The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

Chapter 553 Killing three birds with one stone

In the Prince of Wei's mansion, Zhao Yao was drinking tea with the Prince of Wei around the fire.

"Cough cough cough cough..." The King of Wei suddenly started coughing, and Zhao Yao quickly handed him a cup of hot tea.

The King of Wei took the teacup, lowered his head and took a few sips, and then he stopped coughing.

There was a loud "crackling" sound, which was the sound made by the chestnuts roasting on the stove.

Zhao Yao reached out to take it quickly, but it was too hot and he rolled it around in his hands. After a while, it was no longer too hot, so he hurriedly ate it, and it burned his mouth again, causing him to gasp in pain.

Seeing this, the King of Wei looked helpless and handed Zhao Yao half of the tea he had just drunk. This half cup of tea had been left for a while and had cooled down a lot.

Zhao Yao felt much better after drinking half a cup of cold tea.

"Why are you in such a hurry? I'm not competing with you."

"I didn't know it was so hot."

The King of Wei was about to say something when he started coughing again.

Zhao Yao stood up, walked behind him and patted him gently on the back.

"Myna, why do you always cough?"

"It's been cold these past two days and I caught a cold, so I've been coughing." The King of Wei put away the handkerchief calmly, "It will be better in a few days." When he coughed just now, the King of Wei covered his mouth with a handkerchief, not letting Zhao Yao see the blood in his handkerchief, nor letting Zhao Yao see the blood on his mouth.

Zhao Yao looked at the thin and frail body of the King of Wei, his eyes full of worry and helplessness: "Myna, since you were little, I have always said that you were too thin, and told you to eat more and fatten yourself up. But after so many years, you are still as skinny as a bamboo pole."

The King of Wei poked Zhao Yao's forehead with his hand and scolded him with a smile: "Who are you calling a skinny bamboo pole?"

"Could it be me?" Zhao Yao laughed, "I'm not as thin as you."

The King of Wei snorted and laughed, "You are not much fatter than me."

Zhao Yao rolled up his sleeves and showed off his biceps to the King of Wei, "I'm thin because I have muscles. See?"

The King of Wei patted Zhao Yao's biceps and said with a smile, "I didn't see that."

"Myna, you are jealous."

The King of Wei was too lazy to pay attention to Zhao Yao and continued to drink his tea leisurely.

"When I return to the Swamp House, I will send you a witch doctor." Zhao Yao looked at the pale face of the King of Wei and felt a little worried. "Let the witch doctor take good care of you."

"I am in good health and do not need the treatment of witch doctors." The King of Wei added, "I have no shortage of good doctors around me. They are no worse than witch doctors."

"Then why haven't you gotten better?" Zhao Yao felt that a strong wind would blow the frail King of Wei away. "Look at your face, it's so white it's almost transparent."

"My face has been like this since I was a child, so you don't have to worry too much." Wei Dynasty Zhao Yao smiled soothingly, "Although I am thin, my body is not as bad as you think."

"That's good." Zhao Yao also knew that the King of Wei would become unwell every winter, and colds, fever and coughs were common.

"Come, let's play a game of chess."

"Playing chess is boring, call Yu Hai and Tong Xi over, let's play mahjong."

"Okay, let's play mahjong."

After a while, Zhao Yao and the other three started playing mahjong.

Tongxi, who was sitting opposite Zhao Yao, saw that Zhao Yao and King Wei were playing mahjong seriously and were not worried about the big event that was about to happen, and he couldn't help feeling anxious.

My dear prince, the King of Dai and the King of Han are about to rebel. Why are you not in a hurry at all? Do you still have the mood to play mahjong here?
Seeing Tongxi blinking at him, Zhao Yao asked, "Are you having eye cramps?"

Yu Hai said, "Tongxi, you can't cheat with His Royal Highness the King of Han."

Zhao Yao looked at Yu Hai and said proudly, "My luck is so good today, do I need to cheat? You and Bage can just wait to lose."

The King of Wei laughed and said, "What you win first is paper, and what you win later is money. You said that."

"That's right, Your Highness the King of Han, if you win now, you will definitely lose money later."

"I want you to lose so badly tonight that you won't even have underwear to wear." Zhao Yao ignored Tong Xi's crazy blinking and said, "Come on, continue."

