Chapter five hundred and forty-eight today set the East Palace
While he was not in the palace, a hand-written edict was sent to the cabinet, to the major yamen, and to countless officials and families in the capital. However, the emperor had no awareness of this. When he left Zhangyuan, he even brought the fourth prince Youzai with him.
Youzai walked around the famous Xisi Archway in the capital, and then decided to go back to the palace through Xi'an Gate.
As a result, the four princes who came out with their father today were naturally so happy that they almost stopped thinking about Shu and did not want to return to the palace. However, Lu Chan, who was waiting for the emperor at Xi'an Gate, was almost tired of looking forward to it. Although his leg was not broken yet.
, but when he saw the figure of the emperor and his party appearing in his sight, he almost burst into tears.
He rushed forward like a gust of wind, and after saluting, he said cautiously: "Your Majesty, the three ministers of the cabinet, the six ministers of the six departments and the censor of Zuodu, plus a lot of distinguished ministers, have all gathered at Fengtianmen to seek an audience.
Eunuch Chu is so anxious that he has sent many people outside to look for you..."
Before Lu Chan could finish what he said, the emperor laughed and said, "Chu Kuan is still anxious? Isn't he calm about everything?"
This kind of words sounded a bit irritating, so Lu Chan naturally didn't dare to accept it rashly. After this sentence, the emperor didn't say much, he just walked quickly to the horses that had been prepared.
The royal horse walked towards him. The fourth prince, not to be outdone, followed closely behind him with his short legs. He was satisfied when he saw that one of the royal horses was a height suitable for him.
Although the height of the horses was suitable, the emperor and his party returned to the palace through Xiyuan. Even if it could not be said to be lightning fast, it was still much faster than the fourth prince who was just learning to ride. So he was left behind in an instant. If
His face would have drooped had he not discovered that Lu Chan was actually behind the formation.
Lu Chan saw that the emperor and his entourage had all run away and disappeared. Today, he came to report the message in person but was rejected by the emperor. He rode his horse and approached the fourth prince, chatting with him with a smile. He was about to give up.
The vigilance of the fourth prince was overturned, and he tried to explore why the emperor suddenly became angry with Chu Kuan, but he didn't expect that the fourth prince, who was like a brat, was not easy to mess with at all.
The man glanced sideways at him and said with a half-smile, "You want to ask my father why you provoke Eunuch Chu to get angry, right?"
Seeing Lu Chan's expression of embarrassment, the fourth prince said angrily: "I followed my father to Zhang Yuan today to see the teacher's workshop, and found a suspicious person inside. It turned out to be the teacher who was placed in our palace.
The spy! Of course I couldn't help but ask my father, but my father scolded Eunuch Chu for doing unnecessary things!"
Lu Chan's heart skipped a beat. What do you mean by seeing a suspicious person? What do you mean by the palace's spy on Zhang Shou? The most important thing is, why did the emperor assume that it was Chu Kuan who did it as soon as he heard about it?
Although it was Chu Kuan who did it...it was someone who was selected by him, but he didn't expect it to be so useless!
Lu Chan was inexplicably surprised when he thought about it, because the fourth prince was famous for being "outspoken". Even Liu Feng, who had told him confidential information, was betrayed at once and was almost kicked out.
In the Qing Palace, he did not dare to touch the little prince's troubles, so he did not dare to say any unnecessary words.
When the four princes arrived at Xihua Gate with him one after another, he learned from the guards guarding the gate that all the guards following him today had dismounted here, but the emperor rode directly into the palace, probably heading straight for Fengtian Gate.
, he couldn't help but have a toothache.
Historically, foreign ministers could only ride horses outside the imperial city, while the palace city was a completely restricted area. Even the royal family members were the same. Even the emperors of the past dynasties would not ride their horses in their own palace cities as a rule. But this dynasty
Among the emperors so far, there are just a few who are unwilling to abide by the rules.
First, Emperor Taizu, who was the founding emperor of the country, then Emperor Yingzong, who had endured for many years and finally returned to the court in one fell swoop, then the late emperor Ruizhong, and finally... he did not conquer the world on horseback, but he particularly liked riding the horse palace.
The emperor of the city.
But it doesn't matter at ordinary times. Today, so many ministers gathered at Fengtianmen, what would it look like for the emperor to ride past like this! If the Queen Mother knew about it, she would probably be angry with them!
