"What crime should you be charged with for treason five years ago?"
The new emperor's eyes gradually turned colder: "Have I ever taught you that the mouth can bring disaster?"
"The reason why the Xiang family suddenly started a rebellion was because the late emperor believed the slander and thought that our family had the intention of rebellion, and issued an imperial decree to exterminate all nine clans. You didn't want to wait for death, so you simply took up arms and led your private soldiers from the capital to attack the Meridian Gate in the name of clearing the court of evil officials." Xiang Yanchao laughed first as he spoke, "You told the public that the late emperor was afraid of the Xiang family, but the tens of thousands of private soldiers raised by the Xiang family were not fake, and the swords, spears, and halberds in the hands of the private soldiers you led during the rebellion were not fake. If you really had no intention of rebelling, where did those things come from?"
"You have long had the intention to rebel, but you are not of the royal bloodline of the previous dynasty, and even if you ascend the throne and become emperor, you will still be criticized after your death. The imperial edict of the late emperor just gave you a legitimate reason to rebel, and of course you would not let it go, taking the opportunity to dethrone the late emperor and sit on the position above everyone else. Am I right?"
The new emperor suddenly grabbed his neck, his thumb deeply sunk into the fragile skin of his respiratory tract: "Ruguan, I have more than one son now."
Xiang Yanchao opened his mouth with difficulty and uttered a few words: "What if there is still this?"
A piece of letter slipped out from his sleeve.
The new emperor caught the letter with one hand. As soon as he saw the first line of words, his expression suddenly changed: "Where did you get it?!"
"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself." The force on his neck loosened, and Xiang Yanchao's voice became hoarse, "You may have destroyed all the correspondence with them in case the matter was leaked, but they know who they are dealing with, so how could they let go of such a big handle on the emperor of Daxia. Bribing the deputy generals of Nanlong's tens of thousands of troops, colluding with the enemy country Dazhou to set up a trap, and harming our generals - if the contents of these letters they left behind were known to the people, would you still be able to sit firmly on the throne?"
The new emperor pushed him away fiercely and tore the letter in his hand into pieces.
Xiang Yanchao fell to the ground, holding his throat and coughing. After catching his breath, he looked up to meet the man's sinister eyes and whispered, "I have already told someone that if I don't show up in the capital in a quarter of an hour, someone will naturally pass on the contents of the letter for me."
The air was quiet for a long time. Suddenly, the new emperor burst into laughter and covered his face with his hands. He was like a crazy ghost. His voice seemed to penetrate the sky, but tears flowed from his eyes. "At first, I stood in front of the old emperor with evidence of evading corvée labor to fill the treasury and made him abdicate. Now you come to me with evidence that can force me to death and threaten me. Xiang Ruguan, you are really a good son I taught!"
[I was stunned.]
[Perhaps the third node had already been prevented by Master Meiren at Yuan Zen Temple, so I am not surprised at all to hear about such a conspiracy now.]
[The emperor sent Sheng Yuantang to the border because he really wanted him dead and wanted to take his power. When I first heard Shi Yu say this, I thought it was fantastic, but now I am the clown.]
[I thought he died in battle but it wasn't murder, and I thought he was forced to rebel but it was premeditated. This prime minister is really good, with so many tricks. I really thought he was miserable when Wu Er stabbed him. It was obvious that he didn't want to be the emperor in the first place, but it turned out that he did it on purpose?! ]
[Even through the screen, I can feel how irritable the sister in front is. Just watch a few more live broadcasts. Who in the God's Domain dungeon doesn't have a few difficult sutras to recite, who doesn't have a few words that are forced by coincidences, who doesn't have blood on their hands directly or indirectly. We are all human beings, and the bottom line of the dirty things we can do is still unimaginable, so there is no need to be emotional. ]
[I still can't understand. It's ok that the emperor planned to kill Sheng Yuantang for power, but why did Xiang Yanchao want to usurp his father's throne? To avenge his friend? Isn't this too ridiculous?]
[Maybe like his father, he wanted this position all along, but Sheng Yuantang's death just gave him a reason.]
There are many guards in the palace.
