Chapter 88 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
The emperor doted on Zhou Jing, and anyone who saw it would only think that this was the emperor's way of showing that he valued the Duke of England.
As a result, the Duke of England's Mansion became increasingly popular in the capital and had many supporters.
These people naturally gathered around Si Yuan, the Duke of England, and all the benefits also went to Si Yuan, the person in power in the Duke of England's mansion. The power of Si Yuan, the Duke of England, became increasingly expanded.
The emperor saw it all and was wary of it, but he never thought of taking action against the Duke of Ying's Mansion.
Because in his opinion, although the power of the Duke of England is great, it is only temporarily retained in the hands of the Duke of England. When Zhou Jing grows up a little bit, he will enthrone Zhou Jing as the Duke of England's eldest son and let Zhou Jing take over the power from the Duke of England. When the time is right, he will expose Zhou Jing's true identity, and then put the blame of the child-swap on the Duke of England and eradicate the Duke of England's mansion.
Therefore, the emperor did not take action to suppress Si Yuan. He had already regarded the power in Si Yuan's hands as Zhou Jing's in the pocket and only kept it in Si Yuan's hands temporarily.
Little did he know that Si Yuan took this opportunity to win over court officials and secretly support Zhou Xi. Without the emperor's knowledge, Zhou Xi's power had grown large enough to rival the emperor.
However, Zhou Xi was very cautious and never showed it. The power he showed was just the tip of the iceberg. In order to gain the emperor's support, he even deliberately showed a weak position when fighting with the eldest prince and others. In order to balance the power of both sides and prevent Zhou Xi from being defeated so quickly, the emperor would show more favor and support for Zhou Xi.
No one knew the emperor's little thoughts, so to outsiders, it seemed that the emperor doted on the fifth prince. This gave the court officials a signal - the emperor intended to make the fifth prince his heir.
Although the eldest prince and others have the support of their respective maternal families and are powerful, this world is ultimately the world of the Zhao Dynasty, and the emperor is the real master of the world. No matter how powerful the princes' maternal families are, they cannot help the princes in open rebellion. The emperor's wishes are the weather vane for the court officials to place their bets.
As a result, more court officials defected to Zhou Xi.
Zhou Xi knew very well that the emperor only wanted to use him, so he hid his power as much as possible. He would rather suffer a loss than expose his hidden power when facing the eldest prince and others.
Because he knew that his real enemy was not the eldest prince and others, but the current emperor.
The emperor needed him right now, so when he saw that Zhou Xi's forces could not hold out under the attack of the eldest prince and others, the emperor helped behind the scenes, as if the emperor and Zhou Xi joined forces to deal with the eldest prince and others.
With the emperor taking sides, Zhou Xi would naturally not suffer any loss. This also gave the court officials a clearer signal—the emperor only wanted the fifth prince to be his heir!
The eldest prince and others also realized the emperor's intention, and their hostility towards Zhou Xi was evident in their words.
When Zhou Xi was fifteen years old, the battle for the throne entered a white-hot stage, and the emperor issued an edict to appoint the fifth son Zhao Zisu (Zhou Xi) as the crown prince!
After Zhou Xi received the imperial edict appointing him as the crown prince, he felt both happy and complicated.
He was happy because he finally had the legitimate title of crown prince. As long as the emperor died, he would be the most legitimate candidate for the new emperor.
His complicated emotions came from the fact that he thought that the emperor appointed him as the crown prince at this time just to make him a more obvious target and attract more firepower. He remembered that in his previous life, when he had no idea about his own life experience, he still had feelings of admiration for the emperor. He was in a difficult situation after becoming a target... It was hard for him not to have complicated emotions.
Zhou Xi took a deep breath. He was completely different now. He was Zhou Xi now, not the pitiful and miserable Zhao Zisu whose fate was controlled by the emperor in his previous life!
He will definitely get everything he wants in this life!
Thinking about his much greater power now than in his previous life, and the support of his powerful father, Zhou Xi is much more confident in his role as crown prince than in his previous life.
The emperor wanted to set up Zhou Xi as a target, so naturally he had to show that he was extremely fond of this target and would not hit him in the face.
So even though the emperor was reluctant to hold a grand ceremony to enthronize a fake son, he still grudgingly instructed the Ministry of Rites to prepare an extremely grand ceremony to enthronize a fake son.
As the Duke of England, Si Yuan naturally had to attend and witness the grand ceremony of enthroning the Crown Prince, and he also brought his fake son Zhou Jing with him.
After the prince is enthroned, he has to accept the kneeling homage of all civil and military officials. Si Yuan, the Duke of England, is fine, as he is a super-rank duke and has made great contributions, so he has been granted permission by the emperor to not have to kneel on all occasions. But Zhou Jing, the legitimate son of the Duke of England who has no official title, does not have this privilege. He has to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to the prince according to the rules.
The emperor stood high up and saw far ahead. He felt so distressed when he saw that his beloved son Zhou Jing had to kneel down and kowtow nine times to this fake prince.
Although the emperor did not regret swapping his son at all, this did not prevent him from hating the 'unsuspecting' prince. In his mind, he had already planned how this fake prince should die.
The eldest prince and others who also had to kneel three times and kowtow nine times to the crown prince: "..." Father, are you polite? It seems that we are not your biological sons, right?
