The queen is sober in the world, and she is winning every step of the palace fight.

"I don't have any!"

Si Fei spoke harshly, staring at Fei Wan angrily, her face full of disbelief.

"How dare you accuse me like this?! Concubine Zhao, you are the one with ulterior motives! The Queen Mother brought the Tartars from Qu Kingdom into the palace. She led the enemy army to loot the palaces, causing casualties among the palace maids and concubines, and stole many treasures. Everyone in the palace witnessed it with their own eyes. How dare you, Concubine Zhao, pin this crime on me! This is outrageous!"

She was furious and scolded loudly.

She glanced at the Emperor and Concubine Qing and the others, bewildered, and asked, "What's going on? Could it be that Your Majesty and your two sisters have been deceived by Concubine Zhao? Could it be that you, believing Concubine Zhao's words, absurdly believe that I am related to the Tartars!?"

Fei Wan handed a piece of the snowflake cloud cake on the tea table to the emperor, ignoring Sifei's anger.

Ignoring is the best form of contempt.

"presumptuous."

The emperor scolded lightly.

While eating the cloud cake handed to him by Feiwan, he looked up at Sifei.

Just this slight glance and this one sentence made Si Fei tremble subconsciously.

After accompanying the emperor for several years, she knew very well that an angry emperor might be coaxed, but an emperor who was not angry was not easy to coax.

He had probably already made up his mind.

"I was impatient, Your Majesty, and I beg your forgiveness. But how could I not be anxious when Concubine Zhao easily pinned the crime of treason on me? Your Majesty, please carefully question Concubine Zhao and find out what evidence you have to smear me like this!"

Concubine Si suppressed her anger and instead complained to the emperor, speculating, "Although I had some issues with Concubine Zhao in the past, they were just petty women. Why would Concubine Zhao slander me like this? Your Majesty, please understand. Concubine Zhao may not just be targeting me; she may have other motives!"

The emperor swallowed the cloud cake and asked slowly, "What else does she want?"

Concubine Si shook her head. "I don't know. But I suspect the empress dowager was originally guilty of treason. Why did she suddenly put me on it? Could it be that she wanted to exonerate her? Although the empress dowager deserved her punishment, she still had the support of the Zhongqing Earl's Mansion and some noble relatives behind her. Could it be that these people were afraid that the empress dowager's sentence would be too severe and would implicate them, so they followed Concubine Zhao's path and asked her to find a way to influence the court's decision on the crime?"

This is a very powerful statement.

A concubine had reached out to the court, and was even involved in a sensitive matter involving two warring nations. If true, Fei Wan would at best be accused of interfering in state affairs, risking her position, or at worst, of aiding the enemy, a charge punishable by death.

Concubine Qing, who was sitting next to her, coughed lightly.

The pearl tassels on her hair sway gently, looking elegant and noble.

"Just now, Concubine Si was so cool and detached, as if she had seen through everything and her heart was as calm as water. Why is she so impatient now?"

Concubine Si sneered, "Concubine Qing's question is strange. It seems too biased towards Concubine Zhao. I understand love and don't care about the gains and losses of favors. Naturally, my heart is as calm as water. But how can I bear the crime of treason for no reason and let this villain succeed!"

Concubine Qing said, "Oh!" "So in your heart, whether His Majesty loves you or not is something you can let go of. But if you've been wronged, you must fight for justice immediately. The 'villain' who 'slandered' you is more likely to touch your heart than His Majesty."

Concubine Si was stunned: "What nonsense are you talking about? It's full of heresy!"

She subconsciously turned her head to check the emperor's expression.

He noticed that the emperor was showing signs of impatience, and his face was like the sky filled with dark clouds, as if he was about to explode.

Then he trembled subconsciously again.

Before he could think of what to say, Concubine Hui had already called out to the palace servants, asking them to call in those waiting outside the hall.

"Why waste time arguing with her? Just present the evidence and let her die willingly!"

"What evidence do you have?" Si Fei just sneered.

A look of arrogance and disdain.

However, when the five people who were summoned in finished their brief speeches one by one, Concubine Si's arrogance was like the ice and snow on the lake in spring, visibly crumbling bit by bit until it completely collapsed.

