A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 478: The throne is lacking and all parties are competing, and they are unwilling to do extraordinary things

Luoyang, Beigong, Jinling Hall

Empress Dowager Zhang was wiping away tears, looking at Emperor Yuan's coffin and recalling the past.

"Her Majesty, the Cavalry General is here."

Zhang quickly dealt with the tear stain and asked someone to call him in.

"My hussar general, Zhang Shao, pays homage to the Queen Mother."

"Uncle, don't be too polite. The Zhang family's branches and leaves are withered now. After my grandfather, I am the only one with my uncle and my cousin. I will be very happy if you can come to the palace to see my niece."

Zhang Shao bowed and saluted: "My condolences, Queen Mother."

Seeing that Zhang Shao had something to say, Mrs. Zhang withdrew, leaving only a confidant maid by her side.

"Uncle, does he have something important to tell his niece?

The niece is now just a disabled queen. After Shen'er is buried, she will go to Yedu to live. She may no longer be able to help the family. "

Zhang Shao smiled slightly: "The Queen Mother may not know something. The current situation of Queen Mother Zhen is not much different from yours."

Queen Mother Zhang smiled bitterly and said:

"Thank you uncle for comforting your niece. However, Zhen Mi's son has been established as the crown prince. Although King Xinxing has passed away, King Shangdang can still inherit the throne. How can he be the same as my niece?"

“Don’t the Queen Mother know that the assassination of King Xinxing was planned by King Shangdang?
Now that King Shangdang has been detained in Zongzheng Mansion, the throne is vacant again, and the Empress Dowager has no heirs, what big trouble can be caused?

Now, this is your opportunity, Queen Mother, and it is also my chance, Mrs. Zhang.

Then Zhen Qian can become one of the four auxiliary ministers. How come I, Zhang Shao, as the son of Duke Zhongyong, cannot become the auxiliary minister? "

"Uncle is saying..."

"Yes, we fully support King Xihe's ascension to the throne. No matter what, King Xihe also has the blood of my Zhang family.

Moreover, when Emperor Yi was still alive, he often told his left and right that his eldest sister was the love of his life. From this, it can be seen that Emperor Yi wanted to establish the king of Xihe, but Emperor Zhuang was the legitimate son and could not violate the etiquette.

This situation now is the time when Emperor Yi's last wish was lost. "

Queen Mother Zhang was a little moved, but hesitated:
“Even if we want to support King Xihe, there is King Anding in front of King Xihe.

My niece has long heard that the Prime Minister and the Grand Tutor are interested in King An Ding. Our Zhang family has no foundation in the court, so how can we win over him.

Furthermore, I have an old grudge with Empress Dowager Zhen. How could she and Zhen Qian agree that King Xihe should inherit the throne? "

Zhang Shao said:
"The Queen Mother may not be aware that in addition to the Taifu and the Prime Minister who support King Xihe, there are also the Taishi and the Taiwei in the court, and they have always been at odds with each other.

Now that both the Xinxing King and the Shangdang King are out, the alliance between the Sima family and the Zhen family has also been shattered. It will definitely not be in the Sima family's interests if King An Ding takes over.

If we form an alliance with the Sima clan, how can we say that we have no foundation in the court? "

Under Zhang Shao's constant persuasion, Queen Mother Zhang finally agreed to his suggestion and supported King Xihe to ascend to the throne.

On the same day, after Zhang Shao left the palace, he walked around Luoyang several times, shook off the secret whistle behind him, and stepped into Sima's mansion.

Successfully formed an offensive and defensive alliance with Sima Division.

March th

The courtiers gathered together once again to discuss the candidate for the new emperor. This was the second time they had gathered together, and it was rare in history. This court meeting was destined to be recorded in history.

This time the person presiding over the meeting was not Queen Mother Zhen, but Queen Mother Zhang.

Master Sima explained it this way:
"King Xinxing has recently passed away, and King Shangdang has committed fratricide. He has been deemed crazy by the imperial doctor. Empress Dowager Zhen is too sad and can no longer attend the court. Therefore, it is in line with the convention for me to ask Empress Dowager Zhang to preside over the affairs of the court."

