The Imperial Court convened the Emperor Ningzong seated on the Imperial Dragon throne the Courtiers honored him bowing their heads.
He raised his hand to them and they stood upright.
"I thought about your suggestion and after much deliberation I came to the decision that I shall select an Empress in the next three days." Emperor Ningzong mentioned while Han Touzhou seemed strangely quiet and the Grand Chancellor himself was uncertain.
"How so Your Majesty?" One of the officials asked.
"In three days time the Imperial Consorts will each hold a dinner and invite me, I shall grace each of the ladies with my presence and then make a decision." Emperor Ningzong said.
"Your Majesty, the question of the Empress is something that can't be necessarily resolved with a mere dinner." Minister Lu asserted out of the blue.
"In deed Your Majesty." Other Courtiers backed him up.
"I have always taken an adoration to Consort Yang but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't give Cao Zhaoyi an opportunity, she is mature and diligent in her conduct, Virtuous that I find that in any situation the stability of the Inner Court and the harem can rely on the presence of these two women." Emperor Ningzong said.
"The others might as well just resist until the bitter end." Minister Xia muttered to the Grand Chancellor under his breath.
"I am not one to agree with this method either and in deed I shall always voice my disapproval, I can not openly rebuke his Majesty, the younger ones can speak for me." He mentioned.
"Aren't you really so cunning!" Minister Xia muttered.
"What else have I to thank for being alive today?" The Grand Chancellor Zhao Zizhi asked.
After some protest Emperor Ningzong stared at some of the Courtiers that openly expressed their discontent to the situation when he turned to Eunuch Deng who standing beside him bowed his head.
"What shall I do Your Majesty?" The latter asked.
"Have the Dynastic records brought in." Emperor Ningzong responded and the young man facing the doors of the Grand Hall he raised his voice.
"Bring in the records." He shouted and at that moment a couple of Eunuchs made their way in each bearing about three thin volumes on a simple wooden tray and halting in the middle of the aisle before the Emperor, the six bowed their heads to him.
"What's this Your Majesty?" The Grand Chancellor Zhao Zizhi asked.
"Before you are eighteen volumes and those are exactly eighteen books that clearly state our laws and define the statutes of our Dynasty." Emperor Ningzong said and the latter bowed their heads as though ashamed.
"Pardon me Your Majesty......." Minister Lu was saying.
"The Han doctrines state that in the event of the choice of an Empress, one of an Emperor's principal Consorts must be considered and they must each be proven worthy through their conduct." Emperor Ningzong said.
The hall was silence.
"The Empress is the mother of a nation and therefore if I must designate one I should consider that they are responsible enough for the office, furthermore it is my earnest wish that if perhaps flawless as you may be, step out before me and be the very first to oppose this resolution." Emperor Ningzong muttered and cowardly, the opposition was no where close to surfacing anytime sooner or later.
The Emperor smirked at himself.
"The Emperor of the Great Song is a very partial man, his Courtiers were themselves corrupt and disloyal, surely they failed to offer His Majesty good counsel." He said and at once everyone seemed to hint on what he was trying to say that clearing their throats he knew it as no better chance to cease his opportunity than then.
"I shall be fair to both Cao Zhaoyi and Yang Guifei, but as always, the final say shall rest with me and I decided what's best for the nation." Emperor Ningzong said as he stood up from where he was seated and moving out of the hall, Han Touzhou and Zhao Zizhi staring at each other they bowed their heads and offered themselves respect.
Yang Guifei and her anxious company already out of the room Xiaoyang walked into her presence while she turned to her.
"You called for me Ma'am?" She said.
"About the preparations." She responded.
"Rest assured Ma'am, they are proceeding according to plan." Xiaoyang responded.
"And the Daily Assembly?" She asked.
"There was some mild opposition and in retaliation His Imperial Majesty used the statutes, however quite alarmingly he made a public declaration and it seems that what's much unlikely is his self restraint in using his Imperial prerogative." She responded.
"Aren't all men full of surprises?" Yang Guifei spoke very much pleased.
"But like everyone else, you'll forgive me Ma'am, I can't help but feel worried." Xiaoyang said.
"No one is superhuman to not worry, in fact for all of us it's nothing but natural, but do you know what's more painful than a risk?" Yang Guifei asked.
"Enlighten me Ma'am." She insisted.
"Failure." She replied, "patience." She added from firmly.
"Bit was it not patience that brought you this far Madam?" She asked.
"Suppose it did, the result is undoubtedly a byproduct, the best thing that patience he good at fulfilling is blunders especially when it starts to wear thin." Yang Guifei replied as she stood up from where she was seated.
"Where are you going Ma'am?" Xiaoyang inquired from her.
"There's still the Princess Royal, something must be done about her." Yang Guifei replied as she walked around her table and out of her room leaving the latter a marvelled and lost fella before she recalled her duty.
Cao Zhaoyi seated in her Chambers as well and lost in her own thoughts she couldn't help it but feel really worried and lost caught up in everything that had transpired.
