Moreover, Tuoba Hong also said that after the death of Mu Wu Wang, they had become somewhat complacent. The incident where the assassin shot and killed him but was blocked by Lin Yuhan was enough to illustrate that the remaining forces of Mu Wu Wang were greater than they had imagined. At least for the next three years, the imperial palace and the capital city should strengthen their defenses.

  The harem has calmed down for the time being.

  However, after a few days, the people in front of the palace suddenly took the emperor's edict to Changxin Palace and took away an inner attendant named Xiao Dengzi from the side hall where Xie Qingji lived.

  This little eunuch was soon taken to the Department of Justice on charges of "participating in the evil deeds of Empress Dowager Cixi". Originally, the punishment of a palace servant would not have attracted any attention, but because it involved Empress Dowager Cixi, the matter spread. Later, people also learned that this little eunuch was from the same hometown as Empress Dowager Cixi and had served in her palace two years ago, and because of his good skills in gardening, he was taken by the empress to serve in the Longevity Palace.

  Later, Xie Shi entered the palace and lived in a side hall of Changxin Palace. The empress gave Dengzi to Xie Qingji as a gift.

  Nei Dengzi can be considered a leftover from the Longle Palace disaster. He had already left Xu Ronghua for over two years and shouldn't be counted as one of the Xu family members, nor should he be implicated. Unfortunately, this little Dengzi remained very close to his former master Xu Ronghua after switching masters and would often run to Xu Ronghua's palace to tend to her flowers.

  He was thus identified as one of Xu's accomplices.

  In accordance with the emperor's decree to execute Xi Shi, the Grand Supervisor of the Imperial Court, Yao Fu Sheng ordered the Department of Punishments to behead Xia Deng Zi.

  Even a tiny ant wants to survive, and Dengzi naturally begged for mercy in every way and refused to die. The inner guards of the Department of Punishment brought him to the long bench, took out heavy clubs and wanted to beat him to death, he wailed incessantly, shouting "All these were ordered by Mistress Qingji..."

  The head of the Department of Punishment was frightened when she heard this. What instruction? What is it for? Is it about plotting against the Empress Dowager? She immediately ordered someone to spare Dengzi's life and went to the inner court to report to General Yao.

  The Chang Le Palace poisoning incident was triggered by a small eunuch and caused another huge stir.

  Xie Qingji was soon ordered to be imprisoned, and Xiao Dengzi was sent to the Ministry of Justice for severe interrogation. Within two days, the Ministry of Justice came up with a result - Xie Qingji had been in close private contact with Xu Shi since entering the palace. According to Xiao Dengzi's confession, Xie also participated in the poisoning incident at Changle Palace, and even helped Xu come up with plans and provided the pharmacology that mixing Anxiang incense, Lülu and Zizhu would produce a highly toxic substance.

  Although Xu Shi had long been executed, according to the memory of the palace people, Xu Shi was not familiar with medical reason. As for Xie Shi, her mother happened to come from a family of medicine.

  But there is no evidence that Xie Qingji had ever mentioned any highly toxic prescription to Xu Ronghua.

  The final report submitted to the Emperor by the Ministry of Justice read: "Consort Shè participated in the poisoning case, with insufficient physical evidence and only one witness, eunuch Deng Rang. The evidence is still insufficient. Verdict: Consort Shè is indeed suspicious, but cannot be convicted."

  According to the Great Qin law, such a case cannot be convicted unless Xie himself confesses orally.

  But Tuoba Hong became furious after reading the memorial. As a late-stage paranoid patient, this great Qin emperor couldn't put his mind at ease after seeing the connection between Xie Qingji and the poisoning incident. He would rather wrongly kill a thousand people than let one go unpunished, so he immediately ordered that Xie's title be stripped, and she be deposed and given a death sentence.

  Her maternal family was a newly risen aristocratic family, and the emperor, for the sake of the imperial court's great cause, did not vent his anger on the Xie family, but only reprimanded Xie Shi's father "for not teaching his daughter well" and let it go. Compared to the miserable state of the Xu family, the Xie family was simply granted a great favor from heaven.

  Xie Qingji became the first of the six new consorts to die.

  But this matter is not over yet. Xie's crime had aroused the emperor's infinite suspicion, and when the eunuch named Xiao Dengzi was executed along with Xie, he shouted before his death:

  "Master, you died unjustly, if it weren't for Her Majesty the Empress..."

  Xiao Dengzi's words were shocking, even more frightening than his previous sentence "It was all the instigation of Qingji Xiaozhu". But this time he couldn't be left alive, because he had been poisoned, and Yao Fusheng thought it was impossible to leave him behind.

  The fire of poisoning in Chang Le Palace spread from Xu Ronghua's body to Xie Qingji's body, and finally burned onto the body of Empress Daguang.

  Tuoba Hong was not as furious when he heard Yao Fuxing report back to Xiao Dengzi's words as he was when Xie Qingji was implicated at that time - just like a wolf coming, Xiao Dengzi used the same trick again, and it wasn't so believable the second time.

  He is actually framing the Queen this time.

