The sound of whipping resounded throughout the palace courtyard.
Many timid eunuchs and maids had already turned away, unable to bear to watch.
Countless ministers looked at the third prince's high-quality robes with blood stains on them, but they still gritted their teeth and persisted. Even when they did not dare to make too much noise, they all felt admiration for the third prince.
So they all came out to plead for the third prince.
But Emperor Ningkang turned a deaf ear, and just kept waving the whip in his hand. Every time, every time, he whipped the ambitious, ruthless and treacherous son at his feet harder and harder.
At the same time, his heart was bleeding.
Although he was saddened by the prince's betrayal, he never thought of killing him.
He still remembered that he thought of many ways to deal with the prince...
Among the many princes, he knew that his third son had the deepest thoughts and had been feuding with his eldest brother for a long time.
Therefore, when the third prince took the initiative to ask Ying to capture the prince, he hesitated.
But he thought it might not be enough.
Everyone knew that the prince had been abandoned by him and was destined to be a useless person.
But he never expected that things would develop in the direction he least wanted to see.
He is angry, he is angry.
He even began to wonder if he was really wrong!
But everything had already happened, the prince and his wife were dead, and he could do nothing.
Of course he had doubts about the third prince.
I also thought about finding out the truth.
He even had murderous intentions.
But after waking up from an illness, he suddenly realized that he was actually biased.
Although he could explain his partiality by using the fact that the prince was orthodox, he could not deceive his heart. He really cared more about the eldest son, the prince.
The prince is dead.
Even if the third prince is executed, what is the point?
After a few years, Xiao Si and Xiao Wu may not evolve into the same as their eldest and third emperor brothers.
He began to think about how, as an emperor, he could protect his children.
The prince is dead, and the third prince is his eldest son.
Since he is the eldest son, he will inherit the throne in the future.
He decided to put this section aside for the time being and give the third prince another chance.
But in his heart, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the prince, even though the prince was the one who felt sorry for him first.
He is also very conflicted.
Tian Liang's appearance was an accident.
Princess Zhaoyang would speak for Tian Liang, which surprised him even more. He began to realize that perhaps a new change had occurred among his children.
He wanted to see clearly.
So he accepted Tian Liang's imperial edict, maybe he also wanted to know the truth.
After all, no emperor likes to be a fool.
The result did not surprise him too much.
If there was any surprise, it would be that he did not expect that the Third Prince would have so many loopholes in his behavior!
How complacent could he be to kill Tian Qu and others and then throw the bodies back?
He could obviously do it more carefully.
Did he really think that once the prince died, the world would be his?
Emperor Ningkang also came through this step. Looking back at the beginning, he felt that every step he took was like sitting on pins and needles. Even when he actually sat on the throne, he was still cautious.
He began to doubt whether the third prince would be able to secure his position in the future.
This is also the reason why he beats the third prince like this now.
But on the surface, he was venting his anger on behalf of a meritorious official.
Finally, after two quarters of an hour, after the third prince appeared to be dying, Emperor Ning Kang stopped.
After handing the bloody whip to the chamberlain, Emperor Ning Kang looked at Tian Liang: "The third prince has lost his moral character and is good at killing ministers. He will be stripped of his prince title and demoted to a county prince. In addition, he will be relieved of all duties in the court and spend a year in seclusion."
When Tian Liang heard this, although he was unwilling, he also knew that it was impossible for the prince to pay for his brother's life, so he could only kneel down to thank him.
"Does your brother have any heirs?"
"We have two sons."
"Well... this time Tian Qu was found guilty of meritorious service, and he was awarded the title of Uncle Brave and Yi, and his eldest son Yin was granted the title of second-class light chariot captain."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Long live my emperor."
Tian Liang felt better now.
But he also understood that the emperor was granting him the title both posthumously and implicitly, so he was obviously trying to silence him.
Therefore, he could only say sorry to Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang in his heart. He could no longer speak out to accuse the third prince of murdering the prince.
On the corridor, Princess Zhaoyang opened her mouth several times, but looking at Emperor Ningkang's increasingly older and shaky body after exertion, she finally said nothing and helped Emperor Ningkang up and walked into the palace.
Everyone dispersed.
But what happened tonight is destined to cause huge waves in their hearts.
No one could have expected that the prince had died and the third prince, who was supposed to be at the height of his power, would encounter such a huge change in less than a day.
A small sixth-grade commander actually dared to go directly to the imperial court to sue the third prince. The key is, he succeeded!
The third prince was demoted and was punished to live in seclusion for a year.
This kind of punishment doesn't seem too serious, but when it is placed on the third prince at this time, it makes people think of other things.
Emperor Ningkang has more than one son, the third prince!
