mesbooks Chapter 80: Testifying against Shen Tuo
Chapter 80: Testifying against Shen Tuo
Yu Huaian looked at Shen Tuo with disdain: "Of course. The emperor has long expected that you are not a good person. We just want you to act early so that we can catch the turtle in the jar, so that you, a bad seed, will not harm the court. It is better to get rid of you early in order to benefit our Great Yin Dynasty."
Qin Mingxuan stepped forward and said, "The emperor has already made a plan. In the past, he investigated your Jiangnan accomplices just to force you and make you feel uneasy so that you would want to take action as soon as possible. This time, the emperor also knew your evil ambitions in advance and pretended to be poisoned, so that you could get carried away and force the emperor to abdicate, revealing your evil ambitions early, so that the emperor would have an excuse to eliminate the traitors for the country."
The prince also laughed: "Otherwise, do you really think you are so all-powerful? Can this palace be so easily attacked by a bunch of rabble like you?"
Shen Taiwei's face changed: "How could the emperor know about the poison in advance? Even the imperial concubine didn't know about it."
He suddenly turned to the staff and ministers around him, his eyes gleaming with ferocity, and asked viciously: "Who is it? Who betrayed me and leaked the news? Who is it?"
The staff and ministers around him were already trembling with fear when the archers appeared. At this moment, facing Shen Tuo's fierce eyes, they just kept shaking their heads to deny that they had betrayed General Shen.
Xin He, who had been guarding the Queen, laughed in her heart, "Sir Shen, I was the one who leaked the news! You never thought that it was a little girl like me who ruined your plan, right? !
When Prince Cheng heard from the Crown Prince that the Emperor knew about Shen Tuo's poisoning in advance, he could not help but frown. This was also something that Prince Cheng had always been puzzled about. Logically, he should have handed the poison to Doctor Mo himself and asked Mr. Mei to introduce Doctor Mo to Shen Tuo.
Only Shen Tuo and I knew all this. Shen Tuo, that cruel guy, poisoned his daughter without telling her a single word, so how did the emperor know about the poison and take precautions in advance?
Doctor Mo and Mr. Mei were both people left to him by his mother, so it was impossible for them to betray him. In order to make things successful, Shen Tuo would definitely carefully block the news. Logically speaking, the emperor should not be able to know the news in advance.
Prince Cheng originally planned to wait for the emperor to be poisoned, and then sit back and reap the benefits. He had not intended to step into the spotlight so early.
He still likes to hide behind and plan quietly, so that he can succeed unexpectedly and achieve his goal. But this time, Shen Tuo, the idiot, did not do a good job, so he could only follow behind him and clean up the mess for him. When he got the exact news from the palace and knew that the emperor was not poisoned, he could only act hastily and poison the emperor again, which was considered as the last help to Shen Tuo, the idiot.
Prince Cheng stood in the corner and winked at Mr. Mei beside Shen Tuo. Mr. Mei nodded in understanding, then took a step forward, walked to Shen Tuo's side and whispered something in his ear. Shen Tuo's eyes lit up immediately and he laughed out loud.
Seeing that he was still so rampant, Yu Huaian could not help but curse Shen Tuo angrily: "Shameless old man, why don't you surrender quickly!"
Shen Tuo glanced at Yu Huaian and looked at the prince with pride: "Your Highness, you said that this was a plan made by the emperor. But I got the news that it was you, Your Highness, who murdered the emperor, secretly passed on the imperial decree, and mobilized the imperial guards. I am loyal to the country, but you are treasonous and rebellious!"
The prince was so angry that his face turned red: "You, you are talking nonsense! I am here to capture the rebels on the orders of the emperor." Shen Tuo raised his head and laughed disdainfully: "You killed the emperor, so whatever you say now is groundless. I do have the empress dowager's decree in my hand. The empress dowager knew about your evil deeds and specially issued the decree to let me enter the palace to eliminate traitors for the country."
Yu Huaian was so angry when he heard Shen Tuo distorting the truth that he wanted to shoot the old man Shen Tuo to death with an arrow, but was stopped by Qin Mingxuan beside him.
Qin Mingxuan looked at Shen Tuo with a confident look on his face, and remembered that the emperor in the palace was still unconscious at the appointed time, and felt vaguely uneasy.
Qin Mingxuan pulled Yu Huaian and whispered, "Hurry up and ask the poison master in the secret guard camp to check on the emperor again. What's going on? Why is he still unconscious?"
