Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 558: Turning War into War

Zhao Guangyuan's guess was correct. The prince wanted to use the grand court session on the first day of the first lunar month to announce his plan to the public.

"Your Highness, do you think all the ministers will be present at tomorrow's court?"

The plan was perfect. But the staff were still worried that many ministers would be absent from tomorrow's court.

The prince has been feeling very proud these past few days, as if he has everything under control. He glanced at the imperial edict in front of him and raised the corner of his mouth, "If anyone is not present tomorrow, I will take the opportunity to capture him."

Some staff members were worried, while others felt that the opportunity to become a success was within their reach, and flattered him loudly, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is wise. Tomorrow we will see who is on our side."

This was a great opportunity to eliminate dissidents. The prince had many talented people under him, and the vacant positions were filled by their people.

In the Palace of Prince Qin, several princes put aside their past grudges and gathered together.

The King of Qin looked around and found that the Sixteenth Prince had not yet been crowned as a king and was still in the palace. The Seventh Prince was in the northwest. The Prince of Lu was sealed off and could not leave. The Princes of Wei and Wei were the prince's party. Very good, the rest had come.

"Prince Jin, do you have a way to enter the palace?"

Prince Jin looked depressed and shook his head. "I have tried many times but failed to enter the palace. I am worried about my mother. I don't know how she is doing."

The mother of the Prince of Jin was Consort Liu, whose status was second only to the Queen. Her favor was higher than that of the Queen. If the Crown Prince and the Queen wanted to find someone to attack, his mother would be the first to bear the brunt.

The King of Qin glanced at him. This old Thirteenth was a carefree person and probably had no interest in that position, but Concubine Liu had no choice but to push him up. But now that the Crown Prince had come to this point, the first person he had to deal with was himself, and the second one would be that the King of Jin would be an eyesore.

He and Prince of Jin were the first targets the Crown Prince wanted to eliminate.

"Is there any news about Duke Dingguo from the Princess's side?"

King Jin shook his head again.

The King of Qin turned his eyes to the two specially invited princesses, the fourth and fifth princesses. Both were the daughters of Concubine Hui, who had no children and raised the Sixteenth Princess under her lap. The fourth and fifth princesses were married to military generals.

The fourth princess, Zhaoxian, married the second son of General Zhennan, who was the consul of the camp outside the capital. The fifth princess married the second son of Marquis Dingbei, who was a subordinate of Duke Dingguo and a close confidant of the emperor, and was in charge of the Shenji Camp, one of the nine camps in the capital.

"What do the families of the fourth and fifth sisters say?"

The two princesses looked haggard, and were equally worried about their father, the emperor, and their mother in the palace. But they were slightly better than the Prince of Jin. After all, Concubine Hui had no biological children, and she had raised a Sixteenth Prince, who had not yet been crowned a king, and would not pose any threat to the Crown Prince.

Princess Zhaoxian replied, "My father-in-law has not returned since he went to the camp outside the capital. My family speculates that he is being detained there." My family only speculated that he was detained by the prince and did not dare to speculate a worse outcome.

Sometimes no news is good news.

The fifth princess Zhaojing also said: "There is no news from my father-in-law. My family doesn't even know where he is." Dingbei Marquis Fang Sheng is in charge of the capital's nine camps, and the military commands of all the nine camps in the capital have fallen into the hands of the prince.

Most of the generals in the camp outside the capital who disobey the prince will be detained by the prince in the camp outside the capital. The generals guarding the capital will be in great danger and their whereabouts will be unknown.

"Dingbei Hou was also called by the Crown Prince to attend the meeting?"

"Not really. My father-in-law received the letter and left the house in a hurry. He disappeared after leaving the house."

Dingbei Marquis Fang Sheng disappeared. Was he called away by the prince's men, or what happened? No one knew.

"Third brother, what should we do now?"

The King of Qin was the third in line, just below the former Crown Prince and the current Crown Prince Zhao Guanghuan. He was the oldest among all the princes and princesses here. The bewildered princes and princesses now cast their eyes on the King of Qin.

The King of Qin was a little annoyed. He had been sending people to keep an eye on the East Palace this year. As the year was coming to an end, he saw that there was nothing going on, so he relaxed a little. He didn't expect something to happen.

"Now we can confirm that the Crown Prince has indeed rebelled. But judging from the fact that he has only conferred titles on the Qi Prince's Palace and the Lu Prince's Palace, we can see that he still has some concerns. Father's safety should be safe."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Virtuous Concubine's family is from a family of military generals. The Crown Prince must have planned to seize the military power in the capital through the King of Wei long ago." The King of Wei has also been the consul of the Ministry of War. Now that he has sided with the Crown Prince, it is likely that he has provided him with a lot of conveniences.

The prince was good at winning people over, and he pulled the King of Wei and the King of Wei into his camp early on.

The crowd was at a loss for what to do. The prince caught them off guard.

"Brother Sanhuang, are we going to the grand court meeting tomorrow?"

