Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 97 Yuan Qingzhe died, the fifth prince died, and King Beijing died
"Hahaha……"

The grey-haired Emperor Jing'an suddenly broke the dead silence in the hall with a burst of laughter.

He smiled and sighed: "I saw a good farce today!"

He smiled again and said to Emperor Chengtai: "Emperor Chengtai, you have been competent in your duties as emperor in the past three years. I am satisfied with you. I hope you can keep it up. What you said just now is justified." good!"

Emperor Chengtai was delighted.

Prince Yizhi, Prince Hesu, the four kings with different surnames, Ke Duo, Yuan Qingzhe and others all had pale faces, knowing that a disaster was coming.

Emperor Jing'an looked at Yuan Qingbai: "Qingbai, take all the people who caused trouble today under custody."

"Yes, Grandfather."

Yuan Qingbai respectfully accepted the order and immediately came forward with a group of guards.

Prince Yoshichi refused to give up and shouted: "Father, if you don't take over the government again, the Great Zhou Dynasty will be in danger. Father..."

Emperor Jing'an said in a deep voice: "Stop his foul mouth!"

Yuan Qingbai understood and asked a guard to cover Prince Yizhi's mouth.

Prince Yizhi, Prince Hesu, the four princes with different surnames, Ke Duo, and Yuan Qingzhe were all escorted out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony by Yuan Qingbai personally leading the guards and taken to a temporary detention place in the palace.

Emperor Jing'an and Emperor Chengtai continued to celebrate New Year's Day and even held banquets, although they no longer had such thoughts in their hearts.

……

……

When Prince Yoshichi was taken to the detention place, he seemed to have lost all his strength, slumped in the corner, and sighed deeply.

Once, as the fifth prince, he was the leader of the princes' party and fought with the former prince, the former third prince, the former ninth prince and others for many years.

As a result, the imperial party was defeated.

The former Seventh Prince, the former Eleventh Prince, and the former Twelfth Prince were all imprisoned.

Officials who were close to the imperialists were punished a lot by Emperor Jing'an before Emperor Chengtai came to the throne, and they were punished a lot after Emperor Chengtai came to the throne.

Although Emperor Chengtai showed favor to Prince Yizhi on the surface after he ascended the throne, he actually suppressed him.

Prince Yizhi knew that once Emperor Jing'an died, he would not end well, and Emperor Chengtai would punish him severely. Even if he was not killed, his life would be worse than death.

He was really unwilling to give in. He hated Emperor Chengtai so much that he didn't want to live.

So this time he went all out and decided to risk his life.

His plan is:
Emperor Chengtai's new policy indeed made many noble officials and gentry dissatisfied.

He believed that Emperor Jing'an had been the Supreme Emperor for three years, during which time he had conflicts with Emperor Chengtai. Emperor Jing'an was still in good health and should want to return to the government, but this matter needed a good step.

Under this premise, he united with Prince Hesu and the four kings of different surnames to remonstrate together, and in the name of "the four kings discuss government affairs" and "the four kings jointly remonstrate, the emperor will take it seriously", there is a high chance that Emperor Jing'an will depose Cheng. Emperor Tai, even if he is not deposed, Emperor Jing'an will return to the government.

The winter thunder the day before yesterday gave him an unexpected surprise. This so-called ominous omen was an auspicious omen for him. It could be used as a reason to attack Emperor Chengtai, indicating that he would be successful.

Ke Duo was not someone who had been contacted by Prince Yizhi in advance. Ke Duo stepped forward temporarily because Ke Duo knew that Emperor Chengtai wanted to kill him.

The reason why Prince Yizhi brought Yuan Qingzhe into it.

This is because he believes that the prince Yuan Qingzhe's handwritten complaint against Emperor Chengtai can increase his chances of success, but no matter how stupid Yuan Qingzhe is, he does not dare to confess what he said to deceive Yuan Qingzhe, nor does he dare to express it If you want to overthrow Emperor Chengtai as the emperor, it will be a death penalty.

Even if he fails today, Yuan Qingzhe's handwritten complaint against Emperor Chengtai will bring great embarrassment to Emperor Chengtai and greatly disgust Emperor Chengtai. With Emperor Chengtai's temperament, he will probably be tempted to kill him. Son, thereby carrying the notoriety of killing his son.

