The middle door of Longen Gate was pushed open violently.
Chu You saw the Longen Hall in front of him at a glance. Outside the hall, many ministers stood facing the emperor inside.
The emperor was protected by only a few Jinyiwei. Compared with the ministers outside the palace and a team of Xiaoling Guards, he seemed outnumbered and weak.
Even though there was no verbal or physical conflict between the two sides, one could still feel the tense feeling in the air like thunder and lightning.
The harsh sound of the door being pushed open attracted everyone inside to look towards Chu You. Hundreds of eyes were focused on Chu You.
Several people in the crowd shouted "King Kang" in complicated tones, one after another.
Prime Minister Xiao Fengyuan and Li Yun'er also turned to look over. Xiao Fengyuan looked confident, while Li Yun'er had a bright and cheerful smile.
When their eyes met, Li Yunyan nodded gently towards Chu You.
It worked! It really worked! Chu You curled his lips and smiled, with a sharp light flashing in his eagle eyes.
Last night, he did not sleep all night. On the way here, he was actually a little nervous. He was worried that their plan would encounter some uncontrollable variables like twenty-one years ago. He was worried that Li Yunyan would be in danger and get hurt by mistake...
As the saying goes, a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall. He advised Li Yun'er to simply excuse herself from coming to the imperial mausoleum, but Li Yun'er insisted on coming, saying that only if she was here would the emperor not be suspicious; saying that if you want to accomplish great things, you must take risks.
He knew that everything his Meng'er did was for him!
It was not until this moment, when Chu You saw that Li Yunmeng was safe and sound, that his heart finally settled down.
I hope she's okay! The two of them exchanged glances in mid-air, and Chu You's hard brows became gentle as water when he stared at Li Yunyan.
The smile on Li Yun'er's lips deepened, revealing the familiar dimples, as if to say, I will not let you down.
Chu You also nodded slightly at her, and then turned his gaze to the emperor in the Longen Palace.
He stared at the emperor steadily, and walked towards the Longen Hall with a slow, firm and oppressive pace. With every step, a sense of nobility and majesty naturally burst out.
This is a winner's posture.
Wherever he passed, the civil and military officials outside the palace automatically stepped aside to make way for him.
Silence fell inside and outside the Long En Palace, and everyone remained silent for a long time.
Chu You walked until he was only about 30 to 40 feet away from the emperor in the palace, then he stopped and announced with a smile: "Big Brother, you lost."
He spoke these six words very slowly, neither lightly nor heavily, but they were clearly heard by everyone present, as if he was not only speaking to the emperor but also announcing a fact to the ministers present.
The ministers outside the palace could not help but look back and forth at the two brothers with very different appearances.
The emperor is over fifty years old, with a thin figure, white hair, wrinkles on his face, and an old and frail appearance. However, Prince Kang Chuyou has just come of age, and he has a dignified bearing, and his upright figure like a pine tree reveals an unshakable proud character.
The former is old and frail, while the latter is energetic and aggressive.
Prime Minister Xiao Fengyuan, who was standing with his hands hanging aside, stared at Chu You's cold profile and frowned slightly.
In his opinion, King Kang was still a bit too radical. When it came to the overlap of imperial power, he should have done it in a more legitimate way so that outsiders could not find any fault with him.
For example, Emperor Taizong of the previous dynasty also succeeded his elder brother to the throne, and left the words "axe sound and candle shadow" in the history books. People all suspected that he killed his brother and seized the throne.
If King Kang had not come to the throne legitimately, even those ministers who supported King Kang would have become traitors and be condemned by the people.
Xiao Fengyuan exchanged glances with Wang Kangyin and Pei Wenrui. They were all unhappy, but at this moment, it was not convenient for them to accuse King Kang in public.
Li Yun'an in the back was keenly paying attention to the expressions of Xiao Fengyuan and others. His eyelashes trembled, and his nails pinched his palms through the wide sleeves, thinking: These aristocratic families that are capable of challenging the imperial power should not exist.
"Royal brother," Chu You looked at the emperor without shifting his gaze for a moment, smiled coldly, and continued, "For the sake of our brotherhood, I can make you the King of Freedom, so that you can live a carefree life and enjoy your old age."
"Brother, please write the abdication edict quickly."
Chu You urged him with a mocking tone, thinking: Chu Qi is over fifty years old. In recent years, he has not only lacked energy, but also been weak and sickly. He is completely unable to handle government affairs. The Great Jing Dynasty will only decline in his leadership.
After he ascends the throne, Xu Chuqi will be the free and easy king. Maybe Chuqi can live a few more years, which will also give them a reputation of being friendly and respectful to each other.
