Chapter 1958 - The Truth! (II)

Chapter 1958: The Truth! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr

Everything felt very strange to me, but we slaves of the palace have no right to refuse the requests of our superiors. I quickly started the fire, and that man passed the thing over to me. He said that these were discarded books from the palace that needed to be burned.

We of the Compassionate Virtue Hall do not look before burning, simply setting ablaze everything our superiors send us. This doesn’t include just memorials, but also other things, like discarded books.

Eunuch Zhang had also sent over books, but the books on that day were of different quality than the ones from the past. They felt soft, meticulous, and compact to the touch. This old man still remembers how they felt even now.

More importantly, when this old man took those old books, he felt golden threads on the covers. Only the best books of the palace used this, and those books were extremely precious. In normal circumstances, someone could go their entire life in the palace without touching one. At the time, I determined that the books sent over contained extremely important information and were not discarded books at all. Thus, this old man began to pay attention, knowing that tonight was not normal!


And after that?
Wang Chong nervously said.
If the books were all burned, he probably wouldn’t be able to get his hands on them.

Although I sensed something was not right, I could not stop it. That lordship was watching from the sides as those precious books were thrown into the charcoal basin and burned. I slowed down and intentionally stacked them atop each other so that they would burn a little slower, but some things can’t be stopped.

The fire burned for an hour, and all the books had been thrown in. Seeing that all the books were on the verge of being burned, that lordship nodded in satisfaction. I thought that he would wait until the end, but at this moment, a guard walked out from the distance, apparently calling him over for some other matter. That lordship hesitated a moment, saw that the flames were just about done burning, and ordered me to make sure that all books were burned to nothing before turning to leave.

Only after hearing those footsteps fade into the distance did I manage to swiftly snatch a book out of the basin.

Only now did the blind elder stand up, upon which Wang Chong saw that there was a prayer mat under his body.
The blind elder moved aside the prayer mat, revealing a secret compartment, and in the compartment was a half-burned book.
This book had originally been wrapped in golden silk, and one could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary book. And just as the blind elder had said, the paper inside was the highest quality of paper, the kind used for imperial decrees. Unfortunately, more than half of the book had been scorched black.
‘Imperial’!
Wang Chong immediately recognized one of the damaged words on the cover.
Wang Chong was stunned at this. Only records and books related to the imperial household were allowed to use this word. There was no doubt that this was one of the historical records that had gone missing from the library thirty-seven years ago.
But Wang Chong was even more shocked over the fact that this old man had been sitting here for thirty-some years to guard this book.

This old man cannot see and does not know what it is or what is inside it, but this old man does know that someone would inevitably come to find it. But this old man did not expect the man to be the renowned King of Foreign Lands.

The elder raised his hand and offered the half-scorched book.

This old man’s mission is over. I leave the rest to the King of Foreign Lands!

The hall was quiet as Wang Chong took the book from the elder, his mind in turmoil.
He finally had the book. After going through such great lengths, he had finally discovered the missing palace records. For a moment, Wang Chong felt as if it wasn’t real.
The blind elder sat back down and became motionless.
He had left everything to Wang Chong. What Wang Chong did no longer had anything to do with him.
All was quiet as Wang Chong gazed at the scorched silk cover and felt the texture of the special paper under his fingers. He was a little nervous. The secret Eunuch Gao had worked so hard to hide, the truth that Minister Yao had hinted at, was at his fingertips.
What could be recorded in here? Wang Chong quietly said to himself.
A moment later, Wang Chong sent Stellar Energy surging out of his body, dividing it into countless tendrils that seeped into every page of the book.
So much time had passed, and the paper had begun to yellow. Many of the burned areas were even more fragile and could crumble at the slightest touch. Wang Chong was forced to use this method to maintain the structure so that he could keep the book intact while he read it.
Whoosh!
Wang Chong finally opened the book, and a period of history sealed for thirty-some years opened before Wang Chong.
‘The seventeenth year, spring. At Sweet Dew Palace, His Majesty was enraged and slapped Third Son Xuan, penalizing him five hundred taels of gold…’
The first words Wang Chong saw upon opening the book immediately made him pale.
The Sage Emperor had been third in succession, and ‘Xuan’ had been his honorific name before his enthronement.

How could this be?

