Chapter 340 Election Results

Zhao State.

Capital city.

A piece of important news came out from the palace, which instantly caused a huge wave among the people and the court.

The general election, which was originally scheduled for a month and a half, was moved forward to three days later.

Those who are blessed by national fortune will not live long.

Your Majesty's health has deteriorated rapidly in the past few years and no medical method can save it. Only by giving up the throne can you have a chance to live a few more years.

Therefore, he set the election date a year in advance.

But now, if Your Majesty still carries the fate of the country, he may not live beyond a month.

Therefore, the general election can only be held ahead of schedule.

The palaces of the major princes received the news at the first opportunity.

Upon hearing the news, Prince Shun, Prince An, and Prince Xiang all remained quite calm.

Whether it's a month earlier or a month later, the result will not change for them.

Prince Sheng's Palace.

After listening to the eunuch's words, King Sheng was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help but blurt out, "Great!"

The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict took a look at him, and Prince Sheng realized that it seemed a little inappropriate for him to act so happy when his father was seriously ill.

He immediately suppressed the joy on his face and said solemnly: "This king knows."

After the eunuch left, he clenched his fists excitedly.

Three days later, he will reach the summit!

There was also jubilation in Prince Sheng’s Palace.

Judging from the current situation, they can already celebrate in advance.

Princess Palace.

Inside the small courtyard, the three of them were silent.

Li Nuo was expectant and excited. After all, this was his first time participating in the fight for succession. He had worked so hard for so long, and after three days, it would be time to bear fruit.

In addition to being nervous, Zhao Zhiyi felt more helpless.

After the election, he should leave, right?

What path should she take next?

Song Yiren pursed her lips, a hint of reluctance in her eyes.

Are you going back?

Fake is fake after all. No matter how beautiful the dream is, there will always be a time to wake up...

…

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Early in the morning, just as the sky was getting light, all the officials in the capital had gathered at the palace gate.

Today, they will be here to witness the birth of the new emperor.

At noon, the palace gate slowly opened, and officials filed in, standing in an orderly manner in the square in front of the palace according to their rank.

The four princes stood at the front of the crowd.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Taichang Temple presided over the ceremony before the general election.

The general election was one of the most important events in the Zhao court. The process was complicated and elaborate. An hour later, a dull bell rang, and the general election officially began.

Officials above the fifth rank walked into the hall in front one by one in order.

There is a square table in the center of the hall.

There are writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstone, and a red wooden box on the square table.

The voting official needed to write down the title of the person he voted for on a piece of paper, such as King Shun, King An, King Xiang, King Sheng, etc., and then put the paper into a wooden box.

Two teams of guards were stationed on both sides of the hall.

Although they cannot see who the officials voted for, they can ensure that they do not make any unnecessary moves and guarantee the fairness of the vote.

When one official finishes voting and leaves the hall, the next official can enter.

In front of the crowd, the four princes had different expressions.

King Sheng was in high spirits. He nodded and smiled at every official who walked out of the hall, looking as if he was sure of victory.

The other three princes had blank expressions on their faces, as if they had already accepted their fate.

It was almost noon when nearly two hundred officials finally finished voting.

The ticket checking was done by eunuchs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, supervised by officials from the Censorate.

As the palace door slowly closed, the heartbeats of all the officials outside the palace quickened.

Inside the main hall, the eunuchs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs took out all the ballots and counted them separately.

Princess Zhaoyang, Prince An, Princess Zhaoyang, Prince Shun, Prince An, Princess Zhaoyang, Princess Zhaoyang...

After only seven votes were counted, several eunuchs were stunned.

Of these seven votes, the Sixth Princess accounted for four.

How could anyone possibly vote for the Sixth Princess?

Among the people, there are many calls for the Sixth Princess to run for election. Why do these adults take it seriously?

As the votes were counted one by one, the eunuchs' expressions became more and more terrified.

Princess Zhaoyang, Princess Zhaoyang, Princess Zhaoyang... So many votes were cast for the Sixth Princess.

More than half of the votes have been counted, and the Sixth Princess' votes are almost equal to the total number of votes from the other princes.

The terrified people did not notice that the officials of the Censorate remained calm, as if they had already expected such an outcome.

Soon, all the votes were counted.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs calculated it several times and got the same result every time.

Prince Shun had 28 votes, Prince An had 41 votes, Prince Xiang had 22 votes, and Prince Sheng had 19 votes.

The Sixth Princess got eighty-three votes.

This result exceeded everyone's expectations.