"I am going to rise to that Phoenix throne Ma'am, you just wait, and besides, the one person that shall deliver it to my hands shall be none other than yourself." Yang Guifei had informed her in the not so distant past and Han Touzhou's words of caution seemed to stir about what seemed to be a sufficient atmosphere of doubt.
Linxiang walking into the room she bowed her head to her.
"Ma'am?" She said.
"How was the Assembly?" She asked.
"His Majesty presented the question of the dinner, I can't say that it was widely welcomed but it is equally essential perhaps that you know, he doesn't intend to separate his Imperial prerogative from the law of selection." Linxiang remarked.
"An ambiguous statute was one he needed and knowing him well enough, who else's idea could it be other than Yang Guifei?" She asked.
"But what do we do Ma'am, the days are already elapsing soon and we must by then first understand Yang Guifei's mind before anything else." Linxiang muttered.
The Princess Imperial Qi'an looked through the piece of paper in her hands while Lanhui standing right in front of her she clenched it in her fists furiously.
"Your Highness?" Lanhui spoke to her concerned.
"It is as we feared." The Princess Qi'an muttered when at that moment the doors of her room being flung open, one of her other ladies in waiting made her way into the room.
"Your Highness?" She said bowing her head.
"What right have you to budge in here unannounced?" Lanhui scolded.
"Forgive me Your Highness but Yang Guifei is here requesting to have an audience with you." The latter replied.
"What!" The Imperial Princess Qi'an exclaimed and before giving a definite response the old woman had already made her way courageously into the room.
"Your Highness." She said as she bowed her head to her.
"You might be my brother's most senior Consort but I am a member of this Dynasty, you shall accord me the respect that is worth a Princess Ma'am when I demand it because my position is by far more legitimate than any other that you could ever attain." The young woman said.
"Your Highness shall not lecture me about respect." Yang Guifei said as she sat down in the seat that was right in front of the young woman.
"I didn't ask you to sit." The Imperial Princess muttered.
"Leave us." She said to Lanhui.
"She won't go anywhere." The Princess Imperial replied.
"I move you, for Her Highness' own good." Yang Guifei insisted and the latter looking at the Princess Imperial she reluctantly withdrew from the room leaving the two women together.
"You must have heard." Yang Guifei said to the young Princess.
"First you kill the Empress Gongshu, then you banish the Crown Princess from the Palace, you have murdered all her children just to become the Empress." Princess Qi'an said.
"It isn't my fault, there's nothing that I could not do to get what I want, I gave them a chance at life, I really did, all they did was resist me, but the most fatal mistake they did was they did not devote their all to vanquish me." Yang Guifei responded.
"And it is so." The Princess Imperial muttered.
"And I don't regret." She informed her.
"You are the most brazen of the brazen, but I doubt that is what brought you here, it couldn't have been to see my husband." The young woman said.
"I am going to become the Empress of this nation in three days time, like it or not, I don't care if hell has to break lose, one thing that I came to inform you is to ask you to do nothing." She responded.
"You are requesting me?" The young woman asked.
"It's a command." Yang Guifei replied and the latter laughed at herself.
"I don't think it sounded funny as a matter of fact." She assured her.
"You are now commanding me?" The Princess Imperial asked.
"I gave all those I considered my enemies a chance to become holy and they turned down my offer, I shall offer you a similar one." Yang Guifei replied.
"And my very own existence is your Imperial favour upon me?" She inquired.
"We won't complicate matters between us unnecessarily and you will heed my advice that is if you don't want to do something that you shall regret." She replied.
"And what if I refused Ma'am, what would you do?" The Imperial Princess asked.
"I have three sons Ma'am, I want to protect all of them that is even from you." Yang Guifei replied, "I'll do everything in my power to ensure that of course and I hope you understand how far I shall be willing to go with that." She added as she stood up and bowing her head to her she withdrew from her presence at once leaving her very much surprised.
Lanhui returning inside the room she rushed up to her Mistress' side.
"What did she say to you Your Highness?" She inquired.
"I shall bury that witch with my very own hands." She responded.
"Your Highness....." Lanhui protested but the latter smacked the table right in front of her which forced the silence out of the young woman.
"You will stand with me on this." She said, "she wants to become an Empress but how will she become one when she ceased to exist?" The Imperial Princess said to herself as she smiled at herself ghastly.
Yang Guifei climbing into her carriage she was accompanied by Xiaoyang and Manyin both who entered it with her.
"What are you going to do Ma'am, is this what you meant by taking care of the Imperial Princess?" Manyin asked.
"I needed a single sign." She replied.
"We don't understand Ma'am." Xiaoyang asserted.
"You wouldn't regardless of how hard you tried." Yang Guifei responded and the two kept quiet.
"When I held Maha in my hands I never really had to worry so much and for a moment I felt that we could live in this world without any worries." Yang Guifei said.
"Ma'am.....?" Xiaoyang trying to speak out to her she hesitated.
