Chapter 103 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the harem and the court fell into a state of superficial calm.
Although the eldest prince seemed to have regained his original status because of Empress Dowager Chen's intercession, he was well aware that the emperor had a grudge against him, so he had been very well-behaved recently and did not dare to make any moves.
The Second Prince had been angered by the Emperor because he had informed on the First Prince, and had also been severely tormented by Empress Dowager Chen for a while, and had almost fought with the First Prince's men and both sides were injured. Now he has settled down.
So the next ones to take the spotlight are the third prince and the fourth prince.
After the drama of the Second Prince accusing the First Prince of colluding with the Chen family to plot for the throne, the drama of the Fourth Prince going to the Emperor to accuse the Third Prince began.
No one knew what the Fourth Prince had reported about the Third Prince. Anyway, after the Fourth Prince had a private audience with the Emperor, the Emperor soon summoned the imperial physicians. All the doctors in the Imperial Hospital were called to the Imperial Study to treat the Emperor.
The commotion was so loud that Empress Dowager Chen, concubines from the harem, and princes all rushed to the imperial study to check on the emperor.
Amid the commotion, the news that the emperor had suddenly fainted spread quickly outside the palace, and no one could block the news under the circumstances.
When the prince rushed to the imperial study, Empress Dowager Chen was scolding the imperial physician: "You must cure the emperor no matter what!"
The Fourth Prince was kneeling outside the imperial study, looking terrified.
Because the emperor suddenly fainted after hearing him talk about denouncing the third prince. It can be said that the emperor fainted because he was so angry at his words.
The Crown Prince glanced at the Fourth Prince, strode into the Imperial Study, looked at Empress Dowager Chen and asked, "Grandmother, how is Father?"
Empress Dowager Chen was also a little at a loss at this time. She was worried that something might happen to the emperor, causing turmoil in the court and she, the empress dowager, would lose her support.
Seeing the prince coming, Empress Dowager Chen felt relieved and said quickly, "The prince is here. The imperial physician said that your father is suffering from a heart attack due to anger. If he doesn't wake up, he may..."
The prince frowned, looked at the imperial physician who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "Father has always been in good health. Even if he was angry for a moment, he would not have reached such a state."
The head of the Imperial Hospital said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, your Majesty's health is not as healthy as it looks on the surface. I have been treating your Majesty. In fact, if you take good care of your Majesty, your Majesty can still recover. But your Majesty has no dietary restrictions and likes to eat high-sugar and high-salt foods. Today, he was so angry that his previous symptoms suddenly recurred. Only then, only then could he be cured..."
Empress Dowager Chen and others also understood what the head of the Imperial Medical Bureau meant. It turned out that the emperor had been in poor health for a long time, but he had been hiding it from others and was recuperating in secret. However, the emperor did not follow the doctor's advice to take good care of his body and indulged himself, which led to the result today when he was angered by the Fourth Prince's words and suddenly became furious.
The prince said to the doctors in a serious tone, "Please do your best to treat my father and make sure he is saved."
However, he did not say anything like "If you cannot cure the emperor, your whole family will be buried with him" like Empress Dowager Chen did. The imperial doctors breathed a sigh of relief and said in unison: "We will do our best!" As for whether they could save the patient by doing their best, that was another matter.
The prince did not insist that they must successfully rescue the emperor. After all, it would be in the best interest of him as the prince if the emperor could not wake up.
The crown prince quickly turned his attention to the fourth prince who had angered the emperor to the point of unconsciousness, and had the fourth prince, who was kneeling outside the imperial study, called in for interrogation.
The Fourth Prince felt that he was extremely wronged. He only came to report the Third Prince. Who could have thought that his father, who looked so full of energy, could be so weak?
Seeing that someone was finally willing to listen to his cry for justice, the Fourth Prince quickly said to Empress Dowager Chen and the Crown Prince, "Grandmother, Your Highness, my father fainted because of my Third Brother. It has nothing to do with me!"
The fourth prince explained himself in a panic, "Father fainted because he learned that my third brother and Concubine Liu were having an affair!"
The Third Prince, who had also rushed over, happened to hear the Fourth Prince revealing his biggest secret. He was so panicked that his knees went weak and he knelt on the spot. He even slid forward for a distance, his knees were rubbed sore, and he cried out in injustice with a pale face: "I didn't do it! My father's fainting had nothing to do with me!"
After listening to the fourth and third princes' cries of injustice, Empress Dowager Chen finally understood how the emperor had fainted from anger.
The fourth prince went to the emperor in the imperial study to report that the third prince was having an affair with Liu Cairen in the emperor's harem. The emperor suddenly learned that his son was having an affair with his concubine. He was so angry that he became ill and fainted.
Queen Mother Chen was furious: "How dare you! You two are so presumptuous! Unfilial sons, two unfilial sons!"
The third prince had an affair with his stepmother and cuckolded his father. This is so unfilial! The fourth prince, who reported the third prince for defiling the harem, was also one of the reasons why the emperor fainted. Empress Dowager Chen also took her anger out on the fourth prince - if the fourth prince had not reported the third prince, perhaps the emperor, who did not know about this, would have been fine.
But what Empress Dowager Chen hated the most was the Third Prince. After all, the Third Prince would not do such a thing as cuckolding the Emperor, and the Fourth Prince could not find any evidence to report him.
