When Duke of Anping walked in by himself, the Emperor already felt that something was amiss. Could it be that all the imperial guards outside are now under Duke of Anping"s command? Did Duke of Anping"s power surge again unbeknownst to him?
After feeling that something was amiss, uneasiness followed. Uneasiness as to whether his life would be coming to an end.
After the Eighth Prince saw Situ walking in, his expression totally changed. He no longer coerced the Emperor and no longer rummaged through things but turned his head away in panic to avoid Situ"s gaze instead. There was no semblance of an imperial prince"s bearing at all.
The Emperor also felt that it was strange. Despite being ambitious, his eighth son usually took note of his appearance very much. His bearing wasn"t ordinary and he possessed sublime integrity. It was a pity that he was Concubine Shu"s son. The Emperor had yet to recall his past memories when it was forcefully interrupted.
The reason was very simple. As Situ strode in, he chopped off the Eighth Prince"s head with one swing of the sword. The head that dropped onto the ground swivelled on the floor, its pair of eyes facing the Emperor.
"Ahhh!"
The Emperor immediately shrieked, his trembling fingers pointing at Situ.
"Duke of Anping, could it be that you"re planning to revolt? You actually dare to kill an imperial prince in front of me. This is a capital offence! A capital offence!"
On the contrary, Situ didn"t think much of it. He brandished his Hong Ming Scimitar which was still dripping with blood. The corners of his mouth were upturned to form an almost indistinct arc and his eyes were sternly fixed at the Emperor.
"The one I killed is a traitor, not an imperial prince."
His tone was filled with a murderous aura and frightened the Emperor. Despite being full of mettle once, he had never expected that there would come a day where he would be scared of his own subject.
What instantly came to the Emperor"s mind was that Situ was venting his anger due to Jiang Moyin"s death.
"It wasn"t my fault. It"s because Jiang Moyin"s const.i.tution was weak to begin with; no one touched him and he collapsed on his own. That wasn"t my fault!"
He looked very pitiful, like an old man begging while wagging his tail.
There was no change in Situ"s expression and his eyes were gleaming.
"Hadn"t Your Majesty tried to get rid of me multiple times? If Your Majesty hadn"t wanted to set me up, why would so many things happen that day? Your Majesty, aren"t you the cause of all of these?"
Including Jiang"s Moyin curtailed life span, the First Prince"s change and Feng Luodi"s guilt, everything was like a tide that gushed towards Situ. But the main culprit of everything was the Emperor. No matter how loyal he was to his sovereign, what he got in return was still distrust, jealousy and schemes. Who would continue supporting such a sovereign?
"Situ Muye, as expected, you do have the intention of rebelling. My innocent imperial son died tragically. Everything is due to your conspiracy."
The Emperor suddenly became resentful and leaned against the bed as he breathed in large mouthfuls of air, viciousness flas.h.i.+ng across his murky eyes.
This supreme person really hadn"t changed one bit. Situ suddenly understood why his father wanted to retire from officialdom when he was still a young boy. His father was clearly one of the distinguished founding ministers[1], yet he"d retired. He truly wondered how many people this Emperor had bitterly disappointed.
"Your Majesty, please take a good look. Is he your imperial son?"
Situ used the tip of his sword to raise the Eighth Prince"s face. A mask was lifted, revealing an unfamiliar face.
"What"s the reason for this?" The Emperor was shocked, but he soon recovered and glared at Situ.
"As I thought, you all are plotting against the Eighth Prince, forcing him to bear the accusation of forcing the emperor to abdicate. What malicious thoughts you all have."
Situ sneered, "Does "you all" include His Highness, the Heir?"
The Emperor was rendered speechless.
Situ continued, "Your Majesty has misunderstood. The Eighth Prince did have the intention to revolt and force Your Majesty to abdicate. However, the Heir saw through his plans and purposely allowed him to enter the palace today. That"s how he"d managed to barge into Your Majesty"s sleeping quarters. But, the Eighth Prince is someone full of craft and cunning; he actually laid out two machinations. One of them was to enter the palace to a.s.sa.s.sinate Your Majesty while the other was to escape from the Xuan Kingdom without a single halt."
While explaining, Situ joyfully looked at how the Emperor"s expression crumbled. He even added, "At present, the first machination had been exposed. The success of his second machination would have to depend on his ability to hide himself."
the Emperor muttered, "Ren"er has really revolted. Haha, he actually revolted. My good imperial son…they"re all my great imperial sons, haha…"
The Emperor suddenly burst into laughter and continuously threw the items on the bed onto the floor. He caused quite a din but Situ remained indifferent as he stared at the farce the Emperor had brought about himself. Outside the palace hall, even if people heard such a commotion, no one went in.
This was the most pitiful part of being an emperor. When he was old, he would be unable to stop his sons from slaughtering one another.
This was also the sorrow of being born in the imperial household.
Situ saw how the Emperor appeared as if he was possessed. He clearly had not much breath left. Situ finally felt some of the anger in his heart alleviate and added, "Your Majesty, your great imperial sons aren"t just the deposed Heir and the Eighth Prince. There"s still the Eleventh Prince."
Situ words were filled with malice.
"The Eleventh Prince?"
the Emperor finally stopped laughing and looked at Situ in puzzlement.
"Impossible. The Eleventh Prince has grown up beside me since he was young. He"s the most filial. He definitely won"t do something like this."
"The most filial?"
It was as if Situ had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"The Eleventh Prince is really filial, he"s so filial that he added poison in Your Majesty"s meal and medicine."
As Situ spoke, he even surveyed the display items in the surroundings.
"Oh, that"s right, he even bribed the people around you. The flowers, plants and incense here are all mixed with poison. Don"t tell me that you didn"t realise that the people beside you have been changed constantly? Their bodies couldn"t take it, let alone you, a person who is about to die?"
