Chapter 73: Imperial Edict Arrives (Two Chapters Combined into One)
Capital city.
After Zhao Sheng received the news, he went home and told his father about it. Without saying a word, Zhao's father took a group of old friends from the Zhao family and went into the palace.
As they arrived at the palace gate, they heard someone calling them from behind. They turned around and saw four or five old men from the royal family, holding hands or hugging their grandsons and great-grandsons.
So, when Emperor Yongjia summoned them, without waiting for Zhao's father and others to speak, these old men of the royal family forced their children to kowtow to the emperor.
"Hurray! Look at my little grandson, he's three years old this year. He can eat and drink, and when he's hungry he can find food on his own. He's so smart."
"Go away. Your son does nothing but eat. How can he be a prince? Your Majesty, please look at my grandson. With his thick eyebrows and big eyes, he looks just like our great grandfather."
"Fifth Brother, how can you be so shameless? Are those thick eyebrows? Those are scowls. Is that what the great grandfather looked like? That ugly fellow from your family is not even worthy of carrying shoes for my eldest grandson. Your Majesty, my eldest grandson is definitely the eldest son of the eldest son."
......
Emperor Yongjia was dizzy and annoyed by the noise, but these old men were all his elders, and he usually portrayed himself as a benevolent, filial, and virtuous ruler. Once he put on airs, it would be difficult for him to put them down. Therefore, even though he wanted to kick these old guys out of the house immediately, he still had to pretend to be listening attentively.
After finally getting rid of all these old guys, Emperor Yongjia's good mood for the day was gone. He didn't even want to go to Concubine Qiao's place. He didn't turn over anyone's name card and slept in a small side room in the Qinzheng Hall at night.
But the matter was far from over. At the next morning court, more than a dozen censors from the Censorate jointly wrote a petition, asking Zhao Tinghan to inherit the throne.
As the censors finished speaking, Zhao Sheng stood up and contradicted them, "Your Majesty, I have been to Liang and witnessed firsthand the frailty of the Crown Prince. Although his condition is stable now, no one knows what will happen in the future. I implore Your Majesty to adopt a son from within the royal family to carry on the Crown Prince's bloodline."
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole court fell silent.
The news that the royal family was vying to adopt a son for Zhao Tinghan had already spread throughout the court.
This is not news that came out of the palace, but every household in the royal family camp is talking about this matter. It is no longer a secret. It is estimated that within three days, everyone in the capital will know about it.
Of the four great Vajras of the Censorate, only three remain due to the untimely dismissal of Censor Jin.
The Censorate is full of talented people, and there are many censors who want to become one of the Four Great Kings.
So there was no need for the three censors Sun, Qian and Shi to show off their prowess. As soon as Zhao Sheng finished speaking, seven or eight censors stood up, citing classics and refuting Zhao Sheng so hard that he wished he could dig a hole and hide there.
The censors had only one topic for debate, which was that the Prince of Liang was only nineteen years old and in the prime of his life. Even if his health was poor, it did not mean that he could not have children. The censors cited many examples in ancient and modern times of people who were weak but had sons to carry on the family line. From kings and generals to peddlers and porters, such examples were everywhere.
In the end, the censors won a great victory.
Just after the court session, a group of old men from the royal family came into the palace again with their names handed in. Emperor Yongjia did not summon them, so these old men held their eldest grandson and waited outside the palace gate. They waited for a whole day.
The Mid-Autumn Festival had passed and the autumn wind in the capital had already turned chilly. Several of these people, young and old, fell ill that night.
It would be fine if it was the retired emperor who didn't care, and they could only blame themselves for their bad luck. But Emperor Yongjia was not the retired emperor, he was a wise ruler!
When facing a wise ruler, of course you cannot swallow your anger and hide your suffering. That would be disrespectful to the wise ruler.
The next morning, Emperor Yongjia learned about this matter before he went to the morning court. In desperation, he had to send the imperial physician to diagnose the patients and sent medicinal materials to each family.
At today's morning court, the topic of debate still revolved around Zhao Tinghan, the prince of Liang. However, parties A and B had changed from letting Zhao Tinghan give birth to a son himself and adopt him from the royal family to letting Zhao Tinghan give birth to a son himself and adopt him from his younger brother Zhao Tingxuan.
There was another round of verbal sparring. This was a battlefield without the smoke of gunpowder, and Emperor Yongjia once again truly felt that at this moment, he was a sheep being roasted on the fire.
Because whether Zhao Tinghan gave birth to a son himself, or let Zhao Tingxuan give birth to a son, or adopted a son from the royal family, there was a prerequisite, that is, Zhao Tinghan inherited the throne!
These things happened after Zhao Tinghan inherited the throne.
On the third day, the same thing happened. Fortunately, the next two days were not grand court meetings or new moon and full moon court meetings, so the number of officials participating in the debate was relatively less. Otherwise, Emperor Yongjia might have been mad at them for arguing.
