Chapter 697: Conviction!

"Your Majesty!"

A junior eunuch entered from outside the Golden Hall, knelt in the center, and reported:

"When Eunuch Wei went to take the prisoners from the Court of the Imperial Clan, part of the Imperial Guards mutinied. They are now locked in fierce battle."

"This..."

"What in the world is happening..."

"How could this happen..."

The ministers jolted awake the instant they heard the news.

In earlier years, the term Imperial Guards had still referred to the Imperial Guard camps outside Yanjing. But after several major foreign campaigns, the old main body of the Imperial Guards had long since been divided and sent elsewhere. Nowadays, when people spoke of the Imperial Guards, they generally meant the garrison forces stationed inside the capital.

The capital garrison had fallen into disorder?

A mutiny?

The next moment, the officials who had grown somewhat sluggish during the wait instantly turned their gazes toward the two imperial princes still kneeling at the front.

Which one of you is staging a coup?

Unfortunately... no one could actually ask.

Marquis Zheng himself was not especially nervous.

He had been through enough, and after entering the capital this time, he had also gained a rough understanding of how the Imperial Guards were organized.

How to put it?

The Imperial Guards looked like a single whole, but in truth, the forces inside the capital had already been divided into pieces.

No matter how he looked at it, there was no way someone could suddenly unify the entire capital garrison and make trouble.

If it was only a small-scale disturbance... an imperial prince or one of the court's giants could cultivate a single Lieutenant Commander inside the Imperial Guards, then use that officer as a conduit to secretly keep a hundred or so loyal men beneath him.

In practice, it was simply using the military as a shell for maintaining deathsworn.

That was not especially difficult.

But if it was only a disturbance on that scale... would Wei Zhonghe really be unable to handle it?

That made no sense.

It was impossible.

In any case...

Marquis Zheng did not believe anyone would dare mobilize troops and stage a palace coup right now.

That would be looking down far too much on Great Yan's system.

On the troops outside the city.

And on the Emperor seated on the Dragon Throne.

But the Emperor of Yan's reaction surprised Zheng Fan.

"Heh-heh. Good. Very good. Today has turned out far more entertaining than We expected."

Then... the Emperor turned his head and looked toward Marquis Pingxi, who alone occupied the space where four men should have been standing.

"Marquis Pingxi, receive the decree."

What does this have to do with me?

Zheng Fan stepped out and knelt.

"This minister is here!"

"Chu once had its Four Pillars of State. Great Yan likewise has four pillars holding up the sky in every direction. Now disorder has erupted within the capital. We order you to immediately mobilize the troops outside the city and enter Yanjing to suppress the chaos."

Marquis Zheng drew in a deep breath.

Then immediately answered:

"This minister receives the decree!"

"Marquis Pingxi. Step forward and receive the Son of Heaven's sword. Seeing this sword shall be as seeing Us in person."

Zheng Fan rose.

He slowly walked forward.

There was nothing unusual about climbing steps.

Yet this time, as he ascended the steps of the Golden Hall, he distinctly felt something different.

Even a man like him, who had already witnessed countless grand scenes, could not help feeling that each step carried unusual weight.

After all... this Golden Hall symbolized the very heart of Great Yan's supreme authority.

One could even say... it was now the center of the entire East.

The Son of Heaven's sword had originally hung on a golden dragon pillar beside the Dragon Throne.

The Emperor of Yan did not rise to take it.

He simply pointed toward it.

Zheng Fan walked over himself and removed the sword.

The sword was not heavy.

Marquis Zheng had handled more than one divine weapon in his life.

The instant he received it, touched it, and weighed it in his hand, he understood.

This was only an ordinary sword.

Its scabbard was plated with gold and set with gemstones, nothing more.

But how to put it?

The divine weapons beneath Heaven could be divided into two kinds.

The first were forged from rare materials, enhanced with patterns and formations.

The second... shone because of the person who wielded them.

The Son of Heaven's sword clearly belonged to the second kind.

Holding the sword, Zheng Fan knelt once more before the Emperor of Yan.

"Go. There must be no disorder in the capital."

"This minister obeys."

Sword in hand, he rose.

In truth...

Marquis Zheng had not entirely failed to think about it.

Wei Zhonghe was absent right now.

He himself stood so close to the Emperor of Yan.

If he drew the sword immediately... one common man's burst of fury could leave all beneath Heaven in mourning white.

Of course, it was only a thought.

