blenderwars Chapter 268 The day has finally arrived!
Chapter 268 The day has finally arrived!
The grain transport official was the third brother, Shen Shilang. This time, he delivered 100,000 shi of grain, 1,000 jin of white sugar, several carts of canned goods, and several carts of wine.
However, the canned goods are all fruit canned goods.
As for meat, we just defeated Xiling, so we didn't capture much grain, but we still have some cattle and sheep.
The air still smelled of blood.
Upon arriving, Shen Shilang immediately met Li Yuanke. "This humble subject, Shen Shilang, greets Your Majesty!"
Ling Menghui took a good look at the emperor's brother-in-law. He was tall and thin, and although he and Shen Shixi were born of the same mother, they did not look alike.
A handsome and talented young man, full of youthful vigor and a forthright personality.
"No need for formalities!" Li Yuanke said. "How was your journey?"
Shen Shilang said, "We encountered a few fleas. When they heard that they were transporting military supplies for the court, they didn't say a word and even helped push the cart for a while. The whole country knew that the emperor was personally leading the expedition, and everyone was grateful for the emperor's grace, so the journey was very smooth."
Shen Shilang was not lying. Li Yuanke knew the personalities of Shen Shixi's brothers quite well, so he was even happier.
He was proud and arrogant, so even when he was happy, he would only smile with his eyes and a slight upturn of his lips.
After recounting the events of the journey, Shen Shilang said, "Your Majesty, you have just returned from the battlefield and must be very tired. I will take my leave now, but I will obey your orders if needed!"
Li Yuanke then ordered Jiang You to escort him out and arrange accommodations for him.
Ling Menghui joked, "Did His Majesty know all along that someone would be sending us supplies?"
Li Yuanke glanced at him sideways, "Anyone in the world could potentially cut off my supplies, but she's the only one who won't!"
Ling Menghui was suddenly fed a mouthful of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection), catching her completely off guard.
The dinner that day was incredibly lavish. The white rice was cooked with canned sweet rice and sprinkled with plenty of white sugar. Many people never get to eat a sweet treat in their entire lives. This meal was even more enjoyable than the New Year's Eve dinner, and I felt full of energy afterward.
Shen Shilang left the front lines and spread the news of the Great Zhou Emperor's disappearance along the way, which quickly reached the capital.
Prime Minister Pei had someone investigate and found that on the night of the battle with Xiling, Xiling General Yelü Xiaoquan led his troops to force Li Yuanke to leave. Li Yuanke only led a few hundred bad guys and broke away from the main battlefield, and then disappeared without a trace.
Whether he is alive or dead is still unknown.
Li Yuanzhi was overjoyed. With Li Yuanke dead in battle and imperial power in the hands of Shen Shixi, the emperor's authority was illegitimate. This gave him a perfect reason to raise an army.
The Pei family, however, is still waiting.
In the Pei family's villa, Pei Xunli's concubine, who had been brought back from Bingzhou, had just given birth to a baby boy less than ten days ago.
On April 26th, news spread throughout the palace that a concubine had given birth to an imperial heir.
There are three pregnant women in the palace. The Empress is in her late pregnancy, and the two pregnant concubines were both selected to enter the palace in February: Cui Xianhui and Xu Miaoying.
When the four people entered the palace, Li Yuanke gave each of them two chances. These two were lucky and passed the test, but their pregnancies were very early, so it couldn't have been them. The only possibility was the Empress.
The Xingli army besieged the imperial city, and the Southern Palace Imperial Guards fought back fiercely.
The slogan "The Emperor is dead in battle, execute the wicked concubine!" was shouted, and the entire capital was in an uproar. The sounds of fighting, shouts, clashing weapons, and the thud of sharp blades piercing flesh rose and fell, intertwining together, as if entering hell.
The day has finally come!
Shen Shixi, clad in gleaming silver armor and carrying a long sword, stood atop the imperial city's tower. The firelight illuminated her snow-white face, making her shine brightly. Her eyes shone like two flames, and her ponytail fluttered in the night wind, making her appear like a war god who reigned supreme among men, majestic and awe-inspiring!
Cen Yin stood guard by her side, and Li Fude stood behind her.
"General Nie has arrived with 30,000 Northern Border troops. Although they are only 30,000 men, they are all elites, capable of fighting ten men each. They are not even a threat to the Northern Sands, let alone the Xingli Army, which is already a complete mess. Your Majesty, you don't need to worry!" Cen Yin comforted her.
"I'm not worried. Let them get excited first."
Li Yuanzhi's personal guards, Pei's personal guards, the three thousand private soldiers he had raised at great expense over the years, and a small number of the Southern Army's imperial guards who had defected to Li Yuanzhi, totaling about six or seven thousand men, launched an attack on the imperial city.
The city gates were tightly shut, and the Bad Guys, each armed with a powerful crossbow, were on high alert.
Outside the city, the Xingli army fiercely attacked the city gates. Xue Shunde shouted, "The Emperor has died in battle, and the wicked concubine has usurped the throne! My men, charge in, kill the wicked concubine, support the wise ruler to ascend the throne, and bring glory to our ancestors tonight!"
Xue Baicheng, commander of the Southern Imperial Guards, glanced at Xue Shunde with pity and shouted, "Traitors and rebels deserve to be killed by everyone! His Majesty personally led the expedition, and news of victory has just arrived from the front lines. How can you say that His Majesty died in battle? Attack! Attack him to death!"
