My wife has a secret

Chapter 154 Reversal
Xu Qing's sudden appearance undoubtedly became the focus of the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven.

Moreover, his suggestive words caused some officials and generals who were ready to make a move to suppress their restlessness and look at the young master of the Xu family, wanting to hear what he was up to.

The little emperor standing in the center of the prayer platform naturally sneered at Xu Qing's words. He looked at him with disdain, and the fierceness in his eyes almost made him want to tear him apart alive.

"What crime have I committed?"

"What crime have I committed?"

The young emperor took a step forward, pointed at the stunningly beautiful Empress Dowager Xu standing opposite him, and asked loudly, "Everyone knows that your Xu family is powerful in the court, and you only made me emperor because I was ignorant and young three years ago."

His face was covered with frost and his voice was icy cold.

"But this country belongs to my Li family. As a descendant of the Li family, I follow the will of heaven and inherit the foundation of the kingly way left by my Li family's first emperor. What's wrong with that?"

The little emperor's voice was as clear as a spring, without any worldly noise. Coupled with his overbearing and exaggerated words, it created an indescribable sense of tearing.

He seemed to know that Xu Qing wanted to identify him as an accomplice of the Prince of Dongwan, so he revealed his royal identity first, and used the grievances and unwillingness he had experienced when he was in power before to win people's hearts.

The little emperor's words really touched the hearts of many Confucian officials and Hanlin academicians. In the ancient feudal dynasties, the emperor's status was unmatched and unshakable.

Moreover, for thousands of years, countless Confucian classics have been teaching students that the power of kings is granted by God and that the emperor is the incarnation of a true dragon.

As if he felt that he had taken the initiative, the little emperor pointed his finger at Empress Dowager Xu and shouted loudly: "One..."

"Wait a moment!"

Xu Qing shouted sternly, his voice easily drowning out the little brat.

He then walked between the Queen Mother and the little emperor and asked, "If you are really the Son of Heaven chosen by God, a true dragon incarnated, why did you choose the day of the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony to perform such a mystical show?"

The young emperor's face was gloomy, and he rebuked: "You are slandering me. I am destined to be with Ziwei, and I am the one chosen by heaven."

Xu Qing said calmly: "Before coming to the prayer platform, I have already been to Hanyuan Hall and opened the dragon coffin that originally belonged to you."

Xu Qing's words made the hairs of everyone present stand on end and they were all terrified.

Opening the emperor's coffin was an act of great treason and shocking to the world.

If he could not come up with reasons that could convince everyone, this piece of evidence alone would be enough to exterminate all nine clans of the Xu family in Suzhou.

"The maids in Hanyuan Hall and the Empress Dowager's ladies can all prove that the coffin is empty and does not contain your body at all. Therefore, the Emperor Xuan standing in front of us is the real Emperor Xuan himself, not some Emperor Xuan who has returned from the dead according to the will of heaven."

"what?"

The civil and military officials showed expressions of horror, whispering to each other and discussing the matter.

When the corpse of the young emperor was carried out of the burnt building of the Ministry of Justice, many people had seen Emperor Xuan being nailed into a dragon coffin, so when the young emperor reappeared on the prayer platform, everyone thought they had been blinded.

It is also because of this that the absurd words said by the little emperor on the stage can convince everyone.

"In Suzhou, there was a White Lotus Sect member named Dong Zang who was involved in a treasonous crime. As an eyewitness to this case, I can tell you that Dong Zang was originally a legal advisor in the family of the previous governor of Suzhou. But after the previous governor of Suzhou passed away, this legal advisor surnamed Liu joined the White Lotus Sect and disguised himself as Doctor Ning, who was often hired by the Xu family of Suzhou."

"Disguise?"

"The demon cult that caused chaos in the Jiangnan area actually has such ability?"

After hearing Xu Qing's account of the Suzhou case in Jiangnan, all the officials were shocked.

They have lived in the capital for a long time, and although they have some impression of the White Lotus Sect refining elixirs for the late emperor several years ago, in everyone's memory, this is ultimately an inconspicuous church that only knows how to win over refugees and can never accomplish anything great.

"I, Xu Qing, brought up this matter because some people in the White Lotus Cult have mastered the ability to change their appearance. Although it sounds absurd, this matter is recorded in the files reported by Suzhou Prefecture to the Ministry of Justice, which can prove that what I said is true."

Xu Qing continued, "Since the White Lotus Sect's Winter Storage Envoy can disguise himself as Doctor Ning, who among you can guarantee that the Emperor Xuan who was stuffed into the dragon coffin was actually him?"

