Chapter 63 Justify yourself
Seeing the emperor's slightly changed face and stiff body, the left minister resisted the urge to laugh, bowed and saluted, and said again, "Your Majesty, don't worry, this veteran has been checked by someone, and there won't be any more explosions." !”
"Lord Zuo Xiang, please remember to tell me in advance next time! At my age, I can't help you teasing me like this!" The emperor said bitterly. This old man still likes to tease people even at his age. Fortunately, I know you have this habit, otherwise, I will definitely drag you out and chop you down.
"Your Majesty! This thing is the cause of the fire in Miaochun Pavilion!" After a pause, he continued: "And according to the people below who inspected this item, this item is more carefully proportioned than the Thunderbolt in the Ordnance Department, and The person who developed this thing was extremely smart and added a lot of phosphorus powder into it.”
"Phosphorus powder? What does phosphorus powder do?!" The emperor asked doubtfully.
"Yes, phosphorus powder can assist combustion and speed up burning. The reason why I was able to collect this item is because the air wave generated by the explosion caused the object to fly into Nishang Lake. Otherwise, this object would have been annihilated in the fire. .”
"I see! But I remember that Zhentianlei's research methods and materials are strictly guarded by the Ministry of Industry. How could this thing appear in Miaochun Pavilion now?!"
Cold sweat broke out on the left prime minister's forehead. The emperor was blaming himself for dereliction of duty. Such important weapons manufacturing methods and materials had been stolen. Failure to deal with it could lead to beheading.
Zuo Lian hurriedly knelt down to plead guilty, "Please punish me, Your Majesty!"
"Oh? What's your crime, my dear?!" the emperor asked, pretending to be confused and confused.
"The secret method and materials for the development of Zhentian Lei were strictly controlled by the old minister. Now that he is living outside, it is because the old minister has neglected his duty. And now something like this happened, causing the third prince to suffer the pain of a broken leg, and Shen Xu died in this explosion again. Among them. It’s an old minister who did something bad! Please ask the emperor to punish him!"
"Hmph!" The emperor snorted coldly and slammed the table, "Do you still know that you are guilty?! Let me see how you explain to the Minister of the Ministry of Finance tomorrow!"
"Please punish the emperor! I am willing to serve the crime! Find out about this matter!" The left minister's head lowered, and he couldn't help but cursed in his heart. Old fox, didn't he just want to find out who Yuanwei was at this time? ! Fortunately, I have been with you for a long time, otherwise I really wouldn't know your plan.
The emperor did not speak again, and for a while the entire imperial study fell into dead silence. The deathly silence in the imperial study room made Zuo Xiang uncontrollably frightened. Could it be that he had guessed wrong and he really wanted to punish himself? !
"That's it! The death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be escaped. After all, my beloved is also an old minister by my side. I will leave this matter to you. You must find out who did this, and at the same time find out who this Zhen Tianlei is. Manufacturing. If someone leaks the secret manufacturing method, you know what to do!" At the end of the sentence, the emperor's tone was cold, without any warmth.
"Thank you Lord for your kindness, thank you for your unpunished crime!" Zuo Xiang quickly kowtowed and thanked you, feeling relieved. You should have said it earlier. I was almost scared to death by you. I thought you were really going to chop off my head.
"By the way, Aiqing just said that King Qi's whereabouts are unknown now. Is there any news now?" After dealing with the business, the emperor then remembered about Bi Yuntao.
The left prime minister looked troubled, hesitated for a while, and knelt down again to apologize. "Back to the Emperor, we haven't found anything yet!"
"Hmph! What do I need from you!" When the emperor saw Zuo Xiang asking questions, he angrily picked up a memorial and threw it at Zuo Xiang.
"Please punish me, Your Majesty!"
"Condemned! Condemned! Do you really think that I don't dare to kill you?!" This old guy, if you hadn't made great contributions to yourself when you were young, it wouldn't be enough for you to die a hundred times now.
The emperor vented his anger, and the resentment in his heart dissipated a lot, "Forget it! You go and find out the whereabouts of King Qi now! Let other things go first!"
Zuo Lian, who was lying on the ground, hurriedly said yes, but he couldn't help but murmur in his heart, how could King Qi be so favored by the emperor, and let the emperor find out about him first despite leaking the method of making Zhentian Lei? 's whereabouts. I just felt sorry for the third prince. The third prince had a broken leg, but the emperor just asked casually and stopped asking. It was so irritating!
The Prime Minister Zuo discussed the relevant details with the emperor again, then stood up and excused himself. As soon as he left the palace, he hurriedly ran to investigate Bi Yuntao's whereabouts.
The emperor sat alone in the royal study for a while, then got up and returned to the imperial concubine's residence.
The imperial concubine smiled and saluted the emperor without leaving a trace, "I come to see the emperor! Why don't you let me know, so I can dress up again." The imperial concubine waited anxiously for Xiaolan, but who knew that what was waiting for her was The emperor's mouth froze, but after all, he had been in the palace for many years, and his ability to control his expressions was evident, so he quickly put on a smile without leaving any trace.