Wu Er rang the bell along the way and dealt with the guards who blocked his way, and asked the guards about Xiang Yanchao's route after entering the palace.
More and more guards came arriving after hearing the noise. The two men ran to the door of the imperial study. Wu Er looked at the sea of heads behind him, suddenly stopped and turned around.
She raised her wrist and shook it vigorously. The sound of the golden bell rang like a sharp sword piercing people's hearts, making their eyes and minds become dazed.
Wuer went in the opposite direction and jumped directly down the stairs.
This behavior clearly showed that he intended to stay and delay the pursuers.
Shi Yu stood there in shock for two seconds, then walked into the hall.
Before he could raise his hand to knock on the door, a final statement rang out from the imperial study: "Father, please abdicate."
Shi Yu stopped outside the door and waited for a moment, then the study door was opened from the inside.
Xiang Yanchao took the imperial edict and closed the door behind him: "Master, my father has embarrassed you."
Shi Yu shook his head: "Your Majesty, is there something wrong?"
"He just fainted due to coughing up blood." Xiang Yanchao laughed, "How long have you been listening to this?"
"Just arrived."
"You came at the right time, then."
"It's not a coincidence." Shi Yu said, "I saw you leave the general's mansion, and at that time I wondered if you would succeed to the throne early."
He asked, "Since you got the letter that your father had colluded with others to kill General Sheng, why didn't you warn him that someone was trying to kill him?"
If he had been warned in advance, perhaps Sheng Yuantang would not have died.
Xiang Yanchao put the imperial edict into his sleeves and turned his head. His eyes were very deep, as if they contained a mountain of snow and a desolate war: "What do you think?"
Shi Yu looked at him for a few seconds and said, "Because you wanted the throne anyway, and General Sheng's death would give you a handle to threaten your father to abdicate, so you just went with the flow?"
[What the hell?! ]
[Prophet?]
【Did I guess right? ? 】
Xiang Yanchao did not answer, but leaned against the wall, his tone cold and mocking: "Master, you really see the slightest detail."
"That's the second possibility," Shi Yu listened to his sarcasm, "because you actually don't know what your father did in secret?"
Xiang Yanchao paused.
"You just speculated that there was something hidden behind General Sheng's death, so you forged their correspondence and brought it to the emperor to confront your father. After all, the correspondence is such an important handle. Even if they said in advance that it must be destroyed after the good thing is done, they dare not guarantee that the other party will definitely do it according to the agreement. Secondly, they may carefully consider the content of the letter sent by the other party to find possible text traps, but they are unlikely to remember what they wrote."
"You were raised by your father. It's not difficult to imitate his handwriting and his habitual way of starting a letter. As long as the content of the first two lines is not much different, he will be too confused to check whether the rest is correct. Instead, he will tear up the evidence to cover it up. Or you can snatch the letter back before he tries to read the rest, so that he thinks you have something on him."
Shi Yu said: "After all, if you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext."
Xiang Yanchao laughed softly.
Seeing that he did not refute, Shi Yu asked again: "Why do you think so highly of General Sheng?"
Xiang Yanchao put his fingers on his eyelids, his vision darkened: "Have you seen what he looked like when he was seventeen?"
※
When Xiang Yanchao was seventeen years old, the palace examination in the capital had just ended, and he won the title of top scholar, and ministers from all sides praised him highly.
But Xiang Yanchao knew clearly in his heart that before entering the palace examination, he could still say that it was due to his own efforts, but when he got to the Golden Throne Hall and the faces of the people and the papers could be matched one by one, he realized that how many points he got to this position was due to his father who was the prime minister.
He always felt that he was not worthy of his reputation, but he was not so noble as to give up his fame and slap the emperor in the face in public. It was an unspoken rule in the court to treat people differently. He accepted the compliments from others and continued to keep people at a distance after entering the Imperial College. Anyway, his family background was strong enough, so even if he was cold, he would only be regarded as arrogant because of his talent.
He could turn a blind eye to other people, but not one person.
That was Sheng Yuantang, who was the same age as him and had been in high school in the same year.
If it weren't for him, Sheng Yuantang would have been the top scorer.
