Chapter 230: Executed on the Spot shuhaige.net

The junior supervisor's leg went weak and he knelt down, "It really is Your Majesty, National Teacher!"

The National Teacher snorted, "Your Majesty won't suspect me if I don't say anything……"

His words trailed off into nothing, and the junior supervisor didn't know why he suddenly thought of the pond in the Imperial Observatory, shuddering involuntarily.

"Please spare my life, National Teacher! It's Deng Jieyu! Deng Jieyu bribed me! She had me constantly watch your every move."

"Deng Jieyu?" It was actually her.

"Not bad brains."

"Oh, like that." The National Teacher increased the distance between himself and the junior supervisor.

The junior supervisor was about to sigh in relief when a silver needle stabbed into his throat; he instantly couldn't speak, only able to utter "ah ah ah ah" sounds.

He looked at the National Teacher in terror, and then several more silver needles struck his temples.

"You will forget everything you heard today."

Overwhelming panic closed in, and the junior supervisor's vision went black as he fainted to the ground.

The National Teacher, expressionless, dragged the junior supervisor by one arm and hauled him away.

The next day, the emperor received the news that the junior supervisor had asked for sick leave.

He casually approved it, having no time to pay attention to these matters.

The court army and the rebel army faced off across a prefecture, and aside from the crown prince he actually had no commander worthy of deployment,

Zheng Gui was also captured—all of them are useless trash!

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Something's wrong!"

"What do you mean 'something's wrong'?!" the emperor flared, tossing the memorial aside.

The eunuch who came to report fell to his knees in fright, "Your Majesty, spare me! A major incident has occurred, Your Majesty! Grand Secretary Xiao Yichen has rebelled!

"What did you say?!" the emperor slammed the table.

Xiao Yichen rebelled?!

His left and right arms, the empire's pillars, actually rebelled?!

How is that possible?!

"Is this for real? Could it be the enemy army's smoke screen?"

The emperor paced back and forth.

It must be a scheme by the rebel army to sow discord! They want to affect troop morale!

"It's absolutely certain, Your Majesty! The Grand Secretary's residence is already emptied out!"

"Not a single one of the over a hundred people in the Grand Secretary's residence remains?" the emperor glared.

The eunuch hurriedly nodded.

"What are the city's guards good for!? Is guarding the gate just eating dry rations? How could so many people vanish without a trace?" the emperor fumed, overturning everything on the imperial desk onto the floor.

All the palace servants in Xuanshi Hall dropped to their knees.

"Pursue! Investigate! Chase to the ends of the earth and capture every rebel from the Grand Secretary's residence!"

The eunuch stammered, "Your Majesty, who should you send?"

"Who to send?"

This really stumped him!

There's not a single usable person!

"Send the leader of the Forbidden Army rolling off to pursue!" the emperor snapped his sleeve.

"Yes sir!"

Unbelievably, even Xiao Yichen has rebelled! His fine subordinate, his excellent prince consort, has actually been turned by the rebels?!

"Is it because of Zhi'er?"

At this moment the emperor's feelings were mixed; he had sent Xiao Yichen and the Fourth Prince to retrieve Zhi'er, but instead he ended up delivering her into their hands……

And the Fourth Prince? Surely he couldn't have turned against his own father emperor, could he?!

"Issue the order: anyone caught rebel is to be executed on the spot!"

The chief eunuch received the order in a fluster, immediately going to draft the edict and the imperial notice.

"Your Majesty, please draw a plaque."

The eunuch carrying the plaque stepped forward with trepidation, fearful of provoking the emperor's wrath at this moment.

The emperor's fierce gaze swept over the plaques, and he waved a hand: "Withdraw! What time is this still to draw plaques?!"

"Yes…"

"Come back." The emperor looked over the plaques again and drew the one for Yun Cai Ren.

The National Teacher had calculated, this woman brings him prosperity.

Jian Yu's words are never wrong.

The court army is just stationed there in Xiang City, delaying and refusing to move.

The people of Xiang City are anxious and worried all day, fearing they don't know when fighting will break out; actually quite a few have fled to Li County to escape.

Pei Shangyan found this puzzling; if fleeing elsewhere were still plausible, why would they flee to Li County?

Isn't that even more dangerous?

Could it be that Prince Jia is now more of a guarantee of safety in the people's eyes than the court?

These days, not only civilians but even deserters from the army camp have fled to Li County; those caught are killed without mercy, yet still some risk their lives to go over to the rebel army.

"Someone come!"

"Crown Prince!" "Has the confidant I sent to deliver a letter to Princess Zhiyan returned?" Pei Shangyan asked.

"Has the trusted aide sent to Princess Zhiyan returned?" Pei Shangyan asked.

I haven't replied to the Prince's words yet.

It's only been less than half an hour since I left.

Go on, it's none of your business.

Here.

Pei Shangyan sighed at the scenery outside the window.

Ah Zhi...

Even Xiao Yichen has defected, and Pei Shangyan's unease deepens.

Although the letter he sent had little effect, it was still something he had to do; he had to persuade them to surrender and return to the righteous path.

Mu Yuanzhi, who had received Pei Shangyan's letter, was reading it quickly, taking in ten lines at a glance.

"What does it say?" Gu Rongjin asked curiously.

"What could it be? What else could Pei Shangyan say? It's just telling the rebels to turn back, his sister's endless nagging."

Wasting her time!

Gu Rongjin chuckled: "The court holding a million-strong army indeed has confidence."

Mu Yuanzhi: "More than half of the feudal lords are already willing to help us, more and more people are joining us; the court's unusable army is just a decoration, a leaderless horde."

"I've already spread this news; more will respond to us." Gu Rongjin said, "With the Jia Prince, the situation is completely different; to those aristocratic clans, this is internal strife—whoever wins, it's still the Pei family's realm, no harm done."

Mu Yuanzhi nodded: "When the time comes, once Yun Jing Lou finds evidence that the current emperor's ascension was illegitimate, we can succeed without losing a single soldier."

"Hope that kid comes through." Although Gu Rongjin doesn't have high hopes, the worst plan is to fight to the death!

Mu Yuanzhi: "And Pei Shangling? Is she still yelling battle cries in prison?"

"After all, he's his father; surely he can't really execute righteousness against kin?" Gu Rongjin shrugged, "Anyway, having him or not makes no difference; we can't even play the affection card."

He then said: "According to Zheng Gui's testimony, the court has already sent reinforcements; soon, five hundred thousand troops will reach Xiang City."

Mu Yuanzhi furrowed her brows; fifty thousand troops, spoken aloud, is indeed intimidating—anyone would instinctively fear it.

"When fighting foreign enemies, he never shows such enthusiasm for mobilizing troops."

"No matter how many troops he mobilizes, it's useless; we have the Jia Prince and Qi Shi Huai on our side—what do they have? Will Pei Shangyan come to command? Don't kid yourself—what's the difference between that and having a Qilin command?" Gu Rongjin jeered.

The Qilin, who had been acting as a transparent bystander, was stepped on by a passerby and jumped up angrily: "What are you doing? Suddenly stepping on me? Did I eat your family's rice?!"

"You've eaten plenty of my family's rice, little devil." Gu Rongjin threw a piece of candy over: "Don't be angry, brother-in-law invites you to eat candy; you're a bit stronger than Pei Shangyan, right?"