newbobooks Chapter 512 Swift and Decisive Measures, Imperial Majesty Awes the Emperor
Chapter 512 Swift and Decisive Measures, Imperial Majesty Awes the Emperor
The palace doors were pushed open.
"Oh? I didn't know that Consort Liu was so enthusiastic, personally brewing medicine for Consort Shu?"
Chu Ruohan's voice came slowly and deliberately. Behind her were Su Wan and an old doctor carrying a medicine box.
When the palace maid saw the Empress and Chu Ruohan, her face turned pale instantly, and her hand holding the soup bowl trembled, almost causing her to drop it.
"Your Majesty, I greet you, Your Majesty the Empress and the Lady of the Duke of Zhenguo." Consort Shu seemed to have seen a savior and hurriedly tried to rise and pay her respects.
"No need." Su Wan raised her hand, but her gaze fell on the bowl of medicine.
"I heard that Consort Shu was unwell, so I specially invited Imperial Physician Zhang to take a look. What is this? It smells wonderful."
Chu Ruohan stepped forward, took the soup bowl from the palace maid, and handed it to Physician Zhang behind her.
"Physician Zhang, could you please take a look? Is this herbal soup beneficial to the fetus?"
Physician Zhang took the soup bowl, first smelled it, then probed it with a silver needle, and his expression immediately changed.
He carefully tested several kinds of medicinal powders from his medicine box, and after a moment, he cupped his hands to Su Wan and Chu Ruohan and said:
"Your Majesty, Madam, this medicine contains a trace amount of safflower. Although its medicinal properties are masked by other herbs, if a pregnant woman takes it, she will experience severe abdominal pain within an hour, leading to miscarriage!"
Upon hearing this, the palace maid's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, her face ashen.
"Take him down!" Chu Ruohan shouted sternly.
The guards outside the hall rushed in immediately and pinned the palace maid down.
Almost simultaneously, a eunuch's loud announcement came from outside the hall: "His Majesty has arrived!"
Zhao Yunci, dressed in a dragon robe, strode in with thunderous fury.
His icy gaze swept over the palace maid who had collapsed to the ground and the bowl of medicine that proved her guilt, his face so gloomy it could drip water.
"Very well, very well indeed!" He laughed in fury. "How dare you plot against the imperial heir in my own palace!"
He kicked the palace maid: "Speak! Who ordered you to do this!"
Within half an hour, Consort Liu of Yonghe Palace was urgently summoned here.
When she saw the scene inside the palace, especially her trusted palace maid kneeling on the ground, weeping and confessing, her pretty face instantly lost all color.
"Your Majesty!" Consort Liu knelt on the ground, forcing herself to remain calm as she cried out.
"Your Majesty, please understand! This matter has nothing to do with me! This lowly maid must have taken bribes from someone else to frame me!"
"Framed?" Zhao Yunci's voice was devoid of any warmth.
The palace maid who had been arrested had already broken down psychologically under the emperor's thunderous power. When she heard the virtuous concubine denying it, she cried out in tears.
"Your Majesty! It was you! It was you who instructed me to add the medicine to the soup! It was also you who instructed me to contact a distant relative of Lord Zhou's household to impeach the Empress in court!"
"And that fire in the Cold Palace, it was you who provided the access to spices from the Western Regions, saying you wanted to teach the Empress a lesson! Your Majesty, it was all your doing!"
Consort Liu trembled, knowing that all was lost. She suddenly raised her head, her resentful eyes fixed on Su Wan, and screamed sharply.
"It's her! It's all of you! The Empress and the Duchess of Zhenguo conspired to frame me! Your Majesty, Su Wan is just a commoner, what right does she have to be the Empress!"
"She was jealous of my illustrious family background and that I was more favored by the Emperor than she was, which is why she devised such a vicious scheme!"
Just as Consort Liu was frantically accusing others, Consort Shu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke. Her voice trembled, but it was unusually clear.
"Your Majesty, Consort Xian is lying."
Everyone's eyes were focused on her.
Consort Shu, supporting her belly, said, word by word, "It was Consort Xian who coerced and lured me into lying that I was carrying the emperor's child, in order to stir up trouble in the harem and frame Her Majesty the Empress."
"She promised me that she would ensure my son and I would be wealthy and prosperous after the matter was accomplished."
"She also told me that if given the chance, she would cause my unborn child to miscarry 'accidentally' and frame the Empress for everything!"
"She even knew all along that the child in my womb was not the imperial heir!"
These last words, like a thunderclap, resounded throughout the hall.
When Zhao Yunci heard that Consort Liu dared to use a fake imperial heir to orchestrate all of this, his handsome face flushed with extreme anger, but he actually laughed.
"What a fine Consort Liu, what a fine daughter of the Imperial Observatory Minister!" He nodded slowly, the murderous intent in his voice causing the temperature in the entire side hall to drop to freezing point.
"Guards! Throw the disgraced Consort Liu into the imperial prison to await her fate! Seal off the entire Yonghe Palace and imprison all her associates for a thorough investigation!"
Consort Liu collapsed to the ground, unable to utter another word.
Su Wan was overwhelmed with mixed feelings as she watched the scene take such a dramatic turn for the worse.
This war without gunfire, so cruel and ruthless, gave her a deeper understanding of this magnificent prison.
The storm had temporarily subsided, but Chu Ruohan did not relax upon returning to the Chaofeng Palace.
She looked at Su Wan, who was still shaken, and said softly, "Your Majesty, this is not over yet."
"Consort Liu has fallen, but her father, Lord Liu of the Imperial Observatory, is still alive. A mad dog is not scary; what is scary is whether there is a powerful master behind it. We still need to be vigilant."
The next morning, the atmosphere in the pilgrimage hall was somber.
The officials bowed their heads, and no one dared to speak.
Zhao Yunci sat upright on the dragon throne, his face as calm as still water, exuding an imposing aura without anger.
"Consort Liu, of the Liu clan, is vicious and wicked. She framed the Empress and plotted to harm the imperial heir. Her crimes are unforgivable!"
Zhao Yunci's voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's heart like ice.
"Her father, Liu Shikang, an imperial censor of the Imperial Observatory, failed to properly educate his daughter and is implicated in this matter. He shall be immediately dismissed from his post and investigated!"
Upon hearing this, the court fell into a deathly silence.
Zhao Yunci's cold gaze slowly swept over the assembled officials below, and she spoke again, "The Empress is the mother of the nation and my first wife."
"From this day forward, any concubine in the harem who sows discord or plots treason will be severely punished without exception!"
"Anyone, whether inside or outside the court, who criticizes the Empress or undermines the foundation of the nation, shall be considered guilty of treason and executed without exception!"
Upon hearing the words "Kill without mercy," the entire court knelt down, shouting "Long live the Emperor!" but their hearts were filled with dread.
When the news spread throughout the palace, everyone felt insecure.
Those concubines who had previously looked down on Su Wan, the commoner empress, were now trembling with fear.
Zhao Yunci then issued another decree: "Issue Duke Gu Junze as Imperial Commissioner to immediately quell the rumors circulating in the court and among the people, thoroughly investigate the remaining associates of Consort Liu, and arrest all those involved, regardless of their official rank!"
Gu Junze stepped forward from among the officials, bowed, and solemnly accepted the decree: "Your subject accepts the decree."
He acted swiftly and decisively, and within a few days, more than a dozen officials and palace servants who had spread rumors were arrested in the capital.
After verifying the evidence, in accordance with Zhao Yunci's imperial will, the ringleaders were executed in public.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the capital improved dramatically, and no one dared to openly criticize the Empress anymore...