Because the original plan was that Shen Taiwei would force the emperor to abdicate today, the emperor would definitely wake up and be fine, so that the emperor could come forward to deal with Shen Tuo. But now, the emperor still hasn't woken up, and Shen Tuo said with certainty that the prince harmed the emperor, Qin Mingxuan felt a little bad.
As expected, Shen Tuo asked the prince triumphantly, "Your Highness, since you said that it was the Emperor who planned this and that the Emperor pretended to be poisoned, then I would like to ask, where is the Emperor? Where is the Emperor?"
After saying that, Shen Tuo took out a bright yellow imperial edict from a guard behind him and held it high: "Everyone, please look, this is the imperial edict that the Queen Mother sent out of the palace despite all difficulties. It said that the Crown Prince and the Queen conspired to murder the Emperor and imprison the Queen Mother, so the Queen Mother ordered me to lead troops into the palace to protect the Emperor and the Queen Mother."
After saying this, he looked at the Queen and the Crown Prince again and said, "Excuse me, do you two have any evidence to prove that what you did was ordered by Emperor Fengle?"
Yu Huaian couldn't help it: "Lord Qin and I can prove that the prince is following the emperor's orders to protect the palace and eliminate the rebels!"
Shen Tuo burst into laughter again: "Who would believe your evidence? I think you are just rebels who followed the prince to rebel! Humph, the thief is just crying thief!"
Yu Huaian was so angry that he screamed, "You old bastard, you are the traitor, you are the thief crying 'stop thief'!" At this time, a secret guard quietly approached Qin Mingxuan and Yu Huaian and whispered, "My lords, I just checked the emperor's medicine. There is no problem with the original medicine. The key is that the emperor was poisoned at some point, which led to the emperor still being unconscious until now."
Yu Huaian and Qin Mingxuan's faces changed drastically. The emperor was fine yesterday and the imperial physician said he would wake up today. How could he be poisoned again overnight?
Who on earth had the ability to poison the emperor silently in the Queen's palace? The more I think about it, the more terrifying it is!
The most urgent task now is that since the emperor cannot wake up, there is no way to prove that the prince was ordered to mobilize the imperial guards and was tricked by Shen Tuo. Now he has no evidence to prove his mistake.
Shen Tuo saw the anxious looks of Yu Huaian and Qin Mingxuan, and couldn't help but feel even more complacent: "Master Yu, Master Qin, what else do you have to say at this moment? The emperor has been very kind to you, but you followed the prince in rebellion. You really failed to live up to his grace!"
"I can prove that what the prince said is true!" A weak female voice came in at this time. Everyone was startled and looked towards the person who spoke.
It was Concubine Shen. She staggered out from the inner room. Her face was pale, and there was a trace of bright red blood at the corner of her mouth. She was extremely weak, but her eyes were looking at everyone in the hall very firmly, without any fear. Suqin supported her with tears in her eyes to prevent her from falling.
Shen Tuo's face changed drastically, and he shouted angrily: "This is an important matter in the court. You, a girl from the harem, should stop talking here and return to the palace as soon as possible."
Concubine Shen looked at her father and smiled sadly: "Father, do you think my daughter can still live to return to the palace? I have already taken the medicine that Daddy gave me."
Concubine Shen took a deep breath and continued with all her strength, "Yesterday you handed the medicine to my daughter. You said that the emperor had been poisoned for a long time. If you give him the medicine again this time, it will be enough to send him to death. By the way, you can also frame the prince and the queen."
"You used your daughter to give the emperor the drug. Aren't you afraid that she would be poisoned? Look, she took the drug you gave her, but she didn't die right away. It seems that the poison in her was not too severe. She should thank you for not killing her!"
"Shut up! Shut up! You lunatic! How dare you slander your own father? You are such a traitor. You deserve to die! You deserve to die!" Being exposed by his own children in front of everyone, Shen Tuo was furious.
"If I had known you were such a useless fool, your father should not have sent you to the palace. You have been in the palace for so many years, but you have not been able to help at all. You just act crazy and jealous. How could my Shen family have a stupid daughter like you!"
Shenpin was scolded and abused by her father, but she was not annoyed at all. Instead, she smiled sadly: "Yes, as a daughter of the Shen family, I should give up everything for the benefit of the Shen family."
"You used despicable means to send me to the palace without my knowledge, and you used me to poison the emperor without my knowledge. As a father, have you ever really thought about your daughter?"
Concubine Shen turned her head to look at the Fourth Prince, who was already in tears. A stream of blood flowed down the corner of his mouth again. Suqin couldn't help crying out loud. The Fourth Prince threw himself into Concubine Shen's arms, crying and shouting: "Mother, don't die! Jingyu doesn't want you to die!"
