One hundred and five
The rebellion lasted for more than ten hours, from day to late night and then to dawn of the next day.
You Shu was exhausted and nearly dropped the sword in his hand several times. He was supported by Xiao Weixin. The rebels were numerous and all wanted to survive, so they tried their best and struggled like trapped beasts. They were unable to resist for a while.
Fortunately, reinforcements finally arrived at dawn.
Xiao Weiming, wearing a scarlet battle robe, led an army of 50,000 to attack. Just then, the first ray of sunlight in the morning shone on him. His armor reflected the sunlight, and he looked like a god of war bathed in holy light, majestic and awe-inspiring.
It took only half an hour for the reinforcements to wipe out the remaining defeated troops, leaving no one alive. The culprit Xia Maoan and his followers were all captured alive. The ground outside the Taiqing Palace was covered with blood and the corpses were piled high. Xiao Weiming dismounted and walked carefully to Xiao Weixin, kneeling on one knee: "I am too late."
Xiao Weixin raised his hand to wipe the blood off his face, then reached out to help him up: "It's good that you're here."
"You guys clean up here, and the rest of you follow me into the hall."
After that, he looked back at You Shu and asked in a low voice: "Can you still hold on?"
You Shu shook his already numb hands, put the sword back into the scabbard and replied, "Of course."
So, they led a team of elite soldiers into the Taiqing Palace to search, but they couldn't find Xiao Weishen. "Did he run away?"
You Shu was a little confused, but the Taiqing Palace was so small, where could he run to
Xiao Weixin stood in the hall for a while with a gloomy look on his face, and then immediately sent people to search all over the palace. He originally wanted to take the opportunity to kill Xiao Weishen in the chaos, and then naturally put the blame on Xia Maoan. But now Xiao Weishen was not in the hall, so it was not convenient for him to take advantage of the situation.
At the same time, several teams were sent out to look for the emperor. You Shu thought for a while and suddenly asked, "How about we go to the Imperial Garden to take a look?"
"Imperial Garden?" Xiao Weixin turned around, "He wouldn't be so stupid as to go there."
But in the original novel, Xiao Weishen was indeed killed there, right under the canna tree that was originally planted with the Empress Xianfei's favorite canna during her lifetime. Although the background and environment are different, You Shu wondered if he might still be there.
"Let's go check it out. There's no one here anyway. We've even searched the secret passage."
Xiao Weixin was not in a good mood, but he still listened to You Shu's advice and went to the Imperial Garden without much hope. The road to the Imperial Garden was also full of rebel corpses, and the smell of blood was overwhelming. You Shu couldn't help but cover his mouth and nose as he walked forward, thinking that even if he flushed the place with water for three days, he couldn't get rid of the smell.
After walking for half an incense stick of time, they finally arrived at the Imperial Garden. Xiao Weixin asked people to disperse and search, and he walked in holding You Shu's hand. The Imperial Garden in the daytime was much more beautiful than at night. This place had not been destroyed by the rebels, so the flowers, plants and trees were almost intact, swaying in the cold wind.
A little further in, they saw two people in the middle of the garden.
The queen was sitting opposite the table, her face expressionless and expressionless, and the person sitting opposite her was the Xiao Weishen that everyone was looking for.
"Here!" You Shu couldn't help but remind the others loudly, "Come here!"
Xiao Weixin calmed himself down, walked up to Xiao Weishen, and asked tentatively, "Royal brother?"
However, Xiao Weishen, who was sitting with his back to him, did not reply. Xiao Weishen silently tightened the dagger in his sleeve and took two steps forward. The man still did not move. You Shu sensed something was wrong and pushed him hard. The man in the bright yellow dragon robe fell to the ground like a pool of soft meat.
It turned out that the person was already dead.
Xiao Weixin squatted down and turned the man over. It was indeed Xiao Weishen, but his face was purple and his lips were black and blue, and he looked like he had been poisoned.
Someone killed Xiao Weishen before him.
You Shu subconsciously looked at the queen who had never spoken. The queen noticed his gaze and slowly turned around to look at him. After a long while, she said, "I killed him."
It was impossible not to be shocked. You Shu almost thought she was crazy.
Even a three-year-old child knows what it means to her to kill her own husband, who was the king of a country, with her own hands. Even if she wanted to cooperate with her father, there was no need for her to do it herself. This would leave a bad reputation, and I'm afraid that future generations will scold her.
Xiao Weixin looked up at her and asked coldly, "What do you mean?"
"It's nothing." The queen slowly stood up from the stool, the phoenix crown on her head swaying gently with her movements. She raised her hand to take off the phoenix crown and threw it on the ground, her eyebrows drooping as if she was surrendering: "I have nothing to say."
Perhaps no one in this world could understand what she was thinking. She knew that her father had been defeated in battle and had killed the current emperor with her own hands, but there was still no sign of loss or fear on her face. She was as dull as a fake person.
You Shu watched her being taken away and said blankly, "She... is a very strange person."
