Chapter 124 Daxing New King
Chapter 124
Emperor Kangwen's eyes widened, his skinny fingers trembling as he pointed at Qi Jingyan, and a vague humming sound came from his throat.
Qi Jingyan calmly spoke for him, "Your Majesty, do you wish to accuse me of being a traitor?"
Emperor Kangwen remained silent, staring at him with a resentful look.
Qi Jingyan nodded slightly, his expression calm. "Your Majesty, what you say is absolutely true. However, as the ancient saying goes, a kind father makes a filial son. If the father is not kind, why should the son be filial? What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Emperor Kangwen seemed to be choked, his hands stopped in the air, and he remained silent.
Qi Jingyan continued, "I originally hated and resented Your Majesty, and I couldn't understand why. We are clearly the most beloved father and son, yet a few slanderous words and trumped-up evidence caused you, as a father, to completely lose trust in me. Without waiting to find out the truth, without waiting for the whole matter to be revealed, you impatiently deposed me from the throne and imprisoned me in the Sky Prison. I feigned deafness and dumb, allowing others to torture me."
"In those sleepless nights of physical and mental pain, I imagined countless times that when we meet again, I would loudly ask His Majesty, the so-called father, why is this happening?"
"But during those years in Lingnan, I gradually figured it out."
"To a man like you, Your Majesty, nothing in the world is more important than the power you hold. If anyone threatens your throne, you would rather kill a thousand innocent people than spare a single one, no matter who they are."
"Back then, in order to seize the throne that didn't belong to you, Your Majesty even murdered your own brother, a brother who cared deeply for you and personally taught you horseback riding, archery, reading and writing. Your Majesty's actions tore apart the Imperial Grandmother's heart, leaving her devastated and nearly dying along with the Imperial Uncle."
"In that case, what do my son and my unjustly deceased mother mean to you?"
The anger on Emperor Kangwen's face suddenly turned into horror. He pointed his trembling fingers at Qi Jingyan, and a broken whimpering sound came from his throat again.
Qi Jingyan: "Your Majesty, you want to know how I knew this? Of course, I found it out."
"I have always been puzzled as to why the Empress Dowager, who is so open-minded, would be so cold and distant to you, her own flesh and blood."
"So, it's because His Majesty killed your only brother, the virtuous and talented Prince Jingming, who was kind and benevolent, and whom the world and the late emperor had high hopes for."
"How could the Empress Dowager, having lost her beloved son, feel close to the murderer of her own brother? Most tragically, she only had two sons. In that life-or-death situation, not only could she not expose and punish your crimes, but she had to swallow her grief and offer you advice on how to seize power."
"You are not only her son, but also the murderer of her other son. How tormented must the Empress Dowager have been all these years!"
"You think no one knows about the despicable things you've done, but my grandmother has known about them for a long time."
"Not only that, the Third Brother also discovered this secret, so he carefully planned it, having several senior ministers casually sigh in front of His Majesty, saying, 'Your Highness the Crown Prince has quite the demeanor of the former Crown Prince Jingming.'"
"Because of this sentence, Your Majesty has become suspicious of me. In addition, the Imperial Grandmother loves me very much, so Your Majesty feels more and more that I am like the Imperial Uncle. You are guilty and afraid."
"Later, the Third Brother and his men fabricated charges against me, and Your Majesty simply went along with it. Before that, Your Majesty had already harbored murderous intentions towards me, and was eager to eliminate me as soon as possible."
The more Emperor Kangwen listened, the more gloomy his face became. His fists, which had been clenched in anger, gradually loosened, and the ferocious look on his face faded, leaving only the dejection of being completely exposed after doing so many bad things.
Qi Jingyan finished speaking calmly and asked in a calm voice, "Your Majesty, by being in this state, you have tacitly acknowledged that what I said is true."
"If that is the case, Your Majesty, who murdered his brother, killed his wife, harmed his son, disobeyed his parents, and is unkind, unfilial, and unrighteous, how can you have the dignity to sit on the throne?"
Emperor Kangwen looked at Qi Jingyan, and suddenly a hint of sarcasm appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Qi Jingyan guessed what he was thinking and said indifferently, "Your Majesty, don't worry. Even if I take that position, I will never become an incompetent person like you who only knows how to harm his relatives to consolidate his power."
After saying so much, Qi Jingyan felt tired and clapped his hands. Mu Yun and others brought a table over and placed it next to Qi Jingyan. The ink had been ground. Yier stood on tiptoe to pick up the pen and handed it to his brother with both hands.
Qi Jingyan took the pen and handed it to Emperor Kangwen: "Your Majesty, please write the edict of succession."
Aning is still waiting for him to ascend the throne so that she can become the queen. Why should he waste his breath talking to an irrelevant person?
Emperor Kangwen clenched his fists again and pounded the edge of the bed fiercely. Then his face twisted in pain and he looked as if he would not be able to write even if he smashed his hands to pieces.
Qi Jingyan was neither anxious nor annoyed. He calmly put down his brush, rolled up his sleeves, and dipped his brush into the thick ink. "If you don't want to write, then forget it. As the king of a country, why do you need to act so self-destructive and make others laugh at you?"
