Chapter 110

 

On the third day of Sixth Month, when the sky was still dark, fast horses galloped out of the capital city gates, carrying official documents recording the death of the late emperor and the succession of the crown prince to various government offices and vassal princes.

Henan was close to the capital. Within one day, the news spread throughout Henan. Officials and common people alike knew about it. From then on, they put on plain clothes and began to observe the national mourning.

Among them, Runing prefecture was located in the southernmost part of Henan, and Prince Jing, who was vassal here, received the official document in the middle of the afternoon.

Prince Jing was the half-brother of Emperor Jingshun and the biological uncle of the Hua Yang siblings.

Prince Jing was forty-seven years old this year. Although he was not young, he was good at martial arts, tall and strong, and was quite dignified in the local area.

Shocked to hear the sad news of Emperor Jingshun’s passing, the towering Prince Jing actually fainted on the spot. After being revived by the trusted attendants, Prince Jing continued to wail inconsolably, with his cries audible even to the neighbors on both sides of the street.

After crying enough, Prince Jing was helped to the room to rest.

When night fell, Prince Jing immediately called several aides in the mansion to the study to discuss important matters in secret.

“The new emperor is young and the people in the capital are unstable. It is a Heaven-given opportunity for Your Highness to take action now!”

“I’m afraid Chen Tingjian is not that easy to deal with.”

“He is an old civil servant. In the peaceful and prosperous times, he can pretend to be powerful. As long as our army goes all the way north to attack the capital, the cabinet will obediently hand over the little emperor and bow to Your Highness!”

“The rebellion must have a name, otherwise it will be an unrighteous army. How can we win over local officials and generals?”

There was a lot of discussion among the aides. Some were eager to raise the banner of rebellion immediately, while others were cautious and thought more planning was needed.

Prince Jing lowered his eyes, but he actually had his own thoughts.

From the day he became a vassal, he had the ambition to compete for the throne. However, he only had three hundred soldiers when he just arrived at this prince mansion, and he had no foundation.

Over the past twenty years, Prince Jing had been accumulating wealth while carefully recruiting troops. Using the names of escort bureaus, farm guards, etc. scattered throughout Henan, he had now raised an elite army of 50,000 people. He was cautious enough to only control the leaders. Those 50,000 elites had no idea that their real master was him, but once he started to rebel, these 50,000 people would definitely support him.

In addition, Prince Jing also maintained a secret guard and ordered them to monitor important officials in Henan and collect evidence of their corruption or other secrets that could not be made public. In particular the three local snakes in charge of Henan, including the Chief Envoy and Censor Envoy, and Commander-in-chief. No matter how many times the court changes, as long as it’s a person, there would always be shortcomings.

Like the three officials who were in charge of Henan at this time, the chief envoy Zhang Tai was sanctimonious but was actually greedy. He had a secret affair with his wife’s young stepmother. Censor envoy Yang Mingguang was a clean man himself, but his own father was doing evil in his hometown.

The most important thing was Guo Jixian, the Commander-in-chief who commanded a total of more than 90,000 soldiers in 17 guard stations in Henan.

Guo Jixian was a general, otherwise Chen Tingjian would not have taken him seriously enough to transfer him here.

Guo Jixian also had almost no faults that could be manipulated by others, and he could not be coaxed with power, wealth or women.

Coincidentally, when Guo Jixian was still a young boy, he had fled to Runing with his mother and sister. In order to support her son, his mother sold his sister to the Prince Mansion as a maid. Later, because of her beauty, she was favored by Prince Jing and was promoted to be a concubine.

When Prince Jing favored Guo shi, three years had passed since Guo shi and Guo Jixian’s mother and son were separated. Even though Prince Jing wanted to help his concubine find her family, he didn’t know where to look.

Guo Jixian always remembered this sister, the sister who used herself to exchange money for him to buy food.

After his mother’s death, Guo Jixian joined the army at the border. As the years passed, Guo Jixian grew from a young soldier to a respectable general.

The bigger his official position became, the more Guo Jixian knew that he could not let the court know that a general like him was actually related by marriage to a vassal prince, so Guo Jixian never revealed to anyone that he had a sister who was a concubine in Prince Jing Mansion.

When Guo Jixian took over the post of Henan Commander-in-chief, Prince Jing had already forgotten that Guo shi‘s brother who had been separated for many years had this name. One time he accidentally mentioned the new Commander-in-chief in front of Guo shi, and Guo shi suddenly became excited. Tears welled up in her eyelashes as she insisted on confirming whether the Commander-in-Chief was her brother.

Prince Jing suddenly saw a big opportunity.

It was difficult for him to leave the vassal, but it was feasible for Guo shi to disguise herself as an ordinary civilian woman. Guo shi then went to see Guo Jixian, and the two siblings hugged and cried, secretly recognized each other.

