Chapter 85 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
People are always greedy and unsatisfied.
The same goes for Zhao Zisu. Even though he knew that he was not a real prince, he was not qualified to inherit the throne. But he had lived as a prince for so many years in his previous life, and without knowing his own life experience, he really regarded himself as a prince, and was determined to get the throne.
Now that he was reborn, even though he knew his life experience and knew that he was not the emperor's biological son, the resentment towards the emperor in his heart made Zhao Zisu want to seize the throne.
If his background had not been exposed by the emperor in his previous life, he would have been only one step away from the throne. Why would he give up the fruits of his struggle to Zhou Jing?
The child exchange was not done by him, nor by the British officials, but by the emperor himself.
Since the emperor has changed his son, he must also accept the risk of the fake son inheriting the throne!
The more Zhao Zisu thought about it, the more ambitious he became. As long as he didn't give the emperor the opportunity to expose his background, and based on the favor the emperor showed towards him in front of outsiders, he, the fake prince, could ascend to the throne, and no one in the court would doubt his legitimacy.
And... Zhao Zisu, lying in the cradle, opened his eyes and looked at the young and handsome face of his biological father who was holding him. He felt that the success rate of his plan was still very high. After all, in this life, he had the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion as his most solid backing.
His biological father, the Duke of England, was reborn. The reborn Duke of England would definitely not protect his fake son like a treasure anymore, nor would he be so loyal to the emperor. If he could let the Duke of England hold on to the military power and not hand it over, then the Duke of England would be able to help him more.
As for the Duke of England's words about exchanging him and Zhou Jing back, Zhao Zisu didn't take it seriously at all. How could it be so easy to exchange back the child that was personally exchanged by the emperor? If it was really switched back, wouldn't it expose the fact that the Duke of England knew the truth about the Emperor's son switching?
Zhao Zisu was thinking about how he, a baby, could stop the British from sending out military power. Then he heard his biological father whispering to him, "Xi'er, don't worry. Dad will never give up military power easily again in this life. Let the dog emperor be afraid of you. Only when Dad holds the military power can I protect you well..."
Zhao Zisu was immediately overjoyed. He was just thinking about how to persuade his father not to hand over the military power, but his father gave him such a surprise.
As expected of his reborn father, he is as smart and clever as him.
In their previous life, the father and son were so unlucky and miserable, and it was because Chunchun didn't know about the emperor's trick of replacing his son. Otherwise, with their intelligence and wisdom, how could they be defeated by the emperor and that idiot Zhou Jing?
Yes, stupid.
In Zhao Zisu's opinion, Zhou Jing is just a fool who has been raised to be an ungrateful person in a happy life.
If Zhou Jing had gotten involved in the fight for the throne in his previous life, it wouldn't take long for him to be torn to pieces by those princes who were fighting Zhao Zisu to the death.
It was just because Zhou Jing's official identity was not a prince, and he was not regarded as a competitor by the other princes. He was also protected by the Duke of England. The princes all wanted to win over the powerful Duke of England, so they mainly tried to win over Zhou Jing and show goodwill.
Including Zhao Zisu in his previous life, he also chose to win over Zhou Jing. Zhou Jing was probably taught by the emperor or the Duke of England, so he did not choose any prince and always remained neutral. On the surface, he was protected by the Duke of England, and secretly by the emperor. Naturally, no prince dared to force him to remain neutral, allowing him to comfortably win until the final outcome of the battle for the throne.
Thinking of Zhou Jing's easy win in his previous life, Zhao Zisu got so angry that he pulled his two little arms out of the swaddling clothes and clenched his little fists.
Si Yuan looked down at the baby in his arms who had struggled out of the swaddling clothes, and quickly stuffed his arms back into the swaddling clothes.
Zhao Zisu came back to his senses and felt the restraint of the swaddling clothes. He looked at his biological father who was muttering, "Wrap the baby tightly and be careful not to catch a cold." He pursed his lips, feeling helpless.
