Chapter 87 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
The reason why the emperor released Zhou Xi from the cold palace was very simple. The eldest prince born to the imperial concubine, the second prince born to the virtuous concubine, the third prince born to the virtuous concubine and the fourth prince born to the virtuous concubine had grown up gradually. With the support of their maternal families, they began to set their sights on the dragon throne under the emperor's buttocks, so the emperor urgently needed to set up a target to attract firepower.
The four noble, virtuous concubines each had a prince, and the order of the princes coincided with the order of the four noble, virtuous concubines. This was certainly not a coincidence, but was caused by the forces behind these four concubines.
Once a noble concubine entered the palace, she was the niece of the empress dowager. Before the noble concubine gave birth to the eldest prince, the empress dowager would never allow other concubines to give birth to the prince first.
So the imperial concubine gave birth to the eldest prince.
The second prince born to Concubine Shu was not originally ranked second in order of seniority. He had two older brothers, but those two princes died in the harem. Because they were too young, they were not ranked in order of seniority, so the prince born to Concubine Shu was ranked second.
The situations of Concubine Xian and Concubine De were similar to that of Concubine Shu. The princes' seniority was re-ranked later, and their sons happened to be ranked third and fourth. The princes who died in infancy were not included.
Except for the Imperial Concubine who was promoted upon entering the palace, the Shufei, Xianfei and Defei were all promoted later.
So there is the current situation where the four noble, virtuous concubines all have a prince, who happens to be the first four princes in order of seniority.
Zhou Xi’s current identity is the fifth prince Zhao Zisu. There are two more princes behind him, but they are all young and cannot compete with the four older princes in front.
The emperor then remembered the fake prince who was staying in the cold palace and brought him out to use as a shield.
Zhou Xi was personally taken out of the cold palace by the chief eunuch of the emperor's side, and was brought before the emperor after changing into gorgeous clothes.
"Your son pays homage to His Majesty." Zhou Xi deliberately acted a little uneasy. After all, he was a prince who had stayed in the cold palace for ten years, had never seen the emperor, and had not received any education. He should not behave too well.
The emperor looked at the fake prince in front of him, who he had replaced. He had a handsome appearance, but fortunately, he did not look much like the Duke of England. He did not look like he had suffered in the cold palace for ten years, and he had even grown flesh. But I think it’s because the palace servants thought this kid was a prince and didn’t dare to be too neglectful.
The emperor felt good about himself and thought that he had no idea Zhou Xi grew up so well. It was all thanks to Si Yuan's secret care.
Zhou Xi had tried his best to act as miserable as possible, but the fat on his face from eating too well could not be concealed. He could only lower his head and pretend to look pitiful and timid to lower the emperor's vigilance.
At this time, the emperor was not wary of a ten-year-old child like him. He also wanted to use Zhou Xi as a target to attract fire, so naturally he had to show his favor to him.
The emperor, with a somewhat exaggerated acting skill, walked up to Zhou Xi, put his arm around his shoulders, and said sadly: "My poor child, you have suffered so much in the past ten years. Don't worry, your father will not let you suffer anymore, and he will compensate you well..."
Zhou Xi could tell from the emperor's tone that it was all technique and no emotion.
But he still had to cooperate with the emperor's performance, so his acting skills were much better. He blinked, tears fell, and he choked, "Father..." He rubbed all his tears on the emperor's dragon robe.
The emperor suppressed his nausea, released Zhou Xi, and turned to order, "Come here, grant the fifth prince residence in Zichen Palace and confer the title of Prince of Chen!"
The emperor's decree immediately caused an uproar in the court and the harem.
After all, there are seven princes in the world, and only the eldest prince was conferred the title of a prince when he was fifteen years old and left the palace to build his own mansion. The second to fourth princes still live in the palace and are bald princes without titles.
Generally, princes would only be granted titles when they left the palace and established their own residences, which happened after they turned fifteen.
