Chapter 1904 Undercurrent
Prince Gong's broken leg was replaced with the best intermittent ointment, and Xiao Yuanzheng treated it personally. Even the bruises on his body were removed by Zheng Taiyi himself, so Manbao was not used at all.
In the past few days, his food, clothing and other necessities have been very good. He had lost 50 kilograms with great difficulty, but in just four or five days, he gained another four or five kilograms.
Maybe it’s because I gained too much weight all at once, and all the weight went to my belly and face.
Even Princess Gong, who had never cared much about such matters, couldn't help but give Prince Gong a few gentle words of advice, not wanting him to eat too much meat.
But Prince Gong was not happy. He had been dieting for so long and had finally stopped restricting his diet. How could he possibly endure it?
As a result, today when he was holding a bowl of meat soup and slowly savoring it, Gu Zhong came with the imperial edict to announce it.
His leg was broken, so kneeling was out of the question. But even if he sat on the bed and listened, Prince Gong was so shocked that he almost fell off the bed. His first reaction was, "I don't believe it! Is this the will of my father?"
Gu Zhong looked at him sympathetically and replied "yes".
The Emperor was in a bad mood when he left the Empress's Palace yesterday. He even drank secretly that night and barely slept the entire night. Yet, he didn't lose his temper when he attended court this morning...
Gu Zhong didn't know what the emperor and empress said, but he knew it had a lot to do with today's decree. He took the imperial edict and handed it to the confused Prince Gong, and comforted him as usual, "Don't worry, Your Highness. His Majesty still loves you very much."
Prince Gong opened the imperial edict with trembling hands, and sure enough, his father's jade seal was on it.
But, how is that possible?
He was beaten and broke his leg, but it turned out to be his fault. Not only was his county fiefdom taken away, but he was also demoted to a prince?
Prince Gong's eyes flushed as he read the reasons above. The reasons were disrespect for the Crown Prince, speaking ill of him, being disrespectful in his heart, and harboring malicious intentions...
"This can't be true. Why did Father suddenly..."
Why did you suddenly treat him like this?
Prince Gong grabbed Gu Zhong and asked, "What happened in the front hall?"
Gu Zhong respectfully took his hand away, bent down and said respectfully: "Your Highness, nothing happened in the front hall. His Majesty is still discussing things with the adults. I will go back to serve you first."
After saying this, he bent down and stepped back.
Xiao Yuanzheng, who came to see Prince Gong, also took the opportunity to slip away. Sure enough, he had not walked far when he heard the sound of things breaking in the house.
Dean Xiao couldn't help but glance at Gu Zhong, who happened to be looking over at him. When they met, Gu Zhong smiled and said, "Dean Xiao, are you going back to the Imperial Medical Bureau?"
Xiao Yuanzheng replied with a "yes," and Gu Zhong whispered, "Doctor Zhou should be preparing a letter of apology."
Xiao Yuanzheng knew that Zhou Man still couldn't escape, so he went back and told Zhou Man.
Everything was calm these days, and Manbao even went to play with Mingda and the others. Seeing that the emperor no longer bothered them after kneeling, he thought the matter was over.
Unexpectedly, things took a sudden turn for the worse, and in the end she still couldn't escape the fate of being punished.
After Manbao knew about it, he looked up and said to Bai Shan: "As expected, if you make a mistake, you should accept the punishment obediently. There is no right to use any means of escaping."
Bai Shan glanced at her and said, "Today's punishment is much lighter than we initially expected." So how could it be ineffective?
By now, several days have passed since the incident. Not to mention that the emperor has no time to pay attention to these insignificant minor officials, even if he had time, his anger would have subsided a lot after four or five days of easing.
The punishment given at this time is naturally different from the punishment given by Thunderous Fury at that time.
Even the ministers in the court who followed the rules did not care about Zhou Man's possible mistakes in this matter. They just reprimanded her after she submitted a letter of apology, and made a note of her in the official evaluation of the Ministry of Personnel, and that was it.
There was neither demotion nor salary deduction.
