Thief Emperor

Chapter 198 The Desperate Prince

His Majesty the Emperor was very angry.

I have been in charge of government affairs for so many years, and the country has been safe and sound. I have finally reached the age of destiny, and have just given up power for a few years. I want to take a break and train the crown prince, but you have messed up the country like this? !
It is human nature to pass on the blame.

Everyone, when encountering something, will naturally defend themselves in their mind, and most of the time, they can find reasons.

Regardless of whether these reasons are tenable or not, the brain will hypnotize itself over and over again, making itself believe them and thus freeing itself from these responsibilities.

If someone had exposed these flimsy excuses back then, the parties involved would most likely have been furious and extremely angry.

This is the case with the emperor today.

When he was young, he was an above-average emperor, but after middle age, he began to indulge in pleasure. Now in his old age, he is not only addicted to pleasure, but also indulges in pleasure while neglecting his duties.

As an emperor, if he just wants to enjoy life, that would be fine. However, expanding the royal family is also one of the emperor's duties, and it is one of the more important duties.

However, while the emperor was neglecting his duties, he still held on to the supreme power in his hands and blamed all the bad things in the world on others. This was somewhat inhumane.

This time, the five prime ministers of the Council of State, together with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, were called to the Chongde Hall. Faced with the rage of the Emperor, the six of them could only kneel on the ground trembling with fear and kowtow to plead guilty.

No way.

Although everyone knows that the emperor must be more responsible in this matter, there is no point in reasoning with the emperor. Once the emperor gets angry, you can only kneel down and admit your mistake.

"I trust you so much!"

His Majesty the Emperor slammed the table, looked at the prince kneeling in the front, and said loudly: "I trust you so much!"

"It's only been a few years since I handed over the government to you, and it's already in such a mess. There's a traitor in the Central Plains, and I thought you could handle it, but now, the traitor has invaded the Eastern Capital!"

"What is Dongdu? It's the secondary capital of the Great Zhou!"

The emperor slammed the table in anger, gritting his teeth and saying, "If I don't take care of things, will the rebels attack the capital next time?"

The six people were trembling with fear and did not dare to look up and speak.

"Yuan Cheng, you speak!"

The emperor looked at the prince and said coldly, "What's going on? Do you know that the situation in the Central Plains has become so bad?"

Wu Yuancheng is the name of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Ever since Wu Yuancheng was appointed Crown Prince, His Majesty the Emperor has not called him by his name in front of outsiders for a long time. Most of the time, he calls him Crown Prince.

Now, His Majesty the Emperor has called him by his name, and it is obvious that he is very angry.

Crown Prince Wu Yuancheng knelt on the ground and bowed his head, saying, "Father, there are many rebels, and they have been wreaking havoc in the Central Plains for more than half a year. The court is actively mobilizing manpower to encircle and suppress the rebels."

"Most of the states and counties that the rebels passed through have been restored. Now..."

The prince swallowed his saliva and whispered, "Now, Su Jing's troops have arrived in Songzhou and are very close to Henan Prefecture... General Su... General Su said that they will definitely be able to fight the rebels."

The prince's voice trembled when he said this, and he continued stutteringly: "The local armies in various places have also issued imperial edicts. In the past few days, they are preparing to send generals to... to mobilize those local armies to encircle and suppress the rebels together..."

Having said this, he turned pale and could not continue.

There is no way, the psychological pressure is just too great.

Anyone could see that with such a big problem in the court, the elderly emperor did not want to take the blame. Apart from the emperor himself, the only one who could take the blame was the crown prince.

None of the prime ministers in the Council of State are capable of doing this.

To put it bluntly, those prime ministers all worked for the Great Zhou. At most they were dismissed from their posts, but you can't kill all five prime ministers of the Council of State because of this incident, right?

The only one who can take the blame is the prince.

In order to demonstrate his majesty and shirk responsibility, the emperor will certainly severely punish the prince. It is hard to say whether Wu Yuancheng can keep his position as crown prince.

Prime Minister Wang Du finally couldn't stand it anymore and kowtowed, saying, "Your Majesty, there has been a severe drought in the Central Plains for two years, but the court has not provided any decent disaster relief, and there are villains like Wang Junping with ulterior motives, which has provoked the people to revolt."

"It has nothing to do with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Now, the rebels are so powerful that the local armies are in disarray. I think we should immediately mobilize the imperial army or the military governors of the border army to suppress the rebellion as soon as possible."

The emperor glanced at Wang Du coldly and said in a cold voice: "You mean, I don't allow you to provide disaster relief in the Central Plains? When there is a drought, the court should provide relief. I have been in power for so many years. When have I ever ignored any disaster in various places?"

