74 Regent
◎The world that belongs to His Majesty Prince Zhao will finally come.◎
At dawn, the imperial city was shrouded in mist.
Inside the Taiji Hall, the long sword that had been knocked to the ground flashed with a cold light, reflecting Lu Chen's slightly panicked face.
He looked around at the two rows of sword-wielding imperial guards surrounding him, and then at his father's cold face behind the heavy guards.
Even though he had been on the throne for many years, Emperor Mingde had fought on the battlefields and expanded his territory in his youth. How could he be easily abducted within three steps?
He returned the sword to its sheath, his tone filled with disappointment: "Chengyu, what are you going to do today?"
If he had not seen it with his own eyes, he would still be unwilling to believe that the youngest son who had always been well-behaved and filial in front of them could have such a wolfish ambition, trying to hold the king and father hostage and rebel.
Of his three legitimate sons, he pitied Chengyu's youth and always asked his two elder brothers to take extra care of him. When Qi'an led troops abroad, he sometimes ordered Chengyu to accompany him, hoping that Chengyu could make achievements under his elder brothers' protection and gain a firm foothold in the court with his military skills.
He never blamed his youngest son for his incompetence and mediocre achievements in civil and military affairs; nor did he blame the child for being ignorant and competing with his older brother for fame.
He originally thought that Chengyu was a filial child after all.
After witnessing all this, Emperor Mingde could no longer convince himself.
He coldly spat out two words: "Get it."
The imperial guards marched forward in formation, but the Prince of Huai, surrounded and with no escape route, refused to surrender.
Fighting like a trapped beast, Lu Chen showed some of the bloodiness of a Lu family man. He snatched the long sword from the hand of an imperial guard and started fighting with them.
Without His Majesty's orders, the Imperial Guards dared not kill. Forming their troops within the palace was difficult, and their hands and feet were tied everywhere, forcing the Prince of Huai to fight his way out.
Lu Chen fought and retreated, broke open the palace door, slashed away the servants outside the palace with a knife, took two steps at a time and went down the jade steps, his figure flashing into the half-light and half-darkness of the night.
"Don't shoot!" Emperor Mingde shouted, "Leave him alive!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Torches were lit one after another, and the imperial guards were in hot pursuit.
The wind was howling, and the long sword in Lu Chen's hand was still dripping with blood. He chopped down the imperial guards who rushed in front of him again and again.
He had only one thought: he still had 3,000 soldiers and horses. As long as he could join forces with his troops and kill King Zhao, he would still have hope.
"Your Highness, Your Highness."
Before he rushed out of the two doors, Chen Xili Lu Chen saw a figure staggering towards him.
Lu Chen subconsciously wanted to raise his knife, but he recognized that the person was his deputy general.
The deputy general had already abandoned his spear and his helmet was lost while he was fleeing.
"Your Highness," he knelt before his master, "shortly after you left, the ambush at Shen'an Gate was completely broken by His Highness Prince Zhao. He is currently leading his troops to clear out the ambush, and all the soldiers from the Eastern Palace and the Prince's Palace have surrendered."
The pursuers were approaching from behind, but no one with a knife rushed forward.
Lu Chen looked at the deputy general's mournful face and said, "What did you say?!"
"Your Highness, the situation is hopeless. Surrender! Stop resisting!"
In a rage, Lu Chen grabbed the deputy general by the disheveled collar and said, "You betrayed me, didn't you? It was Lu Qian'an who asked you to come, wasn't it?"
The deputy general looked away helplessly. They only had a 10% chance of winning this battle.
What's more, it was His Royal Highness Prince Zhao who led the troops to quell the rebellion. Before the battle even started, all the soldiers were already a little frightened.
The imperial guards drew their swords and pressed forward, trying to capture His Royal Highness the Prince of Huai alive.
Lu Chen laughed loudly towards the sky, threw his deputy general towards the imperial guards, and then ran away as fast as he could, but failed to escape the encirclement of the imperial guards.
"Get out of the way of this king!"
He held the knife across his neck, his eyes red.
The imperial guards still maintained a siege, but did not dare to press too hard.
Every time Lu Chen took a step forward, the imperial guards on the opposite side took a step back.
The two sides were deadlocked for a long time, and the imperial guards were waiting for an opportunity to move. Lu Chen was unable to escape and had his back against the palace wall.
Until Emperor Mingde's scolding voice rang out: "Rebellious son, do you know what you are doing?"
The imperial guards made way for the emperor. Lu Chen had been waiting for this moment. Not only his father but also his mother came.
He put on a cold but satisfied smile, and everyone came to see him off.
