The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 553 Qingjun’s Side

In the Wenhua Hall, Crown Prince Xu Wenhong was summoning civil and military officials to hold a morning court as usual. He sat on a seat at the lower right side of the throne and listened to the reports from the officials.

It has been nearly a month since Emperor Qiansheng personally led the expedition on May 20th, so Xu Wenhong has become more and more skilled. Seeing that things have been handled, he said, "If you have nothing else to report, please adjourn the court."

The ministers were about to leave when a voice like a bell suddenly shouted from outside the palace: "I have a report to make."

Xu Wenhong and other ministers were all startled and looked towards the palace entrance at the same time. They saw a minister wearing a scarlet robe and a Liang crown on his head striding in. This man had gray hair and beard and a line of wrinkles between his eyebrows, which made him look very serious. It was none other than the former Minister of War who had been dismissed from office - Wang Ziteng.

Jia Zheng was standing right at the entrance to the palace. He was stunned to see Wang Ziteng passing by with an ivory tablet in his hand and his eyes straight ahead. He didn't understand what had happened to his brother-in-law. Wait, how did the layers of palace guards outside let him in?
Wang Ziteng has been dismissed from his post. Logically, he is not allowed to come to court without an imperial edict. Without a palace badge, the palace guards will not let him in!

At this time, not only Jia Zheng, but even the ministers were all shocked, especially those from the Donglin faction. Their faces changed one by one, because Wang Ziteng was the left-hand man of the retired emperor and was defeated by the Donglin faction.

Wang Ziteng had a stern face and did not look away. He walked to the emperor with dignity, and did not kneel down. He just bowed and said, "Your Highness Wang Ziteng has a memorial to make."

Xu Wenhong's expression changed constantly, and he frowned and shouted, "Wang Ziteng, you have been dismissed from your post. Why are you here instead of reflecting on your mistakes at home? Who asked you to come? Who allowed you to come in?"

"It's me!" An old and powerful voice suddenly sounded, and a group of people appeared from behind the hall. The leader had a head full of white hair, but he looked intimidating without being angry, and there was a terrifying aura in his every move.

Xu Wenhong was so frightened that he jumped up from his seat, and his face turned pale instantly. It turned out that the person who walked out from the back of the hall was none other than the retired Emperor Kangping.

At this moment, Emperor Kangping walked like a dragon and a tiger, without any sign of a stroke. It turned out that he was pretending all along. Wow, if Jia Huan saw this at this moment, he would definitely sigh that this old man's acting skills were so amazing, it would be unreasonable for him not to win the Oscar.

At this time, besides Prince of Beijing Shui Rong, there were also Prince of Dongping Mu En, Prince of Xining Zhao Huang, and General Shenwu Feng Tang who walked out from the back of the palace with the retired emperor.

"Grandpa...Grandpa!" Prince Xu Wenhong said with a chuckle.

The retired emperor Kangping walked straight to the throne and sat down. He swept the whole place around with his sharp eyes, which made the whole place silent. It was truly the mighty old tiger that was still there.

Just when Emperor Kangping was very satisfied with the reaction of his ministers, there was a fearless person who jumped out from the ranks of civil officials and pointed at the throne and cursed: "How dare you! This is the throne of the Son of Heaven. Come down quickly."

This official was none other than Qi Qin, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. He was known for his integrity and outspokenness. After a brief moment of astonishment, he immediately jumped out to accuse Emperor Kangping.

Emperor Kang Ping sneered and asked, "I have sat on this throne for eighteen years. Can't I sit on it now?"

Qi Qin said calmly: "The Grand Emperor has abdicated and is no longer the Supreme Emperor. How can he sit on the throne at will? This is tantamount to treason."

