Chapter 777 Clash - Persuasion
The man's steps were unsteady, which showed how hard he had worked last night.
"Damn it, absolutely damn it."
The old general felt he had never been so humiliated in front of his grandson. He had just tried to save face for him, but the grandson had so quickly slapped him in the face.
Just as the old general was about to get up to arrest Uncle Ji, Ji Wenxuan quickly grabbed him.
"Grandpa, wait!"
"But that bastard, he actually dared to disobey military orders."
They clearly keep concubines in their private quarters, yet this scoundrel still comes to a place like this.
Ji Wenxuan didn't care whether his second uncle had disobeyed military orders. If he wasn't still useful, Ji Wenxuan would have stopped him from hanging around him long ago.
"Second Uncle is, after all, Grandfather's only son. Besides, if we, grandfather and grandson, don't talk about what happened today, no one else will know."
It was rare for Ji Wenxuan to plead for his second uncle, and after hearing Ji Wenxuan's words, General Ji's heart softened.
"I'm sorry to trouble you. You can handle the rest. As for your second uncle, there's no need to say anything more to him."
This was General Ji's compensation to Ji Wenxuan, and this was exactly the result Ji Wenxuan wanted. He agreed without hesitation.
That evening, news spread from Wei to the capital that General Song had killed the Wei emperor and crown prince at the border in order to protect his family.
As for the heads of the two men, they were already sent to the capital by Wei soldiers who were unaware of the situation.
This news reached the capital of Wei, and was also received by the Zhou and Jin states at the same time.
Inside the Jin state's camp, a man stood in the commander-in-chief's tent, looking at the incoming news, his face showing little expression.
Is this true?
The report came from the Jin general. Upon hearing the question, the general clasped his hands and said, "According to the informant, yesterday when the Wei emperor and the crown prince arrived at the border, General Song personally welcomed them into the camp. General Song promised on the surface that he would help the Wei emperor attack back to the capital, but last night General Song drugged them and secretly took them outside the camp to kill them."
"Oh? They were killed outright? What about Da Zhou? Has Da Zhou shown any unusual behavior?"
Even after receiving this answer, the man was still uneasy.
After all, this person committed the murder outside, so who knows if it was real or fake?
"The gates of the Great Zhou city were tightly closed, and the military camps were still conducting training as usual, with nothing unusual."
The general glanced at the man discreetly as he spoke, and to be honest, he really couldn't figure out what the man was thinking.
Upon hearing this, the man turned around, and the general immediately lowered his head, standing below him with extreme respect.
"Send someone to investigate again to see if Emperor Wei and Crown Prince Wei are really dead, and also to see if Lu Changqing has sent back any news from the Great Zhou."
Everything seemed to be in the right place at the right time, but for safety's sake, the man still needed to find out more about the truth of the matter.
Similar to the tension on the frontier, the atmosphere in the capital court became increasingly somber as the emperor's health deteriorated.
Most court officials advocated that the emperor should establish a crown prince as soon as possible, but a minority felt that it was the same whether or not a crown prince was established under the current circumstances.
Most importantly, the ceremony for establishing a crown prince is complicated and tedious. If the emperor dies before the ceremony is completed, wouldn't that be a waste of effort and money?
The emperor was thoroughly fed up with these pointless arguments and mostly ignored them.
On this day, after another round of debate, the wise prince actually went to see the emperor for the first time after leaving court.
"What? You've also come to persuade me to establish a crown prince?"
Because of his weak health, the emperor spoke in a feeble voice.
Seeing the emperor's expression, the Prince Xian quickly clasped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, you misunderstand. I am not acting as an intermediary for others, but rather I have another matter that I would like to ask for Your Majesty's permission to discuss."
Upon hearing this, the emperor slowly raised his head to look at the wise prince. He was still the same as he remembered, as if he were the only one among everyone else who had experienced the passage of time.
"Speak! What is it?"
The emperor sat up slightly, looking at Lu Hexuan with a somewhat vacant gaze.
Lu Hexuan rolled his eyes before slowly speaking, "My brother has several princes. Now the third prince is disabled and the fifth prince committed suicide during his exile. Only the fourth prince is left by his side, which is rather lonely."
"Therefore, I think that since the Marquis of Yongshou is Your Majesty's flesh and blood, it would be better to restore his status as a prince so that he can enter the palace to serve Your Majesty."
Lu Hexuan had carefully considered his words for a long time. If he spoke too early, the emperor would inevitably become suspicious; if he spoke too late, his health might suffer. So, now was the perfect time to speak.
Upon hearing Lu Hexuan's words, the emperor narrowed his eyes slightly, but seeing that he remained respectful, he relaxed.
"That may be true, but the Crown Prince has indeed made a mistake. If he is allowed to regain his status simply because he serves me, how will the world view our royal family?"
The emperor used to dote on Lu Tianhua. If it weren't for Gu Renjie as a comparison, the emperor might have agreed to it if Lu Hexuan had brought it up today.
But now, the emperor really didn't want to cause any more trouble for such a perfect situation. Besides, Lu Tianhua was obviously more suited to be a leisurely marquis than to be the emperor.
Lu Hexuan was surprised that the emperor would so decisively reject his proposal. Thinking of Lu Tianhua and Gu Renjie, he still wanted to stop Gu Renjie from becoming emperor.
"Brother, can you really bear to see Marquis Yongshou regret his life because he cannot serve His Majesty?"
Lu Hexuan tried to appeal to the emperor's emotions, but the emperor didn't even consider it and simply waved his hand in refusal.
“If he is truly filial, he can submit a memorial to the palace. I have already made up my mind on this matter, so there is no need for you to say anything more, Your Majesty.”
The emperor interrupted Lu Hexuan directly, and seeing this, Lu Hexuan had no choice but to shut up and change the subject.
As soon as the first day of October began, a cold wind swept through the capital.
Unable to persuade the emperor, Lu Hexuan secretly went to find Gu Renjie, intending to convince him to give up the throne.
To Lu Hexuan's surprise, Gu Renjie actually showed no resistance to the throne this time.
“I know that Uncle Jiu has his own concerns, but I also have my own considerations. His Majesty is not a good son or a good father, but he is not a tyrant either. Under his rule, the Great Zhou has not been prosperous, but it has been peaceful and prosperous.”
"Now that the Fourth Prince is colluding with outsiders to destroy the Great Zhou Dynasty, how can I, as the only member of the royal family who can support the Great Zhou, remain unscathed!"
Gu Renjie was raised with the Gu family's ideology of working for the well-being of the people. How could he possibly abandon the world and disregard everything else?
Moreover, he believed that if his biological father, the Seventh Prince, were still alive, he would never allow him to remain unscathed and let others run rampant on their land.
Looking at Gu Renjie in this state, Lu Hexuan felt as if he were seeing his elder brother who had cared for him since childhood.
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