As a result, Prince Yoshichi failed today!

The main reason for the failure was that Emperor Jing'an was unwilling to take over the government and still recognized and supported Emperor Chengtai.

……

……

The New Year's Day public remonstrance initiated by Prince Yoshichi today failed.

The impact of this matter will obviously not be small.

On that day, the matter spread quickly inside and outside the court, arousing heated discussion.

On that day, not only hundreds of princes, nobles, civil and military officials entered the palace to congratulate Emperor Jing'an and Emperor Chengtai, but also many female relatives of imperial titles entered the palace to congratulate the Empress Dowager and Empress He, including Mother Jia, Mrs. Xing, and Mrs. Wang.

On this day, Mrs. Jia Mu, Mrs. Xing, and Mrs. Wang all made up according to the style and dressed up as deacons, and entered the palace to congratulate the Empress Dowager and Empress He.

When Jia Mu, Mrs. Xing and Mrs. Wang returned to Jia's house after a banquet in the palace, they discussed today's joint remonstrance with Jia She, Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen.

Mother Jia was surprised and said: "It's strange that when I congratulated you today, the Empress Dowager and the Empress were in high spirits, but suddenly they all looked bad. They didn't even let Yuanchun, who had his birthday today, see me. They dared to express their love for me. It’s such a big deal.”

Since Yuan Chun married Yuan Qingbai, she had won the favor of Queen He, and Yuan Qingbai specially begged Queen He. Every New Year's Day, when Mrs. Jia and Mrs. Wang came to the palace to congratulate her, Queen He would specially arrange for Yuan Chun to spend time with them. Huizi, but not this year.

Mrs. Wang felt scared and said: "Amitabha, fortunately the chaos has subsided today."

She was secretly cursing Prince Yoshichi's behavior.

Oh, they actually wanted to overthrow Emperor Chengtai. If Emperor Chengtai was overthrown, wouldn't Qingbai probably not be able to be the emperor, and then wouldn't her precious daughter Yuanchun not be able to be the queen?

Jia Mu asked curiously: "What was the situation in the Hall of Supreme Harmony at that time?"

Jia Zhen said with a smile: "We are all standing outside the palace, far away from the inside of the palace. How can we witness the scene inside the palace? We are just listening to people's discussions, but I think the atmosphere in the palace must have been very tense at that time."

Jia She remained silent, feeling disgusted with Emperor Chengtai.

Because he was involved in the prince's rebellion and was captured by Emperor Chengtai, who was still the third prince at the time, and because he felt that Emperor Chengtai was a mean and cruel emperor.

But Yuanchun of Rongguo Mansion was the princess of Qingbai and the daughter-in-law of Emperor Chengtai. Even though Jia She resented Emperor Chengtai, he felt that it would be beneficial for Rongguo Mansion to have Emperor Chengtai as emperor.

Jia Zheng couldn't help but sigh: "What a sin. I think those four kings are all close friends with us. How could we be so stupid that we did such a thing this time? I don't know what kind of punishment they will receive."

There was something left unsaid in his mind, that is, he thought this was tantamount to rebellion.

Jia Zhen said to Jia Zheng: "If Prince Dongping is severely punished this time, will the second master replace the couplet in Rongxi Hall?"

There is a pair of couplets hanging in the Hall of Rongxi. It is an ebony couplet with chiseled silver writing.

It is written: The sun and moon shine brightly on the seat, and the haze glows in front of the hall.

There is also a line of small characters, which reads: The fellow countryman's disciple Xun Xi, the king of Dongping County, Mu Shi worshipped in handwriting.

This couplet was written by the second generation of Dongping County Prince to Jia Daishan and was written by Jia Daishan himself.

The person participating in the remonstrance today is the third generation of Dongping County Prince.

If the third-generation Prince Dongping was convicted of a serious crime and severely punished, it would be inconvenient for the Rongguo Mansion to continue to hang the couplets written by the second-generation Prince Dongping.

Jia Zheng paused and said, "Let's discuss the matter after seeing the result."

He valued friendship and filial piety. If the third generation of Dongping County Prince was not convicted of a serious crime this time, he would not want to replace this couplet.

