A cool autumn breeze blew across my face, carrying with it a faint smell of blood.
Boom, boom, boom——
The bell sounds loud and solemn, from near to far.
A sound.
Two sounds.
Three tones.
Four tones.
…
Forty-five sounds.
Ye Zelin lifted his sleeves, knelt heavily on his knees, folded his hands, placed them in front of his forehead, slowly bowed, his voice sad and sorrowful.
"Your Majesty, I, Ye Yushi, respectfully bid you farewell."
The commander of the imperial guards led all the imperial guards to kneel and kowtow, "Farewell, Your Majesty!"
Soon, King Qin, King Zheng and others also arrived in front of the Zichen Palace.
"My brother, I respectfully send you off to Your Majesty."
"My brother, I respectfully send you off to Your Majesty."
On August 27, the fourth year of the Kangding reign, Emperor Zhao Zixu passed away.
…
After Zhao Zixu's death, the palace and the government were in chaos.
The palace was in chaos. The empress dowager fainted several times from grief and refused to eat or drink. Princess Xinyang cried until her eyes were red. The concubines cried and wailed. Empress Lu also cried for a long time. Finally, after being comforted by the eunuch Luo, she managed to cheer up.
In the previous dynasty, all civil and military officials wore plain clothes and gathered in the Purple Palace.
The traitor has been executed, and His Majesty passed away suddenly without leaving a will to appoint a crown prince. The country cannot be without a ruler for a day, so all the officials gathered in the Purple Palace, asking to see the Empress Dowager and the Empress to discuss which relative to support as emperor. However, the Empress Dowager and the Empress refused to see anyone.
However, within one day, the former court was in chaos, and all the civil and military officials knelt in front of the Purple Palace, claiming that the Empress Dowager would not see them and would not get up from their knees.
According to the ancestral rules that the son inherits the throne after the father's death and the younger brother inherits the throne after the elder brother's death, Your Majesty has no prince, so the successors can only be Your Majesty's brothers. However, there are still some restless people who rush to the palace gate with evil intentions.
The next day.
Under the pretext of protecting the Queen Mother and preventing any disturbance, the King of Linjiang, the King of Pingyuan, and the King of Xiang led a large group of troops and rushed to the Qiming Gate.
Ye Zelin, dressed in plain clothes, looked at the three princes at the foot of the palace and kindly advised: "My three princes, the palace gate is a very important place, please return."
Prince Linjiang and Prince Pingyuan are both younger brothers of Emperor Xiangfu. Like Prince Qinghe, they are your Majesty's uncles, and Prince Xiang is your Majesty's younger brother.
Prince Xiang said, "General Ye, since His Majesty has passed away, my two uncles and I are worried about the Queen Mother and the Emperor's wife. Please allow me and my two uncles to enter the palace and take a look."
Ye Zelin said expressionlessly: "No."
After saying this, he flew down from the city wall, holding a spear, and made a gesture of invitation, "Please go back, the three of you. If you force your way in, I will kill you without mercy!"
The spear spun in Ye Zelin's hand, and the extremely sharp tip of the spear gently passed in front of the three princes. His sharp eyes slowly swept over the King of Linjiang, the King of Pingyuan, and the King of Xiang, making the three of them inexplicably frightened.
Prince Linjiang was always timid and good at protecting himself. He immediately said, "The Queen Mother is safe and sound. As your humble servant, I am relieved. I will return now."
Prince Linjiang bowed, turned around, and walked as quickly and efficiently as if his feet were greased.
King Pingyuan and King Xiang were stunned.
It was Prince Linjiang who instigated the two of them to bring people to Qiming Gate, but in the end, Prince Linjiang was the one who left the fastest.
"Sixth Uncle."
"Sixth Brother."
The King of Linjiang seemed not to have heard the voices of the King of Pingyuan and the King of Xiang. His steps suddenly quickened and became more erratic and light.
Seeing that King Pingyuan and King Xiang were motionless, Ye Zelin swung his spear and threw it hard, piercing the soil by nearly five or six inches. He then said, "You two, please come in!"
