Sheng Changbai followed Sheng Hong and was trapped in Funing Palace for an afternoon and a whole night.
Apart from not being able to leave the Imperial City, I spent this day with a lot of freedom.
Hiding in Funing Palace, where no one has lived for more than 40 years, no one bothered me at all.
Sheng Changbai pretended to go out several times and brought back some things to eat, drink and use.
Regardless of the outside world, there were guards and martial law, and if King Yan tried to force the old emperor to go to the palace again, it would be no different than going to the Yamen in normal times.
"Bai'er, how long do we have to hide? We can't hide in the palace all the time, right?"
Sheng Changbai could stay there with peace of mind, but Sheng Hong was obviously anxious.
"We'll wait until someone comes to call us. If King Yan wants to ascend to the position of crown prince, he must summon all the civil and military officials."
One day has passed, and King Yan has not summoned all officials to ascend the throne. It is obvious that he has not yet dealt with the old emperor.
The old emperor had lived for more than fifty years and had been emperor for more than forty years. He had experienced everything and had no worries, so he was not easily forced into submission.
"I don't know what will happen to our family if neither of us goes back?"
Sheng Hong usually seems to be a very stable person, but when big things happen, he still can't hold his anger.
"The old lady is at home, so don't worry, nothing will happen."
There is Mrs. Sheng and Hai Chaoyun at home, which is enough to ensure that Wang Ruofu and Lin Zhishuang will not cause any trouble.
In order to avoid getting too bored, Sheng Changbai also found a set of Go and played with Sheng Hong.
Because Sheng Hong was absent-minded, today Sheng Chang caught Sheng Hong, who was usually as good as chess player, and killed him randomly.
"kill!"
"Go ahead."
"Kill thieves and fight rebellion."
In the evening of the next day, the situation finally changed. Fires reaching into the sky could be seen from all over the imperial city, and the constant sound of soldiers fighting could be heard.
"What's going on outside?"
"There are soldiers fighting. Someone must have brought troops to help."
Around Bianliang City, there are hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops stationed, all of whom belong to the old emperor.
As long as the old emperor can spread the news and someone can mobilize the imperial army, suppressing the rebellion can be said to be easy.
Not to mention other things, the Zhou Dynasty still protected the imperial power very well.
Hundreds of thousands of imperial troops guarded Bianliang. As long as the old emperor was a little vigilant and cautious, he would not have put himself in such a dangerous situation.
The fighting in the imperial city lasted for an hour, from midnight to dusk.
After the sound of fighting subsided and there was almost no movement, Sheng Hong asked
"Can we go out?"
"You guys wait here while I go out to check on the situation." Sheng Changbai replied.
After confirming that the imperial city was back under the control of the Forbidden Army, he asked Shang Sheng Hong to come to Zhongshu Province together.
Then he followed the ministers to Funing Palace and paid homage to the old emperor.
On the surface, it was to show concern for the old emperor, but mainly to see if the old emperor was still alive.
Fortunately, the old emperor was still alive. Although he was very weak after being tortured by King Yan, he still managed to meet the ministers.
The prime minister, deputy prime minister and a group of important ministers were kept here, and others were allowed to go home first.
"Changbai, did you see that it was Gu Tingye, the libertine, who saved him?"
"I saw it, and I also saw Zhao Zongquan of Yuzhou standing next to the official."
Although the details are still unclear, Zhao Zongquan took advantage of this battle for the crown prince.
Gu Tingye was still involved with Zhao Zongquan and his son, but they got involved at some point.
The fact that Zhao Zongquan and his son can still appear shows that they have known Gu Tingye for a long time.
After all, without Gu Tingye, the two father and son would have died more than once.
"Yes, now that King Yong and King Yan are gone, Zhao Zongquan is standing beside the official family. It seems that the official family intends to pass the throne to Zhao Zongquan. Gu Er this time not only made a contribution to the rescue, but also at the same time He has accomplished the feat of following the dragon."
Although the Sheng family was not prepared to take the path of luck, Sheng Hong was still envious of Gu Tingye's opportunity to make great contributions to the two emperors in one fell swoop.
To be honest, it is not difficult to lead the imperial army to wipe out the few rebels of King Yan.
King Yan only brought a guard of troops. Compared with hundreds of thousands of forbidden troops, the operation difficulty is really not high.
The slightly more difficult thing may be to prevent King Yan from jumping over the wall in a hurry and harming the emperor.
But even if the old emperor dies, Zhao Zongquan and his family can annihilate the rebel king, take control of the military, and control the imperial city. It is certain that he will ascend to the throne.
"Gu Er is indeed very lucky!"
The protagonist's fate, Gu Tingye, must be a little bit good. Without such a great opportunity, it would be completely impossible for Gu Tingye to turn around.