"He died in my hands and his ashes were not even granted a proper funeral when I held Zhao Jiong in my hands I couldn't help myself but fear the same would happen anytime soon." She asserted.
The atmosphere less lively the ladies quietened down.
"I would burn down the whole world to the ground for my children and if there is in the world even if one person left that could cause them harm, I don't care if I must burn in the same fire with my enemies but as long as I live, they shall have one certain end." Yang Guifei mentioned.
Lanhui stepping out of her mistress' quarters and descending the stairs, her foot knocked a string just beneath the stairs and under the compartment nearly hundreds of barrels of gunpowder gathered they exploded with such an immense force in the middle of the city the Marquis Shi's manor was in flames.
Manyin and Xiaoyang hearing the sound as well they drew the small curtains of the carriage and looked through its windows to see people screaming in commotion rushing back and forth from the place while the Capital patrol rushed over.
For a moment the two women frightened Yang Guifei closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she sighed contentedly.
Emperor Ningzong in his study reviewing some of his memorials at the moment Eunuch Deng walked in gracefully up to his presence.
"Your Majesty." He said bowing his head to him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Cao Zhaoyi is here requesting to have an audience with you Sire." He responded and for a moment the Emperor halting his business he reclined in his seat.
"Is it so?" He inquired.
"Yes." He replied.
"Let her in." The Emperor muttered and bowing his head and walking out, a short while later the graceful lady made her way into the presence of the young man.
"Your Majesty." She said bowing her head to him.
"You wished to see me?" The Emperor asked.
"Yes." She replied.
"Have a seat first." He said to her and she complied.
Comfortable before his eyes she seemed to have a hard time though finding what to say.
"Just say it." Emperor Ningzong said to her.
"I heard everything that happened in the daily Assembly." She replied.
"Don't be bothered by it." He insisted.
"I wish I couldn't Your Majesty but I must." She responded.
"It's nothing." Emperor Ningzong asserted.
"It's already hard enough that I am contesting with Yang Guifei Your Majesty but if you must rebuke the Courtiers for my sake I must feel offended, Yang Guifei has done so much more for the Dynasty and tge Imperial family, she's done so much for me as well and she is a sister that I do not wish to lose to the machinations of those evil Courtiers that do nothing more than scheming behind our backs." Cao Zhaoyi mentioned.
"I understand, I was worried about the same thing the other day." Emperor Ningzong said.
"Then how can Your Majesty be going ahead with this?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"Because Yang Guifei reminded me that regardless of what those Courtiers do she trusts you entirely and it's in deed without a doubt that this true friendship of yours shall stand the test of time and fire." Emperor Ningzong replied.
"But Your Majesty......?" She insisted.
"Seeing you here just as concerned gives me an assurance but if you do not compete for the Empress' title favourably with Yang Guifei then the people will slander her, they shall call me a foolish and partial monarch and herself a greedy and selfish subject." He explained to her while she nodded her head in contentment.
"You are just as capable." Emperor Ningzong said, "understand both her good will and mine and I apologise in advance if you feel offended." The Emperor said.
"Your Majesty and her are the most important people in my life, I am happy as long as she is happy." Cao Zhaoyi said as she bowed her head to him and standing up with a faint smile, she withdrew from the room.
Emperor Ningzong looking at her vanish from sight at that moment he returned to his memorials while Linxiang who was pacing around with her Retinue in the Courtyard of the study the doors were opened and the young woman stepped into sight.
"Ma'am?" Linxiang said as she rushed over to her and then bowed her head.
"What happened?" She asked and the latter silently descending the stairs gracefully until she was a safe distance away she halted.
"It was a desperate move." She said.
"What was Ma'am?" Linxiang asked.
"At least it seemed." She said to herself again.
"Ma'am?" Linxiang called still so confused.
"Yang Guifei convinced His Majesty to agree to the dinner, she did take a gamble but she was merely hoping that her ascension is flawless." She replied.
"Flawless?" Linxiang asked.
"She didn't just want to silence the people, she wanted to deprive us of any excuse, at this point His Majesty won't seem partial to her and similarly on her side, we would be blameless." Cao Zhaoyi responded.
"She wants a justification." Linxiang said.
"At any point if she does ascend the Empress' throne then not a single person would object or censure her and in the meantime His Majesty's Imperial prerogative whether in her favour or not would be as good as useless." Cao Zhaoyi mentioned, "very remarkable, very horrible in deed." She added as she smiled at herself.
Shi Miyuan in his carriage returning from the Palace it suddenly halted when he heard a lot of commotion coming from outside.
"What is it?" He asked Dong Hua.
"I don't know Your Excellency." He replied as he lifted one of the curtains and looked at the people that were crowding the place.
"Excuse me Sir?" He called and the young man hearing he walked up close to the carriage.
"You called me?" He asked.
"What's with all the commotion here?" Dong Hua asked.
"It's the Marquis Shi's Manor." The latter replied.
