The Virtuous Concubine

Although the prince was covered in wounds and looked a bit embarrassed and depressed, he still had a trace of concern for Kangxi in his heart. He endured the pain in his body and ordered Liang Jiugong in a hoarse voice: "Quick, help the emperor up."

Liang Jiugong responded and hurried towards Kangxi.

Wen Xian stood where he was, his eyes like two cold stars in the cold night, tightly watching Liang Jiugong's every move, fearing that he would cause trouble.

Wen Xian and the Fourth Prince had a relatively harmonious relationship because of the flood control issue, so she knew that the Fourth Prince had leverage over Liang Jiugong. If she didn't keep a close eye on him, who could guarantee that Liang Jiugong wouldn't suddenly turn against her at a critical moment in order to protect himself or seek personal gain?

After Liang Jiugong settled Kangxi, Wen Xian knocked Liang Jiugong down with a whip, tied him up, and then picked up a piece of cloth and stuffed it into his mouth without mercy, making him unable to make any sound.

After finishing this series of things neatly, she turned and walked towards the imperial desk. Under the shocked and bewildered gaze of Liang Jiugong and the prince, she searched carefully on the desk. Soon, she found the only three remaining blank imperial edicts.

Without any hesitation, she quickly picked up the jade seal and pressed it down heavily.

She looked up at the prince and asked, "Can you imitate the emperor's handwriting?"

The prince showed a bitter smile on his face and shook his head helplessly: "This is a capital crime."

Wen Xian sneered, "That's why you can't beat my fourth brother. He has been learning from Dong Qichang since he was a child, under the pretext of admiring the emperor. His calligraphy is so exquisite that it is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. And you are obviously close to me, but you are still here talking about capital punishment."

Wen Xian became angrier and angrier as he spoke, almost to the point of gnashing his teeth: "You have committed a lot of crimes that are really punishable by death, haven't you? Are you with my mother? I really don't know why my mother likes you. She has ended up like this because of a fool like you!"

The prince blushed at Princess Wenxian's retort, but he had no way to refute it. He lowered his head and avoided Princess Wenxian's gaze.

Wen Xian is his sister, and today, thanks to her courage and wit, the situation was temporarily stabilized.

Princess Wenxian saw the prince's appearance, but her anger did not subside much. She scanned the hall and finally fixed her eyes on the prince: "Fourth brother must have sent people to surround the Forbidden City. Maybe..."

She smiled and said, "You're still using the excuse of clearing the court of emperors. What do you think?"

The prince smiled knowingly: "At this point, what else can we do? It's just a death. He wants the throne anyway, so he won't really hurt her."

As he said this, the prince actually raised his foot and was about to walk out of the palace again.

Seeing this, Wen Xian suddenly raised the long whip in her hand and mercilessly whipped the prince again. If it weren't for her mother, she would have wanted to kill the prince. It was really infuriating!

"Die, die, die! All you can think about is death! Do you think everything will be fine once you die? If something happens to you, have you ever thought about what your mother would do? She has paid so much for you. If you only want to free yourself, what will she do?"

The prince's body swayed slightly from the whip and a look of pain appeared on his face.

He stopped and looked at Wen Xian, his eyes full of guilt and confusion: "I... I know I am wrong. Is there any other way to make amends?"

Wen Xian looked at the prince's appearance, and his anger subsided a little. "Second brother, calm down first. We are not at the end of our rope yet."

As she spoke, she raised her hand and threw a blank imperial edict to the prince: "Take this and go negotiate with Fourth Brother. This may be our only bargaining chip at the moment. At least, you must save your own life first, and I will also have an explanation to Mother. Don't talk about life and death anymore. If Mother knew that you were dead, how heartbroken would she be? Wait a minute, you can ask Liang Jiugong to go out and tell him that you want to meet Fourth Brother."

After Wen Xian had instructed the prince, he turned to Liang Jiugong and gave him a meaningful smile: "Eunuch Liang, I'm sure you understand the stakes involved. If you make even the slightest mistake in today's matter, not only will your life be in jeopardy, I'm afraid your entire clan will be implicated."

When Liang Jiugong heard this, he was so frightened that his whole body trembled and he kept saying yes.

Princess Wenxian paused and continued, "I will keep the other imperial edict with me for self-defense. I will give the other one to Yinzuo. He will disguise himself as your personal guard, leave the palace with you, and then go directly to the Northwest Camp. Second brother, you must remember to tell Fourth Brother all these things in detail, and let him know that if he dares to act rashly, he will be cursed for all eternity in history!"

It can only be said that Wen Xian really knew what the Fourth Prince was afraid of, and this arrangement hit the nail on the head.

The prince took the imperial edict and looked at Wen Xian: "Thank you."

Princess Wenxian shook her head slightly: "I am only doing this for my mother."

When the prince heard this, he felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Wen Xian hurriedly told him to go: "Go quickly, don't delay any longer, or something bad will happen."

The prince was not in a hurry to leave, but asked Wen Xian: "What do you want? Can't the emperor and the fourth son give it to you?"

Wen Xian smiled softly and looked up at the dome of the Qianqing Palace: "I would like to control the government, and even sit on this dragon throne to experience the feeling of controlling the world. But I dare to think about it, do you dare to let me?"

After saying that, she no longer paid attention to the prince and turned to go to the warm room next door to guard Malu.

At this time, the people sent by the Fourth Prince had surrounded the entire Forbidden City. Due to his status, the only people the Crown Prince could still dispatch and issue orders were the teams originally on duty at the Qianqing Palace.

The people in the palace soon sensed the depression and dullness before the coming storm, and they were in a panic and could not find peace. Concubine Hui, Concubine Yi and others were like ants on a hot pot, anxious and nervous to the extreme, wanting to rush to the Qianqing Palace, not to find out what was going on, but just to protect themselves.

But the prince could not let anyone into the Qianqing Palace at this time, knowing the state of Kangxi at the moment. The guards rejected all those who wanted to see Kangxi and Malu, and killed two or three servants who wanted to make a loud noise and cause trouble on the spot. After that, everyone was honest, closed the palace gates, and dared not take another step out.

This was the first day of the siege of the Forbidden City.