If he went, he would be forced by the prince. If he didn't go, he would be punished by the prince.

Just like the Prince of Lu. Now the Prince of Lu's palace is surrounded by soldiers from the camp outside the capital. Knowing that he is close to the Prince of Yue, they are on high alert against him.

Whether to go to tomorrow's grand court meeting or not is not only being pondered by the King of Qin and others, but also by a number of civil and military officials.

Many loyal ministers had already scolded the prince at home, accusing him of having no respect for his father and the king, and scolding him even more harshly than they had scolded the King of Yue.

The King of Yue held the military power in the northwest and refused to give it up, and was severely criticized by his ministers. But the King of Yue had a legitimate reason for his actions. First, he was "forced" to the northwest, and second, the prince frequently sent people to assassinate him, so he had no choice but to do so in order to save his life.

Besides, although the King of Yue held military power, he did not go to the capital to rebel.

Now that the prince has imprisoned the emperor, it has constituted a de facto rebellion.

Moreover, everyone had heard about what the King of Yue had done this year, and they secretly recognized his love for the army and the people. But now the Crown Prince's disregard for his father and the king still disappointed the ministers.

On the first day of the first lunar month in the twenty-seventh year of Zhizheng, the Great Qi held its annual grand court meeting.

Compared with the usual regular court meetings, the grand court meeting on this day does not discuss political affairs. It is a ceremonial meeting to celebrate the New Year.

Normally on this day, all officials in Beijing would go to the palace to attend the grand court meeting. However, since there was no room for so many people in the original council hall, the annual grand court meeting was held outdoors.

As a result, when the prince arrived accompanied by a group of eunuchs, he found that the number of people was more than 130% less than in previous years.

The teeth clenched tightly.

"Prince, today is the New Year's Day court meeting, why is your father not here?" The King of Qin was the first to speak out.

Yesterday, all the brothers and sisters discussed that they had to go to the palace for today's court meeting. Although going into the palace might be dangerous and they might never come back, only by going into the palace would they have the chance to see their father.

Whether it is life or death, we must find out the truth.

"Yes, yes, why don't you see father?" Prince Jin and others also asked.

The Crown Prince glanced coldly at the King of Qin and the other princes, "As a son, my father is not in good health. Do I still want him to attend court and govern the country? Is this the filial duty of a son or daughter?"

"The Emperor is not in good health. Why don't you let us see him when we ask for him?"

"I've already said that the emperor is in poor health. Do you want to go and beat him up so that he can rest?"

"You are making up stories. Where is the imperial physician? I want to ask him what disease is afflicting my father!"

"The imperial physician is currently studying my father's medical records, so I'm afraid he won't be able to see you."

"You!" This guy Zhao Guanghuan actually imprisoned the imperial physician.

The princes were still making a fuss when a group of imperial guards came running over with spears in hand and stopped their noise. The King of Qin and his men looked at the prince angrily, wishing they could eat him. The prince was afraid of something going wrong, so he raised his hand and said, "Announce the decree."

The eunuch behind him unfolded the imperial edict in his hand and began to read it... The edict was from the emperor, saying that he was not feeling well and ordered the crown prince to be regent.

"This is fake! The prince forged the imperial edict!" Father would never issue such an order. If he ordered the prince to govern the country, why didn't he even appoint an assistant minister?

Moreover, they had all seen the emperor before he was sealed, and there was nothing wrong with the emperor's health. The emperor had an entire imperial hospital to help him recuperate, and he was healthier than ordinary people.

Two imperial eunuchs shouted particularly loudly, saying that the prince was falsely conveying the imperial edict and they demanded to see the emperor.

The prince looked annoyed by their noise and immediately ordered his guards to kick them out.

There were several other ministers who were clamoring to see the emperor, and the prince simply ordered his men to slap them in the face, saying that they were too noisy. After being slapped in the face, they were also thrown out with a fork.

The King of Qin took a closer look at the minister who slapped the minister in the face. They were all ministers close to Jiang and Xiang. Those who were close to Jiang and Xiang must be on the side of King Yue. The prince slapped an important minister in the face in public, disregarding the court rules and regulations and losing face for the minister. I'm afraid he was taking revenge on himself.

There were continuous screams. Several ministers who were slapped in the face had their teeth knocked out, and blood was flowing all over their faces and collars.

For a moment, the entire hall fell silent, and everyone looked terrified.

Was the prince's image of kindness and closeness to the people just an illusion? Once he gained power, he retaliated in public and eliminated dissidents?
This was not the end. The prince looked around with satisfaction and gave another order, "The Palace Supervisor will go and count the number of people who are absent today. They will be fined one year's salary and removed from their posts to wait for the announcement at home. When they can be reinstated will be discussed after my father recovers from his illness."

All the civil and military officials in the hall were glad that they could attend the court today, but at the same time they were horrified at the prince's methods.

Everyone was silent, and no one dared to question it anymore.

