The prince of Huainan, Xiao Shaozong, walked to the center of the hall and knelt down to the emperor. As soon as he knelt down, the little emperor leaned forward slightly, raised his hand and said: "Quickly... get straight!"
However, Xiao Shaozong still bowed respectfully. After standing up, he saw that the ministers were looking at each other, but Xiao Shaozong looked calm.
The ministers thought that although Xiao Shaozong was a member of the royal family, he was still considered guilty. The King of Huainan rebelled. Although the young emperor did not severely punish Xiao Shaozong, as the eldest son of the King of Huainan, Xiao Shaozong naturally could not escape his identity as the son of the guilty minister. In fact, there were many people in the court who were once kings of Huainan, headed by Dou Kui, the Minister of Household Affairs.
After King Huainan committed suicide, Sima Lan wanted to use the imperial mausoleum as an opportunity to kill all the members of King Huainan. However, the young emperor obviously did not want to see such a situation. If the power of the imperial court against the Sima family was eradicated, The Sima family was now the dominant one and had no more power to check and balance, so they immediately appointed Qi Ning as the Minister of Punishment. The purpose was naturally to keep as many officials as possible who had followed the King of Huainan.
Dou Kui and others naturally saw the emperor's intention, and immediately defected to the Jinyi Qi family.
Qi Ning may not want to form a clique with this group of people, but it is in the interest of the emperor and even the Jinyi Qi family to maintain the power that is the enemy of the Sima family, so Qi Ning will naturally not refuse.
Dou Kui and others were naturally surprised when they saw the Prince of Huainan suddenly come to court today.
Dou Kui was once a capable general under the King of Huainan. He visited the Huainan King's Palace frequently and naturally saw Xiao Shaozong often. His son Dou Lianzhong also had a good personal relationship with Xiao Shaozong. At this time, when he saw Xiao Shaozong standing in the main hall, his expression was quite serious. complex.
The Huainan Palace was confiscated, but the palace itself was still left for Xiao Shaozong to live in. However, everyone in the court knew that Xiao Shaozong was actually under house arrest in the palace. After all, Xiao Shaozong was terminally ill and would not live long, so the palace was waiting to be a prison for him.
"Your Majesty, there is a zhezi here, but you sent someone to present it?" The eunuch in charge of the ceremony winked at the eunuch next to him. The eunuch immediately held a zhezi, walked quickly to Xiao Shaozong, and handed it to Xiao Shaozong. Xiao Shaozong, Xiao Shaozong took the folder, opened it, glanced at it a few times, and said: "This is what the guilty minister presented to the emperor!"
The ministers were even more surprised, thinking to themselves that Xiao Shaozong was under house arrest in the palace, how could he still give trouble to the emperor? But I don’t know what’s in his book
The emperor coughed and then said: "You said you have something to present... to me, and you have to do it in front of the entire court... all the civil and military officials of the court. I summon you into the palace today. What do you have to present?" His voice sounded. A little hoarse, the ministers thought that the emperor was indeed ill.
But what the ministers were more confused about was what Xiao Shaozong had to present to the emperor, and in front of the entire court.
Xiao Shaozong took out a fold from his arms. Everyone was even more surprised when they saw that there was red paint on the corner of the fold.
Dotted with red paint, it represents the secret among secrets. Since it is a secret that needs to be folded, I wonder why Xiao Shaozong took it out in front of the civil and military officials of the court
But they only saw Xiao Shaozong presenting the secret fold to the eunuch standing aside. The eunuch carefully held the secret fold and sent it to the Jinluan Palace. Xiao Shaozong had already said: "Your Majesty, here is a secret order, which was also given before the death of the late emperor." , hand it over to the father personally, and ask for the Holy Spirit’s clear judgment!”
As soon as these words came out, Chao Shang immediately caused a wave of excitement.
No one thought that before his death, the late emperor would give King Huainan a secret decree. No one in the civil and military dynasties knew about it.
Even more people were wondering, secretly thinking that before the death of the late Emperor, he ordered Sima Lan to change the city defense and move the Black Knife Battalion into the city. At that time, everyone knew very well that it was to prevent King Huainan from taking the opportunity to cause chaos.
The late emperor was in critical condition at the time, and Jin Shang, who was still just the crown prince at the time, was sent as an envoy to Eastern Qi. Once the late emperor died suddenly and the new emperor was unable to ascend the throne immediately, serious problems would naturally arise.
The country cannot live without a king for a day. All the ministers in the court know that King Huainan has always been jealous of the throne. No one can guarantee that King Huainan will not take advantage of the situation. As the eldest son of Emperor Taizu, King Huainan can also be regarded as the king. He has a good foundation and is qualified to inherit the throne.
Since the late emperor made arrangements before his death to prevent King Huainan from usurping the throne, how could he leave a secret order to King Huainan
What is the purpose of this secret order
The officials were suspicious. The eunuch in charge of the ceremony had already received the secret order and presented it to the little emperor. The little emperor opened the fold and took a closer look. The Fengtian Palace was silent at this time. After a while, they saw the little emperor handing the fold to the official. Eunuch: "Read it!"
The eunuch in charge of the ceremony took the secret order, opened it, and said loudly: "My secret order: The King of Huainan is of the same blood as me, and he will be loyal to the king and serve the country. In the future, the Sima family will be rebellious, and he will ask the Huainan King to protect the country and the king, and kill the Sima family. , admire this!”
All the officials in Fengtian Palace were stunned, and many even thought that there was something wrong with their ears.
