Chapter 51, 051: First Demotion, Magistrate of Loujiang County, Yizhou
Outside the capital, the Xiao family was the first to learn of Xiao Yu's reckless suggestion to depose the crown prince. As officials returned home one after another in the evening, the news quickly spread throughout the official families of the capital.
The Prince of Qi's Mansion.
Finally back in his own territory, King Qi first sat alone in his study and laughed silently for a while, releasing the pent-up joy he had been holding back all day. He no longer felt the urge to laugh all the time. Only then did King Qi go to the Queen's side, dismiss the servants, and sit in the most secluded canopy bed. He then spoke with considerable composure about Xiao Yu's words about deposing the Crown Prince.
Princess Qi was the beloved daughter of the Duke of Changguo, one of the three founding dukes. From a young age, she loved playing with her brothers and learned excellent martial arts skills. However, due to her arrogant nature, she would directly beat servants if they offended her. If Prince Qi displeased her, Princess Qi would also give him a few slaps. Even after the old duke, who was on friendly terms with Emperor Yongcheng, passed away and his title was inherited by the heir apparent, whose prestige was far inferior to his father's, Princess Qi, having lost her strongest support, remained as arrogant as ever and would beat and scold Prince Qi at the slightest provocation.
The couple were childhood sweethearts and had a very loving and sweet time together. Therefore, although King Qi was a hot-tempered warrior, he was quite tolerant of his queen. When he was beaten, he would at most take the queen's whip and walk away angrily without retaliating.
Whether they argued or fought, it was all just minor noise within the Prince's mansion. If anything happened outside, the couple would always be of one mind.
"Really? What did Father say?"
Upon hearing someone suggest deposing the crown prince, Princess Qi's heart also burned with excitement. After all, her prince was the second prince, and with her older brother in trouble, it was time for her family to become the new crown prince.
The King of Qi's joy subsided slightly, and he snorted, "Xiao Yu has been imprisoned. What do you think Father Emperor means by this?"
Princess Qi was quite disappointed, but still excited: "Father has always favored the Crown Prince, but anyone with eyes can see that what Song Liangxue did was instigated by my elder brother, including Father. Even if Father is protecting the Crown Prince now, the Crown Prince has handled the disaster relief work so badly, Father must still hold a grudge against him. So, in the future, you can have your subordinates put in a good effort outside, and then you can perform well in front of Father. Maybe one day Father will really depose the Crown Prince."
That's exactly what the King of Qi thought. He excitedly hugged his queen and kissed her twice: "Let's work hard together. When that day comes, I will be the emperor and you will be the empress. The entire harem will be under your control!"
Princess Qi gritted her teeth. What woman would want to help a man manage his harem?
However, since the King of Qi is a womanizer and there's nothing that can be done to stop him from having affairs, it would be better for me to go to the palace and become the Empress, who is second only to the King, rather than help him manage the inner quarters of the royal residence!
"Yes, I will be more attentive to Mother from now on. We children can't interfere with Father, and Mother's words still carry a lot of weight with him."
Prince Shun's Mansion.
Prince Shun casually told the Princess about this matter. His father disliked him, and even if the Crown Prince was deposed, there were still his second and fourth brothers. It would never be his turn. So Prince Shun remained indifferent.
Princess Shun's heart stirred slightly, because she had a powerful maternal family. Her father, Marquis Pingnan Liang Bizheng, commanded 50,000 elite cavalrymen in the Southern Camp and was highly trusted by Emperor Yongcheng.
However, watching Prince Shun undress in front of the sandalwood clothes rack, his fat head and bloated belly, disliked by his own father and father-in-law, and with no ambition of her own, Princess Shun forcibly suppressed the ripples in her heart. Forget it, she was just not destined for that!
Prince Fu's Mansion.
Prince Fu spoke succinctly and calmly, while Princess Fu, who was already aloof, listened with even less interest, as if her husband was only giving her face by speaking to her.
Prince Fu was actually quite warm-hearted, but the princess's reaction was like a bucket of cold water poured on him, so he stopped there and instructed her, "Your sister often asks you to come over for company. Remember to remind her not to invite Madam Xiao Yu to play cards anymore."
That's how it is with husband and wife; they share both glory and loss.
Princess Fu nodded.
The children came to pay their respects. Prince Fu had dinner with the Princess and their two children. After dinner, he went to sit in the study and stayed in the front courtyard that night, where he appointed a concubine to serve him in bed.
The Imperial Palace.