He and the Emperor of Yan did not have some blood feud over an exterminated maternal clan.

Why compete with the imperial princes for that kind of rage?

He strode openly out of the Golden Hall.

Below the steps... his Pixiu had already been brought over and prepared for him.

Marquis Zheng swung onto its back.

As he turned the beast around, he suddenly remembered how, earlier, while climbing the steps, he had stood above and looked back.

Now... he was below those same steps, looking up at the Golden Hall.

"Go!"

Escorted by a squad of guards, Marquis Zheng rode his Pixiu straight out of the palace.

Then without slowing, he headed for the eastern gate.

The Pixiu ran with unusual excitement.

It could sense a strange exhilaration radiating from its master.

Yes.

Inside Marquis Zheng's mind... there suddenly surfaced the loyal and righteous minister of the Great Han from his memories.

Dong Zhuo.

That arrogant tyrant entering Luoyang at the head of his army.

One had to understand... at this moment, only a handful of people inside the city knew that the Northern and Southern Princes had already left Yanjing.

If Zheng Fan could lead the Jingnan cavalry stationed outside the city into the capital... then perhaps he could simply charge into the imperial city, force the Emperor of Yan to abdicate, and put Little Sixth on the throne.

All those complicated knots... would unravel in an instant.

Of course... whether he would actually do such a thing was another matter.

But that did not stop Marquis Zheng from imagining it first.

At the same time, he knew perfectly well that with the Emperor of Yan's intelligence, if the man dared let him mobilize troops and enter the capital... then he absolutely possessed a way to restrain Zheng Fan too.

At last, Zheng Fan reached Yanjing's eastern gate.

Unexpectedly... the gate was closed today.

"Who goes there!"

A group of soldiers stepped forward below.

Are you blind?

Can't you see what the hell I'm riding?

And Zheng Fan could clearly see fear and admiration in the eyes of the soldiers ahead.

Obviously, every last one knew who he was.

At that moment...

Zheng Fan raised the Son of Heaven's sword.

The defending general in front immediately dropped to his knees and shouted:

"Seeing the Son of Heaven's sword is as seeing the Son of Heaven himself! Long live Our Emperor, long live, long live ten thousand ten thousand years!"

The soldiers around him followed suit.

"Long live Our Emperor, long live, long live ten thousand ten thousand years!"

Marquis Zheng narrowed his eyes.

Oh?

What excellent eyesight.

You can recognize the Son of Heaven's sword from this far away?

What, do you hug the thing to sleep every night so you can identify it at a glance?

And besides... why does this feel so damned clearly like I'm being led along a prepared script?

"Open the city gate."

Marquis Zheng shouted.

"Open the city gate!"

"Open the city gate!"

The gates slowly opened.

Outside... rank after rank of cavalry had already formed up and were waiting.

"Heh."

They were not the Jingnan cavalry Old Tian had brought from Litian City.

They were the Zhenbei Army garrison stationed outside Yanjing under Li Liangshen.

Zheng Fan rode his Pixiu out of the gate.

Now... he confirmed one thing.

Today's grand court audience was not merely a contest between the two imperial princes fighting over the succession.

The Emperor of Yan... had made his own arrangements too.

The sons played their game.

The father played his.

Fine.

Zheng Fan was nothing more than the standard-bearer serving as master of ceremonies.

"Long live Our Emperor, long live, long live ten thousand ten thousand years!"

"Long live Our Emperor, long live, long live ten thousand ten thousand years!"

Three Guerrilla Generals dismounted and knelt before Zheng Fan, who held the Son of Heaven's sword.

"Disorder has erupted inside the capital. His Majesty has bestowed the Son of Heaven's sword upon this Marquis and ordered me to mobilize troops into the city to suppress the chaos!"

"We await Marquis Pingxi's commands!"

"We await Marquis Pingxi's commands!"

Zheng Fan nodded.

He turned his Pixiu around and reentered the city.

Behind him... the cavalry streamed in rank after rank.

Then, once they entered... the force split into three columns.

Each commander led one column.

They did not even wait for Marquis Zheng to tell them where to go or what to do.

Each simply took his own troops and rode off.

"Heh."

Even the Marquis supposedly mobilizing the army did not know where else they were meant to go besides the Court of the Imperial Clan.

Yet apparently... these men knew more than he did.

Zheng Fan looked at the Son of Heaven's sword in his hand.

A sword... was ultimately only a sword.

