Chapter 100 Chapter Forty

Chapter 40, Part Three, Seizing the Inheritance On October 9th, the twenty-fifth year of Wuwei in Dayong, the emperor decreed that the crown prince would be rebellious and unfilial, and he would be buried with the rites of a king. —— "Yongshi • Biography of King Li" On October 5th, when Emperor Yong was on the road, Chang'an had already calmed down. After discussing with Zheng Xia and Shi Yu, they both decided to keep concealing the news. Change.On October 6th, Zheng Xia brought a few guards to come to see him first. When Zheng Xia and Emperor Yong were talking secretly, I had already received the report and I was confident. Although I didn't know what they were talking about, Zheng Xia was not Confused people.

Besides, Zheng Xia entered Emperor Yong's tent, and seeing that Emperor Yong was safe and sound, he was relieved. After the ceremony, Li Yuan quickly told what happened. He trusted Zheng Xia very much, and told all he knew in detail. He told Zheng Xia in detail.Zheng Xia was also dumbfounded after hearing this, but he has always been good at making decisions, so he calmed down and asked, "Your Majesty, what are your plans?" Li Yuan said distressedly: "I also have a very headache. Both the crown prince and King Yong are my sons. Naturally, I don't want them to fight each other. But King Yong almost died this time, and so did I. If we don't pursue it strictly, no matter what I can't justify it in any way; but the prince is today, and I have some inappropriate things, and the queen once hanged herself. Although she was rescued by the palace, she is already dying, and she has been married for many years. I really can't bear it; This is his strength and also his weakness. Now that he is implicated in it, no matter how he deals with it, it can only be said that the seriousness is underestimated, but it cannot be said that the handling is wrong. His temper is so stubborn, I am worried that King Yong will be angry Wouldn't it be embarrassing for me to demand that he be imprisoned or abolished as a commoner? Also, Wei Xiang, hearing you say that he is at peace in Beijing, it seems that he really doesn't know about treason, but treason is a serious crime. If you don't get involved, it's really outrageous, Zheng Qing, think about it for me, what should I do?"

Zheng Xia said solemnly, "Your Majesty, in my view now, it doesn't matter how these matters are handled, what matters is how Your Majesty lives with King Yong and his son." Li Yuan's heart was shocked. After all, he had been the emperor for many years, and he had vaguely thought about these thoughts, but Zheng Xia said it so bluntly, he was still a little caught off guard, and couldn't help glaring at Zheng Xia. Zheng Xia said without fear: "Your Majesty's kindness to me is as great as a mountain. If it wasn't for your majesty and Dayong's country, I wouldn't say these indecent words. If your majesty is willing to listen to my minister's detailed explanation, I will kill you. It’s also as sweet as it is.”

Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, and said: "Zheng Qing, tell me, I know your loyalty." Zheng Xia said awe-inspiringly: "Your Majesty, it is now the general trend for King Yong to inherit the throne. The crown prince rebelled and should be deposed. King Yong is the most accomplished man and the oldest. No matter what the emperor plans this time, the throne is already in King Yong's pocket In the past, in order to protect the prince, the emperor suppressed His Royal Highness King Yong, so King Yong inevitably had no resentment in his heart. Now even if King Yong wants to take the opportunity to seize the throne, few people will firmly oppose it. There is no difference between His Highness King Yong and his allegiance to His Majesty, but in this way, the emperor's position will be very embarrassing. If His Majesty personally disposes of the prince and others, there will inevitably be something that will make King Yong dissatisfied. Now His Majesty has saved the Crown Prince and King Qi. After His Majesty is long live, who knows what King Yong will do in the future? If you leave this matter to King Yong, then His Majesty will express his opinion politely, and King Yong will definitely not Regardless of His Majesty's mood, His Majesty will be able to achieve his wish, and the gap between His Majesty King Yong and his son will be completely eliminated."