……

……

On New Year's Day, Emperor Jing'an and Emperor Chengtai had a private discussion and unanimously decided to punish Prince Yizhi and others, but they had different ideas on how to punish them.

Obviously, Emperor Chengtai wanted to punish him severely. What comforted Emperor Chengtai was that Emperor Jing'an did not intend to be too lenient this time. He believed that the behavior of Prince Yizhi and others this time, even if it was not considered rebellion, was a serious violation of imperial power. Without severe punishment, Emperor Chengtai would It will be difficult for this emperor to live in the future.

After the Prince of Beijing County was detained in the palace for two days, on the third day of the first lunar month, Yuan Qingbai took him into the Baohe Hall under the order of Emperor Chengtai.

Emperor Chengtai had a serious face, pointed at a pot of wine, and said in a deep voice to Prince Beijing: "This pot of wine is given to you by me. Don't drink it here, or you will dirty my palace!"

The Prince of Beijing County immediately panicked and knelt down: "Your Majesty, have mercy on me!"

Emperor Chengtai said coldly: "What you committed this time is nothing less than rebellion. According to my thinking, it is not an exaggeration to rob the Beijing Prince's Palace. Do you still have the nerve to beg me for mercy?"

The prince of Beijing County said: "I want to see the Supreme Emperor, and I have an iron certificate for the alchemy book!"

Emperor Chengtai chuckled: "You dared to collude with Prince Yizhi and other villains to rebel this time just because you had the iron certificate of the elixir! I tell you, the Supreme Emperor agrees to the death penalty for you!"

"It's just that the Supreme Emperor thought of your ancestor's great achievements and the friendship between him and you, so he left room for the Prince of Beijing. If you drink this wine, I will let your son Shuirong inherit the title of Prince of Beijing, otherwise the Great Zhou Dynasty will There is no Prince of Beijing, and there is no Prince of Beijing!"

Prince Beijing knew he had no choice.

Immediately, Prince Zhongzhi led a group of guards and soldiers to escort the Prince of Beijing back to the Prince's Mansion in Beijing, where he witnessed with his own eyes that the Prince of Beijing drank poisoned wine and died.

There are four generations of princes in Beijing County.

After the death of the third-generation Beijing County Prince, his son Shuirong inherited the title.

Shui Xun became the fourth generation king of Beijing County.

What the court announced to the outside world was that the third generation of Beijing County Prince committed suicide upon conviction, and even Shui Rong claimed so.

As for the princes of Dongping County, Nan'an County and Xining County, none of them were severely punished.

However, once Emperor Jing'an dies, Emperor Chengtai will probably punish the three kings.

Emperor Jing'an wanted to be dignified and respected Taizu. After all, the four kings all had the iron book of elixir written by Taizu of Zhou Dynasty.

……

……

On the fifth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Chengtai, Emperor Chengtai summoned all ministers at the Baohe Hall to declare the crimes of Prince Hesu and Prince Yizhi. Prince Hesu was stripped of his royal title and imprisoned in the Zongren Mansion.

Prince Yuan Siji of Yizhi was also deprived of his royal title and imprisoned in the clan mansion. His wife was divorced and returned to her natal family.

Eight months later, in September of the fourth year of Chengtai, Yuan Siji died of vomiting in the Zongren Mansion Prison!

Ke Duo was deprived of his title of first-class Duke, his house was ransacked, and a three-column house was built outside Dangchun Garden and he was imprisoned. The eldest son was dismissed from his post and the second son was assigned. After that, Ke Duo died in the confinement.

In February of the fourth year of Chengtai, Emperor Chengtai also accused the emperor's second son Yuan Qingzhe of having "indulgent temperament and imprudent behavior", deprived him of his clan status, adopted him as his son Yuan Siji, and imprisoned him in his residence.

……

……

Yuan Sichun was the fifteenth younger brother of Emperor Chengtai. He was good at judging the situation and had always been close to Emperor Chengtai.

In March of the first year of Chengtai, Emperor Chengtai asked Yuan Sichun to inherit the title of Prince Heduan.

In the second year of Chengtai's reign, Emperor Chengtai appointed Yuan Sichun as Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion to help him organize the Great Zhou clan.

The sixth day of August in the fifth year of Chengtai.