Fei Yi was a little dissatisfied, but Zhang was the Queen Mother after all, so there was no problem with Yu Li.

Although Zhen Mi was the person appointed by Emperor Yuan to preside over the appointment of the new monarch, under the current circumstances, it would obviously be unkind to force her to preside over the court meeting.

And Bai Kang doesn't care even more. In his opinion, whoever the new king is has no influence on him, and they are not as good as Emperor Yuan.

He just hopes that the new king will succeed to the throne as soon as possible, otherwise he will have many dreams every day.

After seeing that the courtiers had no objection to her attendance, Queen Mother Zhang spoke:

"Nowadays, the new king has passed away, and the Shangdang King has gone crazy. The originally determined position of the crown prince has become vacant again. As a rule, a new candidate needs to be selected from among the kings. I wonder if the ministers can choose one."

As soon as Fei Yi saw Empress Dowager Zhang coming to court, and after briefly thinking about the backgrounds of the kings, he knew Empress Dowager Zhang's purpose.

When he saw Master Sima coming out to wave flags and cheer for him, he knew that he had formed an alliance with the Zhang family.

Seeing that the hussar general Zhang Shao was about to go out to speak, Fei Yi quickly interrupted:

"Your Majesty, King Xingxing has passed away, King Shangdang has no virtue, and the position of Crown Prince is vacant. This is all due to the greed of the kings for the throne.

Therefore, I believe that the crown prince should be established as soon as possible, and other kings' covetous ambitions for the crown prince's position must be dispelled.

And King Anding was the leader of all the kings, and he should have succeeded him in order. If King Anding had been appointed as the crown prince as early as the first time, how could the two kings fight each other.

Because of the same throne, Emperor Yi and his disciples killed each other. This was not only harm to Emperor Yi, but also harm to the world.

I ask you to appoint King An Ding as your heir apparent. If you appoint the other kings, the disaster for the two kings will be imminent. Please put national affairs first, Queen Mother. "

After Fei Yi finished speaking, Bai Kang also spoke up, agreeing with his advice and thinking that it was most reasonable to make King Anding the crown prince.

Then Zhen Qian also expressed support.

Before the Sima family and the Zhang family had even exerted their efforts, the court had already shown a one-sided situation, and it had become a foregone conclusion to establish King Anding as the crown prince.

Even if Sima Master and Sima Yi disagreed, it would have no effect.

Finally, after court discussion, Liu Yao, the king of Anding, was made the crown prince.

Empress Dowager Zhang went down to court lonely. Sima Shi, who returned to his residence, discussed matters in the court with Sima Yi. Sima Zhao was also involved. He was also in the court, but stood far back.

Sima Zhao was very unwilling to accept this failure and said:
"Father, now that we support King Xihe, anyone with a discerning eye can see that if King Anding really becomes the new emperor.

He will definitely rely on the Bai family and Fei Yi who support him, and keep a respectful distance from our Sima family.

There will even be people who see our Sima family losing power and slander us in front of King Anding. King Anding will definitely be disgusted with our Sima family, and the situation created by our Sima family for three generations will completely fail.

Are my father and eldest brother so willing? Anyway, I, Sima Zhao, will not give in. "

Master Sima looked at Sima Yi but didn't see what he meant, so he turned to look at Sima Zhao and said:
"Then tell me, what should we do?"

Sima Zhao changed his usual friendly demeanor in front of outsiders and instead said darkly:

"If you don't do it, you won't stop. Since the king of Shangdang can kill the king, why can't we.

As long as King Anding had an accident on his way to Beijing, no one would think that it was our Sima family who was responsible. Among them, the one who gained the most was the Zhang family.

We only need to blame the disaster on the Zhang family, and we can elect King Xinping as the king.

Although King Xinping is the elder brother of the King of the North, he has never had his own opinion, and he has no foundation in the court. He can only rely on us to make it easier for us to control.

In order to keep his position, he would alienate the King of the North and be wary of the Bai family and Fei Yi who supported King Anding.