Li Yuan bowed his head and thought for a long time, then got up and saluted Zheng Xia. Zheng Xia was shocked, and quickly avoided saying: "What is your Majesty doing, I can't afford it." Li Yuan said gratifiedly: "Zheng Qing's good words are all for the sake of my Li family. If I and Prince Yong and his son live in peace in the future, the crown prince and King Qi can be preserved, it is all thanks to Qing." Zheng Xia apologized again and again, and Li Yuan smiled and said, "I have been with Zheng Qing for many years, so I don't need to be so clichéd. Besides, although I have misjudged some people, I have not misjudged Zheng Qing. For my own sake. But you have to make up my mind for some things, what do you think I should do next?"

Zheng Xia said: "Your Majesty, are you sure you want to keep the crown prince?" Li Yuan hesitated and said: "Although the crown prince is unworthy, he is my blood and blood after all, and I really don't want to part with it." Zheng Xia asked again: "Then what about His Royal Highness King Qi?" Li Yuan said seriously: "Although Xian'er puts too much emphasis on friendship and is not enough to be an emperor, but I really cherish this son, and I will never let Zhi'er hurt him." Zheng Xia said seriously: "Since this is the case, Your Majesty shouldn't protect the crown prince, otherwise he will harm King Qi?"

Li Yuan asked in surprise, "How do you say that?" Zheng Xia said: "Your Majesty, King Qi is not as good as King Yong if he discusses governance and martial arts, and he is not as good as King Yong if he talks about the elders and concubines. Therefore, if there is no prince, then King Qi can be a general or a minister, but if the prince still Now, no matter what, the crown prince is the eldest son after all, and there is a possibility of rebellion between the king of Qi and the crown prince, so if the emperor protects the crown prince, and if His Royal Highness King Yong reluctantly agrees, he will eventually become suspicious of the king of Qi. King Qi will die in the hands of King Yong because of this. At that time, His Majesty wants to save his two sons, but he will not be able to keep either of them. If he abandons the crown prince, then His Royal Highness King Qi will not be able to endanger the throne of King Yong, and it will be easy for the monarch and his subjects We're in peace."

Li Yuan was silent for a while and said: "What Zheng Qing said is that since this is the case, I can't care about that traitor anymore." Zheng Xia said again: "This is still from the point of view of personal relationship. If it is from the point of view of national law, the prince forced the palace to rebel and seduced the queen to lose virtue. The crime of fraternity, disrespect for filial piety, how can it be forgiven. Your Majesty's legacy is to be passed on forever, if you don't leave a warning for future generations, and everyone follows this kind of behavior, won't you let the family of heaven kill each other?"

Hearing this, Li Yuan was terrified and said: "Zheng Qing's words are really the most reasonable in the world. Well, I have made up my mind to give the prince to death. The queen should have died. I think it is because of the kindness of husband and wife for many years. Let her fend for herself. I will leave the affairs of King Qi to King Yong." Zheng Xia said solemnly: "Your majesty is wise, in this way, you can be vigilant to future generations, and you can also convince King Yong, and it is not easy for King Yong to deal with King Qi's affairs too much." Li Yuan was clear in his heart, and continued: "The disposal of the prince's family has been decided, so let's make it a rule in the future. There is one more thing. After returning to Beijing, I want Jin to make the Changsun family the queen. What does Zheng Qing think?"