"What about it?" He asked.
"There was an explosion inside and the whole place was in flames, the Capital patrol is doing it's work with the Imperial Brigade but rumour has it that the Princess Imperial was inside it's likely that she perished in there." The man replied and hearing this Dong Hua closed the curtain and Shi Miyuan where he was seated he was startled.
"What?" He muttered.
"Calm down Your Excellency." Dong Hua said but the latter not hearing he pushed the door open in his Imperial Robes and rushing out, Dong Hua followed him as well and the two rushing through the crowd eventually halted at the scene where the dark walls and tiles along with the logs were in smithereens that the latter was very surprised.
Cao Zhaoyi arriving outside her Chambers she caught sight of her mother Lady Yin who was waiting for her outside.
"Ma'am." She said bowing her head in panic.
"What brings you here?" She asked.
"I have something urgent to tell you." Lady Yin replied and the latter smiling at her she led the old woman inside the house where they sat down at a table.
"What is it?" Cao Zhaoyi inquired.
"I don't know a better way that I can say this Ma'am." She replied.
"I never had a chance to congratulate you upon your marriage with my father, you see he can be a little bit hard headed but he shall surely come around some time sooner or later." Cao Zhaoyi said.
"I have to thank you Ma'am." Lady Yin said.
"There's no need." Cao Zhaoyi replied, "we are family after all and it's in our best interests that we care for one another." She added.
"I suppose Ma'am." Lady Yin replied, "but there's his sons that shall be a very hard group of people to deal with." She mentioned.
"Surely." Cao Zhaoyi replied, "but when I become Empress they shall stay in line." She assured her.
"I was on my way to the Palace to thank you and I passed by Marquis Shi's residence, His Majesty's brother in law, there was a very huge explosion that severed the house from it's foundation and considering the fact that the Princess Imperial was inside I doubt she survived." Lady Yin said.
"What!" Cao Zhaoyi exclaimed.
"The Capital patrol were still picking up the ruins and when His Majesty hears of it sooner or later there shall be tension in the Palace." Lady Yin said.
"Could it be?" Cao Zhaoyi asked herself.
"I had to report it to you Ma'am, surely the Imperial Princess didn't have a number of enemies but if there was someone out there that surely wanted her dead then Your Grace and I know there's only one person that could best fit that description." Lady Yin asserted.
"They haven't yet found the body?" Lady Cao asked.
"Yes Ma'am, very many things were destroyed it must surely be lying somewhere in the debris and not much of the heavy smithereens can be moved in a single day." Lady Yin responded and Cao Zhaoyi smiling at herself something seemed to come to mind.
"What is it Ma'am?" Lady Yin asked when she noticed the weird expression on her face.
"Only one person would want the Princess Imperial dead more than anything else in the world we should surely shake things up a little bit." Cao Zhaoyi muttered as she smiled at herself ghastly.
Emperor Ningzong still in his study with Eunuch Deng it's doors were flung open and Lan He rushed in immediately.
"Your Majesty?" He shouted on top of his voice as he knelt down on his right knee and bowed his head.
"What's with the excitement, did something wrong happen?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"Her Highness the Princess Imperial." He replied.
"What about her?" The Emperor inquired.
"The Shi Manor exploded and was engulfed in flames." He responded and the young man hearing this he stood up immediately.
"What are you saying?" He asked.
"Roughly two hours ago there was an explosion at the Shi Manor and Her Highness happened to be inside at the time." Lan He responded.
"No." Emperor Ningzong said as he immediately burst into tears at that moment hardly believing the words that he was being told.
Yang Guifei sat quietly while dusk settled over the city and lost in her own thoughts at the moment sje was awfully silent she didn't dare utter a word or two.
"Ma'am?" Beiyuan called to her.
"Don't talk about it." She responded when the doors of her quarters were flung open and through them Shi Miyuan made his way in.
He halted right in front of her while she looked at him.
"What are you doing here Your Excellency?" Beiyuan asked.
"Forgive me Ma'am but we tried stopping him..." Xiaoyang muttered.
"Let it be." Yang Guifei replied.
"Why did you do so Ma'am?" Shi Miyuan asked.
"I don't know what you are talking about." She calmly denied it and the young man for a moment reserving his silence she looked at Beiyuan and the others.
"Leave us." She ordered.
"But this is the Harem Ma'am." Beiyuan insisted.
"Did you hear me?" She asked on top of her voice.
He immediately quietened down and withdrew at once leaving the two together.
"If it was clarity that you sought you should have called out to me first, your presence in the harem at this hour is itself very dangerous and I trust that you are as much aware of that as I am." She said.
"My manor was in flames Ma'am." Shi Miyuan asserted.
"And I am to be held accountable?" She inquired.
"Please convince me otherwise Ma'am." He requested.
"How much is it that you trust me?" She asked.
"I should be the one asking Your Grace that question." Shi Miyuan replied.
