Chapter 182 Past Events
Princess Kangle sat on Su Shang's horse with lingering fear.
Zhao Yuanrong ignored those who wanted to kill her and gave an order, "Return to the city."
"Sister, what happened?"
Qu Ling sent someone to the princess's residence to tell her to send her to the temporary palace, but he didn't expect that something really happened in the palace.
She felt a little scared.
"A Ling, His Majesty wants to marry me to the Crown Prince and is trying to drug me."
Qu Ling suddenly thought of his previous life.
Was it my sister's own will, or was it the emperor's doing?
In the palace, Hou Xu waited for a long time before he saw the emperor come in with a gloomy look on his face.
"Your Majesty," Hou Xu asked tentatively, "what happened?"
The emperor said, "The princess was too playful and went somewhere unknown. I have sent someone to look for her."
Then he asked Hou Xu to sit down and said, "I asked you to come here so that you can play chess with me."
Eunuch Han immediately ordered the chessboard to be set up.
The chess pieces landed on the board with a crisp sound.
"Hou Xu," the emperor suddenly spoke, his eyes still fixed on the chessboard, "if I ask the eldest princess to return to her fiefdom and she refuses, will you send her back?"
Hou Xu paused holding the chess piece, and hurriedly left his seat and knelt on the ground, "If Your Majesty issues an imperial decree, Hou Xu will not dare to disobey."
The emperor chuckled and said, "You know I can't issue this imperial decree."
Hou Xu didn't dare to stand up.
Now the government affairs are under the control of the eldest princess, and the imperial edict cannot leave the palace without her approval.
If the imperial guards were mobilized to besiege the princess's residence based solely on the emperor's oral order, the princess would never surrender without a fight on false charges.
The troops from Binzhou will enter the capital to protect their master, and then the world will be in chaos.
He has become a sinner for all eternity.
"If Your Majesty only gives oral instructions, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to act."
Hou Xu's throat tightened and he didn't dare to say anything more.
If he really did this, once he was charged with treason, the emperor would never say a word in his defense.
"Forget it, get up," the emperor waved his hand. "I was just saying it casually. Alas, I, the emperor, am just a decoration."
Hou Xu sat back at his seat tremblingly, not daring to answer.
Dusk gradually deepened outside the window, and the palace lanterns lit up one after another.
"Do you know why your father went against the late emperor's will and watched helplessly as the empress dowager supported me to ascend the throne?" The emperor suddenly changed the subject.
The three people left behind by the late emperor are Song Guang, General Hou, and Xiao Ciyu.
General Hou, the man he trusted the most, also betrayed him.
Hou Xu's scalp tingled, and he said, "I don't know."
"Your grandfather and the late emperor were close friends," the emperor said, his gaze far away. "He played a vital role in the late emperor's ascension to the throne. The late emperor gave him the Imperial Guards' Fish Token and also issued an imperial decree that the command of the Imperial Guards would be hereditary for your family."
"After the Princess entered the court, she felt that the Emperor's life and property could not be entirely handed over to the commander of the Imperial Guards. She wanted to take back the fish token and divide power. The Queen Mother used this to convince your father."
Hou Xu held his breath.
He had only heard his father mention this past event in a few words, and every time he mentioned it, there was always an unremovable gloom in his father's eyes.
He remembered that before his father died, he often couldn't sleep at night and kept sighing over the armor given to him by the late emperor.
Before he died, my father said that he was sorry to the late emperor and the eldest princess.
The emperor continued, "Your father was ultimately afraid of being sidelined, so he agreed to the Queen Mother's proposal. Furthermore, the King of Yunnan was ready to make a move, so the Queen Mother asked your father to take the Princess out of the capital to quell the rebellion. Otherwise, how could I hold on to the throne?"
Hou Xu suddenly understood.
It turns out that this was what my father meant when he said on his deathbed that he was ashamed to see the late emperor.
