Chapter 1970: Imperial Visit to Yuzhen Palace!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Your Majesty, this subject is not speaking recklessly. There truly is such a matter, and this lowly subject has kept the memorial, which even has Your Majesty’s jade seal,” w.a.n.g Chong confidently said, reaching into his sleeve and removing the memorial. Whoos.h.!.+ The memorial unfolded, revealing several lines of black characters.
‘It is hereby agreed that the King of Foreign Lands is granted full authority to build a navy, to use the power of the Six Bureaus as he sees fit…’
And it really was true that the large red seal of the Sage Emperor could be found at the very end.
w.a.n.g Chong began to speak once more. “…Earlier, when Your Majesty attended court, you declared to all the officials that the Prime Minister, King Song, and the other major officials of the court were to jointly rule on government affairs. It was at that time that your lowly subject’s memorial was pa.s.sed.
“If there are details of this matter that Your Majesty is unaware of, Your Majesty may ask the Lord Prime Minister. The Lord Prime Minister knows every detail of the matter.”
At the very front of the ranks, Li Linfu had had a bad feeling from the moment w.a.n.g Chong took out the memorial, though he hadn’t expected w.a.n.g Chong to dump the responsibility on him at the very end.
He naturally had some recollection of this memorial. When w.a.n.g Chong had come with this memorial, he claimed that the Sage Emperor had already agreed. Li Linfu hadn’t carefully inspected it at the time, and he felt that there was simply no problem. After all, w.a.n.g Chong was the Nine Provinces Protector-General and the Supreme Marshal of the realm. The navy was under the scope of the military, and for w.a.n.g Chong to set one up was not a problem.
He had never expected w.a.n.g Chong to take this memorial, run off to Lingnan, and cut down the trees the Emperor needed for his Peace Pavilion.
Though Li Linfu was incredibly reluctant, he still spoke up.
“Your Majesty, this truly is the case!”
Silence!
A deathly silence!
No one had expected this sort of twist in the court session the ‘Sage Emperor’ had called out of rage.
The ‘Sage Emperor’ was stunned, and then, after glaring at Li Linfu, he turned to w.a.n.g Chong, his body trembling in anger.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
If looks could kill, w.a.n.g Chong would have died one thousand times by now.
When w.a.n.g Chong mentioned the matter of Li Linfu ruling jointly with King Song and the other major officials, he had intentionally left out that he had been one of the named major officials.
This was clearly w.a.n.g Chong writing and approving his own memorial! It was utterly absurd!
And what made the ‘Sage Emperor’ even more furious was that this decree was one that he had made. In other words, there was nothing wrong with saying that w.a.n.g Chong had his approval.
Thus, even if he wanted to execute w.a.n.g Chong, he had no good excuse.
But the more this was the case, the angrier he became.
“w.a.n.g Chong, you still dare to lie in front of Us!”
The eyes of the ‘Sage Emperor’ glinted with cold light as he bolted up from the throne.
“Ever since your return from the northwestern campaign, you have truly become more and more lawless. You would even dare to interfere with Our Peace Pavilion! Do you have designs on the entire court?”
“Your lowly subject would not dare!”
“w.a.n.g Chong, while you might have achievements and prestige, do not forget that We are the master of this country, and We granted you everything you have! We can give, and We can take back!”
The ‘Sage Emperor’ angrily grunted, and with a wave of his sleeve, he angrily stomped back into the rear hall.
“Court is dismissed!”
The voice was overcome with wrath.
The officials glanced at each other, but none of them dared to say otherwise.
“Our decree is thus!” Just when he was about to step into the rear hall, the ‘Sage Emperor’ stopped and suddenly declared, “King of Foreign Lands w.a.n.g Chong, for opposing the Son of Heaven, you are placed under house arrest for three months and fined three years of official salary! Without Our decree, you are forbidden from stepping out of your estate!
“In addition, for the failure to construct even a little Peace Pavilion, the Minister, a.s.sistant Minister, and Auxiliary a.s.sistant Minister of the Bureau of Works are all removed!”
With this said, he vanished from sight.
w.a.n.g Chong and the other officials were all startled. No one had expected this act from the ‘Sage Emperor’ right when he was about to leave.
A sliver of deep concern appeared in w.a.n.g Chong’s eyes.
But the major officials around him sighed in relief. They had predicted a storm from this court session, and for it to end this way was actually not that bad.
The court session ended very quickly. Meanwhile, in the rear hall…
“All of you, get out!” the ‘Sage Emperor’ declared, upon which all the eunuchs, guards, and palace ladies withdrew.
The moment they were all gone, the ‘Sage Emperor”s face turned extremely dark and grim.
“w.a.n.g Chong, w.a.n.g Chong… Li Taiyi, it was one thing for you to suppress me for thirty-some years, but now, the person you raised is also planning to suppress me. I’ll tear him into ten thousand pieces!
“You destroyed my life, so I will destroy everyone close to you, everything you value! We will destroy it all! This is the price you must pay!”
The ‘Sage Emperor’ raised his head, a savage and frightening look on his face.