Then, he wrote with a flourish of ink, reciting as he wrote: "I hereby declare the succession of the throne. I have received the mandate of Heaven... The eldest son of the Emperor, Qi Jingyan, is a man of noble character, wise and intelligent, both virtuous and talented, and naturally filial and brotherly... He is truly the only one who can inherit the throne. I now pass the throne to the eldest son of the Emperor, Qi Jingyan..."
Qi Jingyan wrote the decree of succession in a fluent and fluent manner in one go.
He put the pen back into the mountain-shaped pen holder, and when he stood up, he saw Yi'er's two little hands leaning on the edge of the table, his big eyes sparkling, full of admiration for his brother.
Mu Yun and the others standing behind him all had shining eyes and their mouths were almost stretched to their ears.
Only Emperor Kangwen, lying on the bed, had a pale face and looked like he was about to faint.
Qi Jingyan picked up the still-dry imperial edict and held it in front of Emperor Kangwen very considerately. "Your Majesty, please take a look at my handwriting. Does it bear any resemblance to yours?"
Emperor Kangwen didn't want to look at it, but he couldn't suppress his surprise. He turned his head and took a look, and saw that the handwriting on the paper was exactly the same as his own. If he hadn't seen with his own eyes that it was written by Qi Jingyan, he would not even be able to tell whose hand it was.
Seeing Emperor Kangwen's expression of anger mixed with shock, Qi Jingyan raised the corners of his lips slightly and said, "Since Your Majesty thinks it's similar, then I'll use this one."
He spread the edict flat on the table, reached out to take the jade seal that Mu Yun respectfully presented, and personally stamped it at the end of the edict. Looking at the bright red seal, he nodded with satisfaction: "It's settled."
He turned his head to look at the dragon bed and bowed: "I am here with the imperial edict to attend the court. Your Majesty, take good care of yourself." He spoke the three words "Emperor, Retired" clearly, one by one.
After saying this, he ignored Emperor Kangwen who was rolling his eyes, picked up the imperial edict, and left in a hurry with everyone.
---
Doctor Tang was the daily doctor for Emperor Kangwen. He gave acupuncture to Emperor Kangwen under the watchful eyes of several eunuchs.
He said respectfully, "Your Majesty, please be at ease. With me here, I will definitely let you live a little longer."
So as not to delay the happy event of the two children.
But how to live is up to him.
Emperor Kangwen looked at Doctor Tang with gratitude, but when the last silver needle was taken out, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his legs as if they were broken, his heart seemed to be cut by a sharp knife, and his neck seemed to be strangled by an invisible hand, and he could not even whimper.
He pressed his chest with one hand and covered his neck with the other, staring at Doctor Tang in horror.
Divine Doctor Tang took the opportunity to tuck in the corner of the quilt and leaned close to Emperor Kangwen's ear. He whispered in a voice that only they could hear, "Your Majesty, I told you back then that if you ever wronged her, I would repay her a hundredfold or a thousandfold."
---
Within a month of returning to the capital, Qi Jingyan had completely established control over the city, both inside and outside. His trusted confidants garrisoned the imperial palace, the forbidden gardens, and key city gates. He also commanded several large camps outside the capital, making the entire city impregnable.
Emperor Kangwen lay bedridden, Concubine Zhang had already passed away, and the Third Prince and the rest of the Zhang family, though temporarily imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison and not yet executed, had confessed everything. The former Crown Prince already held immense prestige, and now with the Emperor Emeritus's "personal" decree of succession, Qi Jingyan, supported by the Marquis of Cheng'an and his son, and numerous loyal ministers, was the logical successor.
All officials from the Ministry of Rites worked intensively for half a month, and the coronation ceremony of the new emperor was held as scheduled.
All officials kowtowed and shouted "Long live the emperor".
Qi Jingyan officially became the new emperor of the Daxing Dynasty and named the reign title "Xing'an".
Meng Yuning followed the Queen Mother, watching the dark figure step up the jade steps step by step, and finally turn around in front of the dragon throne to accept the court's worship.
Thinking of his difficulties over the years, Meng Yuning's blood boiled and her heart surged. In the end, she couldn't help but shed a few tears.
Little Yi'er wasn't as sentimental as Aning. He was a dignified and steady boy during the coronation ceremony, but afterward he jumped for joy in front of Aning and the Queen Mother: "My brother is the emperor! My brother is the emperor~"
The Empress Dowager and An Ning laughed so hard that they fell over, and the whole Cining Palace was filled with laughter.
The coronation ceremony was completed just as the New Year was approaching.
The new emperor issued another decree, ordering the wedding to be completed before the end of the year, and ordered the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to select an auspicious day so that the imperial wedding and the ceremony of enthroning the empress could be combined into one.
The entire Ministry of Rites became busy again.
Finally, after a month, everything was ready.
Meng Yuning, as the adopted daughter of General Cai Weilin, is about to marry out of the Cai Mansion.
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