Seeing this, King Pingyuan hesitated for a moment, then turned around and ran away, thinking that saving his own life was more important.
"Your Highness, please."
Ye Zelin looked at King Xiang and said.
King Xiang hesitated to act.
The people behind him looked at King Xiang and then at General Ye Zelin. They knew that if their master forced his way into the palace, he would be defined as treason. They all had families, children, and parents, and they didn't want to risk their lives because of their master's stupidity.
People are in panic and their morale is low.
"Your Highness, my mother is still sick. I will go back to take care of her first." A soldier made an extremely poor excuse and left.
As soon as one soldier left, the others followed suit. Soon, a team of forty or fifty people was reduced to less than ten.
Ye Zelin didn't have the patience to wait for the idiot King Xiang to leave on his own. He had no strength and was thinking about things that didn't belong to him. He was also so brainless. He was simply a complete idiot.
No power, no influence, no brains.
"Come here, please invite His Majesty Prince Xiang to sit in the Tingwei Office." Ye Zelin held his forehead and ordered two soldiers of the imperial guards.
Several imperial guards tied up Prince Xiang's hands and feet and carried him away.
It took Prince Xiang a long time to react.
"General Ye! I don't have it! Let me go!"
"Let go of me!"
In the Purple Palace.
Luo Nei Shi shouted, "The Queen is here! The Queen is here!"
All the civil and military officials turned around to look, and saw that Empress Lu was wearing a plain white silk skirt, a robe with wide sleeves that reached the ground, her bun was tied up high, and she wore several silver hairpins with flowers and birds in them, and a few small white flowers were pressed in her bun. Her face was swept with rouge and powder, concealing a bit of her haggardness.
The corners of her eyes were a little red, and even though she used makeup, you could see that they were traces of crying.
Queen Lu walked calmly towards the hall, followed by seven or eight palace maids and eunuchs. She stood straight as she walked past the civil and military officials and stood in front of the supreme dragon throne.
"Your Highness, we bow to the Empress!" All the civil and military officials knelt down and kowtowed.
Empress Lu said in a clear voice: "My dear ministers, please stand."
All civil and military officials stood up and lined up in an orderly manner.
One official said, "Empress, your Majesty's passing was sudden, but the country cannot remain without a ruler for even a day. I, your humble servant, humbly ask that you appoint a new ruler as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the country."
"Yes, yes, we should support a new king as soon as possible to avoid chaos in the court."
"Your Majesty has no sons. I wonder if Your Majesty could leave a will appointing a crown prince."
Civil and military officials were whispering to each other, talking in a flurry.
"Your Majesty, there is a will."
Empress Lu's words stopped all the civil and military officials from whispering to each other.
Empress Lu gazed at the civil and military officials, "His Majesty left his will to me, and told me to read it out before all the officials after his death."
As soon as he finished saying this, Eunuch Luo presented a scroll to Queen Lu with both hands.
Empress Lu took the scroll and turned to face the officials, "Your Majesty's will is here."
All the civil and military officials looked at the scroll in Queen Lu's hand.
"Soon after Your Majesty ascended the throne, you discovered you had been poisoned. To uncover the truth, Your Majesty secretly ordered Imperial Physician Su to investigate. However, before Su could determine the source of the poison, he tragically died at the hands of Prince Qinghe. Later, Your Majesty secretly visited a renowned hermit physician, who revealed the true nature of the poison. However, by then, the poison had already penetrated deep into Your Majesty's bones, rendering medicine ineffective. He only had three years left to live."
"Prince Qinghe was plotting to usurp the throne. His influence stretched across the court and the country, commanding an army of 100,000. Your Majesty, having just ascended to the throne and with a precarious foundation, knew it was inappropriate to confront Prince Qinghe immediately. Instead, you waited patiently, taking every step carefully to stabilize the court and gradually eliminate Prince Qinghe's influence. After more than three years, Your Majesty finally brought Prince Qinghe to justice."
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