There is a god in the sky

Chapter 311 Reversal

Under what circumstances would a woman not even know whose child she is carrying?

Either she was dizzy at the time, or she refused to say.

Judging from the timeline, Consort Xie conceived her child two months ago. At that time, nothing major happened in the palace, and there were very few men who could get close to her.

The emperor felt a stabbing pain in his head and suspected that there was something wrong with the elixirs he had been taking for the past two months.

The problem, of course, lies in the medicinal ingredient provided by Consort Xie.

The Empress regained her composure after her initial panic.

"Your Majesty, please hear me out. The Crown Prince has always been well-behaved and would never do something so rebellious. This must be a scheme set up to frame the Crown Prince and sow discord between him and you."

The Empress was born into the Tong family, so she didn't need to humble herself in front of the Emperor.

She also didn't believe that the emperor would depose the crown prince because of such a small misunderstanding.

The emperor fell into deep thought.

Li Ge reminded him, "Your Majesty, Consort Xie may be nearing her end."

She was forced to have an abortion, and the bleeding wouldn't stop. After so long without medical treatment, she was on the verge of death.

"Please summon Imperial Physician Peng."

The imperial physician was already waiting outside. After entering, he quickly administered acupuncture and medicine, which pulled Consort Xie back from the brink of death.

When the emperor saw her open her eyes, he said coldly, "If you don't care about the entire Xie family and want to drag your family down with you, then you can take the secret to your coffin!"

Consort Xie clutched her stomach with both hands and said with a pitiful smile, "What family? They sent me to the palace and ruined my life. Why should I care about them? I'd rather they were all dead!"

She pointed at the emperor and cursed, "It's all because of you, you dog emperor! You've lost all your conscience for this worthless medicinal ingredient! You'll die a horrible death!"

"Shut her up!" the Queen roared.

Although there were no outsiders in the room, Xie Zhaoyi's loud scolding could implicate everyone in the Kunning Palace if it got out.

Physician Peng used acupuncture to induce a deep sleep in Consort Xie, explaining, "The patient's emotions should not fluctuate too much; Consort Xie needs to rest."

The emperor glanced at everyone present.

Although his taking the medicine was a secret, it was impossible for the Empress not to know.

The Empress knows, and the Crown Prince must know as well.

Physician Peng, who was in charge of refining elixirs every month, was naturally the emperor's confidant, and Zhao Jinxiao was equally trustworthy.

The Empress spoke first: "Your Majesty, this woman must not be allowed to live."

Without the medicinal ingredient, the emperor was in a terrible mood, and his gaze toward the empress was filled with disgust.

For so many years, he respected the Empress and carefully taught the Crown Prince, never expecting that the mother and son might not be truly sincere towards him.

"What does the Empress think should be done?"

"She has defiled the harem; she deserves to die!"

"Oh, what about the Crown Prince?"

The Empress was shocked and exclaimed, "Your Majesty still suspects that the Crown Prince has an affair with Consort Xie? I swear on my life, this matter was absolutely not done by the Crown Prince."

She walked up to Zhao Jinxiao and angrily asked, "Commander Zhao, do you have any other evidence? You've slandered the Crown Prince without any reason. Do you know your crime?"

Zhao Jinxiao knelt on one knee, his voice booming, "There is a third piece of evidence. Ten days ago, the Crown Prince secretly took out a huge sum of money to fill the hole in the Military Equipment Bureau, about 300,000 taels. The source of this money has not yet been investigated."

Everyone knows that the Xie family are imperial merchants and very wealthy.

Considering his previous private meetings with Consort Xie, even if the two did not have a romantic relationship, there must have been a monetary transaction between them.

Zhao Jinxiao didn't need to obtain substantial evidence; the mere fact that the two had met in private was already a great disrespect.

The Emperor sneered, "Crown Prince, aren't you overstepping your bounds?"

The Crown Prince was sweating profusely, never expecting that the Imperial City Guard would discover his scheme, which involved several intermediaries.