Empress Yao was dressed in plain clothes. Seeing the situation before her, she could hardly stand and had to rely on the support of the maids on both sides.
Emperor Mingde was reluctant to let the empress face such a situation, but despite all his precautions, he was unable to stop it.
"Chen'er," Empress Yao called him by his childhood name, "Put down the knife, put it down quickly, and apologize to your father."
Emperor Mingde signaled his personal guards to snatch the long sword from Lu Chen's hand if they had the chance.
The knife had been on the neck for a long time, but it had not cut an inch of skin.
"Since ancient times, victors have been kings and losers have been bandits. Now that things have come to this, I have nothing to say."
"You rebellious son!" Emperor Mingde looked at his wife, whose face was pale and tears were streaming down her face. "What do you want?!"
"What does Father want? My life was given by Father and Mother, and I will repay them today."
"Chen'er——"
Seeing the youngest son raising a knife to commit suicide, the fate of the eldest son in the dream was almost exactly the same.
Empress Yao was extremely distressed and had difficulty breathing. Emperor Mingde hurriedly supported her and said, "Shuhua! Go and call the imperial physician!"
The imperial guards could not find an opportunity to take action, fearing that if they acted rashly, something might happen to His Royal Highness Prince Huai.
Lu Chen laughed out loud. Even at this point, no one could do anything to him.
He was almost insane, and it was worth it to make his father and mother suffer so much before his death.
In the chaos, a sharp arrow shot out from the air like lightning and penetrated Lu Chen's right arm which was holding the knife.
Lu Chen's hand suddenly felt pain and lost strength, and the blade fell to the ground with a clang.
In a flash, the nearest Imperial Guard reacted swiftly, kicking the blade away. Immediately, three Imperial Guards rushed forward and captured Prince Huai.
When he was forced to kneel on the ground, Lu Chen ignored the injury on his arm and cast a glance full of resentment, unwillingness and disbelief in the direction where the arrow came from.
Facing the golden light of dawn, Lu Jing was still holding the longbow on the city wall.
The morning light dyed the morning glow, and this farce was finally over.
At the morning court session, the bloodstains on the palace road had not yet been washed away.
The civil and military officials who had not attended court for several days were terrified. There was such a loud commotion at the palace gate last night that people living nearby could hear the fighting.
Many people did not sleep all night and could only close the doors and windows of their homes for fear of being affected.
He stood in the court with lingering fear, as news came to him one after another.
The Prince of Huai stole the crown prince's token and plotted rebellion, but was defeated and captured. He has been taken to the Heavenly Prison and handed over to the officials for trial.
Your Majesty is in poor health, so you have ordered His Royal Highness Prince Zhao to be the regent and temporarily take over the government.
"Your son obeys your order."
Civil and military officials waited in silence, knowing that everything that happened in the court today would be recorded in history.
The sky was filled with morning glow, and countless golden lights poured into the hall.
Gu Ningxi looked at the tall figure on the imperial steps from afar, and his destiny was at hand.
The world that belongs to His Majesty Prince Zhao will finally come.
…
In the dark sky prison, the prison specially used to detain the royal family is relatively quiet and tidy.
Two days passed, and Lu Chen still lay lifeless in his bed. The once high-ranking prince had fallen from grace, his feet shackled, and the wound on his right arm had been properly treated.
When he heard footsteps outside the cell, he just raised his eyelids, not surprised at all.
"Mother is here."
As expected, my father hesitated for a while on how to deal with him.
The jailer respectfully opened the door for the Empress: "Your Majesty, please."
"All of you, go down."
The maid put down the food box and quietly left, leaving only Nanny Sun, who had served the Queen since she was a child.
Queen Yao looked at her young son who was in a dishevel, with a look of distress in her eyes and a myriad of complicated emotions in her eyes.
Nanny Sun couldn't bear it either, so she took out several dishes one by one and placed them on the small table in front of His Highness.
Lu Chen overturned the table without even looking at it.
The dishes were scattered all over the floor and the bowls and plates clattered.
"Chen'er," Queen Yao shook her head, "Why did you do this?"
Lu Chen shook the chain in his hand. "Mother, you have made far-reaching plans for my brother, but have you ever considered me? You gave up the throne of Crown Prince, just like you gave up the position of wife. You are already very experienced."
Nanny Sun, who was cleaning up the mess, was shocked and looked at His Royal Highness Prince Huai in disbelief.
Lu Chen seemed oblivious, as if he had no idea he was piercing his mother's heart. "My royal brother can go to Shu. Have you ever considered that if King Zhao ascends the throne someday, my fate could be better than it is now?"