Empress Gao waited all day before Emperor Yongcheng finally arrived after dinner. After the palace servants left, the old man's face darkened as if he had suffered a defeat years ago. Empress Gao was both nervous and distressed. She sat down beside him and asked softly, "Are you angry that the Crown Prince didn't do his job well, or that Xiao Yu was too audacious?"
Emperor Yongcheng did not reply.
Actually, both are true.
The most furious person was the Crown Prince, because every word Xiao Yu uttered against him was exactly what Xiao Yu wanted to say. The Crown Prince, a supposed heir apparent, went to provide disaster relief, yet instead of caring about the people's suffering, he racked his brains to snatch food and silver from the victims, pushing those who had escaped the floods towards new deaths! With him as the Emperor, the Crown Prince could only secretly oppress the people. Once he died and the Crown Prince became the new ruler, no one could restrain him. Given the Crown Prince's cruelty and inhumanity, he would not only become the second emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, a ruler who would bring about its downfall, but would also be given a posthumous title comparable to that of King Zhou and King Jie, leaving a lasting stain on his reputation!
Emperor Yongcheng's lenient punishment of the Crown Prince, while making Song Liangxue bear the blame for the crime, served two purposes. First, he wanted to save face and avoid being condemned by the people and future generations for raising a cruel and inhumane heir. Second, the two northern expeditions had already caused the Great Zhou royal family to lose the hearts of the people. If the Crown Prince were to bear the infamy of being the main culprit in this case, and if the matter were to spread throughout the land, the already dwindling public support would once again crumble.
The land of Kyushu is vast. As long as the court announces the main culprit in this case, apart from the people of the four prefectures who still harbor resentment towards the Crown Prince, the people of Kyushu are more willing to believe the court and will curse Song Liangxue and others. At most, they will curse the Crown Prince as incompetent and foolish.
What Emperor Yongcheng wanted to maintain was the support of the people for the Great Zhou royal family. It didn't matter that the crown prince was criticized for being incompetent because he had other princes. The eldest son didn't care about the support of the people in the four prefectures, but his younger brothers would do their best to provide disaster relief and help the Great Zhou royal family regain the support of the people in the four prefectures and even the whole country.
The Nine Provinces were conquered by Emperor Yongcheng, and only he and some veteran ministers and generals knew the hardships they endured. Emperor Yongcheng could not possibly leave this land to a tyrannical and incompetent heir. The Crown Prince must be deposed, but not now. He could not allow the Crown Prince to bear the infamy of oppressing the people of the four prefectures and implicate the entire imperial family. Moreover, the Crown Prince had some powerful backers, and he also had to be wary of his other three sons' ambitions to seize the throne. Emperor Yongcheng had to proceed slowly to avoid chaos in the court.
Emperor Yongcheng's anger towards Xiao Yu stemmed from this; Xiao Yu had sought justice for the people, yet he insisted on tearing away the fig leaf of the royal family!
For the sake of the two reigns of Emperor Yongcheng and Emperor Ershi, the fig leaf that Emperor Yongcheng himself had covered up, he could not allow a young man like Xiao Yu to tear it off.
To prevent future emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty from being manipulated by their ministers when choosing an heir, Emperor Yongcheng could not tolerate Xiao Yu opening the door for ministers to freely discuss deposing an heir. Not all future emperors would hold imperial power as firmly as he did, and not all ministers would impeach only those who should be deposed, like Xiao Yu. In the chaotic centuries of the past, how many royal families had been used as puppets by powerful ministers who could depose and install heirs at will? Emperor Yongcheng had to take this as a warning!
After much deliberation, Emperor Yongcheng simply said two words to his wife: "I have everything."
Empress Gao first inquired about her son: "Crown Prince, are you truly unaware of this?"
She had four sons and one daughter. After the three princes and one princess got married, they all moved out of the palace, but the crown prince always lived in the East Palace. However, as the children grew up, their relationship with their parents gradually became distant. Empress Gao lived deep in the palace and had no way of knowing what the crown prince did after leaving the palace. She also had no way of judging the authenticity of the news brought back by others.
After all, he was her own son, and Empress Gao sincerely did not want the Crown Prince to be the kind of wicked person who would personally embezzle disaster relief funds and grain.
Empress Gao did not believe what others said, nor did she believe the Crown Prince's tearful explanations; she only believed her emperor husband.
Emperor Yongcheng held his wife's hand, looked at her, and asked, "So what if it is, and so what if it isn't?"
Empress Gao looked back at her husband's weary eyes, her gaze resolute: "If the Crown Prince is unaware of the truth, he is simply incompetent; if he is aware of the truth, he is cruel and heartless. The new emperor is incompetent and unable to fulfill your long-cherished wish of conquering Yin and unifying the ten states. The new emperor is cruel and will surely destroy the great Zhou dynasty that you have painstakingly built. Therefore, Xiao Yu is right, the Crown Prince should be deposed."