When the Wang family's property was confiscated, their assets were meager and did not match the accounts. The emperor ordered the Imperial City Guard to continue the investigation.

Fearing that he would be implicated, the crown prince used his private savings to cover the shortfall, so that his father would not find out that he had instructed Wang Wei to embezzle the money.

Before he could explain, the emperor said coldly, "Don't think I don't know. You were the one who orchestrated the illegal sale of gunpowder. I just didn't want to expose you back then. You must have made a lot of money from it over the years, right?"

The prince lay prostrate on the ground, covered in cold sweat.

The queen twisted her hands together, her mind a complete mess, unsure how to break the deadlock.

At this moment, Li Ge stepped forward to defend the Crown Prince: "Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly. His Highness the Crown Prince discovered that some officials were selling gunpowder privately and arranged for people to investigate both openly and secretly. However, before the investigation was completed, the Marquis of Pingyang reported the matter. Later, Vice Minister Lai died, and the clues were cut off. Therefore, the evidence was not presented to Your Majesty."

This servant has evidence collected by His Highness the Crown Prince, and all the evidence points to Wang Wei as the ultimate beneficiary.

As for the Crown Prince using money to cover the deficit in the Arsenal, it was because the Ministry of Revenue couldn't provide funds for disaster relief. His Highness, being kind-hearted, sold several estates to raise 300,000 taels.

Every single account is meticulously recorded; Your Majesty, please review it.

The evidence presented by Li Ge filled an entire box. It was clear at a glance that it hadn't been prepared on the spot.

After reading it, the emperor also had some doubts about his judgment.

The Crown Prince kowtowed and said, "Please believe me, Father. How could I do anything detrimental to the court or to you, Father? It is all a deliberate frame-up. Please investigate thoroughly, Father!"

The emperor handed the evidence to Zhao Jinxiao, helped him up, and sighed, "I have wronged you in some matters, but it was also due to your lack of caution. I hereby punish you by confining you to your residence for three months to reflect on your actions!"

"Thank you for your grace, Father. Your son will definitely reflect on his actions!" The great weight on the Crown Prince's heart was finally lifted.

A three-month confinement is nothing, as long as it doesn't involve Consort Xie.

"As for the Xie family, send them back to the Xie family. Don't defile this harem."

The Empress hurriedly agreed.

The emperor left with his entourage, and the empress and her son collapsed to the ground, lingering fear for a long time.

The Empress reached out to Li Ge, grasped his hand, and said gratefully, "Thanks to Steward Li for turning the tide, otherwise the Crown Prince would have been hard-pressed to escape punishment today. When did you prepare those pieces of evidence?"

The crown prince looked over with the same suspicion.

They knew perfectly well that the claim that Wang Wei was the mastermind was false; the sale of the estate was true, but it wasn't a donation to raise funds.

Li Ge humbly replied, "Actually, I was already on guard for this day when Marquis Pingyang submitted his memorial on the gunpowder case."

There are always a few people in the court who are dissatisfied with the Crown Prince, so to prevent them from bringing up old grievances, it's best to settle those old scores now.

Wang Wei is dead; any crime can be pinned on him. The Crown Prince is devoted to the people; what wrong has he done?

The Crown Prince wiped away a cold sweat. "This was truly a close call. How could Zhao Jinxiao investigate me and Consort Xie? And what happened last night..."

Their plan was clearly to have Zhao Jinxiao and Consort Lin have an affair, so that the Empress could catch them in the act, killing two birds with one stone.

Surprisingly, the situation reversed.

Li Ge said remorsefully, "Your Highness, please forgive me. It was my fault for not doing my job well. Commander Zhao was too clever. He seemed to know something beforehand. After entering the palace, he went directly to Consort Xie's palace. Soon after, the Emperor and the imperial physician arrived, and then they discovered that Consort Xie was already two months pregnant."

The emperor was furious, and the Imperial City Guard investigated the palace for several hours, eventually finding the crown prince among them.