When Cheng Yan was found, his hands and feet were tied with ropes and his mouth was stuffed with a handkerchief. However, he did not struggle or shout. Instead, he stayed where he was, as if he knew someone was coming to find him.

The next process went smoothly. Cheng Yan's account was detailed and complete, which was much better than King Wu's lies that were full of flaws. In fact, Cheng Yan didn't need to say anything. Just by looking at the mess in the palace - the blood-stained edicts, the sweat kerchief that strangled Emperor Jingfeng to death... King Zhao could guess what happened.

Li Rui wanted to tear him into pieces when he thought that the real murderer of the emperor's brother had been throwing dirty water on others and brazenly talking about "suppressing thieves" just a moment ago.

In grief and anger, he suddenly drew his sword from his side and faced Li Jinche: "You, a regicide and traitor who intends to usurp the throne, what else can you say!"

Li Jinche's face was as pale as a sheet, but he still couldn't help but defend himself: "This is all slander. Cheng Yan's words are unfounded... He was friends with Su Qi and Gu Yunji, which makes it clear that the three of them conspired to frame him. I……"

"Li Jinze is the traitor who murdered the emperor in the hunting ground. The suspicion on him has not been cleared yet, and what he said cannot be trusted. The emperor must not be deceived by him..."

"It seems that King Wu has stopped crying without seeing the coffin."

Cheng Yan sneered, then faced everyone and said sternly: "As early as half a month ago, His Majesty predicted that his condition was going to be bad, so he secretly wrote a will, ordering Prince Li Jinze to ascend the throne a hundred years later, and secretly handed it over to me for safekeeping. No other person knows about this except me and Your Majesty."

Li Rui looked serious: "Seriously?"

Cheng Yan said: "It's absolutely true. The edict is hidden in a secret compartment under the dragon chair in Huagai Hall. If His Highness King Zhao doesn't believe it, he can go and check it in person."

Li Rui immediately turned around and walked out: "Go to Huagai Hall!"

-

In the Huagai Hall, the officials who had been detained for several hours were in a depressed state of mind, and the atmosphere was quite depressing.

With his mother's life in someone's hands, Qian Xun didn't dare to act rashly, but he couldn't help but think wildly: Fang Zigui asked them to stay here until tomorrow morning, so what exactly is waiting for them tomorrow? Will he really let them go, or is it just an excuse to delay time and kill them all when the time comes?

He raised his head and looked at the closed palace door, feeling a sense of sadness in his heart - by the time the palace door opens again, the owner of the palace should have changed...

squeak-

Suddenly, the heavy palace door was slowly pushed open, and the bright sky suddenly made all the officials squint their eyes. Qian Xun's heart skipped a beat and he stood up reflexively, but the expression on his face became shocked when he saw the person clearly: "...His Royal Highness King Zhao? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? And Mr. Gu and Mr. Cheng... Why are you? ?”

Li Rui and others were stunned when they saw a hall full of officials locked up. However, he didn't care to talk now and walked straight through the officials to the dragon chair. According to Cheng Yan's story, he successfully found the hidden people. The secret decree.

Emperor Jingfeng made it clear in his edict that Prince Li Jinze had nothing to do with the tiger injuring people in the hunting ground. At the same time, he exempted all the officials in the East Palace from their guilt and all officials were reinstated. A hundred years later, Li Jinze will preside over the funeral ceremony and inherit the throne.

However, Emperor Jingfeng probably did not expect that King Wu would rebel, because he also made the best arrangements for his favorite son, including a fiefdom and a salary. The treatment was so generous that it was placed in the history of the Great Xia Dynasty. It is rare among all princes - it is a pity that Li Jinche does not deserve his love.

With tears in his eyes, Li Rui read the edict over and over again, his fingers trembling slightly: "It is undoubtedly the handwriting of the emperor brother..."

For a while, he took a deep breath to calm down, and then his eyes instantly turned cold: "Come here, capture the rebels Li Jinche and Qin Quan!"

When he remembered that he had forgotten to deal with Cheng Yan, Li Jinche knew that he was doomed, but he did not expect that Emperor Jingfeng would actually leave his edict early, which made his last ditch effort look like a joke.

His face was ashen, he showed no resistance to the swarming imperial army, and closed his eyes in despair.

The leader of the rebellion had been captured, but the ordinary Feiyu guards who were just following orders would not stubbornly resist. They surrendered obediently and were captured. The imperial army and the Beijing guards quickly began to clean up the battlefield and take over the entire palace. Within half an hour, control of the situation returned to the hands of Gu Yunji and others.

"It's finally over..." This half-day was too thrilling. Now that the dust has finally settled, Li Jinze couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

But Gu Yunji still didn't relax. He recognized the faces of the captured rebels one by one. He frowned: "Where is Fang Zigui?"

At this moment, Fang Zigui put on a eunuch uniform and was walking through the remote lanes of the palace. While avoiding the patrolling soldiers and running for his life, he kept cursing: "Li Jinche is really an idiot. If I had known better, I shouldn't have let him force me." The emperor signed the imperial edict, which was obviously beneficial to our situation, but he messed it up..."

