Chapter 131 131 "If my blood can awaken His Majesty, I..."
Emperor Xianping wanted to depose the empress, which was both a matter of state and a family matter of the royal family. Several important ministers had already clearly opposed it. Considering that Emperor Xianping did not seem to have given up the idea of deposing the empress, the old imperial brother-in-law Gao Kun slowly went to the East Palace with his cane, trying to find out from the crown prince what the dispute between the emperor and the empress was about.
Since it concerned the Empress Dowager's reputation, the Crown Prince could only say that he did not know either.
Gao Kun sighed. Even uncles and nephews were a distance apart, let alone him and the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince didn't speak, and Gao Kun didn't pry. He only instructed the Crown Prince to first persuade the Empress to soften her stance towards the Emperor. The one who tied the knot must untie it. His nephew was clearly angered by his nephew's wife. If his nephew's wife could appease him now, there would be no need to alarm the court.
Upon hearing that his father intended to depose his mother, the crown prince immediately turned cold.
This startled Gao Kun. As the crown prince, no matter what happens, his first concern should be the stability of his position as heir apparent. Right now, he should be worried about whether his position as heir apparent is secure if his mother is deposed. After that, the wisest thing for the crown prince to do is to persuade his mother to apologize to his father. The crown prince should also stand by and try to ease the tension between the emperor and empress, so that the big problem can be turned into a small one and the small problem can be resolved, and the family of three can continue to live happily together.
However, the Crown Prince's expression clearly showed anger, and it was his father, the Emperor, who was furious. Fine, Gao Kun also thought that his nephew, the Emperor, had lost his mind, but the Emperor is the Emperor. Let alone deposing the Empress, even if his nephew really wanted to chop off the Empress's head, no one could stop him. If the Crown Prince continued to act on emotion, there would be absolutely no hope of turning things around!
"Foolish! Who are you trying to fool with that look on your face?" Gao Kun poked his grand-nephew with his cane, exasperated. "Regardless of whether your mother is right or wrong, the fact that she hurt your father is a handle against her. If you truly care about your mother, hurry up and persuade her to back down. You two should also work together to appease your father. Otherwise, even if you die of anger, it won't do you any good; it will only benefit others!"
The Crown Prince understood the reasoning, but he didn't know how his mother could apologize to appease his father's anger, like Consort Li, who feigned concern and flattered him.
The Empress Dowager has her own pride, and even if she were willing to break her pride for him, the Crown Prince would never want to see that scene.
The Crown Prince still went to the Empress's palace. He knew that his mother had visited his father the day before, and he wanted to know what had happened between the couple.
Now that things had come to this, Empress Xie did not hide anything from her son and took the initiative to admit her mistakes: "Since I left Jingzhou, I have completely forgotten my appreciation for Wei Heng, and I have no regrets about that to your father. But as your father's wife, I have indeed not been affectionate enough towards him. This is my problem. Your father has done nothing wrong to me, so it is only right that he hates me. You should not resent him."
Ordinary wealthy merchants and officials all have beautiful concubines by their side, and her husband, whether a prince or an emperor, is even more entitled to have them. It's just that she is too proud; she can share a bed with such a husband, but she is unwilling to give up her heart.
The Crown Prince had never experienced the pain of love, so he could not understand his father’s hatred for his mother. However, he could understand why his mother did not love his father, because even he, as a son, could not bear to see his father and Consort Li’s affectionate behavior, let alone his mother.
"Zhi'er, I'm telling you all this because I don't want you to plead with your father for me. This is a knot in his heart, and if he wants to hold a grudge, no one can untie it." Empress Xie straightened the Crown Prince's robes, her expression perfectly calm. "I've made a mistake. Let him depose me if he wants. Once he's deposed, he'll be over it, and I won't care. But you must not offend your father again. You are the eldest son whom he personally raised. As long as you are careful with your words and actions, my affairs will not affect you."
The crown prince hugged his mother and agreed.