"Haha! My beloved concubine, why can't I come over?" The emperor laughed as he reached the bed and reached out to stop the imperial concubine's body and hold her in his arms.
The imperial concubine nestled in the emperor's arms and said coquettishly: "Of course not! It's not that I'm not even dressed up, I'm so ugly!"
"Hey! A beauty looks beautiful even without dressing up. She doesn't need to dress up." The emperor scratched her pretty nose lovingly and comforted the imperial concubine.
"Your Majesty! Stop making trouble! It's already very late, go to bed and rest quickly!" The imperial concubine couldn't bear it, and the emperor joined her hands up and down, so soft that they were in her arms.
The emperor listened to the imperial concubine whispering to him, and burst into laughter, "Haha! It's still early! I just have something to ask you about Yuntao. After that, I will spend the evening with the beauty."
The emperor felt the imperial concubine in his arms stiffen, and the smile on his face quickly faded. He pinched her chin and pulled her head, looking into her eyes with cold eyes, "What happened today, just now Prime Minister Zuo told me that it was Yuntao who did it, do you know?!"
"Your Majesty, forgive me!" The imperial concubine was immediately frightened and wanted to get out of the emperor's arms and kneel down to beg for mercy, but the emperor's fingers pinched her chin too hard and the pain made her unable to hold back a few tears.
"It seems that you know about this!" The tone when he was flirting with the imperial concubine was gone, replaced by a chill. The emperor originally just deliberately deceived the imperial concubine to see if she knew about it, but he didn't expect that he actually deceived her.
The imperial concubine's beauty turned pale. She didn't expect that the emperor was deliberately deceiving her, and her body couldn't help but tremble, "Your Majesty! Tao'er only mentioned it to me, and I don't know much about it."
"Tell me everything you know now! What happened today is very serious. Yun Peng broke a leg! Yun Tao's whereabouts are unknown now!" The emperor pushed the imperial concubine away hard, with a cold look in his gloomy eyes. Biting murderous intent. "You'd better explain everything clearly!"
The imperial concubine was pushed away by the emperor, fell to the ground and screamed in pain. She originally wanted to fool her by acting coquettishly, but as soon as she raised her head, she saw the unconcealed murderous intent in the emperor's eyes, and she knelt down with a "plop" On the ground, he kept kowtowing and begging for mercy, "Your Majesty, please spare my life! I really don't know much!" He crawled a few steps and hugged the emperor's legs, crying and begging for mercy with a face.
The emperor looked at the imperial concubine who was kneeling on the ground and hugging his thigh, crying and begging for mercy, and snorted coldly, "Humph! Say it quickly! Otherwise! You know the consequences!"
The imperial concubine cried and told what she knew. "Tao'er said he was going to the banquet to see what Yun Peng was up to. Today I also learned with the emperor that something happened to the third prince. As for why Tao'er is missing, I don't know either."
The emperor narrowed his eyes and stared at the imperial concubine who was wiping tears on the ground, "Then do you know what Yuntao has been doing in the palace these days?!"
"I don't know! Since I came back from Prince Qi's Mansion last time, I have stayed in the palace and have not gone to Prince Qi's Mansion to visit Tao'er again." The imperial concubine has stopped crying, but she keeps sniffing because of crying.
It seems that the matter of Yun Peng's broken leg is closely related to Yun Tao. I wonder if the matter of Zhentian Lei is also related to Yun Tao? ! It's best not to have it, otherwise! Thinking of this, the killing that had been hidden in the emperor's eyes reappeared.
The imperial concubine knelt down, not daring to raise her head. She felt the emperor's cold murderous intent coming from above her head, like a cold light on her back. She couldn't help but shiver, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
The sound of "click" broke the silence at this time, and hearing the sound of someone pushing the window open from the outside, the imperial concubine suddenly raised her head, feeling bad, Xiaolan was back.
The noise also startled the emperor. Just as he was about to call the guards, he heard the voice of someone coming in. "Your Majesty, we found out the news about Prince Qi!"
The emperor glared at the imperial concubine coldly, and a cold sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth. The imperial concubine saw that the emperor's face was covered with frost, and she suppressed the words she wanted to explain.
Xiaolan had already gotten in at this time. Because of the screen, Xiaolan did not see the subtle atmosphere behind the screen. Seeing that the imperial concubine had remained silent, thinking that she might have fallen asleep, she walked directly towards the screen.
The emperor heard the footsteps getting closer and closer, and winked at the imperial concubine. The imperial concubine was still in a restless and uneasy mood, but when she saw the emperor's look at her, she felt happy and quickly said, " Xiaolan, just say it right there, I’m a little tired, so please step aside after you finish speaking!”