"I heard that the Princess Imperial was inside, it must in deed be very tragic that you have my sympathies with you, however you seem greatly hurt by it, surely she was your wife, all these years you must have started feeling something eventually." Yang Guifei said.
"Do you know what you have done?" He asked.
"I have done nothing wrong Your Excellency at least you of all people should understand, we are surrounded by enemies those we know and those we don't know they are vying for our power and our authority, our crowns and our people much more than anything else our antagonism is precisely what they want." Yang Guifei replied.
"I no longer know if I can even trust you anymore for heaven's sake, you have become something more than what you used to be." Shi Miyuan asserted.
"And what do you know Your Excellency, please tell me, is it that you are so afraid that you'll cease as a Marquis jure uxoris once the Princess dies, you are afraid that you'll cease to be a Prince Consort?" She asked, "I am the one that no longer understands you." She added.
"Everything that I do Ma'am I do for you, everything that deprives me of strength, of love, there's no comfort but you are not my woman but the Emperor's I hurt so much these wounds can never be healed yet despite all that do you know what I tell myself?" He asked while she looked the other side.
He looked down as well.
"I tell myself that I can never love another apart from you." He said and furious the young woman raised her eyes and looked him in the eye.
"The Princess Imperial is most probably dead, it's unfortunate, forgive me if to you I am no longer as righteous as I used to be but until now you understand much better than anyone else that I am the Emperor's woman and no one else's." Yang Guifei said, "to set your eyes on me is as good as treason and the only punishment that traitors get in this country is death." She said as she stood up.
"I shall find out what happened." Shi Miyuan said to her.
"Do as you please my dear but recall one thing though, I shall protect this country and my children and from those that we really have tearing us apart from within, I shall get rid of them all." Yang Guifei responded as she looked at him, "I am going to rise to the Phoenix throne Your Excellency, anything more than that after here is none of my business so I won't second it for other entirely private family matters." She assured him as she walked out of the room leaving him behind.
Han Touzhou and the rest of his supporters gathered, Cao Zhaoyi walked into a small secret compartment where they each stood up and bowed their heads to her.
"Ma'am." They said in unison.
"I come in peace." She remarked as she sat down ahead of them.
"We have heard from His Excellency quite a number of things about you." One mentioned.
"You are the best Seigniours that we have around." She responded.
"Certainly." They replied.
"What have you against Yang Guifei?" She asked.
"As always you must have heard that the Merchant clans have become more dominant and the trade has fluorished our fields and lands are left without slaves to do the tilling." One replied.
"And what's that to do with Yang Guifei?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"Reliably it seems that the Grand Chancellor is her most faithful ally that is, a couple of months ago His Majesty passed a decree that reduced the loans on money and pushed a huge sum from the Imperial State Treasury which he used to subsidize the local merchants, as such even those doing not so well were propelled to be a part of the receivers of those loans in a matter of time they expanded and drained most of the people were working with." Han Touzhou responded.
"What shall you offer now?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"We are the Seigniorage and we are the wealthiest land owners in the Empire at the time, we can not only give you financial support but if you become the Empress we can help you diminish Yang Guifei's economic base." One replied as she smiled at them.
"It's a reasonable offer." Cao Zhaoyi mentioned.
"Reasonable?" Han Touzhou asked.
"The Princess Imperial's manor was up in flames earlier in the day, her corpse won't be found sooner or later, but there's discontentment about how the fire came about, I need the support of the Seigniorage at this point to demand for a formal explanation." Cao Zhaoyi replied with a smile.
"What!" A couple of them exclaimed.
"What shall we achieve by doing that?" Han Touzhou asked.
"The Princess Imperial was deliberately murdered and the culprit by all means shall be brought to justice before the law." Cao Zhaoyi replied.
Yang Guifei arriving in the Lanling Court she sat down before her supporters as well while they watched her quietly each not saying a single word which bothered her.
She looked back and fourth at all the men that were present in the room and each seemed as though they were dying to say something.
"What's with this expression?" She asked.
"The Princess Imperial......" Jinglan replied.
"You think I killed her?" She asked.
"At this rate Ma'am, anything to get us under suspect the Crime will be treason." Yang Cishan said.
"Just months ago you people appealed to me about how I shouldn't spare my enemies, hours ago you told me to deprive them of a single opportunity to act, now I take it that you are feeling guilty." She said.
"It's not that Ma'am." Peng Zishou said.
"Then what is?" She asked.
"We have cleared the whole place Ma'am, we couldn't find the corpse of Her Highness." He responded.
"Someone who is dead and can not move has just vanished you say?" She asked.
"Yes." He replied.
"You won't find anything." Yang Guifei replied, "what does it matter whether I killed her or not, what matters is that there isn't a corpse in our hands to prove our guilt." She added.
"But where is the corpse Ma'am?" Master Bao asked.
"I wish I knew." She replied, "but our enemies aren't resting, His Majesty has less than three days now to designate an Empress, the Princess Imperial is dead don't you all find it to be a coincidence?" She asked.
