The young man whispered two matters into Li Qitian’s ear.

“Your Majesty, during my external investigation, I discovered changes in the Lu clan situation. The Lu family patriarch committed suicide by throwing himself into a well. The current patriarch position has been taken over by Lu Heng from the main branch. Additionally, the grain supplies that the Lu family’s previous head was responsible for transporting to the border have suddenly stopped moving and remain stationary. I believe this must be on the orders of the new Lu family head, Lu Heng. Since this happened so suddenly, I felt this matter was of great importance and rushed to report to Your Majesty.”

Li Qitian at this moment felt as if he had been struck by lightning and thunderbolts.

Wasn’t Lu Heng dead?

Previously, his spies went to the border to investigate and discovered that Qin Yining had returned on her own with Pang Xiao. After several rounds of inquiries, they learned that Lu Heng had fallen seriously ill while in Tatar territory and had already died.

At that time, Li Qitian had thought that this troublemaker from the Lu family had finally died, and the new family head seemed to be a sensible person who was obedient and easy to manipulate.

But who would have thought that someone who was supposed to be dead would suddenly appear, while the Lu family head he thought was very useful had suddenly committed suicide by throwing himself into a well.

In all of this, if there wasn’t deliberate scheming by Pang Xiao and malicious harm by Lu Heng, Li Qitian wouldn’t believe it even if beaten to death!

The financial resources, material resources, and connections of the Lu clan were simply incomparable to his own. Although he was now emperor and could be said to possess the wealth of all under heaven, the wealth and power he truly held in his hands was not much.

Li Qitian had been on the throne for less than five years, and the silver in the national treasury was decreasing, becoming increasingly insufficient to meet expenses. There were so many troublesome matters under heaven – today disasters here, tomorrow bandits there – each and every incident had to be resolved through his hands, while those incompetent subordinates only knew to open their big mouths and ask him for money.

The Lu clan’s foundation ran deep, and many times Li Qitian, in order to achieve his goals, even had to curry favor with the Lu clan.

This time when the Tatars declared war, the Great Zhou truly had no silver to fight them with, so the matter of transporting military provisions was undertaken by the Lu family’s Second Master, who had just become family head at that time.

Now this avenue had been severed by that fellow Lu Heng!

The two factions in court each expressed their own views, momentarily evenly matched, unable to distinguish any clear conclusion.

Ji Zeyu’s side also reported unusual movements in the Huben Army, saying they couldn’t enter the palace to help.

Now the Lu family was creating this kind of trouble for him again.

Li Qitian truly felt he was caught in a difficult situation. Should he allow the current scene to continue developing?

The Lu family had changed family heads and stopped the grain transport halfway – this was actually just adding fuel to the fire, but hadn’t affected the immediate situation.

If Ji Zeyu could quickly handle the turmoil in the Huben Army and arrive in time, he should still have a chance to capture Pang Xiao in one fell swoop.

As for Lu Heng, he didn’t believe that the survival of these great clans wouldn’t consider imperial authority.

He could appeal to him emotionally, reason with him, and promise benefits. As the saying goes, there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. As long as his interests could align with those of the Lu clan, he believed he could pull that ally Lu Heng to his side.

Li Qitian frowned in contemplation for a moment, then felt relieved.

At this time, the arguing among the censors had reached the point of spitting everywhere, nearly coming to blows.

Li Qitian was annoyed by the noise, and such a scene spreading outside wouldn’t sound good either.

He raised his hand and pressed down: “All of you, quiet.”

However, Li Qitian’s voice didn’t overcome these people – those who should argue continued arguing.

Seeing Li Qitian’s appearance, Pang Xiao stepped forward and sternly rebuked: “All you ministers, quiet! Don’t you hear His Majesty ordering you to be quiet!”

Censor Gu…

All the ministers…

Someone who had just been impeached for showing no respect to superiors could constantly pay attention to His Majesty’s every movement, promptly fall silent when His Majesty commanded silence, and even make others follow his example in obeying His Majesty’s orders.

Yet those who had just impeached Pang Xiao completely ignored His Majesty’s intentions.

Such a contrast was truly too stark and too embarrassing.

Then supporters of Pang Xiao stepped forward and bowed: “Your Majesty has also seen this. Prince Zhongshun has a straightforward nature – perhaps having been in the military for so long, his behavior is somewhat rough, but he absolutely is not someone who defies and offends superiors. Those accusations just now were completely fabricated! If Censor Gu is so loyal to the ruler, why did it take Prince Zhongshun to remind everyone to be quiet?”

“Exactly! Your Majesty, I believe Prince Zhongshun has distinguished military achievements and made great contributions in establishing the Great Zhou’s territory. Prince Zhongshun is also Your Majesty’s sworn brother. With such honors, it’s inevitable that some would become jealous and frame him. Those baseless accusations have no evidence whatsoever – how can they convince the officials or the people without evidence?

“If people cannot be convinced, and we rashly act against Prince Zhongshun, I fear outsiders will spread rumors that Your Majesty is wary of meritorious officials!”

“Your Majesty is a wise ruler and naturally wouldn’t do such a thing, but there are many foolish people among the common folk. If they start talking like this, wouldn’t Your Majesty be unable to defend against such slander?”

“I am thinking for Your Majesty’s sake – this matter must be carefully considered!”

…

These people spoke as rapidly as pouring beans, each sentence hitting the mark of reason.

