Chapter 36: With the Prince or with Me?

The next morning, in the magnificent Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Crown Prince Xiao Yan, who has not yet reached the age of twenty and has not yet entered the court, is also here today. He is tall and slender, handsome and elegant, wearing a golden court robe with a dragon pattern and a Shanyi crown on his head.

On the high platform between the golden pillars in the center of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the emperor, wearing a crown and a golden sword, sat in the center of the gold-painted throne with cloud and dragon patterns.

As usual, he looked down at all the civil and military officials in the court with ease and dignity, showing his authority without even getting angry.

"If you have something to report, please do so. If not, please dismiss the court." The emperor's deep and powerful voice penetrated the majestic hall, and the lingering sound lingered in the air.

He did not even ask why Crown Prince Xiao Yan, who was supposed to be attending morning classes in Wenhua Hall, was here, and just turned a blind eye.

All the ministers below were silent, and the hall was completely silent.

At this moment, the prince took a few steps forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report."

His voice was clear, deep and pleasant, as clear as pearls falling to the ground, and his tone was calm and gentle.

There were only the emperor and his subjects in the court, not fathers and sons, so his address was not wrong, but those who were attentive had already heard the subtlety in it.

The emperor raised his eyes and looked at him indifferently, his face as cold as ice.

Xiao Jing spoke in a clear and rhythmic voice: "Last night, I suddenly dreamed of my father. When I woke up, I realized it was a dream. I was so sad that I couldn't sleep. I beg Your Majesty to allow me to choose an auspicious day to go to Fengxian Hall and Taimiao to pay my respects in person to comfort the spirit of my father in heaven."

As the saying goes, when one loses both his parents, the father is the deceased and the mother is the deceased.

In front of all the civil and military officials in the court, the prince said that his biological father, the late Emperor Yongshun, had appeared in his dream and asked him to go to Fengxian Hall and Taimiao to offer sacrifices. This was like a slap in the face to the emperor who was sitting on the dragon throne.

At the beginning of Taizu's reign, he presided over the compilation of "Record of Ancestors' Instructions", which clearly stipulated that the throne and the inheritance of the royal family should be based on "the son succeeding the father". If there is a legitimate son, the eldest son will be succeeded. If there is no son, then "the younger brother will succeed the elder brother".

The late Emperor Yongshun was not childless. He had two sons. His eldest son Xiao Yan was the most legitimate first-in-line heir.

No matter how dire the situation was at that time due to internal and external troubles, the emperor's succession to the throne was always illegal. Now that the prince has grown up, he should have abdicated and returned power to the emperor.

Throughout history, only the emperor of the current dynasty could go to the Fengxian Hall and the Taimiao to offer sacrifices in person.

Only in special circumstances would officials be sent to offer sacrifices, but these officials would only offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor, not in their own name.

The prince said that he would go to Fengxian Hall and Taimiao to offer sacrifices in person, so under what name would he go?

An official who serves on behalf of the emperor?

Or the emperor himself?

The crown prince is a more legitimate figure than the current emperor.

Gradually, ministers in the hall began to kneel down and agree, and their voices became louder and louder, like an overwhelming tidal wave.

"Your Majesty, please approve this."

"Your Majesty, please approve this."

…

The emperor remained silent for a long time, then suddenly held his forehead and laughed a few times.

Ha, using a fabricated dream to threaten him with such a powerful move, he is worthy of being the crown prince he personally trained.

Knowing that his biggest weakness was that he came to power illegitimately, his son actually used this to threaten him to release the person.

It seems that he really underestimated Yang's influence on the prince.

Yes, he himself couldn't help himself, let alone his younger and more immature son?

What he said yesterday was indeed true. Yang was a disaster. When he saw the prince lowering himself to please her, he should have killed her.

There was a sinister gleam in the emperor's deep eyes. If he had killed her at that time, the father and son would not have fallen deeper and deeper into trouble and even become enemies.

Today the crown prince asked to personally offer sacrifices at the Fengxian Temple and the Taimiao. Will he lead his ministers to seize his throne tomorrow?

He held the military power and was not afraid of this at all. The prince was supported by only a group of pedantic officials and had no chance of winning.

But if a quarrel really breaks out, the discord between father and son will be passed down through the ages, and the fact that he came to power in an illegitimate way will be recorded in great detail by historians.

Moreover, he has no biological heirs. When the crown prince succeeds to the throne in the future, the first thing he will probably do is to depose him from the throne and deny everything he did.

The emperor clenched his fists on his knees, and the evil spirit engraved in his blood swept over him like a tsunami.

After a while, his face turned pale and he shouted in a deep voice: "Let's discuss this matter later. I will discuss it with the Crown Prince in private. I will leave the court now."

Before leaving, the emperor said with murderous intent: "Anyone who stays in the hall after the court session will be dragged out and beaten with a hundred sticks."

If he is beaten with a stick a hundred times in the court, even if he doesn't die, he will lose half his life.

The court officials who were kneeling on the ground stood up one after another, looked at the prince with apology, and then quickly left the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Xiao Yan's goal has been achieved, and he doesn't care whether these people are truly loyal to him.

He thought of Yang Manyan's timid and delicate personality, and wondered how desperate she must have been during the month she was imprisoned in Yingtai, Xiyuan.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yan felt a pain in his heart as if it was being pricked by a needle.

After all the ministers had left, he strode out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a gloomy face and met Chang Ying, the eunuch in charge of the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

At this moment, dark clouds were hanging low over the imperial palace, like a gloom pressing down on overhead, making it hard to breathe.

"Your Highness, the Emperor invites you to go hunting in the Western Garden." Chang Ying gave him an embarrassed smile.

However, the Crown Prince, who was always gentle and polite, gave him a cold look and ordered Shu Qing beside him to prepare his horse and go to the West Garden.

Chang Ying looked at the nose and then the heart, and couldn't help but sigh, why did the emperor choose Yang Shangyi?

During this month, he witnessed with his own eyes how favored Yang Shangyi was.

He has served the emperor for more than 20 years. This is the first time he has seen the emperor favor a woman!

Chang Ying was married before he entered the palace. He had never known that sex could be so intense. It turned out that the True Dragon Emperor was different from mortals like them...

In the brief moment he was stunned, the prince had already arrived at the Imperial Garden on the west side of the palace on his horse.

He walked onto the Yingtai Terrace across the stone bridge and entered the Hanyuan Hall without any obstruction. He finally saw the person he had missed for a long time.

But the scene that caught Xiao Yan's eyes made his heart feel as if someone had squeezed it.

The girl was wearing only a snow-blue nightgown, her long black hair was loose, her face was pale, and she nestled in her father's arms with a listless look.

The emperor was holding a sweet white-glazed porcelain bowl filled with a bitter and thick medicine, which he was about to feed to the girl in his arms.

Yesterday, the two of them indulged themselves in the pavilion by the lake. After returning, Yang Manyan caught a cold. Although he did not have a fever, his head was still dizzy.

After a moment's hesitation, Xiao Yan walked a little further inside and said in a hoarse voice, "Yuanyuan, I'm here to take you back to the East Palace."

Hearing this, Yang Manyan's eyes widened and his swollen head suddenly became clear.

Just as she was showing disbelief, another low, cold and threatening male voice sounded above her head again -

"Yuan'er, are you following the prince or me?"