Chapter 188 |
Lately.
Whenever the Fourth Prince woke up from his midnight dreams, he would think about it.
How he should face Xiao Wu, Little Seven, and even Old Third in the future.
Among the princes, he was the one who seemed to have grown up most safely and soundly. He didn't have Little Seven's numerous illnesses and disasters, nor the fierce rivalry of his eldest, second, and third brothers, nor the mutual hatred between Xiao Wu and the Sixth Prince—
The hatred between those two even originated from his own mother.
Little Seven was probably right; no one blamed him.
But just a simple phrase like "no one blames him" could not truly erase the guilt in his heart.
Little Seven was very smart. By withholding Little Seven's memorial, he was essentially warning him that something had happened in the imperial palace. This was the only thing he could do under his mother's watchful eyes.
However, he didn't know that Little Seven had also uncovered the truth of what happened back then, and found out everything his mother had done over the years.
The Fourth Prince knew that Little Seven was never one to take his anger out on others, and this proved true. Even when he led troops to surround Little Seven, Little Seven still reached out a hand to him.
But what Little Seven didn't know was that that night, after coming out of the Eastern Depot prison where Xiao Wu was held, he had figured it all out.
If he didn't die, the matter wouldn't be resolved, and the country wouldn't find peace.
Everyone who protected him, like Little Seven, would bear the hidden dangers and pressure he brought upon them.
And he himself, caught in the middle, could not satisfy both sides.
He didn't want to live the rest of his life burdened with guilt, suffering sleepless nights forevermore.
...
After the fire at Zichen Hall was extinguished.
Consort Yi was carried out from inside. The fire was put out in time, so she didn't burn to death entirely, leaving her with a single breath of life.
When she set herself on fire, no one wanted to catch fire themselves. Now, however, there were no such scruples. Xu Jin dragged her away, taking her to an unknown location.
In any case, it was far from the dignified end she had envisioned.
Emperor Chongzhao swiftly cleaned up the mess. He separated the imperial guards from the rescue army of the Northern Frontier. The rescue army was relocated outside the capital, while the imperial guards were reorganized to handle the situation in the palace, dragging away corpses and washing away bloodstains.
He sent out word that the capital was safe and the Emperor was unharmed. Prince Yong had not launched a rebellion, but had genuinely summoned the Northern Frontier soldiers to save the Emperor. Only then did the unrest among the neighboring garrisons, who had grown anxious upon receiving news of the turmoil in the capital, finally settle down.
The officials of the Six Ministries came to pay their respects. After confirming that Emperor Chongzhao was alive, of sound mind, not being controlled, and not being forced into anything, they could finally put their hearts at ease.
Wasn't His Majesty doing perfectly fine? He spoke clearly and walked freely.
The palace servants who had fled in all directions also returned to their posts.
Consort Wen and Consort De assisted the Empress in moving the personnel registers formerly managed by Consort Yi out of her palace. They recounted the roster to see if anyone had slipped through the net.
The real Zuo Tianlang was found under the bed in his office. A large lump had swollen on the back of his neck; he had almost been beaten to death outright.
When Leng Yue was first caught, he tried to commit suicide, but Xu Jin dislocated his jaw, and Wen Xiaochun dragged him into the Eastern Depot.
They found a phosphorus powder mixture on Leng Yue. Its exact composition was unclear, but it was highly flammable.
When Consort Yi and Tang Yisu died, sparks had crackled on their bodies, likely due to the effects of this mixture.
Truth be told, if they studied it, it might even improve the Great Zhou's gunpowder.
The mixture found on Leng Yue was wrapped in a black insulating shell. He had been tied up before he could crush it. Poison hidden in his teeth, fire concealed on his body—his resolve to die was truly absolute.
When Qu Dubian went over to take a look, Wen Xiaochun showed him a table.
"This is the table the Second Prince used in his cell at the time. A 'four' is carved on its side. I didn't understand what it meant back then, but looking at it now, he must have had his suspicions."
The Second Prince's ruthlessness was unquestionable, as was his keen perception.
It was just that Tang Yisu had nailed him dead to rights at the time. He himself hadn't expected that the hidden forces he trusted actually belonged to someone else, leaving him with no room to defend himself.
Qu Dubian said, "He suspected Fourth Brother, but he also didn't expect it to be Consort Yi."
Wen Xiaochun said, "Your Highness, I'm sorry. If we had moved a little faster, maybe the Fourth Prince wouldn't have had to die."
When the Fourth Prince brought his troops to surround them, the Eastern Depot's backup was right behind.
Qu Dubian fell silent for a moment before saying, "No."
Given the situation at the time, Fourth Brother hadn't hesitated for a second when he turned his hand to stab himself. Unless someone could have predicted his thoughts in advance and teleported to his side, it would have been impossible to stop him.
He patted Xiaochun's hand. "You must be very busy. I'll go see Fifth Brother."