Tongxi, who was mistakenly thought to be cheating, felt desperate: "..." Forget it, His Highness and the others are not worried, why should a servant like him worry about it? He should just play mahjong well and win more money.

At this time, the capital outside the Prince of Wei's mansion was still bustling with activity and brightly lit, because it was not yet curfew time.

Beneath this bustling and bustling scene, there are undercurrents.

The King of Dai and several people in the general's mansion began to take action.

Outside the capital, the King of Han, the Huns, and the King of Yue were also approaching the capital little by little.

In the palace, the emperor was also playing mahjong with Prime Minister He, Grand Tutor Liu, and the Minister of Revenue, and they did not seem anxious at all.

There was a curfew at 11am, and before 11am, fewer and fewer people were on the streets. By 11am, the once bustling capital suddenly became very quiet.

A dangerous and tense atmosphere permeates the quiet capital city.

In the Prince of Wei's mansion, Zhao Yao and his friends were still playing mahjong. Tonight, his luck was indeed better, and he kept winning, leaving the Prince of Wei speechless.

The fight lasted until 11:45 p.m. before they ended.

It was so late, and Zhao Yao was too lazy to go back to the Prince of Han's Palace, so he stayed overnight at the Prince of Wei's Palace.

Tongxi was so anxious that he almost jumped up when he saw that Zhao Yao had finished washing up and was really getting ready for bed.

"Your Highness, the King of Han and the King of Yue are already outside the capital and are about to rebel. Why are you still sleeping?"

Zhao Yao lay on the bed, propping up his face with his hands, yawning and saying, "Why don't you go to sleep? Are you going out to watch their fun?"

"Aren't you worried at all?"

"Everything is going as planned. There's nothing to be afraid of." Seeing Tongxi's anxious and frightened look, Zhao Yao comforted him, "Go to sleep peacefully. Even if things really get chaotic, it's not your turn to worry about it."

"Your Highness, I am worried about your safety?" Tongxi was not worried about her own safety, "Are you okay?"

"What can happen to me? Besides, I'm at Bigo's house now." Zhao Yao yawned again, "Bigo specially called me to his place tonight to ensure my safety."

"Oh, so that's how it is?" Tongxi looked surprised.

"Go back to sleep quickly. When you wake up, everything will be settled." Zhao Yao said, pulling the quilt to cover his face.

"Your Highness, I will not disturb your rest." Tongxi was instantly relieved and left obediently. Zhao Yao, who was under the quilt, smiled silently.

Myna was really considerate, and for fear of waking him up, he gave him a sleeping pill, which made him sleep soundly and could let him sleep until the next day.

Zhao Yao had no intention of intervening in tonight's events, nor did he plan to watch the fun. Since the starling told him to sleep peacefully, he would sleep.

After another yawn, Zhao Yao quickly fell asleep.

After a while, his room door was opened and King Wei walked in quietly.

The King of Wei walked to the bedside and saw that Zhao Yao couldn't sleep. He was still worried, so he called him a few times and pushed him a few times, but he was still sleeping very deeply and showed no signs of waking up. The King of Wei was relieved.

When he walked out of the room, Yu Hai, who was guarding the door, said, "Your Highness, the medicine given to His Highness the King of Han will make him sleep very soundly. Even if the sky falls and the earth breaks, he will not wake up. You can rest assured."

The King of Wei nodded slightly and said, "You guard the palace well."

"Your Highness, I'd better follow you. This way I can protect you."

"I have someone to protect me. You guard the mansion and protect my tenth brother."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Tongxi on the other side also drank a cup of tea after washing up, and fell into a deep sleep soon after.

While Zhao Yao and Tong Xi were sleeping soundly, earth-shaking events occurred both inside and outside the capital.

That night, the capital was filled with swords and blood.

Zhao Yao originally thought that he would wake up the next day, but he slept for two days. When he woke up, the conspiracy of the kings of Dai, Han, and Yue had been settled.

Was it a knockout drug? Otherwise, how could he sleep for so long? When he woke up, his head was still dizzy, and it took him a whole day to wake up completely.

