My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

Xiao Lingyi did not open the letter.

She first asked the emperor:

"Father."

"What did Mother say to you for the last time?"

The emperor sat on his throne.

There is no backrest.

It's like leaning down and suppressing certain words.

"She told me to get Wang Song."

"Did you agree?"

"no."

Why?

"Wang Song was a former official who was in charge of the Imperial Secretariat at the time."

"If I had arrested him that day..."

"The Six Ministries will be in chaos."

"The Southwest region believed that the imperial court was going to reopen old accounts about military rations."

"The Empress Dowager's old faction would also take the opportunity to say that the late Empress was interfering in politics."

"Or is it the bigger picture?"

"Yes."

The emperor answered very slowly.

"Orderly ceremony."

"I know what you want to hear."

"Your subject does not want to hear an apology."

Xiao Lingyi said, "Your subject would like to hear."

Did you know that at the time?

"Will Mother not survive that night?"

The emperor twitched his finger.

"Know."

The hall was very quiet.

This one knows.

It's more important than all the reasons mentioned above.

"Then why did you leave?"

"I am going to the Xuanzheng Hall."

"What are you doing?"

"Suppress Wang Song and the people in the Empress Dowager's palace."

"Is it under control?"

"temporary."

"Where is the Empress Dowager?"

The emperor looked at the letter.

"He couldn't suppress his fate."

Xiao Lingyi's voice remained steady.

"When you left."

Did the Empress Dowager ask you to stay?

"no."

"So you think it's okay to leave?"

The emperor did not answer.

The mother suddenly spoke.

"Don't ask the dead if she left anything behind."

Xiao Lingyi looked at her.

"Mrs. Gu."

"If she lets the emperor stay."

He would say that if he stayed, he could save them.

"If she didn't give in."

"He'll say she didn't say anything."

The mother said, "Living people love to quote things the dead never said."

"Making excuses for oneself."

The emperor looked at his mother.

"How do you want me to acknowledge you?"

"It's not what I want."

"It means writing down exactly what you've done."

"I have already admitted my mistake."

"Admitting your mistakes is easy."

The mother said, "Say one thing: I was wrong."

"It's as if all the blame has been placed on you."

"Wang Song can have one less stroke."

"Pei Shen can skip this step."

"Shen Lie can also have one less stroke."

"Even I can be omitted."

She asked Bai Zhi to take out a blank piece of paper.

Write them separately.

The first stroke.

Xiao Jingheng.

Knowing that grain from the north of the Yangtze River was being transferred to the southwest.

It is known that the medicine used to treat the late Empress's illness was different from that used at the palace gates.

Wang Song was not arrested immediately.

He ordered the sealing of Changning Palace.

The public disclosure of old accounts is to be temporarily suspended.

This led to the Wang family continuing to exploit the old case for eleven years.

Whether it directly led to the death of the late Empress remains to be verified by the drug and medical records.

The emperor finished reading it.

"Can."

The mother said, "It's not enough."

"What else is needed?"

Why did you do that?

"Should I write down the reasons too?"

"Write."

"To prevent people from only taking the results in the future."

The emperor's reasons were written next to it:

To prevent the southwestern army from rebelling.

Prevent six parts from breaking.

To prevent the Empress Dowager's old faction from seizing power under the pretext of this.

Preserving the throne and the political situation.

The mother said, "The last line."

The emperor asked, "What?"

"What did you put at the back?"

The emperor remained silent for a long time.

Bai Zhi picked up her pen.

The plight of the Jiangbei disaster victims, the late empress's illness, and the names of former witnesses were placed after the court affairs.

This is not an insult.

It's just sorting.

What people fear most is not making choices.

After making your choice, pretend everyone is in the same place.

The emperor stared at it for a long time.

Finally, he said, "Write."

The second stroke.

Pei Shen.

They entered Beijing knowing that the 41st soldier was a dead soldier.

They advocate controlling the person first, then opening the account.

Not all known names have been made public.

Over three years, he secretly warned Shen Lie and Liang Su.

The system of identifying the dead has not yet been broken.

This has led to the old name continuing to be shared by multiple people.

reason:

They feared that if the information was made public, the informants would scatter and the political situation would collapse.

Even after Bai Song's death, he continued to control the accounts.

Pei Shen finished reading it.

"Can."

I asked, "Not going to argue?"

"fact."

"What if we could do it all over again?"

"The meeting will start with twenty-three people."

"Take control of the rest."

"Why not open it all the way up?"

"Because I still think that going all out would kill more people."

He did not suddenly side with Bai Song simply because he admitted his mistake.

This is good.

If someone admits their mistake, they won't even admit why they made that choice in the first place.

Next time, I will still choose from the shadows.

The third stroke.

Wei Zhi.

In the fourteenth year of Chengxi, Chen Ping replaced him for two hours.

He later reported the medicine and the fake eunuch to the emperor.

No independent public record was left.

He subsequently handled the Emperor's old prescriptions for a long period.

The exact dosage of each dose could not be confirmed.

reason:

The eunuchs had no right to publicly lose control in front of the emperor.

By order of the Emperor to silence them.

Wei Zhijia knelt down.

"This servant acknowledges it."

The emperor suddenly said, "The gag order was issued by me."

Angelica dahurica is added next to the reason.

Wei Zhi is not solely responsible.

The person who handled the medicine bowl cannot be held fully responsible for the prescription, dispensing, and sealing of the medicine.

The fourth stroke.

Gu Qinghe.

It was learned that the grain from the north of the Yangtze River was taken away from the southwest.

He wrote a military rations transfer order, attempting to record the four thousand shi (a unit of dry measure) as borrowed rations.

Although it was not signed or stamped.