A slight change of mind caused the eldest princess, who was supposed to succeed to the throne, to leave.
No wonder his father not only protected Princess Jiaping everywhere in the palace, but also asked him to protect Princess Jiaping.
Because of guilt.
Hou Xu felt an inexplicable sense of anger and sadness in his heart.
So many people worked together to plot against the eldest princess to take the throne and forced her to live in seclusion.
I wonder how the eldest princess has managed to get rid of her resentment over the years.
"Hou Xu," the emperor touched a chess piece in his hand and tapped it on the table, "I intend to abdicate the throne to the eldest princess."
"But once the princess ascends the throne, you, the commander of the imperial guards, will be sidelined and become a mere shell."
The emperor said quietly, "Do you want the eldest princess to succeed to the throne, or the crown prince?"
"minister……"
"Your Majesty, General, something bad has happened. There are assassins in the palace."
The guard's voice sounded outside the hall, interrupting Hou Xu's words.
Hou Xu stood up suddenly and said, "Your Majesty, I will go and take a look."
The emperor slowly leaned back on the cushions and closed his eyes tiredly.
"Go ahead."
Hou Xu left the hall and asked, "Where is the assassin? Has he been caught?"
"He left the palace," the guard said. "He doesn't look like an assassin. He looks more like... a palace maid who escaped."
Hou Xu's expression was serious. "Is the princess still in the palace?"
Very strange.
He was detained by the emperor for half a day.
Zhao Yuanrong didn't show up.
Guard, "People from the Princess's Mansion are still guarding outside the palace. I only saw Eunuch Han looking for Princess Kangle."
"I'll go to Leqing Palace and take a look."
"No need to go." A voice came from behind.
Hou Xu turned around and saw the prince.
After the greetings, Zhao Xuanyi said, "She's gone."
Hou Xu was puzzled, because the people she brought were clearly still outside the palace.
"General Hou, please get ready. Father may be returning to the palace at any moment."
After Zhao Xuanyi finished speaking, he walked into the palace where the emperor was.
Hou Xu was stunned. Was the assassin just now the princess?
What exactly happened?
He really wanted to ask Zhao Yuanrong.
After Zhao Yuanrong entered the city, he took Qu Ling directly to the princess's mansion.
The eldest princess was waiting at the door.
In the afternoon, someone came to report from the palace that the emperor wanted to keep Yuan Rong in the palace.
The person who came was brought by the princess's mansion.
This happened before and it's normal.
However, A Ling said, "The Crown Prince is also in the palace. What if they want to harm you with dirty tricks? The Queen hates you, but the Crown Prince has always wanted to marry you. And there's His Majesty, whom you trust very much. He's also involved. How can you escape?"
The eldest princess' heart trembled.
trust.
Back then, she also trusted the Queen Mother Song, which brought her devastating harm.
Is her daughter going to follow in her footsteps?
The sound of horse hooves.
The eldest princess understood when she saw Zhao Yuanrong with messy hair and dirty clothes.
"Mom, I'm fine." Zhao Yuanrong jumped off the horse and hugged the eldest princess.
"Okay, I'm glad you're okay."
Princess Kang Le shrank aside, not daring to speak.
"Take her to wash up and find a room for her to stay in." Zhao Yuanrong ordered the female official.
The eldest princess didn't ask anything, she knew everything.
"I'm also at the princess's residence with my sister." Qu Ling said.
The eldest princess brought the children in and said to Pei Jingming, "Stay, I have something to say to you."
Pei Jingming was waiting for the eldest princess in the flower hall.
When the eldest princess appeared again, she had changed into simple clothes and put on a black cloak.
"Go to the Ministry of Justice Prison."
The eldest princess' eyes flashed with murderous intent. She also said, "Tomorrow I will issue two decrees to Xiao Ciyu: one, depose the empress, and two, order the Prince of Yunnan to lead 50,000 troops to the capital to protect the king."
She wanted to break those people's bones inch by inch.
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