Chapter 23: Striking First to Gain the Advantage

"What is the matter?" Li Jing asked in a deep voice.

"The Empress Dowager heard that you intended to seal off the Cining Palace, and she immediately gathered all the eunuchs and maids, claiming she was going to see His Majesty to clear up the misunderstanding! She is currently on her way to the Qianqing Palace!"

Li Jing's expression shifted dramatically. "Damn it! She is trying to strike first!"

He immediately issued an order: "Pass on my military command! Return to the palace at once to protect the Emperor! Under no circumstances is the Empress Dowager to be allowed near His Majesty!"

"General Li!" Xiao Zhan spoke up suddenly. "I have a request!"

"What is it?"

"I wish to personally escort these witnesses back to the palace!" Xiao Zhan pointed toward Mo Di and Qin Cang. "They know too much of the inside story. If anything happens to them on the road, it will be detrimental to His Majesty!"

Li Jing pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Very well! The Young Marquis of Xiao is being very thorough."

Soon, the group set off in a grand procession toward the imperial palace. Xiao Zhan, leading his dozens of personal retainers and guarding Mo Di and Qin Cang, followed closely behind Li Jing’s army.

Along the way, Xiao Zhan calculated the situation ahead. The Empress Dowager was making a desperate final gamble, but she had underestimated the Emperor's resolve. This palace coup was destined to end in failure.

Upon entering the palace gates, soldiers of the Imperial Guard were stationed everywhere with loaded weapons. The entire palace was in a state of high alert.

"Report!" an Imperial Guard ran over. "To General Li! His Majesty is already waiting at the Qianqing Palace! The Empress Dowager is there as well!"

Li Jing quickened his pace. "Move!"

Outside the Qianqing Palace, hundreds of guards had surrounded the entire hall, leaving no room for anyone to pass. Li Jing led Xiao Zhan and the others straight into the main hall.

Inside, the Emperor sat firmly on the Dragon Throne, his face as gloomy as a storm. On the other side of the hall, the Empress Dowager knelt on the ground with a group of eunuchs and maids, looking utterly disheveled.

"Your Majesty!" Li Jing knelt and saluted. "Your subject, Li Jing, has returned on your orders!"

The Emperor saw Xiao Zhan, and a flicker of complex emotion passed through his eyes. "Xiao Zhan, I heard that a great calamity befell the Prince of Yan’s estate?"

Xiao Zhan knelt and kowtowed. "Reporting to Your Majesty! My father is truly innocent! All of this was a trap set by someone!"

"Oh?" The Emperor’s gaze shifted to the escorted Mo Di and Qin Cang. "I would like to hear exactly what kind of trap this was."

The atmosphere in the hall was as oppressive as the sky before a thunderstorm. Xiao Zhan knelt on the floor, a cold smirk hidden within his heart. The play was finally coming to an end.

"Your Majesty, I wish to report!" Mo Di suddenly roared. "The Empress Dowager did indeed issue a secret decree for me to cooperate with the masked man! She said she wanted to use this opportunity to purge all those who dissented!"

The Empress Dowager snapped her head up, her eyes shooting rays of bitter hatred. "Mo Di! You traitor! I treated you well, and yet you dare to slander me!"

"Empress Dowager, at this point, do you still wish to quibble?" Mo Di, having nothing left to lose, threw all caution to the wind. "You told me yourself that the Prince of Yan, Xiao Yuan, had become a thorn in His Majesty's side and had to be eliminated! You also said you wanted to take this chance to remove generals like Qin Cang who hold great military power!"

The Emperor’s complexion grew increasingly dark, his gaze piercing the Empress Dowager like a blade.

"Mother, I wish to hear your explanation." The Emperor’s voice was icy, devoid of any warmth.

The Empress Dowager struggled to stand, but was held down by the eunuchs beside her. "My son! You must believe your mother! These are all their slanders! How could your mother ever do such a thing?"

"Slander?" Qin Cang also spoke up. "Empress Dowager, that forged imperial decree came directly from your palace! Your trusted Eunuch Wang handed it to me personally!"

Xiao Zhan added at the appropriate moment, "Your Majesty, I have one more thing to report!"

