After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 904: Siege of the Mansion and Closure of the Street
Although news from all sides said that the royal family - most likely people from Prince Ji's Mansion - caused trouble after the death of Emperor Deguang, which caused a crisis for a time, the storm was quickly calmed after Marquis Yingchuan led his troops into the palace, and everything is peaceful now, but Haitang still doesn't quite believe this statement.

She was not surprised that the royal family was causing trouble, and it was even less surprising that the Ji Wang Mansion was causing trouble. What was strange was that the Ji Wang Mansion actually had such great power? !
Tu Rong, the commander of the imperial guards, was placed under house arrest by his subordinates, and 30% of the imperial guards were facing trial. Is this the kind of people that Prince Ji's mansion could win over? If Prince Ji had this ability, how could he have been obediently following the emperor's orders for the past thirty years?

Given that Emperor Deguang was wary of his brothers Prince Ji and Prince An, who had once competed with him for the throne, would he allow generals close to Prince Ji to join the imperial guards?
If the Ji Wang and his son had won over the generals who were already serving in the Imperial Guard, how could they convince those promising generals to risk their lives for them based on the strength they had shown over the past thirty years? !
Even if Prince Ji was of the emperor's bloodline and was once expected to return to the royal family to be crowned as the heir, it would be impossible! If he could win the support of 30% of the imperial guards, his personal talents and charm would have been known to all officials in the court, and he would not need the support of the Sun family to gain a sense of presence in front of the emperor. Once the Sun family lost power, he would be completely finished.

Haitang felt from the bottom of her heart that Prince Ji's Mansion did not have the strength to do so.

Prince Ji and his son and their close royal family forces may have stirred up some disturbances in the palace, but it was not them who caused Tu Rong to be placed under house arrest. After the royal family, there may be other forces secretly stirring up trouble.

Who are this force?
Haitang immediately thought of the Sun family.

When Concubine Sun was still a noble concubine and had not yet fallen out of favor, although she did not have the title of empress, she was the de facto empress. She was rampant in the harem and had people she secretly planted in the palaces of all concubines. Even in the imperial guards, it was hard to say that there were no generals she bribed.

Her son, the Sixth Prince, was once a hot candidate for the crown prince. If he had not died suddenly, the ceremony of crown prince would have been held long ago. In addition, the Sun Ge Lao was very powerful at the time, and even the emperor protected them everywhere. It was not surprising that the generals of the imperial guards, who had no foresight, thought that the Sun family would be even richer in the future, and thus had the idea of ​​joining the future empress dowager and the new emperor in advance. If the Sixth Prince had not died too early, perhaps there would be more people joining the Sun family!
These people defected to the Sun family, and they might have left behind evidence, such as a letter of loyalty. After the fall of the Sun family, if their evidence was leaked, their future would be ruined. Whether they were willing or forced, they might be manipulated by the Sun family to control Tu Rong immediately after the emperor's death so that they could take control of the imperial guards. If it weren't for the timely entry of Yingchuan Marquis into the palace, with a force far exceeding the number of imperial guards, suppressing the rebellious forces, they might have succeeded.

No matter what the Sun family wanted, whether to support the crown prince Ji to return to the throne or directly support the royal family to seize power, Concubine Xu and the crown prince would never have a good ending. Fortunately, all these disturbances were calmed down, and Yingchuan Marquis played a great role.

Haitang recalled the rumor that Yingchuan Hou received the news in the military camp outside the capital. She also remembered that the coffins of the Jin family were placed in the temple outside the city, so she had a vague guess. She would have to wait until Jin Jiashu came to the Hai family to ask about the specific situation.

However, Haitang has her own way of verifying whether the Sun family was involved in the turmoil in the palace.

She called Zhang Lurong and asked him to help take a look at the street where the Sun family lived to see what was going on there. He didn't have to get too close, just take a look from a distance. Of course, it would be even better if he could get more detailed information from the nearby residents.