Si Yuan saw Zhao Zisu's pout and thought he was hungry, so he put him back in the cradle and said to him softly, "Don't be afraid, Daddy will take care of you secretly. Grow up obediently and wait for Daddy to take you home."
Zhao Zisu struggled to stretch out his little arms again and waved his hands at Si Yuan, saying, "No, no, I still want to be the crown prince!"
After Zhao Zisu found out that his biological father was reborn, he knew that his biological father would definitely love him and would no longer love the ungrateful man who caused the entire Yingde family to be executed. So why couldn't he have both his biological father's love and the position of crown prince?
Since the emperor moved him to the palace to replace Zhou Jing as a target, don't blame him for collecting the reward he deserves.
It's impossible that he gets all the disadvantages of being the crown prince while Zhou Jing gets all the advantages, right?
Si Yuan did not stay in the cold palace for too long. After all, although it was called the cold palace, there were actually people from the emperor taking care of Zhao Zisu here.
When Li Zhaoyi was banished to the cold palace, the emperor had to do so. It didn't mean that the emperor really forgot about Li Zhaoyi, his true love. He sent many people to take care of Li Zhaoyi in secret. It was just that the emperor did not dare to put his people in public, so Li Zhaoyi suffered a lot in public. It can only be said that the emperor sent people to Li Zhaoyi to ensure that the news of Li Zhaoyi's death could reach the emperor's ears in time, which was better than nothing.
After Li Zhaoyi died, the staff around her naturally went to her son, and the little prince was transferred to the Duke of Ying's Mansion by the emperor, so the child taken care of by these staff became Zhao Zisu.
Except for the head palace maid and wet nurse who had taken personal care of Li Zhaoyi's son, the other palace servants who had never taken close care of the prince had no idea that the prince had been replaced.
After all, if babies are not particularly familiar with something, they can hardly tell the difference.
The few palace servants who were able to see the situation were also ordered by the emperor to keep their mouths shut, and they obediently took care of Zhao Zisu as if he were the real prince.
However, these personal servants knew that Zhao Zisu was not a real prince, nor was he their real master, so they inevitably ignored him.
If Zhao Zisu had not been born much stronger than Zhou Jing, and had not been lucky, he might not have lived to see the day when he was released from the cold palace in good health.
Si Yuan used some tricks to subtly control a few young eunuchs and palace maids in charge of the cold palace, and asked them to sneak up on Zhao Zisu and temporarily protect Zhao Zisu, who was still a baby and had no ability to protect himself.
He did not use the connections of the Duke of Yingzhou in the palace. After all, if he did, it would likely be discovered that the Duke of Yingzhou already knew the truth about the baby swap. He just hid in the dark and gave hints to those young eunuchs and palace maids. Even they themselves did not know who their master was, so the emperor could not find out even if he wanted to.
What's more, most of the emperor's attention is now focused on the court, where he is competing with those powerful officials in wits and courage.
Without the military power handed over by the Duke of England, the emperor at this time is much weaker than the emperor at this point in the original plot.
Si Yuan didn't care whether the emperor was in a difficult situation or not. He stayed in the Duke of England's Mansion for a while and continued to ignore Zhou Jing. Even though Zhou Jing was protected by the loyal servants left by the Duke of England's wife, it was inevitable that other servants would not pay enough attention to Zhou Jing because of the attitude of the master of the Duke of England's Mansion.
Without the care of Si Yuan, the owner of the Duke of England's Mansion, it would be difficult to recover Zhou Jing's frail body. Only Nanny Huang, who was by Zhou Jing's side, used the medicinal materials from the private storehouse left by the Duke of England's wife to nourish Zhou Jing's body.
The Duchess of England's wife was also of an extraordinary family background, had a generous dowry, and had a number of medicinal herbs in her private storehouse, which helped Zhou Jing, who was in poor health, recover.