However, after leaving the central palace, the crown prince went directly to the Qian Yuan Hall.
"Father, please, for my sake, preserve the dignity of Mother," the Crown Prince pleaded earnestly, kneeling before the dragon bed, before bowing his head in reverence.
The palace was full of Emperor Xianping's spies. Emperor Xianping knew that the old imperial brother-in-law had tried to persuade the crown prince, and he also knew that the crown prince had tried to persuade the empress. In the end, the crown prince failed to convince the empress to apologize and beg for forgiveness, and could only use the father-son relationship to plead with him.
Emperor Xianping did not want to take his anger out on his son, who pleased him in every way. He pointed to his forehead and sighed, "I have been heartbroken by your mother. If I could tolerate her, I would not have proposed to depose her. Fine, I promise you that I will still give your mother a concubine title. Moreover, no matter whether your mother is the empress or a concubine, you will be the only crown prince in my reign. Alright, go and study in peace. Don't come over again recently."
Without giving the Crown Prince a chance to plead further, Emperor Xianping issued an order to expel him. At the same time, he ordered Eunuch Xue to send someone to the inner palace to convey a message that he needed to rest and that all the concubines, princes, and princesses should stay in their own palaces and not move around without permission.
He said this intentionally to the Crown Prince, to prove that his intention to depose the Empress would not be swayed by any concubines or princes, in order to reassure the Crown Prince.
The crown prince had no choice but to take his leave.
Outside the palace, both Princess Kangping and Princess Yi'an received messages from the old imperial uncle and arrived at the palace gates almost one after the other to request an audience.
Princess Yi'an would definitely plead for her mother, the Empress. Kangping had always been a member of the Empress and the Crown Prince's faction. If her brother were to depose the Empress and then support Consort Li and her son, given Consort Li's magnanimity, how could Kangping have a good life? Therefore, she had to make this trip.
Emperor Xianping guessed what they wanted to say, so he didn't meet with any of them. He felt that Empress Xie's composure despite knowing he wanted to depose her meant that she was certain that a group of imperial relatives and former court officials would plead for her.
The more Empress Xie ignored his punishment, the more Emperor Xianping wanted to depose her to show her!
On the evening of the eighth day, before finishing his shift, Emperor Xianping summoned his uncle and a group of high-ranking officials to his presence. With a stern face, he said, "I have made up my mind about deposing the Empress. Considering your hard work and dedication to the Great Zhou, I am giving you this heads-up today. If anyone disobeys me tomorrow, don't blame me for taking action against you!"
The last two words were spoken by Emperor Xianping while he was staring directly at Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu did not disappoint Emperor Xianping's threat. Just moments before, he had been bowing slightly as if listening, but now he stood ramrod straight, head held high, and said, "The purpose of the court assemblies held by emperors throughout history was to summon civil and military officials to discuss important national affairs. We, your subjects, are trusted by Your Majesty and hold high positions with great power. We should be even more devoted to Your Majesty's country and its people. If Your Majesty has any worries, we should help you alleviate them. If Your Majesty has any faults, we should promptly offer our advice and reminders..."
Emperor Xianping interrupted him coldly: "Ordinary people can divorce their wives, but Xie has committed treason and disloyalty. What wrong has it done for me to depose her?"
Xiao Yu: "If an ordinary person divorces his wife because she hit him, he will be ridiculed by his neighbors for making a mountain out of a molehill. Your Majesty is the ruler of a country. If you depose your empress for such a trivial matter, not only will the people of the Great Zhou talk about him, but even those uncivilized barbarian countries will probably use the fact that the Emperor of the Great Zhou has rashly deposed his empress as a source of amusement."
Emperor Xianping said: "The husband is the head of the wife. This is the teaching of my Great Zhou. Even though I, the emperor, have been harmed by the empress, I cannot divorce her. If all women in the world follow the empress's example and harm their husbands at will, how can men serve their country if their homes are not peaceful?"
