"What do you mean by the imperial edict?" The Prime Minister asked.
"Do you think it's true just because you say so? If you don't show it to us, how can we believe you? "Another official standing behind the Prime Minister said.
Lord Duan said calmly, "When the time is right, you will naturally see the imperial edict. What do you think of my suggestion?"
"Even if we agree, His Highness isn't in the capital. Instead of wasting time going back and forth, it's better to search for His Majesty. It's not that we don't want to, but His Highness can't be compared to His Majesty in any way."
In the side hall, Shang Junyi, who was being talked about, silently clenched his fists that were hidden in his sleeves.
He knew that he couldn't compare to Shang Junlin, but being belittled so openly still made him feel suffocated in his chest, neither up nor down.
"Your Highness?" The eunuch next to him whispered.
"It's nothing." Shang Junyi suppressed his complicated emotions and tried his best to calm down. So what if Shang Junlin was powerful? The final victory would still be his.
The quarrel in the main hall continued, and the fists in Shang Junyi's sleeves clenched tighter and tighter. He had never thought of this position, but someone had placed the opportunity in front of him. Almost no one could resist such a great temptation. Just like those people said, they were both children of the previous Emperor. Why could Shang Junlin do it but not him?
Shang Junyi straightened his clothes and walked into the main hall under the protection of the guards. As expected, he saw the shock on the official's face.
"This is a premeditated …"
Before the official could finish, the guards who came in with Shang Junyi suddenly blocked his mouth and pulled him out.
The sharp weapons were pointed at the officials led by the Prime Minister. The meaning was clear: if you don't listen, don't blame the weapons for being blind.
The main hall instantly fell silent.
Even though they had already predicted this, when it really came to this moment, the officials still felt very conflicted.
Other than their own safety, they were more worried about the safety of their families. If the other party could use his son to threaten Lord Zhou, then what about their families?
Under the threat of force, they didn't dare to do anything.
"Don't worry, my lords. As long as you do as we say, you and your families will be fine." Shang Junyi stood in front of Lord Duan and comforted him.
It would have been better if he hadn't spoken. Once he did, the ministers' anger, which they had nowhere to vent, was directed at him.
"In your dreams!"
The officials present were clearly divided into two factions. One faction was led by Lord Duan, who followed behind Shang Junyi. The other faction was led by the Prime Minister, who was surrounded in the middle by the guards. The latter was the majority, and they were all important officials of Shang Junlin.
"Master Duan, what should we do now?" Shang Junyi asked when they arrived at the side hall.
"We can't let this drag on for too long. If the people outside realize that something is wrong, the situation will be very unfavorable for us," Master Duan said.
Shang Junyi was perplexed. "But isn't the Imperial Army under our command?"
"Other than the Imperial Army, there are other garrisons in the capital. Besides, the Imperial Army doesn't only listen to our orders." There was one more thing that Lord Duan didn't mention. Even though the Imperial Army seemed to be under their command, it was actually under someone else's command.
Lord Duan had tried asking Shang Junyi about the identity of the mastermind behind the Imperial Army, but even Shang Junyi himself didn't know. After a few fruitless attempts, he could only put the matter aside for the time being.
At the moment, only a portion of the Imperial Army was under their command. The other portion was being held back, and it wouldn't pose a hindrance to their plans for the time being. However, that didn't mean that it wouldn't be for the time being. They had to end the battle quickly so that those people wouldn't be able to do anything once the dust settled.
"How many families do we have in our hands now?" Shang Junyi knew this as well. He didn't expect to be able to make these officials listen to him with just a little threat. They had made preparations for both sides.
These people might be able to disregard their own lives for the sake of the greater good, but what about their wives and children? How could they not care at all?
"Not many. Other than Lord Zhou's family, there are less than ten families under our control."
It wasn't easy to control the families of these officials. They had too few people at their disposal. If not for the lack of news from Shang Junlin and the instability of the people in the capital, they wouldn't have been able to do much.
Both sides were in a stalemate for the time being.
The officials were confined to the main hall and guarded by armed guards. They couldn't do anything because they were worried about their wives and children.
After dealing with Shang Junyi, Lord Duan went to the study. There was already someone waiting for him. It was the man who had come to his residence to seek cooperation.
Lord Duan walked in and asked, "The plan has been going on for so long. Is your master still unwilling to show himself?"
Yes, from the beginning until now, he had only been communicating with this man. The real mastermind had never shown himself.
"You have seen my sincerity. Isn't it time for you to show some sincerity? I don't want my collaborator to be a coward who doesn't even want to show his face. "
"Lord Duan, why are you in such a hurry? Isn't this prince here?"
A voice came from behind him. Master Duan's body tensed up instinctively. He turned around and saw a masked face.
The man slowly took off his mask.
"It's you?!" Lord Duan's eyes widened. The person who had appeared before him was completely out of his expectations.
"You seem surprised to see me, Lord Duan?" The man placed the mask on the table.
"I just don't understand why Your Royal Highness would go through so much trouble to push a young boy to the throne." Lord Duan calmly suppressed his shock. "Your Royal Highness, King An."
"Everyone wants to sit on that throne, but not me. I can feel your sincerity. Once this is done, I will fulfill my promise to you."
To be honest, King An was also in disbelief at Lord Duan's actions. He didn't expect him to be able to capture all the influential officials in the imperial court.
Things were progressing more smoothly than he had expected.
"Everyone is here. What does Your Royal Highness plan to do next?"
"There's no hurry." King An clapped his hands. A servant in black carried a wooden box in.
The box was placed in front of Lord Duan.
"This is?"
"Lord Duan, why don't you open it and take a look?" King An looked at him calmly.
Lord Duan took two steps forward and slowly opened the wooden box under King An's watchful gaze.
