Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 817 Take action
Duke Wei looked at the map in front of him. Although no battle reports had come back from the northwest, he was not too worried, because a trap had been set for the He family army. As long as the He family army came out of the camp, they would be doomed.

Any official or general who encountered them would be arrested.

He estimated that within ten days, the troops from the Northwest would be able to march south and join them.

“It’s a pity,” said Duke Wei Guo. “After the incident in Daming Prefecture, the court replaced some officials in the north, so that there are not many troops in Hedong Road and Hebei East Road to respond.”

Every piece on their chessboard is important, and now that Wang Yan and his team have captured several, they will inevitably have to put in more effort.

Lacking troops, they had no choice but to take the western route through Hebei and head directly to Huazhou.

The risk is that if we are caught in a pincer movement from Hedong Road and Hebei East Road, it will be very troublesome.

The steward beside the Duke of Wei whispered, "Our men were gathered in Binzhou a month ago. Even if the court is prepared, we still have reinforcements at our disposal."

Duke Wei nodded. There was no time to make any other arrangements now, but he believed that as long as they used their pieces well, they could get the result they wanted.

……

Bianjing City.

Before the angels sent by the Empress Dowager could even return from the Northwest with news, the officials had already sensed danger.

The memorials were presented to the Empress Dowager by the officials on duty as usual, and the handling of government affairs went relatively smoothly.

But as time went on, some news began to circulate from the palace.

For two consecutive nights, the Imperial Physicians went to the Funing Palace in the middle of the night, and the dosage of medicine prescribed by the imperial physicians gradually increased, which could only mean that the Emperor's condition had not improved.

The emperor had not summoned his officials to his bedside for a long time, and the activity emanating from him was becoming increasingly scarce. Officials who had initially believed the emperor would recover were beginning to worry.

In light of this situation, some officials began to submit memorials requesting the establishment of an heir. The Ministry of Rites also presented the Empress Dowager with the formalities and procedures for the adoption of a son by the emperor, emphasizing that no matter who was chosen, the formalities must be strictly followed to avoid criticism from future generations.

The Empress Dowager did not approve these memorials, but chose to keep them in the archives without issuing a reply.

The last hope of the King of Qin was completely shattered. If he could have ascended the throne smoothly, who would have been willing to go through all this trouble?
The King of Qin opened the secret letters one by one. As more and more troops were being mobilized from the north, it would be impossible to keep it a secret in Bianjing. So, in the past few days, he had planted spies everywhere, and any slight movement would reach his ears.

As the King of Qin was pondering this, the steward led the Vice Minister of State Affairs into the room.

"What's wrong?" the King of Qin asked.

The Vice Minister of State said in a low voice, "News has come from the palace. The Empress Dowager has just summoned the Minister of Rites to the palace."

The King of Qin frowned deeply.

Why summon the Minister of Rites overnight when no replies were issued during the day?
The Vice Minister of State looked outside and asked, "Has the Prince of Huai returned to his residence?"

“No,” the King of Qin’s expression changed. “Could it be that the Empress Dowager and Wang Bingchen are planning to make that beast their heir?”

The Vice Chancellor nodded, which was exactly what he had been worried about: "The court officials are concerned about who the heir will be. As long as the result given by the palace is acceptable to them, most people will not cause any further trouble."

At this point, the Vice Minister of State Affairs paused: "Moreover, His Majesty has always favored the Prince of Huai, so it doesn't seem too abrupt to change the appointment of the Prince of Huai now."

"If Your Highness does not take action, it will be tantamount to acquiescing to this outcome, and then we may be left without a legitimate reason to act."

The King of Qin gritted his teeth: "Wang Bingchen must have noticed something, knowing that after dealing with the He family, we are going to target the Wang family." The Vice Minister of State Affairs said: "We mobilized troops and caused a rebellion in the northwest. Seeing that the situation is in our favor, the Empress Dowager and Wang Bingchen will not sit idly by and wait for their doom."

"Although the selection of an heir should be decided before the formalities are carried out, we can take advantage of the chaos of war, and so can the Empress Dowager and Wang Bingchen. They used the pretext of stabilizing the northwest frontier to expedite the process, issuing an edict to determine the candidate first, and then having the Ministry of Rites complete the necessary rites..."

In this way, it doesn't matter if the Emperor hasn't yet adopted the Prince of Huai as his godson.

The King of Qin could not suppress his rising anger. He had been trembling with fear and repeatedly yielding all these years in order to smoothly inherit the throne, but in the end, he changed course. He did not believe that anyone else would accept it peacefully.

The King of Qin's expression turned serious: "So, we can't wait any longer."

The Vice Minister of State nodded in agreement. The King of Qin preferred to wait until the army had besieged Bianjing before entering the palace to deal with the Empress Dowager and Wang Bingchen.

But the situation has changed...

The King of Qin's gaze sharpened: "Then let's make our move." Before, they had no one under their command, but after these days of arrangements, they had already gained control of a palace gate, and a small portion of the people in the palace were willing to work for them.

Moreover, He Tan's letters to the Wang family were all forged, so if things really got out of hand, he would have a way to keep the civil and military officials calm.

The Vice Minister of State said in a low voice, "Then I will make the arrangements."

The King of Qin nodded: "Everything must be done as I say."

……

in the palace.

The Prince of Huai stayed in the west wing of a side hall. A eunuch came forward to help the Prince of Huai change his armor, and the Prince of Huai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The court was unusually tense these days. He was doing his job and seemed to be not involved, but in fact, how could any step of the process be unrelated to him? Rather than standing there being speculated about and weighed by others, he actually wanted to be like He Tan and fight those people in a real battle.

After waiting in the house for a while and no one came, Prince Huai washed up and prepared to rest.

I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but Wang Yan has become much more distant from him lately. Even though they were never really close before, they had at least set up a scheme together. Wang Yan was able to successfully rescue Xie Yuyan, and wasn’t it thanks to his tip-off that he was able to do so?

Why did you bring him home and then abandon him? He's become much quieter around me, as if he's extremely dissatisfied.

Surely we can't still hold a grudge about him asking Xie Erniangzi to marry him, can we?
He would occasionally think... if Xie Yuyan could enter the palace, it would benefit both Daliang and him. But he only considered it in his mind and never said it out loud. How could Wang Yan possibly go into his mind to see?

The Prince of Huai closed his eyes, but before he could fall asleep, he heard a series of hurried footsteps. He immediately got up and looked towards the door.

The eunuch knocked on the door: "Your Highness."

The Prince of Huai responded and sent a eunuch in to report.

The eunuch appeared very flustered: "Your Highness, a servant from the Empress Dowager's side has sent word that the Empress Dowager has suddenly felt unwell and has already sent someone to fetch the imperial physician."

Prince Huai frowned. He had just met with the Empress Dowager. The Emperor was old, but in good spirits. How could he suddenly fall ill?
The Empress Dowager did not stay at Funing Palace today, but returned to Cining Palace to rest. Sending a message would take a long time, so Prince Huai decided not to wait any longer: "Come in and help me change my clothes. I need to go and pay my respects to the Empress Dowager."

The eunuch entered and helped Prince Huai put on his robes. He then called two palace servants to accompany him to Cining Palace. As they walked along the palace path, Prince Huai suddenly smelled a burning odor. He stopped and looked around. A moment later, he saw a cluster of flames appear in the darkness. The flames, exposed to the wind, immediately shot into the sky.

(End of this chapter)