C76 (1/2)

The war in the south had just broken out, and the capital was once again in chaos.

Pretending that the Crown Prince had instigated the rebellion, the Manchu soldiers had quickly annihilated it.

In the morning, after he had left the imperial court, the imperial grandmother had told him everything that had happened to Sai Yinzhan. He knew that it was the ”Third Prince Zhu” that was recently passed down in the capital, and they wanted to use Sai Yincha to exchange for Wu Sanguan's son and grandson. He remembered that the empress dowager had looked at him at that time without any expression on her face, but she could not make out any emotion as she asked, ”Your majesty, should we change this person? You should think about it yourself. ” Xuan Ye left the palace and sent his trusted aides to investigate carefully. Tonight, perhaps things would be different after tonight, maybe Sayin Cha Hun was not taken out of the capital, maybe there would be hope to save Sai Cha Hun tonight. He could only hope that tonight, this nightmare could pass and his son could return.

Xuan Ye knew that Rong'er and the empress would definitely be sad at the loss of Sayin Cha. He lingered at the entrance of the palace, wanting to go in and comfort them, but he was afraid that he would not be able to face the sorrowful faces of Rong'er and the empress, that he would not be able to bring his child back, that he would also be unable to answer the question of whether or not he would exchange Wu YingXiong for Sai Cha. This question was something he did not dare to think about.

A month ago, his flag-inlaid overseer, the tailor Huang of the Langting family, had conspired against someone and had captured his servants. According to Huang, they had gathered in the capital to respond to the incident of Wu Sangui of the south by following a man who claimed to be the direct descendant of the late Ming Emperor, Prince Zhu San. According to his instructions, many of the participants were slaves under the banner of the Eight Flag, and others of the lower class, bringing the total to more than a thousand people. He was scheduled to do something in the beginning of January next year. He agreed to use the white cloth covering his head and his red belt to mark his waist. Then, he would set fire to the area outside the city and launch an attack at the same time.

He had always thought that the Third Prince Zhu would not be able to rise to prominence, and in addition to the rebellion in the south, he had not paid much attention to this matter. Now, seeing him take advantage of the chaos in the south, he was furious and wanted to exterminate him in one fell swoop, so at that time, he immediately sent a small eunuch, who he thought was quite quick-witted, Liang Jiu Gonggong, to investigate and sneak into the palace. Liang Jiu Gonggong was very smart and did not disappoint him.

Last night, he accidentally discovered that more than thirty strangers had been gathered in the backyard for several days. He suspected that his servant, Chen Yi, had been involved in the mutiny, not alerting the enemy by reporting it to the imperial government to see how they could be arrested. In the morning, Xuan Ye had ordered the Yellow Flag's general, Tu Hai and Zu Yonglie to quickly gather their troops and guard Zhou's house at night.

He had already sent people to secretly visit the south, but he was hoping that the child had yet to leave the capital. If he were to do so, he might have news of his son.

Just as he was thinking this, the eunuch from the palace came in and reported, ”Reporting to Your Majesty, Liang Jiu has received news.” After getting rid of him, Xuan Ye had changed some of the eunuchs and maids that he had been attending to. He had been transferred to the palace at that time for three years, and seeing that he was honest and trustworthy, Xuan Ye trusted him to do many things.

Seeing that Liang Jiu had returned with the news, he asked in a low voice, ”What did he say?”

”Eunuch Liang said that the Emperor had asked his servant to pass on a message to him this morning asking him to find out more about the little boy. He said that he hadn't heard or seen anything about it and would continue to search.”

Xuan Ye nodded and asked, ”How is it going at Tuohai's side?”

”Lord Tu did not reply, so it should be as planned.” The consultant replied.

”Alright, I understand. Go down first. If anything happens, send a message immediately.”

In just a day's time, everyone in the palace knew that the wet nurse had infected him with smallpox and passed it on to him. The wet nurse had already been granted death and the palace had been sealed.

Zhang Leyan and Yin Ruo Lan were both pregnant, so they were told to be safe. During this period of time, they didn't go to the Eastern Warming Pavilion, and instead, they stayed in their own rooms to rest. Although there were smallpox in the palace, they didn't run around and think about how they couldn't get infected.

It was late at night when Xuan Ye was waiting anxiously at the Palace, waiting for a reply. When the time came, the counsellor hurriedly ran in and reported, ”Your Majesty, Lord Tu Hai has sent word that all of the rebels have been seized by the Zhou family, but it seems that they have alerted Prince Zhu San. Liang Jiugong said that they have moved the rebellion forward to tonight. Lord Tu Hai is currently pursuing the remaining members of the imperial court.”