Chapter 249 The Abdication (Bonus Chapter)
"Most likely." The guard nodded, but didn't dare to say it outright.
Prince Ning was initially shocked, but after careful consideration, he became convinced of his guess: "..."
When his elder brother, the Crown Prince, was handling affairs recently, he had him with him the whole time. He understood how troublesome the aristocratic families were, how much they secretly fought against the imperial power, and why their father had repeatedly compromised. His elder brother had analyzed why they were able to win, and the most fundamental things were two hard currencies—silver and grain—as well as some innovative methods.
It can be said that as long as the Crown Prince is alive, and as long as the three sacred grains continue to be cultivated, the threat posed by the aristocratic families will be continuously weakened in this regard. Not to mention, various kinds of handcrafted artifacts are undermining the aristocratic families from every angle. If there are any far-sighted and intelligent individuals within the aristocratic families, they will understand—either compromise and accept the situation passively, or eliminate the Crown Prince in advance to prevent the aristocratic families from becoming weak!
Which dynasty isn't a dynasty anyway? Their aristocratic families won't be weakened.
Thinking about it this way, it's quite normal for members of aristocratic families to infiltrate the Third Prince's rebel faction, rebel in his name, and desperately try to kill the Crown Prince or the Emperor... Prince Ning is confident that even if he were to speak out now, those people would just be discarded pawns of aristocratic families and wouldn't be implicated.
But all these calculations failed.
Who could have imagined that the Crown Prince's elder brother would actually... actually...
Prince Ning felt dizzy just thinking about what had just happened.
He forced himself to glance at the Third Prince's corpse one last time, then went into the palace.
Not long after.
The imperial guards moved back and forth in the palace. The palaces were brightly lit but quiet as if no one was there. The imperial physician and several officials came in a large group, their steps hurried.
The imperial physician first entered the side hall to examine the old emperor on his bed. After receiving a signal, he turned to find Eunuch Fuman to instruct him to prepare the medicine, only to find that Eunuch Fuman was not in the hall. There wasn't a single imperial eunuch serving in the vast palace.
"..." Emperor Hongren's face was gloomy, but he showed no intention of explaining. He simply shouted, "Dai Xiyu? Where is Dai Xiyu?"
One of the Imperial Guards left behind by the Grand Commander of the Imperial Guards hurriedly clasped his hands in salute and ran out. Soon he returned with a respectful and fearful Dai Xiyu. Dai Xiyu's face was pale, yet there was a hint of joy in it. He seemed bewildered and didn't know what had happened. He only knew that he had been suddenly hit by a windfall.
"You, accompany him to brew the medicine." Emperor Hongren gave this order to the imperial guard who had just called for him, and it was concise and to the point.
Now that things have come to this, he doesn't trust these imperial eunuchs at all.
The two hurriedly left. Only the old imperial physician, Emperor Hongren, and Qi Chengming and the two sons of Prince Ning, who were pretending to serve him, remained in the side hall. Emperor Hongren turned his gaze to the side and said in a calm tone, "...I want Zhao Fuman dead."
He seemed to be talking to a corner of the wall.
"Impossible, I promised him." Qi Chengming calmly rejected the request.
"I don't care how he lives, as long as he doesn't die a good death in the end." Emperor Hongren said through gritted teeth. His cloudy eyes suddenly turned and he said heavily, "If you agree, I will tell you... who secretly attacked you and Consort Hua back then."
Qi Chengming gave a sarcastic smile: "Are you saying that you originally planned to take action against them after making me the crown prince, but then changed your mind because you were afraid of me and pretended that nothing happened to those murderers?"
Emperor Hongren was speechless: "..."
He had never told anyone about these things; logically, only he should know. Some of these things he even came up with on his own, away from Zhao Fuman… But Emperor Hongren was no longer surprised by the Crown Prince's extraordinary abilities.
This son came from heaven, so it's normal that he has supernatural abilities and can understand these things...
Qi Chengming gave him a cold glance, then turned and left: "Your subject will go and call the Grand Secretaries in."
The old imperial physician bowed even lower, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He managed to come up with an excuse: "Even the preparation of medicine must be overseen by this old minister..."
The old imperial physician was quite knowledgeable about whether the crown prince had been poisoned or murdered, as he had personally witnessed the assassination attempt on the road. He had even been sent to Liuzhou to treat the crown prince after the prince was poisoned years ago.
Now we've learned so many secrets... Oh no!
When only Emperor Hongren and Prince Ning remained in the side hall, Prince Ning visibly became much more restless. Then he noticed—
"Father, Emperor Hongren's gaze suddenly fixed on him."
His gaze became intense and urgent.
"..." Prince Ning's heart sank suddenly, and he began to regret why he hadn't gone out with his elder brother, the Crown Prince.
He forced himself to listen...
Qi Chengming went outside, patted Zhao Fuman on the shoulder, whispered something to him, and signaled Commander Mao to arrange for someone to lead Zhao Fuman away first, so as not to get in the old emperor's way. Then he glanced at the ministers and grand secretaries who had rushed over. Among them were unsuspecting faces, as well as important officials who were exchanging glances with him in secret.
Without exception, these ministers were all distracted, their gazes towards him filled with awe and astonishment.
This is all thanks to the "white suns" that still shine brightly over half the sky above them.
No matter who passed by, they would see these strange phenomena. Qi Chengming had no intention of taking them back immediately; he simply displayed them openly as a form of protest.
"Your father has summoned you in." Qi Chengming glanced at them, offering no hints, and simply stated this in a formal and respectful manner.
