Chapter 25 The number one scholar’s father is a charlatan who always wins in gambling!
The Second Prince was the adopted son of the Queen. As the Queen did not give birth to a legitimate prince, he had the most honorable status among all the princes. So naturally there were many forces behind him who were betting on him.
In the original plot, the second prince and the eldest prince fought each other and both suffered losses, while the third prince, who kept a low profile and pretended not to fight, took advantage of the situation.
And now, the Third Prince had long been designed by Si Yuan to fight with the First Prince, exposing his own ambition. After entering the sight of the First Prince and the Second Prince, the Third Prince, whose power was far less than that of his two elder brothers, was pinned to the ground and beaten violently by the two princes.
If the emperor had not been determined to support the Third Prince in fighting against the First and Second Princes to maintain the balance of the three powers, the Third Prince would probably have been challenged by the First and Second Princes to a battle for the throne in no time.
However, even with the emperor's support, the third prince was the weakest among the three princes vying for the throne. Most of his base was among the upright civil servants. With these civil servants helping to build his reputation, the third prince was quite famous among the gentry, but he did not have a certain amount of military power like the eldest and second princes.
When it comes to forcing abdication and rebellion, whoever has the support of others has the upper hand.
Therefore, the Third Prince, who had no one under his control, did not expect that the First Prince, who he had wrongly accused of treason, had actually already prepared for rebellion. He directly forced the Third Prince to abdicate and rebel, and used him as a chicken to kill to scare the monkeys. It can be said that he had little sense of existence.
After the Second Prince's personal guards subdued the First Prince, the Second Prince signaled his men to take advantage of the chaos and secretly kill the First Prince.
Although the eldest prince forced the emperor to abdicate and rebelled, and now that he has been caught, he will definitely have no chance to ascend the throne again, but the second prince knows that the eldest prince has been planning for many years and has many forces behind him. As long as he is alive, even if he is deposed and imprisoned, those forces in the eldest prince's camp who are unable to get off the boat will be ready to make trouble.
Therefore, the eldest brother who was killed is the good eldest brother.
Why not let the eldest prince die in the chaos now? Do we have to wait until things calm down before worrying about how to execute him?
The second prince was not stupid, so he acted decisively.
The death of the eldest prince didn't even cause much of a stir, because the emperor was stabbed in the kidney by the eldest prince and is now seriously injured and is being rescued by all the doctors in the Imperial Hospital. It is even a question whether he can be rescued.
When the emperor was dying, who would care whether the traitorous eldest prince who stabbed the emperor to death was dead or alive? Even if he was alive, the crime of assassinating the emperor's father was enough to kill him a hundred times.
The second prince stood outside the emperor's bedroom, watching the imperial doctors coming in and out to rescue the emperor, discussing the rescue plan with serious expressions, and he was also very nervous.
He hoped that his father would die, but also hoped that his father would be alive.
When the emperor passes away, he can directly ascend the throne.
The emperor has a total of six princes and seven princesses, and now only the top three princes have the right to compete for the throne.
Because the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince are a pair of twins who look exactly the same, and in the royal family twins are born without the right of inheritance. Otherwise, if one of them becomes emperor, the other one who looks exactly like the emperor will inevitably want to replace the emperor with his own face, directly replacing the emperor. Who can tell the difference? This is a sign of chaos in the country, so twins are a bad omen in the royal family. The mother of the fourth prince and the fifth prince fell out of favor after giving birth to the twins, and the two brothers were born without the right to inherit the throne.
The Sixth Prince is still a breastfeeding baby and cannot compete with his adult brothers at all.
So with the eldest prince and the third prince both dead, the only heir to the next emperor is the second prince.
As soon as the emperor passes away, the second prince, as the only candidate for succession, will undoubtedly become the new emperor.
However, precisely because he had no competitors, the second prince did not want the emperor to die at this time. He hoped that the emperor would wake up, live longer, enthrone him as the crown prince, and then let him ascend the throne and become emperor.
In this way, the second prince can be regarded as the legitimate heir to the throne recognized by the emperor, rather than a traitor who came to power by forcing the emperor to abdicate.
Although under the guidance of an expert, it was the eldest prince who actually forced the emperor to abdicate and rebel, and the second prince was there to protect the king, but who could not have guessed what would happen in the palace coup? Just seeing that he was the only beneficiary of this coup, any smart person could guess the secret of this coup, and would inevitably criticize the legitimacy of his ascension to the throne as the second prince.
So the Second Prince stood outside the Emperor's bedroom, feeling very conflicted, especially when he thought about his verbal protection of the First Prince when he tried to stab the Emperor. What if the Emperor came to his senses and wanted to settle the score later?
But he really wanted to be named the crown prince, and then ascend the throne and become emperor with the legitimate status of the crown prince.