"Speak!" the Emperor commanded in a deep voice.

"My sister, Xiao Yunshang, saw with her own eyes that half a month before my father was arrested, Mo Di snuck into the Prince of Yan’s estate in the dead of night and held a secret discussion with my father for a full hour!"

As soon as these words were spoken, an uproar broke out in the hall.

The Emperor’s eyes became even sharper. "Such a thing happened?"

Xiao Zhan nodded. "It is absolutely true! My sister would never have seen it wrong!"

The Empress Dowager’s face turned deathly pale, her body swaying as if she might collapse.

"Furthermore!" Xiao Zhan continued. "That masked man confessed with his own lips before he died that the Empress Dowager had promised to give him the Prince of Yan’s estate and the 'Thunder God Cannons' once the task was completed! Hundreds of people present heard it clearly!"

The Emperor stood up abruptly, his imperial authority radiating. "Mother! Is this true?"

The Empress Dowager finally broke down. She slumped to the floor, her eyes hollow. "My son… your mother did this for the sake of the Great Ming Empire! Those vassal kings hold vast military power; they are disasters waiting to happen! And those generals, each one of them is unruly—if they aren't removed, how can your throne remain secure?"

"So you privately contacted the masked man and set up this chain of schemes?" The Emperor’s voice trembled. "Do you realize that by doing this, you almost caused me to lose so many loyal ministers and capable generals?"

The Empress Dowager looked up, a flash of madness in her eyes. "Loyal ministers? My son, you are too naive! Xiao Yuan has those killing machines, and Qin Cang controls the heavy troops of the capital garrison. Which one of them does not harbor ulterior motives? I struck first—what was wrong with that?"

"Enough!" the Emperor roared in a rage. "You have truly gone mad! The Xiao family has been loyal for generations, and Qin Cang is my trusted and beloved general! Yet you wanted to destroy them!"

Xiao Zhan watched this scene, feeling a sense of secret satisfaction. The Empress Dowager was completely finished.

"Guards!" the Emperor commanded sternly. "Place the Empress Dowager under house arrest in the Cining Palace; she is not to step out even half a step! Mo Di, for his attempted treason, is to be taken to the Celestial Prison immediately!"

"Yes!" The Imperial Guards stepped forward to drag the Empress Dowager away.

The Empress Dowager suddenly struggled, pointing at Xiao Zhan and shrieking, "My son! You have been deceived by him! This Xiao Zhan is absolutely not simple! Those 'Thunder God Cannons' were not gifted by any immortal master—he created them himself! He possesses even more terrifying weapons in his hands!"

Xiao Zhan’s heart skipped a beat. Was this old hag trying to stab him in the back even as she fell?

The Emperor looked at Xiao Zhan with suspicion. "What does this mean?"

Xiao Zhan hurriedly knelt. "Your Majesty, please judge clearly! I do possess some weapons, but they are all for the sake of defending the Great Ming Empire! If not for these weapons today, I would have died at the hands of the traitors long ago!"

"Hahaha!" The Empress Dowager laughed maniacally. "Xiao Zhan, do you think I don't know your background? That you could manufacture such unprecedented killing machines proves you are no ordinary person! If you had no ulterior motives, why hide the truth?"

Xiao Zhan’s mind raced; he knew he could not show any cracks at this moment.

"Empress Dowager, are you trying to drag me down with you before you die?" Xiao Zhan said with a look of grief and indignation. "My father has dedicated his life to the Great Ming, and my family has been loyal for generations! Even if I truly can manufacture these weapons, it is only to serve the Imperial Court!"

The Emperor pondered for a moment and then spoke. "Xiao Zhan, tell me the truth: where exactly did these weapons come from?"

Xiao Zhan steeled his heart and decided to take a gamble. "Reporting to Your Majesty, these weapons were indeed made by me! I have been obsessed with mechanical arts since I was a child and have been studying them in secret for many years! The reason I hid it was for fear of causing unnecessary panic!"

"Nonsense!" the Empress Dowager screamed. "How could such a killing machine be created by a mere mortal? He must have some unspeakable secret!"