Wang Chong was alarmed and in disbelief of what he had read. Everyone in the world knew that the Sage Emperor was wise and intelligent. Amongst the people, it was said that the Sage Emperor had been born under auspicious omens and had been favored by the previous Emperor from birth. But the first line Wang Chong read recorded the future Sage Emperor being punished.
There were no tales about this amongst the people.
Not only that, the book also noted that ‘His Majesty was enraged’. A sovereign was not easily moved to anger. Just what had provoked the ire of the previous Emperor so much that he would slap the Sage Emperor?
In disbelief, Wang Chong continued to read.
But he quickly ran into a large scorched section, only three or four words visible in each line. In addition, the contents seemed to have nothing to do with Third Son Xuan.
Wang Chong calmed himself down and continued, until he finally spotted another line related to ‘Third Son Xuan’.
‘West Moon Palace. The One Above, meeting with Virtuous Empress Dou, referring to Third Son Xuan, declared that Xuan is unworthy and cannot inherit the throne…’
Another blackened section followed.
Bang!
Wang Chong felt like his brain had exploded.
Virtuous Empress Dou?
That was the Sage Emperor’s mother!
But most shocking of all was that declaration: ‘Xuan is unworthy and cannot inherit the throne’!
Wang Chong had been born from a clan of ministers and generals, and he was keenly aware of what those words meant. When a sovereign declared, ‘XX is unworthy and cannot inherit the throne’, it meant that the Prince in question had been completely stripped of their succession right.
What’s going on? What in the world is going on?
Wang Chong’s mind was engulfed in a storm, and his entire body was frozen.
In his memories of his last life, he was sure that this narrative, this period of history, had never been mentioned before, not in the court or amongst the people.
‘The Sage Emperor was wise as a youth, powerful and intelligent. As a child, he displayed remarkable talents and was favored by the previous Emperor.’ All the Tang knew this. It was a fact, like the sun rising from the east and setting in the west, simply common sense.
It was exactly because he had displayed astonishing talents as a youth that he had later rendered such astounding achievements, been loved by the people as he began an unprecedented golden age for the Great Tang, and become the revered sovereign of the ages.
But the history in this book was completely different from what the public knew.
If the previous Emperor stripped the Sage Emperor of his right to succession, why was this never mentioned again? Moreover, the Great Tang has had no incapable rulers. While the previous Emperor’s achievements were not on par with the Sage Emperor’s, he was regarded as a wise sovereign by all the realm. Just what did the Sage Emperor do before he was enthroned that made the previous Emperor rebuke him as unworthy and strip him of his succession right?
A sovereign does not speak lightly, particularly when the War of the Princes is not yet decided. A sovereign does not express his stance while the heir apparent is still undecided. This is an iron law. What did the Sage Emperor do in his youth?
Gripping the half-burned book, Wang Chong deeply pondered this revelation.
This book recorded history, but it was like the history of another world!
What’s going on here? Wang Chong quietly said to himself.
He thought that he would know the truth once he got his hands on the missing books, but the records only filled his mind with more questions.
Wang Chong flipped the page and continued reading.
Many areas of the books were burned, with too few words to determine anything. In addition, Wang Chong discovered that while this book was related to the Sage Emperor, it did not have the Sage Emperor as the main topic. The majority of the records concerned the previous Emperor, other Princes, consorts of the harem, and also important rites and rituals held in the palace.
But as he continued to read, more records concerning ‘Third Son Xuan’ began to pop up, and the majority of them differed starkly from what the people knew.
‘The eighteenth year. The One Above summoned the Princes to question them on memorials. Out of all the Princes, Third Son Xuan alone was reprimanded! In addition…’
‘Summer. The One Above flogged Third Son Xuan at Sweet Dew Palace, saying that he was foolish and of little use!’
‘The nineteenth year. The One Above heard of Xuan’s misdeeds and summoned Virtuous Empress Dou to criticize…’
‘Third Son Xuan’s conduct was improper. The One Above fined him half his yearly salary and placed him under house arrest in Shangyang Palace, saying that bulls and horses…’
‘…The One Above ordered the Imperial Clan Court to thoroughly investigate the matter! Xuan was terrified and personally went to Taiji Palace to profess his crimes. The One Above refused to see him!’
‘The twentieth year. Virtuous Empress Dou was demoted to consort. All the eunuchs said that she was being burdened by Third Son Xuan…’
One line after another leaped into Wang Chong’s eyes, each one alarming him more and more. If this had not been a book covered in golden silk, the words written in silver, the cover declaring that this was an official ‘Imperial’ history that had already been categorized and verified as authentic, Wang Chong would have believed that the man recorded here could not possibly be the reigning Sage Emperor!