Jiuxi

Chapter 769 [Abdication]

The word "unwilling" was like a bolt from the blue, exploding in everyone's heart.

What shocked them was not the grief and indignation contained in the Fourth Prince's words, but the fact that this sentence was tantamount to admitting that the troops that were about to surround the hunting ground were related to the Fourth Prince.

The question is how dare he reveal his cards on this occasion?

Not to mention anything else, the surrounding Heza warriors could capture the Fourth Prince in an instant. Does he still imagine that the Emperor can pretend nothing happened?
Shangshu Ling Zhao Siwen immediately said in a stern voice: "How dare your Fourth Prince do such a treasonous act! Why don't you quickly order the troops to retreat and kowtow to His Majesty to apologize!"

The other civil officials stepped forward one after another, and for a while, the crowd was indignant and their words were as sharp as knives.

However, the Fourth Prince still stood upright, like a rock standing in the storm.

Faced with the questioning of many important officials over there, he responded with silence, with a slight hint of sarcasm on the corner of his mouth.

Perhaps because he could capture him at any time, Emperor Jing did not order the Hezha warriors to take action. He just looked at the Fourth Prince and asked, "Tell me, why do you do this?"

"Why?"

The fourth prince looked up at the sky and said slowly, "From the day I can remember, father has been a mountain that I can only look up to. I have never had any disrespect for him. Just now, father reprimanded my second brother, mocking him for not having the courage to compete for the throne in an upright manner. But father, have you ever thought that you have never given us such an opportunity?"

"Many years ago, our father had already set the path for our lives. Your Highness is good at forbearance and is very cunning. You felt that he was qualified to inherit the throne, so you made him the crown prince early on. As for us princes, of course we have to be good subordinates to Your Highness and honestly protect the status of the royal family."

"You don't care what we think, and you don't allow us to have our own ideas. We are just puppets in your hands, that's all."

At this point, the Fourth Prince had a mocking look on his face, which then turned into self-mockery.

"Fourth brother, I have never thought of it this way!"

The first person to speak out in rebuttal was the eighth prince Ahudai, and the youthful spirit was undoubtedly demonstrated.

"you?"

The fourth prince turned his head and sneered, "Old Eight, forget it. Those tricks of yours are the ones I used to play. Do you really think that father can't see through you? Father just sees that you are young and doesn't want you to suffer too much. Just now Sagai said that you are upright, do you think others really see you that way? Among all the court officials present today, who is not a shrewd person? Who can be fooled by your little tricks?"

Emperor Jing did not interrupt his taunting, and the Eighth Prince's face naturally turned red when he heard this, and he said angrily: "Fourth brother, I don't understand what you are talking about at all!"

The fourth prince shook his head and smiled, as if he was too lazy to pay attention to him. He turned to Emperor Jing and said, "Father, I am your son, but I am also a living person. I have my ideals and ambitions. Since you are unwilling to give them to me, I can only take them myself."

These words caused many ministers' expressions to change drastically.

They looked at the young prince who suddenly became so strange, and felt a chill in their hearts.

This guy is probably crazy.

He didn't even bother to put on a show and made his ambitions known to the public without any scruples. What did he want to do next?
Wait for the outer troops to deal with the thousands of imperial guards guarding the hunting grounds, then kill the king and his brother, and then kill all those who oppose him?
But where does he get the confidence from?

Emperor Jing was silent for a moment, then said indifferently, "Very good. Until this moment, you finally have some heroic spirit. If you dare to do something, you must dare to take responsibility. This is what makes me like my son."

The fourth prince replied respectfully, "Thank you, father, for your praise."

Words cannot describe the feelings of some ministers and nobles at this moment. They looked at the emperor and his subject, and the father and son, who seemed to have no anger at all, and felt that the scene before them was indescribably weird.

"You just said that you were unwilling to give up, so you took this path."

Emperor Jing took two steps forward, looking at the young and stern face of the Fourth Prince, and said slowly: "Have you ever thought about why I have not appointed you as the Crown Prince? You pretended to be so aggrieved in public today, in front of the civil and military officials. Why didn't you dare to tell them how you planned and spent several years to weave a conspiracy to kill your own brother who was born of the same mother, and then framed Wu Yan for the crime."

The fourth prince's throat trembled twice, and a mad look gradually emerged in his eyes. He sneered and said, "So what?"

In the previous wave of condemnation of the Fourth Prince, the five big leaders of the Jinglian clan who held military power maintained a strange silence. On the surface, it seemed that they did not want to directly interfere in the affairs of the Royal Family, but in fact, some of them were just too shocked.

For example, Sagai.

Now he finally reacted and said angrily: "Fourth Prince, you are crazy!"

The fourth prince glanced at him and said calmly, "Sagai, take back what you said. In the future, I will let you continue to be the Marshal of the North Court, instead of a yes-man in the Metropolitan Court."

"fart!"

Sagai said without hesitation: "I am only loyal to Your Majesty!"

The fourth prince smiled slightly and said no more.

At this time, Emperor Jing turned around and sat back, raised his hand to pick up the wine cup, and said calmly: "It seems that you are determined to win today." The fourth prince slowly raised his right arm.