The Son of Heaven... was still the Son of Heaven.

When he first came out, he had been imagining himself as Dong Zhuo.

Instead... he had stupidly been turned into someone else's spear without even realizing it.

Whatever these three forces did inside Yanjing today... the blame... and the consequences... would ultimately fall upon Zheng Fan.

Future histories would record that Marquis Pingxi received the imperial decree and led troops into Yanjing, causing...

Mm.

What exactly would he, the so-called chief culprit, be causing?

Even he did not know yet.

Sitting atop the Pixiu, Marquis Zheng closed his eyes.

Old Tian had forced him onto the stage more than once in the past.

But Zheng Fan had always known that Old Tian was paving the road for him.

Sometimes, when Zheng Fan refused, it was more like a younger brother acting spoiled with his elder brother.

A deliberate show of reluctance.

But a true sovereign... a true Emperor... seemed long accustomed to treating all beneath Heaven, every living soul, every official in court... as pieces on the board in his hand.

Perhaps because Zheng Fan had spent so much of his earlier life developing far from the capital, step by step, he had never felt this sensation so clearly before.

Now... he understood it.

There was nothing to rage about.

Nothing worth exploding over.

Was he truly furious?

Not really.

No matter why the Emperor of Yan looked so vigorous today... when something was this abnormal, there had to be a reason.

Zheng Fan firmly believed the Emperor could not hold on for long.

Fine.

Keep playing.

Let your entire household keep playing.

When you're all finished...

I'll play my game.

...

Just as Marquis Zheng "mobilized" troops into the capital... inside the Golden Hall... the case involving imperial blood and an imperial prince's moral disgrace finally reached its true climax.

Wei Zhonghe led A'Rou and the little girl into the hall.

Eunuch Wei removed the hood from A'Rou's head.

Then slowly returned to the Emperor's side.

Every minister immediately focused his gaze upon A'Rou.

Including... the two imperial princes kneeling at the front.

Ji Chengjue turned his head and looked at the woman.

He had always known her identity.

Among the inheritances his maternal grandfather left for him in that final letter... there had been many items.

A'Rou was one of them.

But for a very long time... he and A'Rou had maintained a relationship of mutual understanding without ever openly acknowledging it.

She knew he was the Min Clan's young master.

He knew she had been one of the Min Clan's covert agents.

To this day... they had actually communicated only three times.

Once... she sent someone to tell him that the Empress was nearing the end, and that he should prepare certain medicine.

Once... she sent word that she was pregnant with the Crown Prince's bloodline and intended to leave the palace to guard the Empress's mausoleum.

And the final time... she sent word that she had given birth.

A girl.

Very much the style of covert agents.

Concise.

Direct.

She issued an early warning.

Then transformed herself into a trap, ready at any moment to sacrifice herself for her master.

The Crown Prince... turned his head and looked at her.

Inside his mind surfaced that night.

She had removed her clothing and held him on the bed.

When he instinctively wanted her... she gently pushed him away.

And told him:

"Your Highness. I belong to the Min Clan."

...

Ji Old Sixth instinctively glanced toward the place where Zheng Fan had stood earlier.

Other people might hear that the Northern and Southern Princes had left Yanjing and think the capital was about to become unstable.

Ji Old Sixth thought differently.

Now... who was left capable of restraining his father?

Imperial Father had sent Zheng Fan out to mobilize troops.

Heh.

Wasn't Imperial Father really the one mobilizing them?

Old Fourth's troops were already inside the imperial city.

Now another force was being brought in from outside.

What exactly... did Imperial Father intend to do?

On the Dragon Throne... the Emperor of Yan looked down at A'Rou kneeling below.

She had served at his Empress's side for many, many years.

How could he possibly fail to recognize her?

Then... the Emperor's gaze fell upon the little girl.

He asked:

"Whose child is she?"

The Emperor's voice carried authority that brooked no resistance.

A'Rou had spent many years beside the Empress.

She knew the Emperor well.

But precisely because she knew him so well... she understood even more clearly how terrifying he was.

She did not dare look up at the Emperor on the Dragon Throne.

Instead... she looked toward the Crown Prince and Sixth Highness kneeling ahead.

She was somewhat confused.

A piece... was ultimately only a piece.

Standing on the board... it could not see the whole game.

But the assassins who had suddenly appeared earlier had made one thing clear.

Events had not unfolded according to the plan she and the Crown Prince had expected.