The King of Chu wanted to say something more, but was held back by the King of Qin. The Crown Prince glanced at him and asked, "The King of Chu seems to have something else to say?"

He had a friendly look on his face and a smile on his lips, which was completely different from the way he had just ordered a slap in the face.

"Not at all." The King of Chu squeezed out two words from his teeth, wanting very much to tear off his hypocritical face.

"I thought the King of Chu wanted to go see my father?"

"Can I go see my father?" A gleam of light flashed in the eyes of the King of Chu.

"No. Father needs to rest, so let's not disturb him." The prince refused coldly.

The light in the King of Chu's eyes was extinguished in an instant. He clenched his fists tightly in his sleeves.

Seeing the King of Chu being humiliated, the King of Jin unwillingly asked, "I want to go see my mother."

"I'm afraid Concubine Liu is taking care of my father and can't leave. I will convey my thirteenth brother's filial piety to you two."

The hope that King Jin had raised was also extinguished.

The King of Qin stopped talking. He walked out of the palace gate with a solemn expression. He looked back at the thick palace gate. The palace garden inside the palace gate was deep and deep, like a giant beast that devours people. Looking at the court officials again, they all hung their heads and looked lost, as if they could not see the way forward.

The civil officials pursed their lips, looking terrified. Only a few military officers attended the court, and they rode on the gate and left in a hurry.

As for where the other generals went, it is self-evident.

The prince is forcing them to take sides.

One step back means a dead end. One step forward means you don’t know whether you will live or die.

It doesn't matter if he dies, but he may also lose his whole family and clan. At this moment, every general was in agony.

Prince Jin and others returned to Prince Qin's palace together.

At this time, the grievances of the past seem to have dissipated. Now everyone is tied together. Whether to rise up or sink together, there must be a rule.

It is estimated that before long, the prince will send lobbyists to force them to express their stance.

"Third brother, if we can't see our father, what should we do?"

The youngest King of Shu had not experienced much and looked the most helpless at this moment, with a look of panic in his eyes.

"What are you afraid of? You can't cause any trouble to the prince, and you are not as close to the King of Yue as the King of Lu. Can the prince kill you?" The King of Chu said irritably.

The ones who should be most worried are him and his third brother. No matter what choice they make, the crown prince will probably not let them go.

The King of Shu breathed a sigh of relief, while the King of Jing and the King of Liang, who were usually close to the King of Lu and the King of Yue, became worried.

The King of Zhao was usually close to the King of Qin. At this moment, he glanced at the King of Qin and said, "Third brother, the Crown Prince has not yet granted us a royal palace. Why don't you leave the capital?" and hide outside for a while.

The King of Qin remained silent.

The King of Chu frowned, "Do you think Zhao Guanghuan didn't seal our gates out of kindness? There are so many eyes watching us behind our backs. As long as we leave the city, I'm afraid it will give the prince a reason to kill us."

He just put himself at the knife point of the prince.

"What should we do then?" The prince probably didn't dare to risk the wrath of the world and kill them brothers now, but he would definitely find their faults and punish the King of Qin and the King of Chu who had opposed him in the past.

The King of Qin and the King of Chu are more dangerous than them.

"Why don't we contact our seventh brother?" Prince Jin suggested with bright eyes.

Everyone applauded unanimously.

Even the King of Chu's eyes lit up. Before, the Seventh Brother had cooperated with them and planned to deal with the Crown Prince together. Although he sent Lin Jingning to plot against the Seventh Brother, didn't it prove that Lin Jingning had done a favor to the Prince of Yue's Mansion? The Seventh Brother was not dead.

And he didn't want Old Seven to die. He just wanted him to be disabled.

Compared to the prince who wanted to kill him, of course they brothers were the best partners.

"What do you think, brother?"

The Seventh Brother has the military power. Even if there are no people left in the Prince of Yue's Mansion in the capital, I believe that the Seventh Brother still has a backup plan in the capital.

"The prince probably has countless spies keeping an eye on the Prince of Yue's Palace." Having said that, the King of Qin still thought that the King of Jin's proposal was very good.

If there was anyone who least wanted Zhao Guanghuan to ascend the throne, it must be the seventh brother.

"I'll arrange it."

In Hangu City, Zhao Guangyuan only received the news that the crown prince in the capital was forcing the emperor to abdicate on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. On the first day of the first lunar month, he received a secret report saying that several large armies were heading northwest.

"Order everyone to be on guard, close the city gates, guard the Wei River, and don't let them cross the river!"

"The river is frozen now. Even if there are no boats, I'm afraid they can still cross the river on the ice." The generals were a little anxious. Why did they want to encircle the northwest at this time?

Moreover, even if they stopped the prince's men on the south bank of the Wei River, they would only be defending the city in the face of the imperial army. By that time, the prince would have ascended the throne in the capital, and for them, the stigma of being a traitor would be unavoidable.

By then, I'm afraid the military morale will be shaken.