After the throne was already in his pocket, the Second Prince would inevitably be hypocritical and want to correct his own status.
After struggling for a long time, the second prince couldn't help but write a secret letter and put it into the small bamboo tube on the leg of a carrier pigeon, asking the carrier pigeon to find the expert who had taught him how to serve the king and protect the emperor to help him with advice again.
Si Yuan, who was waiting for the news of the emperor's death at home, looked at the confidential letter he had just removed from the leg of the carrier pigeon. Looking at the content on it, his face was a little speechless: [This guy is lucky enough to be the emperor, but he still asks for so much! 】
In the original plot, the second prince was defeated by the eldest prince under the emperor's balancing act and ended up with a miserable ending. After the third prince ascended the throne, his whole family suffered a miserable end.
Now that he has become the heir to the throne with his help, he is still hypocritical and wants to be made the crown prince by the emperor first, and then ascend the throne legitimately, in order to leave a good reputation in history books.
It's so annoying!
If the Second Prince wasn't the only option now, Si Yuan would have wanted to support someone else.
The system watched Si Yuan write a reply to the Second Prince, and the entire system was confused: [Host, when did you hook up with the Second Prince? And you are about to help the Second Prince ascend the throne! 】
While writing a reply to the pretentious and annoying Second Prince, Si Yuan said: [Instead of supporting the Second Prince who has no grudge against me, are you going to support the First Prince who is the backer of the casino that swindled the original owner's fortune in the original plot? Or should you support the third prince who killed the original owner in the original plot? As for the remaining three princes, the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince have no inheritance rights because they are twins, and the Sixth Prince is too young, and it would be too costly and troublesome to support him to ascend the throne, so the Second Prince is the only choice.
As the adopted son of the Queen, the Second Prince has received the education of a legitimate prince since childhood. His ability in governing the country is above the average among the princes, so he has no problem becoming a king who maintains the status quo.
The Second Prince, probably because he was the Queen's adopted son, had always been treated as a half-legitimate prince. This identity was very embarrassing. It was not noble, but it was a bit noble, after all, he was half-legitimate.
This embarrassing identity made the second prince have an inexplicable obsession with a legitimate identity, so if it was possible, the second prince wanted to ascend the throne legitimately.
Si Yuan thought he was troublesome, but he still helped him fulfill his wish. Otherwise, there was no telling what strange things the Second Prince, who was still resentful of his legitimate status, would do in the future.
Moreover, the second prince was quite well-behaved before. The expert who helped him with advice said that he would not show up and only communicated by carrier pigeons. The second prince actually sent people to try to track the carrier pigeons at the beginning, but after that, he obediently did what Si Yuan said, and became a qualified tool man.
Considering that the Second Prince had been so well-behaved in the past, Si Yuan didn't mind helping him fulfill his wish.
Si Yuan rolled up the reply letter and stuffed it into the small bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg, then let the well-fed pigeon fly back to deliver the letter to the second prince.
The next day, Si Yuan learned from the Jingyuan Earl's Mansion that the emperor, who was seriously injured by the eldest prince, had regained consciousness, but his injuries were too severe to get up. However, the emperor summoned important officials and princes of the royal family and personally announced that the second prince would be appointed crown prince and regent on behalf of the emperor.
After issuing this imperial decree, the emperor fell into a coma again, and all the doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau continued to rescue him.
The second prince was satisfied. Although now was not a good time to hold the ceremony of enthroning the crown prince, the emperor had issued an imperial edict in person, and with the testimony of clan members and court officials, no one could deny his legitimacy as the crown prince.
Moreover, as the crown prince, he is acting as regent on behalf of the unconscious emperor, which actually means he is only exercising the emperor's power temporarily. Seeing that the emperor's life is hanging by a thread, he may not get better, and the crown prince is definitely the new emperor.
So all the court officials tried to show goodwill to the Crown Prince. As for the people from the First Prince's camp who had fought to the death with the Second Prince's camp, they had already been thrown into prison when the First Prince committed treason and died.
The Crown Prince also took this opportunity to eliminate dissidents and purge all those stubborn elements who were hindering his ascension to the throne.
Another month later, the emperor, who had been rescued for more than a month, died in a coma.
The crown prince ascended the throne as the new emperor in front of the coffin.
Listening to the death knell of the emperor coming from the palace, Si Yuan calmly ordered the butler to put away all festive items in the house and hang up white banners to express mourning for the emperor's death.
Since Si Yuan's family were all commoners, they did not have to enter the palace to mourn for the emperor, so as long as they did not engage in public pleasure, no one would care how they lived behind closed doors.
The situation in the Jingyuan Marquis' Mansion was a little more miserable. All those with titles and imperial edicts had to enter the palace to mourn the deceased emperor. They had to kneel and cry for several hours, which was an extremely difficult and arduous task.
