lcionline Chapter 229 Mid-Autumn Palace Change
Chapter 229 Mid-Autumn Palace Change
Lin Pianpian came to Yongkang Palace with the hope of completely replacing Shi Lidie.
When they arrived at the palace gate, Wen Tan was stopped outside by the imperial guards as expected, and Lin Pianpian was asked to go in alone with the medicine box. The Emperor of Ye was sitting in a chair, waiting for his pulse to be diagnosed.
Lin Pianpian walked up to the emperor, opened the medicine box, took out the small porcelain bottle on the top, then took out a small pillow for taking pulses, placed it under the emperor's wrist, and then gently rolled up his sleeves.
She looked at the small porcelain vase on the table, then at the emperor's wrist that was not covered by his sleeves.
Then, she quickly pulled out the hairpin on her head with her left hand and stabbed the emperor's wrist fiercely. At the same time, she opened the lid of the small porcelain bottle with her right hand and poured the poison inside onto the wound on the emperor's wrist.
Shi Lidie said that this poison would only be effective if it saw blood, even if it was just a small wound.
Lin Pianpian had practiced this move many times in the Prince's Mansion. In order to make her practice quick, accurate and ruthless, she had pierced the wrists of several slaves in the Prince's Mansion who had signed death contracts.
Of course, during training, what was sprinkled was not poison, but ordinary clean water.
In order to ensure that she would be foolproof, Ye Zhaonan asked her to practice many times every day, just for this moment today, so that she could complete the plan in the fastest time and at the fastest speed.
Lin Pianpian succeeded. From stabbing the emperor to sprinkling the poison, it took no more than three seconds.
However, the emperor reacted quickly. He began to struggle the moment he was stabbed, but the poison was water, and it would be effective if only a little bit was sprinkled on. So even though he retreated, the poison still penetrated through the wound on his wrist.
"Shi Lidie, what are you doing?" The emperor was angry. "Come here, capture him for me!"
The people in Yongkang Palace rushed forward and captured Lin Pianpian, but facing the emperor's questioning, Lin Pianpian refused to speak, because appearance and expression could be changed by external forces to make her look like Shi Lidie, but the voice could not be changed.
As soon as she opened her mouth, her voice gave her away.
Wen Tan, who was waiting outside Yongkang Palace, saw all the imperial guards standing at the palace gate swarm into the palace. She knew that Lin Pianpian must have succeeded, so she turned around and left while no one was watching.
She wanted to find a chance to leave the palace because the palace was destined to be restless tonight.
***
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, all civil and military officials above the third rank came to the palace with their families, wives and daughters for a banquet. Various princes, dukes, marquises, earls and noble families also came to the palace.
As was customary in previous years, the banquet was held in the Jiayang Palace.
The emperor had not arrived yet, and only some concubines of lower rank had come from the harem. However, quite a few court officials and nobles had arrived, and the scene had become lively. Those who were familiar with each other and on good terms had already started toasting and drinking.
Young men and women also found their own good friends and gathered in groups of three or five to chat.
No one knew that a crisis was approaching.
Ye Zhaonan had already won over the commanders of the patrol battalion and the Five Cities Army. He personally led the two groups of troops and charged into the palace from the Zhengyang Gate, because the guards at this gate were the weakest.
After breaking into the palace, the prince divided his men into two groups.
Go all the way to Jiayang Palace, kill the guards outside the palace, surround the entire palace, tie up everyone inside, and kill those who are disobedient or unwilling to submit on the spot to serve as a warning to others.
Another group went to Yongkang Palace, intending to directly control the emperor and force him to write an abdication edict and become the emperor emeritus.
Ye Zhaonan's operation went smoothly.
There were screams coming from the Jiayang Palace one after another. Among the court officials, those who had surrendered to Ye Zhaonan naturally submitted obediently, while those who did not curse Ye Zhaonan as a traitor and a villain with evil ambitions.
But without exception, all those who cursed were chopped to death with a single blow, leaving no chance of survival.
And those young ladies who were kept in seclusion were so shocked by the bloody scene that several of them fainted one after another, making the scene even more chaotic.
At the same time, Ye Zhaonan had also arrived at Yongkang Palace.
At this moment, the emperor had been poisoned, his limbs were paralyzed, and he could not get out of bed, but he had not yet fallen into a coma and was conscious. He lay on the bed and let the imperial guards interrogate Lin Pianpian.
Although the emperor did not kill Lin Pianpian, he made her suffer a lot.
He ordered the imperial guards to whip Lin Pianpian, leaving her skin torn and flesh exposed, but Lin Pianpian remained silent and endured it all.
After all, when Ye Zhaonan mistook her for a traitor, she was locked up in a dungeon and whipped. This pain was nothing to her. As long as she could get through it, once Shi Lidie died, she could completely replace her.
Ye Zhaonan pushed the door open, ordered his men to take control of the imperial guards of Yongkang Palace, and stood in front of the emperor.
The emperor saw this and thought about the cause and effect. How could he not understand? He immediately became angry and scolded Ye Zhaonan:
"Rebellious son! How dare you murder the king and commit treason!"
"Your Majesty, you are wrong. I do not want to commit regicide or rebel." Ye Zhaonan said, "If Your Majesty had not taken a fancy to my eighth brother and wanted to make room for him, I would not have removed him from the list. But Your Majesty, rest assured, I will not kill you. As long as you write a letter of abdication and are willing to step back and become the emperor, you can save your life and I will not be a traitor."
"You are dreaming!" the emperor said angrily, "If you have the guts to kill me, you will forever bear the crime of regicide and patricide!"
"Father, please don't refuse my toast and drink the wine for punishment!"
"Humph."
The father and son were confronting each other when suddenly there was a sound of fighting outside, and there seemed to be the sound of weapons colliding one after another. Ye Zhaonan couldn't help but look back and listen attentively.
He found that there seemed to be a lot more people in the palace.
At this moment, Ye Feng rushed in, his body covered in blood, and reported:
"Your Highness, something is wrong. General Tang Yi of Zhenbei has led tens of thousands of troops into the palace. His slogan is that the Crown Prince is forcing the emperor to abdicate and he wants to rescue him!"
"Tang Yi?" Ye Zhaonan was shocked. "How could he arrive so timely, and bring so many people with him?"
"From what I see, it looks like the troops were transferred back from the northern border." Ye Feng said, "Your Highness, we are surrounded. Tang Yi has transferred back a total of 100,000 men, 40,000 of whom are stationed at the four gates of the capital, and another 40,000 are stationed at the four palace gates. He personally led 20,000 men into the palace!"
When the emperor heard this, he burst into laughter:
"Ye Zhaonan, you have evil ambitions and want to kill the king and father, but it depends on whether you have the ability to do it!"
"Father, you didn't call Tang Yi here, did you?" Ye Zhaonan stared at the emperor and sneered, "If you had discovered my plot earlier, you would not have been stabbed or poisoned. You were unprepared, so you ended up like this. So guess why General Tang happened to arrive with 100,000 troops? It takes time for the northern border to transfer troops to the capital, right?"
"You..." The emperor understood what Ye Zhaonan meant, and suddenly became anxious and angry.
Ye Zhaonan meant that he was not the only one with evil ambitions. Tang Yi also had his own intentions, so he transferred troops from the northern border without telling the emperor.
In other words, even if Ye Zhaonan had not forced the emperor to abdicate today, the Tang family would have been the one rebelling.