She is the mother of the Crown Prince and the Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty. She should not betray the people of the world for the sake of her own son.
If she had only one son, she would have advised her husband, the emperor, to choose one of the crown prince's children as the heir apparent. Fortunately, she had four sons, so there were other candidates to choose from.
After saying her last few words, Empress Gao shed two tears for her eldest son, whom she had cruelly given up.
Emperor Yongcheng's eyes also reddened. He wiped away his wife's tears while embracing her and pressing his face against her head. He whispered, "With your words, I have no worries. But now is not the time. Pretend you know nothing in front of the children, and see how the second, third, and fourth sons' families react."
Empress Gao nodded, and after the couple calmed down, they washed up and went to bed.
Before going to bed, Empress Gao asked Xiao Yu again, "How does Your Majesty intend to punish him?"
That was a good child, but he was too impulsive and hasty, and underestimated the emperor's wisdom. However, the emperor's heart is unpredictable. Even she, his wife, did not expect that her husband would be able to execute three upright officials back then. How could the young Xiao Yu see through her husband's true intention not to protect the crown prince to the end?
After confiding in his wife, Emperor Yongcheng felt much better and chuckled, "Young and impetuous, this temperament must be tempered, otherwise, even if I spare his life, the next emperor may not have my magnanimity."
When tempers flare, even the most brilliant emperor can act impulsively. Ordering the imperial guards to drag someone away and behead them is just a matter of a word. The blade falls swiftly, and by the time the emperor regrets it, it's too late; he can only accept the mistake.
.
When it came to the deposition and establishment of the crown prince, the families of the officials in the capital kept their mouths shut. At most, they would discuss it quietly with other officials or their wives who already knew about it. No one dared to spread the word to the common people. Therefore, the people of the capital did not know that an imperial censor named Xiao had been imprisoned for advising against the deposition of the crown prince.
During the Spring Festival, such an incident occurred in the Xiao family, so no one dared to invite them to a banquet, and they certainly wouldn't hold one. The gates of the Marquis's mansion remained tightly closed.
After discussing it with her sister, Luo Fu decided to keep the matter a secret from their parents in Ganquan Town for the time being, and wait until Xiao Yu's verdict was announced after the New Year. As for why the Marquis's mansion did not invite their in-laws to dinner for the New Year, Luo Fu said with a straight face: "Although your son-in-law has done a good job in impeaching this matter, he has offended the Crown Prince after all. Father-in-law is timid and afraid of trouble, and he told us to keep our necks down and not to stand out recently."
Luo Dayuan was very supportive of his old friend: "It's definitely better to be careful. We won't miss out on a meal."
Don't let it be that you, my old friend, are only inviting the Yang and Li families because you're greedy and disdainful of the poor.
Wang Qiuyue was somewhat distressed by her son-in-law's straightforwardness, but seeing that her daughter seemed to be angry with him and was even refusing to take him back to her parents' home, Wang Qiuyue quickly advised her daughter to be more understanding of her husband.
Thus, Luo Fu and Luo Lan worked together seamlessly, and their eldest son-in-law, Pei Xingshu, also kept a tight rein on his interactions with his parents-in-law, managing to get through the New Year smoothly.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the officials resumed their duties. Because there was a court assembly that day, Xiao Rong still got up at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM) to get ready.
Madam Deng saw her husband off at Wanhe Hall, repeatedly urging him to return and report the news as soon as the court session ended.
As soon as it was light, Luo Fu and her two sisters-in-law gathered at Wanhe Hall again. Xiao Hu and Xiao Lin, who were not in a hurry to leave, also came to wait for news.
Deng was the most nervous, and would stand up and pace around every now and then, with Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun following by his side to comfort him.
Luo Fu sat expressionlessly in the chair. If either Xiao Hu or Xiao Lin dared to stare at her for too long, she would stare back coldly, making the two martial men lose their confidence and dare not openly stand up for their poor third brother in the prison.
Finally, Xiao Rong returned as the first rays of dawn entered the courtyard, bringing back good news that was a thousand times better than exile or imprisonment—Xiao Yu could be released from prison, but he was demoted to the position of magistrate of Xialoujiang County, Jianping Prefecture, Yizhou, and was to set off for his post the next morning!
-----------------------
Author's note: Don't worry, Little Fa will be back soon! [pleading emoji]
100 little red envelopes, see you at midnight!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com