Whenever an important figure like the emperor, empress or empress dowager passed away, among the ministers and their families who went to mourn the death of the deceased, there were always a few who were frail or elderly and died because they could not bear the pain of kneeling and crying. After the national mourning, many families also held funerals.
In this situation, one can only consider oneself unlucky. No one dares to ask the new monarch to allow their sick or elderly family members not to go to mourn for the late emperor. After all, their lives are not as important as mourning for the late emperor. If you don't go, aren't you being disrespectful to the late emperor? Disrespect for the present? Do you want to experience the feeling of playing Match 3 with the whole family?
Old Earl Jingyuan was not in good health. After he managed to finish mourning for the late emperor, he fell ill and lay in bed, unable to get up. However, he was much better off than those unlucky guys who died directly. At least he was still alive.
Si Yuan took his wife and children to visit the old Earl of Jingyuan at his mansion. After confirming that the old Earl still had many years to live, he no longer cared.
The previous emperor passed away, but this year's imperial examination was temporarily cancelled. However, after the new emperor ascended the throne, he opened another special examination, which means that candidates who failed this year can take the exam again, and candidates who are waiting to take the imperial examination can also re-register to continue to take the examination.
However, the candidates who passed the imperial examination this time would become the new emperor’s first batch of disciples.
At this time when the new emperor is in need of people, this year's new Jinshi are much more likely to catch the new emperor's eye than previous Jinshi.
After re-registering for the imperial examination, Li Changqing, the prospective candidate, was waiting for the examination time to come with some excitement and anticipation.
He didn't expect that he was so lucky that he happened to catch up with the time when imperial power was changing and the new emperor ascended the throne and held an imperial examination.
Although he was only a juren before and had not yet entered the officialdom, he had discussed state affairs with other scholars and read the court bulletins to understand current affairs. He knew that the battle for the throne among the three princes in the court had entered a white-hot stage and that it was difficult to survive in the officialdom. If he did not choose a camp that suits him after joining, he would only become cannon fodder in the three-way melee.
When Li Changqing was still struggling with what to do if he was involved in the struggle between princes after passing the imperial examination and entering an officialdom, he suddenly heard that the battle for the throne had come to an end, and the second prince had won in the end and even ascended the throne to become emperor.
Now there is no need to worry about it, because the eldest prince and the third prince are both dead, and their forces have been purged by the new emperor. Now there are plenty of vacancies in the court waiting for them, the scholars of this year's imperial examination, to fill them. This is simply the best time ever.
Li Changqing sighed in front of Si Yuan and Yu Yan that he was really lucky. He thought it was a bad time, but unexpectedly he caught a good opportunity.
Si Yuan, who had hidden his achievements and fame, smiled without saying anything: "..." He would never say how much he had worried behind the scenes in order to create a suitable official environment for his adopted son.
That night, Si Yuan received another letter from the new emperor via carrier pigeon. The content of the letter was long-winded and simple.
The general meaning is: Senior, are you asleep? I didn’t sleep, I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited, I was so happy, I became the emperor!
Are you happy, senior? How happy are you? I want to see you and I want to give you a large reward... But being an emperor is a bit tiring. I have to review so many memorials every day. Why do those memorials from court officials contain so much nonsense? I felt dizzy after reading this. I wanted to scold them but was too embarrassed to do so, so I could only write "I have read it".
Alas, being an emperor is not easy... I am already very tired from reviewing memorials, and I only sleep for two or three hours every night. My sleep time is so tight, and the empress dowager and court officials are still urging me to select concubines and visit the harem. However, I have to get up before dawn every morning to attend court. If I want to visit concubines at night, my sleep time will be shortened by half. I want to sleep until I wake up naturally...
Si Yuan just read the contents of the new emperor's letter. He went from being happy and excited about becoming the emperor to complaining about how difficult it was to be an emperor.
Si Yuan had no intention of replying at all. He just burned the secret letters and released the empty pigeon back.
Perhaps because Si Yuan never showed up, or perhaps the new emperor wanted to test him, the new emperor often sent unilateral letters to Si Yuan to complain, as if he treated Si Yuan as a tree hole pen pal.
Si Yuan just felt that this emperor was so annoying, even more annoying than before!
So on the eve of Li Changqing's imperial examination, Si Yuan finally couldn't bear it anymore and stewed the pigeon that frequently disturbed him, and then served it to Li Changqing as a nourishment for his body.
This carrier pigeon was transformed by Si Yuan using spiritual energy. It flies very fast and high, and its flight route cannot be tracked by anyone. Therefore, after being stewed, it still contains a certain amount of spiritual energy. It tastes delicious and is especially warming and nourishing.
