am-books Chapter 551 - 308: Return to the Cold Palace_2
Chapter 551 - 308: Return to the Cold Palace_2
Chapter 551: Chapter 308: Return to the Cold Palace_2
Only one place remained cold and silent.
The Cold Palace.
Zhou Yi stood at the entrance, nostalgia washing over him, as he remembered the days he would lie on the steps reading.
In the blink of an eye, three years had gone by. The nameless and lowly attendant had become the illustrious Supervisor of the Three Bureaus, the Inspectorate Official.
“How the world changes, life is unpredictable!”
Zhou Yi sighed, stepping inside, and the first person he saw upon entering was the old eunuch lying on the steps.
...
Old Lu had aged even more, his white hair sparse, his body feeble and shaky. He slowly turned his head at the sound of footsteps, his cloudy eyes dim and lifeless.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s Little Yi, I’ve come to see you.”
Zhou Yi approached the steps, removed his purple robe, and lay down beside Old Lu.
“It’s you, kid.”
Old Lu exclaimed in surprise, “The fearsome Eunuch Zhou, what brings you to our humble abode?”
Zhou Yi said, “When I left, I promised to visit often, but mundane affairs entangled me, and only today have I managed to find time.”
“Ko ko ko!”
Old Lu cackled with a strange laughter like a hen crowing, awakening from his drowsy state, leaving only a few teeth in his mouth, his gaunt finger pointing at a room in the Cold Palace.
“What’s there to see about someone like me, who’s nearly dead? You’re here for her, aren’t you?”
The woman locked in that room was Consort Cui, whose father had been imprisoned, and who had suffered a premature birth of her dragon seed. After kneeling outside Yangxin Hall for three days and nights, she failed to earn the Orthodox Emperor’s forgiveness.
Out of sheer frustration, she went mad!
According to the eunuch who guarded Yangxin Hall, Consort Cui, gnashing her teeth and clawing, had lunged at His Majesty, shouting that they should die together, leading to her confinement in the Cold Palace.
“Old Lu, is she truly mad or faking it?”
Zhou Yi had personally experienced the former empress’s schemes; to feign madness, she had even eaten excrement.
“She’s truly mad!”
Old Lu said, “But it’s not due to sheer frustration. It was caused by external forces, or rather, it’s not madness, but a disturbance of the spirit.”
Zhou Yi’s expression changed drastically, as he stood up abruptly and said sternly,
“Old Lu, are you suggesting that someone in the palace has used sorcery?”
“During the late emperor’s time, the pacification bureau arrested a few Qing Yang cult sorcerers. I saw them cast spells with my own eyes,”
Old Lu recalled, “They summoned evil spirits to possess people, disrupting the victims’ souls, immediately making them lose their minds, biting wildly like rabid dogs, just like the one inside!”
Zhou Yi’s expression shifted, and finally, he lay back down on the steps.
Looking up at the sky, the clouds were rolling by, just as they had been three years before.
“Old Lu, I have some regrets.”
Old Lu said, “Then why dare to side with the Empress Dowager? Witchcraft is not like other things; once it reaches His Majesty’s ears, a thorough purge of the Palace Court is inevitable!”
Zhou Yi looked at Old Lu for a long time, barely resisting the urge to channel his True Qi and kill him on the spot.
On the return trip to the capital, he was surrounded and killed by mountain bandits.
...
Inspectorate.
Bang!
Zhou Yi’s palm slammed down on the table, his True Qi surged out, and the table shattered into powder with a loud rumble.
“The military command dares to touch my godson! What audacity!” Zhou Yi exclaimed.
The other godsons displayed righteous indignation on their faces, but inwardly they were delighted and relieved, “Good riddance to Xiaoquzi, it spares us from vying for godfather’s favor going forward.”
It was said that during Xiaoquzi’s mission to Jiangnan and after confiscating the Wu family’s possessions, it also implicated several large families from Jiangning.
The local families, in order to save their own lives, offered up large amounts of Gold and Silver, filling more than a dozen horse carts, leaving the land bare.
Lin Fu said, “Governor, the Black Tiger Gang that plundered Eunuch Qu has long been entrenched in the area, and Jiangning has failed in several attempts to eliminate them.”
He speculated, “I believe the military command must be tipping them off. They harbor traitors and wish to strengthen themselves by harboring robbers!”
Magistrate Wen’s eyebrows raised, glancing at this newly promoted official.
Indeed, his intentions were dark as night, and to prevent losing his status as a strategic advisor, he quickly spoke up.
“Governor, ever since the establishment of the Inspectorate, the military command has continuously schemed against us. The death of Eunuch Qu now presents an opportunity to bring the struggle into the open and let His Majesty balance it out.”
Maintaining balance is the most important part of Imperial Scheming!
To limit the power of his subjects, His Majesty would invariably support another faction to maintain balance.
With this in mind, by proactively engaging in a struggle with the military command, the Inspectorate could gain support.
Zhou Yi nodded slightly, saying, “Master Wen’s words are indeed insightful, creating momentum is a plan for the long term, but...”
His voice suddenly turned chilling and vicious, “My godson has been killed, it’s like slapping our face, and we must slap back in person!”
“Someone, to the military command’s yamen!”
At his command, hundreds of black-clad enforcers gathered, following Zhou Yi as he headed toward the west side of the Imperial City.
Before the establishment of the Inspectorate, the military command’s yamen had always been located on the west side of the palace and had no other designation.
Now, with both bodies standing in opposition east and west, terms like “Eastern Depot” and “Western Depot” had already started circulating amongst the people to refer to the two offices.
Moments later.
Outside the military command’s yamen.
The guards on duty, upon seeing Zhou Yi, didn’t dare to utter a word of obstruction and hurriedly ran inside the office to report. Everyone in the capital knew how fond the head of the Western Depot was of beheading people.
Before he could even explain to his superiors, the sound of footsteps was already approaching fast.
The main hall.
A large red placard hung above, inscribed with the three big characters “Military Command,” allegedly written by the Great Founding Ancestor himself.
Zhou Yi stepped inside and saw Commander Ji Yue, with the Magistrate and Deputy on both sides — all three heavyweights of the military command were present.
“Good, it saves me the trouble of finding each one!”
————Please wait, refreshing.
A large red placard hung above, inscribed with the three big characters “Military Command,” allegedly written by the Great Founding Ancestor himself.
Zhou Yi stepped inside and saw Commander Ji Yue, with the Magistrate and Deputy on both sides — all three heavyweights of the military command were present.
“Good, it saves me the trouble of finding each one!”@@@@