"Qian wouldn't do that!" Empress Yao didn't know how to explain to her youngest son, so that he would believe her. "He's not someone who doesn't care about blood ties. You are brothers connected by blood. As long as you behave yourself, you can enjoy a life of prosperity and peace."
"Behave yourself, behave yourself!" Lu Chen's mood suddenly turned to excitement, and the iron chain was pulled, making a clanging sound. "Does your mother want your son to bow down to her?"
"I would rather die than watch him ascend the throne, kneeling three times and kowtow nine times, enduring humiliation and living in fear."
"Why exactly? Why do you have to pick on Qi'an?"
Over the years, Cheng Yu had been at loggerheads with Qi'an, the two brothers never able to coexist peacefully. Initially, she and His Majesty had thought it was merely a sibling dispute, no unsolvable knot. But now, in Cheng Yu's eyes, it had become a mortal feud.
"Why? I hate him. I just hate him!"
The words he'd hidden for over twenty years were finally released. They were clearly brothers, born only a few months apart, but from childhood on, Lu Qi'an had been the only legitimate son in the palace, enjoying the emperor's undivided favor. And what about him? He was just one of his father's many illegitimate sons in the harem.
Why? His mother was obviously his father's first wife, but she could only be a concubine. As a result, he became a bastard and was not taken seriously.
The emperor's elder brother is older and can still assist the father in state affairs, and is valued by the father.
He could only grow up in the harem, watching his father and the princess take Lu Qian'an with them, and the three of them lived happily together.
"From becoming king to becoming emperor, my father regarded Lu Qi'an as a lucky star, bestowing all the glory and honor along the way upon him. But, Queen Mother, I was born only three months apart from him, so why should there be such a huge difference between us? My father personally taught him riding and archery, how to play chess, held him high in his arms, and took him on horseback rides and hunting trips."
"All of this should belong to me!"
"Mother, why don't you fight for it? Why are you content to be inferior to others?"
"From childhood to adulthood, you have fought for the position of Crown Prince for your brother, but have you ever fought for even a little bit for me?!"
Every word was like a knife cutting into Queen Yao's heart.
Nanny Sun could no longer bear to listen. Her heart ached for her Empress. Back then, if the eldest prince hadn't been so young, if the Empress hadn't been pregnant with the Prince of Huai, if the Imperial Uncle and his men hadn't refused to give up their marriage to the Prince of Jin, and if the old lady hadn't threatened with her life, the Empress would have divorced His Majesty long ago. How could she have endured the humiliation of being demoted to a concubine?
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"Would it be useful to tell you? Mother, you are the mother of the country. You are virtuous and kind. You consider the overall situation and you think about the people of the world. Do you know how much I wished when I was a child that I was born to the princess?"
"Everything was stolen from me by Lu Qian'an."
Even if his mother returned to the throne of queen in the future, his father would still love him, Lu Qian'an, the most.
"I can't bear to hate you, I just hate him! I will fight him till death!"
After a long, deathly silence, Empress Yao whispered, "You hate everyone, why don't you hate your father?"
Almost in an instant, Lu Chen lost all his voice.
…
After the conspiracy case, Prince Huai was imprisoned and Your Majesty fell ill.
The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice strictly investigated those involved in the rebellion case, but the capital, which should have been in turmoil, was unexpectedly peaceful.
His Royal Highness Prince Zhao presided over the government, with civil and military officials each performing their duties. The initial turmoil lasted only half a day, and the court quickly returned to normal.
All the officials were fully prepared for the tasks that were coming, and they were even more determined to serve the emperor.
News has come out from the Ministry of Rites that Your Majesty will appoint His Royal Highness Prince Zhao as the Crown Prince.
This matter was not surprising at all, but what made people a little curious was His Majesty's treatment of His Royal Highness the Prince of Huai.
The noble families and civil and military officials in Kyoto were all in sync and tried every possible means to find out the news.
In the private room of the teahouse, Meng Ting and Gu Ningxi were discussing a transfer order.
"Jiangnan has been under annexation for five or six years. Recently, the old ministers of Southern Liang have become somewhat restless. The court is considering sending civil and military officials to suppress the unrest, as a precaution. The Minister hinted to me yesterday that the court seems to be interested in sending me."
Gu Ningxi helped his cousin analyze the pros and cons. From a public perspective, his cousin was a rising star among the imperial court's military commanders. He was familiar with the customs and practices of Jiangnan, and his military achievements had all been made there. Sending him there was the right move.
Personally, she also adored the picturesque scenery of the south. It seemed destined that she and her cousin might relocate south together. That way, her mother wouldn't have to be separated from her grandmother. Free from the constraints of the Marquisate's rules, her mother could still show her filial piety to her grandmother.