He didn't intend to approach Emperor Hongren again to feign the grief of a father grieving for his son; he simply stood by the door, listening to what was happening inside.
The high-ranking officials showered him with concern and tearful complaints, and not one dared to be so tactless as to ask what had happened that night.
Emperor Hongren, however, had no choice but to give an explanation. His eyes caught sight of a corner of an apricot-yellow robe by the door, and he slammed his hand down heavily, his face icy cold as he said, "The three commoners rebelled and forced the emperor to abdicate, and were killed in the chaos of battle. The remaining traitors are to be beheaded and their heads displayed to the public. Minister Liu, you are in charge of investigating them!"
A single sentence has stirred up a bloody storm, and who knows how many more people will be implicated.
"Yes," Lord Liu replied.
"Crown Prince... came to my rescue in time." Emperor Hongren's tone softened considerably when he said this. When he was serious, his acting skills were quite good, so there was no reluctance in his expression, only a complex smile. He said smoothly, "I have thought for a long time about what reward to bestow. But I'm too old and weak... My beloved ministers, the future of the country will be entrusted to the Crown Prince! The abdication ceremony will be held in three days."
"Your Majesty!" "Your Majesty..." The high-ranking officials were shocked according to etiquette, and tried to persuade him to stay, either in a panic or out of reluctance.
Emperor Hongren interrupted, saying, "Alright, my mind is made up."
What followed was another scene of him declining and pleading three times.
This was originally a performance by the emperor and crown prince, a show of abdication and succession. But Qi Chengming was disgusted and deliberately stood at the door without showing himself. The ministers understood perfectly and instead smoothly cooperated with the old emperor, saving face and allowing the matter to fall into place.
No one thought there was anything wrong with what the Crown Prince did—the strange phenomena outside were still clearly visible!
In the next half hour, Emperor Hongren wrote a formal abdication edict on the spot and discussed the details of the abdication ceremony with everyone, including the enthronement ceremony of the new emperor after the abdication ceremony. Because it was nearing the end of the year, a time when he was already burdened with trivial matters, and with these two ceremonies that had to be held quickly and well, the Minister of Rites felt like he wanted to faint.
Prince Ning stood quietly to the side like a mural, forcing himself to remain silent.
He was preoccupied with his father's words, wanting to slip away but lacking a reason. Whether his father abdicated or his elder brother ascended the throne… it had nothing to do with him!
...Let him go!
Qi Chengming listened absentmindedly at the door.
Having heard about the most important matters, I felt relieved, and today's farce could finally come to an end.
His "miraculous" abilities can be taken back.
Qi Chengming's mind raced, and he clicked on the infrastructure system page. The current task clearly showed that all stages of "Counterattacking the Emperor" had been completed. However, Qi Chengming ignored this and instead went to the page for connecting to the system's local area network.
The screen displays the remaining battery power of the five drones.
In preparation for this palace coup, Qi Chengming specially bought several mobile phones and a rescue drone as backup.
The cleaned-up cell phones were left for Xiao Fangzi, Commander Mao, and a few others, so they could stay in touch quickly—time was of the essence in war, and they needed to time their entry into the palace perfectly. But the drones bore a much heavier responsibility.
The rescue drone was equipped with night vision and high-intensity lighting. A single beam of light shone down, so bright you could see a pin drop, let alone in ancient times when there was no light pollution. Qi Chengming planned to use the drone as a backup plan, so he preemptively recorded two sentences into it. Upon arriving at the palace, he placed the drone in the grass, where it lay dormant.
If we get through today smoothly, let's pretend this backup plan doesn't exist.
But the old emperor was too stubborn... Qi Chengming decisively used his backup plan and displayed his great power.
He had already planned it all out. If the guards weren't intimidated, or even tried to attack him first, Qi Chengming would simply pull out the high-powered flashlight he'd received as a reward last time—at such close range, it would blind anyone who was hit.
There were also pills stored in the system space, allowing him to fully enjoy the thrill of being a god of unparalleled power, taking on ten opponents at once, and charging headlong into battle.
...But things ended before they escalated to that point.
Qi Chengming controlled the drone entirely through the local area network within the system space. He dared not let the drone fly too low, cautiously hiding behind the clouds to conceal his presence. The scattered light became even more distant and ethereal, and the strange buzzing sound, coming from nowhere, added to the mystique.
Imagine how loud the recordings from the rescue drones would be when played back repeatedly. Qi Chengming watched this overwhelming attack unfold—mainly because the idea of light and sound appearing out of nowhere was truly impossible, leaving the ancients bewildered and at a loss, which is why they actually believed it.
Qi Chengming controlled the drones to turn off the lights first, then flew far away, flying directly at high altitude all the way back to the Crown Prince's former residence, and silently landed in an empty room in the backyard.
"What is that?!" Only two alert retired soldiers—now guards of the Crown Prince's former residence—saw it along the way. They chased after it, their scalps tingling at the sight of those strange-looking, silent things.
The two remained silent: "…………"
"Let's go." They were a little lost, and quietly closed the door and went out.
Could this be a mythical beast that His Highness the Crown Prince has been secretly raising?
They could only wait for His Highness the Crown Prince to return and report quietly. Now that they had stumbled upon the secret, the two of them dared not utter a sound, and neither dared to speak...
-----------------------
Author's Note: Ahhh, I haven't even written about the coronation yet! My bad, I'm kneeling down. There's just so much to write...
This chapter is a make-up update.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com