mutation
The smell of medicine in Zichen Palace had not yet dissipated when a series of imperial decrees suddenly burst out.
The next morning, the chief eunuch holding the imperial edict went first to the Eastern Palace and then to Prince Yong's Mansion.
"Crown Prince Ning Yanqing, during his time as regent, acted inappropriately and left his studies unfinished, making him unfit for this important responsibility. He is hereby dismissed from his position as regent, to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors, and to devote himself to his studies. He is not allowed to leave the Eastern Palace without permission!"
In the main hall of the East Palace, the prince seemed to have all his bones and muscles pulled out, and he collapsed on the cold gold bricks.
The tightly closed palace door outside the Zichen Palace yesterday was still before his eyes, and today's decree shattered his last bit of hope.
Dismissed from his position as regent and confined to reflect on his mistakes, he had forgotten even to follow orders, remaining in a state of despair and bewilderment. He was the eldest son, born the crown prince, and for twenty years had learned the ways of rulership, yet now he was imprisoned in a small cell by his father.
His father had dismissed him from his position as regent and imprisoned him. What would be next? Dethronement? Lifelong imprisonment? Death? He dared not think about it, yet he could not help thinking about it.
*
In the study of Prince Yong's Mansion, Prince Yong stood by the window with his hands behind his back. The morning light outlined his slightly gloomy figure. A map was spread out on the desk in front of him, and his fingertips were just at a pass between Yongzhou and the capital.
His eyes were calm. The secret order had been issued yesterday, and the hidden agents in various places began to operate quietly. He needed to wait for the opportunity and also make sure that everything was foolproof.
"Your Highness," a trusted aide whispered, "the garrison in the capital..."
Before he could finish his words, the door of the study was pushed open with a loud bang!
The captain of the Jinwu Guard, wearing armor, rushed in aggressively, accompanied by the imperial eunuch who was also holding the imperial edict.
Prince Yong turned around abruptly, his brows furrowed. His staff took a step back in shock, and the servant in the study was so frightened that he knelt on the ground.
"Prince Yong, please accept the order!" The eunuch's eyes swept over Prince Yong and the map on his desk.
Prince Yong's heart sank suddenly, and a strong sense of uneasiness surged up in him.
He forced himself to remain calm, slowly walked to the center of the study, knelt on one knee, and fixed his eyes on the eunuch: "Eunuch, what is your order?"
The eunuch glanced at him coldly, unfolded the imperial edict, and read aloud:
"Prince Yong is growing old, and it is time for him to be a vassal and serve as a shield for the country. He is ordered to depart immediately with his family for his fiefdom, Yongzhou, and is not allowed to return to the capital without imperial decree! All necessary carriages and guards have been assembled by the Jinwu Guards and are awaiting him outside the palace. They must be escorted out of the capital immediately without delay. This is my order!"
"Leave immediately?" Prince Yong's pupils suddenly shrank, and his voice was filled with disbelief. "Eunuch, how can such a major event be handled so hastily? The palace, the family, and the luggage will all need time to be packed! Father, is your Majesty really in such a hurry?"
He tried to see a glimmer of hope on the eunuch's face, but he only saw indifference.
"Your Highness Prince Yong," the eunuch looked down at him, his tone firm, "The decree is clearly written - depart immediately. Your Majesty means it is now!
"The carriage is waiting outside the palace. Your Highness, the Princess and the Crown Prince, please follow the Jinwu Guards and set off! As for the rest of the palace, we will handle them according to the subsequent regulations. Your Highness does not need to worry about it."
"At this moment?" The staff behind Prince Yong cried out in shock, the blood draining from their faces.
Princess Yong rushed over upon hearing the news. When she heard this, her face turned pale instantly and she subconsciously grabbed the hand of her young son beside her. The child was frightened by the solemn atmosphere and shrank into his mother's arms.
Prince Yong's face darkened completely. He looked at the expressionless face of the eunuch in front of him, then at the elite Jinwu Guards with their hands on the hilts of their swords at the door, and the last glimmer of hope in his heart was extinguished.
Fast! Accurate! Ruthless! His father's sword fell faster than he expected, leaving him no room to breathe! Good, he was indeed his father.
This is to uproot him and completely expel him from the center of power!
"Your Highness..." Princess Yong's voice trembled.
King Yong took a deep breath and suppressed the humiliation that was surging in his heart. He knew that any resistance would be futile at this moment. He slowly stood up, his movements still calm and steady.
"Understood. Princess, take the children and let's go."
He didn't even glance at the eunuch, turned around and walked out the door.
The Jinwu Guards immediately stepped forward, forming a double-team, clearly intending to escort them out and into their carriages. Princess Yong, clutching the child, stumbled after them, supported by two expressionless palace maids.