Although Lu Chan was worried, the fourth prince was inexplicably excited. He shook the reins and broke into the Xihua Gate. Several guards wanted to stop him, but when they saw the pony,
The short guy on the horse thought for a moment and then stepped back. With the emperor's indulgence of his two young sons, this trivial matter in the galloping palace was nothing at all.
I think back then the queen...the deposed queen did not condone the eldest prince and the second prince to do this!
The fourth prince tentatively rode into the Xihua Gate and found that no one was stopping him. He immediately became bolder and pretended that Lu Chan's call from behind did not exist.
Although the riding skills are a bit unfamiliar, there may be a few horses in the palace that were selected at the emperor's request and have a bit of temperament, but those that are actually used by the emperor and princes like him for daily riding are not
They all have a docile personality and are particularly obedient.
Therefore, even though the fourth prince had such poor riding skills, he could still control this docile pony well. When he saw that he was approaching a small gate, he hurriedly stopped, and then clumsily jumped off the horse.
He rolled down on his back, and without caring about the little mount, he rushed to the small door as soon as he stood firm.
He looked around and saw the dark crowd of people in the square in the distance. Although it was far from the level of Fu Que, but after counting the number of people, he realized that this matter might be quite big.
Although he didn't understand what was going on, curiosity still drove the fourth prince to sneak out and tiptoe over there. Normally, even if he was small and inconspicuous, after all, such a big living person would not let him
People ignored him. But in today's situation, both parties' attention was all on each other, so no one noticed him at first.
As a result, the daring fourth prince actually smoothly approached to a place twenty or thirty steps away from the officials. Because he came from behind, he thought that no one else would notice him except the emperor.
But even so, for the sake of safety, he still honestly stopped when he found that his father and the ministers in front were in a stalemate.
The next moment, he heard a voice from the crowd.
"Your Majesty, the eldest prince and the second prince are of royal blood after all. Even if they are guilty, we can't let one of them live in Zongzheng Temple and the other in Qiongzhou Mansion to fend for themselves? What's more, the two of them are adults and have mentioned the matter of taking a concubine before.
Now it has suddenly stopped. If this spreads out, wouldn’t it be harmful..."
"What's the harm? It's harming my reputation?" The emperor angrily interrupted the grieving old minister and said impatiently, "I heard that there is a very good young girl in the family of old Aiqing. Do you also plan to imitate Yue Shan?"
Sir, are you willing to marry the eldest prince?"
It was actually about the eldest brother and the second brother? The fourth prince's eyes almost popped out of his head after hearing this. No matter how big a brat he was, he couldn't help but regret coming to join in the fun. However, he secretly stepped back.
After moving two steps, he saw the emperor's eyes looking towards him. Now his face turned pale, so he just stood there and looked at his nose and heart, not daring to move any more.
The emperor's extremely harsh rhetorical question indeed made the old minister freeze on the spot. But after all, he was a experienced man. The trembling old minister was just stunned for a moment, and then took a deep breath.
He said in one breath: "If your Majesty..."
"If not, I just said it casually, and you don't have to be so impassioned in pushing your little lady's daughter, who loves you as much as the apple of your eye, into the pit of fire!"
The emperor interrupted the old minister again with a tigerish face, and then looked at the rest of the people and said: "Since ancient times, descendants have commented that even if Emperor Taizu had achieved national justice, it was not without people writing some messy things behind his back.
What's more, I'm not afraid of being accused of being harsh on my sons, because I indulged them too much in the past, and that's why they grew crooked!"
"Now that it has grown into a crooked-necked tree, if more crooked-necked trees are raised for me, the long-term pain will be worse than the short-term pain! Dalang is completely hopeless. If Erlang is willing to give me a place in Qiongzhou Mansion,
He will stay here until the magic medicine for treating falciparum malaria is grown. At that time, he will still be my son. A prodigal son can never change his fortune, so he will naturally be worthy of a famous lady!"
Regarding the emperor's attitude that was obviously determined by the weight of the weight, Academician Kong had a headache, and the lingering premonition suddenly became stronger. Although he was not the chief minister, he was the highest-ranking minister in the cabinet today.
, had to stand up at that moment and raised their biggest question on behalf of the officials.
