I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 60 The Battle for the Throne Begins

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The prince died, the emperor was ill, and people from all walks of life were in panic.

The Zhao Song Dynasty seemed to have been blown away by the autumn wind overnight, with yellow leaves all over the ground, desolate and bleak.

At this time, a difficult problem lingered in everyone's mind.

If the emperor suddenly passed away, who would take charge of this precarious country and lead the Zhao Song Dynasty, which was plagued by internal and external troubles, to move forward?

Rumors were also spreading among the people, and people's minds were changing.

At the end of October, two cranes suddenly arrived at Prince Duan's mansion, which was regarded as a good omen.

Upon hearing the news, ministers in the court came forward to congratulate him.

Zhao Ji was very happy to see this.

Soon, Ganoderma lucidum suddenly grew in Prince Duan's bedroom.

Ministers came one after another to congratulate him.

Zhao Ji was even happier.

Seeing this, some of the wise men in Prince Duan's mansion shook their heads and said privately, "If General Manager Yang were still alive, he would definitely advise the prince to keep a low profile to avoid arousing His Majesty's suspicion."

Unfortunately, some time ago, Yang Zhen, the chief steward of Prince Duan’s Mansion, slipped and fell into the water while walking at night and died.

Today, the Prince Duan's Mansion is managed by the new chief steward Zhang Di and a group of flatterers including Gao Qiu. Not only did they fail to handle the auspicious event in a low-key manner, they also looked for people everywhere to tell fortunes for Zhao Ji to check whether he would be lucky or unlucky.

Later, a fortune teller named "Chen Yan" said that Zhao Ji was destined to become emperor.

Zhao Ji was very excited and rewarded Chen Yan handsomely.

At the same time, a rumor spread throughout Bianliang: Every evening, people from all around the city, looking toward Prince Shen's palace, would see a red light filling the sky, like a red bird soaring. This light persisted throughout the night until dawn. Only when villagers entered the city did they realize it wasn't fire. Knowledgeable people believed the red light was a sign of the Song Dynasty's fire virtue, much like the auspicious red crow that appeared when King Wu of Zhou ascended the throne.

A large number of officials also came to congratulate Zhao Ya.

However, Huang Jingchen and Liang Shicheng came forward on behalf of Zhao Ya, saying that the red light was shining on the imperial palace, not their own palace, and everyone was asked to go back. None of the gifts brought by the ministers would be accepted, and Zhao Ya did not even meet any of the ministers.

In fact, not only Zhao Ji and Zhao Ya’s families had auspicious births, but Zhao Si’s family also had the so-called auspicious births.

Many times, whether or not to be an emperor is not a question of whether you want to be one or not, but once there is an opportunity, even if you don’t want to, the people under you will push you to be one. Who doesn’t want to be a dragon’s follower?
In the palace.

Although Zhao Xu was ill, he was not dying.

Zhao Xu didn't think he was dying. He believed that he could still be saved. Perhaps by drinking some medicine or having acupuncture for a period of time, his condition would improve.

However, things are unpredictable, and Zhao Xu's condition showed no signs of improvement.

Finally, a minister could no longer bear it and made a suggestion to Zhao Xu, begging him to adopt a son to bring peace to the world.

This was like a sharp blade piercing Zhao Xu's already fragile heart.

Zhao Xu was very angry!
He is only twenty-four years old, in the prime of his life!
Moreover, he had just given birth to a son, so he was not infertile.

Zhao Xu felt that as long as he recovered from his illness, he would definitely be able to give birth to his own child, so why should he adopt someone else's son?

"I just have a minor illness, but some people can't stand it!!!"

Zhao Xu threw all the memorials requesting him to adopt the adopted son to the ground and became furious.

Queen Liu Qingjing was also very angry because someone hinted to her that she should either make friends with the prince or adopt a son, and she should make preparations early and not sit idly by.

But how could Liu Qingjing, who had just experienced the double blow of losing her son and daughter, listen to such words at this time?
As a result, all those who tried to persuade Liu Qingjing were punished by her in order to vent her anger.

Later, Liu Qingjing heard that auspicious signs appeared in Prince Duan's Mansion, Zhao Ji frequently entertained guests, and a fortune teller said that Zhao Ji was destined to become emperor.