But the fifth prince, who had lived in the cold palace for ten years, was suddenly remembered by the emperor. After being taken out of the cold palace, he was not only kept in the imperial palace and allowed to live in the Zichen Palace, which usually only the emperor or the prince could live in, but he was also named Prince Chen.
The word "Chen" means the emperor's residence, a nickname for the throne, etc. This word is extremely noble.
If the title of "Chen" was not given to the fifth prince, a prince in the cold palace, but to any of the four princes from the eldest prince to the fourth prince, everyone would think that this person was the emperor's chosen successor to the throne.
But the prince who was given the title of Chen was the fifth prince who had lived in the cold palace for ten years. This made people wonder, could it be that the emperor suddenly remembered the fifth prince and felt guilty about him living in the cold palace for ten years, so he used such favor to make up for it?
Soon this speculation was no longer a speculation, but was confirmed.
The emperor sent a stream of rewards from the previous period to the Purple Palace, and visited the Fifth Prince every day. After learning that the Fifth Prince had no chance to receive education in the cold palace, he personally enlightened the Fifth Prince and selected great Confucian scholars to be the Fifth Prince's teachers. These favors far exceeded those of other princes.
Concubine Chen, who had previously looked down upon a prince from the cold palace, could no longer sit still. She hurried to the Empress Dowager's palace for help: "Aunt! What should I do if His Majesty dotes on that wild boy from the cold palace? This is a treatment that even my son has never had. His Majesty also named him the Prince of Chen County and let him live in the Purple Palace. Does His Majesty still want to make him the Crown Prince?"
Empress Dowager Chen looked at Concubine Chen's panic, frowned with some dissatisfaction, and said sternly: "Why are you panicking? The emperor just feels guilty about Xiaowu. You are in charge of palace affairs. If you had taken Xiaowu out of the cold palace earlier and raised him, Xiaowu would be an ordinary prince now. How could the emperor feel so guilty and make amends?"
Empress Dowager Chen was extremely disappointed with her short-sighted niece. If it weren't for the fact that the imperial concubine sometimes acted too rashly and left too many handles on her, making the emperor feel that she was unfit to be the empress, she would have made her the empress long ago.
By then, the Chen family will have both a empress dowager and a queen. Will they still worry that the next emperor will not be the eldest prince?
It's a pity that the imperial concubine is a hopeless case. She fights openly in palace fights and has no patience at all. Her IQ is not high enough. She relies on her aunt, the Empress Dowager, to protect her from behind. Otherwise, how could she beat other smart concubines and give birth to the eldest prince safely?
Now that the emperor has shown a little favor to the fifth prince, the imperial concubine has become so anxious that she can't sit still. She has clearly shown her desire for the crown prince's position, and she is not afraid of arousing the emperor's suspicion.
Empress Dowager Chen had nothing to say to the concubine's stupid niece. She only asked her to be obedient and said, "Okay, go back and be honest and don't do unnecessary things. I have my own plans. The position of crown prince must belong to my eldest grandson."
Concubine Chen had great trust in her aunt, the Empress Dowager. She felt relieved after getting the Empress Dowager's approval. When she returned, she began to urge the eldest prince to compete for favor and to surpass the fifth prince.
As the eldest son, the eldest prince should be highly valued by the emperor. After all, the emperor has no legitimate son, so the eldest son is very important.
Unfortunately, this eldest son was born to Concubine Chen. No matter how filial the emperor was to the empress dowager, he knew that the Chen family could not allow another empress and empress dowager. If the eldest prince ascended the throne, wouldn't the positions of empress and empress dowager be inherited by the Chen family?
In the future, will the Zhao Dynasty belong to the Zhao family or the Chen family?
The emperor had never considered making the eldest prince the crown prince. Even if the other princes were useless and the eldest prince had to be the crown prince, he would never let the Chen family produce a queen or empress dowager.
As for the second prince, the third prince, and the fourth prince, their maternal families are all very powerful. How could the emperor tolerate someone coveting his throne when he is still young and strong?
