After all, most of the affairs in the court have now fallen into Zhou Qingyun's hands. However, some things, such as the military power that was dispersed from the beginning, are still divided into four parts. Zhou Qingyun cannot directly grasp it in his hands, but fortunately, his wife is the daughter of Duke Anguo, and Duke Anguo is now his man. As long as the wife has no children, he is safe.

So now Zhou Qingyun is not only busy with the affairs of the court and local princes, but also needs to appease his grandfather and continue to accompany him in the crazy search for the existence of this magical fruit. He wishes he could split it into several pieces to use. Many things have to be put on hold. After all, the emperor's body has reached the end of its strength.

Because the current emperor, apart from still having the title of emperor, has no ability to compete with Zhou Qingyun. After all, his father-in-law, Duke Anguo, has already grasped half of the royal power of the Zhou Dynasty, and all the military generals were promoted by Zhou Qingyun. King Rui is now silently supporting his son behind the scenes. After all, he is the former crown prince and still has many people under his control.

Most of the civil and military officials are in his hands. Now more than half of the eight ministries of the court are his people. No one can shake his position unless the emperor suddenly has a seizure. Even if he has a seizure, Zhou Qingyun can suppress it directly.

In other words, as long as Zhou Qingyun wanted, he could depose his grandfather at any time and successfully ascend the throne. However, he did not want to be criticized, so he never did it. He even deliberately joined the emperor in making trouble. After all, the saying that the divine fruit fell from the sky was too ridiculous, but the old emperor believed it without a doubt, and he was wholeheartedly looking for it.

Anyway, the emperor's purpose is just to find some kind of divine fruit that fell from the sky. Let the emperor handle this trivial matter by himself.

As expected, when Wang Shiyu was five months pregnant, the death knell suddenly rang in the palace, and the news soon spread to Jizhou City. The old emperor's health had actually deteriorated a long time ago, but he had been well cared for, so he lived for so long. Otherwise, with the sins the old emperor had committed, he would probably have to go to the eighteen levels of hell and go through them one by one.

The current emperor died quietly in the middle of the night, and his death was also very peaceful. It was considered a natural death, and it was also his luck.

After all, Zhou Qingyun has been living in the palace, and he is very familiar with the palace guards and intelligence system. It can be said that most of the people in the palace are spies planted by him, so the moment the emperor died, he already knew the truth of the matter. At the same time, he directly controlled the entire palace to prevent the news from leaking out. He had to guard against some people with ulterior motives. The palace must be well arranged. Anyone who dared to show up at the national mourning would be buried with the emperor.

Zhou Qingyun arranged all his people to important positions throughout the palace overnight, and then started to report the death to all the ministers and princes early the next morning. At the same time, he began to liquidate those people in the palace who were not his own. Some of them were also planted by the old emperor and the princes, and they had to be dealt with cleanly. How could he allow others to sleep soundly beside his bed?

At this time, the people outside the palace who got the news had no way to create chaos anymore. They contacted their own people, but there was no reply at all. How could they not understand that the palace had been completely controlled by Zhou Qingyun, and there was no way to fish in troubled waters. They could only do everything according to Zhou Qingyun's plan.

Soon, the minister in charge of the care of the orphan took out the imperial edict that was sealed behind the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming". It directly allowed Zhou Qingyun to ascend the throne according to the old emperor's will. The minister in charge of the orphan began to read the edict. The edict was very simple, which was to pass the throne to the emperor's grandson Zhou Qingyun, but arranged for a regent to supervise the government.

Even if Zhou Qingyun was unhappy about someone putting pressure on him, he really couldn't say anything. He could only happily agree to the regent's supervision of the government. He even had to respect the old man well, after all, he was his grandfather's younger brother.

After Zhou Qingyun ascended the throne, he also had to issue an edict. He ascended the throne directly on the eighth day after the old emperor's death.

"The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, proclaims:

The late emperor passed away suddenly and returned to the five elements. I, who have inherited the favor of Heaven and the great blessings of the saints, follow the will of the late emperor, and follow the order of family order to serve the ancestral family.

Civil and military officials both inside and outside the country, as well as elders, soldiers and civilians, have urged you to ascend the throne, but you have refused again and again. Now, I respectfully announce to Heaven and Earth that I will ascend the throne as Emperor.

We must think deeply about the heavy responsibility entrusted to us, and be sincere and conscientious in our work. We must ensure the success of our business and the prosperity of our cause. If we want to promote good governance, we must make reforms and establish new ones.

All matters are done according to the old rules, and we also respectfully carry on the wishes of our ancestors.

I believe that I have a cool character, and I still rely on the wise to work together to create a new governance.

The next year was designated as the first year of Jinghe in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Grant amnesty to the whole nation and start anew with the people."

The first thing Zhong Qing did after ascending the throne was to directly start conferring titles on several of the emperor's remaining princes, giving them the title of prince. Anyway, there was no position that was too high. Except for a few of the more favored children who were conferred the title of prince by the old emperor himself, the others all started as princes. He didn't even give them any real power. He just found a position in the Ministry of Rites and stuffed it into these people, or sent them to compile books.

At the same time, the old emperor's concubines in the harem began to move from the East Six Palaces to the West Six Palaces. The West Six Palaces were not large, but the old emperor had many concubines, so a lot of people could only be crammed into one palace.

In order to make his background look better, he reluctantly promoted his own mother to the princess of Prince Rui, and that was all. He didn't even give Zhang Qianqian the face of the empress dowager. Normally, when Zhou Qingyun ascended the throne, Prince Rui would be the emperor, and Zhang Qianqian would be the empress dowager, but Zhou Qingyun didn't give her that face.

The ministers entrusted by the old emperor with the care of the young emperor also strongly agreed with these actions. After all, Zhang Qianqian's background was questionable, especially since she had been crazy for many years. It would be enough for her to be a princess.

Then he sent his wife to the prince's residence outside the palace, intending to let her ride in the phoenix chariot into the palace in grand style and become his queen openly.

"By the providence of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims:

I have received the imperial mandate, carried on the great plan, and bestowed upon you the grace of the emperor and bestowed upon you the blessings of the emperor.

My wife, An Yuxiu, the daughter of Duke Anguo, is a woman of both talent and virtue, a beautiful lady from a prominent family, and a graceful and elegant girl.

The late emperor praised her for her gentle and bright demeanor, virtuous character, respectful and cautious conduct, and her good reputation among the officials.

She is a person of noble character, with a sharp mind, a disciplined and prudent character, and a quiet and elegant demeanor. In accordance with the late emperor's will, she was canonized as Empress Zhonggong Yixian Zhenjing and granted the residence of Fengyi Hall in the Pepper Palace.

I hereby order you to do so!"