But Prince Jing did not contact Guo Jixian immediately. With their in-law relationship and the three children he had with Guo shi, Prince Jing believed that as long as he went to find Guo Jixian, Guo Jixian would definitely surrender to him. Otherwise, Guo Jixian would have to face the dilemma of his sister and nephew’s suffering, and the court suspecting him.

Now he had the soldiers and the generals, the only thing he lacked was the army provisions, as well as a target facing the court!

.

Three days later, Prince Jing came to Luoyang secretly and asked to see his good nephew Prince Yu, the eldest son of Emperor Jingshun and the brother of the new emperor!

Prince Yu had been very sad these days. Although his father emperor refused to make him, this eldest son, the crown prince, which made him resentful inside, but when his father emperor passed away, he would have no father. If Empress Dowager Qi wanted to deal with him, there was no father emperor to protect him.

Heartbroken as he was, hearing that a wealthy merchant wanted to present him with a treasure, Prince Yu still met with this wealthy merchant with anticipation.

The wealthy merchant looked majestic, and Prince Yu was even more convinced that he had a good treasure.

Prince Jing was also sizing up Prince Yu, and saw that the twenty-five-year-old Prince Yu had already developed the fat belly of a fifty-two-year-old, with a fat head and big ears. Prince Jing then thought of Concubine Lin.

He had seen Concubine Lin, a beautiful and stupid woman. He had long heard that Prince Yu was not smart enough, but he did not expect that he could not even inherit Concubine Lin’s beauty.

After Prince Yu Ping retreated, Prince Jing directly took out his imperial seal.

Prince Yu:…

He didn’t understand why this uncle prince would risk being punished by the court to come to see him.

Prince Jing looked sad: “Brother Emperor is only fifty-three years old. He’s usually well and has not been reported to have any hidden diseases. Dear Nephew has no suspicion that there is a hidden reason behind Brother Emperor’s death?”

Prince Yu really had no doubts.

Prince Jing said angrily: “Just this year during Dragon Boat Festival, Brother Emperor sent me a secret letter, saying that Empress Qi and Cabinet Elder Chen had joined forces to control the government and had a vague tendency to force a palace coup. Brother Emperor was very worried because there was no one in the palace he could trust, so he could only tell me about this depression. Brother Emperor also said that he wanted to make dear nephew the crown prince instead, but he was afraid that the cabinet would oppose it, so he couldn’t make up his mind for a long time.”

After speaking, Prince Jing took out the forged secret letter from Emperor Jingshun.

After Prince Yu read it, he immediately believed it!

Chen Tingjian loved putting on airs, and mother concubine had more than once suspected that the empress was having an affair with Chen Tingjian. In the past, father emperor was deceived by the those two, but this year he finally noticed the clues!

“So, the two of them found out that Father Emperor wanted to establish me, so they attacked him first?”

“Precisely so. Because they had a guilty conscience, they cooked up His Majesty’s last words to let the Crown Prince succeed the throne!”

“Preposterous!” Prince Yu slammed the table, his eyes widened!

Angry was just angry, but Prince Yu couldn’t do anything. The crown prince had already ascended the throne, what else could he do?

Prince Jing naturally wanted to give him some advices.

Prince Yu hesitated and said: “If there is an uprising, I don’t have any soldiers in my hands.”

Prince Jing: “I heard that the Commander-in-chief Guo Jixian is the most upright and loyal to the monarch. I am willing to test his tone for you. If he’s willing to support you, dear nephew can expect great things!”

Prince Yu: “What if he refuses and instead exposes us to the court?”

Prince Jing: “Dear nephew doesn’t need to worry. I am one hundred percent sure that I can convince him, otherwise I would not dare to see him in person.”

Prince Yu was still worried.

Prince Jing: “Think about it. Chen Tingjian and the others even dared to frame the emperor. Once the situation in the court stabilizes after a while, they will definitely attack you. At least dear nephew can still fight for your own life by starting an uprising. If you’re not doing anything, would you just sit back and wait for death?”

Prince Yu was finally persuaded!

Prince Jing asked him to keep it secret, and then went to see Guo Jixian, the Commander-in-chief, still as a wealthy merchant.

As Prince Jing expected, if Guo Jixian did not support Prince Jing, he would be implicated by this in-law relationship sooner or later. If he assisted Prince Jing to succeed, the Guo family would become a new noble in the capital!

With the most important soldiers now in hand, and the target Prince Yu was also secured, Prince Jing immediately mobilized all his secret guards to take action.

Local officials in Henan, all those who Prince Jing had leverage over them, immediately changed side, and with the addition of official troops, the combined military force amounted to tens of thousands.

Prince Jing then took the seals of Prince Yu, Guo Jixian and the others to lobby the other six vassal princes, including Prince Zheng and Prince Zhou, asking them to support Prince Yu.

Rebellion was a serious matter and these vassal princes would not dare to take sides easily. But Prince Jing put out ruthless message, if they did not obey, Prince Yu’s army would destroy these palaces first.