Li Qitian secretly mocked in his heart – this was their loyalty to ruler and love of country? When it came to crucial moments, these people’s hearts were all with an outsider.

Li Qitian now felt much more settled, thinking of breaking through all difficulties one by one – today, as long as he could capture Pang Xiao, it would be enough.

Seeing Li Qitian deep in thought and silent, the officials started arguing again.

Li Qitian was getting a headache from the noise and was about to speak when he saw the young man who had disguised himself as a little eunuch return once more.

This time his steps were even more urgent than before. Upon reaching him, he lowered his voice:

“Your Majesty, news just came that Prince Consort Ji has been placed under house arrest in the military camp by several main generals of the Huben Army…”

Li Qitian’s eyes suddenly widened. Since the prayer beads in his hand had long since fallen, he could only clench his fists tightly, not even noticing that his fingernails had dug several marks into his palms.

Li Qitian kept telling himself not to panic, to stay calm. He must stay calm and never let anyone see that something had gone wrong on his side.

But with Ji Zeyu under house arrest by the main generals of the Huben Army, he couldn’t come to confront Pang Xiao.

Once today’s events angered Pang Xiao, if this man became savage and went on a killing spree, his guards probably wouldn’t last ten rounds against Pang Xiao.

What if Pang Xiao became so enraged he developed thoughts of regicide?

Li Qitian felt that if pushed to desperation, given Pang Xiao’s temperament, he really might risk everything!

Li Qitian’s heart was filled with both anxiety and frustration. Something had gone wrong with Ji Zeyu, and the Lu family was creating trouble for him again. He had endured his anger and invited the wolf into the fold, hoping to eliminate Pang Xiao once and for all to prevent future troubles, but now in front of all the civil and military officials, was he really going to make a huge fool of himself?

At this moment, the censors below began arguing again.

Li Qitian’s head buzzed with the noise, nearly reaching his breaking point.

Just then, Pang Xiao stepped forward again, coldly rebuking those who argued endlessly.

“Enough! This is the Zhenghe Hall, His Majesty’s grand court assembly! It’s fine for you to express different opinions, but how can this go on endlessly!

“This prince once followed His Majesty in campaigns, through life and death – we could entrust our backs to each other. Even when this prince’s wife went missing and His Majesty, as sworn brother, kept urging this prince to return to the capital, and this prince refused – that was the relationship between me as younger brother and my sworn brother. How did it become treason in your mouths? Do you think that with your accusations and incitement, His Majesty would condemn this prince?

“You say this prince indiscriminately kills innocents? Ridiculous! This prince asks you – in war, who doesn’t kill? Are the brains of those speaking filled with nothing but excrement?

“You say this prince humiliated Beiji’s veteran officials? Ask the Beiji veteran officials present – when has this prince ever humiliated them!

“You say this prince embezzled grain and wages? Even more ridiculous nonsense! When first taking over Beiji’s treasury, to put it bluntly, that dim-witted Beiji ruler could have starved even the rats in the treasury to collective suicide! What could I embezzle – thin air?

“Saying I forcibly seized a minister’s daughter is even more absurd – my marriage to the Qin family was bestowed by His Majesty. Where is the forced seizure?

“I left the capital searching for treasure on imperial orders for disaster relief, seeking treasure for His Majesty along the way. Saying I embezzled disaster relief funds is the height of absurdity! My wife’s dowry and my silver have all been donated. Otherwise, when the earth dragon turned over in the old Yan capital, the people would have starved into rebellion long ago! Would they have allowed you parasites in the capital to point fingers?

“As for saying I’m jealous of colleagues?”

At this point, Pang Xiao suddenly burst into laughter, pointing domineeringly at the assembled ministers: “Speaking truthfully, all of you come compete in martial arts with this prince! This prince will let you attack together! Tell me, what about you is worth this prince’s jealousy?

“This prince privately maintains household troops? I ask you – as a prince, having fifty household troops in my residence, does that exceed regulations?”

Pang Xiao stepped right up to Censor Gu: “Lord Gu is a learned scholar – tell me, as a prince of different surname personally enfeoffed by His Majesty, are fifty household troops excessive?”

Censor Gu retreated two steps under Pang Xiao’s words, trembling all over with fear.

Finally, Pang Xiao said: “As for saying I’m unfilial to my legitimate mother, now that things have reached this point, there’s one matter I must speak of.”

Pang Xiao turned to bow to Li Qitian: “Your Majesty pitied my background and helped me find my surviving legitimate mother from those days. I was grateful in my heart, but through contact and investigation, I discovered that the legitimate mother Your Majesty found for me was actually an impostor!”

Li Qitian’s eyebrow twitched.

Pang Xiao continued: “I knew of Your Majesty’s kind intentions and didn’t want to put Your Majesty in a difficult position, so I sent that fake Madam Pang away. Actually, I planned to keep this matter buried in my stomach forever and never speak of it.”

“There was actually such a thing! That poisonous woman dared to deceive me for wealth and honor!” Li Qitian was furious, leaping to his feet.

Pang Xiao said: “Don’t let Your Majesty anger yourself over this. This matter isn’t Your fault – it’s all that woman being too greedy, thinking she could deceive Your Majesty with some knowledge of past events.”

“That’s the crime of deceiving the ruler – unforgivable!” Li Qitian was enraged. He immediately ordered: “Arrest that woman for me – execute her by beheading tomorrow afternoon for public display!”

Li Qitian’s words represented a complete change in direction.