Thief Emperor

Chapter 234 The last chance!

Several prime ministers bowed their heads respectfully and responded.

"If your majesty has no other instructions, I will go back to my work."

Cui Yuan and others accompanied Xiao Xin.

These prime ministers are all shrewd people. Naturally, they can see that the emperor is in a very bad mood at this time.

No one wanted to accompany the emperor at this time, and everyone wanted to escape quickly.

The emperor looked at the prime ministers, closed his eyes and thought for a long time, then said silently: "Stay for a while, I have something to tell you."

The prime ministers looked at each other again, but none of them dared to say anything, so they could only bow their heads and respond.

The emperor waved to the eunuch beside him, and the eunuch quickly helped him up. The emperor took out an embroidered handkerchief from his arms, coughed violently, and his face flushed visibly.

"You are all ministers of the imperial court. There are some things you should know."

The emperor was silent for a while, then continued, "Since the beginning of this year, my health has been poor. It is only because of the intense war in the Central Plains that I have been forcing myself to hold on and preside over government affairs."

At this point, the emperor closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then he calmed down and continued, "I only have one question for you all."

The emperor's eyes were sharp.

"Prince...is he worthy of his responsibilities?"

The words were not spoken loudly, but to the ears of the prime ministers, they were like thunder. Cui Yuan suddenly looked up at the emperor and stuttered when he spoke.

"Your Majesty, why do you say that..."

"What the prince has done in the past few years has deeply disappointed me."

The emperor's face was expressionless. He looked at the prime ministers coldly and said slowly, "I have selected all of you. Tell me what you think of the crown prince."

Cui Yuan simply lowered his head to express his opinion.

"Your Majesty, although the Crown Prince has made mistakes occasionally, it is because he is young after all, and his nature is still pure. I humbly ask Your Majesty to guide him well and not to shake the heart of the country at this time!"

Prime Minister Min Fang also knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the prince is virtuous. Your Majesty, if you teach him more, he will surely be able to take on great responsibilities!"

The other prime ministers also knelt down and expressed their opinions.

No matter what they are thinking at this moment, and no matter what their respective political stances are, when the country is in danger, the crown prince must not be moved.

Moreover, in the eyes of these prime ministers, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did nothing wrong. The mistakes the Crown Prince made in the past two years were largely to take the blame for His Majesty the Emperor.

His Majesty the Emperor looked at the prime ministers kneeling before him. After a moment of silence, he sighed and said, "I... don't have time to change the country's foundation. Forget it, I'll just do as you wish."

"The imperial physician said that I can no longer over-exert myself. Since the situation in the Central Plains has improved, from today on, I will allow the crown prince to resume..."

"The Crown Prince will be in charge of the administration of state affairs. All military and national affairs will be decided by the Crown Prince and the Prime Ministers after consultation."

"Don't ask me anymore."

Having said that, the emperor let out a long sigh.

"I am already tired."

After that, he waved his sleeves and said, "You all leave now. The imperial edict will be issued tomorrow."

After saying this, the emperor couldn't help but cough violently a few times.

Several prime ministers looked at each other in bewilderment. After a moment, they knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself. We hope that after your Majesty recovers, you will continue to nurture your millions of people."

"Just go."

The emperor's voice was already somewhat weak.

"Both go."

"Yes."

Several prime ministers got up from the ground and left Chongde Hall. When they reached the entrance of the hall, they all looked at Cui Yuan and asked, "Prime Minister Cui, should we go to the East Palace and invite the crown prince to the government hall?"

Cui Yuan frowned, thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "His Majesty has already said that the imperial edict will not be issued until tomorrow. If we can't wait to go to the East Palace today, wouldn't that be leaking the emperor's intention in advance?"

"No one is allowed to go. No one is allowed to go."

Cui Yuan said in a deep voice: "Let's go back to the government hall, focus on state affairs, and wait for the imperial edict from His Majesty."

Several prime ministers praised it one after another and returned to the government hall hand in hand.

Less than half an hour later, four notes handed to him by different people appeared in the hands of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. After reading them, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince showed uncontrollable ecstasy on his face.

At this time, the emperor's statement meant that his succession to the throne was a foregone conclusion.

And...it also shows that my father's body can't hold on for too long, otherwise, with my father's personality, there is no way he would give up power to this extent!
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was pacing back and forth in the East Palace. He thought about it for a long time, but finally he couldn't help it and sent someone out to deliver a message.