Zheng Xia was taken aback for a moment, then immediately came to his senses, and said, "Your Majesty is wise, that's exactly what it should be." The monarchs and ministers looked at each other and smiled, knowing each other's understanding. Zheng Xia knew in his heart that it was indeed a good idea to make Concubine Changsun Guifei the empress. Now it was obvious that Li Yuan would sit on the throne for a while, and the harem could not be without a master, and after King Yong succeeded to the throne in the future, there would also be a mother. Those who were filial later, now that the Dou family has been deposed, the birth mother of King Yong has long since died, and Concubine Ji is a rebel, then only Concubine Changsun and Concubine Yan are eligible to be promoted to empress, but King Qi was also involved in the rebellion, and Concubine Yan was naturally lost. Qualification to become a queen, and the eldest grandson noble concubine has a noble status, and Princess Changle has made great contributions this time. As the biological mother of Changle princess, it is logical for the eldest grandson noble concubine to be named empress.And the most wonderful thing is that the eldest grandson noble concubine does not have the prince to survive, and it will not affect King Yong's reserve, so she can just mother the world.Li Yuan can think of this, it seems that he has paved the way for King Yong to ascend the throne, and he has no fear of King Yong anymore.As a subject, Zheng Xia was naturally happy in his heart, but this kind of thing can only be understood, it cannot be expressed in words, the two of them naturally only looked at each other and smiled.

