Chapter 512
His peripheral vision swept over the bound Xiao Qi and the blood-spitting eunuch, then back to Consort Liang and her son, who had lost all trace of their earlier composure.
Just now, he had felt something push him, but it clearly wasn't Consort Liang, because she had obviously been about to make a move against him.
"Could it be that I truly carry the Mandate of Heaven?" Prince Cheng muttered to himself. His dark cloak fluttered behind him as the sounds of his armor grew fainter in the distance.
"What a confident one, this fellow!"
Prince Cheng was gone, but the three hundred armored guards outside the hall did not withdraw. They still surrounded the emperor's bedchamber, watertight.
[Master, do we stay or follow Consort Liang and the others? Whose memory should we search first?]
Prince Cheng's departure took the life of the hall with him. The emperor's bedchamber suddenly fell quiet. What remained were the emperor's mother and his wives and concubines—many people, but all silent. Not a single one dared to speak.
"Let's watch the ending before we leave. Isn't there still Zhao Quan'an? By the look of it, he didn't manage to find an antidote for the emperor."
[Exactly. Even the two most skilled poison masters of this age, Du Zhongxian and Li Sanming, could only shake their heads when faced with the poison 'Red Medicine.'
This thing was designed from the very beginning to kill. There simply is no antidote.]
But judging by how Gan Sheng was still clinging to life, he must have taken some kind of palliative medicine.
At this moment, a whole room full of women, yet it was utterly silent. Seeing that Consort Liang, with whom they had struggled their entire lives, had been taken away, the various concubines felt joy in their hearts. But with the throne lost, they no longer had the will to keep fighting.
In the face of an emperor about to die, everyone chose silence by mutual consent.
The Empress Dowager slowly walked to the edge of the couch, took Gan Sheng's hand, and finally let her tears fall.
The tears silently traced the wrinkles on her face and dripped onto the bright yellow bedding, leaving dark stains.
" Sheng'er..." Her voice choked. "It's your mother's fault. I couldn't save you, and I couldn't protect your throne either!"
Gan Sheng forced his eyes open. Looking at his mother's face, usually so well-maintained but now looking ten years older, he suddenly felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.
He wanted to say something, but found his throat blocked, as if something were stuck there. The confrontation just now had used up all his strength, and now he could not say a single word.
His throne had originally been seized through schemes, and now it had been taken from him the same way... He shook his head slightly, reached out, and gently squeezed his mother's hand.
The Empress stood up, handed the bowl of long-cold medicinal broth to the palace maid beside her, and said in a flat tone, "The medicine has gone cold. Have another bowl brewed."
Her voice was calm, her movements and etiquette flawless, as if nothing had happened at all.
Several imperial consorts, though they had lost the heart to compete for favor, could not help but sob softly at the thought of their uncertain futures. How much of that weeping was for the emperor's fate, and how much for their own unknown destinies, only they themselves knew.
Consort Shu, holding Gan Minghao's hand, trembled slightly with a look of panic and despair, all trace of her former pride as the first favorite concubine of Southern Yue gone. Only her darting eyes hinted that she was still scheming about something.
Gan Sheng watched all of this and quietly closed his eyes. He was too tired and needed to sleep.
The court officials who had been taken away by Prince Cheng were released at the palace gates. The great deed was done—the entire capital was in his hands—and he was not afraid they could stir up any trouble.
What mattered most was that he needed these people to get to work, preparing for his coronation ceremony.
Zhou Wenbi, Li Jie, and the others paused at the palace gate, glanced back in the direction of the imperial palace, then shook their heads with long sighs—whether sighing for the emperor or for themselves, no one could tell.
The setting sun cast their hunched silhouettes against the palace walls beyond. Their footsteps were as heavy as if they were carrying the fate of the entire dynasty on their backs, and they slowly faded away into the twilight.
"Little Pearl, time to get to work!"
[Master, just you wait and see!]
Yue Fuguang didn't know how many broken hearts were in that evening's glow, but at least none of them were hers.
This trip to Southern Yue, for her, was not just about watching a good show. She had also uncovered several big fish that Panshan had planted in Southern Yue.
They stayed in Southern Yue for three days. During those three days, the system went through—took care of—each of Panshan's key operatives in Southern Yue, and through careful analysis, calculated the location of Panshan's headquarters.
[Too bad. That Grand Chief covers himself too well every time he appears. We can't even tell if it's a man or a woman!]
"It doesn't matter. First, we take out their stronghold, then we empty their treasury. Once we've arrested everyone we know about, we won't have to worry about that person not showing themselves!"
[Then when do we go treasure hunting?] Judging from the memories of the old nanny beside Consort Liang, Panshan's treasury could be described as wealth to rival a nation—that was no exaggeration.
"Not so fast. Let's deal with what's right in front of us first!"
Yue Fuguang stretched out her hand and caught a drop of rain. The heavy rains of Southern Yue had arrived right on schedule. All the slander and disbelief in the world turned to panic in that single moment.
The common people rushed home to pack their belongings and prepare to take refuge in the mountains.
News of the downpours in Southern Yue and Nanzhao spread across the six kingdoms within days. By this time, the Grand Yan army's southern campaign had finished its rest and resupply. The army arrived outside the walls of Suicheng, and the great battle was about to break out.
Upon hearing this news, both Beili and Western Qiang—who had been on the verge of war over the incident at Mount Chengping—set aside their differences and began peace talks in the face of the mighty Dayan.
[Master, the plague in Dongyi is basically under control. This is a perfect time for Dayan to swoop in and claim the spoils.]
"Yesterday I received a letter from the emperor; the naval forces stationed along the eastern coast should have finished assembling. The eastern campaign is a matter of a day or two."
Now that the system has given such concrete intelligence, Emperor Mingxi will surely stop hesitating or trying to find the perfect moment to strike.
[Master! The Empress of Nanzhao has passed away!]
Yue Fuguang was still thinking about the Dongyi situation when suddenly the system's death knell rang in his ears. "What? Lan Xuan'er's mother is dead? When did that happen?"
"That shouldn't be— the southern rains in Nanzhao and Nanyue only lasted five or six days; a flood is still some way off. Even if there were flood damage, how would it affect a reigning monarch?"
[Because she didn't die a natural death— she died of 'illness'!]
"Illness? A real illness or a fake one? Don't tell me she was poisoned again? Damn it, Gan Sheng is still alive and well, so why is she gone first?"
[She died this morning. Master, have you been busy these past few days? Today is Prince Cheng's enthronement ceremony. On the very same day— one person ascends as emperor while the neighboring kingdom's ruler dies. What a coincidence.
But you've guessed wrong this time, Master. In the early stages, the Empress was indeed genuinely sick. Because someone with malicious intent switched her medicine, a minor cold dragged on into typhoid fever. Her body was already weak, and what with her ungrateful sons and daughters provoking her day after day, this morning she coughed up blood and died!]
"Killed by her own children's anger? That's hardly a death befitting an emperor!"
Yue Fuguang slapped his forehead lightly. "Oh right, I almost forgot— today is the day Prince Cheng ascends the throne! And also the Empress's death anniversary!"
[And those aren't the only big events today. Suicheng has been successfully taken by Dayan. The moment Prince Cheng takes power, he inherits half the realm.]