Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 1271 Epilogue: The Battle of the East Palace ()

The sky is dim and thick clouds are rolling in.

This year's winter snow came quite late. It was not until December that the first snow fell in the capital. With such midwinter weather, it stands to reason that many elders would ask for leave due to illness, and even some who are braver would. They will also leave the account directly.

Anyway, today is the regular court meeting that happens once every ten days. There are so many people, but if there are just a few, the emperor won't care, and it will pass by turning a blind eye.

However, this time it was very different. Before the palace door opened, there were many elders waiting outside the palace early.

By the Jinshui Bridge, it was still early for the court, but most of the officials had already gathered outside the palace gate. In the cold wind, the elders were wrapped in cotton robes and holding their hands, but they gathered in groups of three to five. Together, I don’t know what they are talking about.

Although there were many people, there seemed to be a tacit understanding. Everyone lowered their voices in unison, which inexplicably made the atmosphere a little tense.

Not long after, the figure of an old man in scarlet robe appeared in the distance, causing the officials who were still discussing to shut up involuntarily.

Yu Shiyue could not help but feel a little heavy as he felt the various looks from around him. However, despite this, he still tried to straighten his back and calmly looked at the ministers present one by one.

Finally, when he came outside the palace gate, where he usually stood and waited, he raised his eyes and saw Wang Wen, who had been looking at him for a long time.

The cold wind whistled in their ears, and the two stood looking at each other. The surrounding officials, those with lower ranks, all stayed far away. The remaining seven ministers and ministers of the cabinet stood there with their eyes closed and meditating. , as if you didn’t see what happened here.

After a brief silence, Wang Wen sighed softly and said.

"Yu Xingbu, things have reached this point. As the official of the Prince's Palace, you should know better than me what the situation is in the East Palace."

"The situation is such that even His Highness the Crown Prince himself has given up. Do you still want to persist?"

Yu Shiyue was silent. His back seemed to be bent a lot in the cold wind. After a moment, he finally spoke.

"I don't know what Your Highness is thinking, but in his position, I will pursue my own affairs. Since I am in charge of the Prince's Palace, I should fulfill my responsibilities."

"Wang Jianzhai, you have your persistence, and I also have my persistence. We are worthy of what you and I ask for..."

After the words fell, Wang Wen's expression became a little complicated. After a moment of silence, he solemnly bowed his hands to Yu Shiyue. Immediately, he also closed his eyes and stopped talking.

Snowflakes floated sporadically in the sky and fell on the shoulders of everyone in front of the palace gate. As a heavy drum sounded, the palace door was slowly opened. The ceremony officer stood by the Jinshui Bridge and whipped three times. After the sound, all the ministers returned to their seats. Amidst a burst of great music, they walked into the palace gate one by one, climbed up the steps, and entered the Fengtian Hall.

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

On the spacious throne, the emperor wore a crown of wings and looked as usual.

Beside Mr. Dan, the prince Zhu Jianshen, whose childishness had long since faded, stood with his hands lowered, his expression extremely calm.

After shouting "Long Live the Mountain", the officials stood up under the guidance of the ceremonial officer. Then, among the officials, a gray-haired old man staggered out.

This person is none other than the eldest and most senior official of the Ministry of Rites, Hu Hui.

Logically speaking, the Department of Rites should be ranked after the Department of Officials and the Department of Husbandry. However, today, Hu Hui was the first to take the lead, but no one was surprised. On the contrary, his heartstrings suddenly tightened.

Sure enough, just like the news that had spread before, Hu Hui took out a memorial from his sleeve, handed it over and said.

"Your Majesty, according to the regulations, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be married at the draft when he is fifteen years old. Now His Royal Highness is seventeen years old. However, due to the death of a commoner from the town, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince mourned for him and has not yet held the draft."

"Now that the period of mourning has been nearly two years, the Ministry of Rites, in accordance with His Majesty's previous decree, please start preparations for the draft after the start of the court next year. In this way, when His Highness' period of mourning expires, the wedding can be held."

As soon as the words fell, there was a burst of low discussion in the hall.

