Chapter 496 Imperial Decree
Murong Chen smiled suddenly, showing his eight teeth, "Thank you for your concern, Fourth Sister-in-law. The children became noisy after staying in the palace for a while, so the concubine had to take the children back home first. It was agreed that she would go to the palace after the children were settled. She didn't come now. It's most likely that she was pestered. I will apologize to the Empress Dowager and the Empress Mother later."
When talking about the child, the Fourth Prince's wife's smile became a little forced, and she had no intention of continuing to care about Chen Tian.
Everyone has different thoughts.
Under such circumstances, the emperor entered the hall with an expressionless face, surrounded by palace servants.
The talking stopped abruptly, and everyone stood up and bowed.
The emperor waved his hand and asked Zhou Song to read the imperial edict.
Zhou Song stepped forward and shouted loudly: "The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims that the Sixth-Rank Patrol Guard Cen Yingfan has formed a clique, abused his power, committed fraud, and deceived the emperor. He is to be taken to the Ministry of Justice and executed in the autumn. From today on, all the property of the Cen family will be confiscated, and all the officials of Cen Yingfan's nine clans who are in the court will be dismissed. I decree this!"
Everyone's faces turned pale and they knelt on the ground, wishing their heads were touching the ground.
The imperial edict enumerated Cen Yingfan's various major crimes, but did not specify in detail what he had done. His property was confiscated, his head was beheaded, and his entire clan was implicated. This meant that Cen Yingfan would bear the infamy for generations and would not have peace even after his death!
Such a cruel punishment is not like the behavior of a benevolent monarch at all. So what did Cen Yingfan do?
The hall was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
At the emperor's signal, Zhou Song read out the second imperial edict, "The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims that the Second Prince Murong Xu has formed a clique, abused his power, engaged in fraud, deceived the emperor, and been extremely licentious and unfilial. He is hereby stripped of his status as a prince, demoted to a commoner, and removed from the royal family tree. This is decreed!"
"Your Majesty!" Several important ministers could no longer sit still and stepped out to give advice.
The emperor waved his hand and his words were like boulders, hitting the hearts of the civil and military officials one by one.
"Murong Xu's deeds are too numerous to list. Such a cold-blooded and vicious person is not worthy of the surname Murong! If anyone dares to plead for Xu, he will be treated as an accomplice!"
Master Zhao's body swayed and he fainted immediately.
The ministers around were all shocked and rushed forward to help.
The emperor looked deeply at the unconscious Master Zhao and did not say any words of concern or sympathy.
The ministers who followed Taifu Zhao felt chilled and panicked.
The third and fourth princes were overjoyed and wanted to set off firecrackers to celebrate.
As soon as the emperor left, they started drinking and chatting happily.
Those ministers who were optimistic about the third and fourth princes immediately went over to toast them and said some flattering words.
Murong Chen shook his head, left the table in boredom, and went to the Queen's palace.
The Queen's bedroom was brightly lit with candles late at night.
The queen took off her gorgeous clothes and precious jewelry, put on plain clothes, and knelt in the Buddhist temple to chant scriptures.
Murong Chen bowed, stepped forward lightly, and knelt with the queen, "Mother, it's getting late and the dew is heavy. Why are you kneeling here instead of going to the palace banquet or taking a rest?"
The queen slowly opened her slightly swollen eyes, tilted her head to look at Murong Chen, who was a head taller than her, with tears in her eyes, "Chen'er, your mother is useless and has no way of educating you. I will pray to the Buddha here for half a year. You and Concubine Shen should live a good life, and don't learn from your second brother!"
"Mother, what exactly did my second brother do? My father just issued an order at the palace banquet to punish Cen Yingfan and Cen, and also demoted my second brother to a commoner." Murong Chen asked bluntly, expressing his confusion.
The palace maids and eunuchs guarding the Buddhist hall retreated at the Queen's signal.
Without servants around, the queen no longer had to act solemnly. Her whole body went limp, and she leaned on the futon and gasped. "Jing'er witnessed the private conversation between the Second Brother and Chuntao, and was almost beaten to death by the Second Brother. Concubine Li was implicated. If your grandmother hadn't forced them to see each other today, I'm afraid Concubine Li and Jing'er would have died after the New Year.
Also, the second brother and Cen Mingzhu did have a child, a daughter named Ruer who was raised by concubine Cen, but Cen Mingzhu was kept in the dark. For the sake of wealth and glory, Cen Yingfan chose to sacrifice his own daughter to protect the second brother.
Your father and grandmother cannot tolerate either of these two things. Second brother has actually destroyed his own way of survival.
My mother is really scared. My son, you must listen to me and behave yourself. You must not interfere in government affairs, and you must not have too much contact with the court officials. Do you hear me?"
Murong Chen nodded heavily, "Mother, I have always been like this. It will be the same in the future as it was before. I will also remind Concubine Shen to try not to go out for social events."
The Queen let out a long sigh, "Concubine Shen is a smart person, and her family background is too low, your father is not afraid of her, plus the second son's family was targeting her before, your father knows her situation well, and it is understandable that she doesn't go out.
Well, go see the Queen Mother first, and then leave the palace. The lower the profile, the better."
Murong Chen took note of the Queen's words carefully and left quickly.
Although the Queen Mother did not ask to worship Buddha herself, she could not sleep because of Murong Xu's matter.
Murong Chen came over with a cane, and immediately felt distressed, "Grandmother, my grandson just went to see the Queen Mother and already knew about my second brother. Don't be sad. Although my second brother is not here, you still have my third and fourth brothers and my grandson.
My grandson will come to the palace from time to time to entertain you."
The Queen Mother looked at Murong Chen with satisfaction, somewhat regretful, "You are a good child, the Imperial Grandmother knows it! The Imperial Grandmother is fine, you should go back quickly, it will be a headache for the concubine to take care of two children alone."
Murong Chen nodded obediently, "Then Grandmother, please rest early. I will take my leave now."
After Murong Chen left, Nanny Gui stepped forward and reported quietly, "Queen Dowager, after the imperial edict came down, the Sixth Prince immediately went to the Queen's Palace to pay his respects. After asking about the Second Prince, he immediately came to you and is now walking out of the palace.
The third and fourth princes haven't left yet, and I guess they're going to get drunk."
The Queen Mother's face grew darker as she listened.
At the same time, the emperor also received information about the movements of several of his sons.
Knowing that only the Sixth Prince went to visit the Queen Mother first and left the palace early, he was somewhat relieved and did not comment on the behavior of the Third and Fourth Princes.
When he stepped into the Buddhist temple, what he saw was the queen kneeling in plain clothes.
Somewhat disappointed, "Zi Tong, why bother? I've already said that the second brother's affairs have nothing to do with you."
The queen shed two lines of tears, "Your Majesty, I know you love me, but it is precisely because I have protected him again and again that the second son has become more and more presumptuous. Now that he has committed an unforgivable crime, I am to blame!"
The emperor stepped forward, helped the queen up without saying anything, and said earnestly: "You raised the second and sixth sons. You were really dedicated to the second son and had high hopes for him, but you spoiled and indulged the sixth son. Logically, it should be the sixth son who would grow up bad, but the sixth son turned out to be kind-hearted, respectful and filial.
On the other hand, the second brother is selfish, cruel, and unscrupulous. He is even cruel to young children. Is there anything he can't do?
The ancients said, 'When a man is born, his nature is good', but in the case of Lao Er, I only see that human nature is evil! He is beyond saving. If it weren't for the relationship between father and son, I would have killed him long ago!
Queen, remember, from now on you only have the Sixth Son, and the Second Son has nothing to do with you!"
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