"It was in vain that I worked so hard to assist him, but now I have failed. It's really abominable!" Fang Zigui's face was ferocious, and he really couldn't swallow this breath. "Fortunately, I have left a way out for myself in advance. As long as I get out of the palace smoothly, I can change my appearance." , the court can't even hope to find me." Seeing the exit within easy reach, Fang Zigui was in a hurry and didn't notice a ghostly figure appearing behind him. He raised a stone and hit him hard on the back of the head: "I want to Run? Dream!"

"what--"

Fang Zigui screamed, a sharp pain came from the back of his head, and his body suddenly collapsed. Dark red blood gurgled out from the back of his head, and his vitality quickly began to drain away.

He lay on the ground, looking at this young man with a strange face, and struggled to speak: "You, who... are you..."

"Don't you recognize me?" The young man smiled sarcastically, his eyes full of the joy of revenge, "Yes, so many years have passed, and for me, such a big thing as the sky is falling, is nothing to you. If you Fang Zigui recognizes me, That’s weird.”

"I would like to remind you - in the imperial examination in the eighth year of Jingfeng, in order to frame Gu Yunji, who was the editor of the Hanlin Academy at the time, you claimed that he colluded with fellow villagers to cheat and helped him to be admitted in the examination. In the end, they were both After being sent to prison and suffering a lot in there, do you still remember the name of the scholar who was innocently implicated by you?"

Fang Zigui stared at him with bulging eyes, blood gushing from his throat: "Bai...Bai...Xing..."

"Yes, Bai Xingjia, I am Bai Xingjia."

Bai Xingjia smiled, but his tone was a bit sad, with tears in his eyes: "I studied hard in Hanchuang for more than ten years, and finally passed the Xingban and Huiyuan exams, but you slandered me as an imperial examination fraud. He was deprived and beaten in prison until his feet became disabled, and there is no hope for the imperial examination in this life."

"Since then, I have been like a bereaved dog. I dare not go back to my hometown to see my parents, and I have no source of livelihood. I am homeless. If Master Cheng hadn't helped me at the critical moment and accepted me as a staff member, I'm afraid I would have starved to death by now. .”

"Fang Zigui, over the years, I have wanted revenge every day. I can't wait to eat your flesh and drink your blood!" Bai Xingjia said, the sadness in his eyes turned into overwhelming hatred, and he gritted his teeth and said, "You extremely You are a selfish person, you have done all kinds of bad things, and you have harmed the futures and lives of countless people."

"It's a pity that God has eyes and has given me the opportunity to take revenge personally. You owe me today. I will take it as revenge for myself and the other innocent people who were harmed by you."

After saying that, Bai Xingjia's face flashed with fierceness, he raised the stone high and hit Fang Zigui hard on the head.

-

From the time Emperor Jingfeng became seriously ill to Fang Zi's death, the court shock that lasted for most of the day ended quickly.

The rebel king Li Jinche committed suicide in prison that night. As the commander of the Feiyu Guards, Qin Quan had an unknown amount of blood on his hands. Before he could commit suicide in fear of guilt, he was tortured to death by his former enemies. When others found his body , he was covered with bruises and his death was horrific.

There was no doubt that Li Jinze became the next heir to the throne. After presiding over the funeral of Emperor Jingfeng, he temporarily assumed the power of supervising the country during the national mourning period. He carried out a large-scale purge of the rebels in the court, and the capital was flooded with blood.

Only Fang Shu, the former chief minister of the cabinet, said that Li Jinze had made great achievements in his old age and had dedicated most of his life to the court and had never participated in any rebellion. Therefore, he was not prosecuted and was simply sent back to his hometown, leaving him with a decent old age.

While eliminating the rebels, Li Jinze certainly did not forget those heroes who tried their best to protect himself.

Among all the officials in the East Palace, Gu Yunji saved him from danger several times, and he had the most merit and political achievements. Li Jinze ordered that he be made a bachelor of Huagaidian on the basis of his original position as Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he would be given the post of chief assistant of the cabinet. He would be promoted to the second rank of loyal and diligent waiter, and he could be passed down to his descendants and enjoy a salary for the rest of his life.

The contributions of Cheng Yan, Su Qi and others cannot be ignored. At this time, the situation in Beijing was not yet stable. Li Jinze did not dare to let Su Qi return to the frontier, so he transferred them to the positions of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Minister of the Ministry of War respectively, and successively entered the cabinet. At the same time, Qian Xun and others were appointed as cabinet ministers, and a new cabinet team was formed headed by Gu Yunji.

Since then, there has been a major reshuffle of forces in the DPRK and China, and the youngest cabinet in Daxia's history has been born. The whole court is full of vitality and prosperity.

Amidst the sound of firecrackers, the twelfth lunar month has passed and the new year has arrived in an instant. On the first day of the first lunar month, Li Jinze officially ascended the throne and changed his reign name to Yongsheng. A new era has arrived.

For Gu Yunji, who was young and powerful and became the chief minister of the cabinet at the age of only 29, his personal era had just begun.

(End of text)

(End of this chapter)

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like