This still allowed the military to use his handwriting to claim that the grain had been legally transferred.

The list of 41 people was not submitted to the public account in a timely manner.

After his conflict with Shen Lie, he was imprisoned at the old post station.

After the mother finished reading it.

"Add more."

"What?"

"I know the Southwest Army will disintegrate if its food supply is cut off immediately."

"So I initially agreed to keep two thousand."

Angelica dahurica is a tonic.

Gu Qinghe did not advocate for a complete retirement.

He once chose to use some of the disaster-stricken grain from Jiangbei to protect the southwestern army.

The mother nodded.

"That's right."

I looked at her.

"daughter."

"Um."

"What other choice did you have at that time?"

"have no idea."

She said, "Not knowing doesn't mean I didn't choose."

I'll write that down.

The fifth stroke.

Shen Lie.

The person who made this payment is not here.

We can't just make him admit it.

Only write down the existing evidence.

On the night of the 19th of the seventh month of the 14th year of Chengxi, it was known that 6,000 shi (a unit of grain) came from the epidemic granary north of the Yangtze River.

They initially agreed to refund half.

Later, due to mutiny in the army and food shortages, 4,000 shi of grain were actually taken away.

Sign the order for the transfer of military rations.

They refused to hand over the register of forty-one suspected informants of the Wang family to Beijing.

Gu Qinghe was detained at the old post station in Qingxia for seven days.

He later died of an epidemic.

Three years ago, when he learned that she might be alive, he did not tell Shen An.

The emperor still orders Shen An to kill the ruler.

The reasons will be explained by the individual.

I cannot write the reasons for my father.

Even if I have a general idea.

The military meeting is over.

The imperial court cannot be trusted.

His wife would die if she were to deliver the money to the capital.

The emperor deserves to be killed.

He has to say it himself.

The sixth stroke.

Wang Heng.

She was not in the hall.

I won't write it yet.

She'll check it herself.

The seventh stroke.

Bai Song.

He is dead.

The mother said, "Even the dead are written about."

Bai Song advocated for the public disclosure of the military death register, the living granary, and the replacement of names.

They refused to erase the military ration transfer order that Gu Qinghe had not signed.

He died of plague after leaving Changning Palace in the fourteenth year of Chengxi's reign.

The actual circumstances of the death are yet to be investigated.

He wrote the correct one.

Write down what you haven't finished.

We cannot portray him as someone who could foresee everything just because he is dead.

Bai Zhi finished the last stroke.

Seven sheets of paper are placed side by side.

The emperor looked at the first one.

"Is this what opening the accounts is?"

"The first floor."

I said.

"Not punishing him?"

"The facts aren't even complete."

"How to treat it?"

"I acknowledge these."

"It's not over once the signature is signed."

The mother said, "Admitting the debt is not admitting a mistake."

"Admitting your mistake means you feel bad about it."

"Acknowledging the debt means that others can use this piece of paper to question you in the future."

Why is the gate sealed off?

"Why did three days turn into eleven years?"

"Why wasn't the grain recovered?"

The emperor looked at her.

"Do you want the world to question the emperor?"

"Someone has already asked."

The mother said, "But before, she would die right after asking the question."

No one moved in the hall.

This is not an exaggeration.

Bai Song asked about it.

dead.

Feng Ying left behind some medicine residue.

dead.

Spring orchids arrive at the old post station.

dead.

Whether Zhao Qi committed suicide remains to be investigated.

Gu Qinghe asked.

He was imprisoned for eleven years.

Zhaoyue asked.

Lock them up together.

The emperor picked up his pen.

Sign your name under your own account page.

Xiao Jingheng.

It's not a seal.

Write the person's name first.

Only then was the emperor's private seal affixed.

"I will sign."

"But I also have something to say."

The mother said, "Speak."

"If we could return to the fourteenth year of Chengxi..."

The emperor looked at everyone.

"I will still not reveal everything that day."

Xiao Lingyi tightened her grip.

The emperor continued:

"But I will take Wang Song first."

"Produce a list of twenty-three people."

"Stop the Empress's medication."

"Remove the seal from Changning Palace."

"As for the six thousand shi of grain in Jiangbei and the southwest."

"I still want to postpone it."

His mother looked at him for a long time.

"At least this time he didn't pretend to be a saint."

The emperor asked, "And you?"

"What if we could do it all over again?"

"I will still reserve some grain for the southwest."

The mother said, "But I don't know how to write a transfer order."

"We will directly post the names and actual account balances."

"Let Jiangbei know where the grain went."

"Let the Southwest Army know as well."

"Whose lives are they eating?"

Neither of them said they would make the perfect choice.

It's just that the choice will be made public.

This is much harder than admitting a mistake.

Suddenly, Wang Heng's voice came from outside the hall.

"Gu Qinghe".

The mother looked towards the palace gate.

"Let her in."

Wang Heng was carried in.

She looked at seven pages of the account book first.

His gaze lingered on a blank sheet of paper that he hadn't yet written on.

"My turn?"

"It's your turn."

"That's what my mother said."

Wang Heng smiled.

"You still like to force people to write accounts."

"You still prefer to have dead people sign for you."

The two had obviously met before.

It wasn't just the time when Wang Heng escorted his mother.

I asked, "When did you meet?"

The mother said, "Before the fourteenth year of Chengxi."

Wang Heng said, "I will teach her the accounting of banks in the capital."

"She taught me how to keep accounts of the army's food rations."

"And then?"

"Later she wanted to open it."

Wang Heng said, "I want to shut it down."

Why?

"Because once the accounts are opened..."

"Wang will die."

"Me too."

The mother asked, "So you chose to let someone else die?"

Wang Heng did not dodge.

"Yes."

She looked at the blank paper.

Write it down.