The entire Prince Yong's Mansion fell into chaos in an instant.
*
In the harem, Ning Lingli was meticulously applying her eyebrows before a diamond-shaped mirror when her personal maid stumbled in, her face pale as she reported the news that Prince Yong was being immediately exiled to his fiefdom.
"What did you say?"
The black ink in Ning Lingli's hand fell onto the dressing table with a "snap" sound, breaking into two pieces. She stood up suddenly, overturning the embroidery stool with her. The blood drained from her face, leaving only disbelief and horror.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Brother, how could Father do this? This must be fake! I want to see Father!"
The huge panic made her completely lose her usual composure. She lifted her skirt and was about to rush out, but was stopped by the palace maid. Her brother had been driven out of the capital by the emperor. What was the point of her going there now?
*
The air in the capital seemed to be stagnant.
The court, which was still turbulent yesterday, was now silent after these two imperial edicts. Was the emperor's long-term illness a false impression?
"Have you heard? The Crown Prince has been detained, and Prince Yong has been driven out of the capital!"
"They were escorted by the Jinwu Guards! Tsk tsk, what a scene..."
"Your Majesty is truly formidable! I've always said it, a true dragon is a true dragon, and those little bastards below can't turn the tables!"
There was a lot of discussion in the streets and alleys.
After the astonishment, there was awe of the emperor's skill. The rumors that were still speculating yesterday about who would start the rebellion first, the crown prince or Prince Yong, instantly turned into praises of the emperor's remaining power.
The country is still firmly in the emperor's hands and has never changed.
The prince, who had become the talk of the town, was now in a side hall of the East Palace, like a trapped beast.
The magnificent palace became a cage, and every familiar decoration seemed to mock his incompetence. Fear wrapped around his heart like a vine, tightening more and more.
The emperor dismissed him from his position as regent and imprisoned him. What was the next step? Dethronement? Lifelong imprisonment? Death?
He didn't dare to think about it, but he couldn't help thinking about it.
Under tremendous mental pressure, he completely collapsed in just a few days.
When the Queen received the news and hurried over, she saw this scene: her son, the Crown Prince, with disheveled hair and disheveled clothes, curled up on the cold ground, tears streaming down his face, his eyes vacant, and he kept muttering, "Mother, mother, save me! Father wants to depose me, he wants to kill me! He will definitely do it! Prince Yong is gone, and I'm next! It's me, mother!"
He suddenly raised his head and grabbed the hem of the queen's phoenix robe with such force that he almost tore the golden thread. "Go and beg my father. Go and tell him that I know I was wrong and I won't dare to do it again! Beg him to forgive me, spare my life! Otherwise, I will die here! I will die in front of him!"
As he said that, he actually pretended to crash into the Panlong Pillar next to him!
“That’s enough!”
She looked at her son in front of her, who was crying bitterly, the crown prince to whom she had devoted half her life, and what surged in her heart was not only anger at his lack of fighting spirit, but also a sense of sadness.
"Ning Yanqing!" The Queen called him by name. "Look at you now, with your hair disheveled, crying and wailing, looking for death! Where is the dignity of a crown prince? Where is the backbone of a royal descendant?"
The prince was frightened by his mother's unprecedented harsh words and stood there in a daze, forgetting even to cry.
"Waste." The queen scolded.
"Your father only dismissed you from the position of regent to let you reflect on your mistakes! He was disappointed in you. If he really wanted to depose you, do you think you would still be here crying and making a scene with me? Why do you think Prince Yong left the capital? That was your father clearing the way for you."
The word "waste" reached the ears of the second prince.
The prince looked up, his eyes bloodshot, at the queen: "Waste? Queen Mother said I'm waste?"
He stumbled to his feet and pointed at the Queen, "From childhood, I've been taught elementary education at the age of three, learned etiquette at the age of five, and haven't slacked off for a single day in over twenty years. Even the eunuchs have to watch which hand you use your chopsticks in! Now you think I'm useless?"
The Queen's expression was complicated: "Are you saying that my cultivation of you over the years has become a sin?"
"Cultivate?" The prince laughed bitterly. "Your Majesty, do you still remember when I was seven years old and had a fever? You stayed by my bedside for three whole days. At that time, you said Qing'er was your only hope... What about now?"
He suddenly grabbed the queen's sleeve and said, "Mother, I am your only son! If you don't help me, who will help you? If I am deposed, can you still be the queen mother? Your entire family has staked their lives on me!"
The Queen was incredulous: "Are you blackmailing me?"
"Are you threatening me?" The prince smiled sadly, tears mixed with sweat sliding down his cheeks.
"Mother, my mother and I have long shared a common fate! If I were deposed, do you think my father would still allow you to remain in the harem? Would my uncles still be able to keep their positions in the court? The honor and disgrace of our entire family depends on me alone!"