Even so, Emperor Yongjia still had no peace. The news sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard was now being discussed on the streets of the capital. Moreover, the provincial examination had just passed, and many students had not left the capital yet. Those who passed the examination and were preparing to take part in the spring examination next year were busy reviewing their lessons. However, this was only a small part after all. There were more who did not pass the examination. They were all very idle now, and were extremely unbalanced in their hearts. They did not think that their failure to pass the examination was due to their inferior skills, but believed that it was a case of their talents being wasted. It was not that they did not perform well in the exam, but that the examiners had a problem with their vision and missed these talented people.
After suffering such a great injustice, of course I have to vent.
Therefore, scholars expressing their true thoughts can be seen everywhere in the streets, alleys, restaurants and teahouses.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard secretly copied the remarks of these scholars and sent them to Emperor Yongjia, who was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood.
So on a dark and windy night, more than a dozen scholars from other places who were stranded in the capital were arrested and thrown into the imperial prison.
"Brother Yang, have you heard about Brother Li and Brother Zhang?" A scholar found Yang Shengqiu.
Yang Shengqiu won the first place in the imperial examination and several ministers in the court extended olive branches to him, but Yang Shengqiu declined them all and set his sights on higher places.
He shook his head. "I've been studying these past few days and haven't seen Brother Li and Brother Zhang for a while. What happened to them?"
The scholar looked around and lowered his voice: "Last night, they were taken away by the Jinyiwei."
Yang Shengqiu gasped, "Jinyiwei? Have they been saying or doing something inappropriate recently?"
The scholar sighed, "You must be aware that Brother Zhang is from a wealthy family, and he often invited everyone to his garden and banquets. This time, too, he's rented the Golden Chrysanthemum Garden east of the city and hosted a chrysanthemum poetry gathering. He and Brother Li have always been good friends, and when he hosts a poetry gathering, Brother Li will undoubtedly run around helping him out. It's a pity that I'm not very knowledgeable enough to get an invitation. Brother Yang, who won the top prize in this year's exam, presumably received an invitation, right?"
Yang Shengqiu: "I did receive an invitation, but my studies were more important, so I declined."
The scholar felt very regretful, and he didn't know whether he felt sorry that Yang Shengqiu received the invitation but didn't go, or he felt sorry that Yang Shengqiu didn't follow Brother Zhang and Brother Li to live in the imperial prison.
Yang Shengqiu asked, "But something went wrong at the poetry gathering?"
The scholar whispered, "That poetry gathering produced several excellent poems, and within a day, they spread throughout the capital. This time, the Jinyiwei arrested Brother Zhang and Brother Li, the organizers of the poetry gathering, as well as the person who wrote those poems."
Yang Shengqiu understood that there must be something wrong with these poems. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Before coming to Beijing, Fang Daru had told him not to participate in poetry and literary gatherings organized by scholars. Now it seems that this is true.
The capital city is full of hidden talents, but it is also full of crises. If he wants to gain a foothold in the capital city, he must proceed step by step.
However, there are only a few young people who think like Yang Shengqiu. Most of them are full of passion and cynical about the world.
Among them, the scholar named Zhang who was arrested was always known as the Little Mengchang. He was very popular among scholars, and many scholars who were short of money had received his financial support.
Now that he was arrested by the Jinyiwei for no reason, some people raised their arms and shouted loudly to speak up for him.
Dozens of scholars ran to the Jinyiwei Yamen and demanded that the Jinyiwei release Zhang Shusheng and other scholars.
They are not commoners, they all have merits. The Jinyiwei cannot drive them away like ordinary people, nor can they arrest them all. This is the capital city. Although the Jinyiwei can act at their convenience, they cannot arrest so many people and put them all in the imperial prison.
The Jinyiwei had no choice but to call people from the Imperial College, who persuaded and threatened these scholars and finally sent them away.
After this incident, the poems written by the arrested scholars once again spread throughout the capital.
Those who had not noticed before finally saw clearly that these poems were all mocking the royal family's extinction.
What rootless, what broken thread, in short, as long as you are not illiterate, you can tell at a glance that they are being sarcastic.
The old men of the royal family could no longer sit still. Even those who were recuperating at home struggled to go to the Taimiao and bang their heads to atone for their sins. The lineage of King Liang was going to be cut off. All of their relatives were at fault. They had failed to leave any descendants for King Liang. They were too ashamed to see their ancestors, so they might as well go and bang their heads to death now.
Emperor Yongjia, why don't any of you actually kill yourself when you're crying and shouting?
Considering the previous incident of the crows giving warnings, the people fell into panic. Now that King Liang was going to cover their retreat, would the crows give warnings again?
Although it is God's will, no one wants to see so many crows.