But this treatment is completely different from the original plot where Zhou Jing was held in the palm of his hand by the Duke of England, and fed with the best and most precious medicinal materials in the mansion. The Duke of England also spent a large amount of money to purchase precious tonics from outside to replenish Zhou Jing's body. If Zhou Jing wanted to completely restore his body, he could not do it by relying on the medicinal materials in the private storehouse of the Duke of England's wife.
However, Si Yuan would never be a sucker like the original owner, the Duke of England.
Si Yuan's attitude towards Zhou Jing was to ignore him, but he did not stop Nanny Huang from using the private medicinal materials of the deceased Duchess of England to nourish Zhou Jing's body. After all, Nanny Huang and the other Duchess of England's loyal servants were too busy with the Duchess of England's difficult labor to take care of the young master, which led to them not recognizing that the child was replaced in the chaos. Nanny Huang really treated Zhou Jing as the Duchess of England's only child and was loyal to him.
Since Si Yuan could not tell Nanny Huang and others about Zhou Jing's life experience, he had no reason to stop Nanny Huang from taking herbs to nourish Zhou Jing's body.
Moreover, as Zhou Jing is the son whom the emperor truly loves, the emperor must pay close attention to him all the time and he must not let him die. Once he dies, the emperor will no longer keep Zhao Zisu as a target for his beloved son.
So Si Yuan kept Zhou Jing alive so that he wouldn't become too weak to survive, nor would he spend a lot of money to keep his body too good.
In fact, the emperor has always been paying attention to the Duke of England's mansion.
On this day, after the morning court, the emperor specially summoned Si Yuan to the imperial study for an audience.
The emperor asked in a non-suspicious way, "I heard that your son is already one month old?"
Si Yuan replied, "Your Majesty, my son is already three months old, but because of his poor health, we didn't hold a full-month banquet."
The emperor pretended that he had misremembered: "It turns out that it's already been three months. I thought it was only a full month. The worse the child's health is, the more we should hold a grand full-month banquet to cheer him up. Maybe the child will get better."
Si Yuan sighed slightly and spoke to the emperor frankly, "Your Majesty, I have always had a knot in my heart. Although this child is the legitimate son I have been waiting for for many years, he was born to kill his mother. I had a deep love with my late wife and I could not accept it for a while..." His eyes became red as he spoke.
The heroic Duke of England actually had tears in his eyes in front of him. The tenderness revealed by such a tough guy was even more moving. The emperor couldn't help but sigh at the deep feelings of the Duke of England for his deceased wife.
However, after expressing his emotion, the emperor felt a little angry in his heart. The Duke of England was too sentimental. Was he treating his beloved son so harshly just for a dead woman?
If Zhou Jing was really the son of the Duke of Yingguo, the emperor would not care about Si Yuan's attitude towards his legitimate son, but the problem was that Zhou Jing was the prince born to his true love, and he carefully selected the Duke of Yingguo Mansion as the raising family for this precious son.
Also, how could the Duchess of England die in childbirth? How could the emperor, the real culprit behind the scene, not understand?
Even Zhao Zisu, the real legitimate son of Duke Ying, could not be said to be born to kill his mother, and it was even more impossible for the emperor to let his own son bear this crime.
The emperor persuaded Si Yuan earnestly, "This child is the only flesh and blood left by your late wife. Can you bear to ignore him? If anything happens to this child, will you be worthy of your late wife? It is said that if you love the house, you will love the dog. How can you hate the dog when you love the house?"
Si Yuan insisted on this excuse: "I understand these principles, but I just can't get over it. When I see this child, I think of my wife who died in childbirth. It's really hard for me to treat him calmly."
Si Yuan refused to listen to the advice. The emperor was angry but could not vent his anger. He could only persuade Zhou Jing a few more times and rewarded Zhou Jing with a large amount of precious medicinal materials in order to replenish Zhou Jing's body.
Si Yuan thanked him calmly and took the herbs home. Did he want to get the herbs from the Duke of Yingguo's mansion for free to feed his prince? The dog emperor is dreaming!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com