"Everyone, get up." Ji Xun got off the carriage, his face was calm and there was no hint of happiness or anger. The ministers could not figure out what he was thinking, and everyone was in a state of confusion.
The atmosphere was silent, when the palace door slowly opened, and all the courtiers followed the Night King into the palace.
After arriving and waiting outside the Jinluan Palace for a while, several other princes also arrived, and they all bowed to the Night King cautiously.
Except for the crown prince Wei Yuande, the other princes in the Great Zhou Palace did not dare to cause any trouble, but they did not get involved.
After waiting outside the hall for a while, Eunuch Li came out of the hall with small steps, flicked his fly whisk and sang at the top of his voice.
"Go to court~~"
Upon hearing this, all the ministers filed in with their robes in hand.
As soon as he entered the main hall, he saw Emperor Qi Heng wearing a crown and sitting high on the throne, looking majestic and full of energy. He was more imposing than before.
The ministers glanced at each other and lowered their heads. They lined up neatly in two rows and knelt down and shouted.
"Long live the Emperor."
"Everyone loves you." Emperor Qi Heng raised his hands to the ministers, and then looked at Ji Xun with kind eyes, "Give the Night King a seat."
"Yes." The chamberlain's father-in-law who was waiting beside him brought an armchair, and Ji Xun sat down on it respectfully.
Emperor Qi Heng looked at the prince who had been his favorite since he was a child, and his heart was filled with unspeakable deep fatherly love.
He once wanted Ah Xun to inherit the throne and take Ah Xun to court, but "Prime Minister Zhou" drove Ah Xun out of the Golden Palace, but he actually didn't say a word, which broke Ah Xun's heart.
.
After that, Ah Xun went to the battlefield and rarely returned to Beijing again.
Now the emperor can finally be passed on to him. Of course, before that, he must clear all obstacles for him so that he can inherit the throne legitimately and without any hesitation.
All the ministers remained silent, and no one dared to show any emotion.
Although yesterday I was still kowtowing to a baby and obeying the advice of the Empress Dowager and Prime Minister Zhou, the situation in the court is unpredictable. Who doesn't know how to act wisely and protect themselves according to the wind?
Emperor Qi Heng sat calmly on his high seat, looked down at him, and saw that everyone did not dare to show any resistance to his return, so he spoke.
"Dear ministers, I was framed by Princess Xia Luoluo of Daqi and the fake prime minister and almost died. If the Night King hadn't used the golden cicada to escape from the shell to help me escape from the palace, how could I have come back again?"
"Princess Daqi deserves to die, and the fake prime minister deserves to die!" Emperor Qi Heng wanted to say a few more words, but before he thought, a minister came out to appeal, "Your Majesty, as officials in the court, we did not see their true colors and shared your worries for the Emperor.
, the crime deserves death."
The minister flattered him, and the others followed suit, and they all shouted loudly.
"Princess Da Qi deserves to die, and the fake prime minister deserves to die! I did not share the emperor's worries in vain, so I deserve death." Upon seeing this, Emperor Qi Heng exchanged a look with Ji Xun, and both of them had a look of satisfaction in their eyes.
This group of officials was indeed useless, and the useful ones had already resigned and left. For example, Duan Houye and Zhang Neng's father Jianninghou, as well as many other upright and upright people, had resigned and left the capital.
Most of those who stayed behind were cowardly and incompetent people who had actually made no serious mistakes. Emperor Qi Heng and Ji Xun did not intend to replace these people immediately. After all, they still needed to take care of the affairs of the court.
However, Lu Anhe, Song Shangshu and others have already ransacked their homes and been imprisoned, so it is impossible for them to continue to do evil.
Since all the courtiers were on the side of Emperor Qi Heng, there was nothing more to say and they directly interrogated "Prime Minister Zhou" Zhou Qian.
Zhou Qian's mask was exposed by Empress Zhou herself, so he was not allowed to quibble. After a clear trial, he was immediately sentenced to death.
