WAR PRISONER

War Prisoner Chapter 81

Author: 梨花烟雨(Li Hua Yan Yu) /Lê Hoa Yên Vũ

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War Prisoner Chapter 81

Wanyan Xu turned his body around, casting a disbelieving look at his own son, as if he did not dare to put faith in what he had heard, for fear that it was too good to be true. Although he had already come to be suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Su Yi's defection, in the end, he had no proof to support his hunch. Moreover, in the hall on that day, Su Yi had made no protestations of innocence, but had confessed to his guilt with no hesitation.

To hear Wanyan Shuo say words to this effect at this time, although he was overjoyed at the unexpected good news, he was also extremely doubtful and startled. Not knowing what kind of evidence he had fished up, he quickly walked back to the Dragon Throne and sat down before saying gravely: "Imperial Son must know that this is no small matter, there is no room for childish whims or temperament here. If you have any evidence, share it with us, so that the honoured ministers and I [1] can review it."

Yu Cang's face was as dark as the depths of the ocean; he thought that Zi Yan must have betrayed him and wracked his brain, trying to think of possible countermeasures to fend off this threat. However, he saw that Wanyan Shuo had produced a document and was saying: "Reporting to Imperial Father, this is the sheet of prose that Mother Empress left on the table the day he made his escape from the palace. The meaning of his words is indeed easy to understand, they state his desire to recover the rivers and mountains of his country. But there is a fine detail hidden in this document that can prove that Mother Empress was being framed by someone."

He slowly cast his gaze over the befuddled ministers, who still failed to understand the meaning of his words before saying clearly and deliberately: "Although this poem was indeed penned by Mother Empress, but it was not written at the time of Mother Empress's escape, rather it was written soon after Mother Empress had been taken prisoner." Because he had a trump card up his sleeve and was confident that he would be able to exonerate Su Yi, he had taken the initiative of referring to him as his Mother Empress once again.

At such a time, nobody had the leisure to pursue this relatively trivial matter. The critical thing was that in the early days of Su Yi's captivity, when he had yet to be crowned as the Empress, it was hardly surprising that he would still carry about in his heart a feeling of injustice and the wish to restore his country. Therefore, if the poem was dated to that time, it could hardly serve as proof of his treason. Most importantly, if it could be proven that these words were not written at the moment of his escape, then it was more than likely that somebody with ill-intentions had utilised his poem to malign him. Because Su Yi had outstanding talent in both the literary and martial fields, he could easily have written a few hundred poems just like this one at the time of his departure, there was really no need for him to rummage through trunks and boxes just to find a older work to serve as his manifesto and parting words. At this moment, all the officials' eyes were focused on the piece of paper that Wanyan Shuo held in his hand and waiting with all ears for him to present a case that would exculpate Su Yi.

Wanyan Shuo put away the document, and walked to He Jian's side. He asked solemnly: "Honourable Minister He, the court has a question for you. At the time of Mother Empress's rebellion, it was already late in the summer. In that season, what time do you usually get up from bed?" His question was really extremely nonsensical, and more importantly, he couldn't see how it had any correlation to the matter at hand --- the exoneration of Su Yi. But when He Jian looked at this little Crown Prince, he saw that his expression was dead serious, there was a shrewd glint in his eyes, and also, he had a bearing that was intimidating even without having to demonstrate temper. He Jian couldn't help but be a bit overawed and he said, careful not to neglect any detail: "Reporting to Your Highness, this old minister is of an advanced age so he usually gets up around the third quarter of the fourth night watch, so as to be ready to attend court at the fifth watch."