No one dared to announce the result directly.

The eunuch supervisor winked at the person beside him, and a young eunuch immediately stood up and hurriedly ran out of the back door of the hall.

After crossing a square and several corridors, he arrived in front of a palace and said respectfully, "The Ministry of Internal Affairs has important matters to report to Your Majesty."

At the entrance of the palace, an old eunuch glanced at him, turned and walked into the palace, and came out again after a moment, saying, "Go in."

The eunuch walked into the palace cautiously, passed through a small courtyard full of flowers, and entered a quiet room. He looked up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I meet the Imperial Master!"

An old man was lying on the couch. His body was gaunt and his eye sockets were sunken. He looked like a bag of bones. He did not open his eyes and asked in a weak voice, "Any results?"

The young eunuch said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has counted all the votes."

The old man asked, “Who is it?”

The young eunuch moved his lips and said, "Yes, it's Princess Zhaoyang..."

The old man lying on the bed slowly opened his eyes.

He glanced at the young eunuch and said, "Wait outside."

The eunuch bowed and left the room, crossed the courtyard, and retreated to the outside of the palace.

At this moment, inside the room, the Emperor of Zhao asked, "Master, is this also the choice of fate?"

The four princes who were regents were calculated by the imperial master at the cost of his own life.

But today's result was beyond the fate he had calculated.

The skinny old man sitting in front of the bed said calmly: "National destiny contains too many secrets. I can only calculate that the future of Zhao is related to one of the four of them. Perhaps, King Sheng's mission is to let the Sixth Princess enter. If it weren't for King Sheng's regent, how could the Sixth Princess come into the sight of the court officials?"

The Emperor of Zhao nodded slightly and said, "I understand."

Afterwards, he was silent for a long time, and finally spoke again: "Master, is there really no way to achieve immortality in this world?"

The skinny old man was silent for a long time before he spoke: "Life span is predetermined by heaven. Some people are born, and some die. Some people live long, and some die young. Even the Yin-Yang masters who understand fate best cannot find the way to longevity..."

The Emperor of Zhao asked, "Then why is that person from Daxia..."

The skinny old man disagreed and said calmly: "It's just that his fate has not come yet."

The Emperor of Zhao stopped talking. After a long sigh, the hall fell into silence for a long time.

The young eunuch waited outside the palace for an unknown period of time. The old eunuch finally came out and whispered something in his ear. The young eunuch nodded heavily and ran quickly in the direction they came from.

…

Outside the hall, the officials of Zhao State were already getting impatient waiting.

Some people even started to talk in low voices.

"It's just counting the votes, does it take so long?"

"It's already been less than an hour. Even if we count ten tickets, that should be enough, right?"

"I don't know, what happened in there?"

In front of the crowd, King Sheng was getting a little impatient waiting.

Could something have happened inside?

Just as he could no longer hold back and was about to step forward to ask, the palace door that had been closed for a long time finally opened.

Officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Imperial Censorate walked out of the hall.

King Sheng took a step forward, then immediately retracted it, stood up straight, held his chest high, and looked straight ahead.

The eunuch held a piece of red paper in his hand, glanced at the ministers below, and said, "The counting of votes has ended. Now let me announce the results."

As he finished speaking, the scene fell into complete silence.

The eunuch cleared his throat and said, "Prince Shun, twenty-eight votes."

There was still some hope in Prince Shun's eyes, but after hearing these words, the fire of hope in his eyes was completely extinguished.

There were only twenty-eight votes, which meant that apart from his own small group, there were very few court officials who voted for him.

At this time, the eunuch's voice came again: "Prince An, forty-one votes."

Upon hearing this, Prince An lowered his head slightly.

Forty-one votes, although many neutral court officials also voted for him, it was far from enough.

"Prince Xiang, twenty-two votes."

The eunuch's re-speaking undoubtedly announced the result in advance.

There were a total of 193 ballots, and the three princes had a total of 91 votes. Doesn't that mean that Prince Sheng alone had more than 100 votes, which is more than the votes of the three princes combined?

At this moment, King Sheng could no longer suppress the smile on his face.

The eunuch continued, "Prince Sheng, nineteen votes."

“Hahaha!” Prince Sheng laughed a few times, walked to the front, and said to the eunuchs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the officials of the Imperial Censorate: “Thank you for your hard work…”

The officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs looked at him in astonishment.

King Sheng finally realized something and was stunned: "How much does this king have?"

The eunuch repeated, "Nineteen votes."