SItu"s words were already getting all the more outrageous as he spoke, but he was certain that the Emperor didn"t have the time to care about this at the moment, or perhaps he didn"t have a chance to worry about it anymore.
"Impossible! Impossible!"
The Emperor shook his head. After he coughed severely, the blood he vomited was black. It was poisonous blood.
"Anyone can poison me but it can"t be the Eleventh Prince. He"s, he"s…"
Situ continued what the Emperor wanted to say in his stead. "You wanted to say that he"s your most beloved son? Your most filial son? Or did you want to say he is the son you were preparing to support and let him ascend the throne by leaving behind a secret imperial edict?"
The Emperor raised his head in panic and met Situ"s clear gaze.
"Duke of Anping, don"t spout nonsense anymore. The First Prince is already the Heir. He will be the future emperor of the Xuan Kingdom. Don"t drive a wedge between the Heir and me."
Situ sneered as he shook his head.
"Is Your Majesty trying to deceive yourself to deceive others? Or are you hoping that the Heir would understand your painstaking efforts?"
Situ recalled the Heir"s previous deeds and laughed again, his laughter mixed with killing intent.
"It"s you who have been constantly driving a wedge between the Heir and me, hoping that he would divulge news to you. I presume that, at that time, you have been constantly telling him that you have planned to pa.s.s the position of Heir to him since the start, that the Eleventh Prince has no share and that the Eleventh Prince is only a cover."
"Your Majesty, you really know how to tell lies. If you hadn"t been forced by the circ.u.mstances, you wouldn"t have let the Heir come back. Everything you have done is to push him to the heart of the struggle and use him as a s.h.i.+eld to protect the Eleventh Prince. After you knew about his actual strength, you deliberately took advantage of the situation for your own benefit, wanting to make use of the Heir to deal with me and make him doubt me. On the one hand, you made use of the Heir to eliminate me and on the other hand, you wanted to use a secret imperial edict to support the Eleventh Prince. This is really your style of handling matters."
"You"re not to spout nonsense!"
The Emperor still defended the remaining dignity of the imperial household he hardly had left. However, the panic and fear in his eyes were undoubtedly not able to deceive anyone.
Situ also felt tired and simply dealt the Emperor the last blow.
"Unfortunately, the Heir trusts me and didn"t get tricked by your sowing discord ruse. Everything today was also supported by the Heir himself. Your Majesty, you"re really a failure. You wanted to leave behind a secret imperial edict for the Eleventh Prince to ascend the throne but it"s a pity that you won"t have this chance anymore. You won"t ever have this chance anymore."
At this moment, the Emperor could only spit out blood unceasingly while lying on his quilt. This was probably what they call terminal restlessness at the end of one"s life.
Situ coldly glanced at this despicable emperor who was on the point of demise. He flung his sleeves and took large strides as he left the palace hall.
Gan Qingjia had been eavesdropping outside the palace hall. When the remaining imperial guards went to handle the rump of the Eighth Prince"s faction, he caught up with Situ. After checking that the coast was clear, he asked in puzzlement, "The Heir had clearly fallen for the Emperor"s sowing discord ruse, yet you said that to the Emperor. Were you intentionally planning to infuriate him to death?"
Gan Qingjia wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead. When he heard Situ"s various impertinent remarks just now, not only was he astonished about the rancour Situ had acc.u.mulated towards the Emperor over the years, he was also afraid that the Heir"s people would hear of it.
"Why are you still asking when you already know?"
When his thoughts got here, Situ"s mood worsened again.
That was right. The Heir had indeed fallen for the Emperor"s sowing discord ruse. Although he didn"t doubt Situ and stumbled him overtly, he had covertly investigated a lot.
What crossed Situ"s bottom line was the fact that when the Heir was still the First Prince, he"d actually dispatched his shadow guards to the court prison to poison Feng Luodi. It seemed as if Feng Luodi was Situ"s only kryptonite in the Heir"s eyes. As long as he killed Feng Luodi, the Emperor would no longer be able to dispose of Situ and Situ would also support him wholeheartedly.
What a ridiculous way of thinking.
A cold killing intent flickered across Situ"s eyes, but it quickly subsided.
The deposed Heir and Jiang Moyin"s end would certainly not be his end. He had no choice but to guard against the Heir from now on.
Gan Qingjia looked at Situ"s expression and also had lingering fear in his heart. None of them had thought that the Heir would do such a thing. Did that gentle-looking Heir"s heart ultimately turn malevolent?
They would support the Heir but as soon as he touched their bottom lines, he would be courting his own destruction.
After ten days had pa.s.sed, Xuan Cheng Emperor pa.s.sed away. The Heir succeeded the throne as Xuan De Emperor. The Eleventh Prince was relegated to Yizhou, where the new emperor has once stayed, as the provincial prince of that region. The other imperial princes were also relegated in the same manner.
There were also major changes in the officials of the court.
The Minister of the Left and Minister of the Right retired and returned to their hometown while the Imperial Treasure, Gan Qingjia a.s.sumed the post of the new prime minister. Up until now, the new dynasty only had one prime minister.
The previous General-in-chief of the Northern Army, the eldest son of the Xue Family returned to Chang"an to a.s.sume the post of the Grand Marshal. Xue Yiqi was still the commander of the Imperial City Army but was conferred an additional t.i.tle of "Young General".
The court historians became veteran statesmen who had served a sovereign for three dynasties.
Duke of Anping"s t.i.tle remained the same and he was still the General-in-chief of the Northern Army.
New policies regarding scholars, artisans, farmers and merchants would also be put into effect. It looked as if the Xuan Kingdom had welcomed a new reign.
1. t.i.tle conferred to a loyal general or va.s.sal of a new dynasty