Chapter 530: Traitorous Ministers in Power
Upon hearing this, Eunuch Liu on the side could not help but clench the whisk in his hand, thinking to himself: Your Majesty is afraid that Prince Guangling will take advantage of the chaos to rebel.
He secretly glanced at the Northern Qi Emperor with the corner of his eye, and saw that the Northern Qi Emperor took out a medicine bottle from his sleeve pocket with shaking hands, poured out seven or eight pills into his palm, stuffed them into his mouth, and swallowed them hard.
Afterwards, the Emperor of Northern Qi collapsed in the dragon throne, pressing his chest with his hands and gasping for breath with his mouth open.
Eunuch Liu was an old acquaintance of the Northern Qi Emperor and could clearly sense his transformation.
Ever since the Northern Qi Emperor was assassinated by the King of Qi, his health has deteriorated.
Perhaps the Northern Qi emperor knew that his life span was coming to an end, and he became increasingly suspicious. He was not only afraid that powerful officials would collude with their cronies to plot evil, but he was also afraid that the prince would do anything to fight for the throne and kill his father and usurp the throne.
From then on, every decision made by the Northern Qi emperor was incredible.
Totally out of sanity.
"Your Majesty, please drink a sip of warm water." Eunuch Liu put down his whisk, held up a cup of warm water, and served it to the Emperor of Northern Qi. "You must take care of your health and avoid excessive joy or anger."
"Everyone around me is a bunch of good-for-nothings," the Northern Qi Emperor said weakly, "None of them are as useful as the Imperial Teacher."
If he had not alienated the imperial tutor, he probably would not have allowed a group of greedy and self-serving sycophants to almost destroy the foundation laid by his ancestors.
The Northern Qi Emperor missed his Imperial Preceptor more and more and asked, "How is He Qing's condition?"
Eunuch Liu replied, "Doctor Fang has been sending messages to the palace every day, saying that the Imperial Master's condition has stabilized, but there is no sign of improvement. He is relying entirely on the precious medicinal herbs you gifted him. Otherwise, given his frail body, he would have died long ago..."
The Emperor of Northern Qi was worried about the current situation of Northern Qi and urgently needed an imperial teacher to help him turn the situation around.
So he gave the order: "Post the imperial edict and search...search..."
The Emperor of Northern Qi was sweating profusely, his lips were black and blue, and he pressed his chest hard, trying to breathe out the air in his throat, but his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Eunuch Liu said in shock: "Come, call the imperial physician—"
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But once the Northern Qi Emperor entered the game, he couldn't stop it just because he wanted to.
Although the imperial court issued an edict to stop increasing taxes and conscription, the people no longer dared to trust the court.
They all believed that this imperial edict was just a delaying tactic of the court, and thought that after the court appeased them, it would exploit them even more severely.
As a result, the oppressed people were full of hatred towards the imperial court. They not only robbed the government's property and food, but also wanted to overthrow the regime of the Northern Qi emperor.
In addition, those able-bodied people had already sold their property and fled to neighboring countries in order to avoid taxes and military service when taxes were increased and conscription was forced.
Some of the people went to Yuncheng and Panshi City to seek Zhao Yi's protection.
At this time, a rumor suddenly emerged in various parts of Northern Qi, saying that the Northern Qi emperor was ill, the court was controlled by treacherous ministers, and the increase in taxes and conscription were all done by these treacherous ministers.
The people started talking about this rumor.
"The officials of Yongqing County exploited the people, and the matter was brought before His Majesty. Even though these officials were related to the prince, His Majesty showed no mercy and beheaded them all. Such a wise ruler who cares about the people would never do such a thing as exploiting them."
"Yes, I don't believe that our Majesty would do such a thing. It must have been done by the treacherous ministers around him."
"You don't know as much about this as I do. I heard from an old man who just returned from the capital that the decree to increase taxes and conscription was indeed the idea of the Right Pillar of the State. Moreover, His Majesty hasn't attended court for four or five days. Aside from the Right Pillar of the State, none of the other ministers can see His Majesty."
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.
The Emperor of Northern Qi was ill, and only the Right Pillar of the State could see him. Not only could other ministers not see him, but they also didn't know his condition?
It is hard not to suspect that the Right Pillar State took advantage of the fact that Prince Guangling was far away in Yuncheng to control the Emperor of Northern Qi and attempted to usurp the throne.
Everyone looked at each other, and each of them believed in their hearts that the rumor was true.
After all, there must be a reason for empty talk.
The Right Pillar State just wants to rebel.
The rumors became more and more intense, and finally it was reported that the Right Pillar State imprisoned the Emperor of Northern Qi, controlled the court, and wanted to usurp the throne.
After hearing this, people from all over the country quit.
How can we allow treacherous ministers to be in power, disrupt the government and harm the people?
They all requested Zhao Yi to raise troops to attack the Right Pillar State and rescue the Emperor of Northern Qi.
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