After two months of turmoil, the court officials finally settled on the charges against Prince Dun and presented them to the Emperor.
The chubby orange tree read aloud the charges against him: "He sided with Yinzhi, disrespected the emperor, formed cliques for personal gain, confused the court, betrayed the late emperor, blocked channels of communication, and abused his martial arts."
"He still harbored treacherous intentions, plotting to assassinate the emperor and seize the throne; each and every crime he committed was unforgivable. Brothers have ultimately come to this..."
Prince Guo stood with his head bowed, and with each word that the fat orange cat spoke, his heart grew more apprehensive.
Prince Dun has indeed brought this upon himself, but how much credit is due to his fourth brother's suspicion?
What if the emperor becomes suspicious of him one day? How will he handle the situation...?
Prince Guo said, "This subject has committed a rebellious act against his superiors, a crime that is unforgivable. His Majesty has already shown the utmost tolerance towards him."
The chubby orange sighed, "I originally thought that if I locked up the Eighth and Ninth Princes in the Imperial Clan Court, they would be able to reflect on their mistakes."
"I never expected that not only would the two of them not repent, but they would go even further. They actually instructed the Tenth Prince and his cronies to spread rumors outside and ruin my reputation."
"I have been on the throne for nearly three years, and not one of my consorts has sent anyone to me to inquire about my well-being."
"My mother lives deep within the palace, and all affairs are managed by the princes. This must all be the Eighth Prince's doing!" (This is what Emperor Yongzheng himself said in history. The Empress Dowager didn't care about him; it was all that Eighth Prince's doing!)
Upon hearing this, Prince Guo was greatly alarmed, his back immediately stiffened, and he felt a chill creeping up from his buttocks.
His own mother, Consort Shu, has never sent anyone to inquire about his well-being!
He immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."
The chubby orange cat was first surprised, then said knowingly, "What are you doing? I wasn't talking about you!"
"After the late emperor passed away, Consort Shu became a nun. Since she has become a nun, she is a person outside the secular world, so how can she still concern herself with the affairs of the mortal world?"
Prince Guo said, "That is true, but it was ultimately my negligence that caused Your Majesty to suffer. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."
As for his younger brother, who was always only interested in romance and didn't care about politics, and who grew up following him around.
The chubby orange still had a bit of tolerance. "Get up. I am not an unreasonable person."
Prince Guo was relieved and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty."
Big Fat Orange said, "I understand your feelings for me. There's no need for such formalities between brothers."
"As for the eighth and ninth princes, their crimes are unforgivable but must be forgiven. I cannot allow them to bear the guilt of murdering their brothers and cause the late emperor's soul to be restless."
Prince Guo agreed, saying, "Your Majesty is kind and benevolent; it is a blessing for this humble subject."
The chubby orange said, "Yun Si and Yun Tang harbor great ambitions, which have not been fulfilled to this day. They have acted recklessly and violated the law."
"Remove the yellow sashes from Yinzhi and Yintang, and remove their names from the imperial genealogy. Yinzhi shall change his name to Aqina, his son Hongwang to Pusabao, and Yintang to Saisihei. They shall be imprisoned for life and forbidden from visiting each other."
"The tenth prince was stripped of his title and demoted to a commoner, and imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court. His wife and children were also demoted to commoners, but still lived in the prince's residence."
"The crimes of this wicked minister are too numerous to record. His rebellious, disloyal, unfilial, and treacherous acts are only one-tenth of what I have described."
"Su Peisheng, take these charges down and display them publicly to all soldiers and civilians. Anyone who knows this and does not hate them is not a citizen of the Great Qing!"
(This is basically Emperor Yongzheng's original statement: those who don't hate the Eighth Prince are not worthy of being called people of the Qing Dynasty.)
"Your servant obeys the decree."
Su Peisheng bowed and accepted the memorial, then withdrew, leaving the trembling Prince Guo still in the same spot.
Although I was spared, was it really necessary to keep this life?
The civet cat felt that rather than suffer for decades to come, it would be better to give them a quick death.
*
Yikun Palace
Hua Pangpang was very happy; the affairs of the court had finally come to an end. Although many of those who had previously relied on Nian Gengyao were implicated.
But these people were all opportunists to begin with, good for nothing but causing trouble. So what if they died? As long as the Nian family is alright.
The emperor's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. What would happen from now on was no longer up to him.
Hua Pangpang admired the set of filigree and gemstone jewelry that had just been delivered, complete with hairpins, hair ornaments, pearl flowers, hair sticks, and earrings.
I picked up a hairpin shaped like a laurel wreath from the Zhan Palace, with a lapis lazuli inlaid on its toad-like body. The gold threads were as fine as hair, and the openwork was delicate and lively. Compared to the hairpins I had worn before, it felt lighter in my hand.
Consort Hua said with satisfaction, "Huang Guiquan is becoming more and more capable. It was worth it for me to promote him."
"The craftsmanship of this set of jewelry is much better than before. It seems that there are some talented craftsmen among the Imperial Household Department."
Songzhi said, "If it weren't the best stuff, why would it be sent to our Yikun Palace?"
"The Empress Dowager is seriously ill, and the Empress is not involved in any affairs. Consort Jing and Consort Hui are quite sensible. The Empresses are in charge of the entire harem, and there is no reason for the head of the household to be wronged."
Consort Hua said smugly, "That old hag, I thought she was something special because she spent most of her life in the late emperor's harem."
"And what happened? She's just a pretty face with no substance. I only scared her a little, I didn't even do anything to her, and she couldn't take it."
"The late emperor actually took a liking to this kind of woman and even made her Consort De."
Zhou Ninghai said, "Back then, the Empress Dowager only gained status by giving her own son to Empress Xiaoyiren in exchange for a concubine rank."
"If the late emperor hadn't worried that another legitimate son would threaten the position of the then crown prince and refused to change the imperial register, she wouldn't be sitting on the throne of empress dowager now."
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