After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 9 Royal Palace
Jia Zheng did not participate in the ancestor worship.

As an official appointed by the imperial court, he came to the morning court outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony early in the morning. However, as he was only a small fifth-rank official, he was unable to enter the hall and could only stand outside the hall, twenty feet away from the hall door.

In the past, during court sessions, the hall was always filled with people inside and outside. But today, when Jia Zheng looked again, he saw that the officials outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony were sparsely populated, with more than half of them missing!
I am so afraid of King Qian’s army!

Jia Zheng looked around at the officials and saw that most of those who came to court had worried expressions on their faces, and only a few of them looked normal.

Today was a regular court session, and business was not supposed to be discussed. However, after everyone had finished kneeling and worshipping, there was no order to adjourn the court for a long time. It was obvious that the ministers were discussing business with the emperor in the hall.

"Snapped!"

Suddenly, a whip sounded in the hall. Jia Zheng and others were startled and looked at each other. They guessed that there was a quarrel inside and the ceremonial eunuch blew the whip to warn people.

The commotion in the hall did not stop. The officials near the hall door no longer cared about the usual court etiquette. They gathered together and listened attentively to the movement inside.

The officials of the fifth and sixth ranks around Jia Zheng could no longer bear it and gathered in front of the gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Jia Zheng hesitated for a moment, and seeing that the eunuchs from the Shangyi Department around him turned a blind eye, he also walked forward and heard the argument among the ministers inside.

The first one to curse was Grand Marshal Luo Gu:
"We are paid by the emperor and should be loyal to him and serve our country. But now that the enemy army has not even entered the city, you are making such cruel remarks in front of the emperor that it is better to surrender. You deserve to be killed!"

"Humph, I think it's you who should be killed!"

Jia Zheng recognized the voice as that of Prince Zhongshun.

He sneered, "It was your absurd idea that the Grand Council sent 300,000 troops to stop Prince Qian some time ago. Now the imperial court has no troops available. The 300,000-man army was defeated by Prince Qian. You should die as an apology!"

Grand Marshal Luo Gu's face flushed. Prince Zhongshun bowed to his brother, Emperor Yongning, who sat on the dragon throne, and began to speak: "Your Majesty, with less than half of the court present today, how can we defend this city? The officials at court, both civil and military, are incapable of maintaining order and ruling the country. They are all mere shills, living off their posts for nothing. I urge Your Majesty to make a decision soon and not trust the arrogant words of incompetent men like the Grand Marshal!"

These words scolded everyone present to pieces and made the ministers in the Hall of Supreme Harmony lose face.

"Prince Zhongshun has gone too far." Wuying Palace Grand Secretary Song Zhen, after a moment of delay, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, there are still 50,000 defenders within the city, and there are a million civilians. If mobilized, we could still have tens of thousands more troops. We might not be without the strength to fight."

Sitting on the dragon throne, Emperor Yongning, who had originally looked gloomy because half of the people were missing from the morning court today, now had a little more hope in his eyes and ordered him to continue.

"His Majesty!!"

Prince Zhongshun interrupted Song Zhen loudly, saying urgently, "Don't believe them anymore. If 300,000 soldiers are defeated, how can we defend the capital? Are we going to let the people defend the city walls? These pedantic scholars are really ridiculous. It would be great if there wasn't chaos in the city, but they still expect the people to defend it!"

"Your Majesty!" Someone stood up, pointing at Prince Zhongshun and angrily cursing, "He keeps calling me Prince Qian. It's obvious he's been frightened by the thief King Chu Yan's words, 'First kill the princes, then kill the county princes, and then kill all the officials in the court.' He's afraid to die with the country!"

The people in the hall were arguing, and the people outside were no less noisy. Jia Zheng saw that many of his colleagues standing outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony were also arguing with each other over whether to surrender or go to war.

It's a matter of life and death, no one dares to neglect it:

King Qian had already announced that if they refused to surrender, he would kill three court officials for every soldier he killed.