Especially the old men of the royal family, they wanted to go to the palace and cry to Emperor Yongjia in person, but Emperor Yongjia refused to see them. This did not stop them, so they prepared a carriage, left the city, and headed straight for Changshou Palace.
Now it was the emperor's turn to be annoyed. These old men had seriously affected his cultivation. He was supposed to become an immortal in three to five years, but now his cultivation had regressed for several years. He was afraid that he would have to wait another ten to eight years before he could fly to the ninth heaven and live a carefree life.
On this day, Emperor Yongjia received an oral instruction from the retired emperor, asking him not to delay any longer, as it was just a small matter of an imperial edict.
At this point, even without the emperor's oral order, Emperor Yongjia did not want to delay any longer.
On the ninth day of the ninth month, the Double Ninth Festival, an imperial edict broke the peace of Prince Liang's mansion.
"By the Will of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: Prince Zhao Tinghan of Liang has grown to maturity, is virtuous and upright, benevolent, filial, and loving. He should be established in the order of succession and inherit the throne..."
With this imperial edict, Zhao Tinghan officially became the new ruler of Liang.
Along with this imperial edict, there was another imperial decree that Zhao Tinghan's younger brother Zhao Tingxuan, who was sixteen years old, was specially allowed to study at the Imperial College.
If the first imperial edict had already made Nie's heart sink to the bottom, then the second imperial edict was like a thunderbolt strike for Nie.
After Zhao Tinghan survived the Mid-Autumn Festival, Nie had thought that the emperor would let Zhao Tinghan inherit the throne. She also comforted herself that even if Zhao Tinghan became the King of Liang, he was still her son, and she would still be the most noble woman in Liang.
But now Zhao Tinghan really inherited the throne. Before Nie had time to comfort herself again, she heard news that shocked her so much that she almost exploded on the spot.
The emperor asked Zhao Tingxuan to study at the Imperial College!
What study? It's obvious that they are sending him to the capital as a hostage!
Yes, yes, Zhao Tinghan is back. He has not married yet, and even if he gets married, it is impossible for him to give birth to a son immediately. And the young prince can only go to Beijing when he is five years old, otherwise he is too young and may die on the way.
Therefore, no matter whether Zhao Tinghan was his own son or an adopted son, it would take six or seven years before he could be sent to the capital as a hostage.
There is not only Zhao Tinghan, a male, in the Prince of Liang's Mansion, but also Zhao Tingxuan.
Zhao Tinghan’s son is still unknown where he is, but his younger brother Zhao Tingxuan is already sixteen years old!
After the establishment of the Dayong Dynasty, although the crown prince and his grandson were always used as hostages, there was also a precedent of uncles serving as hostages instead of nephews.
Two generations ago, the King of Northern Yan had no children after he ascended the throne, and had several daughters. In desperation, the King of Northern Yan had to send his younger brother to the capital as a hostage. The young man was a hostage in the capital for ten years. The King of Northern Yan finally had a son, but the nephew was too young. In desperation, the uncle lived in the capital for his nephew for another five years. After five years, the uncle was in his thirties and was able to return to Northern Yan.
But it was bad luck for him. Only three years after he returned to Northern Yan, the King of Northern Yan died. The eight-year-old prince came back to succeed to the throne and became the new King of Northern Yan.
The young King of Northern Yan was only eight years old and had no brothers, so the position of hostage fell on his uncle again.
Fortunately, my uncle was not idle when he was a hostage in the capital. He had three sons and chose one of them to go to the capital as a hostage.
Because of this precedent, there was no controversy when Emperor Yongjia sent Zhao Tingxuan to Beijing as a hostage.
But Nie had already fainted.
She had been corresponding with Concubine Qiao all the time. Could it be that her writing was too subtle and Concubine Qiao failed to understand her meaning and did not speak well of Zhao Tingxuan in front of the emperor?
Nie recalled every letter she had written to Concubine Qiao, and the more she recalled, the more regretful she felt. For the sake of her son, what if she wrote a little more explicitly?
It was also Qiao Zhenzhu's fault. She was illiterate and too crude to see the deeper meaning between the lines.
Nie fell seriously ill, and this time she was really sick, not pretending.
However, at this moment, Concubine Qiao's letter arrived again.
In this letter, Concubine Qiao seemingly unintentionally talked about the past when the uncle of the Northern Yan King held his nephew as a hostage.
As she watched, Nie's eyes lit up.
Before this, she didn't know about this event that happened a hundred years ago.
It turned out that the eight-year-old prince contracted smallpox and died shortly after he ascended the throne!
He had no biological brothers and was not married, so the throne fell to his uncle.
The uncle, who had been a hostage for fifteen years, inherited his nephew's throne and became the lord of Northern Yan at the age of thirty-one.
The current lineage of the Northern Yan King are all his descendants.
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