The key point is that before, when Zhao Mao was alive, Zhao Ji often came to visit her, but recently he went to Cide Palace every day, and the relationship between Empress Dowager Xiang and Zhao Ji seemed to have been repaired.

Zhao Ya, who had previously been very close to Empress Dowager Xiang, had been keeping a low profile recently. Some people even refuted rumors of auspicious signs appearing in his family. Liu Qingjing reported all this information to Zhao Xu.

After hearing this, Zhao Xu squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Prince Duan!!!"

Zhao Xu's face was as gloomy as water, and his eyes flashed with complex light.

He slowly stood up, walked to the window, and stared at the late autumn scenery outside, feeling mixed emotions.

The cold wind blew through the window lattice and rolled up his wide sleeves, as if even the wind was lamenting his situation.

Liu Qingjing fanned the flames, saying, "The situation is complicated now. Each of the princes has his own agenda, especially Prince Duan. He's been making frequent moves lately, and he's also been mending fences with the Queen Mother. I'm afraid he has ulterior motives. How about teaching him a lesson?"

Zhao Xu thought for a moment and said, "Come here, pass on my order to seal off Fanlou and punish Chen Yan for spreading lies and misleading the people."

Liu Qingjing was puzzled. What did dealing with Zhao Ji have to do with sealing off Fanlou and capturing Chen Yan?
Zhao Xu said coldly:

"You have seduced the prince to visit a brothel, bringing shame to the imperial family of the Great Song Dynasty and causing foreign envoys to mock the Great Song Dynasty. If such behavior is not severely punished, how can we correct the morale? How can we teach the prince to uphold his duties?"

"That Chen Yan, who dared to deceive the prince, stir up disputes within the royal family, and destabilize the foundation of the nation, deserves death!"

In fact, Zhao Xu had shown mercy out of consideration for brotherhood, otherwise, he would not only be killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.

Of course, the reason why Zhao Xu did not take ruthless action was because Zhao Ji was not the only one who was ready to make a move.

Two days ago, when Zhao Xu's biological mother, Concubine Zhu, came to visit Zhao Xu, she kept talking about how virtuous Zhao Xu was.

Although Concubine Zhu did not say it explicitly, Zhao Xu also understood that what Concubine Zhu meant was that if he felt that he was no longer able to do so, he should quickly pass the throne to his younger brother from the same mother and not let the throne fall into the hands of outsiders.

This is the royal family. Family affection is often fragile and vulnerable in the face of power.

"Since ascending the throne, I have diligently governed the country, never slacking off in the slightest, hoping only to revive the government and bring glory to my ancestors. But now, my ill health has become an excuse for others to covet the throne. Alas!"

Every word Zhao Xu spoke was filled with resentment and indignation.

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingjing was even more indignant. She said to Zhao Xu, "The emperor must get better. If we have another son, we will never let anyone else inherit the emperor's throne!!!"

There are two main ways of inheriting the throne: the son inherits the throne after the father's death, and the younger brother inherits the throne after the elder brother's death.

The former is the main one and the latter is the auxiliary one.

Adopting a son is in accordance with the principle of inheritance after the father's death.

Zhao Xu has five younger brothers. Logically speaking, under the current circumstances, Zhao Xu should adopt a son from among his five younger brothers.

But the problem is that none of the five of Zhao Ya have a son yet, so this approach is not feasible.

If the younger brother has no son, then he can only choose from the descendants of his cousins, similar to how Song Renzong chose Song Yingzong.

But Zhao Xu's cousins ​​also have no male offspring, so this approach is also blocked.

In this case, grandchildren could only be chosen from the cousins ​​of Zhao Xu's father, Song Shenzong.

However, this would make the blood relationship much more distant.

This is also a problem.

However, the crux of the problem does not lie here.

The key point is that the royal family that is in power now certainly does not want to see power fall into the hands of others, which would cause them to lose their already powerful position.

Zhao Xu was very clear about this.

Therefore, Zhao Xu took advantage of the royal family's mentality and began a delicate balancing game. He neither adopted the adopted son nor explicitly rejected him, but simply delayed with various excuses, hoping that a medical miracle would happen to him.

At the same time, Zhao Xu also hoped that in the last moments of his life, he could still maintain absolute control over the imperial power...

……

(End of this chapter)