Hai Ling thought for a moment. Ye was a clever and wise man. His purpose in going to Dengzhou was to wipe out the Green Ant Clan. She had heard from Xiao Lu Zi that he had been hit by a fireball. Later, General Lin and others found him and he was seriously injured. So the real Ye had probably fallen into the hands of the Green Ant Clan. As for why he fell into the hands of the Green Ant Clan, it was probably intentional. He did this to infiltrate their ranks and wipe out the Green Ant Clan in one fell swoop. Therefore, the emperor who appeared here was fake, and he must have had some purpose in impersonating the emperor.
“He must be in the Green Ant Clan right now. I want to expose this fake emperor in the palace as soon as possible, and then go to the Green Ant Clan. Regardless of whether Ye is really playing along, I want to go see him, otherwise I won’t feel at ease.”
"So how do we make this fake emperor in the palace reveal his true colors?"
Inside the palace, several people frowned simultaneously, racking their brains to come up with a plan on how to make the fake emperor in Lanyuan Palace reveal his true colors.
As the night deepened, the palace was still in the middle of the night, and no one had yet come up with a plan when the chief eunuch of Liuyue Palace came to report that Minister of Justice Wu Shang was requesting an audience with the Empress outside the palace.
Hai Ling and the others were stunned. Why would Minister of Justice Wu Shang come to Liuyue Palace at night? He must have something important to see her about, otherwise he wouldn't have come. Thinking this, they immediately ordered Ji Shaocheng and the others to stay in the palace and wait. Hai Ling led Feng Qian and Nalan Mingzhu out of the palace and went to the main hall to see Minister of Justice Wu Shang.
The main hall of Liuyue Palace was brightly lit, and Wu Shang bowed respectfully.
"Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress."
"Wu Shang, what brings you into Liuyue Palace at night?"
Hai Ling held Wu Shang in high esteem. He was an upright man and a minister whom Ye valued highly. She trusted his character.
Wu Shang glanced at the main hall, and Hai Ling waved for everyone to leave. Seeing that no one was around, Wu Shang quickly spoke.
"Your Majesty, His Majesty summoned all the ministers to the palace overnight, saying he had important matters to discuss. I had already gone there, but I overheard some people whispering that His Majesty intended to abdicate the throne to Prince Zhaoyang. I was startled, so I did not go to Lanyuan Palace, but came here to see Your Majesty. I beg Your Majesty to ask His Majesty to reconsider. Although His Majesty's appearance is completely disfigured and he has lost his memory, please reconsider the idea of abdicating. Prince Zhaoyang is by nature a womanizer; how can he bear such a heavy burden? If he were to inherit the throne, then Beilu would be completely destroyed."
After Wu Shang finished speaking, Hai Ling was startled, thinking she had misheard, and stared at Wu Shang.
"You said the Emperor said he would abdicate in favor of Prince Zhaoyang."
"Yes, Your Majesty, tonight the Emperor summoned many ministers and wants to abdicate in favor of Prince Zhaoyang."
"That bastard..."
Hai Ling couldn't help but curse angrily. This damned guy dared to do such a thing. Not only did he impersonate the emperor, but he also wanted to take away his throne. What a despicable thing! No, she absolutely couldn't let him destroy Ye's throne. With that thought, she looked at Wu Shang.
"Lord Wu, you may go ahead. I will arrive at Lanyuan Palace shortly. Rest assured, I will stop the Emperor from doing such a thing."
"Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress."
Wu Shang breathed a sigh of relief. In his mind, even if the emperor's appearance was ruined and he lost his memory, he was still much better than Prince Zhaoyang. Prince Zhaoyang was just a philanderer; how could he possibly govern the country?
Wu Shang left, and Hai Ling's face turned extremely ugly. Feng Qian and Nalan Mingzhu also looked unhappy and started cursing.
"That damned bastard is clearly trying to destroy the throne."
"Who exactly is he?"