Sheng Yuantang is a man who knows how to handle things.
Specifically, within less than half a month after entering the Imperial College, he was able to become good friends with everyone around him, not by studying or explaining, but by playing. He mastered all the games that only street people could play, such as rolling rings, climbing walls, fighting crickets, and using slingshots to climb trees and rob bird nests. He taught them to other princes and nobles in the Imperial College without any hesitation, and became a clear stream in the academy with clear class distinctions.
If we talk about punishment, there was no punishment: after all, he won the third place in the imperial examination with his real ability in the beginning, and it was also with his real ability that he was appreciated by the tutors and even they did not hesitate to scramble for him. It was also with his real ability that he taught those friends who were led astray by him to strive for progress, and those at the bottom became middle-level people, and those in the middle became top-level people.
If you want to punish him, the students who play with him will be the first to be unhappy and will protect him more closely than his parents.
At that time, Sheng Yuantang had had enough of provoking other people, so it was no surprise that he turned his attention to Xiang Yanchao, who had always lived like an isolated island in the Imperial College.
At first, Xiang Yanchao felt guilty for stealing someone else's top spot, so it was natural for him to attack him with force and imitate him with weakness, and it was natural for him to let him get closer and closer, and it was natural for him to let him pull him through the streets of the capital and experience the hustle and bustle of the streets.
Then take it for granted that the other person is unique.
What does seventeen-year-old Sheng Yuantang look like?
He is wearing red clothes and riding a horse, listening to music and drinking tea; he is also reading with lowered head and writing with pen.
Even though his family has fallen into poverty, the general's mansion is plagued by internal and external troubles, his father died in the battlefield, with swords and sabers in front of him and an abyss behind him, he can still live a carefree and unrestrained life that other children of noble officials can never dream of in their entire lives.
Surrounded by a strict and rigid teacher, turbulent classmates, a harsh and stern father, and the subtle murderous intent and suppression from the royal family that Xiang Yanchao had not yet realized at that time, a person like Sheng Yuantang could be more dazzling than the scorching sun in August.
Who doesn't like the sun?
Two years ago at Yuanchan Temple, Xiang Yanchao had asked him the same question as Shi Yu: "Every time you are called back, you have to go back within seven days. Is this the condition my father proposed to you?"
Sheng Yuantang was standing in front of the cliff behind the temple at that time. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Why do you think that was a condition he proposed to me and not something I asked for myself?"
Isn't this nonsense?
The border is filled with yellow sand and flashing swords. If you are not careful, blood will be splattered everywhere. Who would take the initiative to go to such a place?
Xiang Yanchao opened his mouth and said only one sentence: "Because it is easy to lose your life at the border."
The new emperor threw him to the border, hoping that he would die there.
Sheng Yuantang did not comment, raised his eyebrows and said: "Your Highness, do you see what is under the mountain?"
The capital city is at the foot of the mountain.
Xiang Yanchao asked: "Chang'an City?"
Sheng Yuantang smiled and said, "It's the human world."
When the prime minister usurped the throne, more than one person asked him: Why didn't you rebel? Why didn't you start an army? Why didn't you seize power by claiming to be a traitor to the Qing Dynasty?
Anyway, he was already the General Dingyuan at that time, and the army under his command was enough to escort him all the way from Nanlong to the capital city, defeating all obstacles.
But no one has ever thought that usurpation of the throne is often accompanied by war, displacement, millions of corpses and devastating suffering.
From Nanlong to the capital, most of the territory of Daxia Kingdom is crossed. The superiors can rebel for power at any time, and the people affected by the war are so innocent.
This is the world he swore to protect since he could remember. This is the country he chose to love when he was young. How could he bear to tear apart its peace?
What the new emperor wanted was power and the lives of powerful ministers, not the decline of his own country.
With his back to the hustle and bustle of traffic, his voice was blown away in the snow: "Your Highness, do you understand?"
He was willing to join the battlefield and die in the earth, because he was born in a general's mansion and was born to be a soul stationed on the frontier.
Because between supreme dignity and prosperity and peace, he chose prosperity and peace.
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