Arc 5: Harem Competing Strategies Chapter 14
Xiao Junye stood up and stepped back, with the eunuchs surrounding him.
“Huang Guijun1 , run!” Lin Qing hurriedly pulled Ye Rong up.
The palace attendants beside Ye Rong tried to support him and protect him, but the black-clad assailants had already reached them.
“Ah!!” Ye Rong realized the situation and tried to escape, but his feet stumbled, causing him to fall to the ground.
“Assassins! Protect the Emperor! Protect the Emperor!”
The eunuchs shouted loudly and engaged in a chaotic fight with the assailants.
“Ah!!”
“Ah!!!”
The palace maids and attendants screamed in fear, running and fleeing in all directions.
“Ah!!” This scream came from Ye Rong, as someone stepped on his belly while he tried to get up, and it wasn’t just one person stepping on him. “My belly, ah!”
“Huang Guijun! Huang Guijun!”
The palace attendants tried to lift Ye Rong, but the scene was too chaotic, and they couldn’t manage to do so.
The guards stationed outside heard the cries and rushed in, but their main priority was to protect Xiao Junye. In such a chaotic situation, they couldn’t afford to focus on anyone else.
Xiao Junye was surrounded by eunuchs and guards, facing the assailants. He remained calm and composed.
As the assassins couldn’t match the number of guards, they attempted to flee. Xiao Junye ordered, “Chase them! Don’t let a single one escape!”
“Yes!” Half of the guards immediately rushed out in pursuit.
“My belly… it hurts…” Ye Rong was in so much pain that tears streamed down his face. He held onto his stomach, filled with a terrible premonition.
Since the assassins had fled and the pavilion was no longer in complete chaos, the palace attendants tried to lift Ye Rong. However, he was in too much pain to stand up.
“Your Majesty… my stomach hurts,” Ye Rong said with a crying tone.
A cold, indifferent glint flashed in Xiao Junye’s eyes, but he urgently said, “Escort Huang Guijun back to the room and summon the imperial physician!”
Several palace attendants worked together to carry Ye Rong back to the room.
Ye Rong lay on the bed, feeling the flow of blood from his lower body. The child in his belly was likely unable to be saved, and he couldn’t help but cry out, “Your Majesty, please save the child in my belly!”
Xiao Junye stood by the bed and looked at him, saying, “I have already sent for the imperial physician. Don’t worry, the physician will arrive soon.”
“Your Majesty…” Ye Rong’s stomach was in intense pain, but compared to the physical pain, his heartache was even greater. The child he had been eagerly anticipating was likely about to be lost.
Ye Rong couldn’t understand why assassins suddenly appeared. If Xiao Yuyang’s faction had sent them, they wouldn’t have neglected to inform him, let alone make an attempt to assassinate the emperor in his palace.
When the imperial physician arrived, he checked Ye Rong’s pulse and then knelt before Xiao Junye, reporting, “Reporting to Your Majesty, Huang Guijun has suffered a miscarriage.”
“Is the child unable to be saved?” Xiao Junye asked in a deep voice.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, Huang Guijun has indeed suffered a miscarriage. This servant cannot save the fetus anymore. However, with proper care and recuperation, Huang Guijun can conceive again in the future.”
Upon hearing the expected words, Ye Rong could only shed tears incessantly, unable even to make a sound while crying.
“Prepare some medicinal tonics for Huang Guijun to nourish and recover.” Xiao Junye ordered.
“Yes.” The imperial physician immediately rose and withdrew.
Xiao Junye approached the bed again, looking at Ye Rong and saying, “Don’t let your sorrow ruin your health. Take good care of yourself and seek proper recuperation. You will have another child in the future.”
Ye Rong sank into sadness, unable to listen to any more words.
“Take good care of Huang Guijun. If his condition doesn’t improve, you shall take responsibility with your lives!” Xiao Junye said coldly.
“Yes.” All the palace attendants and maids in the room knelt down.
Xiao Junye left with a stern face, taking big strides.
