In the Qianyuan Palace, Emperor Chengtai sat on the throne in the middle with a serious face. Cai Qingnian, the chief eunuch, stood behind the emperor, and several confidant eunuchs guarded the various doors in the palace.
Pingjun Wang Fengkuan knelt before the case.
"Do you have anything to say to me?" Emperor Chengtai asked Fengkuan in a flat tone.
Feng Kuan lowered his eyebrows and lowered his eyes, his lips pursed slightly. Then he took a deep breath: "I do have something I want to ask the emperor: Concubine Shen did such a thing, and now she has confessed herself, how will the emperor deal with Concubine Shen?"
Emperor Chengtai asked him back: "How do you want me to deal with her?"
Feng Kuan gritted his teeth slightly: "She harmed my biological mother, my younger brother, and my father and prince's heirs. Such a serious crime, death is not an exaggeration, right?"
Emperor Chengtai shook his head without hesitation: "No matter what she has done, she is your aunt after all. You shouldn't be the one to say the words of killing her. If you say it, it's over.
"Besides, before your father died, he begged me to spare her, and I promised your father to spare her life. You can't be dishonest, so no matter what, I will never give her to death. You don't have to Thinking about something like this."
Feng Kuan felt even more resentful, and he clenched his fists involuntarily, trying to restrain himself from too radical actions and words.
"Is it just letting her go like this? Is it okay to let her continue to be a concubine?" He said in a depressed tone, "If that's the case, wouldn't my birth mother and my younger brother die in vain?"
Emperor Chengtai was silent for a long time before he said: "Zhen will issue an order to order Mrs. Shen to go to Puhui Temple to become a monk and practice. This is the upper limit of punishment for her."
Feng Kuan was still a little unwilling, but he had no choice but to close his mouth and not speak.
Emperor Chengtai watched him silently for a long time, seeing him kneeling there upright, with no intention of confessing anything to himself, deep disappointment welled up in his heart.
"Don't you have anything else to say to me?" He wanted to give Feng Kuan one last chance.
Feng Kuan gritted his teeth, knowing what the emperor was referring to.
But he really didn't want to admit it, and he really couldn't admit it, so he said: "The emperor wants to punish Concubine Shen lightly, and I have nothing to say."
Emperor Chengtai's face completely sank, and he was extremely disappointed.
He turned his head and looked away from Feng Kuan, took a few long breaths, and when he calmed down a bit, he looked at Feng Kuan again, and said expressionlessly: "Since you have nothing to say, come here ask you!
"You just said: Concubine Shen made your father and prince weak, so I should give Concubine Shen to death. Then, you conspired to assassinate your third brother and blame your second brother. If you have no brotherly love, what kind of punishment should you receive?"
Feng Kuan looked at Emperor Chengtai with horror on his face: "Why did your majesty say such a thing? I have always been aloof from the world. Although I can't say that I have a brotherly affection for my second and third younger brothers, I would never do such a thing."
Emperor Chengtai hooked the corners of his mouth sarcastically: "Do you think I'm just talking in the open, and charge you without any evidence
"That Yuan Cheng is not only the remnants of King Li, but also the admirer of your biological mother, Concubine Zhou. After the death of Concubine Zhou, Yuan Cheng disappeared without a trace. When you were 15 years old, he reappeared in the capital and enshrined Zhou Concubine. I have told you the real cause of my concubine's death.
"Later, Yuan Cheng would come to the capital every one or two years to meet you in secret at Pu'an Temple. Am I wrong?"
When Emperor Chengtai revealed the relationship between Yuan Cheng and Concubine Zhou, Feng Kuan felt a real and strong sense of fear, and cold sweat began to break out on his forehead.
"Your Majesty, there is absolutely no such thing!" Feng Kuan said loudly, still resolutely refusing to admit it, "I wonder who the Emperor has listened to? I am willing to confront this person!"
Emperor Chengtai couldn't help but began to grit his teeth.
His nostrils dilated involuntarily, his lips were tightly pursed, and his breathing became a little short.
But after all, he is a very deep person in the city, and he didn't express the anger in his heart.
Taking a few deep breaths, I calmed down my emotions, and said very coldly: "For the sake of your father, I will spare your life this time. If you dare to do anything wrong again, I will have to sacrifice you to save your life." Jiangshan Sheji and the other descendants of the sixth brother. Get lost! I don't want to see you again."
Feng Kuan gritted his teeth, and did not defend himself, nor did he say a few soft words of pleading.
After saluting to Emperor Chengtai, he stepped back three steps according to etiquette, and then left Qianyuan Palace without looking back.
Seeing his back disappearing outside the palace gate, Emperor Chengtai suddenly felt tightness in his chest and tired heart.
For so many years, he has been fighting those rebellious officials and thieves, and has been doing his best to protect the flesh and blood of the sixth brother.
But now, the remaining three children of the sixth brother are still caught in the battle between brothers.
He watched helplessly, but could do nothing about the situation. This feeling is really bad.
He thought of his two nominal sons again.
