Chapter 209: When the Wall Falls, Everyone Pushes It Down
"Brother Ding, are you feeling better?" The person on the hospital bed woke up slowly, and several students from the Imperial College immediately surrounded him.
Brother Ding finally recovered from his shock, looked around, and asked, "Where is this?"
"It's a nearby clinic."
"Why am I here?" Brother Ding touched the wound on his forehead, which still hurt slightly. He suddenly remembered that he had a conflict with the prince's followers not long ago, and the other party hit him directly.
When he asked this question, several students nearby immediately started talking at once.
"The Crown Prince is immoral, and his followers are also arrogant and domineering. They even dared to attack directly in front of the palace gate."
"They probably still think we're just students, so even if they beat us to death, we won't be held responsible. Back then, the number of people the Crown Prince beat to death was relatively small, including an official appointed by the imperial court."
"They dare to act so arrogantly in front of everyone. It's obvious they don't take the scholars in the world seriously at all."
"If it weren't for Lord Su speaking up for justice and intervening in front of Prince Rong, Brother Ding would have been beaten and even imprisoned!"
Brother Ding understood bits and pieces of what he had said. He frowned and asked, "Master Su, which Master Su?"
Someone answered, "Of course it's the current Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Lord Su Fengzhang!"
The students of the Imperial College were either rich or noble. There were not many who were born into commoner families. Many of them even got in with the help of their families. When Su Fengzhang's name was mentioned, Brother Ding quickly remembered who he was.
He frowned and asked in a low voice, "Why would Lord Su risk offending the Crown Prince to help me?"
Someone on the other end laughed and said, "Brother Ding, you don't know that when the Crown Prince failed to recruit Lord Su, he was jealous and actually whipped Lord Su in the restaurant for disrespect."
"Although His Majesty suppressed that incident and awarded Lord Su many rewards as compensation, Lord Su must have hated the Crown Prince for such a humiliating act against a man of such stature. Now that we are impeaching the Crown Prince, Lord Su is naturally happy to help."
When this was mentioned, someone nearby asked in surprise, "How could such a thing actually happen? The Crown Prince is too overbearing."
"That's exactly what happened. Lord Su was personally chosen by His Majesty to be the top scholar. He is extremely talented and knowledgeable. He has long seen that the Crown Prince is overbearing and tyrannical, jealous of talented people, and not someone who can be cultivated. Naturally, he will not help him."
"Because of this incident, he offended the Crown Prince. If he hadn't made great contributions in Yunzhou later, he would have been buried by now."
"This time, he risked offending the Crown Prince and Prince Rong to speak up for us. This shows his noble character!"
"Yes, Prince Rong is a member of the royal family after all, so he naturally sides with the Crown Prince. If it weren't for Lord Su's intervention, none of us would have escaped unscathed. This time, we are truly grateful to Lord Su."
"I often heard Lord Meng Ting mention Lord Su, and his words were full of admiration."
After hearing this, Brother Ding's originally unclear image of Su Fengzhang became more profound, and he said, "This time it is indeed thanks to Lord Su. Ding was reckless and got into trouble, and Lord Su saved my life."
"No matter what, I must repay your life-saving grace. I will come to thank you in person."
The man next to him said, "Lord Su said that this was just a small favor and he doesn't ask for anything in return. He just asks Brother Ding to take good care of his health so that he can serve the Great Zhou in the future."
If Brother Ding had been a bit skeptical just now, he was now truly grateful: "Lord Su is truly a kind man who does good without expecting anything in return."
Such conversations did not just happen in one place. Whenever the guards under Prince Rong were about to take action, Su Fengzhang would come out to mediate. The two of them played the good cop and the bad cop, and they put on a good show at the palace gate.
The more Su Fengzhang did favors without expecting anything in return, the better his reputation among the literati became. He was originally born into an orthodox literati family and had a grudge against the prince. He had made quite a few connections over the years, and now he had even reached a higher level.
Soon, Su Fengzhang learned an unexpected news from Prince Rong: Grand Tutor Zhang had suffered a stroke!
Grand Tutor Zhang was the emperor's teacher and the crown prince's right-hand man. He was also the leader of the northern literati, and a word from him in the court was worth half the power.
The Crown Prince has been doing evil things over the years, but he is still able to sit firmly on the throne. This is certainly due to the emperor's favoritism and support, but one of the important reasons is that Grand Tutor Zhang is working hard day and night to help him.
The northern literary circles were also dissatisfied with the prince's scandal this time. Those who were sitting quietly at the palace gate were not all from the southern lineage, which showed that their patience with the prince had reached its limit.
The fall of Grand Tutor Zhang naturally made the situation even worse.
Soon after the news of Grand Tutor Zhang's stroke spread, the northern literary world was split into two camps. One camp still insisted on protecting the prince. Most of these people had too deep entanglements with the prince and were inseparable.
However, another faction felt that the Crown Prince should be abandoned. The Crown Prince's crimes of committing evil and defiling the palace had already been proven. Even if His Majesty still wanted to protect him, how could the Empress, Concubine Yu, and Concubine Xu let him go?
