imperial psychologist

Chapter 420
The sun has risen.

Chen Yicong stepped through several courtyards, and returned to the cabinet's meeting room again during the "Prince's Arrival".

Before coming here, he went back to the East Palace and changed into another almost black python robe, and his long hair was tied up properly.

When he stepped across the last threshold and appeared in front of everyone, almost everyone was slightly startled, and then quickly lowered their eyes.

His Highness the Crown Prince, who is not yet 15 years old, has completely lost his youthful and childishness.

His eyes were no longer as bright as before, and his indifferent face was expressionless, making it impossible to see through his joy or sorrow at the moment.

At this moment, many people hardly dared to look into Chen Yicong's eyes, just like they were silent in front of Emperor Jianxi.

"Let's discuss."

Chen Yicong left these words and went straight to the high seat.

Sun Beiji turned around slowly, with a sense of relief in his eyes.

……

Cabinet deliberations have always been intense.

On the one hand, this is the involvement and entanglement of the interests of all parties below, and on the other hand, it is almost a situation that Emperor Jianxi deliberately facilitated.

The fiercer the quarrel below, the more fierce the attacks on each other, the more information will be exposed, and the more clearly you can see when you sit at a high place and look down.

In addition to the rhetoric of the civil servants, the emperor's ears and eyes also include Jin Yiwei and the Supervisor of Rituals.

The eyeliner in the palace stretches for thousands of miles, reaching every state capital in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Everything and everything are complicated.

Listening to the fierce debate in the audience, Chen Yicong suddenly understood that grandfather who was always serious.

Thinking of the last game with him, Chen Yicong frowned again—that is, the frown between his brows made the minister who was speaking in the audience lose his confidence.

The other party took advantage of the victory to pursue, stood up and criticized it, then looked at Chen Yicong who was sitting high, and shouted, "The prince please decide!"

Everyone fell silent for a while, waiting for the prince to give his opinion.

However, Chen Yicong didn't listen to what they were arguing about.

After discussing the war preparations in the northern border, and the flood relief in Huizhou and Chuzhou due to the recent heavy rain, Chen Yicong didn't listen much to the rest.

He knew that what was going on down there was probably about the enthronement ceremony, but he wasn't interested in digging into the details.

If it was in the past, he would probably have asked embarrassingly what to decide.

But at this moment, since he thought of Grandpa Huang and his phrase "Even if I was in Yongling, I would still look at this place", Chen Yicong felt that he could no longer do this.

So he asked in a cold voice, "Elder Ge thinks so."

When he said this, Chen Yicong didn't even look at Sun Beiji, his brows were still slightly wrinkled, as if thinking of something important.

All eyes turned to Sun Beiji instantly.

Sun Beiji stood up and analyzed the pros and cons in a low voice—from Sun Beiji, Chen Yicong understood that they were arguing about the time of Emperor Qitai's burial and his enthronement.

The reason why this matter is troublesome is that Emperor Qitai’s reign was too short—Emperor Jianxi’s Yongling Mausoleum took more than 40 years to be completed, and Emperor Qitai’s reign was only one month, so there was no time to build the imperial mausoleum.

And if there is no clear plan for the burial of Emperor Qitai, morally speaking, it is impossible to push the new emperor's ascension to the throne.

Sun Beiji's opinion is to choose a geomantic place for the dead emperor and queen to be buried together, and then build the imperial mausoleum. After the imperial mausoleum is completed, the tomb can be moved.

Chen Yicong on the high seat laughed.

Everyone was startled by the laughter, so they all lowered their heads slightly.

"After listening for a long time," Chen Yicong said in a slightly cold voice, "You... still don't understand my father."

Sun Beiji bowed and asked the crown prince for advice.

"Actually, the late emperor had already explained this matter to me before he died." Chen Yicong's eyes sank slightly, "He feared that his filial piety would not be enough in his life, so he hoped that he could move into Yongling after his death... in the emperor's grandfather's tomb. Be side by side forever."

The officials of the Ministry of Rites were dumbfounded.

It is true that Emperor Jianxi's Yongling Mausoleum has not yet been sealed, and there are many tombs inside. It is not difficult to relocate a compartment next to the main tomb, but...

"...There is no such precedent!"

"Is there any precedent in the annals of my Zhou Dynasty for someone who left the throne less than a month ago?" Chen Yicong said in a low voice, "Since there is no precedent, what happened today is a precedent for future generations."

"The tomb of the former queen—"

"The mausoleum of the Empress Dowager will be done according to the method Mr. Sun Ge said just now." Chen Yicong raised his head, "The site selection and construction of the Empress Mausoleum...The Ministry of Rites will first prepare the documents, and then I will review them myself."

Several people looked at Sun Beiji, hoping that he could finally compete with the crown prince.

Sun Beiji slowly looked at the crowd, Nian Xu said, "Since... this is the late emperor's last wish, then I, as ministers, should try my best to complete it."

Zhang Shouzhong immediately expressed his support - he also felt dissatisfied with the queen's death.

Emperor Qitai lived under the shadow of Emperor Jianxi all his life, and now, it would be a kind of torture to bury him and his most feared father together forever.

It's just the world after death, does it really exist?

Zhang Shouzhong is not sure, but at this moment, he really hopes to have it.

"Then, there is only one last thing left to discuss today." Sun Beiji looked at Chen Yicong who was on the high seat, "It just so happens that His Highness is here today, so why don't we decide on the name of the next year now."

Chen Yicong nodded.

So the Ministry of Rites presented several alternative plans - Zhenyuan, Jing'an, Jianming, Likang...

Chen Yicong looked at it for a long time, but he was not satisfied with any of them. He pondered for a long time and ordered someone to reset the pen and ink—so everyone knew that the prince probably already had an idea.

Not long after, the palace servants came with special pens, ink, paper and inkstones.

The paper was extremely precious gold leaf paper, and the pen was a big wolf pen that was three fingers thick. The eunuch Lu Dou beside him ground the ink with mountain spring water, and then handed the pen to Chen Yicong.

But when they didn't want to hand it over, the two of them couldn't hold their hands firmly, so the brush fell to the ground, splashing a piece of flying ink.

The writing brush rolled down closest to Zhang Shouzhong, and he bent over to pick it up almost without thinking about it—but at this moment of bending down, he was keenly aware of some kind of cold eyes.

He raised his head, and saw Chen Yicong on the high seat, staring at him with a gaze he had never seen before.

This look was cold and pungent, and it was like a whip thrown on Zhang Shouzhong's face in an instant.

His movements froze there.

Chen Yicong approached slowly, and personally picked up the imperial pen that inscribed the year name. He didn't say anything, but turned around and returned to the table, and wrote two words with the pen——

Shengming.

Sun Beiji stared at these two words.

Just like Jianxi and Qitai, this is also a good wish.

(End of this chapter)