The Third Prince and the Fourth Prince both felt very aggrieved after being angrily rebuked by Empress Dowager Chen. The Third Prince thought that although his affair with Concubine Liu was wrong, as long as his father didn't know about it, the emperor wouldn't have fainted, right? This is all the fault of the fourth prince who reported the matter to his father. The fourth prince felt that he was only kind enough to tell his father about his third brother cheating on him so that his father would not be kept in the dark. He was being filial, and how could his father be blamed for reporting it when he was so angry about what his third brother had done?
The Crown Prince was very happy watching the show from the sidelines. It was worth it that he specially asked the Fourth Prince to report the Third Prince. It turned out to be more comfortable to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers.
All this has nothing to do with him, the crown prince. It was the third and fourth princes who made the emperor so angry that he fainted and was in critical condition. What does this have to do with him, the crown prince who is completely unaware of the situation?
Empress Dowager Chen, who was extremely worried about the emperor's safety, took her anger out on the third and fourth princes. She directly blamed the two of them for the emperor's fainting in the name of the empress dowager, and ordered them to return to the palace and be under house arrest, not allowed to leave the palace until the emperor woke up.
Previously, because the second prince accused the eldest prince of colluding with the Chen family to plot evil, both sides were scolded by the emperor, so after both forces were defeated, they both settled down.
Now the third and fourth princes were ordered by Empress Dowager Chen to be confined to the palace. They were also closely related to the emperor's fainting due to anger, so they were temporarily kicked out.
The remaining princes, such as the Sixth Prince and the Seventh Prince, who were ranked lower in rank, were too young to be qualified to attend court, and had no supporters except their mother's families.
So the prince took over the government without any hindrance and served as regent on behalf of the emperor.
As the crown prince, it is perfectly legitimate for the crown prince to act as regent on behalf of the emperor when the emperor is unconscious.
Even though the four princes from the eldest prince to the fourth prince were dissatisfied with the crown prince, they had not yet cleaned themselves off from the mud and were powerless to compete with the legitimate and upright crown prince. They could only give up and watch the crown prince become the regent.
As the emperor fell into a coma day by day, the palace had begun to prepare the emperor's coffin, and preparations for the new emperor's coronation ceremony were also secretly begun.
The more times came, the more Zhou Xi wanted to act like a filial son. Every day, he personally wiped the body and fed medicine to the unconscious emperor, almost without asking anyone else for help. Anyone who saw him would praise him as a filial prince.
After Zhou Xi finished his filial performance for the day, he returned to the Zichen Palace to handle government affairs.
Si Yuan was also in the Purple Palace. After Crown Prince Zhou Xi took charge of regent status, Si Yuan and other important officials in the court began to go in and out of the Purple Palace to discuss matters.
Zhou Xi had just finished a meeting with the elders and asked everyone else to leave, leaving only Si Yuan.
Everyone knows that the Duke of Yingguo is a staunch supporter of the prince, so it is not surprising that Si Yuan was left alone by Zhou Xi.
Zhou Xi dismissed everyone around him, leaving only him and Si Yuan sitting opposite each other.
Zhou Xi couldn't hide the smug smile on his face, and said to Si Yuan: "The imperial physician has said that he will not wake up, and preparations for my coronation ceremony have already begun."
Si Yuan smiled faintly and said, "Prince, it would be more legitimate if His Majesty wakes up and passes the throne to you."
Zhou Xi looked at Si Yuan in surprise and asked, "Do you have any solution..." He didn't think that Si Yuan, who conspired with him to make the emperor become like this, really wanted to save the emperor.
After the emperor was rescued, the first thing he did as long as he could speak was to depose him as the crown prince. There was no way he would willingly pass the throne to an outsider.
Si Yuan smiled, then picked up a pen and wrote a prescription and handed it to Zhou Xi, saying: "This prescription can make him wake up, but he will show symptoms of a severe stroke and will be unable to move or speak."
Letting the emperor die without knowing anything would be too easy for him.
Shouldn't the emperor know what benefits his act of exchanging his child brought?
Si Yuan decided to make the emperor unable to move or speak, but he was conscious enough to watch the fake prince he replaced as a shield for his beloved son ascend the throne and change the Zhao family's kingdom to the Zhou family.
However, Si Yuan felt that he was still very kind. He just secretly let the emperor of the Zhao family have the blood of the Zhou family in his body. On the surface, the emperor's surname was still Zhao. At least he kept some dignity for the royal family and did not really destroy the country.
Zhou Xi looked at the prescription written by Si Yuan, the ink of which had not yet dried, with a hesitant look on his face, but in the end he reached out and picked up the prescription.
In his previous life, he still had a clear memory of how he and his children were poisoned to death by the emperor. He also remembered the Duke of Ying's family being executed. When he was reborn, the resentment and resentment in his heart remained in his heart for so many years.
So why should his life and destiny be so easily manipulated by the emperor, and why could the emperor die happily without realizing it?
The emperor must always understand that those who play with the fate of others must be prepared to be played with by fate.
Zhou Xi is now the crown prince who is the regent. At this time when it is basically certain that the emperor will not wake up, those royalist forces have surrendered to him one after another. It can be said that he is the real emperor who only lacks the title of emperor.
At Zhou Xi's order, the imperial physician naturally took the initiative to write out the prescription written by Si Yuan and made it for the unconscious emperor to drink.
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