He knelt down two steps, clutching the edge of the empress's robe tightly. "If you don't intercede today, tomorrow those opportunistic officials in the court will pounce on us like hungry wolves and tear us apart! Mother, do you really want to watch us become prisoners, to be bullied by everyone?"
The queen looked at her son's crazy face and felt a pang of pain in her heart.
This is the son she has devoted twenty years of her life to, and this is the crown prince she has high hopes for.
She remembered his babbling as a child, how serious he was when he wrote for the first time, and how fragile he was when he snuggled in her arms when he was sick. But now, he looked at her with such calculating eyes and hurt her with such heartbreaking words.
"Qing'er... do you know that your words hurt your mother more than the imperial decree deposing the Crown Prince?"
The prince was stunned, and his hand holding the corner of her clothes loosened slightly.
"Over the past twenty years, Mother has indeed placed high hopes on you, but Mother never imagined that these hopes would turn you into what you are today..."
She took a step back and studied her son's face carefully, as if to carve his current appearance into her heart: "You actually used your biological mother as a bargaining chip in your struggle for power."
The prince looked at the complex expression in the queen's eyes and felt timid. He was afraid. He hugged the queen's thigh and cried, "Mother, I am afraid! You are the only one I have. If you don't save me, I will die! Mother!"
The queen saw that his face was covered with tears, but there was only desire in his eyes.
Completely lost my mind.
It turned out that this was her son.
The queen walked along the long palace road, and every step felt like stepping on broken porcelain.
She remembered the babyish voice of the prince when he first called her "Mother" when he was young, remembered how mischievously he always liked to hide behind her phoenix robe, and remembered how stubborn he was when he recited his lessons until late at night but never complained of being tired.
During the twenty years in the palace, she had seen too many tragedies like this, but she had never imagined that one day she would become a part of this tragedy.
Has my son become like this?
Who could have expected that just one incident would turn the prince into this state?
*
There was also unrest in the Zichen Palace.
After forcefully expelling Prince Yong and confining the crown prince, the emperor's spirits seemed briefly lifted. He leaned back on the dragon couch, listening to his confidants whisper reports of Prince Yong's departure from the capital and the gossip of the people. His pale face showed no joy, only an indescribable sadness.
"No one is seeing you off?" The emperor's voice was low and hoarse.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The eunuch bowed his head.
"Prince Yong's carriage left the city. The road was deserted. The Jinwu Guards escorted it, and no one dared to approach."
The emperor was silent for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "I understand. Go away."
He cast his gaze towards the dark twilight outside the window, as if he was looking at the direction where King Yong was leaving, or as if he was looking at somewhere even farther away.
Driving away the covetous illegitimate son and keeping the unpromising legitimate son, is this really good for Yan Qing? He pinched his brows tiredly, his heart empty.
The night is getting deeper.
*
Inside the Xuehan Palace, candlelight flickered.
Ning Lingyi sat on the embroidered cushion below Concubine Yu. She picked up the teacup and felt the warm porcelain wall with her fingertips before she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mother, there have been so many unexpected events today."
Concubine Yu was looking at a book in her hand facing the candlelight. Upon hearing this, her fingertips paused slightly, but she did not put the book down. After a long time, she let out a sigh.
"Yeah, it's turned upside down."
She put down the book and her eyes fell on Ning Lingyi. "Yier, thank goodness you're not a prince."
Ning Lingyi was slightly startled, and then she understood what her mother had not yet meant. Isn't the fate of Prince Yong, who was forced to flee the capital in disgrace today, another possible fate for all the princes?
She laughed, but her voice remained calm. "Mother, you're wrong. Even a princess would have been sent thousands of miles away, wouldn't she? It's just that the means were gentler and the name sounded better."
She thought of the Jinwu Guards outside Prince Yong's Mansion, who were acting as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and the words in the imperial decree that no one could return to the capital without an imperial edict. The royal family was ruthless, regardless of gender.
Imperial Concubine Yu was startled by her daughter's words. After a moment of silence, she slowly spoke with a warning, "Yier, be careful with your words. No matter what, after this thundering move, your father has begun to personally take power within and outside the palace."
"In the days ahead, you must be careful with your words and actions. Everyone in Xuehan Palace must be extra careful and avoid displeasing your father."
Ning Lingyi met her mother's worried gaze, suppressed the faint smile on her lips, and nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, mother, I won't worry."
The hall fell silent again. The night outside the window was as dark as ink, swallowing up all the shocking changes of the day.
The huge imperial palace seemed to be completely shocked by these two shocking decrees. From the East Palace to the Sixth Palace, from the court to the palace walls, all discussions, speculations, and undercurrents disappeared.
There was dead silence.
Even the chirping of insects could no longer be heard.
Everything seemed so peaceful.
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