"Did you send someone to assassinate Pei Yue and the legitimate daughter of Dingguo Mansion?"

Emperor Kaiping did not speak harshly, but Liu Xian had been fearful of his father since he was a child, and he had just witnessed an undercurrent of confrontation between the emperor and his ministers, so he had long been worried and uneasy. At this moment, he listened to Emperor Kaiping's seemingly calm inquiry.

, his heart suddenly stirred, and he almost revealed the whole truth.

At this moment, the eldest prince almost gritted his teeth with all his strength to avoid confessing his sister. He lowered his head and replied in a trembling voice: "Father, the grievances between my son and Pei Yue have been wiped out. Because my father

The emperor told his ministers that as the prince of the Tian family, one must be open-minded and not spend money and everything must be investigated, so that the people of the world will not look down upon the Tian family."

Emperor Kaiping sneered: "Then why do you want to murder Pei Yue?"

Liu Xian was stunned for a moment, swallowed his saliva nervously, and said hesitantly: "Father, I just... just want to teach Pei Yue a lesson, and I don't really want to kill him. I know that Pei Yue is a minister who has made great contributions to the country.

, and he is highly valued by his father, so...so I just want to teach him a lesson."

Listening to this long-winded nonsense, Mo Haoli shook his head slightly.

Emperor Kaiping's eyes were complicated. He knew that his son was not good at quick wits, and he probably didn't have a good response at all.

Many people didn't understand or didn't understand the reason why the emperor preferred the eldest prince, but at this moment, Pei Yue looked at Liu Xian who was suppressing fear and wanted to take the blame for Princess Pingyang, and suddenly he had a glimmer of understanding.

In terms of talent and ability, Liu Xian is not the best among the princes, but compared with the vain second child, the pretentious fourth child, and the ambitious sixth child, this eldest prince at least has a pure and filial heart.

Emperor Kaiping was in a dilemma. He was half relieved and half angry, and said in a deep voice: "I will give you another chance. Who is secretly planning these plots against Pei Yue?"

Hearing his father's cold tone, Liu Xian's hands shook involuntarily, and his eyes turned red as he said, "Father, please stop asking, these things were all done by my subordinates!"

Emperor Kaiping frowned, and when he was about to speak, he saw that the eunuch who had been summoned from the palace before had entered the palace, walked up to him with small steps, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Princess Pingyang asks to see you."

A look of nervousness and worry suddenly appeared on Liu Xian's face.

Emperor Kaiping's slender eyes shone with a cold light, and he hummed softly: "No, take Pingyang back to the inner palace, and teach Concubine Wu to discipline her."

"My slaves obey the order." They all agreed.

Emperor Kaiping said again: "As a princess, Pingyang has trespassed into the previous dynasty without purpose. She is banned from leaving the house for a year. In addition, the steward maid and internal eunuch of Qiyun Palace will be captured immediately and executed with a stick!"

Qiyun Hall is the palace of Princess Pingyang.

Everyone was shocked in their hearts. Regardless of the slightest hesitation on their faces, they quickly agreed and then slowly exited facing the emperor.

A chilling atmosphere swept through everyone's heart instantly.

Princess Pingyang was still running around in the palace after nightfall, and even ran to the Liangyi Palace in front of the court. This must definitely hold the eunuchs and palace maids responsible. However, Emperor Kaiping said it so bluntly, and in front of so many people.

There was obviously some warning on the face of the important minister.

After Liu Xian heard this punishment, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it's only a year of confinement. At worst, I will find some interesting things in the market and bring them to the palace. I think it won't be too difficult to come to Pingyang.

Emperor Kaiping glanced at Liu Xian with complex eyes, then looked at the important ministers and said: "Liu Xian tried to murder Pei Yue, the Marquis of Zhongshan. This matter can no longer be concealed. It will surely spread throughout Kyoto tonight. In this case, everyone loves me

Your Majesty, you might as well come up with a charter on how to punish him in order to quell the negative impact of this matter."

No one shouted such nonsense as "I respectfully request the Holy Judgment". The important ministers who could appear in the Liangyi Palace at this time were all people who had been in officialdom for a long time and knew when to say nonsense and when not to say it.

But no one spoke up to express their attitude.

Emperor Kaiping had already expected this. He looked at Pei Yue who was standing tall and straight and asked: "You are the master of suffering, so it is up to you to speak."

Pei Yue thought for a while and said calmly: "Back to Your Majesty, the law of Daliang has already stated that those who murder people will be sentenced to three years; those who have been injured will be hanged; those who have been killed will be beheaded."

Fortunately, Gao Qiu, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, did not enter the palace tonight, otherwise he would definitely have a close relationship with Emperor Kaiping. In the lobby of the Ministry of Punishment, Pei Yue, who was still just Zhongshanzi, hugged Daliang Lu tightly and used the same sentence to seal the deal.

Li Zijun’s penalty.

Seeing that Emperor Kaiping's face turned ugly, Pei Yue said again: "However, as King Lu is a prince, it is definitely not appropriate to exile him for three thousand miles, not to mention whether he can survive the hardships along the way. This move will ultimately harm Your Majesty.

Majesty. Therefore, I believe that King Lu ordered his subordinates to assassinate Wu Xun, the leader of the dynasty, and he should be deprived of his position as prince and demoted to the general of the country as a punishment."

There was silence in the hall.

Daliang has been a country for nearly a hundred years, and this is the first minister who dares to manipulate the prince in front of the emperor, but he is still so young.

