Chapter 817 A Dream of Youth 349
The Empress Dowager allied with the Prince of Pingyao, who was part of the Zhao King's faction.
Tomorrow night, the Empress Dowager will join forces with the Prince of Pingyao to launch a palace coup, enumerate the crimes of Prince Zhao, depose the emperor, and install the young prince hidden outside the palace as emperor.
The Empress Dowager was able to make this decision because news of the stability of Hedong had reached the capital, and Xie Ning's army and some of the Northwest garrison had arrived. By blocking their way north, they could completely trap these 100,000 Northern Jin troops in the heart of the Central Plains.
Such a counterattack would surely severely weaken the Northern Jin army. If they could seize the opportunity to launch an attack, they might even be able to take over the Northern Jin.
Xie Ning's reply was simple: "Kill."
Yan Xi, far away in the palace, looked at the letter in her hand and understood Xie Ning's meaning. The sounds of war were incessant outside. She was wearing armor inside, and then covered herself with a loose, plain-colored robe.
"Father, you should wake up." Jiang Yuan, who was standing to the side, lowered his hand with trembling hands. The princess had asked him to perform the last set of acupuncture on the emperor, a technique to bring a dying man back to life.
A quick glance around revealed that everyone around him was Princess Yanxi's people!
Prince Zhao commanded the Imperial Guards, but without Yu Tong's troops, and with the Prince of Pingyao choosing to cooperate with the Empress Dowager and directly poisoning Jin An and taking over the Feng Zhao Army, he lost his last trump card.
Such a small number of Imperial Guards were no match for the Empress Dowager's oppression.
Even though the Empress Dowager lost Li Yu's army, she still had the Left Minister and the Prime Minister's Imperial Guard.
The Prime Minister's family would not let him go for the murder of the Empress and the Crown Prince. King Zhao had expected this, but he did not expect that before he could find a pretext to send the Prime Minister's family out of the city to kill them with the help of the Northern Jin army, the Prime Minister's family would lead the Imperial Guards to force him to abdicate.
King Zhao sat on his throne, his gaze fixed on Prince Pingyao below. "Pingyao, I have treated you well, is this how you treat me? Have you forgotten who was it that groveled at my feet like a dog, begging for my protection? But it turns out that this was not a dog, but a treacherous wolf!"
“Your Majesty, Pingyao certainly remembers your kindness, but as Your Majesty said, to cut the weeds, you must wipe them out at the root. This throne originally belonged to my branch of the family, didn’t it?”
Emperor Yong murdered his brother to seize the throne; now, it's time to get back on track.
The Empress Dowager looked at the Prince of Pingyao in disbelief, "What do you mean by this!?"
The Prince of Pingyao laughed a few times and walked leisurely to the side. The Prince Zhao above him chuckled softly and leaned back on the throne as if his body had gone limp. "Mother, you believe him too? He's just a wolf cub!"
Shu'er isn't dead, is he? You want to unite with Pingyao to overthrow me and then install Shu'er on the throne, don't you? Hahahaha—
How foolish, Mother! You are good in every way, except that you are too kind-hearted. By now, Shu'er's body is probably already stiff...
Prince Zhao glanced at the smiling eyes of Prince Pingyao and scoffed, "I'm afraid even the children of Prince Duan have gone."
The Empress Dowager was deeply shocked upon hearing this, and the other ministers present also showed grief in their eyes. What did this mean? It meant that Emperor Jing's bloodline was about to end!
The sounds of fighting rang out outside. Zuo Chen stood firmly beside the Empress Dowager, pointing his sword directly at the Prince of Pingyao. The soldiers beside the Prince of Pingyao immediately protected him.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, some ministers quietly moved to hide behind the pillar, but unexpectedly bumped their heads into Xie Wangzhi's calf.
The two men looked at each other in silence. The minister awkwardly covered his face, hoping Xie Wangzhi wouldn't remember him—it was too embarrassing! But he continued to move his body, hoping that he wouldn't be affected when the fight broke out.
Xie Wangzhi looked at the people carrying poisoned wine toward King Zhao, his fingers twitched under his sleeves, and he finally closed his eyes.
King Zhao knew he couldn't escape his fate, but he felt nothing. His downfall lay in his lack of ruthlessness; he was concerned about the opinions of the people, fearing the collapse of social order and the creation of chaos.
He also wanted to be a good ruler and hoped that historians would praise him more in the historical records.
After King Zhao drank the poisoned wine, the Prince of Pingyao smiled but looked at him expressionlessly, "Sister Fengyin also drank poisoned wine, how did it taste?"
Fengyin was the maiden name of Consort Shu.
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