After a while, Emperor Yong hesitated and said, "Zheng Xia, Princess Changle's love for Jiang Zhe, what do you think?" Zheng Xia asked cautiously: "I don't know what the emperor and King Yong mean?" Li Yuan said dissatisfiedly: "Zhi'er once came to see me in private, hoping that I would marry Princess Changle and Jiang Zhe, but I think that Jiang Zhe is deep-hearted, weak and sick, and he is really not a good match for Changle, so I have already refused, but Jiang Zhe made such a decision. Great work, if I insist on not allowing it, it will chill his heart a bit." Zheng Xia thought for a while and said, "It doesn't matter what I think about this matter. On the one hand, Jiang Zhe used to be a courtier of Southern Chu, and the princess was once the queen of Southern Chu. It is also in accordance with the etiquette and law for His Majesty to refuse a marriage. , now Jiang Zhe is a minister of Dayong, and he has made great contributions to suppressing the rebellion, and the princess is His Majesty's beloved daughter, with a noble status, so there is nothing wrong with this meritorious service being honored to the Lord, it just depends on what Your Majesty wants." Li Yuan thought for a while and said: "If that Jiang Zhe is in better health, I will be able to make Changle happy, but now I am really worried, let's let it go." Zheng Xia saw that it was getting late at night, and Li Yuan looked tired, so he said, "Your Majesty, the matter has been discussed, why don't you go to bed first, Your Majesty." Li Yuan smiled and said: "I have already figured it out, I will leave all important military and political affairs to King Yong in the future, I want to live a comfortable life for a few years, please don't leave, and go to rest after drafting an order for me. " On October 7th, Li Yuan returned to Beijing and issued three orders in a row. One of them was to bestow the death of the crown prince, give him the posthumous title of Li Wang, and depose the empress as a commoner.The second is to establish King Yong as the prince of the supervisory country, and all major military and political affairs are decided by King Yong.The third is to establish the eldest grandson noble concubine as the empress, and then the grand empress ceremony will be officially held on the same day. In addition, Princess Changle will be rewarded for her meritorious service, and ten thousand households will be rewarded with the title of Ningguo. The emperor's resolute actions shocked many people. The government and the public either thought that King Yong took the opportunity to kidnap the emperor, or thought that Li Yuan was frightened and didn't care about the government anymore, but they didn't know that the biggest contributor to this incident was Zheng Xia, the servant. After King Yong was in charge of the government, he began to clean up what was later called the "Rebellious King's Rebellion". Tens of thousands of dignitaries were imprisoned for the crime of involving the prince's rebellion, and countless people were implicated. Frightened and uneasy, only a few caring people will find that King Yong's purge is actually well controlled. Most of the courtiers implicated are from powerful families. Although these families made contributions to the rise of Dayong, they are now fighting for hegemony. Annexation of land, and even raising armored soldiers privately, there is a faint reality of separatism.This time, King Yong used his army to destroy almost all of these aristocratic families by means of a major treason case.His methods are both tough and soft, and he often treats the hardcore members of those families as rebels, exterminated or imprisoned. After all, these families are inevitably related to Fengyimen and Wei Guan. Civilians will not easily commit crimes. Thanks to the blessings of the former Jinxiu League and Fengyimen, many of these wealthy families have already been killed to pieces. , not daring to stand out, it is more convenient for King Yong to defeat each one. Within a month, the Dayong Dynasty Hall has taken on a new look. The Youzhou officials brought by Shi Yu and those middle and low-level officials who are really willing to do things quickly restored the center of Dayong. Normal operation, the blood washed away the dust on the Great Yong Dynasty Hall. Among them, there is a kind of officials who are the first to be purged, that is, officials whose wives and daughters are related to Fengyimen. The lightest punishment for these officials is demotion, and the more serious ones are removal from office, or even direct resignation. Going to the court is also possible.Many Fengyimen disciples were originally daughters of a thousand pieces of gold, and most of them entered Fengyimen to improve their status, so most of them immediately drew a clear line with Fengyimen. You can live in peace, although there are many incidents of abandoning wives and daughters, but most of them can finally start a new life.However, for a girl who was born in a poor family and was able to marry a dignitary or a son of a wealthy family because of entering the Fengyi Gate, her fate would be much more miserable. Either she would be divorced by her husband's family or thrown into the cold palace.But when the slaughter was raging, the sorrow and sorrow of these women were also covered up by the bloody cleaning. King Yong was not always so ruthless. Some officials who used to belong to the prince of the party or were born under Wei Guan's sect, as long as there was no obvious evidence of treason and no matter how talented they were, they would not be purged. The least implicated in the process is the military.King Yong issued an edict stating that the soldiers of the army have made great contributions in fighting bloody battles for the country, so they are not allowed to be purged in the army, because they found that some generals are indeed closely related to Fengyimen, as long as they are willing to write a detailed letter of repentance, they will be fine. be pardoned.Therefore, King Yong's iron and blood cleansing not only did not endanger the foundation of Dayong, but strengthened the strength of the army, because many children of aristocratic families and people in the rivers and lakes joined the army to avoid being implicated in the great rebellion. After the crisis, Dayong's The military power has become stronger. On October 9th, Zheng Xia brought poisonous wine, white silk and a dagger to the Jin'an Palace where the prince was imprisoned. This