Emperor Kangping's eyes flashed with coldness, and he suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, "I gave up the Jin Dynasty, why would I rebel? Come, drag out Qi Qin, this traitor who disrespects the emperor, and punish him with fifty strokes of the cane."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Ruolan, Chen Yejun and other East Palace guards rushed in, took Qi Qin out of the palace gate and started beating him. Old Qi was also very tough. Even though he was beaten to pieces, he still cursed. However, he fainted from the pain after only thirty strokes.

However, without the order from the retired emperor, the palace guards did not dare to stop. They poured cold water on the man to wake him up and continued beating him. After fifty beatings, Qi Qin was already dead. All the ministers in the palace were silent.

Crown Prince Xu Wenhong was also trembling slightly. Wei Ruolan and Chen Yejun were all guards of the Eastern Palace, but they obeyed the emperor's orders and were obviously his men. It was over. With the addition of General Feng Tang and Prince Beijing also appearing with the emperor, I'm afraid the entire palace would be controlled by the emperor.

Emperor Kangping glanced at him with his tiger eyes and said calmly, "Wang Ziteng, what do you want to report?"

Wang Ziteng said in a loud voice: "The Hanlin scholar Zhao Mingcheng and Donglin Academy Gu Xiancheng, headed by the treacherous Donglin, deceived the emperor, formed a clique for personal gain, controlled the government, excluded dissidents, framed and persecuted loyal officials, for example, Rong and Ning, and Baoling Shijia were all confiscated and stripped of their titles, and are still imprisoned. How many loyal officials and generals have been persecuted.

Prince Yi Zhong was law-abiding, loyal to the country, and philanthropic, yet he was framed by the Donglin Party and suffered a tragic fate of having his entire family executed and being removed from the royal family.

In order to fight for power and profit, the Donglin Party members even encouraged the emperor to lead the army in person, putting the emperor in a dangerous place, and putting our Jin Dynasty in a precarious situation. This is truly a critical moment for survival. I beg the emperor to come back and take charge of the overall situation, save the country from collapse, save the people from danger, punish the treacherous ministers, and clear the emperor's side. "At this time, the Prince of Beijing, the Prince of Dongping, the Prince of Xining, and the Shenwu General Feng Tang also immediately knelt down and shouted with emotion: "I beg the emperor to come back and take charge of the overall situation, punish the treacherous ministers, and clear the emperor's side. "

Nearly half of the military officers in the palace were from the old military honor group. They were all implicated in the recent salt permit reselling case to varying degrees. In the end, they all returned the stolen money and paid fines to protect themselves, and some even had their titles demoted.

So at this time, almost half of the military officers knelt down, and they all shouted loudly: "We sincerely ask the emperor to come back and preside over the overall situation, punish the corrupt officials, and clear the emperor's side."

The civil servants looked at each other in bewilderment, and only a few of them knelt down. Even Jia Zheng stood still, which seemed to show that he still had some backbone.

The mighty general Feng Tang waved his hand, and a team of murderous palace guards rushed in. Feng Tang took out a list and read aloud: "Minister of Revenue XX, Vice Minister of Revenue XX..."

As Feng Tang read out a name, the palace guards came forward to arrest one, and soon, all the officials of the Donglin faction present were arrested. The chief minister of the cabinet, Li Biao, was terrified. Although he was not from the Donglin faction, he was originally from the faction of the retired emperor. However, he changed his mind and defected to Emperor Qiansheng. Naturally, he was afraid that the retired emperor would investigate.

Emperor Kangping simply glanced at Li Biao coldly, and the latter immediately knelt on the ground in fear, kowtowed and said: "This old minister implores the emperor to return to preside over the overall situation, punish the corrupt officials, clear the entourage, and save the country of Jin."

As the cabinet chief Li Biao took the lead, one third of the civil servants knelt down immediately. Excluding the Donglin Party officials who had been arrested, there were only a dozen or so people left, including several newly-appointed Jinshi such as Liu Tongsheng and Liu Yi. Since Jia Huan had asked for leave and was not present, he escaped.