When these words came out, the crowd was stunned.

After a while, some smart people realized that what Xu Qing said was not nonsense.

If Emperor Xuan really used this method to escape from the Ministry of Justice building, then his appearance here would be explainable.

"The guards at this Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony were very strict. In order to achieve today's effect, Emperor Xuan used the old ministers in the palace to move the corpse away and lie down in it himself... This is also the reason why Empress Gongsun heard strange noises coming from the coffin when she was keeping vigil for Emperor Xuan last night."

Empress Gongsun, who was standing next to Empress Dowager Xu, showed a look of sudden realization. After realizing that Emperor Xuan on the prayer platform was not a spirit who had come back to life to seek revenge on her, she felt relieved.

But she immediately thought of another thing. Since Emperor Xuan was not dead and was pretending to sleep in the coffin in Hanyuan Hall all the way, didn't he hear everything she did last night?
I, I actually held the coffin for Emperor Xuan on the seventh day of his death in front of him...

Empress Gongsun closed her beautiful eyes and raised her pointed chin slightly, not daring to continue her guess.

"When the empress returned to the palace to rest in the morning and the eunuchs and palace maids changed shifts, these helpers sneaked into the Hanyuan Hall, fished Emperor Xuan out of the coffin, and arranged for him to blend into the Nuo dance team... Of course, these Nuo dancers had long been replaced by the White Lotus Sect's followers."

Xu Qing on the other side continued: "To sum up, the Emperor Xuan in front of you is actually a speculator who joined forces with the White Lotus Sect and wanted to take advantage of people's fear of gods to seize the throne."

After the truth was exposed by Xu Qing, the little emperor standing on the stage no longer had the halo of being the chosen one, and those literati and officials looked at him with complicated eyes.

Although the emperor's power is granted by God, and he is the incarnation of a real dragon, this has been people's impression of the emperor since ancient times.

But the young emperor used people's awe of the throne and some underworld tricks to fool everyone and create the illusion that he was chosen by heaven. Isn't this treating his ministers as fools?
"And what you just said was wrong. This world does not belong to your Li family, but to everyone in the world. To be an emperor is to serve the country and the people, to serve the country and the people, to expand the territory, and to unify the country... The actions of the White Lotus Sect in various places in recent years should have been reported to the six ministries by the local governments. They used the mandrake poison as a bait, and caused many families to be torn apart and their wealth to be defrauded."

Xu Qing's words were like steel nails, piercing the little emperor's heart.

"If I were you, I would walk in openly from the Noon Gate on Zhuque Street. Even if we take a step back... would my aunt kill you, the emperor, in front of all the people of the capital and all the civil and military officials?"

The young emperor was furious. Empress Dowager Xu had been in power for many years and intended to instigate the Prince of Dongwan to cause chaos in the capital. Wasn't it just to eliminate the royalists and massacre all the loyal ministers who supported the Li Qi royal family?
If I follow Xu Qing's method, I won't die, but I will just be a puppet again.

Joining the White Lotus Sect was a helpless move, but it was also his only way out. What right did a member of the Xu family have to point fingers at him? Seeing the little emperor's expression change from uneasiness to rage, and then from rage to paleness, Xu Qing knew that the child had lost his mind under the stimulation of his words.

Even though his last name was Li and he was the nominal emperor of the Great Qi, in the final analysis, he was just a twelve-year-old child.

It is impossible to expect a child who grew up in the deep palace to control his emotions and show the majesty of an emperor.

Moreover, he does not understand what the will of his subjects and the will of the people are.

"Emperor Xuan actually joined forces with the White Lotus Sect to do such a thing. If the ancestors in heaven knew that the royal descendants had thought of such a crooked way, they would not forgive him."

"Yes, although the Queen Mother was a dictator, it seems that she never deprived Emperor Xuan of his throne from beginning to end, right?"

"Yes, and the Queen Mother was very fond of Emperor Xuan before. Emperor Xuan is only twelve years old, so it is not the right time to pass on the throne now."

"..."

The discussions among the ministers have gradually leaned towards the Queen Mother.

After all, there were only a handful of senior officials who survived in the Ministry of Justice at that time, and they were all smart people, while the others who were promoted without knowing the details did not understand the previous situation in the court at all.

The young emperor saw that the good situation that was in his favor was slipping away bit by bit, and he shouted impatiently: "You! Show us the evidence of me and the White Lotus Sect! If you don't have it..."

"Of course."

Xu Qing interrupted the little emperor with a cold expression, and reached out from his sleeve to take out a painting that he had prepared long ago.