His movements suddenly stopped. He stared at the thing in the box. He couldn't find his voice for a long time.
— — An imperial edict was quietly placed in the wooden box.
Lord Duan took out the imperial edict with mixed feelings. He couldn't help but ask: "Is this real?"
"I believe that Lord Duan has the ability to distinguish between real and fake."
Lord Duan didn't even realize that at this moment, his hands were trembling. They had always doubted the authenticity of this imperial edict. They never thought that it would fall into his hands.
He had been an official for many years. Now that he was a cabinet minister, he could naturally distinguish whether an imperial edict was real or fake. Because of this, he found it even more inconceivable.
This imperial edict was real. There was no doubt about this. But, how could it be? Why would King An have such an imperial edict?
What was even more inconceivable was that this was an imperial edict for ascension.
"With it in your hands, I don't need to say more. Lord Duan should know what to do, right?" Seeing Lord Duan's dazed expression, King An reminded him.
In the hall, the ministers gathered together. Several hours had passed, but nothing happened.
Shang Junlin received a secret letter from the Capital. He said to Shen Yu who was standing beside him: "It has begun."
The place where they were staying now was very close to the Capital. They could enter the city in less than two hours. The imperial guards who were trapped by the trap had already contacted them.
The leader of the imperial guards brought the recent movements in the Capital. When he was transferred out of the Capital for no reason, he faintly felt that something was wrong. Now that he saw with his own eyes that Shang Junlin and Shen Yu were safe, he was relieved.
Lady Zhou fainted on the way to burn incense. When she woke up, she found that she was in a completely unfamiliar place. She was locked up with several other ministers' wives.
Her first reaction was to find her child. This time, she burned incense to pray for her youngest son, so she brought her child along. Fortunately, the child was by her side. She could reach out and grab him.
She hugged the child in her arms. Her high hanging heart finally relaxed a little.
Seeing that she had woken up, one of the wives put a finger to her lips and made a gesture to keep quiet.
Lady Zhou was not a foolish woman. When she saw this, she lowered her voice and asked: "What's going on?"
One after another, the others woke up. After a brief conversation, they found that everyone had suddenly fainted and was brought here.
"I'm afraid that they want to use us to threaten our families." Almost instantly, they figured out the cause and effect.
"There are so many of us. The person who caught us must have a big plan."
The others nodded.
They checked themselves and found that they were not injured or tied up. They walked around the room and found that the doors and windows were tightly shut. There were many people guarding outside.
The people in the room were all women. Except for Lady Zhou, there was a one-year-old child beside her. The child was still in a coma. The wife who knew a little about medicine checked the child. It was just that the child had fallen asleep because of the medicine.
"We can't let the adults be threatened because of us." Lady Zhou held the child and said in a deep voice.
The other women agreed.
"We have to think of a way to escape."
They were just weak women. It was very difficult to escape from a heavily guarded place. How to get out of this room became their top priority.
Unfortunately, no matter if they threatened or gave in, the people outside were unmoved. Only when they made the most noise, they threatened: "If you want to get out in one piece, stay here quietly."
After a while, the sky was dark. There were no candles in the room, so it was dark.
The night was the easiest to breed fear. The wives huddled together and comforted each other.
Every quarter of an hour became extremely unbearable.
After some time, a few drunk men barged in. The moonlight shone in through the open door, bringing with it despair.
"What do you want to do?!"
"What do we want to do?" The man laughed. "There are so many beauties here. After these two days, we don't even know if we can survive. Why don't we let our brothers have some fun first?"
After saying that, they pounced on them.
The women who had been hungry for a day were no match for these people. Seeing that they could not resist, one of them pulled out a hairpin and stabbed forward.
Even if they died, they would drag these people down with them!
In a moment of carelessness, the man who pounced on them was stabbed in the neck. The stinging pain made the man sober up for a moment, followed by rising anger.
"Slap —"
The hairpin was knocked away. The man held the woman's hand tightly: "Don't be so shameless!"
"Go away!"
Madam Zhou held the child and kept shrinking back. The man stepped forward: "If you don't listen, throw the child away. If you listen, our brothers might be happy and let you go after this matter is over."
Of course, these words were used to deceive these women. They all knew what would happen to these women after this matter was over. If not, they would not dare to use their drunken guts to do something bad.
These people were temporarily recruited. Usually, they liked to bully the weak by relying on their strength. They were sent to watch over these women. Once the matter was settled, they would directly kill them. Not only these women, but the women's husbands would also be the first to be dealt with.
Madam Zhou's eyes were filled with despair. She closed her eyes and thought: Even if I die, I will make you pay!
She had already made up her mind. Even if she could not change anything, even if she had to pay a heavy price, she would not let this man have an easy time.
The men were very strong. After drinking, they let go of the last shackle in their hearts. They were not good people. Usually, they would not even see these beautiful women. Now that so many of them came back, they were destined to be killed. If they did not do something, they would feel sorry for themselves.
The man smiled maliciously and approached —
The smell of alcohol mixed with the body odor made people want to vomit. She clenched her fists tightly and dug her nails into her palms. She could not feel any pain.
At the critical moment, a cold arrow came from outside the door and went straight into the man's back.
Madam Zhou was stunned for a moment. She loosened her clenched fists and slowly felt the pain.
The man groaned and fell straight down. Madam Zhou pushed the man aside and looked outside the door.
The others also felt that something was wrong. They stopped what they were doing and turned around. They said fiercely: "Who dares to ruin our business?!"
A young man in white stood outside the door and pulled the bowstring: "A group of trash who only know how to bully women. Living in this world is a waste of food."
Three arrows were shot at the same time. Three people fell down with a groan.
The other women who were frightened also noticed the people outside the door. They looked over.
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