"Your Majesty, please let my nephews and nieces go, please." After Empress Zhou saw that Zhou Qian was sentenced to execution, she cried bitterly and knelt in the court hall begging, "As long as you let them live."
, my concubine Gan Yuan was exiled with them."
Queen Zhou knelt on the ground with disheveled hair and cried bitterly.
Zhou Qian, a dog slave, insisted that he was pretending to be under the command of his elder brother. He said that his elder brother was seriously ill and did not have much time left, so he came up with this method to preserve the prosperity and wealth of the Zhou family.
Of course, the reason why Zhou Qian said this was not to help anyone, but to reduce his guilt so as to preserve the litter of children he gave birth to while pretending to be Prime Minister Zhou.
There are two completely different things between the master's authorization and instructions and the fact that he killed the master and replaced him. He was ordered by his master to do things for his master and he was a loyal servant. What was wrong with him?
The courtiers were skeptical of this rhetoric.
Everyone has not forgotten how the Prime Minister's wife died, and there was a huge uproar at the time.
Prime Minister Zhou caught Zhou Qian and the Prime Minister's wife cheating, and then executed Zhou Qian and put the Prime Minister's wife in jail. Now it seems that Prime Minister Zhou must have been replaced in this scene.
Zhou Qian's explanation was that the play was directed by his master in order to get rid of Mrs. Zhou who might expose his identity.
Anyway, these people are gone, so how can it be said that Zhou Qian still has the final say? After all, he has completely ignored himself. All the conspiracies were designed by Prime Minister Zhou before his death, and he was just ordered to execute them.
Zhou Lenghui knew the truth about this matter, but Ah Fu had long since disappeared. Without witnesses, what weight could such words have? It was just sophistry.
Of course, the most important thing is that Emperor Qi Heng does not want Wei Yan, the master behind Zhou Qian, to be exposed. There are too many things involved, related to the reputation of the late emperor and the privacy of the palace, so there is no need to spread it like this.
So the case of fake prime minister was completely pinned on Prime Minister Zhou and the Zhou family.
Queen Zhou was completely unable to refute.
Not knowing the inside story, she actually believed in this matter more than anyone else. According to her brother's temperament, if he suddenly became seriously ill and his time was running out, he might indeed take this drastic step.
Therefore, the position of the queen is definitely not guaranteed. I just want to save everyone's lives.
Empress Zhou knelt on the ground and nodded heavily. She refused to stop even if her forehead was broken, and she begged bitterly.
"Your Majesty, although my concubine's brother is guilty, he also made meritorious service by suppressing the rebellion of several princes. Please spare the Zhou family and spare their lives!"
Emperor Qi Heng took a deep breath. Although Prime Minister Zhou had formed a clique for personal gain, he had no intention of rebellion. All crimes were committed by the "fake Prime Minister" and the master behind him, Wei Yan.
Therefore, Emperor Qi Heng did not have any intention of killing the Zhou family. He thought about it and spoke loudly.
"Prime Minister Zhou deserved to die for deceiving the king and his children should have been put to death as a warning to others. However, I thought that because he had also made meritorious deeds, I would spare his children from death.
After speaking, he paused and glanced majestically below.
"Today, according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, I will deprive the Zhou family of the title of queen and demote her to a commoner. I will be exiled to the far north along with the Zhou family and will never be allowed to return to Beijing."
Queen Zhou breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that her life had been saved.
But as soon as he heard that he was exiled to the Far North, he immediately began to mourn and cry out.
"Your Majesty, it's so cold in the far north that even ordinary people can't afford to suffer. Your Majesty, I beg you to change places~~"
"Otherwise, what's the difference between this and sentencing us to death? Please have mercy on us, Your Majesty!"
Emperor Qi Heng had an expressionless face and seemed unmoved.