The Dajing will flourish in his hands! The emperor raised his eyebrows without comment, his eyes passed through Chu You and fell on the 500 Tiger Guards he brought with him, revealing a deep and solemn look.
The five hundred soldiers temporarily stopped outside the Long En Gate and waited for orders, all of them looking at the emperor and the Chu You brothers with burning eyes, blocking the Long En Gate like an airtight iron barrel.
The emperor stood with his hands behind his back, his face calm, and called him by his name, "Chu You, is this the person the late emperor left for you?"
"That's right." Chu You nodded calmly.
Since he was born, he knew that the late emperor favored him far more than his other brothers.
The late emperor personally enlightened him, taught him riding and archery, taught him how to judge people, and taught him how to scheme and scheme... These were all privileges that his older brothers did not have.
In fact, the late emperor gave him much more than what was displayed on the surface. This Tiger Guard Army hidden in the dark was the most precious wealth left to him by the late emperor.
He has kept it hidden for so many years, and today, he can finally tell the emperor this secret in person! Chu You raised his thin lips, looked at the emperor proudly, and deliberately said in a slow tone: "This is the Tiger Guards that my father left for me!"
He didn't mind letting the emperor know this. He just wanted to make the emperor jealous, feel aggrieved, and show the frustration of not getting what he wanted on the emperor's face.
He just wanted to strike the emperor hard and destroy his will.
The emperor in the hall looked at Chu You steadily, his expression was gloomy, he sighed deeply, and asked again: "Nine years ago, the real purpose of your going to Yangzhou was to accept this Tiger Guard Army, right?"
The emperor's expression looked very calm. Even when facing the current situation of swords and spears, he remained neither anxious nor irritable, neither sad nor angry. It seemed that he had given up struggling and seemed to have seen through the world.
"Not bad." Chu You nodded again.
He smiled complacently, not even thinking about why the emperor asked that. He just wanted to vent the anguish and depression he had suppressed over the past year.
No...that's not right. It's the depression that has been suppressed for nine whole years.
Nine years ago, the late emperor issued an edict to grant him Yangzhou as his fiefdom, and asked him to go to Yangzhou in person to take over the fiefdom and choose a location for the Jiankang Palace. In fact, it was also to allow him to gradually take over the Huben Army and make the Huben Army recognize their master.
At that time, he was only a boy of eleven or twelve years old. Full of youthful vigor, he traveled thousands of miles south, determined to lead the Tiger and Leopard Army to achieve great success.
Sometimes, he felt that the events of the past seemed very far away and vague, and sometimes he felt that everything happened just yesterday.
Under the gentle mountain breeze, the pines and cypresses on both sides ripple with green, and the mountain breeze blows with the fragrance of pine needles.
The emperor raised his hand to brush off a few pine needles that had fallen on his sleeves, sighed again, and suddenly changed the subject: "So, the late emperor could not tolerate Gu Ce?"
With just these few words, Chu You's expression changed instantly, his pupils shrank sharply, and he blurted out: "How dare you! The late emperor is our father!"
The faces of the civil and military officials also changed drastically, and there was an uproar.
The emperor's words just now were aimed at the late emperor, as if to say that Gu Ce's crime of "surrendering to the enemy" was a false charge by the late emperor, which made people dare not think about it any further! The emperor didn't care about the reactions of other people around him. His dark eyes sank, and his gaze was like a nail nailed to Chu You's face.
His usually gentle eyes were so sharp at this moment, as if he wanted to see through Chu You from the outside to the inside. He continued, "I have thought about it, and it is really strange that Gu Ce surrendered to the enemy during the battle of Tailing City in Yangzhou."
"According to what Yu Cunzheng said, although the situation in Tailing City is difficult, it is not to the point where we have to open the city gates and surrender to the enemy."
Chu You's face turned pale, and he said angrily in a deep voice: "What's so strange about this! It's obvious that Gu Ce himself was cowardly and afraid of fighting, forgetting the hierarchy between the monarch and his subjects, and the righteousness of the family and the country..."
Chu You's voice subconsciously rose a few notches, his whole body tensed up, almost shouting.
His gaffe was obvious.
"So, Gu Ce's death was actually because the late emperor wanted to cover up something for you?" The emperor interrupted Chu You coldly, using a questioning tone, but his expression was quite firm.
"..." Chu You's eyes twitched, and his heart felt as if it was pricked by a needle, causing a sharp pain.
The memories that he had almost forgotten came flooding back to his mind.
There seemed to be a layer of frost on his handsome face, his thin lips were tightly pursed, and he did not answer the emperor's questions.
Nine years ago, he went to Yangzhou to take over the Huben Army and secretly trained the troops in Yangzhou. He hoped that the late emperor and the empress dowager could be proud of him.