Zhang Lurong was very clever. He went out for most of the day and brought back very useful information to Haitang. The street where the Sun family lived was now completely blocked. The inner city had already lifted the martial law, and there were not many people walking on the street, but there were still some. Only in the area of ​​Sun's street, there was no one to be seen. Instead, all the intersections were blocked by fully armed elite soldiers. It was frightening to look at from a distance.

Residents nearby said that just after dark last night, a large group of soldiers came to the street and sealed it off tightly, not allowing anyone to enter or leave. Even if an official came out to show off his power, he was forced back by the soldiers' swords. A richly dressed young man came out with a few knife-wielding servants who looked very brave to protest and tried to rush out, but the soldiers chopped the servants and slashed the young man's face. He was finally dragged back by his family.

Residents who witnessed this scene said that the young man was arrogant and domineering on weekdays. He didn't even change into plain clothes during the national mourning. He deserved the knife. Fortunately, the soldiers who blocked the road were not from the imperial army, otherwise they might have let this rude playboy go for the sake of Sun Ge Lao.

Haitang also felt that the Sun family deserved it. After Yingchuan Marquis led his troops into the palace and quelled the incident in the palace, they attracted a large group of soldiers to surround the palace and block the road. The Sun family must not be innocent. His family is now in trouble, but they still refuse to stay honest. Do they really think they are very capable? Not everyone in the world is Emperor Deguang, who will indulge the Sun family's repeated mischief and forgive them again and again.

It turned out that those who were ordered to surround the palace were not the Imperial Guards. Perhaps it was because the Sun family had an entanglement with some generals in the Imperial Guards, and the royal family and the cabinet were wary of them colluding with the Imperial Guards to escape?

Haitang told her uncle Xie Wenzai everything she knew. Xie Wenzai pondered for a moment and said, "The succession of the crown prince is legitimate and recognized by all the royal family and officials. The only ones who are unwilling to accept it, besides Prince Ji, are the Sun family and their loyal followers. If there was really a commotion in the palace the day before yesterday, it must have been related to them. But now that the turmoil has subsided and the culprits have been arrested, I believe that accurate news will soon be reported. Let's just wait and don't send anyone out to inquire for the time being, so as to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

Haitang had no objection to this. The Sun family was surrounded, and the Ji Wang father and son were detained. What else could go wrong? Zhang Lurong completed several tasks and did them well. She was not a mean capitalist, and she would not urge people to work every day. She rewarded Zhang Lurong with a big red envelope, gave him a few days off, and let him go home to rest. If he heard any important news outside, it would not be too late to come back and report it.

Zhang Lurong said goodbye happily and left. For the next few days, the capital was peaceful both inside and outside.

The palace officially announced the funeral arrangements for the late emperor. There were clear arrangements for officials from various government offices and those above the third rank to enter the palace to mourn, regulations on official and civilian clothing, and regulations prohibiting the public from drinking and eating... etc. Although the crown prince has not yet officially ascended the throne, the identity of the new emperor has been jointly confirmed by Empress Dowager Zhou, the cabinet, and the royal family. Once the late emperor's coffin is placed in the imperial mausoleum, the coronation ceremony will be held.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites is the busiest department at the moment. It has to take care of the funeral of Emperor Deguang and the succession ceremony of the new emperor. In addition, the ceremony for Empress Dowager Zhou to be promoted to Grand Empress Dowager and Imperial Noble Consort Xu to be promoted to Empress Dowager, as well as the titles and treatment of the concubines in the harem after they were promoted to Grand Concubines and Grand Concubines, all need to be taken care of by the Ministry of Rites. It is said that the Minister of Rites has not been home for several days and sleeps on the floor in the duty room of the government office. He does not even have time to eat three meals a day, and this life is likely to continue for another month.

In comparison, Hai Xiya, the new doctor of the Ministry of Revenue, was much luckier. Ten days after the national mourning began, he had the opportunity to go home and stay overnight. He brought two large bags and returned to his new home after being away for many days.