Consort Yi had managed the personnel registers for so many years; there were definitely her own people hidden within. The Empress, Consort Wen, and Consort De couldn't possibly screen them all on their own; they needed the Eastern Depot's assistance.
Wen Xiaochun said, "Chen Jian has already told him about what happened outside."
Honestly speaking, he was quite surprised that Chen Jian was actually the Fifth Prince's man. In that case, even without His Highness's orders, the Fifth Prince would have lived fairly well, even without a luxurious cell and so many trinkets to pass the time.
The two of them had even been on guard against each other at first.
Qu Dubian replied, "Mm."
-
In the prison.
The Fifth Prince sat upright at the table, upon which lay the small trinkets Qu Dubian had asked him to organize earlier.
"Fifth Brother," Qu Dubian said, sitting down across from him.
The Fifth Prince asked, "Little Seven, are your eyes truly healed?"
Qu Dubian didn't speak in absolutes. "You could say that. The internal martial arts I practice are unique, preserving the vitality of my sphenoid sinus. Imperial Physician Yang's medicine is also excellent, so my vision will gradually return."
The Fifth Prince was happy for him.
"Has everything outside mostly settled down?"
Qu Dubian replied, "Yes, I have handled Fourth Brother's affairs properly. He was the Crown Prince, after all, and will be buried in the imperial mausoleum."
After hearing this, the Fifth Prince fell silent for a long time.
To think that the origin of the feud between him and the Sixth Prince was actually the Fourth Prince's mother.
She had spread the rumors, orchestrated the premature birth by Sihe's biological mother, and then, with a gentle push, stood by and watched everything unfold around her.
Concubine Lan chose to use him to force Noble Consort Rong to her death, and Emperor Chongzhao glossed over the matter. Everyone bore some responsibility. After so many years, the grudges and grievances had long tangled into a messy knot of thread, rotting away in the passage of time.
The Fifth Prince said, "That day, when he came to drink with me and slept here, I felt something was wrong. But he didn't reveal a single word, and trapped in this place, I couldn't go out either."
He looked up at the prison cell.
It didn't feel like a prison, but rather a protective shield.
If it were Fourth Brother, he might have actually liked this comfortable shell.
The Fifth Prince continued, "When I moved to the princes' quarters, Fourth Brother also gave me a paper slip. It's at my estate. When you have time, go over and see if there are any hidden words on it."
Qu Dubian nodded. "Mhm."
Leng Yue hadn't withstood the torture from Liuliu and Xiaochun. With his master dead and all hope lost, it didn't matter to him whether he confessed or not.
The death of the Shu family's eldest son was their doing. The escort agency was close to Nanning, and the method of killing was indeed a southern technique, just as Xu Tingfeng and Xue Letian had originally deduced.
Consort Yi managed the personnel registry, and Leng Yue carried out the murders. Transporting a corpse into the prince's estate was something she could easily accomplish.
With this death, and the First Prince subsequently marrying a daughter of the Shu family, there was no longer any chance of reconciliation with the Second Prince and Old Third, who had the capability to strike at the time. It pushed the battle for the throne into a fight to the death.
She used Sihe's birth to fracture the alliance between Noble Consort Lan and Noble Consort Rong, inciting the hatred in the Fifth Prince's heart. During the hunt, she patched the loopholes in the Second Prince's plan to ruin the Third Prince.
As she watched the chessboard she had manipulated, she realized that a prince she had thought useless since childhood was becoming increasingly impossible to ignore. Thus, she exploited the Second Prince's desire to guard against the Fifth Prince, moving Tang Yisu to poison the Seventh Prince and frame the Second Prince for it.
Qu Dubian guessed that if he hadn't taken the poison back then, the first batch of rations might have been mostly destroyed, but there would have been just enough for the border army to eat for a few days, holding out until the next shipment arrived.
After all, Consort Yi wanted to ruin him, but she didn't want the border to actually fall. She had simply manipulated his personality.
With everything concluded, the Fourth Prince succeeded as the Crown Prince.
Had it not been for the traces left on the paper slip, allowing Qu Dubian to learn the truth and the Fourth Prince to uncover the sequence of events, the matter might have been swept under the rug just like that.
The Fifth Prince looked at Leng Yue's confession. He had given up two of Consort Yi's frequently used palace servants, raving madly that they would be buried with Consort Yi.
"If a menace like Consort Yi were in Nanning, I would definitely send her plenty of capable people to let her throw Nanning into even greater chaos. But since she is in Great Zhou, I only want to flay her alive and strip her to the bone."
Qu Dubian said, "When Grandfather dragged her away, she looked charred all over but still had a breath left in her." He calculated the time. "Since that day, Grandfather hasn't been seen for two days."
"..." The Fifth Prince was speechless for a moment before changing the subject. "Let's not talk about this anymore."