In the next two days, the imperial city was stabilized, but Bianliang City was completely in chaos.
There were soldiers arresting people and ransacking homes everywhere, even though King Yan was dead.
However, the civil servants and generals who supported King Yan still had to be liquidated.
Not only the civil servants and generals who supported King Yan to force the palace that day needed to be liquidated.
Even those high-ranking officials who had spoken out for Prince Yan in the court, supported him with money and food, and had close contacts with Prince Yan's palace will also be liquidated.
We may not be able to take care of other things right now, but we must first arrest and control the people.
Specifically, whether you participated in King Yan's attempt to force the emperor to marry you can be interrogated slowly.
After two days, the ins and outs of King Yan's forced palace were basically clear.
King Yan still got involved with Concubine Rong.
Maybe it was the time when Rong Feiyan and Prince Yong's daughter Jiacheng were competing for the throne.
Princess Pingning chose Princess Jiacheng because of her status as Prince Yong.
This made Concubine Rong realize the importance of power and did not want to lose the power in her hands when the old emperor passed away.
The Rong family still supported King Yan's campaign to force the emperor to marry him.
Concubine Rong held a banquet in the palace and invited the noble family members to the palace.
I took the opportunity to control these noble family members who led the troops, hoping that these family members would make the noble generals use their weapons as a weapon.
Concubine Rong can cooperate with Prince Yan on a relatively equal footing. Of course, Concubine Rong is not the only one who can help open the palace gates and control the female members of these noble families.
The most important thing is that because Concubine Rong was favored by the old emperor, Concubine Rong's brother was rewarded with real power by the old emperor and led a guard alone.
It was this guard horse that was bribed by King Yan and the Rong family, and followed King Yan and the Rong family into the imperial city to advise them.
The reason why King Yan was forced to remonstrate with the palace soldiers naturally does not need to be explained too much.
Because of the old emperor's deliberate indulgence, King Yong and King Yan fought fiercely for the position of crown prince over the years.
The two people competed and did everything. Over the years, they had built up a deep grudge with no possibility of resolving it.
If King Yong ascends the throne, he will certainly not have as good a life as King Yan.
Even if he doesn't die, he will be imprisoned for a lifetime.
King Yan couldn't accept this result. If he didn't choose to kill him, he had no choice but to fight in the last resort. This is human nature.
…
The day after King Yan forced the emperor to marry him, it happened to be the Shuori Dynasty in October. In front of the civil and military officials of the court, the old emperor announced that he would adopt Zhao Zongquan as his heir and establish Zhao Zongquan as the crown prince.
All the previous preparations for canonizing the prince were not in vain.
It's still the time that was originally set, the regulations that were set before, the rituals that were drawn up, the edict that was copied, and just change the name of King Yong to Zhao Zongquan, nothing is wasted.
After dragging his illness and canonizing Zhao Zongquan as the crown prince, the old emperor fell completely ill.
After all, the old emperor was already seriously ill, so he agreed to establish the crown prince.
His health was not good, and he was frightened by King Yan. After struggling for a while, he braced himself up and conferred the title of Zhao Zongquan. Without worries, he was completely unable to support himself.
After all, Zhao Zongquan had just recognized his father, and his father had left him the largest inheritance in the world, a vast territory.
The father I just recognized fell ill, so of course I had to act like a dutiful son.
The old emperor was lying on the hospital bed without taking off his clothes, and the person who personally served the soup and medicine waited on the old emperor for three days, and then sent the old emperor away directly.
"Dang Dang Dang"
On this day, just after Yin hour, at around three o'clock in the morning, a death knell sounded over Bianjing City.
"Chaoyun, the death knell just rang twenty-seven times?"
Sheng Changbai confirmed to Hai Chaoyun, who was also awakened next to him.
The funeral bell rang twenty-seven times, which is the standard of national mourning.
Originally, the only people qualified to ring the twenty-seven bells were the Queen Mother, the Emperor, and the Empress.
There is no queen mother in the imperial city now, and the queen's body has always been healthy. The old emperor has been down for three days.
For whom the bell tolls, there is no need to think too much.
"It is indeed twenty-seven. This is a national mourning." Hai Chaoyun said with certainty.
"I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep," Sheng Changbai said unhappily.
The position of censor is actually quite hard because you have to attend most court meetings and you have to get up early often.
Since Sheng Changbai took office, due to the old emperor's poor health, he had not held frequent court meetings, and Sheng Changbai did not have much dissatisfaction.
But this time was different. Three days ago, Sheng Changbai got up early and went to attend the dynasty where the old emperor consecrated Zhao Zongquan.