It is truly a godsend.
Meng Ting nodded in agreement. Since Xier also thought it was a good job, he had no more worries.
Gu Ningxi thought further ahead: "If we all leave, I want to wait until the government stabilizes and then sell the house."
The aftermath is still ongoing and she is worried that the house will not be sold.
In just two years, the house they bought together has increased in value from the initial 370 guan to 500 guan easily.
"Okay." Meng Ting smiled and always agreed with her decisions.
After lunch, Meng Ting left first, as Gu Ningxi had to go back to the Ministry of Works to report for duty.
This place was not far from the Six Departments. Shortly after leaving the teahouse, Gu Ningxi accidentally saw a familiar carriage on the street.
After getting into the carriage at the signal of General Manager Sun, Gu Ningxi said with a smile, "Your Highness, how come you have some free time today?"
Lu Jing brought the teacup and said, "Lunch is only half an hour away, and you still have to go to the Ministry of Works?"
Gu Ningxi explained everything in detail: "My cousin only wants to see me about something. Is Your Highness also returning to the Secretariat?"
"My father ordered me to enter the palace to decide on the treatment of the treason case."
The court, especially the officials who were on good terms with the Eastern Palace and the Prince of Huai's Mansion, were particularly concerned about this and tried their best to find out the truth.
Gu Ningxi was naturally paying attention to this as well. When he was talking with his cousin just now, they had also discussed this case of rebellion.
Now, the person who controls all the information is sitting in front of her.
Lu Jing said calmly, "He went crazy in prison."
Gu Ningxi widened her eyes slightly. Is he really crazy or just pretending?
But she suppressed her doubts and didn't dare to ask more questions.
Knowing she was curious, Lu Jing continued, "Regarding the treason case, every piece of evidence has been examined and verified."
When Yang Qing of Bingzhou rebelled, it was the Prince of Huai who sent a secret letter, telling Yang Qing that his father wanted to execute him on the spot. This was when Yang Qing fought a desperate battle.
The news of the Crown Prince having an affair also came from the Huai Palace.
There was also a poisoning case, which was also directed and acted by Prince Huai Lu Chen himself.
Even when he ambushed the palace at the end, the token of the East Palace in his hand was stolen by him when he entered the Fengyi Palace to visit his royal brother.
The emperor still holds the fake token in his hand. Lu Chen cannot deny it.
Now that all the evidence has been collected, Lu Jing is not in a position to make the final decision.
"That--"
Speaking of Empress Yao, Lu Jing's voice was filled with reluctance. "My mother said she had failed in raising her son, and she has taken off her hairpin to plead guilty and request to be deposed. She handed over the Empress's golden seal and imperial decree, and only asked my father to show mercy and allow her to take Lu Chengyu back to Jinyang and never return to the capital."
Even as a mere spectator, Gu Ningxi couldn't help but sigh. Prince Huai was headstrong and self-righteous, completely disregarding the bond between father and son. He deserved the punishment he received.
But Her Majesty the Queen, what did Her Majesty the Queen do wrong?
…
As night fell, the maids knelt in front of Fengyi Palace and saluted.
"Your Majesty, may your Majesty live long and prosper."
"Everyone, get up."
Emperor Mingde stepped into the hall, and Li Ji followed behind His Majesty, holding in his hands the golden seal and the imperial edict of the Empress. This time, His Majesty came to return the jade intact to Zhao.
The Empress Dowager requested to be stripped of her title of Empress Dowager, and all the concubines in the palace pleaded for her, asking Your Majesty not to implicate the Empress Dowager. Any restless concubines in high positions who coveted the position of Empress Dowager were dismissed by Your Majesty.
Li Ji respectfully placed the two precious items in front of the Queen, then silently retreated and closed the palace door.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, and the emperor and empress looked at each other in silence.
Emperor Mingde had no intention of deposing the empress; he simply felt guilty towards her. He also failed to educate his children properly, leaving his ancestors feeling guilty.
He thought he could balance the former dynasty and the harem, but in the end, he let down his first wife and his children.
"Shuhua," he began, finally admitting his defeat, "I have disappointed you."
"Not really." Queen Yao's voice was calm, with only a silver peony hairpin pinned on her temples.
"I have said that I will not be disappointed in Your Majesty."
Her eyes were as calm as water, and every word she spoke was sincere.
From the day you demoted my wife to a concubine, I will never be disappointed in you again.
【Author’s words】
The Crown Prince is the eldest, Xiao Lu is the fifth, and Prince Huai is the sixth.
Emperor Mingde had other sons, but he sometimes called Prince Huai the youngest son because he only ranked his three legitimate sons separately.
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