King Sheng looked at him in a daze.

What's wrong with these people? I can't even count them. The other three have 91 votes, so how could he only have 19 votes? Even if someone randomly voted for other princes, he should have more than 90 votes...

He looked at the eunuchs and said, "Are you mistaken? How could I only have 19 votes? 91 votes is about right..."

The eunuch said patiently, "Don't worry, Your Highness. There is still one person whose votes have not been announced."

King Sheng looked even more confused.

Besides these four, who else will be voting today?

The eunuch supervisor said, "Princess Zhaoyang, eighty-three votes."

As he finished speaking, not only Prince Sheng was stunned, but the other three princes and most of the court officials present were also stunned.

"W-what?"

"Eighty-three votes for the Sixth Princess?"

"Can you still vote for the Sixth Princess?"

"Damn it, if I had known so many people would vote for the Sixth Princess, I would have voted for the Sixth Princess too!"

"No one ever told me that I could vote for the Sixth Princess!"

…

After the other three princes came to their senses, they looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

None of them were willing to lose to King Sheng like this.

But they were convinced of their loss to the Sixth Sister.

Prince An smiled comfortably and said to himself, "I suddenly feel that being a leisurely prince is not bad..."

Prince Shun also laughed and said, "You're right. I can finally have some free time from now on."

Prince Xiang put his arm around their shoulders and said, "Come on, let's have a banquet at my house today. Let's have a drink together, brothers..."

"Why……"

King Sheng staggered, took a few steps back, and nearly fell.

Why did those people choose Sixth Sister? Shouldn’t they have chosen him?

What went wrong?

The election results have come out, and all officials left the palace in an orderly manner.

After experiencing great ups and downs, King Sheng's mind went blank and he walked out of the palace in a daze.

Outside the palace, the people were already gathered there waiting for news.

When the crowd heard that the Sixth Princess had won, they cheered.

"I knew that the Sixth Princess could do it!"

"We will have a good life in the future!"

"Those adults really heard the voices of the people..."

King Sheng turned around and looked around, looking at the joyous people, he felt even more confused.

Why didn’t he know that the people supported Sixth Sister so much?

There were so many counselors in the palace, but no one told him.

If he had known this earlier, he would never have sat idly by and watched this happen.

He returned to Prince Sheng's Palace.

The advisers in the palace were all waiting for his return.

"Congratulations, Your Highness! Congratulations, Your Highness!"

"Congratulations, Your Highness, on ascending the throne!"

As soon as Prince Sheng stepped into the palace, he heard a burst of cheers.

After a moment, a figure knelt at the feet of King Sheng and said in a trembling voice: "Your Highness, spare me. This is all Mr. Lin's fault. It was Mr. Lin who asked us to keep it a secret from Your Highness. He said that this was a conspiracy by the three princes to alienate Your Highness and the Sixth Princess. He didn't want us to tell Your Highness..."

King Sheng had a dull expression, it turned out these people had known about it for a long time!

From the very beginning, he was the only one who was kept in the dark!

When King Sheng brought a group of people to the courtyard where Mr. Lin lived, he found that the courtyard was empty.

"They are... in the same group!"

King Sheng's face turned red. After he squeezed out these few words from between his teeth, his eyes turned black and he fell straight to the ground.

At this time, the princess's mansion.

Several eunuchs walked into the courtyard. An old eunuch forced a flattering smile on his face and said to Zhao Zhiyi: "Your Highness, His Majesty summons you..."

Zhao Zhiyi's eyes subconsciously looked at Li Nuo.

Li Nuo said helplessly: "Why are you looking at me? Go..."

You're going to be the emperor soon, how come you don't even have this much opinion...

After Zhao Zhiyi left, Yiren came over, looking a little depressed, and asked Li Nuo, "Are we going back?"

Li Nuo said: "Not so fast, it will take at least half a month."

If he wants to go back, he has to wait until the Sixth Princess officially takes the throne and his cultivation is complete. Only then can this trip to Zhao State be considered a success.

Generally speaking, a succession ceremony will be held within half a month after the election.

And considering the physical condition of the Zhao emperor, this time may be shortened.

Li Nuo suddenly realized that if the Sixth Princess became emperor, her life span would also be affected.

She is only twenty years old this year, and it is very likely that she will suffer the backlash of the country's destiny when she is fifty years old.

Unless she abdicates long in advance.

But once you sit in this position, it will be difficult to step down.

For the sake of our past friendship, if I have too much life to use up, I can give her some...

(End of this chapter)