On this day, the autumn wind rustled, the autumn rain continued, the leaves fell one after another, and the jade dew was cool.

On this day, Yuan Sichun, Prince Heduan and Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion, came to the residence where Yuan Qingzhe was imprisoned.

At this time, Yuan Qingzhe had been imprisoned for another year and a half.

It has been a year and a half since he was deprived of his clan status and adopted as his son Yuan Siji.

For the past year and a half, he has been tightly confined to his residence, and even his wife, concubines, and sons are not allowed to be with him. This is really a great torture for him.

Today, he suddenly saw his fifteenth uncle Yuan Sichun. Yuan Qingzhe's eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his eyebrows with joy. He raised his body and said, "Fifteenth uncle, did my father send you here? Has my father forgive me? Yes. Aren’t you going to release me?”

Yuan Sichun looked at the haggard Yuan Qingzhe, and felt ridiculous. He thought that you had committed such a big thing, and that the Holy Emperor was mean to the emperor. He had already removed your clan status and adopted you as his son to the fifth brother. You Still want to be forgiven by "Father"?

On New Year's Day last year, Yuan Qingzhe did not dare to confess what Prince Yizhi said to him in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Afterwards, Emperor Chengtai personally interrogated Yuan Qingzhe, and Yuan Qingzhe roughly confessed what he said.

Therefore, Emperor Chengtai knew that Yuan Qingzhe wanted to be emperor, and even wrote a complaint against his father, and helped Prince Yizhi overthrow his father...

Such a big crime, such a big unfilial piety, was enough for Emperor Chengtai to be cruel enough to kill him.

Emperor Jing'an would not kill his son, but Emperor Chengtai would not kill his son!
Emperor Chengtai wanted to kill this so-called son last year, but it was just inconvenient.

And today he sent Yuan Sichun...

Yuan Sichun took out a pot of poisonous wine and said to Yuan Qingzhe: "This is given to you by the Holy One."

Yuan Qingzhe didn't even react yet: "What is this?"

What a stupid thing! Yuan Sichun sighed in his heart and said bluntly: "Poison wine!"

Only then did Yuan Qingzhe react and was startled: "What does this mean? Why did my father give me poisonous wine? Could it be that my father wanted to kill me?"

Yuan Sichun said in a deep voice: "There is no need to gossip, just drink this wine."

"No, I want to see my father. I am his prince. How can he kill me..."

Yuan Qingzhe's face was pale, frightened, trembling, and crying and yelling like crazy.

"It's too much for you, mother-in-law. Anyway, you are bound to die today. Can't you be more heroic before you die?"

Yuan Sichun frowned, and then gave an order, and two imperial guards captured Yuan Qingzhe.

Yuan Sichun forced Yuan Qingzhe to drink poisoned wine.

In fact, he didn't want to do this. After all, he was killing Emperor Chengtai's son. However, this was Emperor Chengtai's order to him.

Yuan Qingzhe hiccupped and was so frightened that he quickly fell to the ground, grinning, struggling and squirming, and soon died, with a look of death in silence...

On the sixth day of August in the fifth year of Chengtai, the autumn wind, autumn rain and autumn were bleak.

Yuan Qingzhe was sentenced to death by Emperor Chengtai. He was only in his twenties and did not receive any title until his death!

The next year, in the sixth year of Chengtai, Yuan Qingzhe's only son Yuan Yanxun died at the age of four!
　The author has put great care into this plot.

　　It combines the political affairs of the Eight Kings in the History of the Qing Dynasty and the Four Kings in the Red Mansion.

　　The iron coupons of the four kings' alchemy books refer to the "Records of Taizu of the Qing Dynasty" "Today I pray to the gods above and below. Even if there are evil people among my descendants, God will destroy them. Do not punish them to cause them to be killed. Such as If there are cruel people who do not wait for heaven to punish them, but suddenly want to engage in war, heaven and earth will not know about it, and those who do this should also be punished."

　　The timeline of the punishment of Prince Yizhi and Yuan Qingzhe is also roughly similar to that of Ba Age and Hong Shi.

　　The prototype of Kodo is Longkodo.

　　It's just that I wrote a little too hastily and hastily, and I didn't get the effect I wanted.

　　The author will keep up the good work.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)