"They wish to stall the selection?" Jinglan asked.
"It was a member of the Dynasty for heaven's sake, a very close one to His Majesty at that, what I am trying to tell you at the moment is whoever holds the corpse in their possession can prove who is guilty and who is innocent." Yang Guifei replied.
"But if you say it that way Ma'am, could it be that you suspect they shall use this corpse against you?" Bao Langya asked.
"I know they shall use it against me." She responded.
"So what do we do Ma'am?" Yang Cishan inquired.
"The Selection of an Empress was without a condition but none can control the evil ones in our midst, we have set a spark and what's left is to watch our enemies suffice slowly by slowly." Yang Guifei replied as she smiled at herself ghastly.
Emperor Ningzong already lowly at the moment he knelt in the Imperial Shrine where there were a pair of plaques one bearing his father's name and another his mother's.
It was dark and with their portraits looking down on him from the wall for a moment he could see the darkness in them and while a strong wind howled by the place the flames dancing on the candles got more and more unstable.
The doors opening behind him Eunuch Deng made his way in.
"Your Majesty." She said to him.
"How is my sister?" He asked.
"Forgive me Your Majesty." He replied and the young man turned his head around and looked at him while the latter lowered his head, "the scene was cleared Your Majesty but there was no sign of her body." He asserted.
"Then you mean to say a dead man moved on his own?" He asked.
"Her Highness could have either been moved but without a corpse much as I do not wish to offer Your Majesty earnestly a false hope, she can only be missing that means that it's likely that she is alive." He responded.
"And what are the odds?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"I don't know." He responded.
"In deed." The young man said, "you don't." He rubbed it in his face as he stood up from where he was kneeling and bowing down to his parents' memorials, he turned around and looked at him.
"A Marquis' house went up in flames, it couldn't have been an ordinary fire." The Emperor said.
"Hundreds of barrels Your Majesty were underneath Her Highness' personal complex which could only mean that they were put there deliberately but by who, the Imperial State Tribunal is still looking into the details." Eunuch Deng responded.
"What about Marquis Shi?" He asked.
"The Prince Consort is in a state of shock as it is Your Majesty." He responded.
I need to have a word with Peng Zishou, make the necessary arrangements, I shall visit him." Emperor Ningzong said.
"Yes Your Majesty." Eunuch Deng replied as he bowed his head and withdrew from the room that the Emperor alone he turned around and looked at the paintings of his parents behind him.
Lighting streaking across the sky and thunder roaring loudly, Cao Zhaoyi in her Chambers and Yang Guifei in hers she called onto Linxiang who quickly made her way into her presence.
"What is it Ma'am?" She asked.
"I want you to have a little something delivered at Yuxiangling Palace." She replied as she pulled from the right sleeve of her hanfu an envelope which she slid across the table.
The young woman holding it in her hands she immediately travelled out of the Chamber with it leaving the latter lost in her thoughts.
Yang Guifei equally meditating in hers the doors were slid open and Xiaoyang walking up to her she bowed her head and placed the envelope onto the table.
"A letter for you Ma'am, it was brought in by an anonymous person." She said and Yang Guifei ceasing it without any hesitation she opened it and pulled out the letter perusing through its contents for a moment while the fairly old woman watched her curiously.
A smirk appearing on her face she folded the letter and put it down on the table.
"What did it say Ma'am, what is it that made you that happy?" She asked.
"Everything seems to be proceeding accordingly." She replied when the doors being opened, Manyin walked in as well and she bowed her head.
"Ma'am, I just received news from our intelligence and Cao Zhaoyi left the Palace and had a word with the Seigniours in a secret house within the capital, they agreed that they would demand an explanation concerning the Imperial Princess' death and whereabouts." She said.
"His Majesty until now hasn't responded to anything and the people seeing no corpse are curious, they are afraid that this information may be withheld by the Crown to them the most deliberate move would be to publicize the news, they want to attract the attention of the world." She said.
"What for Ma'am?" Xiaoyang asked.
"The body of the Imperial Princess is missing, it's possible that she is alive some people shall surely think, His Majesty on the other side like it or not will surely be furious and more than anything else he would want the culprits brought to justice, besides, this will be the best opportunity that the New Imperial State Tribunal under Peng Zishou will have to prove itself, such a combination of desires and questions is what we need best." Yang Guifei replied.
"What shall we do Ma'am?" Manyin inquired, "it can't be that you are going to do nothing." She asserted.
"This assassination was not a thing of yesterday, it took me years to master it, the people have questions and so does the Crown, we shall deliver them with answers." Yang Guifei replied.
Peng Zishou at the Imperial State Tribunal the Emperor Ningzong made his way into the room and the latter recognizing his presence, he stood up and bowed his head to him.
"Your Majesty?" He said while he stepped aside as the young man moved about the whole room inspecting it.
"My brother in law's residence was gutted by fire, I was reliably informed that it was ignited by explosives." He said.
"Yes Your Majesty." He replied.