"In the past few years, you have been in charge of the government affairs. You failed to provide relief, and you still want to blame me?" Wang Du bowed his head deeply. He said, "Your Majesty, this old minister does not mean that. What I mean is that now is not the time to pursue responsibility. The rebels are concentrated in Henan Prefecture. While they are still unstable, we should mobilize troops as soon as possible..."

"All right."

The emperor's face darkened as he interrupted him, saying in a muffled voice, "Don't say any more, Wang Du. Considering that you have served me for many years, I will not let anyone put you in jail. Go home and wait for the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to judge your crime!"

Hearing this, if it were an ordinary court official, he would probably have been scared out of his wits, but the prime minister Wang Du did not show any panic. He knelt on the ground, raised his head to look at the emperor, then looked at the prince, then bowed his head deeply and kowtowed: "This old minister will take his leave."

After bowing, the prime minister stood up and left Chongde Hall silently.

The prince, kneeling on the ground, couldn't help but turn his head to look at Wang Du, feeling moved.

In the past two years, when he went to the Council of State to handle government affairs, the one who opposed him the most was Prime Minister Wang. Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is in a difficult situation, among the prime ministers in the Council of State, only Wang Du is the first to stand up and speak for him.

After Wang Du left, the Emperor looked at the five people in Chongde Hall with a gloomy look, and said slowly: "The incident has already happened, and we have to deal with it. I have ordered the general of the Imperial Guard, Wu Zhong, to come to the palace and divide 30,000 soldiers from the Imperial Guard. Wu Zhong will lead them, together with Su Jing, to attack the rebels from the east and west."

"As for the border troops..."

His Majesty the Emperor took a deep breath and said slowly, "If you can do nothing, I mean, for the time being, don't do anything. However, the Political Affairs Hall can send a letter to the governor of Shuofang in the name of the Political Affairs Hall, asking Shuofang to be ready to send troops from the north to the south to wipe out the rebels in Henan Prefecture."

After saying this, the emperor slammed the table angrily, his voice sounding extremely impatient.

"Do you have any opinions? Speak up, speak up!"

The remaining four prime ministers and Crown Prince Wu Yuancheng were so frightened that they once again knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

After the kowtow, Prime Minister Cui Yuan said respectfully: "Your Majesty is wise. Your Majesty's arrangement will ensure that the rebels can be wiped out and the Central Plains will be peaceful."

Cui Yuan expressed his opinion, and the other prime ministers also hurriedly lowered their heads.

"Your Majesty is holy."

"Father, you are wise..."

The emperor took one last look at the prince and said in a deep voice, "Prince, please return to the East Palace. I will fine you three years' salary. From now on, you are not allowed to participate in government affairs without my order!"

At this point, he paused and added, "Without my order, you are not allowed to leave the palace at will!"

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was so frightened that he trembled, but he could only kneel on the ground and kowtow, saying, "Your son...your son obeys your command."

He kowtowed and shed tears, saying: "No matter how many mistakes I made, they are all my fault. I beg you, father, to take care of your health and not let this matter make you sick."

"Otherwise, I will never be able to redeem myself..."

Seeing him crying so sadly, the Emperor felt sympathy at first, but then he became annoyed and said impatiently: "Cry, cry, cry, all you do is cry!"

After saying this, His Majesty the Emperor turned away.

After His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stood up, he left Chongde Hall in a daze and walked all the way back to the East Palace. However, on the way back, the eyes of the Crown Prince of the Great Zhou were filled with despair.

Several prime ministers watched the emperor and the crown prince leave one after another. Prime Minister Cui Yuan, standing in the Chongde Hall, also sighed silently.

"Everyone, don't be lazy. You need to send a letter to each state and county, asking them to prepare the corresponding money and food before the New Year to supply the imperial army to suppress the rebellion."

"If there is any more trouble, we, the current political affairs hall, will all pack up and go home to await punishment."

Upon hearing this, the other three prime ministers did not dare to neglect and followed Cui Yuan back to the Council Hall to do their work.

Compared with the chaos at the imperial court, Li Yun, the Sima of Yuezhou, who was thousands of miles away, was getting more and more prosperous. As the development of Yuezhou gradually got on the right track, he became more and more adept at handling government affairs.

On this day, after arranging the matters of spring ploughing next year in advance, Li Yun flipped through the documents at hand, looked at Liu Bo beside him, and asked, "What day is today?"

Liu Bo thought for a moment and replied, "It's the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month."

Li Yun said "Oh", stood up and stretched, then said with a smile: "It's time for me to go out and exercise."

As he spoke, he muttered something under his breath.

"I wonder when the new governor will arrive in Yuezhou."

"I'm already looking forward to his arrival..."

(End of this chapter)