"Your Majesty, now that the eldest prince and the second prince have seen their crimes, if the East Palace is still as empty as before, the officialdom and the people may feel uneasy. Previously, the emperor never established a prince on the grounds that the East Palace was established early and there were constant disputes, but now we see
Come on, if I could get some people to cut off their unwanted thoughts as soon as possible, maybe what happened before would not happen."
This was an honest and fair statement condemning the emperor's actions. Wu Ge Lao asked himself, he would never dare to be so direct anyway. Zhang Yu, the bachelor with the most junior qualifications in the cabinet, opened his mouth, but in the end he did not dare to agree rashly.
The two ministers were silent. Although the courtiers gathered here today seemed to be majestic and high-spirited just now, they were all silent at this time.
Follow the Confucian scholar and accuse the emperor's ambiguous attitude as the root cause of the downfall of both princes? This is too shocking!
However, after the emperor was slightly stunned at the beginning, instead of becoming furious because of the accusation made by the great scholar Confucius, the emperor nodded slightly and said very calmly: "Kong Qing is right, I once criticized you.
As a biological mother, the concubine has no way of teaching her son, but if the son fails to teach, it is the father's fault. In fact, as a father, my sin is even greater."
"I deprived the eldest prince of his ancestral status before and did not complain to the ancestral temple. Now I will formally complain to the ancestral temple and personally apologize to the ancestors for the godson's wrongdoing." When he said this, the emperor said calmly.
There was a bit of ridicule on his face, "Or do you hope that I can issue an edict to punish myself?"
As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar. Even the great scholar Confucius, who had just been strong enough to question the emperor but was not blamed, could not stand anymore and immediately bowed down and said that he did not dare. So, the fourth prince only saw himself
The ministers in front of him suddenly became shorter. Being highlighted, he felt fear and anger in his heart.
What was frightening was that he actually encountered a scene where his father wanted to deal with his two brothers mercilessly - although the two brothers were not familiar with him at all, not only had he not experienced brotherly love, but he had also experienced deep hostility.
What he was angry about was that when the queen was still the queen, her father had ordered the two of them to move to the East Pavilion to study, but the queen turned a deaf ear and refused to let them go. She even claimed that as long as she was the queen for one day, she would
Protecting the two sons from being bullied... Not to mention that the eldest prince and the second prince are the best in everything from teachers to everything.
At this moment, he even wanted to yell, why did his father treat them badly, and why did he have to sue the ancestral temple to apologize to his ancestors!
But when the emperor faced the ministers who were kneeling on the ground, he did not personally help anyone up. Later, there was a good show where the emperor and his ministers cleared up their old grudges. He just looked at the back of each one's head quietly for a long time before saying a word.
One sentence said: "I still have two sons now, and the concubine in the palace is already pregnant with Liujia. If it is a boy, then by God's luck, I will have another son."
"But the seat of the East Palace will no longer be vacant. The third prince is of noble character, gentle and virtuous, and is worthy of the East Palace. The Ministry of Rites went to look up the ceremony for the canonization of the prince, and then drafted a simple yet solemn ceremony for me to see.
"
The fourth prince stood there blankly for a long time before he came back from his trance and suddenly realized that his father wanted to make his third brother the prince! Although he had been well protected by the emperor since he was a child
, his only shortcomings are pampering and impulsiveness, but that doesn’t mean he really doesn’t understand those grown-up things.
In the past, he had whispered with the third prince, and he was worried about what would happen to them if one of the eldest prince and the second prince became the prince. But now, these two mountains have been moved away, and he is the best friend.
My favorite third brother is going to be the prince!
The fourth prince, who had fully awakened, suddenly waved his fist to the sky in excitement, and then turned around and ran away without caring about the occasion. When the emperor saw him running wildly with joy, a look of confusion appeared on his face.
There was a faint smile, but then, the smile turned into a trace of sadness.
He clearly remembered that when he was young and swore to take over the country in front of his seriously ill father, the equally young King Lu innocently asked him that it would be great for his brother to become emperor. What would happen in the future?
Can I have anything I want? What did he answer categorically at that time? It seemed like a completely unthought-through promise - of course, you can have anything you want!
But later, the younger brother he watched growing up wanted not only gold and silver beauty, but also his country and his life.
I just hope that his sons will not repeat the fate of their fathers...