In response to the appearance of assassins in the palace, Xiao Junye conducted a thorough investigation overnight. All suspicious individuals and those who neglected their duties were captured. The guards searched throughout the palace, and the operation didn’t conclude until the next day.
In the morning, Tao Yuan woke up and, upon hearing the report from the palace attendants, she paused for a moment before hurriedly asking, “Assassins? Has His Majesty been harmed?”
“His Majesty is unharmed and has not been injured. However, as for Huang Guijun…”
“What happened to Huang Guijun?”
“Amidst the chaos last night, Huang Guijun was trampled upon, and then… he suffered a miscarriage.”
“He had a miscarriage? The child couldn’t be saved?” Tao Yuan instinctively touched her own belly.
“When the imperial physician arrived, it was already too late.”
“… I understand. You may leave.” Tao Yuan said.
“Nubi1 will leave.” The palace maid bowed and then withdrew.
Tao Yuan thought to himself that it was not easy for assassins to infiltrate the palace. If there were real assassins, they could only be people from within the palace, not outsiders. However, there were only a few people who could plant insiders in the palace, and none of them would choose to assassinate Xiao Junye at this time.
Therefore, the only possibility for the appearance of those assassins was that Xiao Junye staged it himself. He wanted to regain control of the palace, remove the people arranged by Yu Wang and the Queen Mother, and also get rid of the child in Ye Rong’s womb. As an emperor, being cuckolded was already a great humiliation, and he would not tolerate someone else’s child being passed off as his own. Therefore, it was destined that Ye Rong’s child would not survive.Man, I know for the plot, but still poor kid QAQ; but then if you think abt it, if the child was born they won’t be in a better place. So in conclusion – take everything in the novel with a grain of salt.
During this time, the guards at Fenghua Palace and Jingshou kept increasing, and there were also many palace servants and maids around Tao Yuan. Almost every corner of Fenghua Palace was guarded. Xiao Junye had long planned and prepared to take action.
Xiao Junye acted swiftly and decisively, rooting out most of the people Yu Wang and the Empress Dowager had planted in the palace. Some remaining individuals were deeply hidden, but they could no longer have a significant impact. He would have plenty of opportunities to expose them one by one.
However, after two or three days, there had been significant changes in the palace. Xiao Junye ordered the killing and imprisonment of many people, and Xiao Yuyang could no longer contact Ye Rong.
Like other ministers, Xiao Yuyang only knew that Ye Rong had a miscarriage, without knowing any specific details, and he was now unable to enter the palace.
No news leaked from the palace, which indicated that most of the people he had arranged in the palace had already been eliminated. Even the Empress Dowager might be unable to protect herself at the moment.
Xiao Junye’s sudden display of power was like a thunderbolt from the sky, followed by a storm, implicating many people, and none of them would have a good outcome.
Not only were people in the palace living in fear, but everyone in the imperial city felt a sense of impending disaster.
Xiao Junye’s personal guards closely patrolled the palace, and every day they would suddenly take people away and imprison them. In the imperial city, the Imperial Guards were running around, and some officials who had been peacefully sitting at home one moment would be raided by the Imperial Guards the next, accompanied by an imperial decree to ransack their homes. The Imperial Guards would also take away their entire families and imprison them.
On the third day after the appearance of assassins in the palace, Prime Minister Ye was summoned by Xiao Junye to the study. He spent the whole afternoon there and returned to his residence, where he stayed in the study all night without sleep. In that one night, he appeared even older.
Xiao Junye showed Prime Minister Ye the letters exchanged between Ye Rong and Xiao Yuyang, their tokens of affection, andeven summoned the attendants who served Ye Rong to appear before him. They confessed everything they knew in person.
Prime Minister Ye was filled with shame and wished to die. He never expected his own grandson, whom he personally raised, to commit such scandal. Although he knew that Ye Rong had met Yu Wang before entering the palace, he had no idea about the extent of their relationship. It was a great humiliation that brought disgrace upon their entire family, and Ye Rong alone was responsible for this great crime that implicated them all. He felt he had no face to face Xiao Junye.