After Li Changqing finished eating the stewed pigeon and drinking the stewed pigeon soup, he felt warm all over. This warmth even lasted until he entered the examination room for the imperial examination.
The imperial examination was held in February, when the weather was still chilly. While other candidates were rubbing their hands in the cold, Li Changqing felt warm all over and did not feel cold at all. He wrote down his answers as if inspired by God.
After Li Changqing finished the joint examination, he walked out of the examination room. He was obviously in much better spirits than the other candidates and his mental outlook was completely different.
Li Changwen, who was also feeling exhausted from taking the imperial examination, was surprised to see Li Changqing still in high spirits: "Brother Changqing must have done very well in the exam. His mental state is different from everyone else's." He didn't look like someone who had been staying in the examination room for several days.
Li Changqing said with a smile: "Maybe it's because I'm used to it. Before the exam, I built a small room at home imitating the examination room. I sat in this small room to review before the exam. I got used to this environment, so I didn't feel anything when the exam came."
However, Li Changqing knew clearly that although this was half the reason, the other half was the bowl of stewed pigeon soup he drank yesterday.
I don’t know how that bowl of pigeon soup was made, but it has kept him warm since he drank it until now. His hands and feet don’t feel cold at all. He is not affected by the cold weather, so his spirit and state are naturally very good.
Li Changwen didn't want to be compared with Li Changqing all the time, so he hurriedly said goodbye to Li Changqing and returned to his own carriage.
The method that Li Changqing mentioned before, of setting up an examination room at home to conduct mock exams, was actually shared with him a long time ago. However, after Li Changwen went home and told his parents, his parents were determined not to use Li Changqing's method, believing that it was a way to consume his energy and physical health.
It is already tiring to take an exam in a cramped room, and then one has to torture oneself in advance before the exam. Wouldn't this make the candidates' bodies even more physically strained?
Therefore, Li Jingyuan and Tan refused to learn Li Changqing's mock exam method. They believed that Li Changqing shared this method with Li Changwen with bad intentions.
Li Changwen was also a little hesitant, but finally decided to listen to his parents.
But now seeing that Li Changqing had adapted so well to the examination environment and didn't look listless at all after coming out, Li Changwen felt quite uncomfortable.
Li Changwen left in a hurry. Li Changqing just glanced at his back and then looked away without any concern.
The brothers had long since drifted apart. After all, they were just cousins, and there were some difficult grudges between their parents' generation, so it was naturally difficult for them to get along harmoniously.
Now that the imperial examination is over, with their talents, they will most likely pass and become officials in the future. Unless they both stay in the capital as officials, if they are sent to other places, they will each govern their own regions and it will be difficult for them to see each other again for the rest of their lives.
After Li Changqing returned home in his own carriage, Yu Yan had already been waiting at the door.
Li Changqing saw his mother and walked forward happily: "Mother, I'm back!"
Even though Li Changqing is still a teenager and has become a juren and is about to pass the imperial examination, his youthful spirit has not diminished in the slightest.
Yu Yan looked at her tall and strong son, and happily took his hand and walked into the house: "From your appearance, I know that you must have done well in the exam, but the test results are not important, as long as you are healthy. Your father is waiting for you now, and he is not worried at all. He can still sit still on such an important day, and he doesn't even come with me to wait for you at the door..."
Hearing Yu Yan's last words turn into complaints about Si Yuan, Li Changqing smiled and tried to smooth things over: "Mother, father believes in me too. He believes that I will do well in the exam, so there is no need to worry. Besides, the results are not announced yet. Once the exam is over, it's not too late for mother and father to get nervous after the results are announced."
Yu Yan smiled and said, "I know you have a good relationship as father and son, so you should speak for your father..." But she was also very happy in her heart. After all, her husband and son had a close relationship, which was something she was happy to see.
Si Yuan, who was sipping tea leisurely, saw Yu Yan coming back holding his son's hand. He slowly put down the teacup and said, "You're back. Do you feel unwell?"
Yu Yan pulled her son to sit down and snorted, "By the time you were concerned about my son's health, the daylily has gone cold. I have already asked someone to call a doctor. No matter what, I still have to check Changqing's pulse to see if he is safe."
Si Yuan did not object to asking a doctor to take a look, and just said: "Chang Qing has learned a few moves from Master Wu, and he is very strong and healthy, so he will be fine."
Li Changqing also smiled and raised his arms, comforting Yu Yan: "Yes, don't worry, mother. Don't look at my skinny figure. In fact, I look thin when I am dressed and have muscles when I am undressed. I am very strong."
Yu Yan also knew that her son was in good health, but she was too concerned.
The doctor was brought in, and after taking Li Changqing's pulse, he said that he was as strong as an ox and his pulse was strong and powerful. Only then did Yu Yan feel completely relieved.
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