Xiao Yu: "The ruler is the guide for his subjects, the father for his son, and the husband for his wife. This means that rulers, fathers, and husbands should set an example by diligently practicing good deeds and spreading benevolence, virtue, and propriety to their subjects, children, and wives so that they may emulate them, thereby achieving the education of the entire population. As far as I know, most women in the world are gentle and obedient. If their husbands treat them with courtesy, few women would dare to physically assault them. Now, the Empress is also a virtuous woman. I do not know why the Empress attacked the Emperor, but I suspect there must be a misunderstanding. If the Emperor can clarify the misunderstanding with the Empress and reconcile, this matter will surely become a beautiful story of the Emperor and Empress when it spreads among the people. It will also encourage couples throughout the world to follow suit, reducing resentment and increasing affection. Why would the Emperor not be happy to do so?"
Emperor Xianping was amused by Xiao Yu's words: "Are you saying that the Empress is virtuous and without fault, and that I am the one who has failed her due to my lack of virtue?"
What moral failings did he commit? He didn't even think of punishing Xie Shi when his forehead was bleeding. It was Xie Shi who didn't care about him and even made it clear to him that she was heartless towards him!
Xiao Yu knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not. I only do not want Your Majesty to lightly depose the Empress, as it would be detrimental to Your Majesty's reputation and would also harm the moral education of the people."
Emperor Xianping clutched his chest, knowing that unless he revealed Xie's ruthlessness, he could not win the argument against Xiao Yu. For the sake of his health, Emperor Xianping dismissed everyone except Chen Ruliang.
Chen Ruliang knelt respectfully, never daring to raise his head.
Emperor Xianping lay on his dragon bed for a while before his breathing became smooth. He glanced at Chen Ruliang and asked unhappily, "I usually favor you so much, how come you're joining them in opposing me?"
Chen Ruliang said in a panic, "Your Majesty, I am Consort Li's uncle. As for the matter of deposing the Empress, I really cannot say more."
Emperor Xianping snorted and said to the top of the tent, "It's just you and me here, so speak your mind."
Chen Ruliang bowed even lower, his voice trembling: "To be honest, Your Majesty, when I first arrived in the capital, Prime Minister Yang repeatedly mocked me, saying that I had gained Your Majesty's favor through the empress and concubines. I dared not refute him openly, but I felt truly wronged. Therefore, in recent years, I have worked diligently, observing and emulating the ways of officials while diligently performing my duties without daring to make any mistakes. During the trip to Donghu, I fulfilled Your Majesty's trust by bringing back the peace treaty from Donghu. That was the first time I felt a sense of pride. However, immediately afterward, I failed to assist Your Majesty in conquering Yin because of repeated disagreements with Minister Xiao. I am far inferior to Minister Xiao in both talent and virtue. Therefore, regarding the matter of deposing the empress, Minister Xiao said that Your Majesty should not depose her. I felt that Minister Xiao was definitely right this time. Your Majesty, please, please do not depose the empress, shall we?"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Xianping could only recall the humiliating scenes he had suffered during his Northern Expeditions for repeatedly refusing Xiao Yu's advice.
Chen Ruliang used this example to prove that his talent and virtue were inferior to Xiao Yu's. Then, wouldn't he, as the emperor who also disagreed with Xiao Yu, be inferior to Xiao Yu as well?
What, is Xiao Yu some kind of saint, someone who can say and do whatever he wants? Does he, as emperor, have to listen to Xiao Yu's every word for the rest of his life?
As for Xiao Yu, did he also remember every embarrassing moment he had caused, which is why he regarded him as a muddle-headed emperor and believed that his insistence on deposing the empress was unreasonable?
Emperor Xianping angrily slammed his fist on the bed.
He was only concerned about Xie's reputation and his own image. Otherwise, if he had revealed the truth about Xie's past relationship with Wei Heng, Xie's collection of Wei Heng's paintings, and Xie's coldness and indifference towards him, what man in the world would have thought he was wrong?
