Thanks to the outburst of the Grand Secretary, after the Secret Chamber, the Public Chamber also hastily gathered, and then jointly wrote a letter to the court, but they basically copied the homework of the Grand Secretary... However, they not only blamed the prime minister, but also the entire Secret Chamber. As the ruler entrusted by the emperor to run the government, they allowed such rumors and had ill intentions. Then they still targeted the Secret Chamber and asked it to investigate the rumors within a time limit. Then of course they also asked for the establishment of a crown prince and paid their respects to the emperor, and at the same time criticized the two saints and the emperor's brothers. Finally, the so-called "unfair rewards and punishments" of Han and Kong took the opportunity to write a letter to resign.
After the imperial court, the Imperial Academy criticized the rumor, and the results of the criticism were directly published in the court newspaper. During the debate at the Imperial Academy, the descendants of the imperial family who were placed in Nanyang realized what was going on, and wrote letters through public channels, asking for the emperor's health, requesting an investigation of the rumor, and then confessing their own immorality and asking the emperor to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible.
At the same time, it goes without saying that the ten military governors, twelve governors-general, and a hundred commanding officers had probably already sent greetings to the emperor through secret letters to express their loyalty... It is possible that some of them did not know the rules and directly requested the establishment of a crown prince in the secret letters.
In other words, Zhao Guanjia's sting operation could be declared a failure from the very beginning.
However, throughout November, all the noisy displays of loyalty produced no substantial results.
Emperor Zhao still stays in the harem, but it is said that he listens to the daily intelligence summary every three days. However, the source of the rumors still cannot be found, but because the central government attaches great importance to it, it has become known to the world.
No crown prince was appointed, no one was punished, and of course, there were no unusual movements in the army... According to the words of a drunken commander, Emperor Zhao replied with eight words in his secret letter, which were "It's none of your business, so don't get involved."
It seemed like things had just come to a standstill.
However, by December, the emperor was still absent from the grand court meeting at the beginning of the month. Coupled with the memorials sent by distant relatives of the royal family in Yangzhou, even the public atmosphere began to become a little strange.
In other words, at this time, most people's judgment on this matter has gradually moved in the same direction.
And as expected, after the last batch of memorials were delivered, Emperor Zhao, who had failed in his attempt to fish for a prey, finally made a public appearance... or rather a semi-public appearance, because the location was chosen in the front hall of his bedroom, Gyeongbokgung Palace, the so-called Yeonhejeon, and the important officials from outer court who were summoned only included a prime minister, four ministers, a chief censor, and six secretaries of state.
Of course, the various close ministers who had been attending on a daily basis were also able to attend... but they obviously had no say.
The emperor and his ministers were facing each other. The important officials in the outer court instinctively focused their attention on the official's posture. The official did not hide it at all. He came in from the backyard with a relaxed step. After sitting at the table in the hall, he raised his head. His face was rosy and his posture was calm. He looked like he had recovered long ago.
After seeing this scene, most people except Lu Haowen remained calm.
Of course, that's just the majority of people.
"Are people outside saying that I'm making trouble out of nothing?" After Emperor Zhao sat down, the chief escort Lan Gui, the commander of the imperial guards Liu Yan and the gatekeeper Ren Baozhong came forward and moved the piles of sorted memorials to the desk in front of the emperor. Taking this opportunity, the emperor spoke directly, but with a look of half-smile in his face.
"Governments should not use trickery to control people."
Li Guang, the Imperial Censor, who almost couldn't hold back when the emperor came in just now, finally couldn't hold back this time. He stepped forward and bowed to the emperor sitting in the hall to give advice. "Don't you know that your safety is related to the foundation of the country? And how many people have been disturbed and caused so many unreasonable things in the past month? Who persuaded the emperor to pretend to be sick for so long? I beg you to behead him to thank the world!"
Zhao Jiu looked at the piles of memorials on the desks in front of him and shook his head repeatedly: "It was my own idea."
"Your Majesty!" Li Guang was furious.
"Li Qing, please be patient." Zhao Jiu remained calm. "In fact, please think about it. Even if I had doubts during my illness and couldn't help but test it, why would I have to do this? Why would I really make trouble out of nothing?"
"Your Majesty." The Minister of Justice Ma Shen took a half step forward with a dark face and bowed. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, by 'testing the waters', do you mean to admit that those rumors actually came from the palace?"
"That's right." Zhao Jiu looked at him proudly. "I let him out!"
"May I ask why the emperor is so ridiculous?!" Ma Shen was obviously angrier than Li Guang.
He had no choice but to do so. These days he had a harder time than anyone else... Everyone regarded attacking him as a way of showing loyalty to the government.
"Because I was really seriously ill at the end of October." Zhao Jiu answered calmly. "At that time, a whole day would pass by in a blink of an eye. I was really afraid that I would meet Daozu in a bad dream and never wake up again. By then, who knows if there will be some retired emperor, virtuous king, or virtuous queen who will come out and change the course of the situation that I have worked so hard for six or seven years, just like the Yuanyou Reform after Emperor Shenzong?"
"Yuanyou..." Ma Shen hesitated to speak.
"The Yuanyou Reform was just a party struggle after all." Zhao Jiu interrupted him, and then casually flipped through the memorials in front of him. "But today's situation is related to the unity of the country. How can I allow the death of a leader to happen at this time? Therefore, at the end of October and the beginning of last month, I had actually made up my mind. If someone really dared to collude without authorization... Humph... If the two saints dared to fight for the throne, I would really dare to do the candle shadow and axe sound; and if the three queen mothers and the two concubines were involved, I would really dare to do the same as Emperor Wu of Han who killed the mother and established the son; and if there were any wise kings or powerful eunuchs who dared to show up, I would be too lazy to find any allusions and just pit them and get the matter over with... In the final analysis, I will never allow the country to be in peace! Not even the slightest inclination! When I am alive, I will pull and drag this country to fight against the Jin Dynasty and to the Northern Expedition. When I die, I will take away as many troubles as I can!"
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