The first person to speak was Aunt Tohka.

"The day the enemy army attacked the capital, I witnessed it with my own eyes. The Queen Mother negotiated with the enemy army on short notice. In exchange for ten cities in the north, the King of Nanyu of Qu State agreed to let her command two thousand soldiers. With these two thousand men, she took control of the palace.

After being captured and defeated, I pretended to be loyal and tried to extract information from the Queen Mother, but I couldn't get any information out of her about how she colluded with the enemy. From beginning to end, she acted as if she was glad that the enemy had entered the city.

This shows that if she had colluded with the enemy forces in advance to attack the capital, this probably wouldn't have happened. Perhaps, it was someone else who colluded, and she took advantage of the situation. As for the rest, I don't know, please investigate carefully, Your Majesty."

The second one is Zhang Lin, the commander of the Tiger Guard.

"The elite members of the Tiger Guards worked tirelessly day and night, investigating for several days and obtaining definitive evidence. The Queen Mother contacted several rebel factions, and there was witnesses and physical evidence. The exchanged tokens, letters, messengers, and the associated rebel generals were all consistent. However, there was no clue of collusion with the Qu Kingdom army. Fortunately, the spies I sent to the Nanyu King of Qu Kingdom have uncovered some clues. The Daliang people who initially contacted the Nanyu King were from a caravan heading south from the capital to the Qu Kingdom.

The caravan was owned by a former maidservant of Concubine Si Zheng and her husband. Leveraging the Zheng family's reputation, the couple had amassed a large business in recent years. After Zheng was deposed as a concubine, they served as her messengers to the Kingdom of Qu. However, when the Prince of Nanyu led his troops into Daliang, they had already fled to the western border. The Tiger Guards intercepted them en route and brought them back to the capital. They confessed their crimes and pleaded with the guards to rescue their two children, who had been detained by Concubine Si. They were willing to die in apology for their sins if only the children were safe.

Next came the maid in charge of Qingliang Palace where Concubine Si lived.

"Empress Si often closes her door, sends the servants away, and sleeps alone in her room, regardless of day or night, sometimes taking ages to wake up. The day before yesterday, I was shocked to discover that she had closed the doors and windows to sleep, but she had secretly summoned a palace guard, who climbed in and out through the back window. I was terrified and quickly and quietly sent someone to keep an eye on the guard. I was shocked again to discover that after leaving the palace on duty, the guard actually went to the Zheng family at night and stayed in Master Zheng's study for a long time before emerging."

The last person to report was not from Daliang, but a Tartar prisoner of war.

He was a personal soldier under the command of King Nanyu, the commander-in-chief of the Qu State who came to attack the capital. He was seriously injured in a pile of dead bodies and was discovered by the Liang army who were clearing the battlefield. They captured him, treated his wounds, persuaded him to surrender, and used threats and inducements to finally get some useful information out of him.

There was an interpreter beside him who relayed his words to everyone.

"King Nanyu was being ostracized in Qu State, and the Qu Emperor intended to seize his throne. He was wavering between rebellion and non-rebellion. Someone from Daliang contacted him about a surprise attack southward, and he agreed. As long as he followed the plan, taking advantage of the chaos to attack the capital and kill the Daliang Emperor, his allies would allow him to plunder the capital's treasures and return with a full load, and would also pay him a million yuan in tribute annually. This would strengthen his power, freeing him from the Qu Emperor's constraints, and he could even become emperor himself. And his ally was the former queen of Daliang, who would become the empress dowager after the deed was accomplished."

After several people finished reporting, Concubine Hui sneered.

"Zheng Yunyi, what else can you say?"

Concubine Si's body trembled.

Shaking like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.

"No, this is all slander. These words are full of doubts, Your Majesty!"

She staggered and fell at the emperor's feet.

When I looked up, tears were already streaming down my face.

"Your Majesty, these people have come together to slander me, which is itself a huge conspiracy. Think carefully. Even if I am collaborating with the enemy, what is my relationship with Concubine Qing, Concubine Hui, and especially Concubine Zhao? They are all concubines who cannot interfere in government affairs. Why did they come together to help these people frame me?"

"Your Majesty, I am wronged!"