Shenpin gently stroked her son and looked at Shen Tuo: "My son is a good child with no distractions. You, as a grandfather, want to use a child to cover up your ambition to seize power and usurp the throne. We, mother and son, cannot bury everything we have for your ambition."
Concubine Shen then used all her strength to raise her voice and said to everyone in the hall: "I swear on the reputation of my ancestors that what I said is true. Commander Shen is ambitious and poisoned the emperor, framed the prince and the queen, and attempted to usurp the throne. This is the truth!"
Shen Tuo was so angry that he picked up a sword and was about to stab Shen Bin and her son: "You evil girl, I will kill you!" The fourth prince turned around and blocked Shen Bin. Shen Bin shouted anxiously: "Jingyu, get out of the way!"
The fourth prince stretched out his hands and stood firmly in front of his mother, facing his grandfather's sharp sword without fear. The crown prince, Yu Huaian, and Qin Mingxuan were all shocked and hurried forward to protect the fourth prince and others.
However, Concubine Shen and her son were far away from them, and it was too late to block Shen Tuo's sword. Xin He was so scared that she shouted "Fourth Prince" and saw Shen Tuo's sword was in front of Concubine Shen and her son. Xin He quickly threw the hidden weapon in her sleeve at Shen Tuo's sword. At this time, Su Qin, who was beside Concubine Shen, rushed forward and pushed Concubine Shen and her son away. Shen Tuo's sword was hit by Xin He's hidden weapon, and the sword body tilted and only pierced Su Qin's arm. Even so, Su Qin was bleeding profusely and immediately fainted on the ground.
At this time, Yu Huaian had already strode forward and used the long sword in his hand to deflect Shen Tuo's long sword. Yu Huaian shook the long sword in his hand, pointed at Shen Tuo and cursed: "You bastard, you can do such a dirty thing to your own daughter and grandson, you are worse than a beast."
When Concubine Shen saw that the Fourth Prince was fine, she looked down at Suqin who had fainted on the ground. She spat out a mouthful of blood, closed her eyes, and fainted.
The queen quickly stepped forward and asked the frightened palace maids and eunuchs to carry Concubine Shen and Suqin into the inner room, and called the imperial physician to treat them.
In the hall, Shen Tuo could no longer justify himself because of Concubine Shen's revelation. The ministers who were brought into the palace by Shen Tuo became witnesses of Shen Tuo's treason.
These ministers were already angry at Shen Tuo for using his family to threaten them. When they saw Shen Tuo's daughter standing up to testify against Shen Tuo, they all stood on the side of the prince, pointing fingers at Shen Tuo, and the accusations of treason could be heard everywhere.
Shen Tuo's eyes turned red, and he stared at the prince and his companions. Suddenly he laughed out loud: "Do you think you can control me like this? You underestimate me too much."
After saying that, he glared and shouted, "Why don't you do it now!" Everyone in the hall was wondering who he was talking to. The people brought by Shen Tuo had been closely watched by the archers on the palace wall. They did not dare to act rashly, as any movement would result in arrows raining down on them.
As everyone was wondering, they suddenly saw Aunt Ziyuan beside the Queen flying forward and pointing a shining dagger at the back of the Crown Prince: "Your Highness, don't move. My dagger has no eyes."
The Queen looked at Ziyuan in disbelief, and Xinhe was also shocked: "Aunt Ziyuan, you..." This scene did not appear when Xinhe's soul traveled through time to her previous life.
No one could have imagined that the personal maidservant beside the Queen was actually Shen Tuo's. The prince looked at Zi Yuan, who was pointing the dagger at him, in disbelief: "Aunt, why are you doing this?"
Zi Yuan avoided the prince's gaze, and when she turned her head, she saw the queen's wide eyes and two lines of tears streaming down her face. Zi Yuan felt heartbroken.
The queen murmured, "Zi Yuan, you accompanied me from the Prime Minister's Mansion to the Imperial Palace. You have been with me for such a long time. I regard you as a sister. Why did you do this? Why?"
Zi Yuan lowered her head, not daring to look the queen in the eye: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I had no choice but to do this. When the matter is over, I will die to apologize to you!"
Shen Tuo looked at the prince and the queen with satisfaction: "How is it? Unexpected, right? Now the prince's life and death is in my hands!"
The queen wiped away her tears and looked at the prince worriedly, signaling him with her eyes to stay calm. Then she looked at Shen Tuo calmly and asked, "What are your plans, Lord Shen?"