"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, please see clearly!"
Li Wanming knocked her head heavily on the ground, then straightened her back and raised her head.
Her nails dug deeply into her palms, but there was no trace of fear on her face. Her voice was clear and firm.
"The Yuan Family's Water Fortress pledged allegiance to the Great Sheng Dynasty as early as the twelfth year of the late emperor's reign. Since then, the Yuan family has been fighting bravely for the Great Sheng, sparing no effort. It took nearly twenty years before they finally wiped out the seventy - two bandit strongholds four years ago."
She paused for a moment, looking directly into Empress Dowager Kang's eyes, and her tone couldn't help but be tinged with a hint of grief and indignation.
"The Yuan family served the court for twenty years. Almost all the able - bodied men in the fortress were either killed or injured before they could achieve this great victory.
"If the Yuan family had surrendered falsely, why would they have paid such a heavy price?
"Is there any family in this world that can stage a fake surrender for as long as twenty years?"
"Oh?" After hearing this, the smile on Empress Dowager Kang's lips became even colder.
"Then let me ask you, the Yuan family was originally one of the bandit strongholds. Why did they surrender out of the blue?
"After their surrender, why did they achieve nothing for so long?
"Why did they only seem to gather their strength and wipe out seventy - two bandit strongholds in succession after the emperor ascended the throne?
"If the Yuan family had such capabilities..."
She sneered, "The bandit strongholds in Fujian would have been in your hands long ago. Why would it have taken twenty years?"
Anger welled up in Li Wanming's heart, and she was almost exploding with rage.
Banditry was rampant in Fujian, and the local people suffered greatly. The imperial troops had been suppressing the bandits for years, but due to the vast mountains and rushing mountain streams in the area, they had never been able to achieve much.
It wasn't until the defection of the Yuan Family's Water Fortress that the situation began to turn around.
In fact, the Yuan Family's Water Fortress was not a bandit stronghold. It was a small group of imperial troops who had fled to this area during the turmoil of the previous dynasty. Because of the chaos and continuous wars outside, they came here, built a fortress on the mountain, and established the Yuan Family's Water Fortress.
After the founding of the Great Sheng Dynasty, although they did not accept the jurisdiction of the court for a while, they did not engage in any immoral or lawless acts. They became a neutral force between the court and the bandits.
Moreover, because the Yuan Family's Water Fortress had been established for a long time and was familiar with the local terrain and waterways, whenever a new general was assigned to Fujian, the first thing they often did was to visit the fortress for advice.
However, precisely because of this, as the conflict between the Great Sheng's troops and the local bandits became more and more intense, the position of the Yuan Family's Water Fortress became increasingly awkward.
One day, the mountain bandits suddenly raided the water fortress and killed dozens of people. The leader of the Yuan Family's Water Fortress - Yuan Jinqiu's third uncle - was so enraged that he led the entire fortress to surrender to the Great Sheng.
Therefore, the Yuan Family's Water Fortress had never been a bandit stronghold.
Their surrender had provided the Great Sheng with an additional local armed force.
Empress Dowager Kang was deliberately slandering them and distorting the truth!
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, the Yuan Family's Water Fortress did not surrender without reason. The leader of the fortress always despised the actions of the mountain bandits and never associated with them!
Li Wanming was extremely angry, but her tone remained neither overbearing nor humble.
"Precisely because of this, the mountain bandits hated the Yuan Family's Water Fortress so much that they launched a night raid, which caused heavy casualties and great damage to the fortress.
"After my third grandfather - in - law led his troops to surrender, he wholeheartedly devoted himself to suppressing the bandits and never had any second thoughts! Even... even in the end, he died in the mountains while suppressing the bandits..."
At this point, Li Wanming's eyes were filled with a thin layer of tears.
But she quickly took a deep breath, steadied her nerves, and continued, "If Your Majesty the Empress Dowager doesn't believe me, you can check the official documents of Fujian over the past two or three decades.
"There must be records indicating that even before the surrender, my third grandfather - in - law had provided many conveniences to the Great Sheng's army on multiple occasions and had a very good relationship with all the previous generals in Fujian.
"As for why there were no major victories for twenty years but seventy - two bandit strongholds were wiped out in the last year... it was precisely because they had been biding their time and building up their strength for those twenty years that they were finally able to strike with thunderous force and completely eradicate all the large - scale bandit strongholds in the area!"
Li Wanming's voice echoed in the palace hall, every word resounding like a blow of a sledgehammer.
"What a glib tongue..."
Empress Dowager Kang sneered, and her gaze slowly turned to Lady Kang beside her. Her tone was full of meaning.
"Lady Kang, Li Wanming is your daughter - in - law from the Xiao family. You should be more familiar with your in - law than I am. Why don't you... tell us?"
"I... Your servant... Your servant - wife..."
Lady Kang timidly raised her head, but her face was filled with astonishment and fear.
She never expected that Empress Dowager Kang's question would suddenly turn to her.
Although she hated Li Wanming deeply because of the title - inheritance issue, she had never bothered to learn about her past. She knew nothing about Li Wanming's previous experiences in Fujian, let alone the secrets of the Yuan Family's Water Fortress.
But Lady Kang was not stupid. She quickly realized that Empress Dowager Kang wanted to use her mouth to fabricate a baseless charge against Li Wanming.
But...
But should she really say what Empress Dowager Kang wanted her to say?
Li Wanming had just promised her yesterday that she would invite the top scholar to be her son's tutor!
The tutor hadn't even been invited yet, and was she really going to break her promise and turn against Li Wanming?
However, if she didn't say anything, given Empress Dowager Kang's personality, she was afraid that she would be in immediate danger of death. How could she even wait for the top - scholar tutor?
But... but she really didn't know anything!
She had only just heard the name "Yuan Family's Water Fortress" - how could she say anything?
She couldn't just close her eyes and start making things up, could she?
Making false statements in this palace hall was a crime of deceiving the emperor, and it would lead to the extermination of the entire family!
Once Empress Dowager Kang regretted it later and started to investigate, she was afraid that she would surely not be able to escape death!
Lady Kang's nails dug deeply into the hem of her skirt. Cold sweat was pouring down her forehead, but her throat seemed to be blocked, and she couldn't utter a single word.
Empress Dowager Kang's patience was gradually running out, and her voice was as cold as ice: "What? You've been in charge of the Prince Ning's Mansion for so many years, and you know nothing about your own in - laws?"
Lady Kang trembled all over and was so nervous that she almost fainted. In her panic, a soft murmur escaped her lips: "The Li family... the Li family is the in - law of the eldest branch..."
As soon as she said this, Lady Kang regretted it so much that she could have bitten her tongue off.
At this crucial moment, she had actually pushed Li Wanming onto the eldest branch!
Wasn't this equivalent to admitting that during all these years of being in charge of the Prince Ning's Mansion, she had only cared about the second branch and had completely ignored the overall situation?
What was the point of being the mistress of this mansion then? She might as well just step down!
Sure enough, Empress Dowager Kang frowned slightly, and the look of disgust in her eyes became even more intense. Her voice was as cold as a knife.
"The Princess of Ning has entrusted the entire mansion to you for so many years, and yet you're shirking your responsibility at this moment? As the mistress in charge of the mansion, you can't even perceive the changes inside and outside the mansion. You're really a concubine - born thing with a petty mentality. You're not fit for anything!"