Chapter 728 - Disrupt the Situation
The next day, in Prince Rong’s estate.
Jing Rong woke up early in the morning to change into his official robes and made preparations to enter the palace. Before leaving, Ji Yunshu stopped him at the entrance of the estate and instructed, "You have an injury on your hand, you must be careful."
"Yes."
"Although I may not know what goes on in the court, you must be careful and not make a misstep no matter what."
"Naturally."
"If there is trouble, you must promise me that you will protect yourself and come back safely." She was not a sentimental person but she had thought about many possible outcomes, and almost all of them were bad. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was worrying too much.
Jing Rong held her hand tightly and smiled.
"Seeing that you are so worried about this prince, even if this prince is really attacked by the courtiers, I will definitely save my last breath to return and I won’t ever..."
"Don’t say such things!" She covered his mouth, her brows knitted together.
Jing Rong's brows smoothed out and he reached out to put her hand away from his lips. He gazed down into her worried eyes and said earnestly, "Yunshu, you have to trust this prince."
She pursed her lips and sighed gently before she nodded her head. "I trust in you."
"Just wait for me."
Lu Jiang, who had been standing by the carriage at the door, reminded them, "Your Highness, it's time to go into the palace."
He nodded in response, then patted Ji Yunshu on the head before getting on the carriage to leave.
Ji Yunshu chased after him a little and stopped. She watched the carriage moving farther away, slowly turning indistinct...
Before long, it began to drizzle.
She stood at the door and refused to leave. She kept on waiting, awaiting his safe return.
Jing Rong's carriage slowly moved forward in the fine drizzle. It only stopped raining when they arrived outside the south gate of the palace. Just after he alighted from the carriage, he encountered Jing Yi by coincidence.
Enemies are bound to meet! The two looked at each other and entered through the south gate side by side.
The imperial guards of the palace gate were shocked at such a sight. By now, who wouldn’t know of the mercurial relationship between Prince Yi and Prince Rong? The two mortal enemies walking together naturally made for a shocking sight.
The two of them headed toward the Emperor's audience hall after entering the palace gates
As they made their way there, it was still Jing Yi who spoke first. He kept his gaze locked on the path ahead, lifted the corners of his thin and cold lips, and spoke as they walked, "I really didn’t expect that you would still enter the capital."
"Is it that much of a surprise?"
"It is! But it was also within expectations."
"Actually, I should thank you for sending the assassins after me. Otherwise, the incident of the assassin being murdered in the Supreme Court wouldn’t have happened and Imperial Father wouldn’t have thought of summoning me back to the capital."
Hmph! Jing Yi's eyes darkened. He smiled again, "So what if you won this round? The situation in the court has already been decided; the position of Crown Prince is already mine. Even if you have managed to claw your way back into the capital, you can do nothing but bear witness to my ascension." What a bold assertion!
Jing Rong’s face remained expressionless. He looked straight ahead and responded, "The final outcome is yet to be determined. You may think that the current situation in the court is certain but now that I am back in the capital..." he suddenly stopped walking and turned his head, "To disrupt the outcome that you are so certain of." He smiled as he finished talking.
What? Jing Yi was slightly stunned for a moment.
Unexpectedly, the next thing Jing Rong did was to reach out to straighten the slightly wrinkled collar of Jing Yi’s court dress. With a wicked smirk, he said, "Repeatedly trying to murder your own imperial brothers, instigating coordinated action from the courtiers, and abetting the crown prince siege the palace and commit regicide… These three charges alone are more than enough to lock you in the prisons for eternity, and even that wouldn’t be sufficient to absolve you of these sins."
What? At that moment, Jing Yi felt as if something was stuck in his throat, preventing him from speaking a single word.
Seeing him like this, the corners of Jing Rong's mouth rose, almost making him look sinister. He then loosened his grip on Jing Yi’s collar and swept his hand away. The creases in Jing Yi’s collar had become worse. Jing Rong turned around and walked away.
After a while, Jing Yi recovered from his daze and realized that he had been checkmated.
He flung his sleeves and could do nothing but hurry onwards to catch up.
The civil and military officials had all gathered inside the Emperor's audience hall.
The two princes came in one after the other, just one step apart.
The courtiers took a look at the newly returned Prince Rong, then at each other. Only after a short while did they pay their respects, saying, "Greetings to Prince Yi, Prince Rong."
The two princes did not speak and stood on opposite sides of the hall respectively with calm expressions.
Behind them, people were constantly gossiping in whispers. Although they couldn’t be heard clearly, it was likely they were discussing Jing Rong’s return to the capital.
On the raised dais of the audience hall, Zhang Quan stood on the left side of the dragon throne and announced, "Court is now in session."
The Qizhen Emperor came out of the doors on the left. He was dressed in the imperial dragon robes, a tall and regal headdress sat on his head. Although he was no longer young, he still retained an awe-inspiring presence. He lifted his robe and sat down.
Everyone below knelt down to him and called out, "Long live Your Majesty, for ten thousand years."
The Qizhen Emperor raised his hand, "My beloved courtiers, please rise."
The Qizhen Emperor glanced at Jing Yi, then at Jing Rong, before his gaze looked at the crowd. Finally, his gaze fell on Ji Li. "War Secretary Ji." He called out.
Ji Li stepped forward and stood in the center of the hall. "This official is here."
"Your duty is to protect the capital and the palace. In the case of a revolt, you have no need to request permission in advance and may mobilize your soldiers at will. How would you explain your actions yesterday outside the city?" He questioned.
Ji Li glanced at Jing Yi and immediately turned back. "I learned that Prince Rong was entering the capital, so I sent troops to obstruct him."
"Just to obstruct?"
"Your Majesty had decreed that Prince Rong was to not return to the capital until he completed his investigation of the missing relief funds. However, Prince Rong was trying to enter the capital without Your Majesty’s imperial decree. As the War Secretary, as far as my duties are concerned, I could only obstruct. But Prince Rong insisted on entering the capital before we could receive Your imperial decree, so this official had no choice but to order..."
“What did you order?” Qi Zhen Emperor had a fierce and overbearing expression.
Ji Li hung his head and slowly uttered, “To kill without reservations.”
Bang! The Qizhen Emperor slammed the table furiously. "When did We give you such an order? Who permitted you to ‘to kill without reservations’? The one entering the capital is still a prince appointed by Us!” His voice resounded as clearly as a bell, echoing within the hall.
Everyone else was completely rendered mute.
The Qizhen Emperor was so furious that his face turned red. He continued, "Even if he were not a prince, with the late emperor's edict in hand, you cannot issue the order to ‘to kill without reservations’ either."
“This subject knows they were wrong but back then, I could not possibly know whether the decree in Prince Rong’s hands was authentic. Furthermore, I feared that something worse might occur, so I gave the order in accordance with my duty. If Your Majesty condemns me, this subject is willing to be punished.”
Just after he finished, Jing Yi said, "Imperial Father, War Secretary Ji was at fault for issuing an order rashly. However, he also did it in consideration for the imperial city and Imperial Father, not to mention...." He looked at Jing Rong, "Prince Rong is unhurt. I implore Imperial Father to spare War Secretary Ji just this once."
Immediately after that, the courtiers echoed. "Your Majesty, please spare War Secretary Ji."
A bunch of dogs! Following close behind Jing Yi's ass, thinking that they would be able to pick up the bones with meat.