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

Chapter 906 Gossip
Hai Xiya couldn't explain what happened in the palace.

He had always been in the Ministry of Revenue, which was within the imperial city, but quite a distance from the palace. Every day, he and his colleagues and subordinates acted together, went to mourn together, handled official business together in the government office, ate together in the cafeteria, and slept in the duty room. He had no private space and basically would not act alone. Occasionally, he would use the excuse of looking for other colleagues, take a breath of fresh air in the yard, stretch his hands and feet, or go to the gate of the government office to see what was going on outside. But he would not leave the scope of the Ministry of Revenue, so as not to violate taboos.

All the news he heard in the Ministry of Revenue came from other people.

The Minister of Revenue had already gone to the palace before he went to the Ministry of Revenue to take up his post. He had not returned for many days, only occasionally sending people back to pass on messages. The affairs of the Ministry of Revenue were basically handled by two assistant ministers, one of whom had a deep relationship with Wumen and was very friendly to Hai Xiya. However, he was so busy that he had almost no time to eat or sleep. He rested until late at night every day and got up before dawn. Seeing how busy he was, Hai Xiya was embarrassed to go to him to inquire about something.

In this way, Hai Xiya could only learn some gossip from other colleagues or subordinates, and he himself was not sure how much truth there was in them.

He heard that the emperor died very suddenly. Everything was fine, but he suddenly fell ill at night. Almost all the doctors in the Imperial Hospital came out. In addition to all the doctors who stayed on duty at night, they were also called back to the palace. Only the doctors who were good at gynecology and pediatrics were not called. It was a pity that so many people failed to save the emperor. For this reason, everyone in the Imperial Hospital was terrified, fearing that the palace would massacre the Imperial Hospital. The yamen of the Imperial Hospital was not far from the yamen of the Ministry of Revenue. The clerks on both sides knew each other. Some people even ran to ask their acquaintances in the Ministry of Revenue to send a suicide note or something to their home.

Therefore, a rumor from the Imperial Medical Bureau was passed to the Ministry of Revenue, saying that the emperor was angered to death by Concubine Sun.

That night, the emperor's condition was stable. The empress dowager returned to the Cining Palace to rest, Noble Concubine Xu recuperated in her own bedroom, the crown prince returned to the East Palace, and the old princes who had been guarding the emperor all slept in other palaces. The chief minister of the cabinet, Tao Yue, took his turn to leave the palace and went home. The elders who stayed behind were easy to talk to, so the emperor thought of Concubine Sun and sent someone to see her in the cold palace. When he learned that she had calmed down a lot and was no longer crazy, he summoned her to the Qianqing Palace.

No one knew what Concubine Sun had said to the emperor. Anyway, after the emperor fell ill, the ministers who stayed behind immediately notified everyone and summoned the imperial physician. There was chaos in the Qianqing Palace. As soon as the imperial physician who went to see the patient entered the Qianqing Palace, he heard Concubine Sun laughing wildly and cursing loudly. Empress Dowager Zhou ordered people to gag her and tie her up, and then escorted her back to the cold palace, where she finally calmed down.

It is said that the faces of the royal family and ministers who heard her scolding were very ugly. The ministers were still able to sit still, but they were very worried about the emperor's condition. The faces of the two old princes of the royal family were livid, and one of them had a hot temper and even ran to the emperor to scold the tyrant, but was stopped by the empress dowager.

The old prince questioned the Queen Mother angrily: "Didn't your Majesty hear what he did?! Does your Majesty still expect us to respect him as the emperor?!"

The Queen Mother said coldly, "I only know that he is the emperor, who followed the will of the previous emperor, appealed to the gods and temples, and succeeded to the throne for more than 30 years! What can the nonsense of an abandoned concubine prove without any evidence?! Or... you don't care whether this is true or not, and just want to take the opportunity to rebel?!" The old prince was scared after hearing this and left. Although the other old prince was much calmer than him, there were too many people in the palace at that time. Everyone was paying attention to the emperor's condition, and no one paid much attention. When the imperial physician announced that the emperor had passed away, they found that the old prince had left at some point.

After daybreak, when the two old princes appeared in front of everyone again, they were followed by a string of close royal family members including Prince Ji and Prince An.

It is said that the two princes heard the sad news of the emperor's death and rushed into the palace to mourn. They followed all the etiquette, and the national mourning did require the royal family to come forward, so the empress dowager and the cabinet had no reason to send them away. Then everyone gathered together to discuss the national mourning. The Imperial Hospital had completed its duties and did not need to stay any longer, so they were sent away. The imperial doctors returned to the Imperial Hospital and did not dare to walk around or go home. They just stayed in the government office waiting for the arrangements from the higher-ups. They knew nothing about what happened in the inner court later.

However, until the news of the Yingchuan Marquis leading troops into the palace and the rebellion of the imperial guards came out, they still did not receive the order from the higher authorities. Later, the national mourning was arranged, and they followed the crowd to mourn. They thought they could escape the disaster, but when they were mourning, some ministers accused them of the incompetence of the Imperial Hospital, believing that it was their treatment errors that killed the emperor, otherwise how could the emperor suddenly die when his condition was stable?

These foreign officials had no idea about Concubine Sun, but no one, whether it was the Empress Dowager, Imperial Noble Consort Xu, the Crown Prince, the Cabinet, or the Imperial Clan, defended the Imperial Hospital. Except for the imperial physicians who were responsible for the health of the Empress Dowager, Imperial Noble Consort Xu, and the Crown Prince and had never participated in the treatment of the Emperor, the rest of the people were in a state of panic, fearing that the superiors would use them as sacrifices to cover up the Emperor's mistakes.

The news reached the Ministry of Revenue, and there was a lot of discussion inside the Ministry of Revenue. No one could believe that the emperor had summoned Concubine Sun again, and it seemed that he had deliberately avoided other people and summoned his old love secretly. The emperor's behavior was a bit inappropriate, and what was worse was that Concubine Sun was not only ungrateful for the favor, but also cursed at the emperor, which made him angry to death!
How badly did she curse? Could it have angered the emperor to death?
It seems understandable that the old princes of the royal family would be so angry. Concubine Sun had done so many bad things that the Sun family had lost power. Since the emperor had already banished her to the cold palace, he should not have forgiven her out of old feelings, let alone let her have the opportunity to come before the emperor and offend the emperor. Now, because of the emperor's momentary confusion, he has ruined his own life in advance, catching everyone off guard. How can people not be angry? !

However, no matter how angry they were, the old princes scolded the emperor for being a tyrant, were rude to the empress dowager, and took other members of the royal family into the palace without permission, which was too much. In addition, there was a riot by the imperial guards later, which was quelled by the army led by Yingchuan Marquis. When the royal family left the palace, only Prince Ji's family was left out, which made people wonder if there was really a royal family trying to rebel?

Is Prince Ji's Mansion so powerful? Prince Ji can actually command the generals of the Imperial Guards. I really didn't realize it before...

Hai Xiya said this, and then he told his family, "After the martial law was lifted, there were more news from outside. I heard that many military officers in the imperial guards were arrested; the royal family was agitated at first, but later they calmed down. Prince Ji and his son were placed under house arrest in Fengxian Palace, and Prince An later brought his children and grandchildren to the palace to mourn as usual. The Queen Mother had an old illness, and Imperial Concubine Xu fell ill from exhaustion. Now the Crown Prince is in charge of the deceased emperor's coffin, and the cabinet is assisting. Yingchuan Marquis and General Tu are guarding the palace, everything is in order, and no one dares to cause trouble again."