Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

241. True Identity

Translator: Bryan

Yuxing Tianrui took a deep breath. Although there was no room in his mind for anything except for Du Chuxuan, he was fully aware that unless he played hardball, subjugated Turk and defeated Yuxing Wei, he would never be able to keep Du Chuxuan safe. He turned around to look at the others and said, “You’ve all fought side by side with me, and you all used to serve the firstborn son of the previous emperor, right?

“You know the state of the court. The day you followed me out of the city, I told you that we would either achieve greatness or die trying in this war. I apologize to you. I lied to you.” Yuxing Tianrui inhaled deeply. “As things have already come to this, unless I do something about it, I would be the dead one.”

All his subordinates exchanged uncertain glances. It could be said that the strife in the court had nothing to do with any of these old generals. The military officers who had been attending court meetings every day might have sensed something, but as they had once fought many battles under the leadership of the previous emperor’s firstborn son, the current emperor had long since banished them to the periphery of the capital city, so they naturally were ineligible to attend court meetings.

“What are you talking about, Your Highness? We’ve been under the protection of Shenglan all our lives, and the former emperor held us in high esteem when he was alive. We will not hesitate to die the most violent death if that’s what Shenglan needs us to do.”

All the others expressed their agreement. The next moment, Yuxing Tianrui gesticulated in a particular direction and with that many men jumped inside from the roof of the tent, besieging them all, wicked-looking weapons in their hands. One of the officers promptly asked in panic, “What’s this supposed to mean, Your Highness?”

Yuxing Tianrui’s face did not change. He turned around, walked onto the raised platform in front of him, took the box handed to him by Luo San and said, “Generals, I admire you all for your previous identity, and you’ve proved to me that your loyalty is unquestionable, so I’ll tell you the truth!”

With that he opened the casket, revealing the shiny satin inside. Everybody else subconsciously dropped to their knees. Face unchanged, Yuxing Tianrui slowly unfolded the imperial decree. “The firstborn prince Yan has said the followings: ‘I’ve been fighting wars all my life and I’ve achived astonishing feats on the battlefield. It’s a great honor to have been enthroned by my father.

“‘But my fate is riddled with suferings. It never crossed my mind a misfortune like this would befall me before my enthronement. My days are numbered. I hereby appoint my firstborn son Yuxing Tianrui as the crown prince. I’ll entrust my little brother with the task of raising him. Also, I’ll abdicate in favor of my little brother. I hope he’ll stay loyal to the imperial clan and our people, follow our wise predecessors’ examples, perform his duties and lead our country to prosperity.

“‘When Tianrui comes of age, if he’s competent enough to take on the mantle of supreme power, my brother shall adbicate in favor of him. If he’s not competent enough, I hope my brother will offer him an uneventful life. All I want is for my son to grow into a decent man, and not to bring shame to the imperial family.’ From the emperor.”

As Yuxing Tianrui finished reading the fiat, faces of all those down below slowly changed. They had been totally unaware of what had happened in that year. If they had known even a tiny part of the contents of this fiat before this day, they would have tried their best to help Yuxing Tianrui accede to the throne when he came of age, whatever the cost.

“Your Highness,” a general couldn’t help but ask, his voice choked, “is this fiat real?”

Yuxing Tianrui lowered his head and flipped the decree to let everybody see it. “If there’s a single fake word in it, I’d kill myself.”

Everybody in the room lapsed into silence. They naturally saw the words on the written fiat and knew who had been the one that wrote them. They could certainly see the personal seal of the former emperor’s firstborn son and the imperial seal of Shenglan distinctly. It was a concrete proof. An old official tremulously kowtowed to the imperial fiat.

“Your Highness, seeing as how you’re showing us the fiat at this point in time, you must’ve made a decision, I suppose?” Everybody present was no fool. The emperor had been trying to have them replaced for so many years, but they still had a place in the army, and some of them hadn’t even been demoted, which meant that all of them were quite competent. After Yuxing Tianrui showed them the imperial fiat, they began to think about the situation from another perspective.

The fiat had made it very clear, but the current emperor still hadn’t abdicated in favor of Yuxing Tianrui who was on the cusp. There was only one plausible explanation: the emperor was unwilling to return the throne to Yuxing Tianrui. Although the emperor had not had any other heirs, where had the third prince come from?

They were indeed old, but not too old to understand those intrigues in the court. They exchanged glances and then all knelt down in front of Yuxing Tianrui. “We’ll help you accede to the throne and ensure the purity of the imperial blood of Shenglan!” Their voices were not low, but they were not bold either.

Yuxing Tianrui smiled. This was his first time smiling on this day. He walked over to them and supported them to their feet one by one. “Thank you for your trust in me, generals. Our country is strong. Originally, I thought that once I subjugated Turk, Shenglan would be in peace in at least the next century.

“And by doing that, I would be able to prove to my father that I’m ready to succeed to the throne, but given the current situation, I can’t sit by and wait any longer.” He smiled self-deprecatingly, “I think you guys have, one way or the other, heard some news from the capital city.

“I took five cities, but what I got in return was the imprisonment of my wife and she couldn’t even keep her title. Soon, my little brother will arrive, and when he does, I’m afraid I won’t even be allowed to keep my command of this army. As things stand, I have to do something to get back what’s rightfully mine.

“It’s not that I, Yuxing Tianrui, don’t have what it takes to fulfill my father’s last wish. If I were incompetent, I would be too ashamed to ask for the throne, but I know I’m competent enough, and it’d be disrespectful to my father for me not to fight for the throne.”

After he put it this way, all the others, naturally, agreed with Yuxing Tianrui. Maybe they had all agreed with him the instant he proved himself to be the son of the former emperor’s son. Even if Yuxing Tianrui asked them to attack the capital city right away, they would obey.

“My intensions stay unchanged. I want to prove myself by subjugating Turk and then accede to the throne as my father wanted me to.”

“We’ll serve Your Highness wholeheartedly and do everything within our power to help you acend the throne!”

Their voices were heard one after another. If it weren’t for the fact that the nearby areas had been cleared, the soldiers might get the impression that there was an upcoming revolt. Seeing that the issue had been settled without trouble, Yuxing Tianrui finally felt a sense of relief. Thus, his plan was coming to an end. All he needed to do was wait until the generals returned to their original positions.

He looked in the direction of the Shenglan capital. “It’s time.”