At first sight, the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice knelt down in the hall and pleaded guilty. He truthfully recounted the facts that the Ministry of Justice had reinvestigated.
"Your Majesty... the so-called letter of treason written by Ning Grand General's own hand, just as Your Majesty speculated, was forged by others. The handwriting on it was exactly the same as that of Ning Grand General. It was likely imitated by a skilled forger.
This humble official examined it closely. There was no ink blur on the letter, but Ning Grand General was in the Qinling Mountains, so the letter should have been sent from there. At that time, it was the rainy early spring in Qinling Mountains. If the letter had really been written there, the air would have been humid when the ink was applied, and there would have been slight ink blurring. But now there is none at all."
Upon hearing this, Noble Consort Chen cried even harder, while Xiao Jingheng suppressed his anger and asked,
"What else?"
The Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice continued:
"Those so-called confidants and veterans of Ning Grand General, their families had long been secretly detained by Prince Rui, who used this to pressure the generals and soldiers to falsely accuse Ning Grand General of having rebellious intentions according to his instructions. If they did not compromise, Prince Rui would kill their families. With no other choice, the generals and soldiers yielded and provided those blood-stained confessions that Your Majesty saw.
Furthermore, Ning Grand General's collusion with the Zhuyin Country was completely fabricated. When Ning Grand General led troops into Zhuyin, the Zhuyin Country Emperor swore to resist to the death and even loudly insulted Your Majesty. In great anger, Ning Grand General skinned and tore the Zhuyin Emperor apart in the bustling marketplace, which made the entire Zhuyin harbor resentment towards Ning Grand General for his excess brutality. The whole country was full of hatred for him, so it was impossible for them to join forces.
As for those Zhuyin ministers claiming that Ning Grand General intended to secretly collude with Zhuyin to rebel against Great Qi, it was also because they had received benefits from someone..."
Although the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice did not say it explicitly, it was self-evident who had given them those benefits.
After making clear the facts, he held his fists, grieved and said,
"In addition to the embezzlement and bribery charges which were solid evidence, the rest of the alleged crimes pinned on General Ning and his son were nothing but malicious slanders."
Overwhelmed by sorrow and indignation, Noble Consort Chen wept so hard that it wrenched people’s hearts to hear her.
Xiao Jingheng also berated the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice furiously,
"How on earth does the Ministry of Justice handle things? Didn't I already order a thorough investigation of this matter when Prince Rui first presented the so-called evidence of Ning family's crimes? Why are the previous and current accounts so drastically different?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, it was presided over by Lord Mo from the Ministry of Justice at that time, and this humble official could not interfere. However, Lord Mo had long been bought over by Prince Rui. With him in charge, the facts could only be further obscured. If not for Your Majesty's alertness to specially assign this humble official to overstep authority to investigate this case, I'm afraid Ning Grand General would still be wrongly accused of treason down the ages!"
Xiao Jingheng's expression was extremely gloomy.
He fiercely smashed the cup in his hand onto the ground, too angry to restrain himself,
"What a good younger brother I have! Framing the loyal, weakening military power, colluding with Zhuyin, bribing the Ministry of Justice... What is he scheming? Could he really be planning to rebel against me!?"
Noble Consort Chen was deeply grieved and hated Prince Rui bitterly.
She suppressed her sobs and said harshly to Xiao Jingheng,
"Your Majesty! The Former Emperor originally favored Prince Rui as the Crown Prince. If not for Prince Rui committing a terrible mistake that angered the Former Emperor and caused him to be stripped of the crown prince position, I'm afraid... "
She looked at Xiao Jingheng's furious, convulsing eyebrows, and immediately knelt before him. She cried mournfully,
"Prince Rui must still have aspirations for the imperial power. That's why he wanted to plot against Your Majesty and covet Great Qi's land! While framing my family is trivial, his heart set on usurping the throne is evident! Such a traitorous villain deserves to be torn into pieces by five horses and chopped into mincemeat ten thousand times, and it would not be too much!"
She was quite agitated. Coupled with her lingering high fever, her body had reached an extremely frail state.
Having forcefully uttered those impassioned words, she then fainted from exhaustion.
Xiao Jingheng hurriedly ordered her to be moved back to her room for the imperial physicians to attend to her properly.
He then decreed coldly,
"Guards! Immediately surround Prince Rui's residence and bring him to me in Suzhou! I want him alive! As for the others in his residence, kill them all whether they are guards, family members or servants, if anyone dares resist! No need to report back to me!"
Xiao Jingheng demonstrated undiminished majesty and sentenced several people who had assisted Prince Rui in this matter to the extreme punishment of family execution.
He accompanied Noble Consort Chen in her room for a long time that day. Seeing that she was unconscious but still weeping and mumbling about her family in her dreams, Xiao Jingheng felt distressed. He waited until Noble Consort Chen was in deep slumber before returning to his own room.
He ordered Jiang Deshun to stand guard outside and refused to see anyone.
The next day, when the ministers came to greet him and report state affairs, they saw the supper sent from the kitchen last night and the breakfast sent today piled up outside the door. Xiao Jingheng hadn't touched any of the meals.
They sighed and whispered among themselves,
"The Emperor is tormenting himself with guilt over the Ning family's matter and has lost his appetite. If this persists, the damage to his health would be a huge problem."
"This time, Prince Rui secretly framed the Ning family while we were pushing too hard in the previous dynasty, making the Emperor sentence the Ning father and son to death. Now it seems that we have become the criminals who wrongfully convicted the loyal."
"One can't blame the Emperor for worrying over this. The Noble Consort has gained deep affection from him. With her family dying by the Emperor's own hands, I'm afraid it will drive a wedge between them in the future."
While they discussed outside, Xiao Jingheng was sitting alone in the room, having not slept the entire night.
At dawn, he took out a ruby brocade box from the wardrobe. It was brought from the palace. Inside the box that he opened quietly lay an edict - the Former Emperor's edict appointing Prince Rui as the Crown Prince...