He handed a wooden plaque to Qu Dubian. "I just carved this yesterday. Since you are in charge of Fourth Brother's funeral, give this plaque to him. Whether you burn it before his spirit tablet or bury it in the mausoleum, it's fine."
Qu Dubian took it and looked.
The wooden plaque was very simple, carved with a few words: Free of waves and ripples, ordinary and smooth.
Qu Dubian said, "For Fourth Brother, being ordinary is better than being safe. I will give it to him."
He left the Eastern Depot and looked back at the place where his Fifth Brother was staying.
The deep prison was silent. Only a single, faint candle, burning all day long, illuminated that tiny square of space.
-
Within the capital.
The tension and turmoil caused by Consort Yi's rebellion and Prince Yong's rescue of the Emperor had finally subsided.
But at the same time, the atmosphere had grown peculiar.
With the Fourth Prince gone, the Crown Prince was gone. His Majesty looked healthier now than he had a while ago, but to put it bluntly, what if the worst happened?
What would happen to their Great Zhou?!
Who would take charge?!
No one knew who started it, but quite a few court officials secretly paid visits to Imperial Physician Yang.
They kept asking about one thing over and over: How is His Highness Prince Yong's health now?
When he came to rescue the Emperor, he looked much healthier than when he had left.
Imperial Physician Yang suffered in silence. At a critical juncture like this, rather than worrying about Prince Yong, they should be paying more attention to His Majesty. After taking that medicine, he looked healthy, but in reality, every day he lived was one day closer to the end.
While they were practically wearing out the threshold of Imperial Physician Yang's door, Emperor Chongzhao had not mentioned a single word about establishing a new Crown Prince, nor had he summoned Prince Yong privately.
Meanwhile, His Highness Prince Yong, who remained in the capital, merely assisted the Ministry of Rites in handling the Fourth Prince's funeral affairs and did not even attend court.
One did not summon, and the other did not go.
The emperor was not anxious, but his subjects were frantic. They swarmed and trampled the threshold of Imperial Physician Yang's house, and then swarmed over to besiege the three auxiliary ministers.
Wenyuan Hall.
Fang Hechuan, Lin Zongping, and Xi Shiqiu sat upright in the hall.
For the umpteenth time, someone came from outside to announce, shouting, My Lord, Lord So-and-so has urgent business and requests an audience.
Or it would be: Lord So-and-so has acquired an interesting object and invites you to admire it together.
Lin Zongping roared, Tell them that if they come again, the next time they come to my Ministry of Revenue for funds, do not blame me, Lin, for turning my back on them!
After this lion's roar, the outside finally quieted down.
Fang Hechuan sighed, Money is still the most effective tool.
Lin Zongping said, Grand Tutor Fang, do not joke around. The two of us also have no idea what is going on. His Majesty and His Highness Prince Yong, one does not summon and the other does not attend; it is as if they are locked in a stubborn standoff.
That rascal in my family is good friends with Prince Yong, Xi Shiqiu said helplessly. He came home yesterday to fetch some things and has moved into the Seventh Prince's estate. I asked him a question, but he said absolutely nothing.
He even addressed him as Minister Xi, without calling him Father once. Xi Shiqiu considered himself a gentleman with a decent temper, yet he never expected to be so infuriated by his son, who had chosen his own master, that he would stomp his feet in anger every time.
Fang Hechuan stroked his beard and said, It is not that hard to see clearly. Prince Yong is left with only one choice.
He came secretly to rescue the Emperor, wanting to catch Consort Yi off guard.
Although Zhennan Pass was commanded by Xu Tingfeng, there were other factions involved, so Prince Yong chose to mobilize troops from the north.
Those three thousand northern elites were summoned at a moment's notice. The Great General of the North set aside his border defense duties and rode a thousand miles, following Prince Yong to the capital without an imperial edict.
In the northern territories, not a single military outpost along the way sent word back to the capital about Prince Yong mobilizing the northern forces. It could be called completely stealthy and unnoticed.
This was not merely his authority; it was a testament to his rallying power reaching a terrifying level.
Originally, this influence was not obvious, especially after Prince Yong was injured. But during this palace coup, anyone with eyes could see it.
The soldiers obeyed him, trusted him, and revered him. As long as he wished, the northern borders, the entire northern region, could be under his control.
Coupled with Zhennan Pass.
It could be said that if Prince Yong wanted to plunge the Great Zhou into chaos, it would only take a single word from him.
No emperor could truly tolerate the existence of someone by his side who could overthrow his empire at any moment.
If he wanted the people around him to live out their lives in peace, he could only stand at the highest peak and grasp power in his own hands.
Prince Yong was intelligent. He must have known long ago that by choosing to re-enter this city, he would never again have the chance to return to Yangzhou and be a carefree prince.
He saw it clearly, but alas, both Prince Yong and His Majesty were exceptionally composed.
As for the rest of the restless officials jumping up and down in the court, they were in for an anxious time.