For ordinary people, getting married is just a happy event, but for the Tian family, the prince's wedding means that he has officially become an adult, which also means that he should truly participate in the government, and its political significance is far greater than itself. meaning.

Because of this, everyone knows that with the submission of this memorial from the Ministry of Rites, it may become the most important trigger that detonates the powder keg of the East Palace.

As expected, as Hu Xi finished speaking, among the civil servants, Wang Wen, the Minister of Personnel, stood up immediately and said.

"Your Majesty, I think this is not necessary!"

As a result, the palace suddenly became quiet. Then, under the gaze of everyone, Wang Wen took out a memorial from his sleeve. Anyone with a sharp eye could clearly see that there was a series of small characters written on it... "Invitation to the Prince of Yi" !

As the chamberlain delivered the memorial to the emperor, Wang Wen straightened up and spoke.

"Your Majesty, the crown prince is the foundation of the country, and you should be very careful. The first people of the town personally conquered Wala, and hunted and captured the court in the north. The capital was in turmoil, and all the ministers were in panic. The Holy Mother in the palace did not receive the imperial decree, so she appointed the eldest son of the people with Yi's decree. Seeing Shen as the crown prince, this is an act that violates the rules." "The common people of Houzhen came to Wa La to pass the edict, thinking that the country has the eldest monarch, the blessing of the country, and the Zen is in your majesty. At this point, the legal system of the heavenly family has been transferred. According to the etiquette and law, he should have been deposed. Prince, please appoint your Majesty’s son as the crown prince instead.”

"However, His Majesty is kind and considerate of his family ties, so he still ordered the prince to study in the palace, and carefully cultivated and taught him. Over the years, he has treated him as his own son. Although the prince was young, he was kind and eager to learn, and he had the demeanor of a gentleman. Although the etiquette and laws were inconsistent, he still behaved well. A good story from heaven."

"Unexpectedly, the common people's ambitions, disregarding the family ties of the Tian family, and not seeing His Majesty's holy grace, together with Chen Mao, Zhang Min and others, raised an army to cause rebellion and committed treason."

"In the Nangong Incident, Your Majesty was fortunate to have the blessing of his ancestors to put an end to the rebellion. The main culprits were dealt with afterwards. According to the law, the common people in the town committed the crime of treason. All the princes and princesses in his lineage should have been sent to Fengyang, where they will never be able to come back. Your Majesty, please With a compassionate heart, you can stop the crime of a common man and refuse to offend an innocent prince. This is a holy virtue."

"However, his father did such a rebellious thing, and the son still occupies the position of crown prince. This is something that is difficult for the world to accept. The ministers have begged him several times. Your Majesty cares about family ties and thinks that the prince is benevolent and filial and has no fault, so he still refuses to depose him. "

"In the twelfth year of Jingtai, a commoner in the town died of illness in the high walls of Fengyang. The prince was shocked when he heard this and was overly sad. He fainted several times. After waking up, he unfortunately suffered from madness. Not only did he often talk nonsense, but he also hit him frequently. He cursed the palace servants, smashed utensils, and even worse, danced and ran wildly at the sutra banquet several times. In the past two years, the imperial doctor repeatedly treated him, but it still had no effect. It is really difficult for such a crazy person to inherit the throne. Safeguard the country.”

"Therefore, I have the courage to ask Your Majesty to put all the people of the world first, depose the crown prince, and appoint the four princes born from the Queen of the Middle Palace as the crown prince, in order to stabilize the country!"

While the ministers were watching, the Lord Tianguan spoke with a loud voice, as if he had rehearsed it countless times, and said these words in one breath.

So, in just a moment, there was a burst of noisy discussion in the court.

You must know that since the Nangong Incident, the court and the central government have been fighting endlessly over the East Palace throne for several years. In fact, many ministers have either written or privately advised the emperor to depose the prince, either openly or secretly. , changed to crown prince.

However, the emperor has always shied away from this, so no one really dares to say outright that the prince should be deposed in an occasion like the dynasty meeting. After all, there are all civil and military ministers in the capital of the dynasty meeting. No matter what happens, immediately after the dynasty is dismissed, It will spread throughout the capital.