Now I have to get up early again and go to the imperial city for funerals, which is a bit frequent.
The key point is that if the old emperor is really dead, he often gets up early to attend court meetings. This is a start.
Zhao Zongquan was only in his thirties, and at such a young age, it was impossible for him to frequently cancel court meetings like the old emperor.
"I will wait for you to get up, and then go to the kitchen to arrange more food. You and your father will eat more today. It will not be easy for you to enter the palace today."
After Hai Chaoyun got up, he went to the kitchen to arrange meals.
After Sheng Changbai got up, he first arranged for someone to go to Wei Ruixuan to inform Sheng Hong, fearing that Sheng Hong might not hear the death knell.
The father and son had a hearty breakfast together before heading to the imperial city together.
It is definitely a physical job to mourn for the old emperor and for the new emperor to succeed.
Since the emperor is dead, he cannot eat meat or drink alcohol. It is indeed not very good if he does not eat more breakfast.
So Sheng Changbai didn't stop him today, and Hai Chaoyun went to arrange breakfast in person.
…
After entering the imperial city, the first thing to do was to hold a court meeting.
Without the emperor, the court meeting would be presided over by the prime minister on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Han Daxiangong read out the emperor's last edict. The old emperor's last edict was quite long, but it didn't actually say much.
The first thing the old emperor did was to review his life and count in detail his great achievements during his reign.
Although the old emperor had been in power for more than 40 years, he ascended the throne in his early teens and was kept in the shadow of the Queen Mother for more than ten years.
In the following years, because of the death of his son, he had no intention of governing the country.
The time we have really worked hard to govern the country well has only been more than 20 years. These years are considered good.
On the whole, the old emperor was a qualified emperor, but the old emperor's comments about himself were all praiseworthy words.
The second thing was to choose the successor. He praised Zhao Zongquan's character, learned a lot, and announced Zhao Zongquan's succession.
Then he entrusted Zhao Zongquan to take good care of his wife and concubines, that is, to treat his queen and concubines well.
The third thing is to instruct the successor to reward the troops after he takes office.
The fourth thing is about mourning and mausoleum system. The mourning system is based on the sun and the moon, and the mausoleum system is frugal.
That is to say, he was told that one day of mourning should last for a month, and that the construction of the mausoleum should not cost too much.
The imperial mausoleums of the Great Zhou Dynasty were all built after death, and the emperor would be buried in them within a few months. Relatively speaking, they did not waste much time on people and money.
The fifth thing, which is the last thing, is to instruct the civil and military ministers to assist the heirs so that the country and the country can be stabilized.
After that, we will go to Qishu Palace to mourn the old emperor, and cry for a while first.
Then he returned to the Zichen Hall, paid homage to the new king, and congratulated the new king Zhao Zongquan on his accession to the throne.
Then Zhao Zongquan became the supreme leader. Zhao Zongquan first conferred the titles of Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager on his cheap lady.
As for Zhao Zongquan's own daughter-in-law and son, he would have to wait until the old emperor's filial piety period before canonizing his wife and children.
Then the new emperor appointed five Shanling envoys, and the leader Shanling envoy became the prime minister of the dynasty.
Then arrange for all the important ministers of the court to handle various matters for the old emperor, such as surveying the mausoleum, writing the name of the mausoleum, mourning memorial, posthumous memorial and discussing the posthumous title.
After arranging these, the individual can go back to his yamen and busy with the various arrangements.
This was just a day's matter. The emperor would be suspended for several months. During this period, various etiquette and the coronation ceremony of the new emperor needed to be handled by the Etiquette Department. Sheng Changbai became busy again.
On the day when the old emperor died, the new emperor's succession to the throne and the subsequent enthronement ceremony were two different things.
Succession before the death means reading out the late emperor's edict first, confirming the legal status of some new emperors, and temporarily allowing the new emperor to exercise the supreme power of the country.
Only after the enthronement ceremony, worshiping heaven and earth, offering sacrifices to ancestors, and informing all peoples.
After all procedures have been completed, the identity of the new emperor is completely reasonable and legal.
The Ministry of Rites was originally a quiet department, but it had never been idle since Sheng Changbai began to supervise it.
In the following time, Sheng Changbai was busy with the funeral of the old emperor and the enthronement ceremony of Zhao Zongquan.
"Bai'er, during this time, things have been going on in the court. It's really hard on you." Seeing Sheng Changbai's fatigue, Sheng Hong said with rare concern.
"There is no other way. The court is currently under tight manpower and there is not enough manpower, so we can only work harder."
Because King Yan killed a group of courtiers due to his military remonstrance, Zhao Zongquan came to power and was implicated by King Yan, who also implicated a group of courtiers.
Now there are one-third fewer people in the court than before.