was the second time the prince was imprisoned here. With Wei Ying taking care of him secretly, and Fengyimen, Lu Jingzhong and others running outside, he finally had confidence in his heart, but this time Li An had nothing to rely on. up. Zheng Xia was about to go in when he suddenly saw a group of people approaching from a distance. Just by looking at their lanterns, he could tell that they were people from Prince Yong's Mansion. It was Li Shun, the evil shadow, surrounded by guards and guards. Jiang Zhe stepped forward and saluted deeply, "I am here to see the prince off by the order of His Royal Highness King Yong. Please allow me, my lord servant." Zheng Xia frowned and said, "This is against etiquette, is there the emperor's will?" A blazing murderous look flashed in Jiang Zhe's eyes, and he said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, you might as well say it bluntly, I didn't know that I came to His Highness King Yong this time, but I used His Highness's gold medal to trick the imperial army into coming in. , this time I must see the prince, if the servant does not allow it, then Jiang Zhe will have to force his way in." Zheng Xia was taken aback when he heard that, and when he looked carefully, he saw Jiang Zhe's eyebrows filled with an expression of resignation. Although Zheng Xia abided by etiquette, he was not a stubborn person. He thought that this person was assisting King Yong. Is it because of some enmity between him and the prince, is it because of some enmity between him and the prince? This person has a deep and vicious mind. If I insist on not allowing him, he will hold a grudge in his heart, and it will inevitably cause great disaster. If he harms me, it will be fine. It is my fault that this person deliberately provokes the relationship between the emperor and King Yong.Thinking of this, he said: "Since it is His Royal Highness King Yong's order, I can also follow the authority. Jiang Sima will go in with me." Jiang Zhe showed a hint of ecstasy, and waved his hand to let the guards stay outside. He only brought Xiao Shunzi in with Zheng Xia. Zheng Xia originally brought two brave and powerful eunuchs by his side. The original purpose was to prevent the prince from committing suicide and let them do it. Help, seeing the situation now, in order not to let the two eunuchs see things they shouldn't see, Zheng Xia waved them to stay outside. The three of them entered the Jin'an Hall, seeing Li An huddled on the bed, Zheng Xia couldn't help sighing softly, but Jiang Zhe's face was as cold as ice. After Zheng Xia announced the decree, Xiao Shunzi came over with the tray he had just received, and put poisonous wine, white silk and short swords in front of him.Li An just backed away while screaming, as expected he refused to commit suicide. When I got closer, I whispered, "His Royal Highness, do you remember Liu Piaoxiang from Nanchu?" Li An's eyes were full of confusion, and he said after a long time: "Remember, Gu once had a chance to visit her, didn't Liang Wan send her back long ago? Master Jiang, please intercede with your second brother, as long as Gu's life is spared, Gu would like to be imprisoned for life, or become a monk." I felt a rush of blood in my chest. Unexpectedly, Liang Wan lied to me that day. It turned out that the real murderer who killed Piaoxiang was herself. Although this Li An was the culprit, he was not the murderer, but I still hated it more and more. If it wasn't for his licentiousness, if it wasn't for Liang Wan to protect his identity secret, how could Piaoxiang be killed.Thinking of this, I turned my head to look at Xiao Shunzi, and said, "His Royal Highness refuses to go on the road, so you can help him." Xiao Shunzi glanced at Zheng Xia, picked up the poisonous wine casually, stepped forward to hold Li An, and poured the poisonous wine down easily.Li An died soon, his face was blue and purple, with unwillingness and remorse, but he didn't know what he was regretting. I just felt empty in my heart, I was a bit at a loss when my revenge was avenged. At this time, Zheng Shizhong said meaningfully: "Master Jiang, the past is over, and those who come will be chased. You must hold it." I glanced at Zheng Xia, stepped forward to salute, and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Zheng. Although Zhe has some selfish intentions, he has never provoked His Royal Highness King Yong to disregard brotherhood. It's just that the crown prince is full of evil. If Zhe can't come and watch the enemy go on the road , I really can’t be reconciled.” Although Zheng Xia only heard a few words, he was able to guess some of the truth, but he knew that the deal was done now, and he didn't need to worry too much, as long as he warned the young man not to harm the overall situation out of personal hatred. The three of them were about to leave when suddenly there were noisy voices outside the hall. When they walked outside the hall, they saw King Yong coming in a hurry. After seeing Zheng Xia and Jiang Zhe, King Yong looked relieved and said, "Master Zheng, This king sent Jiang Sima to see the prince off, just to show brotherly affection, and I ask Mr. Zheng not to be offended." Zheng Xia couldn't help being a little funny, but he didn't expose it, he just said: "This is also a favor, how can I blame you, Your Majesty is waiting for my return, Your Highness please." After Zheng Xia left, King Yong came over and gave Jiang Zhe a hard look, and said, "You are so audacious, how dare you fake my decree and settle accounts with you when you go back." Then he said in a low voice: "Suiyun , since you have such thoughts, why don't you tell me clearly, you are really, alas." My heart was filled with warmth, and I quickly turned my head to the side so that no one would see the tears that were about to overflow, and said in a low voice: "I dare not harm justice with selfishness. I am so grateful for your highness' love for me. I will never dare to hide it from now on." Your Highness is here." King Yong sighed and said, "Let's go, if Xiahou hadn't seen you enter the palace late at night, this king would not have known about your reckless behavior. Fortunately, Mr. Zheng didn't blame you." I bowed again to express my apology, and then I followed His Royal Highness King Yong out of the palace.Along the way, my heart is full of gratitude, I will never be able to repay His Highness Prince Yong's great kindness. ————————————— Please wait for Chapter 41: Spring Dream Without Trace