Therefore, the six vassal princes, who really only had 300 personal soldiers, in the face of such intimidation had no choice but to obediently donate money and grain as a token of submission to Prince Yu.

After everything was prepared, on the morning of the ninth of Seventh Month, Prince Yu suddenly appeared on the city wall of Kaifeng prefecture. He loudly listed the crimes of Empress Dowager Qi and Chen Tingjian for poisoning the late emperor to the 200,000 troops assembled outside the city and the people in the city. The sword was pointed at the capital, vowing to avenge the late emperor and eliminate the Empress Dowager, Chen Tingjian and the other traitors for the imperial court!

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The capital.

At this time, Emperor Jingshun’s coffin had been buried in the imperial mausoleum, and the new emperor’s enthronement ceremony had also been held. Because the reign name would only be changed next year, the people would temporarily call him the Young Emperor.

Hua Yang was granted the title of Grand Princess, and as early as during the vigil for the late emperor, Hua Yang officially moved out of the Chen Mansion.

After all, she, a daughter who was married outside, had to observe filial piety for her father emperor for one year. If she continued to live in the Chen Mansion, could everyone in the Chen family still have entertainment?

In addition, her younger brother ascended the throne at a young age, while her father-in-law assisted in the government. She already held great power. Unlike when her father emperor was here, Hua Yang, this imperial sister, should have properly distanced herself from the Chen family and tried to downplay this identity of being related to the Chen family.

During the vigil in the palace, Hua Yang and Chen Jingzong rarely met, and they had no chance to say anything when they did.

When Hua Yang left the palace and moved into the Grand Princess Mansion for the first time since her father emperor’s death, the couple finally got to be alone together.

At that time, half a month had passed since the death of Emperor Jingshun.

In Chen Jingzong’s eyes, Hua Yang was thinner, but not as thin and haggard as when she deliberately pretended to be sick back then, and her eyes were still calm. At this time he didn’t know any comforting word to say to her.

He stood in front of Hua Yang and looked at her silently.

Because something earth-shattering happened, and because they were separated for half a month during this period, the two seemed to became distance again.

Hua Yang didn’t feel anything. Her father’s death would not affect her relationship with Chen Jingzong, but she could understand Chen Jingzong’s silence. He was afraid that she would still be distressed and sad, and he was afraid if he said the wrong thing, it would make her unhappy.

Not only him, Wu Run, Chao Yun and the others were also quite cautious around her these days, as if she had really turned into a peony flower and could not bear the slightest bit of wind and frost.

Therefore, Hua Yang smiled at Chen Jingzong opposite and patted the bed beside her: “Come here, what are you doing standing there? You were not so reserved before.”

She could laugh, but Chen Jingzong didn’t find it funny therefore couldn’t laugh.

The year his second brother died of illness, he was still in Lingzhou. When a letter from his mother came, he went to the mountains alone and stayed there for three days and three nights.

The father-daughter bond of more than twenty years must be deeper than the brotherly bond of his ten years.

He sat stiffly beside her.

Hua Yang glanced at him and slowly leaned into his arms.

Chen Jingzong’s body suddenly relaxed and he raised his arms to hug her.

Hua Yang said in a low voice: “I’m fine, you don’t have to be so nervous. Father Emperor is already weak, and I was prepared. I never expected that he would live a long life.”

Chen Jingzong touched her soft hair and thought of the flood she had predicted, thought of his second aunt’s account book, and also thought of her suddenly running to enjoy the flowers and meeting Prince Xiang by chance.

She thought she was seamless, but in fact there were always flaws.

Firstly, he didn’t believe in ghosts or gods; no matter how coincidental things seemed, he remained skeptical. Secondly, if it weren’t for her desire to give Prince Xiang an opportunity to approach her closely, how could Zhou Ji and others have allowed her to be surrounded by people from Prince Xiang’s side, or for Prince Xiang to speak such arrogant words to her.

He didn’t even know about the old man’s hidden illness, but she actually brought imperial doctor Li back and helped the old man cured the illness.

Others couldn’t see it because they were far away, but he was right next to her, and he had already figured out her temperament clearly.

When she deliberately jumped into the ice hole, Chen Jingzong speculated that she might have known something in advance.

He was angry, not because she hid it, but because she would rather put herself in danger than believe that he might be able to help her.

Afterwards, she said it was to prevent Emperor Jingshun from holding a palace draft, and Chen Jingzong believed her.

But when he saw Emperor Jingshun falling under the dragon chair with his own eyes, Chen Jingzong truly understood that she had foreseen this scene in advance, so she did not hesitate to risk her own life.

Chen Jingzong had thought about asking her before, asking her what secrets she hid.

But when she endured the pain of losing her father and cried in his arms, Chen Jingzong suddenly let go.

It doesn’t matter what secrets she has, as long as she’s happy.

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