At dusk that day, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince quietly left the East Palace, and after leaving the palace, he quietly came to the back door of the Pei Mansion, and was soon invited in by the Pei family. An old man from the Pei family bowed to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and said, "Greetings, Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Crown Prince Wu Yuancheng quickly helped the old man up and shook his head, saying, "Father-in-law, there is no need to be so polite."

Addressed in this way, this person could naturally be no other than Pei Huang's father, the father-in-law of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and the current Minister of Heaven, Pei Qi!
The father-in-law and son-in-law came all the way to the study room in the deepest part of the Pei family. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sat in the main seat and told his father-in-law what happened during the day. Then he said in a deep voice: "Father-in-law, Father..."

"There is a thought of abolishing the reserve."

Pei Qi nodded gently, hummed, then lowered his head slightly and said: "But no matter what, His Majesty still has to pass the throne to Your Highness."

"That's because my father is ill and the court is in this state."

The prince lowered his head slightly and said slowly: "Father is now concentrating on recuperating. If he recovers..."

"The conversation in Chongde Hall today seemed covert, but several prime ministers heard it, and so many palace servants heard it. It won't be long before my brothers will also hear it."

"They will be so happy that they can't sleep."

Pei Qi looked up at the prince and murmured, "Your Highness, what do you mean..."

Wu Yuancheng took a deep breath and said, "Father-in-law, my father's illness can no longer be cured."

"Otherwise, not only me, but also the Pei family and a large group of people from the Eastern Palace will..."

Pei Qi's face turned pale, and he whispered, "Your Highness, this..."

The prince lowered his voice and said, "Don't be afraid, father-in-law."

"It's not certain that Father will recover. If Father is seriously ill, we don't need to do anything."

"We need to take advantage of this period of time to do some big things and show them to the world."

"If we can accomplish a few great things, then we won't have to do anything for Father, except as a last resort..."

Pei Qi took a deep breath, and after a long while, he whispered, "Your Highness, we need to discuss this matter in detail."

"Ah."

The prince said silently: "We have to think of a way to transfer Sanlang back from Qiantang as soon as possible."

Minister Pei stretched out his hand to serve tea to the prince, his hands shaking uncontrollably.

Even for a great minister like him who came from an aristocratic family...

Also too big.

It was so big that it frightened him.

On this day, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stayed at the Pei family for a long time and did not leave until very late.

The next day, the prince knelt in the East Palace to receive the imperial edict, and was ordered to supervise state affairs.

After receiving the imperial edict, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not go directly to the Government Affairs Hall to do his job, but went to the Chongde Hall first to ask for an audience with the Emperor in order to visit his sick father. After being refused an audience by the Emperor, he knelt on the ground for half a day and only went to the Government Affairs Hall to do his job in the afternoon.

After the prince arrived at the Council of State, he immediately began to discuss the matter of suppressing the rebellion of Wang Jun of the Central Plains. That afternoon, an imperial edict was issued by the Council of State, ordering Su Jing's troops to march into Henan Prefecture and cooperate with the Shuofang Army to wipe out the rebels as soon as possible.

…………

On the other side, Li Yun surrounded Wuzhou City for five or six days.

During these five or six days, Zhao Cheng tried to break out several times, but was blocked by the Jiangdong coalition forces every time.

Li Yun also tried to attack several times, but was also blocked by the rebels in the city.

In order to avoid casualties as much as possible, Li Yun did not forcefully attack Wuzhou City, and the two sides remained in a stalemate.

However, it is worth mentioning that in the past few days, the food of the Jiangdong coalition army has been taken over by the Yuezhou army. Everyone has eaten better and the atmosphere in the army has improved a lot. Although not to say that the fighting spirit is high, but at least there is vitality, and it is no longer as lifeless as before.

On this day, Li Yun personally led the team and conducted another trial siege. After the ladder was placed on the top of the city wall, Li Yun threw a stack of papers full of words on the top of the city wall, then led his subordinates to retreat again, ending this attack.

These papers were soon delivered to Zhao Cheng.

At this time, Zhao Cheng was studying the breakout route and the subsequent destination, but until this time, he was still a little hesitant.

Because according to his deduction, it would not be difficult for his one or two thousand men to break out from one direction under the cover of night, but after breaking out, he was afraid that only less than five hundred of the more than one thousand people would be left.

The price was too heavy for him to decide.

Just at this moment, he saw the documents that Li Yun sent to the city.

This is a letter of surrender.

The content is not long, but the last paragraph has a few words written very clearly.

Only the main culprit will be executed, and the rest will not be killed!

(End of this chapter)