The four followers behind him walked up to him and faced the Heza warriors on both sides of the emperor.

At the same time, nearly a hundred sturdy and capable men holding long swords appeared around the platform, surrounding the emperor, civil and military officials, and honest nobles.

These people are undoubtedly true masters.

Everyone's faces changed color. How could they not react now? It was obvious that the Fourth Prince had already prepared for action. He had his subordinates hide in the vast hunting ground in advance, and then he attracted everyone's attention here, and then let his loyal subordinates suddenly rush out.

Today is the Tianqing Festival. Except for the hundreds of Heza warriors who are dedicated to protecting the emperor, everyone else, whether they are civil officials or nobles, only brings a few followers. Therefore, at this special time, the number of people hidden by the Fourth Prince seems to be huge.

But can they deal with those Heza warriors?

Not to mention that thousands of imperial guards were just outside the hunting grounds. Even if they were no match for those soldiers, they could always turn back to protect the emperor.

Sagai couldn't hold back any longer at this moment, he stepped out from the table and faced the Fourth Prince, saying coldly: "Fourth Prince, do you think you can accomplish anything by relying on these rubbish? Don't dream! If you have the guts, let them -"

Although he was not as famous as Qing Yugong, who was the best martial artist in Dajing, he had also been practicing martial arts diligently since childhood and thought he could handle the people in front of him without any problem. However, he stopped talking halfway, with a look of panic on his face.

Seeing this, the Fourth Prince smiled and said, "Why don't you continue talking? Did you find that your inner energy is like nothingness?"

Sagai was shocked and confused. It was just as the other party said. At this moment, he was unable to mobilize his internal energy at all, not even a little bit, as if he had never practiced martial arts before.

On the throne, Emperor Jing said quietly, "So this is your method. Sagai, I know you are loyal and commendable, please step down."

Sagai struggled for a moment, but finally stepped aside.

Now that his internal strength was gone, he was just an ordinary middle-aged man. How could he withstand those cold steel knives on the opposite side?

At the same time, the Fourth Prince waved his hand, and more than a dozen sharp warriors came forward with knives and put the blades on the necks of the princes. Only the Third Prince Wuyan and the Second Prince Nagu who were beside the Emperor were spared.

Naturally, the princes were unwilling to surrender, but at this moment they were no longer as brave as they were during previous hunting trips. Without the support of their internal strength, they were simply unable to resist these fierce warriors.

The Fourth Prince did not look at his brothers' struggles. He brushed off the dust on his clothes and said calmly, "Good Lord, please know that there is a colorless and tasteless poison in this world called Gouchen. This poison has no effect on ordinary people, but it is an extremely deadly poison for martial artists because it will block a person's meridians and make it impossible to use their martial arts. Once you are poisoned by this poison, it will take at least two or three days to eliminate it."

Not to mention two or three days, he only needs half a day to settle the overall situation.

Those Heza warriors had also drunk the birthday wine bestowed by the emperor, as did the emperor, Qing Yugong, Sagai and others. This meant that the Fourth Prince currently had an absolute advantage, and the nearly one hundred masters under his command were enough to control the situation here.

As long as he holds the lives and deaths of so many people, what can it do even if the emperor's personal troops outside give up resistance and return?
At this moment, a panicked voice suddenly rang out in the field: "Hook sinking?!"

The fourth prince looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was the Minister of Chancellery Zhao Siwen. He nodded and smiled and said, "That's right. It seems that Lord Zhao also knows the origin of this poison?"

Zhao Siwen looked at the still calm emperor with a bitter face, then turned his gaze to Qing Yugong and Qing Yu Huaijin on the opposite side, and said with difficulty: "Prince, Princess, you should be familiar with this hook poison, right?"

When these words were spoken, all the officials looked at them sideways.

The meaning of this sentence was too obvious. Zhao Siwen directly pointed out that Qing Yu and the Fourth Prince were colluding with each other to jointly plan this rebellion.

Qing Yu Huaijin's eyes were cold, but she said nothing at this moment. Instead, Qing Yugong nodded and said, "Yes, Huaijin used this poison when dealing with those green forest bandits in the south. There is still some in the mansion."

The atmosphere in the field suddenly became frozen.

Those ministers who were loyal to the emperor were all disheartened and looked dejected.

The fourth prince smiled slightly. He knew that Qing Yugong was a smart man and would not continue to be blindly loyal at this time.

After a brief silence, Emperor Jing seemed to have no interest in Qing Yugong's answer. He looked at the Fourth Prince and said, "For you, killing people won't solve the problem. Even if you succeed today, as long as the crime of regicide remains, you will not be able to sit firmly on the throne."

"Father has misunderstood."

The fourth prince bowed his head and said, "I have never thought of hurting you. How could I do something that goes against filial piety?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man slowly stood up. He was Jiagu Yong, the leader of the Jiagu clan, one of the five big names of the Jinglian clan.

He bowed to Emperor Jing and said slowly but firmly: "I beg Your Majesty to abdicate and become the Supreme Emperor, and pass the throne to His Majesty the Fourth Prince, Arihehaige!"

The wind was howling and the place was dead silent.

(End of this chapter)