Zhen Qian has lost his foundation and is at a disadvantage. He can only rely on us to preserve the wealth of his Zhen family.

By that time, although the Han Dynasty belongs to the Liu family in name, it actually belongs to our Sima family. "

Master Sima was moved and looked at Sima Yi: "Father?"

Sima Yi opened his eyes and said only one sentence:

"Those who have done great things since ancient times must be able to do things that ordinary people cannot do."

Master Sima's eyes narrowed, and he turned to Sima Zhao and ordered:

"I'll leave this matter to you. I will let the Secret Agent Hall fully assist you. Remember, if you don't succeed, you must not expose the existence of the Sima family."

Sima Zhao licked his lips and said excitedly: "Brother, don't worry, I will save you some trouble."

March

Just when King Anding's chariot passed through Chiyang, Jingzhao County, Yongzhou, it was plundered by Huns horse bandits scattered in the north of Chang'an.

None of King Anding, his men, and more than a hundred bodyguards survived.

The imperial court was furious after hearing this, and immediately sent General Liu Chen, the protector of the country, with three thousand troops to Yongzhou to cooperate with the Yongzhou Duwei Mansion in the investigation, and ordered the Xiongnu Chanyu to send envoys to ask all the Xiongnu tribes in Yongzhou to cooperate with the Han in tracing the real culprit.

If the real culprit is never found, all the Xiongnu tribes in Yongzhou will be destroyed, both human and animal.

March 23
Liu Chen led a joint investigation team from the central government, Yongzhou, and the Xiongnu, totaling 5,000 people, to search out all the Xiongnu tribes in the entire northern Yongzhou.

Finally found a clue.

Some tribes claimed that those people came from the east of the river, or were the Xiongnu tribe from the east of the river.

The investigation team immediately set off for Hedong County.

March 25
The investigation team finally found clues in a small Xiongnu tribe.

It was people from this small tribe who attacked King Anding's convoy.

There are three hundred people in the tribe, all young and old. They herd cattle in good years and plunder in bad years.

This time someone found them and asked them to rob a caravan, giving them a sky-high price of three hundred gold.

According to them, the employer has a Luoyang accent mixed with some Hebei accents.

After wiping out this small tribe, the investigation team returned to Luoyang.

The Xiongnu Chanyu came to court in person to apologize and offered 5,000 sheep and 1,000 cattle.

The imperial court knew that he was not the instigator of this matter. After scolding him a few words, he asked him to take care of his people, otherwise the imperial court would send someone to help him.

Immediately, the imperial court divided the entire Xiongnu tribe into five tribes: front, rear, left, right, middle, and promoted leaders of four tribes among the Xiongnu tribes. The middle section was led by the Xiongnu Chanyu himself, sharing the pressure and responsibilities of the Xiongnu Chanyu.

The Xiongnu Chanyu did not dare to resist, so he agreed with tears and thanked the Celestial Empire for its benevolence and righteousness.

Finally, the mournful Shanyu and the four leaders with smiles on their faces left Luoyang.

March 28
The real murderer of King Anding was still not found, but the court could not delay it any longer and held another meeting to discuss the candidate.

The court meeting was still presided over by Queen Mother Zhang.

Sure enough, the courtiers unanimously elected Liu Cong, the king of Xihe, as the crown prince according to the order of succession.

Just when Empress Dowager Zhang and Zhang Shao thought that this time King Xihe's accession to the throne was certain.

The Tingwei Mansion received reports from enthusiastic citizens and found out that the real culprit who murdered King Anding in Beijing was a descendant of the Zhang family.

The court officials were once again shocked when Tingwei Qing Jia Chong threw out evidence on the spot that Zhang had murdered his relatives, princes and kings.

The situation has taken a shocking turn.

The hussar general Zhang Shao was captured on the spot and removed from his official position. The title of Marquis Zhongyong was inherited by the late Zhang Zun's son Zhang.

The courtiers who had originally unanimously supported King Xihe also turned to support King Liu Zan of Xinping.

In the end, the court decided to appoint Xinping King Liu Zan as the crown prince to succeed Emperor Yi.

(End of this chapter)