When the King of Huainan offered sacrifices to the imperial mausoleum, he made arrangements in advance and arranged assassins to disguise themselves as Taoist priests from Longhu Mountain in order to assassinate Sima Lan and seize power. Although the assassins arranged at that time did not directly assassinate the emperor, they set up an ambush in the imperial mausoleum. Even bribed the tomb guards, this is a definite act of rebellion.
King Huainan's achievements failed and he committed suicide. Afterwards, the emperor directly designated King Huainan as a rebel. It can be said that the rebellion in the imperial mausoleum has been concluded.
But at this time, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony read out the secret order in the court. If the real behind-the-scenes instigation of the Imperial Mausoleum Incident was the former emperor, if this was indeed the case, then the King of Huainan was not a treasonous minister, but was actually trying to protect the country. A loyal minister who stood up to Emperor Quan of Chu.
No one expected that Xiao Shaozong would come up with such a secret order today.
After a period of silence, he suddenly saw Dou Kui, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, kneeling down in line: "Your Majesty, the King of Huainan has rebelled in his mausoleum. Although it has been concluded... if this secret order is really left by the late emperor, then what King Huainan did is unreasonable. He was ordered by the late emperor, and not only was he not treason, but he was slaying traitors for the country!"
"Your Majesty, on the day of the Imperial Mausoleum Incident, I was also present." Another official came out from among the ministers and knelt on the ground: "I remember very clearly that the goal of King Huainan that day was indeed to eradicate Sima Lan, coincident with this secret order, although he deployed troops without authorization when offering sacrifices to the imperial mausoleum, but with the late emperor's secret order, King Huainan acted in accordance with the order, and it must not be rebellion."
When the ministers saw the two people standing out, they knew that they were originally members of King Huainan's party.
These two people obviously saw an opportunity to clear King Huainan of the crime of rebellion, and immediately stood up, saying that they were dedicated to defending King Huainan's rebellion, but that was not entirely true.
Everyone in the court knew that Dou Kui and his gang were very close to the King of Huainan, and they were not defeated because of the efforts of the emperor and Qining. However, no one can guarantee that no one may be implicated in the rebellion of the King of Huainan again in the future. to this gang.
Dou Kui and other members of the Huainan King's old party knew very well that as long as the Huainan King could not be cleared of the charge of rebellion, there would always be a sharp sword hanging over his head, and no one knew when the sharp sword would fall. The king's gang members are enough to make these remaining old gang members fall from power one after another.
If we can rely on this secret order to clear the name of King Huainan today, from now on, Dou Kui and others will not only not have to worry about being held accountable, but will actually become extremely loyal ministers by cooperating with King Huainan to eliminate the traitors.
It is easy to figure out the mysteries of being an official in the court. At that time, four or five officials stood up to cry out for the injustice of the King of Huainan.
"Your Majesty, before the Incident of the Imperial Mausoleum, the Sima clan was doing evil in both the government and the public. Sima Lan even took over the power to exclude dissidents in the court." An official of the Huainan King's old party said loudly: "The prince was worried day and night at that time. He was worried The Sima family is so powerful that one day it will threaten the emperor and even seek to usurp the throne. Therefore, the prince has been trying to find ways to eradicate the traitors. Although the ministers do not know that the late emperor left a secret order to the prince, they also know that Sima Lan is arrogant and domineering and must not be surrendered. This traitor acted recklessly in the court, so everyone supported the prince to step forward and eliminate traitors for the court. The prince must have seen that the Sima family was becoming more and more domineering, so he arranged a plan to eradicate the traitor when offering sacrifices to the imperial mausoleum. It is a pity that …!”
All the ministers in the palace were watching a few officials pleading guilty for the Huainan King, secretly thinking that Dou Kui and the others seemed to be really planning to turn the imperial mausoleum rebellion case completely over at the court meeting.
Suddenly, Lu Xiao, the Minister of War, came out and knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, I have never heard that the late emperor left a secret order to King Huainan. Today, the prince suddenly brought out the secret order. I am really surprised. The case of King Huainan has been Conclusion, if this secret order is true, we will naturally have to re-investigate, otherwise...!" He glanced at Xiao Shaozong, who had been silent, and then continued: "I thought that we must first confirm the authenticity of this secret order."
Dou Kui turned to look at Lu Xiao, frowned and said, "Master Lu, do you mean to say that the secret order that the Crown Prince produced is fake?"
"I didn't say that, but the matter is serious and it is natural to confirm it again and again." Lu Xiao said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I have something to ask. I wonder if Your Majesty is willing to answer?"
Xiao Shaozong nodded slightly and said, "Master Lu, feel free to ask."
"The Crown Prince said that this secret order was handed over to the King of Huainan by the late Emperor himself." Lu Xiao stared at Xiao Shaozong and said, "Then why is this secret order in the hands of the Crown Prince now? The late Emperor's secret order is naturally kept strictly confidential, and the fewer people know about it, The better, when did King Huainan give you this secret order?"
Xiao Shaozong's voice was very calm and calm: "Before the death of the late emperor, he summoned his father. Mr. Lu can investigate whether his father entered the palace at that time. This secret order was exactly when his father entered the palace. I personally handed it over to my father. I had never known the existence of this secret order until the night before my father left for the imperial mausoleum. He gave this secret order to me and told me that as long as Sima was in court, Sun, I cannot open the four-character secret order and read it for a day, unless the Sima clan is killed one day, then I can open the secret order!"