No one understood him, but Emperor Xianping knew that he should depose Lady Xie!
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On the ninth day of the eleventh lunar month, Emperor Xianping, despite his not-yet-fully-recovered health, insisted on presiding over the court assembly.
To prove that he was not blinded by anger, Emperor Xianping calmly listened to the reports on state affairs for most of the hour. After all the important matters were dealt with, Emperor Xianping left the dragon throne, walked down the nine-tiered imperial steps, untied the white veil wrapped around his forehead, and walked back and forth among the civil and military officials, letting everyone see his wound. Then, on the grounds that Xie had attacked the emperor and committed treason, he announced that he would depose the empress.
Returning to the dragon throne, Emperor Xianping looked down at his throne and said, "My mind is made up. Anyone who dares to oppose me will be executed."
Father wants to launch a northern expedition. Anyone who tries to stop him will be killed. He only wants to depose an empress who doesn't have his heart. If any minister insists on remonstrating to the death, then don't blame him for imitating Father and using death to silence dissent!
In the past two days, all the civil and military officials had heard about the emperor's intention to depose the empress. Although some disagreed, they could all sense the cold killing intent in the emperor's words.
This was not the first time Emperor Xianping had tried to kill a minister. Yang Sheng was almost killed back then, but Xiao Yu persuaded the emperor to give up.
The ministers who had been secretly courted by Chen Ruliang and hoped to depose the empress and then the crown prince remained silent. Those ministers who wanted to dissuade the emperor but were afraid of death all looked at Xiao Yu, the Grand Censor, who was standing in the front row of civil officials behind the two prime ministers.
As the discussions subsided, just as Emperor Xianping was about to order the drafting of the decree to depose the empress, Xiao Yu finally stepped forward, holding his imperial tablet, and knelt down, saying, "Your Majesty, in your wisdom, when the late Emperor led his troops to attack the Wu Kingdom and approached Jingzhou, Xie Mu, the former governor of Jingzhou, persuaded the then-garrison commander of Jingzhou to surrender to the late Emperor in order to save Jingzhou from the ravages of war. This allowed the late Emperor to obtain the strategically important Jingzhou without losing a single soldier. Later, after the unification of the nine provinces, the late Emperor, grateful for Xie Mu's merits, specially selected a daughter of the Xie family to marry Your Majesty. Now, Your Majesty is deposing the daughter of the Xie family from the position of empress for a minor matter. If this news reaches Jingzhou, it may upset the hearts of the people of Jingzhou."
Emperor Xianping said, "Lady Xie lacks virtue, and the people of Jingzhou will only resent her for tarnishing the benevolent name of Elder Xie. Xiao Yu, I will ask you one last time, do you still oppose my decision to depose the Empress?"
Xiao Yu raised his head and looked directly at the emperor, who was high above him: "The empress is virtuous. If Your Majesty deposes the empress, you will not be able to appease the people!"
Emperor Xianping smiled and looked outside the hall: "Guards, Xiao Yu has shown contempt for the imperial authority. Drag him to the South Market and behead him as a warning to the public."
The Imperial Guards rushed in immediately, and as all the civil and military officials knelt down to plead for Xiao Yu, they pulled him up from the ground and twisted his hands.
Xiao Yu did not attempt to resist, but looked at Emperor Xianping and said, "Your Majesty has been knocked unconscious. If my blood can awaken Your Majesty, I have no fear of death!"
"Then I'll wait and see if your blood is hot enough!"
After uttering these words, Emperor Xianping left in anger.
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The author says: People are obsessed with saving face. Even in modern times, there are people who commit murder out of passion for the sake of face. How much more so for emperors in ancient times? Under the feet of the emperors were ants. Where there is admiration, there is contempt.
P.S.: There will definitely be a second update. If I have the energy, I'll try a third update to see if that can send the second generation off. [Pleading face]
100 small red envelopes, see you at midnight.
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