She bit through her lip.

Perhaps... only now, kneeling here... did she truly understand how deeply she regretted failing to die in that side room.

Because she had no idea at all what she should say now.

Or which direction her words should point.

"The child... was adopted by this servant."

A'Rou answered.

The ministers present exchanged glances.

The Emperor of Yan leaned back slightly.

At that moment... several eunuchs carried over a sack of objects and opened it before the assembled court.

Wei Zhonghe reported:

"Your Majesty, these are the pieces of evidence this slave brought back, gathered by the Grand Director. This slave has inspected them. Among them is a personal jade pendant belonging to His Highness the Crown Prince, along with many objects from the Eastern Palace."

Zhao Jiulang stepped out.

He looked toward A'Rou and asked:

"Then how do you explain these?"

A'Rou replied:

"This servant has met Lord Chancellor before."

Zhao Jiulang's expression remained calm.

A'Rou continued:

"The wives of many lords present today have likely met this servant as well. This servant once served beside the late Empress. It is only normal for me to possess some objects from the Eastern Palace."

"Oh?"

"This servant was originally guarding the late Empress's mausoleum. Later, feeling lonely, I adopted a child from among the common people and raised her beside me as a comfort."

"Oh?"

Zhao Jiulang turned toward Ji Changwang, who remained kneeling there.

"Grand Director. You previously said this woman told you herself that the child was of the Crown Prince's bloodline. And now..."

Perhaps... more than half the people inside the Golden Hall had already become dizzy from all the turns.

The remaining portion... had their hearts lodged in their throats.

The most relaxed man... the one least burdened... was Ji Chengjue.

The moment he correctly bet on where A'Rou truly stood, and whose pit she was digging... he had already won.

Of course... there had been one prerequisite.

She had to live.

She had to be allowed to speak.

Go on.

Speak.

Let's see... how you people keep talking your way out of this.

Originally... in the plan between the Crown Prince and A'Rou, she and the child were an arrow the Crown Prince had deliberately placed into Ji Chengjue's hands, waiting for Ji Chengjue to fire it back at him.

That had been the preset opening of the scene inside the Golden Hall.

Crown Prince Brother had performed very well.

Very convincingly.

That lost, shattered expression had been perfectly measured.

Of course... perhaps he had spent so many years looking lost and shattered that the performance had simply become natural.

According to their plan... what followed would be a great reversal.

A'Rou would be brought before the court.

By then, the matter would have been blown completely open.

Ji Chengjue, believing victory secured, would have A'Rou fulfill her mission as a Min Clan deathsworn and deliver the fatal blow against the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince would collapse completely.

But from the Crown Prince's perspective...

A'Rou would instead reveal her identity as a Min Clan deathsworn.

Then trace the source of the conspiracy back to Ji Chengjue.

He... would become the one using remnants of the Min Clan to frame the Crown Prince.

A younger brother deceiving his elder.

A subject deceiving his sovereign.

And all of it performed openly in the Golden Hall under the eyes of every minister.

One grand reversal.

The one finished afterward... would be Ji Chengjue.

That... should have been the predetermined flow of events.

The result both sides had expected.

But...

Ji Chengjue's kneeling confession had broken the entire rhythm.

Of course, kneeling or not kneeling was only groundwork.

It could still be interpreted as hypocritical brotherly affection masking malicious intent.

But why had the Crown Prince panicked?

Because he understood Ji Chengjue.

He knew his younger brother had no reason to kneel.

He knew Ji Chengjue would not choose this moment to perform some empty show of fraternal sentiment.

So the Crown Prince had understood:

Something was wrong.

And that... was the true reason his expression had changed.

Because this game... had already begun.

"Th-this... then..."

In truth...

Grand Director Ji Changwang had already realized that something was badly wrong.

The realization had also begun the moment Sixth Highness knelt.

Ji Changwang held two scripts from two different households in his hands.

But neither script had contained a line where Sixth Highness suddenly dropped to his knees and shouted:

"It was mine!"

Most importantly... at that moment, he could not change his story.

The Emperor had asked for evidence.

And he could not suddenly produce evidence proving the child really belonged to Sixth Highness.

Nor could he fabricate proof that the child belonged to some other prince.

The truth was...

Ji Changwang supported the Crown Prince more.

He believed the Crown Prince was more likely to laugh last.

Combined with the promises the Crown Prince had made him... he had finally chosen to climb aboard the Crown Prince's ship.

