CHAPTER 852: CHAPTER 512: THE PRIME MINISTER’S FALL

According to the written records, the process of smelting the "Red Flame Saint Armor" requires at least a few days to complete.

Zhao Douan toiled throughout the night. The next morning, he glanced at the "recharge" progress bar with great disappointment. He decided to instruct his stepmother and ordered his room to be sealed off, allowing no one to enter, leaving the Holy Armor to slowly devour the many "spoils of war" on its own.

He himself remained calm and leisurely went to the Imperial Prison.

The Imperial Prison was as oppressive as ever. Even before reaching the gray-black building, the temperature seemed to drop.

"Sir."

Zhao Douan, hands behind his back, led Qian Kerou and Shen Juan to the prison, where the old prison guard hurriedly greeted them with flattery: "Do you have any instructions?"

"Take me to see Li Yanfu," Zhao Douan said calmly.

As the first big figure he encountered after coming to this world, who was also the first stepping stone for him to rise from obscurity, Zhao Douan felt it necessary to see him one last time, considering that the Prime Minister is about to die.

The dungeon was cold and stuffy.

Upon entering, screams immediately filled his ears. On both sides of the corridor, the cells were overcrowded, and occasionally cell doors were opened, with prison guards roughly dragging heavily wounded prisoners back and forth.

"These are mostly officials from the Li Party involved in treason, along with some newly imprisoned key Qingzhou rebel leaders," the secretary Qian Kerou explained in a whisper.

Shen Juan also murmured through gritted teeth: "The last time I saw the Imperial Prison so full was right after the Xuanmen Coup."

Zhao Douan remained silent, walking slowly.

As he passed through the corridor, prisoners in the cells on either side occasionally threw themselves against the bars, reaching out and loudly pleading for Zhao Douan to report to the Holy Emperor.

The jailers, who not long before were high-ranking officials with great power, displayed fierce faces, quite opposite to their fawning over Zhao Douan, as they lashed out with whips, generating "slap" sounds accompanied by the prisoners’ wails.

"All of you shut up, if you disturb Mr. Zhao, you’ll be sent off today!"

Zhao Douan glanced at this group of incarcerated individuals, suddenly feeling a sense of emotion: "Last summer, had I failed, with just the incident of Zhuang Xiaocheng’s escape, there should be a cell here with my name on it."

The three subordinates nearby stared at each other, unsure how to respond.

Zhao Douan smiled but said nothing further, continuing to walk deeper inside.

Li Yanfu was detained in the deepest "Class A" cells in the Imperial Prison.

Directly opposite him, another cell held another high official of the Li Party, who was taken away yesterday, replaced by Prince Heng and his son.

Thus, Li Yanfu learned of the great defeat of the Qingzhou Rebel Army.

"Clang."

At the end of the corridor, the iron door opened, revealing Li Yanfu, disheveled, dressed in prison attire, sitting facing the cell ventilation opening.

Opposite him, Prince Heng and Heir Xu Zudi, covered with wounds, were startled awake, curled up on the straw mat.

The three Class A prisoners simultaneously rose, gazing into the darkness of the corridor, seeing a familiar figure approaching.

"Ha ha, Prime Minister Li, Prince Heng, Heir Xu, are you three accustomed to your accommodations?"

Zhao Douan, with a smiling face, emerged from the darkness into the firelight, a smile upon his face.

Prince Heng and his son, who were once noble and proud, shrank back onto the straw mat in terror, eyes filled with fear, lacking their previous arrogance and domineering spirit as royal family members.

"Zhao Douan." Comparatively, Li Yanfu was much more composed.

This old man, clad in prison garb, hair and beard disheveled from days without grooming, looked terribly untidy.

His gaze toward Zhao Douan was heavy and carried a sense of complexity.

Sitting facing the bars, he displayed a calm demeanor of acceptance: "I heard you led the army to utterly defeat the Qingzhou Army in a day and returned victoriously yesterday."

"To be precise, defeating these two useless individuals took half a day," Zhao Douan said with a smile, lifting the hem of his robe and squatting by the cell door, locking eyes with Li Yanfu.

The old Prime Minister with graying hair, now reduced to a prisoner, stared at him and suddenly sighed: "The younger generation is frightening. During these days in jail, I’ve repeatedly pondered and most regret not heeding Ying Long’s advice to eliminate you with all my might before you rose to power. Alas, there’s no medicine for regret in this world. Who could have thought my Li family father and son would perish at the hands of a mere gigolo."

Zhao Douan, squatting outside the cell, smiled back at him and shook his head: "Prime Minister, you are mistaken."

Li Yanfu raised his eyes: "How so? I’ve been in politics all my life, fully understanding the victors and the vanquished. I don’t regret orchestrating a coup to seize power. I simply miscalculated the Emperor’s return. Otherwise, everything would be different."

Even at this moment, he did not believe he was wrong, only admitting defeat.

Zhao Douan shook his head and said seriously: "Your mistake was in opposing me."

Li Yanfu was stunned. At that moment, he gazed at the flames of the dungeon corridor reflected in Zhao Douan’s eyes, suddenly losing all strength.

Zhao Douan said, "The Emperor has already decreed that all officials from the Li Party involved in the rebellion will be publicly executed at the Cai Market in the Capital the day after tomorrow, for the ceremony of my military expedition. As expected, today is the last time you and I will meet. I’ve instructed the prison guard to add some wine and meat to your last meal, as a repayment for orchestrating Feng Ju’s false accusation against you, thus escaping execution or exile."

Li Yanfu closed his eyes but suddenly stubbornly said, "My name will be in the history books."

This was the last thing Li Yanfu said to Zhao Douan in this world.

Zhao Douan smiled, got up to leave, when suddenly, in the adjacent cell, Heir Xu Zudi knelt on the ground, walked over on his knees, pushed himself against the bars, gripped the thick wooden columns, and squeezed out a flattering smile: