Chapter 682: The Deposed Princess Strikes Back at the Female General 129
The emperor arrived soon.
The Imperial Guards formed a layer of guards and surrounded the Kunning Palace so tightly that no one could get in or out. Only then did the emperor dare to get off the dragon sedan chair and enter the Kunning Palace under the protection of the Imperial Guards.
Commander Luo followed the emperor with an expressionless face. He was the commander of the Imperial Guards, but now he was like a eunuch, following the emperor from morning to night.
He had not yet recovered from the twenty strokes of the board. Although the executioners had let him off, he had still been beaten. Normally, he should have rested for a few days, but the emperor insisted that he follow the emperor.
The Imperial Guards were also working around the clock. Whenever there was the slightest sign of trouble, the emperor would shout that assassins were coming and ask them to protect him. One moment they would say that Prince Rui was planning a rebellion, the next moment they would say that Prince Yi had broken in. It was like crazy.
Commander Luo thought that the emperor might have been frightened to the point of insanity. His life was so miserable that he had to have such an emperor.
There was a circle of imperial guards standing in the Empress Dowager's bedroom. The Emperor walked over hesitantly to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager.
"Now that I'm relieved to see that my mother is well again, I wonder why she called me here?"
When the Queen Mother saw the room full of Imperial Guards, the little palace maid was so frightened that she didn't dare to come in to serve tea.
The Queen Mother snorted coldly, "What a grand show the Emperor is making! Are you planning to kill me, or are you trying to prevent me from killing you?"
The emperor stared around nervously, and said anxiously: "My queen mother, you are joking. I have never doubted you. Mother and son are connected by heart. I am just worried that someone will harm you, so I have to be more cautious."
"The capital has been in turmoil recently. I always feel that someone is watching me from the dark and plotting something bad. Mother should be more careful. You fell ill after returning to the palace. Maybe someone wants to harm mother!"
The Queen Mother said coldly, "No one wants to harm me. I am just sick because of you! You are a great emperor, but a few assassins have frightened you like this? You don't go to court or go out. What on earth do you want to do? All the imperial guards, retreat. No one is allowed to come in without my order!"
Commander Luo responded and left with his men.
Only mother and son were left in the room.
The emperor walked to the bedside, groped for a chair, and was about to sit down when the empress dowager shouted, "Kneel down!"
The emperor's awe of the empress dowager was ingrained in his bones. When the empress dowager was so serious, the emperor knelt down with a plop and whispered, "Mother, calm down. I will go to court tomorrow."
The Queen Mother raised her hand and slapped the Emperor hard. She was so angry that she was shaking all over. She said angrily:
"You bastard! I asked them to leave because I wanted to save your reputation as an emperor. What do you want the history books to say about you? That you are incompetent and ruthless, that you killed meritorious officials indiscriminately, that you didn't even spare the elderly, the weak, women and children, and that you killed the entire Duke's family alive!"
"I thought you were just mediocre, but I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful and decisive! Have you ever thought about how many people were displaced and suffered after Duke Ji died and the Wujin people marched straight in, and the northern border was plunged into war!"
"Fortunately, Duke Ji made arrangements in advance, and the northern border was barely defended. Otherwise, you would be a sinner for all eternity!"
The emperor was shocked. Did his mother know everything? Maybe she was just trying to trick him. He would not admit anything without evidence.
"If the Queen Mother wants to scold me, I can only listen. But I beg the Queen Mother not to get angry and hurt herself."
"I don't know why Rui'er did this. I just mentioned it casually. The Duke's Mansion does have a large number of troops, but I have never thought of killing meritorious officials. It must be that Rui'er was thinking wrong. He harmed the entire Duke's Mansion, but I really can't bear to take his life."
The Queen Mother became even angrier!
"You are still quibbling! I will summon Rui'er to the palace to confront you! I know exactly how powerful he was four years ago. If you don't support him secretly, he won't be able to reach the northern border at all."
"I did it, and you still don't admit it. How could I raise such a bastard like you! You don't dare to do it yourself, so you instigated Rui'er to do it. You are not as good as Rui'er! He is more capable than you, but his character is not right. He doesn't care about the people of the world for his own selfishness. If he ascends the throne, I don't know how the people will suffer."
The emperor knew he could no longer hide the truth and had to admit it.
"Mother, I am also doing this for the sake of Chen State. Duke Ji has his own army and I have to be on guard! You have taught me since I was a child that between an emperor and his subjects, either the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind prevails over the east wind. If I do not deal with it in advance, I will be even more helpless against him when he returns victorious."
"I can only take precautions before it happens. The Duke's Mansion is indeed pitiful. I have also given Ji Yunhuan a lot of compensation. I have done my best for Duke Ji."
The Queen Mother felt a deep sense of powerlessness. Perhaps she was wrong from the very beginning. Yuwen Hong was not capable of shouldering the burden of the world, and she should not have pushed him into this position.
"Yes, I taught you the art of being an emperor and how to govern your subjects, but I didn't teach you to kill innocent people!"
"You can take away the military power of the Duke's Mansion, recall Duke Ji back to the capital, promote him in name only, and give him a sinecure to support him. The Duke's Mansion has three major generals, their families, wives and children are all in the capital. They are young and do not have the prestige of Duke Ji. They are now in good use and can ensure the stability of the northern border."
"I have always thought that you would be a king who would maintain the status quo, but God has blessed you. First you had Duke Ji and then Prince Yi, who guarded the border for you and expanded the territory for you. This is a blessing for the Chen Kingdom and the emperor, but you can't tolerate them at all!"
"You don't have the heart of an emperor at all. The heart of an emperor is as broad as the sea, and can accommodate different voices, talented civil officials, and military generals with outstanding military achievements. But you have low self-esteem! You are afraid that you can't suppress them, so you can only use such insidious means."
"I was wrong. I thought I knew countless people and could see through their hearts, but in the end I was unfair. I misjudged you and Rui'er. I mistook fish eyes for pearls and pearls for gravel."
"Fortunately, the sand and gravel have been tempered through thousands of trials and tribulations, and have been polished into a kind of character. The Chen Kingdom can be said to have a successor. Everything is still in time. You can issue an edict tomorrow to make Prince Yi the crown prince and Ji Yunhuan the crown princess."
The emperor jumped up in shock and shouted, "No! I am in my prime, there is no need to appoint a crown prince too early. Besides, I have ten princes under me, and I will have more princes in the future. Why should my mother be anxious?"
"Now that Prince Yi has become the crown prince, he will become even more rampant. How can I control him? Prince Yi is not close to you. If he has evil intentions, both mother and son will be in danger."
It was precisely because she was not close to Yuwen Yi that the Queen Mother knew that she would not misjudge Yuwen Yi.
"If you appoint a crown prince, he will fulfill his duties as a crown prince and will never do anything out of line. The sun and the moon rotate, the stars change, and no one can live forever. It's time for Chen Country to train the next emperor."
"As a monarch, you cannot just focus on the present, you must also consider what will happen after your death and train a qualified successor. I will move to Qingchuan Garden to recuperate. From now on, I will no longer be involved in the affairs of the capital. I will leave it all to you and the Crown Prince to decide."
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