Ye Rong leaned back on the bed, looking at the unfamiliar faces of the palace maids and eunuchs standing in the room. All those who used to serve him seemed to have disappeared.
He closed his eyes, feeling a wave of sadness and panic. He knew he was finished. The emperor must have found out about his relationship with Xiao Yuyang.
But when did the emperor find out? Judging by his attitude, it seemed like he had known for a long time. That’s why he treated him so coldly. No matter how he behaved, he couldn’t earn his favor.
Being cuckolded was a great shame for Emperor Xiao Junye himself. Even though those who should know were well aware of it, this matter could never be made public. So, for now, Ye Rong’s life was spared, and even his position as the imperial consort remained untouched. How long he could live would depend on the future actions of the Ye Rongg family.
Xiao Yuyang sent people to gather information about Ye Rong from the Ye residence, but even the Ye family didn’t know how Ye Rong was doing.
Xiao Yuyang had already guessed that the so-called assassination attempt was nothing more than a play directed by Emperor Xiao Junye himself, with the aim of gaining control of the palace. What infuriated him the most was the loss of their child with Ye Rong. He also suspected that Emperor Xiao Junye wouldn’t spare Ye Rong’s unborn child. He must have known that the child Ye Rong carried was not his own.
Xiao Yuyang believed that Ye Rong’s fate was unknown at the moment, and even if he was still alive, Xiao Junye would never let him off easily. Many officials who supported him were detained and had their residences searched by various pretexts. He felt that it wouldn’t be long before it was his turn.
Xiao Yuyang knew that Emperor Xiao Junye would never let him go. As soon as the news of Mu Yongsheng’s return to the capital spread, Xiao Junye couldn’t wait any longer. If he didn’t strike back before Mu Yongsheng returned with his troops, he would have no way out once Mu Yongsheng arrived in the capital. Rather than passively waiting for death, he decided to take a risk, hoping that he might be able to save Ye Rong.
Xiao Yuyang urgently began planning, and the civil and military officials who supported him also knew that Xiao Junye would never spare them. Therefore, they supported Xiao Yuyang’s rebellion.
Xiao Yuyang ordered two generals who supported him to surround the palace with their troops, planning to storm in, kill Xiao Junye first, and then present the imperial decree from the late emperor appointing him as the crown prince, thus legitimizing his ascension to the throne.
He believed that they would outnumber the Imperial Guards and Xiao Junye’s personal guards with their larger number of soldiers. And they would quickly be able to enter the imperial palace.
However, what he didn’t expect was that Mu Yongsheng’s eldest son had already returned to the capital with a portion of the troops of his soldiers before the army troops of Ningguo and Qiuyu completely withdrew. They had been lying in ambush outside the city, waiting for Xiao Yuyang to make a move.
Xiao Junye deliberately provided Xiao Yuyang with an opportunity to rebel. Everything he did was to provoke Xiao Yuyang, even if it meant pushing him into rebellion and then seizing the opportunity to capture him.
Xiao Yuyang found himself trapped between two forces and was unable to enter the palace. He was quickly captured.
The situation terrified the people in the imperial city, and every household tightly shut their doors. Some even hid in cellars, fearing that soldiers would storm in and kill them.
When Xiao Yuyang found himself cornered in front of Xiao Junye, he fiercely glared at him for a moment, then suddenly struggled violently. He threw himself onto a soldier’s sword and forcefully slit his own neck, causing his own death. He chose to die with dignity rather than endure humiliation and torture.
Xiao Junye watched this scene expressionlessly, and then ordered the soldiers to hang his body on the city wall, allowing everyone to witness the fate of a rebel. It was also meant as a warning to other princes who harbored rebellious intentions.
1: 皇贵君: Huang Guijun – Imperial Noble Consort
One more chapter before this arc ends! Happy Reading ~~ !
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- 奴婢: Nubi – This slave/Your servant [↩]