Upon hearing the words "a wicked concubine usurping the throne," Nie Yun Shen was enraged and charged forward, shouting, "Kill! Kill these traitors!"
Xingli Army was surprised to find that there was a pincer attack from behind, which was not what had been agreed upon!
Xue Shunde was also stunned, but the other party was not stupid and knew perfectly well that they had been tricked!
This is a damn trap!
It's too late to escape now.
Only by fighting bravely and waiting for Yang Shougui's army to arrive will victory be theirs, and the title of marquis and prime minister will be within reach.
But even after everyone had died, there was still no sign of Yang Shougui's army.
Yang Shougui did not come. To be on the safe side, Bai intercepted the letter that the Pei family was sending to Yang Shougui. On the night that the letter stipulated their departure, Bai drugged him and locked him in the backyard, not even letting him out of the door.
Prime Minister Pei knelt in the Pei family ancestral hall, his heart filled with turmoil. At this moment, a trace of regret made him extremely uneasy.
Madam Pei held her grandson, who was only ten days old. As long as they broke through the imperial city, rushed in, and strangled the sickly son born to the Empress, this child with Pei family blood would be enthroned as the young emperor.
Her grandson will be the future emperor, and the Pei and Gao families will enjoy endless wealth and honor for generations to come.
She was very nervous. She handed the child over to the wet nurse to take good care of him, knelt down in front of Guanyin Bodhisattva, clasped her hands together and chanted Buddhist prayers, asking the Bodhisattva for protection!
On the city tower, Shen Shixi watched for a while, then ordered Li Fude, "Take the imperial edict and go to Fengyi Palace to read it aloud! The Emperor's decree is to execute the deposed Empress, but she is pregnant with the Emperor's child. I do not want future history to record this badly, so I will demote her to a concubine... and bestow upon her the title of Jing, and move her to Jiafu Palace, so she can be quieter from now on. She is far too noisy!"
It wasn't that she was kind; it was mainly because Empress Pei was too useless. She didn't pass on any useful information.
It's simply a matter of who Li Yuanke favored and who he didn't. What serious crime could that constitute? If people saw it, it would just be a woman's jealous behavior, and it has nothing to do with treason.
This made it impossible for Shen Shixi to find any fault with her.
If she were to obey Li Yuanke's decree and kill the Empress at this time, countless unofficial histories would later emerge to vindicate Pei, and she would become the sinner who falsely accused Pei of killing her.
Why bother!
She doesn't care about her reputation, but she can't be blamed for things she didn't do!
She was even less likely to kill a child.
Just for the child's unwavering courage to be reborn, Shen Shixi was willing to grant his wish.
Even if Lady Pei was involved in the rebellion, she cannot be killed now, just for the sake of the imperial heir in her womb.
Li Yuanke cannot bear the infamy of murdering his wife and children; this is even worse than the reputation of a tyrannical ruler, and is simply an act of beastly behavior.
"Next, take the Third Prince away and have him temporarily raised by Consort Yuan. Let Consort Li move to Consort Yuan's palace to live!"
Consort Li was the birth mother of the Third Prince. She was moved to Consort Yuan's palace, nominally to be raised by Consort Yuan, but in reality, Consort Li was allowed to raise her own child, thus exploiting a loophole in the ancestral system.
"This servant obeys the decree!" Li Fude bowed and withdrew.
The commotion outside the palace could be faintly heard. The Empress was overjoyed. Her parents had finally made their move. Shen Shi was not far from being deposed. As long as she gave birth to a legitimate son, she would be the only supreme ruler in the harem.
No one is capable of challenging her anymore.
Granny Qu was extremely worried. "Your Majesty, please sit down and rest for a while. Don't get agitated; be careful of the imperial heir!"
"Although I am not yet full-term, I am not far from giving birth, so you really don't need to worry, nanny."
A palace maid announced that Li Fude had arrived, holding an imperial edict in his hand. The Empress was stunned for a moment, and Granny Qu's heart skipped a beat.
Li Fude glanced at the Empress and said, "Your Majesty, please accept the decree!"
This was the last time Li Fude would hear "Your Majesty the Empress," he thought to himself.
The Empress instinctively resisted, saying, "His Majesty is not here, so where would an imperial edict come from?"
Li Fude thought to himself, "The Emperor wrote this imperial edict last January. If the time hadn't been too short, it would have been read aloud long ago."
"This was left behind by the Emperor before he left. The Pei family has rebelled, so you should kneel down and accept the decree!" Li Fude said impolitely.
The Empress shook her head violently and stepped back. "No, no, the Pei family has not rebelled. The Pei family only wants to get rid of this vile concubine, Shen Shixi. What kind of imperial edict is this? This wasn't left by the Emperor. Did Shen Shixi forge an edict?"
The Empress shouted, "Shen Shixi has forged an imperial edict! Shen Shixi is plotting to usurp the throne! Guards! Kill Shen Shixi! She wants to kill me while the Emperor is away!"
Nobody listens to her!
Li Fude gave a signal, and the eunuchs who had followed him were about to step forward to make a move, but Granny Qu stopped them, saying, "Eunuch Li, please allow me to speak with Her Majesty the Empress for a moment!"
Li Fude glanced at the Empress's belly, nodded, and took a few steps back.