Moreover, only the son born to his beloved Li Zhaoyi was qualified to inherit his throne.
In the eyes of the emperor, other princes were not included in the candidates for the crown prince from the very beginning.
No matter how the other princes competed for favor or how anxious their mothers were, the emperor showed great favor to the fifth prince. Even if the fifth prince wrote a good character, he would be rewarded with a large sum of money.
This unique favor among the princes made all the princes feel a sense of crisis, and they couldn't help but develop a strong hostility towards Zhou Xi.
After all, with Zhou Xi around, the emperor couldn't see them. His father's favor was related to the future position of crown prince, and no one wanted to give it up.
Only Zhou Xi knew that the emperor's favor towards him was just an illusion, designed to make him a target and attract the attention of other princes and the forces behind them.
Zhou Xi didn't care. He cooperated with the emperor and used this target to attract fire very well.
Although the emperor was pretending to favor him, outsiders didn't know that. So while Zhou Xi still had value as a target, he could take advantage of the emperor's superficial favor to do many things, such as winning over powerful forces.
In the previous dynasty, he had Si Yuan, the Duke of England, who helped him to gain power, and in the harem, countless palace maids took the initiative to attach themselves to him. Zhou Xi soon gathered a group of supporters around him.
The emperor was happy to see this happen. After all, if Zhou Xi's power was not strong enough, how could he fight with the eldest prince and others and both sides suffer losses? His favor alone was not enough. The emperor did not want to end up fighting with his sons, so he supported Zhou Xi as a target.
Zhou Xi also performed very intelligently and outstandingly. Although he was not allowed to receive education as a prince until he was ten years old, he quickly caught up with the learning progress of other princes and even surpassed them.
This natural intelligence that made other princes look stupid made the emperor feel complicated. After all, he knew that Zhou Xi was not his biological son, but the other princes were his biological sons. He, the emperor's biological son, was outdone in study by the Duke of England's son, and he had to hold his nose and praise and reward Zhou Xi. He felt so aggrieved.
But the emperor could not vent his frustration to the Duke of Yingguo and Zhou Xi. He had to pretend to dote on Zhou Xi and make Zhou Xi a target. He could not scold Zhou Xi casually so as not to affect his plan. The Duke of Yingguo of the previous dynasty held military power and a high position of authority. As an emperor, he had to be a little afraid of him and did not dare to speak too harshly.
The emperor could only keep his grievances to himself.
The only thing that comforted him was that his own son was still very much favored by the Duke of England in the Duke's Palace.
Although the Duke of England was angry with Zhou Jing in the past few years, he seems to have let it go now. He feels guilty and wants to compensate Zhou Jing, and he dotes on Zhou Jing very much. Now Zhou Jing, who is only twelve years old, has become the little bully of Beijing.
The emperor felt that with the Duke of England's fondness for Zhou Jing, he might pass the military power to Zhou Jing in the future. Zhou Jing was his biological son, so wouldn't this be equivalent to taking back the Duke of England's military power?
The emperor, who was satisfied with the fact that Zhou Jing was now favored by everyone in the Duke of Yingguo's mansion, had no idea that Si Yuan was trying to flatter Zhou Jing to death.
A child who is ignored when he is young and spoiled when he is young, is allowed to play as much as he wants, does not study if he does not like, and does not practice martial arts if he thinks it is too hard... How can a child who grows up like this become outstanding?
Even if one is a genius, if he is spoiled by Si Yuan like this, he will end up being spoiled.
However, the emperor still thought that it was a good thing that Zhou Jing was doted on by Si Yuan. After all, in the Duke of England's mansion, as the only legitimate son in name, there was no need for Zhou Jing to be made a target, so the emperor had no sense of crisis.
Even the emperor himself was very fond of Zhou Jing, and acted like he loved the Duke of England's only legitimate son very much because he valued the Duke of England.
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