After the court session ended, Wei Zhongxian avoided the ministers who surrounded him.
For some time now, Wei Zhongxian's former disciples and followers have been hesitant to associate with him.
But after today's events, they thought they had a clear understanding of the situation.
"It seems His Majesty truly trusts Eunuch Wei... ah, ah, ah, I mean, he trusts the Ninth Prince."
"So, does that mean we've passed the test?"
These officials immediately perked up and decided to regroup around Wei Zhongxian.
They rebuilt the eunuch faction's platform.
However, Wei Zhongxian no longer had the mind to recruit them.
"Hmph, they were completely useless when I was defeated by the little emperor last time."
"Many people even took advantage of my misfortune and denounced me to the emperor."
"If the young emperor hadn't kept me out because he thought I was useful, I probably would have died long ago!"
"Now that they see I've turned things around, they want to come over again? Ha! There's no such thing as a free lunch!"
Wei Zhongxian walked away with a cold laugh, then went to find his good nephew.
"Liangqing, what did Prince Fu say?"
Wei Liangqing sighed: "Uncle, ever since the Prince of Fu heard that His Majesty was seriously ill, he has had some ulterior motives and personally led people north."
"Although he was very greedy, he was very timid."
"Upon hearing that the emperor had recovered, he became cowardly again. Although he did not return directly to his fiefdom in Luoyang, he remained on the border of Zhili and dared not continue to the capital."
Wei Zhongxian nodded dismissively.
"That's all he's capable of. Otherwise, if he had taken advantage of the late emperor's favor and insisted on becoming the crown prince, the fate of our Ming Dynasty might have really changed!"
The succession dispute during the Wanli reign, which concerned who should be the crown prince, lasted for fifteen years.
That was common knowledge in the Ming Dynasty.
Even though Wei Zhongxian was just a nobody back then, he watched the whole thing and got to enjoy the gossip.
Now, when I talk about it, I can recall it all with great familiarity.
"But that's fine too. If he were really too forceful, I wouldn't dare to support him..."
After muttering a few words to himself, Wei Zhongxian grabbed Wei Liangqing's hand.
"Come with me!"
He led Wei Liangqing through the winding paths of his residence, finally arriving at a rockery.
Wei Zhongxian then rummaged around for a while before suddenly pressing a switch.
Suddenly, a small door appeared on the artificial hill in front of us.
"Uncle, where is this place?" Wei Liangqing asked in alarm.
Wei Zhongxian, however, smiled.
"What else could it be? It's where I hide my good things, of course!"
"Hehe, in addition to burying gold and silver in the capital, I also made arrangements in my own home."
"Although many of the secret rooms were discovered by Luo Yangxing's henchmen during the initial raid on his home."
"But the most important one is hidden extremely well!"
He lifted his leg and went inside.
Wei Liangqing hesitated for a moment, then followed him inside.
But after just one glance, he was horrified.
He pointed to the dragon robe and crown hanging on the stone wall inside the artificial hill, and asked in a trembling voice, "Uncle, what are these?"
"If this place gets exposed, it will be a disaster."
"Let's hurry home."
He was so nervous that he even let slip his hometown dialect.
Wei Zhongxian sighed inwardly again: "My nephew is truly useless!"
"Since the young emperor still doesn't trust me, the secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard are definitely still watching me."
"If I run away, the Imperial Guards will probably catch up with me right away. Then I'll have even less chance of survival."
He was too lazy to explain to Wei Liangqing, so he sat down at a stone table and took out a blank imperial edict from the side.
The imperial edict only had the heading written on it and was stamped with the imperial seal.
However, there was not a single other word.
These were all secretly arranged by Wei Zhongxian when he held power.
He picked up a pen, wrote and drew on the imperial edict, and then handed it to Wei Liangqing.
"Go and find Prince Fu now, and deliver the imperial decree to him."
Upon witnessing his uncle forge an imperial edict, Wei Liangqing was so frightened that he felt dizzy and even forgot to refute it.
He blankly accepted the imperial edict, glanced at it a few times, and then snapped back to reality in fright.
"Uncle, what exactly do you mean by this?"
"You forged this imperial edict in order to bring Prince Fu to the capital?"
The original imperial edict was written by Wei Zhongxian, imitating Zhu Youjian's tone, inviting Prince Fu to the capital to recount their relationship as uncle and nephew.
Wei Zhongxian shook his head indifferently.
"What else could I mean? Of course, I'm giving Prince Fu a chance!"
He turned his head and stared intently at Wei Liangqing.
"Once the Donglin Party is finished, the young emperor will definitely kill the hunting dog after the rabbit is dead."
"If I don't prepare now, I'll just be waiting to die!"
Wei Liangqing swallowed hard: "So what preparations are you talking about?"
Wei Zhongxian laughed loudly a few times.
"What else could it be? It's naturally the establishment of a new ruler!"
"Hmph, if I had seen through Zhu Youjian's true nature back then, I should have advised the late emperor not to make his good younger brother the heir!"
These words are more than just outrageous; they represent a serious breach of righteousness.
Wei Liangqing turned pale with fright.
Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.
"Liangqing, what do you think I did all this for?"
At this point, Wei Zhongxian dared not trust anyone else and could only rely on his nephew.
In order to tie his nephew to his cause, he also started speaking the local dialect again.
"If I fall from power, you won't have a good ending either."
"Do you really think that just because your family is gone, the little emperor will let you go?"
"That's impossible!"
"Only by following me to the bitter end can we survive!"
"You should think this through carefully. If my plan succeeds, then when Prince Fu ascends the throne, we, uncle and nephew, will be the greatest heroes in the land."
"Then you'll enjoy endless wealth and glory!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Liangqing indeed became excited.
His eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "Uncle, is this all true?"
Wei Zhongxian nodded with a smile:
"Would I lie to you?"
"You'd better hurry up and deliver the imperial edict to Prince Fu, or you'll waste time."
After Wei Liangqing left excitedly, Wei Zhongxian's expression returned to calm.
"Simply summoning Prince Fu over is not enough."
"I need to make some other preparations and bribe some government officials and soldiers."
"And the timing for this must be set before... Li Ruolian returns to the capital!"
Although Wei Zhongxian was a eunuch, he had never even met Gao Qingyun.
But he had long known the importance of the gun.
Although he spent a lot of effort cultivating the so-called "clean army," it almost all scattered in the end.
But his thinking remained unchanged.
"Li Ruolian is a military scholar personally selected by the emperor, and he has made great contributions again this time after leaving Shanhaiguan."
"After he returns to the capital, not only will the emperor surely appoint him as the top military scholar, but the soldiers who went to war with him will also be completely convinced of his worth."
"With him in the capital, how could I possibly overthrow the young emperor?"
Wei Zhongxian counted on his fingers for a moment, a sinister smile appearing on his face.
"I also need to slow down my pace in dealing with the Donglin Party."
"The day the Donglin Party falls will be the day I go back to prison."
"We can't arrest them all too soon!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com