However, a wedding means actually participating in court affairs. Therefore, after learning that the Ministry of Etiquette was about to invite the emperor to start organizing the draft at this court meeting, most of the ministers in the court were guessing that someone would definitely come forward at this court meeting. Bringing up the issue of deposing the prince again.

However, what the officials did not expect was that the person who stood up directly this time was not an insignificant official, but Wang Wen, a heavenly official of the Ministry of Personnel. They did not expect that he would be so decisive when he opened his mouth.

You know, generally speaking, for such major events, there will be a few frontmen who will come forward first, and then these important ministers in the DPRK will gradually express their attitudes. In this way, the political risk can be reduced. to the lowest.

For Wang Wen to come forward directly like this will undoubtedly completely pit him and the prince against each other. If the deposing of the prince fails this time, then the prince will succeed to the throne in the future. Wang Wen's fate can be imagined. From this point of view, this Lord Tianguan, you are either sure of winning, or you are really risking your life and reputation.

Returning to this memorial, Wang Wen listed four reasons to prove that the prince should be deposed.

From the very beginning when the process was not in compliance with regulations, to when the inheritance of the legal system should be orderly, to when Nangong rebelled, and when the prince was in the reserve position, it was difficult to conquer the world. Although there were many previous ones, they were all the same old tunes. In fact, in his memorial, , the most critical and powerful reason should be the last one. The prince suffers from madness and often has attacks. In this state, if he succeeds to the throne in the future, it may bring disaster.

And this matter started two years ago...

Everyone in the court knew that two years ago, King Rong Zhu Jianqing went to the East Palace to discuss with the prince because the common people in the town were seriously ill. They jointly submitted a report to Fengyang to visit the patient. At that time, the prince took into account the situation in the court and did not agree, so, In anger, King Rong rebuked the prince for being unfilial and reported the matter to the Queen Mother.

Later, the Holy Mother went to the East Palace to question the prince. In the end, the two parties broke up unhappy. At this time, the news came that the town commoner had died of illness. The prince felt guilty and passed out on the spot. When he woke up again, he was a little confused. Although the news announced to the public is that the prince is fine and just needs to rest in peace.

But since then, the prince's temperament has become a bit violent. It is said that he often picks up things and throws them at palace people for no reason. What's more, he will talk nonsense and dance.

Originally, these were all gossips. Until a year ago, at a banquet, the prince suddenly jumped up from his seat, tore his clothes, threw away his boots, and ran barefoot from the Wenhua Palace back to the East Palace with an expression on his face. The madness was witnessed by all the ministers and palace people present, and the news gradually spread in the court.

There were ministers who used this as an excuse to privately admonish the emperor and request that the prince be deposed. However, the emperor only said that although the prince was suffering from a chronic illness, he was getting better, and ultimately did not issue an order to depose him. This has been delayed until now...

After Wang Wen finished speaking, there were many ministers in the discussion, who immediately cheered up and looked up at the emperor nervously.

Many of them were staunchly abolitionists, so this time Wang Wen took the lead and naturally communicated with them in advance.

However, precisely because of this, they need to remain calm.

Regarding the East Palace matter, the emperor's attitude has always been in favor of the prince. Although the call for the abolition of the prince in the court is getting louder and louder, all of this depends on the emperor's will. Frankly speaking, today's court Giving advice is an extremely risky act.

Because if you directly expose everything openly when you know that the emperor has not made up his mind, if you are not careful, the emperor will think that he is forcing the palace.

Nowadays, the authority of the Emperor is getting stronger and stronger. There is no one in the court who dares to face the power of the Emperor directly. Wang Wen came forward to remonstrate on behalf of the ministers in the court. However, if they immediately stepped forward to agree, then they would undoubtedly be in trouble. Provoke the emperor.

Therefore, even if they are anxious, they can only calm down at the moment. As long as the emperor wavers a little bit, even if he is not inclined to them, but takes this occasion into consideration and lets the ministers discuss it, then they will be confident to facilitate this matter.

Of course, the emperor must also know this, so in fact, the outcome of today depends on the emperor's thoughts...

(End of this chapter)