Nalan Mingzhu frowned in thought, glancing at Feng Qian. The two of them were thinking very seriously together. Hai Ling had already turned and headed towards the palace, and the two of them followed her out, heading towards the palace together.
Once they entered the palace, Ji Shaocheng and Shen Ruoxuan anxiously inquired.
"What business does Lord Wu have with the Empress?"
Hai Ling paced back and forth in her palace in anger, then spoke up angrily: "Lord Wu has received news that the Emperor intends to abdicate the throne to Prince Zhaoyang."
"What?"
Ji Shaocheng and Shen Ruoxuan both stood up anxiously, their expressions changing simultaneously.
If the emperor in this Lanyuan Palace is a fake, then what he's doing is clearly absurd. If he abdicates in favor of Prince Zhaoyang, even if the real emperor returns, there's no way to force Prince Zhaoyang to step down. No, this absolutely cannot happen.
Hai Ling took out the imperial edict and handed it to Ji Shaocheng, ordering in a deep voice: "Immediately send troops from the Ministry of War to the palace. I will absolutely not allow any talk of abdication, and tonight I will make him reveal his true colors."
Originally, she wanted to slowly figure out a way to make that person reveal his true colors, but now she couldn't care less about anything else. Tonight, she had to take down the fake emperor in Lanyuan Palace and absolutely not allow him to abdicate in favor of Prince Zhaoyang.
Ji Shaocheng accepted the order, took the imperial decree's gold token, and immediately rushed out of the palace to mobilize troops.
Here, Shen Ruoxuan frowned and looked at Hai Ling, speaking calmly, "Master, I've thought about it and found something suspicious. I wonder if you've considered this: A Lang seems to have disappeared. Logically, he should have appeared to avenge Princess Feng Yao of Zhaoyang, but this man seems to have vanished into thin air. On the contrary, a mysterious fake emperor has appeared. Who do you think has the deepest grudge against you right now, Master?"
Upon hearing Shen Ruoxuan's words, Feng Qian and Nalan Mingzhu exclaimed simultaneously, "Could it be that the people in Lanyuan Palace are actually Alang?"
As soon as Feng Qian made up her mind, she called out towards the door.
“Serre, come in.”
Sese led several of her subordinates in and respectfully asked, "Miss Feng, what are your orders?"
Feng Qian walked up to Sese and said seriously, "Sese, the emperor in Lanyuan Palace is very likely Alang, but now he is disfigured and claims to have amnesia. Do you have a way to make him reveal his true form?"
Upon hearing that the person in Lanyuan Palace might be Alang, Sese's face immediately turned cold, and a sharp, icy light emanated from her body as she clasped her hands in response.
“If he really is Alang, then he is a member of our Yunjiang tribe. The people of the Yunjiang tribe grow up in a harsh and desolate place. We deal with small poisonous creatures year after year, so no matter how our appearance changes, our blood still has the scent that small poisonous creatures like. So as long as I release this spotted insect, it will fly towards that person.”
Sese took out a kind of insect called Spotted Insect, which is a kind of insect that grows in Yunjiang and prefers the blood of people who live in shady places.
Unless one grows up in Yunnan, people with spots generally won't come near.
After Sese finished speaking, Hailin was overjoyed and breathed a sigh of relief. This was really great.
“Alright, let’s go to Lanyuan Palace. All the ministers in the court are here now. The Emperor wants to pass the throne to Prince Zhaoyang. I absolutely will not allow such a thing to happen.”
"Walk."
Feng Qian and Nalan Mingzhu followed Hai Ling out together.
Shen Ruoxuan followed behind them and walked out together, forming a large group that headed towards Lanyuan Palace.
In the main hall of Lanyuan Palace, all was silent. The emperor, with his head held high, had his face covered by a white veil, revealing only half of his face and a pair of unfathomable eyes, coldly staring at the ministers kneeling below.
A chorus of voices erupted in the hall: "Your Majesty, please rescind your decree."