coobybook Chapter 119 Colluding with Foreign Enemies
Chapter 119 Colluding with Foreign Enemies
Why does Your Highness look at me with such a smile?
"I'm laughing at how stupid you are," Gu Liang said coldly. "You swallowed the pill so quickly, do you trust me that much?"
He smiled calmly, "What if what I give you isn't an antidote? What if it's poison?"
The Duke of Liu, kneeling on the ground, realized he had been tricked. His face flushed red, and he glared angrily at the arrogant Gu Liang.
"Your hair has turned completely white, so you should worry less about it."
Gu Liang naturally knew that Duke Liu's kneeling at the gate of the Prince's mansion all night was a ruse.
"You already have two kinds of poison in your body. If the Duke doesn't mind, then you can just wait to die. Perhaps my princess will have a kind heart and burn some paper money for you."
Duke Liu lay on the ground, his forehead covered in a fine layer of sweat.
He never expected that what Gu Liang gave him was not an antidote, but poison!
He suppressed all his anger.
Gu Liang is an unfathomable person, and he does things in unexpected ways, so we shouldn't act rashly.
"Your Highness, please rest assured, I will never harm a single hair on the Jiang family's head."
Gu Liang raised an eyebrow. "The Duke is quite sensible."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xingluo stepped forward. "Your Highness, here is what you requested."
Gu Liang reached out and took the box off the tray, then threw it in front of Duke Liu.
"This is the antidote for one of the poisons. If you behave well, I will naturally give you the antidote for the other poison a month later. If you don't behave well, you may try it, Duke."
The Duke of Liu, trembling, picked up the box from the ground and tucked it into his arms as if it were a precious treasure.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for sparing my life."
After obtaining the antidote, he left the Liang Prince's residence with Lady Liu.
Duke Liu stared at the box in his hand. He opened it and found another pill inside, but this time he dared not swallow it directly.
He instructed the coachman to hurry back to the Duke's mansion; he needed to find the physician to confirm if this was the antidote.
Jiang Zhi leaned against the outside of the hall, looking languid, with a mischievous smile on his lips.
Turbulence also broke out in the palace.
"Your Majesty, my ministers and officials have made progress in investigating the case in Yu County, Qingzhou," Marquis Guangde reported to the emperor in the imperial study.
"The evidence of the Marquis of Zhongjing's illegal iron mining is conclusive. He used the pretext of ordinary quarrying to forcibly conscript laborers from Qingzhou and forcibly conscripted most of the men from Yu County to mine and smelt for him. Now the witnesses and physical evidence are conclusive. The Marquis of Zhongjing and his accomplices have all been arrested and imprisoned. After interrogation, they confessed to their crimes. However, there is one thing that is very strange."
"What's the matter?"
"Lord Zhongjing has been in charge of Qingzhou for some time. The iron mine in Yu County has a huge output. Logically, the output should be over a thousand catties, but when we found it, it was less than a catty. The explanation given by Lord Zhongjing is that every catty of iron they smelted was bought up by someone else," said Lord Guangde.
The emperor raised his eyes and frowned. "Someone actually dares to privately manufacture ironware? Have they lost their minds?"
"The Marquis of Zhongjing said he didn't know either."
"Nonsense!" The emperor slammed his fist on the dragon throne in anger. "If he doesn't know, then who does?"
Marquis Guangde lowered his head and softened his voice again, "I'm afraid we should ask Minister Wen about this matter."
"Wenxiang language?"
“Yes,” Fan Ping said in a deep voice, “Minister Wen is resting at home as ordered by His Majesty.”
"I entrusted you with full authority to investigate this case, so why can't he do so?"
Marquis Guangde hesitated. "Minister Wen has always been worried about His Majesty and has served him wholeheartedly. Um, he's also... he's the Imperial Noble Consort's brother..."
"What's wrong?" The emperor's pupils dilated. "Does my empire need a relative of the empress to interfere?"
"I absolutely did not mean that!" Marquis Guangde hurriedly apologized. "I will go and interrogate Minister Wen immediately."
Wenfu.
After hearing the imperial edict, Wen Xiangyu remained expressionless, kowtowed, and rose.
Everyone in the Wen household was filled with fear, and they were also worried about their master.
Wen Xiangyu's eyes flickered slightly, and she turned to ask the butler, "How's the painting coming along?"
The butler replied, "It has already been received."
Sui Wenyuan smiled calmly, smoothed his sleeves, and said to the approaching official, "Then let's go."
In just two days, the news had spread throughout the entire court.
Wen Xiangyu, the Minister of Revenue, colluded with Marquis Zhongjing to illegally mine iron ore in Yu County, Qingzhou, and sell it to outsiders.
The court likely suspected that the outsiders were actually Northern Di people, and the two were now charged with treason in addition to their crime of illegally mining iron ore.
If it were merely illegal iron ore mining, the two men could still save their lives, but colluding with foreign enemies was undoubtedly crossing the emperor's bottom line.
"You scoundrel!" The emperor was so angry that he scattered the objects on the table all over the floor, making a loud clanging sound.
"He's trying to kill me!" the emperor laughed angrily. "You, Minister Wen, I've given you so much wealth and honor, ensuring you live a carefree life. What more could you possibly want? You actually collude with the Northern Barbarians!"
"What exactly do you want—!!"
These words quickly reached Yongchun Palace.
The Imperial Noble Consort sat calmly in front of the mirror, dressed in simple clothes.
Upon hearing the eunuch's message, she lazily waved her hand and said, "I understand. You may leave."
She gazed thoughtfully at her reflection in the mirror.
The personal maidservant leaned closer, "Your Highness, colluding with foreign enemies is a capital offense. Are you really going to ignore it?"
"How can I manage this?" Consort Yu looked at the nail guards on her hands. "Between my elder brother and my son, I can only protect the one closest to me."
"But without Lord Wen's support outside, I'm afraid you'll be in a difficult position here in the palace..."
“He wouldn’t bear to kill me,” Consort Yu said casually. “If I were to die, all the things he did would surely be told to the world.”
"Colluding with foreign enemies?" She scoffed. "Even the emperor might not be able to bear such a crime."
"Your Majesty, if Lord Wen confesses to this crime, will you and Prince Jing be implicated?"
"So what if he's banished to the Cold Palace?" The Imperial Noble Consort raised an eyebrow. "Yuan'er is already Prince Jing. He's a prince. As long as His Majesty can't get the evidence, he won't do anything to Yuan'er now."
"But......"
"I know what you're worried about. You're afraid His Majesty will favor Gu Liang." The Imperial Noble Consort touched her face. "Even if His Majesty has more children with other women, he won't make Gu Liang the Crown Prince. He knows he won't live long. Did His Majesty not know anything about what Yuan'er did to Gu Liang? Don't be so naive. No matter what, he can only choose Yuan'er. He has no other choice."
At this point, she narrowed her eyes slightly, "Instead of focusing on Yuan'er, we should have a good fight with that brat Gu Liang."
"Your Majesty, Prince Liang is not so easy to deal with," the personal maid cautiously reminded her.
Consort Yu's expression changed. "Are we just going to sit here and wait to die?"
At the birthday banquet that night, she intended to push Princess Liang off the stage, but unexpectedly, she was knocked down by the Eldest Princess. Now, thinking back, she realized that her actions at the time were really foolish.
If she were to deal with Jiang Zhi, Gu Liang would likely discover her intentions, since she absolutely could not allow the things she had painstakingly concealed to be discovered.