The following day, at the Northern Wei court.
Just as Helian Zheng and the others had expected, Helian Rong indeed had Yuan Xian read out the imperial edict as soon as he entered the court.
"The Emperor has decreed..."
At Yuan Xian's call to action, all the civil and military officials below knelt down.
Su Renzhong also knelt down.
Helian Zheng and the others exchanged a glance and could only kneel down as well.
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: I am old and have long suffered from illness. I have long desired to establish an heir to appease the people. Helian Ci, son of Crown Prince Helian Yu, is the first heir of the imperial clan. This is the will of Heaven. Now, in accordance with the initial decree, following the established rites, and respecting the will of the people, I respectfully inform Heaven, the ancestral temples, and the state, and hereby bestow upon him the imperial seal and establish him as the Crown Prince, placing him in the Eastern Palace, to ensure the continuation of the imperial line for ten thousand years and to reassure the hearts of the people. This is hereby proclaimed throughout the land, so that all may know."
Upon hearing the imperial edict that indeed established Helian Ci as the crown prince, Helian Zheng immediately stood up and said, "Father, Helian Ci is merely a grandson of the emperor and is not qualified to be the crown prince of our Northern Wei. Your son disagrees!"
Helian Jun could no longer kneel down and stood up, saying, "Your subject also disagrees!"
Helian Qin was unwell and moved slowly, but he also got up and said, "Your subject firmly disagrees!"
"Bang!" Helian Rong slammed his fist on the dragon throne in anger and roared, "This is an imperial edict! Do you all want to disobey it?!"
Helian Zheng lowered his eyes and gestured to his trusted confidants.
Sure enough, an official immediately stepped forward: "Your Majesty, with all three princes present, Your Majesty should not bypass them and appoint the imperial grandson as the crown prince!"
"If Your Majesty wishes to establish a grandson as heir, then even with fifteen grandsons, it is not appropriate to so hastily select Helian Ci as the crown prince. Your Majesty, please reconsider!"
"Your Majesty, there is no precedent for establishing a Crown Prince. We request that Your Majesty select a new heir from among the three princes!"
One by one, the officials stepped forward to request instructions.
Some were itching to do something, but after glancing at Su Renzhong who was still kneeling, they didn't move.
These people were all supporters of the three princes. Yesterday, they witnessed the power of the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise divine beasts. They also thought that the imperial grandson had two powerful backers, Western Liang and Eastern Chu, plus the emperor's support. They couldn't help but think that the imperial grandson had a high chance of succeeding to the throne of Northern Wei.
However, these people did not immediately stand up to support Su Renzhong. After all, the three princes held heavy troops and had great power. Even the emperor could not do anything about them. Therefore, they could not rashly come out to support the imperial grandson and had to wait and see.
As more and more officials stepped forward, Helian Rong's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. With a gloomy expression, he glanced at the official who had just spoken and said, "In that case, tell me, who should I appoint as the crown prince?"
The official glanced at Helian Zheng, bowed, and said, "Prince Rui is calm and composed, and is capable of undertaking great responsibilities."
Helian Rong glanced at Helian Zheng, snorted disdainfully, and then looked at another official.
The official immediately bowed and said, "Prince Heng is intelligent and quick-witted, and is suitable to be the crown prince."
Helian Rong snorted disdainfully again and looked at another official.
The official bowed and said, "King Mu is of noble character and should be the crown prince!"
"Hehe~" Helian Rong was so angry that he laughed. One was violent, but they said he was calm and composed; one was stupid as a pig, but they said he was clever and quick-witted; one was two-faced, but they said he was virtuous.
Okay, okay!
Everyone thought he was really getting old and senile, or maybe he had dementia!
"You all want to be the emperor of our Northern Wei, but alas, there can only be one throne in Northern Wei!" Helian Rong suddenly raised his voice and roared, "Now that I am still on the throne, I will not tolerate your insolence!"
Helian Rong raised his chin at Helian Ci: "Ci'er, why don't you accept the imperial decree?"
Yuan Xian immediately presented the imperial edict to Su Renzhong.
Su Renzhong looked up at Helian Rong and saw a hint of pleading in his cloudy eyes, which made him feel a little sorry for him.
Helian Zheng and the other two stared at Su Renzhong in unison, as if warning him not to accept the imperial decree.
But the more they acted this way, the more Su Renzhong wanted to do the opposite.
Under the piercing gazes of the three men, Su Renzhong reached out to receive the imperial decree: "Grandson accepts the decree. I thank my imperial grandfather for his trust. I will certainly live up to your expectations!"
When Helian Zheng and the other two saw that Su Renzhong had actually accepted the imperial edict, they were instantly furious.
Helian Rong, seated on the throne, had red eyes and nodded silently with satisfaction: "Good, good. When the Imperial Observatory chooses an auspicious day, we will formally hold the ceremony to establish the heir apparent, and at the same time, let those children also be recognized by their ancestors."
"Yes," Su Renzhong replied with a bow.
Helian Rong stood up, waved his sleeve, and said, "Alright, I'm tired, court is adjourned!"
"Court adjourned!"
Yuan Xian responded with a song, then helped Helian Rong away.
As soon as Helian Rong left, Helian Qin glared angrily at Su Renzhong: "You bastard who appeared out of nowhere, how dare you be the crown prince of our Northern Wei! What makes you think you can do this!"
Su Renzhong originally didn't want to argue with him, but the repeated use of the term "bastard" made him unable to tolerate it. He turned around and glared at Helian Qin with piercing eyes: "I'll say it again, I am Helian Yu's legitimate son, the eldest grandson of the Emperor, and the purest imperial heir of Northern Wei. You, a mere illegitimate son, dare to come out and make a scene. If I were you, I would keep a low profile right now. Perhaps I can spare your life when I ascend the throne!"
After saying that, Su Renzhong flicked his sleeves and left.
Enraged, Helian Qin opened his mouth wide and gasped for breath, looking as if he was about to faint from anger at Su Renzhong.
The surrounding ministers were surprised to find that Su Renzhong was so capable. They had thought he was a pushover because he was quiet and often bullied by the three princes.
It seems they are not pushovers at all; they just don't want to bother with the three princes.
Now that he's become the crown prince, isn't his status even higher than the three princes? The three princes still want to bully him, but he's simply not going to stand for it!
Helian Qin took a while to calm down, then turned to Helian Zheng and Helian Jun to complain: "Look at him, what kind of person is he? He still has the nerve to mention that we are illegitimate children. Even if we are illegitimate children, we are still princes! This grandson of the emperor with an unknown origin is putting on airs in front of us, ugh!"
"And what's with the claim that he's the purest bloodline of the imperial heir? I have no problem with Helian Yu saying that while he's alive, but what right does a grandson of unknown origin have to say such a thing? Bah!"
"He thinks he can guarantee his own smooth ascension to the throne of Northern Wei just because he tells us to keep our tails between our legs? What an arrogant brat! Bah!"
Helian Qin was truly enraged, cursing and swearing, wishing he could rush forward and kick Su Renzhong a few times to feel better.
Helian Jun and Helian Zheng stared at Su Renzhong's back, their eyes also filled with a cold light.
"The old man has decided to appoint an heir, so it seems we have no other choice!"
"Things have reached the worst point, and we have no choice but to move forward!"
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