At that time, Yangzhou was Gu Ce's territory. The young Chu You thought he was doing it secretly, but he didn't expect that the military training could not be hidden from Gu Ce's eyes.
Gu Ce came to him and wanted to borrow troops from him to resist the Yue army.
But he flatly refused. The Tiger Guards were his trump card and could not be leaked...
Whenever Chu You thought of the events that happened nine years ago, he felt irritated and his eyes became gloomy.
Seeing Chu You like this, Li Yunyan felt very distressed and bit her lower lip slightly: It was obviously all Gu Ce's fault! She wanted to walk to Chu You's side, but as soon as she took one step out, she retracted her foot when she saw Xiao Fengyuan and others out of the corner of her eyes.
Prince Kang still needs the aristocratic families for the time being, but these families cannot accommodate her. Now at this critical moment, she cannot let those aristocratic families become even more dissatisfied with Prince Kang.
In ancient times, Gou Jian, the King of Yue, slept on straw and tasted gall. When King Kang ascended the throne successfully and became more powerful, he and she would eventually be able to compete with the aristocratic families! "That's it." Chu You's cold and hard voice seemed to be squeezed out from his teeth with difficulty, and his voice was as cold as ice.
Only he himself knew that these four words were not only for the emperor to hear, but also for himself to hear.
What happened nine years ago had already been the subject of public opinion at the time. What’s past is past, and there’s no point dwelling on it.
Chu You clenched his fist tightly and said to the emperor in a determined tone:
"Brother, hurry up and write the abdication edict."
Chu You's stern gaze quickly swept over the ministers around him. His eyes were deep and cold, emitting a faint chill, and he did not hide the intimidation in his expression.
Chief Minister Xiao had an expressionless face with his eyes half closed, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.
The officials following him could not hide their anticipation, their eyes were filled with enthusiasm.
The Jinyiwei still stood motionless at the threshold of the Longen Hall, forming a human wall to protect the emperor, and did not retreat at all.
Meeting Chu You's cold and ruthless gaze, the emperor sighed softly again.
His sigh was drowned out in the surrounding mountain breeze in the blink of an eye.
The mountain wind grew stronger and stronger, as if roaring, blowing up the emperor's black crown embroidered with gold dragons. The cuffs and hem of his robe rustled, and the strings of jade beads on the crown swayed, casting flickering shadows on his face and eyes.
"Chu You, I don't want to go this far."
The emperor's slightly hoarse voice sounded slowly, carrying a hint of helplessness, a hint of melancholy, and a hint of indescribable complex emotions.
Chu You thought that the emperor just didn't want to abdicate, and his expression instantly turned cold.
"Chu Qi, do you really want to refuse my toast and drink the penalty wine?!" Chu You called out the emperor's name coldly, drew the sword at his waist and pointed it into the hall. The sharp sword light was chilling in the sunlight.
Xiao Fengyuan suddenly opened his eyes, and this time his expression finally changed. He exclaimed, "King Kang!"
There must be no blood in the palace now, otherwise it will not be clear in the history books in the future.
"Bang!"
The sound of gunfire that resounded through the sky interrupted the end of Xiao Fengyuan's words, like a heavy hammer hitting everyone's heart, causing everyone's heart to tremble.
With a "clang", the sword slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground.
Two or three women screamed: "Ah——"
The hysterical shouting almost blew the roof off.
There was a bloody hole on Chu You’s right palm. His palm was pierced and blood was flowing rapidly from the hole.
Blood dripped onto the ground.
The silver sword lying on the ground reflected Chu You’s painful face like a mirror...
The five hundred Tiger Guards guarding outside the Longen Gate drew their swords in unison.
Soldiers wearing black armor and holding flintlock rifles swarmed out like ghosts from inside the Longen Hall, on the roof, and on both sides of the Hall. These hundreds of special soldiers were extremely skilled and well-trained. In the blink of an eye, they surrounded everyone inside and outside the hall.
Those black muzzles of the guns were all pointed at Xiao Fengyuan, Wang Kangyin, Wang Nan and other court officials of Prince Kang's party.
Inside the palace, Chu Yi appeared beside the emperor at some point. He was wearing a royal blue flying fish suit and holding a flintlock in his right hand.
The young man smiled lightly, as if he were the bright moon and the gentle breeze. There was a kind of pure elegance and nobility about him, which was totally out of place in this bloody scene.
But a wisp of white smoke came out of the muzzle of the flintlock in his hand.
There is no doubt that the shot that just pierced King Kang's palm was fired by Chu Yi.
When the wind blows, the smoke dissipates.
(End of this chapter)