"You were very capable since young that I trust you so much." The Emperor mentioned.
"Yes Your Majesty." He replied.
"But there wasn't anyone left in the room at the time of the fire." He mentioned.
"But there were no signs of a break out and neither was there anyone who left the Palace, strangely of the seven people that were rumoured to have been present only Her Highness and her lady in waiting's bodies are missing it's very difficult to handle." Peng Zishou replied.
"Tomorrow there shall be a daily Assembly as usual, someone harmed my sister and even took her body, suppose she was consumed by the flames and it's rather hard to recognize her, what is it that you think I plan on doing with the culprits?" The Emperor asked.
"They touched a member of the Dynasty, they killed her." He responded.
"She was my sister." He said.
"Then they must offer their necks by Imperial law." He responded.
"How much time do you need to do that?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"Twelve hours." He replied and the young man turned and looked at him surprised.
"Twelve hours?" He asked.
"I said that this is a very difficult case to handle Your Majesty but I didn't say that it was impossible, after all this is clearly the work of rebels against your Government, those that do not wish you well, but I can not promise that you shall like every bit of evidence that I shall present before you, I merely ask that Your Majesty shall be strong enough to face it." He replied.
"Alright." Emperor Ningzong muttered and the latter bowing his head, the Emperor walked out of the room.
The sun rising over the Capital a series of troops had gathered at the Imperial State Tribunal outside Peng Zishou's quarters.
"The troops are ready Your Excellency." His retainer said to him.
"Where are the properties?" He asked and the young man moving to his side he laid on the table in front of him a map which had different areas of it marked.
"Tell the men to spread out and surround all these residences search them upside down and whatever documents you find they should be delivered here at once." He said.
"Yes Your Excellency." The man replied as he immediately rushed out of the building and standing at the top of the staircase where the guards were in fourteen divisions, he had a series of papers distributed to fourteen leaders of the different divisions who perused through their contents.
"This is the will of His Majesty, the following search warrants have been issued and I don't care if you have to turn all those houses upside down, whatever it takes make sure that there is nothing left out during the search." He announced.
"Yes Sir." The soldiers replied as they immediately moved out of the State Tribunal's prisons and they marched down the streets.
The Courtiers making their way through the main gates of the Imperial Palace, the Emperor was being dressed by a group of ladies in waiting as he looked at himself in the mirror.
Yang Guifei in her Chambers she was seated while Xiaoyang and Manyin combing her hair they readied it adorning it with a set of golden phoenix hairpins and a small floral headdress.
"You're ready Ma'am." They said to her as they stepped aside.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"It's coming to 9:00am, the Courtiers shall have made it into the Grand Hall." Manyin replied.
"And Cao Zhaoyi?" She asked.
"She's already waiting for you at the pavilion." Xiaoyang replied.
Yang Guifei hearing this she instantly stood up.
"Let's go." She said as she led the way out of the room while the two followed her whereas Cao Zhaoyi on the other side was patiently waiting.
"She's taking abnormally long." Linxiang mentioned.
"Patience my dear, she'll be here either way." Cao Zhaoyi confidently asserted as she smiled at herself.
The Seigniours in their residences the gates were flung open and the Imperial State Tribunal guards marched their way forcefully through the Courtyards until they rounded them off making their way into the different buildings and searching them turning everything upside down.
One of the Seigniours in his study the door was kicked open and at that moment the guards moving in pointed their swords at him.
"What are you doing?" He asked, "you can't just barge in here unannounced." He scolded.
"Forgive me here Milord but we have been granted permission to carry out a search of your residence." One of the guards said as he held up the search warrant in his face.
"What!" The old man exclaimed as they immediately started looking into all his books and records one by one throwing things up and down while the officer in charge monitored the situation.
One of the guards looking through one of the books he picked up a small ledger and perusing through its contents he stood up and brought it over to the Officer in Charge who took it from him and read it as well.
His eyes widened at the moment and the old man was worried.
"Anyone?" He shouted and a group of more guards from outside made their way into the room.
"Sir?" They said bowing their heads.
"What is this?" The old Seignior asked.
"You'll have to pardon me Sir but you have illegally transacted business and purchased arms without a license, you are hereby under arrest on for conspiring against the throne and assassinating the Princess Imperial." The man said.
"You are out of your mind." He protested as the guards ceased him forcefully and they dragged him outside the building.
"Milord?" His wife catching sight of him shouted after her while the guards did the same with almost all the other Seigniors that were present in the capital under suspicion.
Cao Zhaoyi seated at the pavilion Yang Guifei turned up eventually being accompanied by her Retinue and the latter standing up she showed her head to her.
"Ma'am?" She said.
"I was a bit caught up and I heartily apologize." She responded.
"You made it nonetheless Ma'am, what's more important is that you honoured my kind invitation." Cao Zhaoyi remarked and the two sitting down they smiled at each other while Linxiang and Manyin each poured for their mistresses a cup of tea and withdrew.