Emperor Kaiping remained silent, looking at Pei Yue's eyes, and vaguely found some deep meaning in them.

Just when the officials thought that the emperor was about to go berserk, and even Gu Liang was secretly worried about Pei Yue, Emperor Kaiping, who had firmly controlled the military and political power for sixteen years after taking the throne, actually nodded and said: "Okay, I will follow your suggestion.

"

The hope in Liu Xian's heart turned into despair, as if all the strength in his body was drained out in an instant.

What's even more helpless is that he doesn't know who he should hate.

Pingyang stood up for his brother, Pei Yue also gave him a chance, and his father had to consider the stability of the court and had to agree. However, he clearly did nothing and lost his position as prince. There are still other people in this world.

Is there anything more ridiculous than this?

He couldn't even cry.

What Liu Xian didn't know was that Pei Yue was always observing him from the corner of his eye. He was quite surprised when he saw that the eldest prince, for the first time in history, resisted the incident without begging for mercy or complaining.

After handling these matters, Emperor Kaiping was obviously a little tired. He waved his hands and said: "You all should step aside. All the dear ministers will comfort your colleagues for me at the meeting tomorrow."

"I obey the decree." Everyone agreed, and then began to exit the Liangyi Hall.

Emperor Kaiping suddenly said: "Pei Yue stays."

The hall became quiet.

Emperor Kaiping pointed to the round stool where Mo Haoli was sitting before and said to Pei Yue: "Sit down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Pei Yue declined without any pretense. He walked over and sat down, then covered his chest and turned slightly pale.

When Emperor Kaiping saw this, he frowned and asked, "Are you injured?"

Pei Yue replied: "It's okay, it's just a minor injury. Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."

The palace people in the palace were confused after hearing this. The monarch and his ministers had almost gotten into trouble just now, so why did they suddenly become so close and easy-going?

Emperor Kaiping glanced around and said, "You all stand down."

"Yes." The palace people bowed in response, and then only the monarch and his ministers were left in the side hall, which was brightly lit with candles.

Emperor Kaiping looked at Pei Yue's delicate and handsome face, sighed secretly in his heart, and asked warmly: "Just now, did you want to tell me that you actually didn't want me to order Liu Xian to be deprived of his position as prince?"

Pei Yue nodded and said: "Your Majesty knows, and I also know that this matter was not done by King Lu, nor even by Princess Pingyang."

The two of them had a tacit understanding and did not mention Emperor Kaiping's beating and Pei Yue's resistance earlier, because this was too common between monarchs and ministers. Without you, Wang Pingzhang's power was taken away bit by bit, but tonight he still played a role in the palace.

Looks like a loyal minister? Since Emperor Kaiping was willing to take a step back under Pei Yue's strong resistance, then the matter has turned over. No mature king or powerful minister will insist on killing him.

Emperor Kaiping asked curiously: "Why are you so sure that this matter has nothing to do with Pingyang?"

Pei Yue pondered: "Your Majesty, I am not saying that Princess Pingyang has nothing to do with it, but the strangeness in it is too obvious. According to my analysis, Princess Pingyang did order this matter, and King Lu was kept in the dark, but Pingyang

Why was the princess able to bypass King Lu and instruct Ning Fengzhi?"

Emperor Kaiping nodded slightly.

Pei Yue added: "The strangest thing in this matter is the counselor Ning Fengzhi. As a close confidant of King Lu, doesn't he know how serious it is to assassinate a powerful prince? Even if he dare not disobey Pingyang

Why should the princess conceal this matter from King Lu? There is only one answer, and that is that he knew that if King Lu knew the inside story, subsequent plans would not be successful."

Emperor Kaiping smiled and said: "This makes sense."

Pei Yue sighed softly: "So I guess that this Ning Fengzhi has hidden evil intentions and plotted all this secretly. First of all, he knew very well about the dispute between me and King Lu, and then after knowing that Princess Pingyang had a face-to-face conflict with me, as long as he

If you instigate a few words in front of Princess Pingyang, then the suggestion of using Lu Jiang to assassinate me will definitely get the princess's approval. Ahem, Your Majesty, this princess of yours is really...that's all, I don't dare to make unreasonable comments about the nobles of the Tian family."

"Is there anything you dare not do or say?" Emperor Kaiping mocked slightly.

Pei Yue seemed not to have heard, and continued: "The mastermind behind the scenes actually doesn't care whether your Majesty and your ministers can see it. Princess Pingyang ordered this matter, Ning Fengzhi is responsible for executing it, and King Lu is willing to take the blame for the princess. These are all facts. Your Majesty wants to

To appease the anger of the courtiers, we must punish King Lu."

Emperor Kaiping's eyes were cold and stern, and he said in a cold voice: "This person is really good at calculating."

Pei Yue looked at Emperor Kaiping and said solemnly: "This is why I begged your majesty to depose King Lu."

"You want to lure the snake out of its hole?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Let's talk about it in detail."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

…

Half an hour later, Pei Yue walked out of Liangyi Hall alone.

The drizzle started to fall on a spring night, and a chill gradually set in.

Pei Yue tightened his clothes and walked out of the palace under the guidance of the eunuch.

The night is vast, like thick ink.

Pei Yue's eyes were very bright, with a sharp murderous intent.

He really didn't want to get involved in the messy affairs of the royal family, but since the man behind the scenes insisted on taking him with him, and even Pei Ning was affected, this move had really offended him.

Then he had no choice but to draw his sword and kill him.
Chapter completed!