Jia Zheng knew that everyone speculated that Prince Qian was killing the ministers who advocated war, and would probably not kill anyone who clearly surrendered, but would spare their lives to stabilize the court.

Therefore, whether to surrender or fight, officials from top to bottom in the court must make it clear which side they stand on!
Jia Zheng listened for a while, but could not make out anything. Many of the ministers advocated surrender, but there were also many loyal ministers who would rather die than surrender. On the contrary, several princes who came to the court advocated surrendering Prince Qian as soon as possible.

"Prince Qian's move of killing the princes first is truly ruthless."

Jia Zheng sighed inwardly. After an unknown amount of arguing, the court finally dispersed unhappily, with no surrender in sight.

Jia Zheng waited for a while and only went forward to meet his brother-in-law Wang Ziteng when he saw him coming out of the hall, and asked him how things were.

"Hard to say."

Wang Ziteng shook his head. After he left Taihe Gate and saw no one around, he revealed to him, "The Emperor might be persuaded by Prince Zhongshun."

Jia Zheng was very surprised.

Wang Ziteng said, "The day before yesterday, His Majesty declared that he would never become the Duke of Anle, even if he died. But just now, when everyone said they wanted to surrender in front of him, he didn't say a word."

After listening to this, Jia Zheng seemed to be thinking about something.

At today's court meeting, half of the officials feigned illness and did not attend, which was a great blow to the emperor. Prince Zhongshun was right in scolding him, as there were few capable officials among the civil and military officials in the court.

Wang Ziteng sighed, "Ever since Chu Yan occupied Jinling Yingtian Prefecture over a year ago, he's proclaimed himself king, rewarded his subordinates, and quickly stabilized the situation south of the Yangtze River. He's gained popularity and is no longer the same as an ordinary bandit."

Yingtian Prefecture was one of the two capitals of the Shun Dynasty. The bandit king Chu Yan proclaimed himself king only after he captured it.

"What should we do now..." Jia Zheng was in a state of confusion.

Wang Ziteng stopped, frowned, and thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Let's go see the old saint!"

Jia Zheng was stunned. Seeing that he had turned around and walked towards the East Palace, he followed him.

When they arrived at the Eastern Palace, Jia Zheng saw that not only them, but also Prince Zhongshun, Prince Wu and others had come to the gate of the Six Eastern Palaces where the retired emperor lived.

The Eastern Six Palaces, also known as the Daming Palace, was hurried out by the eunuch Dai Quan. After seeing everyone, he quickly stepped forward to salute, then quickly walked back to report to the retired emperor.

Wang Ziteng dealt with the words of enticement from Prince Zhongshun and others, and waited for about half a minute before he saw Dai Quan come out with a grim expression.

"My Lords and Gentlemen," Dai Quan forced a smile on his old face. "The old saint said he doesn't care about these mundane matters. He has to bathe, burn incense, and refine another batch of elixirs later!"

Everyone was shocked and couldn't believe it.

With 200,000 bandits besieging the city, the Emperor still had the mind to make elixirs?!

Prince Zhongshun wanted to force his way in, but Dai Quan and a group of eunuchs refused to let him in, so he had no choice but to leave.

Wang Ziteng quietly slipped a silver note to Dai Quan and whispered, "Old Saint, do you have anything else to say?"

Dai Quan gently accepted the banknote and sighed, "Ever since the old sage learned of the defeat of his 300,000-man army, he's said it was heaven's will. Heaven wanted him to shed worldly desires, to give up worldly wealth and glory, so he could ascend to heaven. Several immortals enshrined in the palace all said that if the enemy army entered the city, it would be the best time to take the elixir. Therefore, the old sage has been completely absorbed in refining the elixir, working from morning till night, and only went to bed at four o'clock last night."

Wang Ziteng looked stunned. The day when the enemy army broke into the city was the best time to take the elixir and ascend to heaven?
How ridiculous!

Those Taoists in the palace deserve to be killed!

(End of this chapter)