The two women staring at each other they each nodded their heads and ceasing the two cups they sipped at them simultaneously and lowered them down the same.
"I received Your message." Yang Guifei said.
"How can you be calm then?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"You know well enough the type of person I am Ma'am." Yang Guifei responded.
"The Imperial Princess' body is missing along with her servant's at the very least Ma'am, shouldn't you be worried?" Cao Zhaoyi inquired.
"Half of my whole life I am a worried woman, but just as it is that I am quite immune to death the same can't be said for my enemies." She replied.
"You are sure the Princess is dead." Cao Zhaoyi said.
"Am I wrong Ma'am?" Yang Guifei inquired.
"Not so so, but is it not remarkable how strong you are before me, aren't you going to ask what I am going to do with the body?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"Why should I ask the obvious?" Yang Guifei responded.
"And what is obvious to you Ma'am?" Cao Zhaoyi asked while Yang Guifei picking up her cup again she took a gentle sip before she rested it on the small plate in front of her.
"You Ma'am, and your people, as always you must have thought that the story would be different this time round, yes, I killed the Princess Imperial Ma'am but what can you and the whole lot of your people do to me?" She asked.
"That's a funny question." Cao Zhaoyi remarked.
"So it may seem, you might as well be right in your assumption, but you didn't think that I would let her burn in misery and care less about her remnants?" Yang Guifei uttered.
"I wouldn't be as confident if I were you." She asserted.
"And why?" Yang Guifei inquired, "because you probably have it around one of the Yang family properties at least so you think, by now the Capital patrol should have unearthed it, but what about those barrels of gun powder under the Princess Imperial's residence, how did they get there and who, why and when, these are all questions whose answers I have and you don't." She added.
"How?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"It's called a winner's move Ma'am and as I speak those Seigniors that supported you should be arriving at the Imperial State Tribunal about now for their trial." Yang Guifei replied as she stood up and bowed her head to her.
"What are you saying?" Cao Zhaoyi asked.
"Things just got out of hand Ma'am, things just got out of hand." Yang Guifei replied as she turned around and walked away leaving Cao Zhaoyi frightened that Linxiang rushed over to her side.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" She asked.
"Something is wrong, she knew that we were going for her brother." Cao Zhaoyi replied.
"What?" Linxiang asked.
"Find out what is happening now." Cao Zhaoyi ordered and the young woman bowing her head she immediately dashed away feeling uneasy herself.
Emperor Ningzong arriving in the Grand Hall the Courtiers bowed their heads to him while he mounted the stairs that led to the Imperial dragon throne and he gracefully sat down on it.
"Your Majesty." They said in unison while he raised his hand to them and pardoned them.
"There is an issue that I wish to discuss with you beforehand." He muttered and the Courtiers at that moment looking at one another Emperor Ningzong went silent.
The doors of the Hall being flung open, a group of Imperial guards made their way in around the entire hall begin the pillars and next to the walls surrounding the Ministers altogether and standing at attention they stamped the floor with their spears.
"What's this Your Majesty?" Han Touzhou inquired.
"Wait here." Emperor Ningzong said and after a couple of hours, the Officer in Charge of the Imperial State Tribunal Peng Zishou in his purple official robes he made his way gracefully down the aisle while bearing in his hand the ceremonial Jade tablet.
"Your Majesty." He said bowing his head to him.
"Present the case." Emperor Ningzong mentioned.
"Forgive me Your Majesty." He said as he pulled from his sleeve a memorial which he offered to the Emperor and Eunuch Deng descending the stairs and taking it from his arms, he had it delivered to the Emperor.
The young man hesitantly taking it in his arms he opened it and perusing through its contents, the guards fiercely standing by could hardly move a muscle which left the rest of the officials frightened.
Once the Emperor was finished he closed the memorial and smacked it on the table in front of him.
"Is this true?" He asked Peng Zishou.
"We found the ledgers in the houses of some of the Senior Seigniors Your Majesty and they are evidence of all the transactions that they were doing with Her Highness, Her Highness accumulated gun powder and artillery under her Chambers which was itself very risky in the first place that it is likely that the death of the Princess Imperial was her own carelessness that resulted into a fatal accident." Peng Zishou replied.
"The Princess Imperial colluded with the Seigniors to illegally erect an arsenal?" Emperor Ningzong asked.
"Yes Your Majesty." Peng Zishou replied and Han Touzhou surprised he raised his eyes and looked at the Grand Chancellor Zhao Zizhi and Yang Cishan.
"No." Emperor Ningzong muttered.
"Surprisingly Your Majesty the missing corpse of Her Highness was equally found as well along with her servant." Peng Zishou added and hearing this the Emperor stood up from where he was seated.
"What?" He asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Peng Zishou replied while all the Courtiers immediately exploded into murmurs and disorder while Han Touzhou and Minister Xie surrounded by the emotional mob of officials could certainly tell that there was something very wrong going on at that very awkward and appalling moment.