Over the years, the prince had offended so many people that he was not affected at all when he was at the peak of his power. But once he became weak, he became a rat crossing the street, and everyone wanted to beat him up and wanted to tear a piece of flesh off him.
At first, only scholars sat in silence at the palace gate to impeach the prince. Gradually, even brave common people came to complain. Some accused the prince of abducting women and occupying fertile land, while others accused him of killing innocent people.
For a moment, it seemed as if all the bad things in the capital were done by the prince alone.
If you say that the Fourth and Fifth Princes had no hand in this, I'm afraid no one would believe it.
Everyone wants to kill the crown prince, but the attitudes of civil and military officials towards the remaining two princes are very ambiguous. The fourth prince seems to be powerful, but in fact, only the Xu family members truly serve him, and the others are just ambiguous bystanders.
In comparison, there are more people who want to enter the Fifth Prince's gate. After all, compared to the Fourth Prince who lost an ear and has a good reputation but a disabled body, the Fifth Prince not only commands a large army, but is also trusted by the emperor.
As the most popular person in front of Prince Cheng, Su Fengzhang has countless people extending olive branches to him. I just don’t know if these people would still do the same if they knew the identity of the fifth prince.
Su Fengzhang really wanted to find Prince Cheng and talk to him about what would happen in the future, but even he could not meet Prince Cheng.
After the incident with the crown prince, on the first day the emperor woke up, Prince Cheng was summoned into the deep palace and never came out since then. Su Fengzhang tried to ask Prince Rong, but he only said that everything was fine in the palace for the time being.
One day, Su Fengzhang had just come out of the yamen when he met an unexpected person, the fourth prince Qin Heng!
The Fourth Prince sent someone to politely invite him onto the carriage. Seeing his rosy face, it seemed as if something good had happened.
Glancing at Su Fengzhang, the Fourth Prince smiled and asked, "Sir Su, you've been very busy with official duties these past few days. Have you been tired?"
"It's my job, so I don't dare complain." Su Fengzhang answered politely.
The Fourth Prince shook his head and said, "There's no need for us to be polite. After all, we're brothers-in-law, right?"
Su Fengzhang's expression changed. The Fourth Prince was very satisfied with his attitude and continued, "Don't worry, I support you and Old Five's relationship. In the future, you can do whatever you want. I will not interfere."
Su Fengzhang didn't know what exactly he was up to, but the matter between him and the Fifth Prince was actually a smokescreen intentionally released by both parties. It was a good thing that the Fourth Prince had such a misunderstanding.
Seeing that he was silent, the Fourth Prince reached out and patted his shoulder, smiling and saying, "Father is getting older and increasingly worried about me, but he can still trust the Fifth Prince and the Imperial Uncle."
"Uncle Huang is a man who never gives in to persuasion, and this prince is helpless."
"If Lao Wu can help me out this time, I will be very grateful."
Su Fengzhang understood and said with his head down, "Your Highness thinks too highly of me. Now that Prince Cheng is in the palace, I am powerless even if I want to. I am sorry to disappoint Your Majesty."
The Fourth Prince laughed heartily and said, "As long as you have the will."
Before Su Fengzhang could even think of any doubts, the Fourth Prince patted him on the shoulder again and said with a smile, "This prince knows what Master Su is thinking, and I feel relieved."
Su Fengzhang got out of the car and suddenly laughed, thinking that the Fourth Prince was thinking too much.
Since he was worried about Prince Cheng and was not in a hurry to enter the palace to win him over, he came to test him.
Could it be that the Fourth Prince thought that this rumored concubine could influence the Fifth Prince so much that he would do everything in his power to frame the Crown Prince and help the Fourth Prince?
Thinking of this, Su Fengzhang felt that he had seen through the Fourth Prince's thoughts.
On the other side, the counselors around the Fourth Prince were extremely puzzled and whispered, "Your Highness, Su Fengzhang has been generously showing off his favors these past few days and trying to win over those scholars. Isn't this just competing with your reputation? Why should Your Highness be so kind to him?"
The Fourth Prince laughed and said, "You don't understand. He is only trying to win over a few unqualified students. They have no influence on me. But only by winning over this person can the Fifth Prince sincerely work for me."
The counselor hesitated and said, "Your Highness, the Fifth Prince commands a large army and is also on good terms with Prince Xi. After this incident, His Majesty has put her in charge of the Imperial Guard. He and Prince Rong are in charge of the inner court and the outer court, respectively. If he sets his sights on the throne, I'm afraid..."
Unexpectedly, the Fourth Prince showed no concern at all and simply said, "Don't worry, I have a crucial lever in my hand against the Fifth Prince. As long as I have it, she won't dare covet the throne."
The counselor wanted to say something, but seeing that the Fourth Prince looked so confident, he secretly wondered what kind of powerful evidence he had that made the Fourth Prince so confident in Prince Cheng. He was only interested in winning him over and was not on guard at all.
At this moment, someone hurried over to report, "Your Highness, there's news from the palace: His Majesty wishes to depose the Crown Prince and has urgently summoned members of the royal family and all civil and military officials to the palace to meet him!"
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