Zhao Yao looked at the King of Wei who was sitting opposite him, and said helplessly: "Myna, you don't have to give me such a strong medicine, right?" Although his mind was clear, his whole body was soft and he had no strength.

"I'm afraid you'll wake up early, so I can only put in a little more so you can sleep longer."

"Thank you for letting me sleep for so long." Zhao Yao said angrily.

"I can only feel at ease if you stay in my house obediently."

"Then there's no need to keep me in a coma. I won't do anything bad."

King Wei glanced at the somewhat unhappy Zhao Yao and said pointedly, "You like to watch the fun."

"No matter how much I like to watch the fun, I won't watch this kind of fun. You underestimate me." Zhao Yao knew that the King of Wei did this because he didn't want him to be involved in this matter and wanted to get rid of him completely. "How are my second brother and the others?" He still didn't know what happened the night before yesterday.

"They are in the prison of Zongzheng Temple."

Zhao Yao was not surprised by this result. He asked again, "Where are the Xiongnu soldiers brought by the King of Han?"

The King of Wei said: "Most of them died, and the rest became prisoners."

"What about the Xiongnu royal court?" When King Han led the Xiongnu soldiers south, it was impossible that the Xiongnu royal court was fine.

The King of Wei said calmly, "He has been captured by General Chu."

"Sure enough!" Zhao Yao was not surprised at all, "What about other Xiongnu tribes?"

"They have all surrendered to the Great Zhou."

"This is what you and your father planned, right?" The King of Han's rebellion was originally a two-birds-with-one-stone move, capturing the King of Han and destroying the Xiongnu. Unexpectedly, the King of Yue and the King of Dai appeared on the way, and it became a three-birds-with-one-stone move.

The King of Wei was not at all surprised to have guessed the truth behind the rebellion.

"Ah."

"It was you who instigated the rebellion of the Second and Ninth Brothers, right?" Zhao Yao said in a declarative sentence, not a question.

The King of Wei admitted generously: "That's right."

"The King of Dai and the King of Yue should not be included in the previous arrangement between you and the emperor," Zhao Yao guessed, "The emperor probably won't touch the second brother and his men for the time being. After all, the Xuanping Marquis's Mansion is not a big deal."

The King of Wei did not deny it: "Yes, I arranged it."

"Does the Emperor blame you for involving the Second and Ninth Brothers?"

"They wanted to rebel themselves, why would Father blame me?"

Zhao Yao thought so too. He continued to ask, "Is it the seventh brother's turn next?"

"I will deal with him after you get married and leave." The King of Wei chuckled, "Let you get married first." The King of Wei would not allow anything bad to happen before Zhao Yao got married. He did not want anything to ruin Zhao Yao's marriage and affect his happiness for life.

Zhao Yao clasped his fists towards the King of Wei and said gratefully, "Thank you, Brother Bage, for your consideration."

The King of Wei looked at Zhao Yao and said in a gentle tone: "After the marriage, leave the capital immediately."

"Myna, you don't have to tell me. I will leave as soon as I get married." If he hadn't been getting married, he would have returned to the Swamp House long ago.

Zhao Yao asked the King of Wei some more questions before returning to the King of Han's palace.

As soon as he returned to the Prince of Han's palace, the secret guard reported to him in detail what had happened in the past two days, especially the rebellion the night before.

After listening to this, Zhao Yao felt nothing in his heart, which was pretty much what he expected.

"How's the harem?"

"Defei was demoted to a commoner and is now locked up in the cold palace." The secret guard reported respectfully, "Rong Guifei knelt at the door of the imperial study for a whole day yesterday and fell ill that night. Today, she dragged her sick body to kneel at the door of the imperial study again and fell ill again at noon."

"Didn't the emperor demote her?"

"No, Concubine Rong didn't know about the rebellion of Prince Dai and his men."

"Where is the Queen?" Queen Xie must have been so happy that she went crazy when Concubine Rong and Prince Dai were in trouble.

"The queen fell ill from excessive joy."

Zhao Yao burst out laughing when he heard this: "Hahahaha, I really guessed it right."

He asked again: "By the way, where is my fourth brother?"

"Your Highness the King of Chu is responsible for hearing the cases of rebellion by the King of Dai, the King of Han, and the King of Yue."