But she was a step too slow, and Xiaolan had already moved past the screen, and saw a majestic man with a cold light in his eyes sitting on the bed, and kneeling on the ground was a woman with a tear-stained face and a slightly trembling body. Seeing this scene suddenly, I stood there blankly, forgetting to salute for a moment.
Feeling a cold gaze looking at her, Xiaolan couldn't help but shiver, and then she came to her senses, and with a "plop", she knelt down on the ground. "Kowtow to the Emperor! This servant didn't know that the Emperor was also in the room. He forgot his etiquette for a moment. His crime deserves death. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"
"Hmph! That's all! You said you found out the news about King Qi?!"
"Go back to the emperor! I found out that Prince Qi is currently in Zuoxiang's Mansion, with Miss Meng and Mr. Meng!" Xiaolan replied respectfully.
The emperor's brows gradually furrowed. Could it be that the left prime minister secretly manipulated all this? ! This old fox is starting to take sides! It seemed that he was going to have a good beating, but he secretly instructed Yuntao to carry out such a vicious attack regardless of the differences between the emperor and his ministers.
But when I thought about it again, I felt something was wrong. If it was really Zuo Xiang who did it, then he probably wouldn't show me anything like the Thunderbolt. So what role did Zuo Xiang play in this matter?
After thinking about it carefully, I thought about whether the third prince's disability was to give Yuntao...
Xiaolan saw the emperor frowning, his face gloomy, and silent. Not sure if he said something he shouldn't have said, he lowered his head and kept winking at the imperial concubine who was also kneeling.
"Your Majesty!" The imperial concubine spoke boldly, "Your Majesty! Since Tao'er is in Zuo Xiang's Mansion! Meng Ruolang must have rescued her."
The emperor came back from his thoughts, felt a little absent-minded for a moment, and replied casually. "Oh? How do you say it?"
"They hang out together all day long, and Meng Ruolang is good at kung fu again. This time Tao'er went to the banquet, and specifically asked Meng Ruolang to keep an eye on her in secret to prevent herself from encountering any unexpected events."
The imperial concubine's words were like an enlightenment. yes! Meng Ruolang has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and has been fooling around with Yuntao. The third prince is hosting the Hongmen Banquet this time. Since Yuntao dares to go, he will definitely ask Meng Ruolang to protect him secretly.
Last time I saw my attitude towards several of them, except that I did not severely punish the third prince, so I held a grudge. In addition, Yun Peng happened to hand over the invitation, so under the protection of Meng Ruolang, I secretly set up a dragnet to crack it. Yun Peng's killing spree.
What Zuo Xiang did today must have been uninformed. Although the imperial concubine was an informed person, she had no chance of encountering such a thing as Zhentian Lei, so this must have been arranged by Yun Tao himself.
So how did Yuntao get Zhentian Lei? ! Thinking of this, the emperor's eyes were full of coldness. It seemed that the problem in the Ordnance Department was not as serious as usual, and it was time to investigate and rectify it.
If Bi Yuntao knew the emperor's thoughts, he would probably feel happy. The explanation that was originally thought up was left to the emperor to come up with.
Seeing the murderous intent in the emperor's eyes, Xiaolan and the imperial concubine were frightened at the same time and looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
The emperor also figured it out and stood up. Only then did he realize that there were two people kneeling on the ground, especially one of them was his beloved imperial concubine. He quickly said: "Okay, everyone, get up! You go down first! I It’s time to rest!”
Xiaolan felt relieved and quickly stood up to leave.
When the emperor saw Xiaolan's figure disappearing behind the screen, he stopped the imperial concubine in distress and hugged him into his arms, "My beloved concubine has suffered! Today's matter is of great importance, so I am like this!"
Seeing the emperor's face turn for the better, the imperial concubine knew that everything was alright. She snorted and lightly punched the emperor's chest in disapproval, "Humph! The emperor is so evil. He deliberately deceived others!"
The emperor grabbed the fist that was beating him, "Haha! There is a reason for everything, please forgive me, my beloved concubine. How come I have never seen that maid around you? And she doesn't understand the rules. She came in through the window without giving any notice!"
"Please forgive me, Your Majesty." The imperial concubine broke away from the Emperor's arms and knelt down again, "That maid was bought by Tao'er. The last time I went to Prince Qi's Mansion to see her, I felt that she had a bad temper towards me, so I took the initiative to take her to my concubine's side to serve me. Today I learned that something happened in Miaochun Pavilion, so I asked her to go find out about Tao'er, and I specifically told her not to attract anyone's attention."
"That's it!" After hearing the explanation of the imperial concubine, the emperor stood up and picked up the imperial concubine, let her sit on his lap, and pinched her chin teasingly, "Don't let me know in the future that you let the palace maid out without permission. Palace, I won’t go into further investigation this time, but it is still necessary to punish you.”
Without waiting for the imperial concubine to react, she turned around and suppressed the imperial concubine. In an instant, the whole room was filled with joy.