In fact, he was not ruthless and insisted on killing them. On the contrary, he chose the far north precisely because he was planning for Wei Yuande.
At that time, let the Zhou family take Wei Yuande into exile, so that they can be taken care of.
Although the Northland is cold, it is not as hopeless as everyone feared. Arranging them there will also save Wei Yuande from having any unnecessary thoughts.
Thinking of this, Emperor Qi Heng waved his hand at Mrs. Zhou. "That's it, take her down."
"Yes." Several guards took the order and quickly escorted Zhou out.
After Queen Zhou was taken away, the court hall was quiet, waiting for the emperor to proceed with the interrogation. At this time, Emperor Qi Heng slowly spoke.
"The throne is now empty, so I will posthumously make the late Concubine Wu my queen. What do all my beloved ladies think?"
All the ministers said in unison: "This is a matter for the emperor's harem, and the ministers have no right to interfere.'
Everyone is not stupid, they are all old men in the court. The emperor wants the just and legitimate King Fu Ye to ascend the throne. Can they still stop him?
Now that the military power of the entire country is in the hands of the Night King, the Night King wants to pull Emperor Qi Heng off the throne and sit on it himself. I guess no one will dare to object, right?
They only wanted to protect their lives and officials, and they did not dare to interfere at all.
The emperor's expression became relaxed after listening to everyone's words. He turned the jade ring on his thumb with satisfaction and looked at Ji Xun with a questioning look.
Ji Xun looked calm and did not hold any objections. For him, the throne did not represent power, glory and wealth, but a particularly huge responsibility.
His father wanted to entrust him with this important task, and he was not allowed to take it.
Of course, once he takes this burden on his shoulders, he will definitely be responsible for all the people in the world and the great Zhou Kingdom.
Seeing that Ji Xun acquiesced, Emperor Qi Heng smiled and turned his attention to a minister in the front row.
"Although it is a harem matter, it is a big deal to designate Concubine Wu as a concubine, so let Mr. Liu be responsible for supervising this matter."
After the death of the late Concubine Wu, there are naturally many important things to do, such as issuing a jade certificate, moving Concubine Wu's tomb from the concubine's mausoleum to the imperial mausoleum, and also issuing an imperial edict to the concubine's mother clan, etc. Indeed,
A minister is needed to take charge of this matter.
Mr. Liu was overjoyed after being named by the emperor and hurriedly knelt down on the ground to show his loyalty.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, don't worry His Highness the Night King, I will definitely handle this matter properly."
After saying that, he let out a long breath, and the big stone weighing on his heart finally fell.
If the emperor is still willing to use him, it means that he will not be implicated, his official position can be regarded as saved, and all the ministers next to him are envious.
But soon, the emperor named three of the important ministers and asked them to go south to inspect the disaster situation and see how the arrangements were being made for the people affected by the disaster in the south.
Ji Xun couldn't help but curled his lips when he heard Emperor Qi Heng's arrangement. His father seemed to have learned a lot. He wanted these ministers to go to the south to see how popular the people there were with Emperor Qi Heng and the Night King.
Support Aijie so that you can take the opportunity to beat them.
If they had some hidden agenda, they would probably have restrained themselves after this trip.
The three important ministers were relieved when the emperor called their names, and they all stepped forward to respectfully accept the order.
Although this is not a good job, the New Year is coming soon. Who wants to go all the way south? Normally, they would definitely find various excuses to shirk it.
But this time is different from the past. After receiving their lives, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.
Next, the emperor arranged things for almost all the ministers in the court. The reason why he did this was that he really needed manpower to handle the affairs, and secondly, he wanted to dispel the concerns of the ministers and make them feel at ease.
Only in this way can the proper order in the court be restored as soon as possible and the situation be stabilized and put on the right track.
As soon as these arrangements were made, a father-in-law hurried in with a letter in his hand.
"Reporting to your Majesty, this is a letter written by Emperor Jingyuan of Da Qi Kingdom."