  Although Tuoba Hong had his suspicions, he didn't believe it in his heart. In his mind, facing a common enemy, Empress Xiao would always stand with him, standing together with the empress dowager. Empress Xiao had done many wrong things over the years, she couldn't get along with the favored concubines, nor could she get along with the crown prince, Tuoba Hong had long known that she wasn't a virtuous person. But to say that she participated in the plot to harm the empress dowager...

  This is unlikely.

  But no matter what, once the seeds of doubt were sown, Tuoba Hong couldn't pull them out. The most crucial thing wasn't Deng's words, but Xie Qingji - after entering the palace, she was arranged by the Empress to live in Changxin Palace, and everyone in the palace knew that Xie relied on the Empress.

  What about the Empress then?

  Tuoba Hong's conjecture was like weeds in spring, growing taller and taller. He soon issued an edict, ordering the attendants to search Changxin Palace, but not to offend the Empress.

  At that time, Empress Xiao was lying in the Changxin Palace, recuperating from her illness, when she heard the news brought back by the secret agent. Before she could think of a solution, the imperial attendant had already arrived at the gate of the Changxin Palace.

  She narrowed her eyes to look at the palace people rushing in, her face cold and seemingly smiling: "Search Changxin Palace? Ah, Your Majesty, you really are respectful of me."

  ***

  The matter eventually implicated Changxin Palace, and all the concubines in the palace were shocked.

  The discussion in the palace about this matter suddenly stopped, and the queen was implicated. How could Xu Ronghua be compared? Whether it was a concubine or a palace maid, no one dared to speak carelessly again, fearing that they would offend the queen.

  The search of Changxin Palace has already begun.

  In the crimson smoke building, Lin Yuan was having dinner alone, propping up her chin and sighing softly. She really hadn't expected things to develop to this point; if Empress Xiao really had problems exposed, the harem would be turned upside down.

  When Xu Ronghua was dealt with, Tuoba Hong also investigated, but did not find out the person behind Xu Ronghua, and in the end only let her bear the guilt alone. And Xu Ronghua's dependence on the empress, this point was still during the eighth year of Qianwu, when Lin Yuan accidentally learned about it through Bai Xiuyi, and the rest of the people in the palace did not know.

  Xu Shi was a very smooth person, always smiling and welcoming people with a warm personality, and she was famous in the palace for having good relationships. It was precisely because of this that it was extremely difficult for the emperor to find out who she was relying on, and since she got along well with all the concubines, even if she went to Empress Long's palace more frequently, people would think it was very normal.

  The emperor didn't know, but Lin Wan did.

  But after the Changle Palace incident and Xu Ronghua's conviction, Lin Wan did not want to implicate the Empress by association.

  Because she didn't dare.

  She knew the weight of Empress Xiao in the emperor's heart. Whether Empress Xiao had instructed Xu Ronghua to harm her child was an unknown quantity, and the only thing that could be confirmed was that Empress Xiao and Xu Ronghua were extremely close.

  But what kind of person is Madame Hsu? She's the type who likes to have her feet in two boats. Who knows if she has a second master besides the emperor? According to Lin Yuen's understanding of Xu Ronghua, this possibility is very great. In other words, Empress Xiao may not be involved in this matter at all.

  Just relying on Xiao Huanghou and Xu Yonghua having a private relationship, without making thorough preparations, they dared to frame Xiao Huanghou...

  And it's not an ordinary matter, it's a heinous crime of harming the Empress Dowager! How could Emperor Xiaoming possibly lightly sentence the Empress to such a severe punishment?

  Lin Yan didn't even dare to do it.

  Although Empress Xiao was not favored, in terms of her weight in the emperor's heart, she was not inferior to Lin Yuan. If it were finally found out that Empress Xiao had been wronged by her... then it would be a case of losing the rice while trying to steal the chicken.

  After Xu Shi's death, Lin Wan completely withdrew and no longer took any action. But unexpectedly, Empress Xiao was implicated after all.

  Thinking of that eerie internal monitor Dengzi again...

  If it's said that there is no one behind pushing the waves and stirring up the tides, Lin Yuan would rather die than believe it.

  She didn't dare to use unprepared things to oppose the empress, but someone did! She had no maternal family support, and her ability to retreat fully was not strong enough, but some people were!

  Looking at the turbulent and uneasy harem, Lin Wan did not feel delighted about the impending storm of blood and rain - a major change was coming soon, but whether this drastic change would be good or bad for herself, remained to be seen.

  The matter on the side of Changxin Palace has not yet come to an end. Three days later, the Emperor personally arrived at Changxin Palace.

  No one in the harem knew what the Emperor had discovered in Changxin Palace, nor did they know what the Emperor and Empress had said to each other. But just as the Emperor emerged from Changxin Palace, an imperial edict was issued to the six palaces -

  Empress Xiao, due to her increasingly severe illness, is no longer suitable for managing the six palaces. From today on, Empress Xiao will be closing the palace gates for quiet recuperation. The affairs of the six palaces will be managed by Consort Jing, assisted by Imperial Concubine Zhao Shuyuan and also possibly assisted by Concubine Tian.

  This edict can be said to be the most shocking edict of the Qianwu era.

  The Empress of the Great Qin Empire lost her imperial power for the first time and it was a complete loss.

  She had long lost her imperial favor and now she also lost her power. Apart from the title of empress, she has nothing left.

  You can visit this site by typing "Purple Cavern" in any search engine!