The emperor laughed loudly, but suddenly stopped laughing. He looked at Crown Prince Xu Wenhong with a stern gaze. The latter was so frightened that his legs went limp and he fell to his knees on the ground.

The Emperor said calmly, "The Crown Prince also feels that the Emperor has been deceived by treacherous people and needs me to step in to clear his side?"

Xu Wenhong felt like a thorn in his back under the sharp gaze of Emperor Kangping, and said with a stammer: "Grandson... Grandson has always believed that Zhao Mingcheng is a treacherous person who formed a clique for personal gain and controlled the government. Grandson has long wanted to get rid of this villain, but he is unable to do so. Now that Grandpa has stepped forward, it is naturally the best."

Emperor Kangping nodded and said, "Good grandson, Crown Prince, please stand up. Since you also agree to purge the emperor's entourage, for the sake of the country and the people of the Jin Dynasty, then I will take the responsibility. But I want to make one thing clear. I am not greedy for the throne to restore the monarchy. I just want to save the foundation of the Jin Dynasty. Therefore, the crown prince is still the crown prince. If the emperor wakes up, it will be the best. But if he persists, the throne will be inherited by the crown prince. The country and the Jin Dynasty must not be destroyed in the hands of a tyrant."

Xu Wenhong was surprised and delighted, and kowtowed quickly, saying, "Grandpa Emperor is wise!"

Emperor Kangping's eyes flashed, and he stroked his beard and said, "Prince, please call Prince Zhongshun here."

As mentioned in the previous article, Prince Zhongshun Xu Zaisong has always been a loyal supporter of Emperor Qiansheng. He is currently serving as the commander-in-chief of the Central Military Governor's Office, and is ordered to be in charge of the three armies staying in the capital and stationed outside the city.

Although Emperor Kangping has unexpectedly taken control of the imperial city with the help of the old noble group, the defense of the entire capital is still in the hands of Prince Zhongshun. Unfortunately, Prince Zhongshun went out of the city to inspect the camp today and did not come to the Wenhua Hall to attend the morning court, which caused some loopholes in Emperor Kangping's plan.

At this time, Emperor Kangping asked the Crown Prince to summon Prince Zhongshun to discuss matters, clearly intending to eliminate this biggest hidden danger in the name of the Crown Prince.

Crown Prince Xu Wenhong naturally understood Emperor Kangping's intention, but when you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. This powerful emperor is decisive and ruthless. If you don't agree, your life will be in danger.

Moreover, Xu Wenhong had a fantasy. After all, he was of royal blood. The emperor was already over 70 years old. Even if he succeeded in restoring the throne, how many years could he sit on the throne? In the end, he would have to give up the throne to himself.

So after a slight hesitation, he agreed and ordered to summon Prince Zhongshun. Prince Zhongshun was inspecting the military camp when he suddenly received an urgent summons from the prince. Thinking that there was a battle report from the front, he hurried back to the city. However, as soon as he entered the Donghua Gate, he was captured by the rebel soldiers who were on high alert.

Emperor Kangping still had some power left, and he unexpectedly controlled most of the civil and military officials in the court, so he controlled the entire city with almost no effort. He then began a bloody purge of forces loyal to Emperor Qiansheng, such as the Imperial Stables and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Jinyiwei commander Yi Hong luckily escaped the disaster because he accompanied the emperor to the battle.

In the prison of the Ministry of Justice, Jia She, Jia Zhen, Shi Ding, Shi Nai and other nobles who were stripped of their titles and detained were released, their titles were restored on the spot, and they were also given important positions, responsible for commanding troops to guard the gates.

At this moment, Jia She and Jia Zhen were very proud. They instantly transformed from prisoners into high-ranking military officers with military power. Their titles were also restored. They led their men to the Jia Mansion in triumph.

Hehe, take revenge when there is revenge, and complain when there is complaining, Huan Lao San, you are dead!
(End of this chapter)