Manbao quietly handed in the memorial and received a warning document from the Ministry of Personnel. The matter was then passed quietly, and the rest had nothing to do with her.
The ministers had no time to stare at her. They all thought the emperor was very strange and were staring at him secretly.
You know, when Prince Gong was brought back to the capital last year, he was suspected of participating in the murder of the prince, and some evidence was found. Even so, the emperor only reprimanded him, put him under house arrest, and confiscated his fiefdom of a county, and was reluctant to demote him.
But this time he was demoted?
They thought the emperor was very strange, which made them a little scared.
Upon further inquiry, it was found that the emperor had been living in the study in front of the Taiji Hall recently and had not returned to the main hall.
As a result, the ministers became as quiet as chickens, and even spoke in much lower voices during court sessions, just because they didn't want to anger the emperor.
Manbao learned from Mingda that the emperor and the empress seemed to have had a quarrel, but no one knew what they quarreled about. Anyway, Prince Gong was punished severely. The prince, who had been out of the ancestral hall for several days, was brought back and made to kneel for a long time. He was also reprimanded by imperial decree.
However, this time the prince had no resentment in his heart. He calmly accepted the reprimand, and then watched the officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works go to Luozhou to dismantle or transport back the things that violated the rules in Prince Gong's Mansion, and the Ministry of Revenue go to take back the county that Prince Gong had taken back. So far, Prince Gong only had the fiefdom of Guo County in Luozhou.
The Crown Prince had been calm for two days, but when he saw his father still staying in the study and not returning to the main hall, he frowned and said to the Crown Princess in annoyance, "What on earth does he want to do? If he's unhappy, he can just not punish him. But what's the point of ignoring our mother like this?"
The Crown Princess could only console him, "Let Father calm down. Mother isn't anxious, so why are you?"
The prince snorted angrily and stood up, saying, "I'll go see my mother."
Mingda was much calmer, as if it wasn't her parents who were in the cold war. She said to Manbao, "The Queen Mother said our idea was good, but we were using the wrong force."
Manbao is full of question marks.
Mingda said, "We thought it was wrong to tell Third Brother that the Crown Prince cared about him, or at least not right. Mother said that the main grudge between the Crown Prince and Third Brother wasn't Third Brother's grudge against the Crown Prince, but rather the Crown Prince's grudge against Third Brother. Unless Third Brother does it himself, this matter won't be resolved. Even if it is resolved, it's just superficial. The two brothers might be pretending for the sake of their future, or to look good in front of them."
Manbao: "...Why didn't the Queen tell His Majesty that day?"
Mingda smiled and said, "Why else? Of course it's because of us."
She said, "My Queen Mother didn't want to ruin our good intentions. Besides, you are indeed innocent. I should have not invited you to Baiyun Temple, or asked you to go and treat Third Brother's injuries."
Manbao felt very embarrassed and whispered, "I am also wrong. I had good medicine at the time, but I specifically gave Prince Gong the medicinal wine from Baiyun Temple."
This is also the reason why she and Bai Shan have been uneasy and afraid. This kind of thing can be found out once it is investigated, and once it is found out, it means that the person has ulterior motives. This is also one of the main reasons why she was punished.
Mingda naturally knew. She lowered her voice and said, "I know, and Mother knows too. It must be because Third Brother said something unpleasant that you acted like this. Those two eunuchs have confessed."
She paused and said, "I sent them both to my third sister. She's a very upright person, and even if my third brother has a bad temper, he wouldn't dare ask her for them."
See you at 9pm
After reading everyone's recent comments, I feel there are undercurrents. I welcome everyone to have different opinions. We can communicate peacefully without raising the issue from the character to the individual. As for the last sentence, the emperor is indeed a person with many shortcomings.
I do feel sorry for Lady Liu, so I can't help but mention her. The biggest rift between the Crown Prince and Prince Gong was that child back then. No matter how peaceful he looks, the hurt he suffered would never be without a trace.
Even a broken mirror is hard to mend, let alone the fact that they almost went to war.
(End of this chapter)
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