Many people who had originally planned to flatter the Third Prince secretly stopped and decided to wait and see what happened.
A little more.
Naturally, they have not forgotten that Tian Liang not only sued the third prince for killing his brother, but also said that the third prince murdered the prince!
Although the last charge was not established, the emperor seemed to accept the third prince's explanation.
But the emperor's last whip seemed to have some unusual meaning.
It was even said that the emperor seemed not to have rectified the name of the third prince at all!
The emperor just ended the interrogation of the third prince suddenly, but he did not draw a conclusion as to whether the prince was murdered and whether the third prince was the murderer.
This gives smart people unlimited room for imagination.
Some people couldn't help but lament that this round of hunting in Tienwang Mountain was like a wave of ups and downs!
I heard that a large number of troops and horses are coming from the bottom of the mountain, but I don't know when it will end.
…
When Tian Liang walked out of the palace, many people who had been listening outside the palace gate gathered around him.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Many people admire his courage and dare to fight against the third prince.
But more importantly, I still want to know more about the inside story.
After all, the commotion was so loud, and the third prince had just been carried away by his personal guards. The extremely miserable look made people really curious.
However, Tian Liang simply dealt with it. He looked around and saw no sign of Jia Lian, so he asked his brothers to send the bodies of Tian Qu and others back. He and Zhou Xianming went to Jia Lian's tent in the Firearms Camp.
As soon as he entered the tent, Tian Liang was the first to kneel down and said very excitedly: "Thanks to the help of the Marquis, I can redress the injustice of my brother. I can't repay the great kindness of the Marquis. Please accept my humble thanks!"
Although Jia Lian did not go to the scene, he already knew the general results.
"Commander Tian, there is no need to be polite. General Tian Qu is a loyal and brave man, and he should not die unexplained. He is also a general of the Imperial Guard. It is what I should do to redress his injustice."
When Tian Liang heard this, he was even more moved.
As their boss, Feng Sheng was of the second rank in officialdom and residence. When facing the third prince, he didn't dare to let out a fart. But Jia Lian had no reason to do with them, but he was willing to help them. Comparing the two, there is a world of difference.
.
Although he also guessed that Jia Lian was not just trying to help him, but had some other plans, in any case, he was grateful to his Tian family for rebuilding.
"The Marquis is righteous. It's just that he is humble and incompetent. He failed to follow the instructions of the Marquis and ask the third prince to confess the crime of murdering the prince..."
Tian Liang began to explain the situation at that time.
Jia Lian's reputation was well known, and after this contact, he was even more awed and respected. After all, the mere fact that he could be driven by Princess Zhaoyang was enough to prove how terrifying Jia Lian was.
When they met Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang in the tent before, although Princess Zhaoyang seemed to be in charge, Tian and Liang could tell that Princess Zhaoyang listened to Jia Lian.
Therefore, like Zhou Xianming, he also wanted to get closer to Jia Lian. He was afraid that Jia Lian would blame him for his poor performance, so he told the emperor's attitude and situation at that time.
Jia Lian nodded after hearing this: "It doesn't matter, you have done a good enough job."
Yes, Tian Liang did everything he should do.
As for the emperor's final decision, no one can control it.
Originally, he didn't expect to knock the third prince to death in one fell swoop.
Right now, his goal has almost been achieved.
The Third Prince has almost been ruined... The wanton killing of a third-grade military general has just made a great contribution to the father and son. This will no matter what, will become an obstacle to the Third Prince's future training team.
Moreover, he was fined and banned for one year.
In one year, there is a lot of room for maneuver.
Jia Lian is confident that when the third prince lifts the ban a year later, the fourth prince will already have a certain ability to compete!
In fact, the most important thing this time was to establish in Emperor Ning Kang's heart the fact that the third prince deliberately killed the prince. As for whether the crime was proven or not, that was not that important.
As long as Emperor Ningkang recognized this, given Emperor Ningkang's temperament, even if he would not kill the third prince, he probably would not want to make the third prince the crown prince again.
After all, if the third prince can kill the prince this time, he may kill the fourth prince or even the fifth prince in the future.
As long as Emperor Ningkang still had the slightest feeling of licking a calf, he would consider the fourth prince who was kind-hearted and had an innocent heart.
This is the biggest political resource obtained for the fourth prince this time.
Seeing that Jia Lian had nothing to say to them, Zhou Xianming and Tian Liang looked at each other, expressed their surrender, and then resigned.
Jia Lian didn't keep them either.
Although these two people are just two sixth-grade generals, they are in the central guard camp and may be of great use at critical times, so Jia Lian is naturally willing to accept them.
Of course, this also depends on the fact that they all have some ability and are willing to get closer to him, otherwise Jia Lian will look down on ordinary mediocre people now.