Even though... inside the Sixth Master's faction... many still regarded Ji Changwang as one of their own.

A'Rou had already changed her testimony the moment she failed to kill herself and was brought into the Golden Hall.

As a covert agent... no.

Even without that background... merely spending so many years beside the Empress and living inside the rear palace had given her enough vision to quickly realize that things had gone wrong.

So she chose a third answer.

One completely different from either of the original scripts.

She wanted to jump free.

For the Crown Prince.

But the Grand Director... was trapped.

"Why are you stammering?" Zhao Jiulang demanded. "Ji Changwang, as Grand Director, you repeatedly conceal and evade matters concerning the bloodline of the imperial house, matters tied directly to the stability of the state. What exactly is your intention?

"Before His Majesty.

"Before the entire court.

"Do you still possess some secret that cannot be spoken?

"Or do you intend to make every one of your colleagues... even His Majesty himself... beg you to open your mouth?

"Ji Changwang, this is deceiving the sovereign.

"A capital crime!"

"I..."

Perhaps Zhao Jiulang's relentless pressure pushed him over the edge.

Perhaps the pressure of the entire scene had already brought Ji Changwang to his limit.

In the end... he hardened his heart.

He glanced toward the Crown Prince.

As long as the Crown Prince ascended the throne in the future... anything Ji Changwang did today could be pardoned by the new Emperor.

So he blurted out:

"Your Majesty! It was Sixth Highness who ordered this minister to frame the Crown Prince here in the Golden Hall!"

"Heh."

A smile appeared at the corner of Ji Chengjue's mouth.

Why choose the Grand Director?

There had never been any absolute need to use someone from the Court of the Imperial Clan to make the accusation.

Some other minister could have been stopped on the road by a mother and daughter kneeling before his carriage, crying:

"Great lord, uphold justice for us!"

In truth... there were plenty of ministers who stood with one foot on each boat, hedging their bets and waiting for the highest price.

The reason Ji Changwang had been chosen... was because he was useless.

During the succession struggle in Grandfather's generation, the fighting had been savage.

Even Marquis Zhenbei Residence had intervened.

Great Yan had nearly fallen into civil war.

Its severity had been no less than the chaos among Chu's imperial princes a few years earlier.

And yet...

Ji Changwang had survived perfectly intact.

For Ji Chengjue's grandfather to regard him as harmless... then for Ji Chengjue's father to regard him as harmless... and now for Ji Chengjue himself to choose him... just how thoroughly mediocre did a man have to be to leave three generations of rulers feeling safe around him?

The real breakthrough point had never been A'Rou.

It was Ji Changwang!

And at that moment... a voice announced from outside the Golden Hall:

"Lu Bing, Vice Director of the Court of State Ceremonial, requests audience."

"Admit him."

Still wearing armor, Lu Bing entered the hall.

He looked toward the Emperor.

Looked toward the imperial princes kneeling below.

Then... he knelt.

"This minister kowtows before Your Majesty. Long live Our Emperor, long live, long live ten thousand ten thousand years!"

Quite a few ministers reacted with surprise when they saw Lu Bing, a civil official, dressed in armor.

But then they remembered a certain rumor.

Understanding quickly followed.

For years, rumors had claimed that His Majesty possessed another yamen, separate from the Secret Intelligence Department, responsible for monitoring the hundred officials.

Combine that with Lu Bing's relationship to the Emperor... and the answer was almost obvious.

The Emperor of Yan asked:

"Beloved Minister Lu, why were you absent from today's grand court audience?"

"To reply to Your Majesty, last night Sixth Highness personally visited this minister's residence and reported that Grand Director of the Court of the Imperial Clan, imperial clansman Ji Changwang, had sent someone to tell him that a blood descendant of the Crown Prince had been found among the common people, evidence of the Crown Prince's moral disgrace.

"Sixth Highness feared that men with ulterior motives intended to harm the Crown Prince and the national foundation.

"He feared even more that exposing a scandal of the imperial household would damage the dignity of the imperial house.

"And he feared that if the child truly carried imperial blood, she might be harmed.

"So Sixth Highness earnestly requested that this minister investigate the matter thoroughly.

"This minister has now uncovered evidence that Ji Changwang colluded with people inside the palace.

"Ji Changwang's entire household has already been arrested by this minister and sent to the Imperial Prison!"

"..." Ji Changwang.

[End of Chapter 697]