Xiao Weixin did not reply. He just stared at Xiao Weishen, who was already dead on the ground. His face was calm. He held the dagger in his sleeve for a long time before he said softly, "It's a pity that I can't do it myself."
"It's a pity." You Shu sighed, "But this way you won't have to bear the crime of killing your brother, and future generations will naturally not be able to find any evidence to write nonsense about."
Even if Xiao Weixin had made full preparations to get out of this with a clean conscience, if someone wanted to deliberately discredit him in the future and found any clues, it would be disadvantageous to him. It would be better to be like this now, with all actions clean and reasonable, and without any stain on his hands.
The Queen's move was simply to pave a bright road for Xiao Weixin to sit on the throne, relieving him of all worries.
Maybe she really had feelings for him.
You Shu thought silently.
Although the fact that the queen killed the emperor with her own hands shocked everyone, it made sense once they thought of her identity. The Xia family must have thought they were infallible, so the father and daughter cooperated with each other, one rebelled in the palace, and the other poisoned her husband to ensure that she could rest assured when she ascended the throne in the future. This was too cruel.
Without the emperor in charge, the palace is now in urgent need of establishing a new emperor, and the candidates are very limited.
Among the remaining princes who were qualified to be selected, Prince Yong Xiao Weijing was the first to announce his withdrawal and guaranteed that Prince Ling would take the throne. Prince Qin was even more willing to support his brother. Two of the three princes left by the previous emperor agreed with Prince Ling. The court officials did not dare to say anything, not to mention that Prince Ling had indeed made great contributions in protecting the emperor in quelling the rebellion.
Next, the Yang brothers and sisters, as subjects, were the first to express their loyalty to Prince Ling, and among the civil officials, Shen Qingyu was the leader, and they volunteered to assist the new emperor to ascend the throne. After all, the country cannot be without a monarch for a day, and someone has to come out to manage the government.
The remaining ministers looked at each other, and except for the particularly stubborn old ministers, almost all of them supported Prince Ling's ascension to the throne.
The final decision was to keep the king.
As the brother of the late emperor, Prince Liu has been keeping a low profile over the years and rarely appeared in the public eye. However, this time he personally came out to establish the new emperor. He has always been prestigious in the court and is the uncle of several princes. He has a high say in who can sit on the throne.
With him speaking, King Ling's position was legitimate.
The matter was settled in the presence of hundreds of civil and military officials.
Although time is tight, everything still has to be done according to the rules, and nothing can be missing from the documents of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. Xiao Weixin, as the future emperor, will temporarily stay in the East Palace until the Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of Rites have finalized all the procedures, and then he will be officially recognized.
Emergency edicts were issued one after another. All officials, big and small, knew that the world would soon change its ruler, and the people also knew that the dynasty would change.
The bloodbath in the palace took a long time to clean up, so they could only repaint the walls when the weather was clear and cover up those shameful things. All the things were replaced with new ones, but the layout was almost the same as before. At first glance, you would think nothing had changed, but everything had changed.
Naturally, You Shu also had to live in the East Palace, and his bedroom was arranged in Xiao Weixin's bedroom. Xiao Weixin never thought of hiding it, and openly declared his love and care for him to everyone, without avoiding anyone.
You Shu felt both happy and enlightened. He knew that Xiao Weixin was indeed a responsible lover, but he was afraid of what others would think of him, especially the civil officials, who would surely angrily accuse him of being the new emperor but having a special liking for one man.
He stood under the high wall and looked up at the sky. He didn't feel it when he was in the palace before, but when he arrived at the imperial palace and really stood there to look, he realized that the wall was really high. It was difficult to climb up even with light skills. Even if he climbed up, he could still see endless red walls and green tiles. It seemed as if there would never be an end in sight.
If nothing unexpected happens, he might be trapped behind this high wall for the next few decades of his life.
But thinking about it carefully, it seems that there is no difference. The palace is just a smaller cage. It's just that he felt that he was not free before, but now he is free by choice. He can't get freedom, and Xiao Weixin doesn't have it either. He can't bear to let him sit alone.
There was suddenly a fox fur coat on his shoulders, and You Shu knew who it was without turning around.
"Why are you standing here alone?" Xiao Weixin said in a reproachful tone, "Didn't I tell you to rest in the house?"
You Shu turned around and smiled at him. The sharpness between his brows disappeared in an instant. "I'm looking at the sky. It's a good day today."
"That's right." Xiao Weixin put his arm around his shoulders and looked up with him.
There was a clear sky above, and although they could only see a small part of the world, they could imagine its vastness.
"In three days, I will ascend the throne." Xiao Weixin suddenly said.
The Ministry of Rites finally drafted the document after great effort, and the Imperial Household Department almost ran out of steam before rushing to make a suitable dragon robe. Everything was almost ready.
It's only been ten days and the position will have a new owner.
"Yeah..." You Shu sighed, "We are about to celebrate our first New Year in the palace."
The second day after he ascended the throne was New Year’s Day, which had a really good meaning.