.

Even he himself thought he would die after His Majesty entered the palace. Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince spared his life so that His Majesty could live a more comfortable and peaceful old age.

A benevolent and forgiving ruler indeed.

"What about Su Wen, Chang Rong, and Wang Bi?"

Liu Che glanced behind Wang Chuntuo, hoping to see his former favorite eunuchs.

Chun Tuo paused for a moment, then said in silence, "Your Majesty, Su Wen was ordered by the Prime Minister to be burned alive on Hengqiao Bridge, and Chang Rong and Wang Bi were also ordered by the Prime Minister to be executed."

Su Wen, Chang Rong, and Wang Bi often slandered the Crown Prince before His Majesty, and even monitored the Crown Prince's actions. They knew about the Crown Prince's dealings with the Gu Liang family and reported it to His Majesty, which led to the saying "the son is not like his father".

To regard one's master as a slave is disrespectful. Add to that slander, "sowing discord between the emperor and his son," and "interfering in the succession," two major crimes that would be enough to condemn Su Wen and his ilk to death eight hundred times over.

Prime Minister Gongsun showed no mercy; all the eunuchs who had slandered His Majesty were executed after His Majesty entered the palace.

Those who remained were people like him who were relatively cautious in their words and actions.

Liu Che was taken aback.

Hengqiao Bridge, facing the north gate of Chang'an City and spanning the Wei River, was a vital transportation route in the capital region. Yet, Gongsun Hong ordered Su Wen to be publicly burned alive.

Such a cruel punishment was not found in the laws of the Han Dynasty. This extrajudicial punishment was almost an act of venting anger.

Gongsun Hong, along with Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, were the most important ministers in the Crown Prince's palace. Every move they made could represent the Crown Prince's attitude, so they couldn't have made baseless accusations.

What exactly did Su Wen do to make the Crown Prince so angry?
Even if it meant bearing the stigma of cruel punishment, he was determined to kill Su Wen and the others with brutality. "Chun Tuo, is there something I don't know?" Liu Che asked, his gaze fixed intently on Su Wen.

He was a powerful monarch, but that didn't mean he wasn't shrewd. He almost lost his throne back then, and under the watchful eye of Empress Dowager Dou, he was walking on thin ice.

However, after the deaths of Empress Dowager Dou and Empress Dowager Wang, he became accustomed to the feeling of invincibility, which led to his defeat today.

However, he had not completely forgotten his ability to learn about the unknown through subtle clues and seemingly unrelated details.

More than the failure, he was furious at being deceived, and now he keenly sensed the unusual nature of his attendant's death.

"Your Majesty, this servant does not know what you mean by 'not knowing'..."

Chun Tuo instinctively pretended to be confused, but now that things had come to this, Liu Che couldn't care less about anything else and interrupted him directly, saying, "Tell the truth!"

Chun Tuo dared not remain silent for too long, as Empress Wei and Princess Wei were both waiting. He could only say, "I have gained Your Majesty's favor and have been appointed as the Yellow Gate Attendant, Su Wen as the Middle Yellow Gate Attendant, and Chang Rong, Wang Bi, and others as Junior Yellow Gate Attendants. I serve Your Majesty at all times. As a Yellow Gate Attendant, I cannot know everything, but I have only heard rumors... I have heard that many Yellow Gate Attendant eunuchs have contact with Princess Pingyang."

As the Yellow Gate Attendant, Chun Tuo should have been the highest-ranking among the Yellow Gate Attendants, but the status of eunuchs was determined by their closeness to the emperor.

Chun Tuo was cautious and dared not overstep the bounds. Other eunuchs were different. Having served His Majesty once or twice, they knew how much the emperor desired and how much he loved women. They even knew what kind of clothing and manner of speaking would attract the emperor.

At the Ganquan Palace, Princess Pingyang presented Lady Li to the emperor again. Lady Li dared to wear a "strange outfit" that was almost like a thin gauze, barely concealing her figure, when she first met the emperor. In fact, Su Wen and others had thoroughly understood the emperor's preferences and informed Princess Pingyang, who then arranged it this way.

The emperor does not favor noble ladies or dignified women; he only likes… and that is all the emperor finds joy in.

Su Wen, Princess Pingyang, and the beauty—this is the perfect way to use His Majesty.

Liu Che, unusually, felt ashamed and indignant, his face flushed and eyes red. "Am I really that incompetent?"

Chun Tuo did not answer.

The silence speaks.

"So, the Crown Prince burned Su Wen to death to avenge the Empress?" Liu Che abruptly changed the subject.

Chun Tuo was even more reluctant to speak, but had no choice but to answer. He opened his mouth a few times and decided to throw caution to the wind: "Your Majesty, it's not entirely true. I've also heard that Su Wen wants to repeat the story of Zhao Gao from a hundred years ago."

Simply by offering beauty to win the emperor's favor, Su Wen and others had absolutely no need to monitor the crown prince's actions or to slander him to the emperor and sow discord between the emperor and his son.

After all, Su Wen was not a cruel official. With the Emperor's death and the Crown Prince's ascension to the throne, even if there were any purges, Su Wen would most likely end up like the powerful eunuch during Emperor Xiaojing's reign, going to some ancestral temple to keep vigil.

Su Wen's various acts of deliberately framing, attacking, and plotting against the crown prince can only be described as a reenactment of the story of Zhao Gao.

He killed the adult crown prince, who was difficult to control, and supported the young prince, who was easy to control, so that he could wield power over the world as a eunuch.

By analogy with the present dynasty, the deaths of Emperors Xiaowen and Xiaojing caused the people to worry about Your Majesty's lifespan. The Crown Prince is young and intelligent, and has the support of the Wei clan, who are related to the Empress Dowager. Therefore, he must be eliminated.

After the murder of the crown prince, whether it was Lady Wang's son, the deceased Prince Qi Liu Hong who succeeded to the throne, or Prince Yan Liu Dan and Prince Guangling Liu Xu born to Lady Li who succeeded to the throne, they were all young rulers without powerful maternal relatives. The country was in turmoil due to the young age of the rulers. Once they ascended the throne, they would all have to rely on the eunuch group and the imperial clan group.

The newly presented beauties were pregnant with the emperor's child. For example, Liu Bo, the Prince of Changyi born to Lady Li, was also a young emperor. In short, the eunuchs such as Su Wen devised a roundabout and secretive plan, starting from the smallest details, but their schemes were very grand!

Liu Che tried to say something, but only a gurgling sound came from his throat. In his desperation, everything went black and he fell forward.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

(End of this chapter)