Crown Prince Zhou Xi also noticed the emperor's expression. After all, he was the closest person to the emperor at that moment. Everyone else was kneeling and dared not look up at the emperor's face, so they could not see the emperor's expression. Only Crown Prince Zhou Xi could see the emperor's distressed look towards Zhou Jing.
Zhou Xi guessed immediately what the emperor was worried about. He was probably worried that his beloved son Zhou Jing had to kneel down to him, the fake prince.
Zhou Xi sneered in his heart, feeling sorry for that guy Zhou Jing? There are times when you feel distressed!
After Zhou Xi became the crown prince, he no longer needed to act weak and in need of the emperor's help. He displayed the excellent qualities and abilities of a crown prince without any hesitation, suppressing the eldest prince and others to the point of suffocation.
Even the emperor had to face the pressure of the outstanding prince, but the emperor did not suppress the prince because he felt that he held the biggest handle on the prince's background. No matter how well the prince performed, he could not threaten his throne, so he allowed the prince's power and prestige to grow.
The emperor knew the basis of the prince's current power and prestige, and only when the prince was a prince of the state could he be the crown prince and be eligible to inherit the throne. Once he uncovers the prince's true background, what use will a fake prince without royal blood be, no matter how outstanding and prestigious he is? This was actually his death warrant.
The emperor already regarded the prince as a dead man, so naturally he would not care whether a dead man's prestige and reputation exceeded his own.
Si Yuan and Zhou Xi both knew the emperor's thoughts very well, so the father and son took advantage of the opportunity when the emperor thought he had won and let down his guard to quickly develop their power and even extended their tentacles to the emperor's side.
After Zhou Xi became the crown prince, Si Yuan led the Duke of Yingzhou's Mansion to openly support the crown prince.
After all, the crown prince is the legitimate heir to the throne, and supporting him is politically correct. The Duke of Yingzhou's Mansion, which had never supported any prince before, now supports the crown prince without arousing suspicion from others.
The emperor had something to hide, so he tried to test Si Yuan: "Didn't the Duke of Ying say before that he would not get involved in the fights between my sons? Why is he supporting the crown prince now?"
The emperor wondered if Si Yuan had guessed the prince's background.
Si Yuan said calmly: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince was personally taught by Your Majesty, he has outstanding character, and he was personally selected by Your Majesty as the heir apparent. I am loyal to Your Majesty, so I naturally have to follow Your Majesty's lead and support the heir apparent selected by Your Majesty."
No matter how the emperor tried to test him, Si Yuan said that he supported the prince because he was the heir apparent chosen by the emperor himself.
Only then did the emperor dispel his suspicion of Si Yuan.
The Emperor was somewhat happy to see the current situation where the Duke of England's Mansion and the Crown Prince were in collusion. After all, this would make it easier for him to expose the Crown Prince's background in the future and then put the blame for the child-switch on the Duke of England's Mansion.
Because the Duke of England exchanged his legitimate son with the fifth prince, he knew that the crown prince was his own son, so he openly supported the crown prince.
This is undoubtedly a very reasonable argument, and no one would think that the Duke of England was wronged. At that time, the emperor would be able to wipe out the Duke of England's mansion and the prince in one fell swoop, and all power would be in the hands of the emperor himself. His beloved son would also be able to openly restore his status as the prince.
Because the Duke of Yingzhou's Mansion had apparently become the Prince's power, Zhou Xi would go to the Duke of Yingzhou's Mansion from time to time to meet with Si Yuan and cultivate the father-son relationship.
Naturally, Zhou Xi had met Zhou Jing many times. After all, Zhou Jing's official identity was still the legitimate son of the Duke of England.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Zhou Jing met Zhou Xi again in the Duke of England's Mansion, and he bowed down.
Zhou Xi waited until Zhou Jing finished his greetings before saying, "No need to greet me!"
Zhou Jing lowered his head without looking at Zhou Xi and said nothing. He did not have the domineering spirit of the little bully in Beijing at all.
Zhou Xi looked at his 'well-behaved' appearance, with a false and gentle smile on his face, and asked knowingly: "I have also heard about the overbearing nature of the prince, but I think those rumors outside are not entirely true. Isn't the prince Zhou quite introverted?"
Zhou Jing had been left alone by Si Yuan throughout his life. He had not been taught carefully, nor had Si Yuan spent much energy on him, so he was a little empty-headed. He just felt uncomfortable listening to Zhou Xi's words, but he couldn't figure out what made him uncomfortable.
The reason why Zhou Jing was so honest in front of Zhou Xi was because he had suffered a loss at the hands of Zhou Xi before. He was disrespectful to Zhou Xi, and Zhou Xi generously forgave him. However, his father, Duke Yingguo, punished him on the pretext that he did not study hard.
Zhou Jing knew very well that his father punished him because he was disrespectful to the prince, but his father used the excuse that he didn't study hard. He had no way to ask the emperor who doted on him for mercy, so he could only accept the punishment unhappily.
So now, in order to avoid being punished, Zhou Jing could only be respectful when he met Prince Zhou Xi, so as to avoid being caught by his father and punished.
Zhou Jing grumbled to himself, his Majesty the Emperor obviously didn't mind his disrespect to the Crown Prince, so why did his father have to make such a big deal out of it?
Zhou Jing was envious, jealous and dissatisfied with the prince. Especially every time his father scolded him for not doing well in his studies, he would bring up the example of how much the prince had learned in the past. To him, the prince was just another person's child, and he was compared to him and looked like he had no merit. How could he possibly like the prince?
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