After spreading out the calligraphy, Xu Qing pointed at the content on it and said, "This poem is a seven-character quatrain that is widely circulated within the White Lotus Sect. The paper in my hand is finely crafted. It is made by the official workshop of Suzhou and is made of plum blossom jade paper for the imperial palace. I found this roll of paper in the study of Feishuang Palace on the day when the Prince of Dongwan revolted. As long as I compare the handwriting of the little emperor when he was learning to write, I can naturally determine whether this thing was written by him."

None of the ministers and officials expected that Xu Qing would be so well prepared and directly expose the hypocritical face of the little emperor.

The little emperor standing on the prayer platform also looked shocked and had an incredible expression on his face.

After hesitating for a moment, the little emperor seemed to have figured everything out and reluctantly accepted the reality.

He relaxed his frown, raised his head and faced the dark crowd in the distance.

After Xu Qing's intervention, no official was willing to stand on his side.

"What happened to the White Lotus Sect?"

The little emperor's eyes suddenly brightened, and he shouted: "Five Thunder Generals! Kill these traitors who are plotting to usurp the throne!"

The five thunder generals, who were wearing strange and exaggerated masks and holding high axes, maces, chains, knives, and command flags, moved at the sound and rushed towards the Queen Mother with the dancers.

The imperial guards who had previously abandoned the empress dowager and taken the lead in joining the young emperor also took action, knowing that this was their only chance to survive.

However, the number of imperial guards standing beside the empress dowager far exceeded theirs, and there were many military generals among the officials. Seeing that the young emperor had identified themselves and others as traitors, they all put on armor and came out. Although they had no weapons, they stepped forward to assist the imperial guards in subduing many people.

The Five Thunder Generals had some martial arts skills, but their punches and kicks were disorganized. Compared with the sword skills that Xu Qing had seen before, they were more like some disorganized martial arts tricks.

So after he defeated several imperial guards with his dazzling moves, he revealed his flaws.

These thunder generals were either attacked by the Imperial Guards and stabbed to death, or were hit by arrows from the distant Archery Battalion, causing their movements to gradually slow down and they were killed by the surrounding Imperial Guards.

In less than half an incense stick of time, those White Lotus sect members disguised as dancers and the rebellious deputy commanders of the imperial guards were all killed on the prayer platform, and the rebellious civil servants were also captured.

The little emperor on the stage also realized that his situation was hopeless and staggered back a few steps.

Behind him was the Baiyun Mountain, which was covered in clouds and had an abysmal cliff.

Empress Dowager Xu, who had not spoken a word for a long time, slowly moved. She refused the support of Lord Lianhua and Princess Danyang and walked onto the stage on her own initiative.

Her hair was fluffy, and her small, fair face was lightly made up of peony flowers. She was wrapped in a scarlet and black velvet cloak to keep out the cold.

At the bottom of her skirt, Empress Dowager Xu's two lavender soft basswood shoes appeared and disappeared between her skirts. She stepped over the tragic corpses covered in blood and moved towards the little emperor.

"Xuan'er, what did mother teach you before? Have you forgotten all the things you learned about being an emperor from studying with the prince's tutor these years?"

The little emperor had a look of grief and indignation on his face, with crystal clear tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't even know whether he should cry at this moment.

However, what he was sure of was that the Queen Mother Xu before him had no good intentions.

When he was hiding in the residence arranged by the White Lotus Sect, there were special people reporting to him the movements outside, and he was even informed of some of the affairs in the imperial palace.

When the young emperor heard that the empress dowager had allowed Xu Qing to live in the palace and had ordered the imperial guards and the palace maids and eunuchs to greet him politely when they saw him, more importantly... Xu Qing could stay in the empress dowager's bedroom until late at night.

The last message may seem insignificant, but the little emperor knew in his heart that since he and his sister were taken in by Empress Dowager Xu and became emperors.

It seemed that Queen Mother Xu was kind to him, but there were still many prohibitions between the two of them.

He remembered the thick and wide screen in the Qifeng Palace. Empress Dowager Xu never allowed any man to cross the screen and see her face.

Even his nominal son, the Emperor of Da Qi.

When he first became emperor, he also took wooden toys to pay his respects and play with this "queen mother", but all he got were some advice and persuasion. Although she looked like a mother, she was not her.

The young emperor originally thought that Empress Dowager Xu had this cold personality because she had experienced the palace fighting of the previous emperor and had taken power. However, it was not until Xu Qing appeared that he realized that everything was his fantasy.

In the eyes of Empress Dowager Xu, only Xu Qing was regarded as her child.

(End of this chapter)