“Someone! Prepare my carriage to Yuzhen Palace!” the ‘Sage Emperor’ suddenly cried out.
“I’ll start with your most beloved woman first!”
His eyes bursting with venom and loathing, the ‘Sage Emperor’ called his carriage and headed toward Consort Taizhen’s residence, Yuzhen Palace.
A few moments later, in Yuzhen Palace…
“Your Majesty, His Majesty is coming!”
In Yuzhen Palace, a clever palace maid of sixteen or seventeen excitedly ran toward Consort Taizhen with the news.
“Really?”
Consort Taizhen’s eyes flashed.
“Mist Rain, Lotus Scent, help me with my clothes!”
Consort Taizhen stood up, a smile flowering on her lips.
A few moments later, the gate to Yuzhen Palace was opened. Consort Taizhen had finished bathing and was clothed in a white palace gown, appearing like an ethereal fairy who had stepped out of a painting as she waited.
At this moment, Consort Taizhen was so dazzlingly beautiful that even her attending palace maids were stunned.
At the same time, in his carriage headed toward the inner court, the face of the ‘Sage Emperor’ was overflowing with hatred.
“Li Taiyi, today, I’ll seize your woman! Let’s see what you can do to stop me!
“You brought her into the palace but did not even touch her! Did you think you could hide her from me? Today, I’ll make you regret this decision for the rest of your life!”
The face of the ‘Sage Emperor’ was so twisted that it looked nothing like its usual self.
Bang!
Suddenly, when the ‘Sage Emperor’ was still several hundred meters from Yuzhen Palace, boom! The ‘Sage Emperor’ in the carriage seemed to crash into an invisible barrier with such force that the carriage was pushed backward a distance.
“Your Majesty!”
Cries of alarm came from all around, and several Golden Guards rushed up with panicked expressions.
“Your Majesty, are you okay?”
In the carriage, the ‘Sage Emperor’ was also dumbfounded. He had never predicted this.
“What happened?” the ‘Sage Emperor’ asked in alarm.
“Your Majesty, nothing happened!”
“This lowly subject does not know!”
Outside the carriage, the panicked Golden Guards kneeled.
No one understood what had happened, only that the carriage had seemed to crash into some vast energy, and it seemed that this energy had come from inside the carriage.
“Forward! Forward! Forward!”
In consternation, the ‘Sage Emperor’ repeated the same word three times.
But a moment later, the carriage seemed to crash into an invisible barrier again, and the strength this time was so great that a crack appeared on the carriage.
Drip!
Moreover, a liquid trickled down. The ‘Sage Emperor’ reached out to feel his face and came away with blood.
“Li Taiyi! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
The ‘Sage Emperor’ finally realized what was going on.
That b.a.s.t.a.r.d had placed a seal over Consort Taizhen and all of Yuzhen Palace. If he approached, he would suffer a vicious backlash.
Just two attempts had left his face covered in blood.
He had no doubt that if he continued to try, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d would truly bring down the both of them.
“I won’t give up! We will never give up!”
The ‘Sage Emperor’ was wrathful, but in the end, he gave up on Yuzhen Palace for now and headed back to his own residence.
In Taiji Palace, the ‘Sage Emperor’ furiously called out, “Attend me! Now! At once!”
“Your Majesty, your slave…”
The eunuchs and palace ladies flooded into Taiji Palace, but before they could even stand straight, the ‘Sage Emperor’ turned around and slapped them, sending a eunuch and several palace ladies cras.h.i.+ng into a wall.
“You d.a.m.n slaves!
“Useless things!”
The ‘Sage Emperor”s furious roars resounded through the hall.
“Your Majesty, forgive us!”
The remaining guards, palace maids, and eunuchs turned ghastly pale and immediately prostrated on the ground.
But in response was an even more infuriated roar. Stellar Energy rumbled, and a shockwave spread outward and tossed up all the chairs, tables, pastries, decorations, wine cups, and foods in the hall, wreaking havoc and chaos.
The guards, palace maids, and eunuchs could only tremble in fear.
“Out!”
Upon hearing this angry bellow, all the servants felt they had been granted a pardon, and fled the hall.
Furious curses and the sounds of cras.h.i.+ng and breaking persisted in the hall for several hours.
At some point, a voice shouted into the hall, “Your Majesty, a letter from Youzhou! Deputy General An Yaluoshan of the Andong Protectorate has prepared one hundred Hu beauties and offers them to Your Majesty, wis.h.i.+ng Your Majesty a boundless longevity!”
“What?!”
All the chaos in the hall died away as the Sage Emperor turned toward the entrance.
……
Meanwhile, after the court session was over, w.a.n.g Chong returned to his own estate.
“Your Highness, what do we do now? The Sage Emperor has placed Your Highness under house arrest for three months. This will make Your Highness unable to do many things and pose a great inconvenience,” Zhang Que said.
The missions to the far north and the northeast were done, and Zhang Que had returned several days ago.
All of w.a.n.g Chong’s subordinates knew about today’s court session.
w.a.n.g Chong’s three-month house arrest had left all of them uneasy.