That is also the flesh and blood of the sixth brother!
During the time of the first emperor, he and his sixth brother were forced to take the road of succession by the grievances and grievances of the previous generation.
Among his brothers, the eldest son of the emperor was the descendant of Empress Chen, who was named the crown prince, but was later deposed as the king of Li; Later, he was named Prince Zhuang, and his sixth brother was named Prince Ying.
In the palace, the empress family and concubine Hui family were facing each other. After his mother and concubine Ying were elected to the palace, they were extremely favored by the late emperor and became the common enemy of the two forces.
Under the attack of two forces, his mother and concubine struggled to survive by relying on the favor of the late emperor, and gave birth to three sons and a daughter, but only he and his sixth brother survived.
The day-to-day battles in the palace made the enmity between their lineage and the other two lines deeper and deeper, and it was impossible to resolve it.
There are only two paths before him and his sixth brother: either ascend to the throne, or let others slaughter them. He didn't want to be slaughtered, so he had to fight for that position.
He was twenty-three years old when he knew he had been sterilized.
After many years of marriage, none of his wives and concubines became pregnant, so he knew something was wrong.
He quietly found two reliable private doctors for diagnosis and treatment, and then he realized that he would never have a child of his own in this life.
At that time, there was a feeling that the sky was falling apart.
He was extremely resentful.
Although he didn't know exactly when and by whom he was plotted against, but those two lines of people could do this kind of murder to him.
On the one hand, he wants to avenge himself, and on the other hand, he wants to seek a bright future for his mother, concubine and younger brother. He can only fight those two families to the end.
Considering that he would never have an heir, he wanted to push his sixth brother to the throne.
The sixth younger brother was only thirteen years old at the time, with a rough but fine temperament, but he hated literature and martial arts, was extremely impatient with those palace battles and government affairs, and was unwilling to live or die.
In order to avoid him, the sixth younger brother went on a hunger strike and sat in meditation for two days and one night in front of the Qianyuan Palace, begging his father to allow him to go to the army.
He was a little cold at the time, but he didn't stop the sixth brother.
On the one hand, he was thinking about the issue of military power, and on the other hand, he was also thinking: It would be good for the sixth younger brother to avoid the right and wrong in Beijing, which is also a kind of preservation, lest the sixth younger brother be accidentally plotted against.
After the sixth brother went to the army, he did not return to Beijing for several years.
It is said that he mingled with a group of young officers and privates all day long, eating and living with him. Yang Jingyue's father had a very good relationship with the sixth brother at that time.
When the battle for the heir apparent was at its most intense, he was nearly forty and childless, and his decline became more and more obvious.
In desperation, he proposed the matter of "borrowing seeds" to his sixth brother.
The monitoring of the royal blood is very strict. It is completely impossible to pretend to be pregnant if you are not pregnant, and then hold a child from outside to pretend to be your own child during childbirth. It was even more impossible for him to be stared at by those two departments at that time.
Therefore, if he wants "his" child, he can only let "his" wives and concubines conceive and have children, and he can only "borrow seeds".
Sixth Brother thought it was absurd at first.
But in the end, for their mother and concubine, and for his own children to have a better future, he still agreed.
This matter, he planned very carefully.
Under the pretext of repairing the mansion, he secretly built a tunnel leading to the guest courtyard next door in the main house of a courtyard named Grape Yard, and moved into the Vineyard for a long-term stay, and no one else was allowed to disturb him.
Later, Empress Wei, who was still Princess Zhuang at that time, carefully selected four maids who were docile and timid but had the appearance of a suitable child, and were promoted to Tongfang.
In that year, the old Prince Ying spent much more time in Prince Zhuang's mansion than in his own mansion.
The place where he lives every night is naturally that authentic guest house.
At night, Prince Zhuang often called those servants to bed, and turned off the lights when they entered the room. He also pretended to have special hobbies, blindfolded the girls' eyes and tied their hands, so as not to let the girls find out the truth.
In fact, the one who had intercourse with these maids was naturally Prince Laoying, and Emperor Chengtai had never touched any of the four maids.
Later, three of the four concubines became pregnant one after another, and he finally had "his" child.
After having a son, he stabilized his camp and recovered a little bit of decline.
But he has no time to strive for more advantages. A sudden change of seizing the palace, thanks to the group of life and death brothers formed by the sixth younger brother in the army, he was able to break through the siege and turn defeat into victory.
What made him extremely ashamed and regretful was that the sixth younger brother was involved in that palace change.
He has always believed that his throne should belong to the sixth brother, and it will definitely be passed on to the sixth brother's children in the future.
However, although he tried his best to protect the three children raised by the sixth brother under his name, two sons still died young.
Fengxuan, the eldest son of the emperor who was posthumously crowned as the Crown Prince of Mourning, died of a cold when he was just over two years old. A wind and cold killed a child just like that!
Feng Rong, the second son of the emperor who was posthumously named the Prince of Sorrow, was born in an abnormal fetal position and had dystocia. Although the imperial physician tried his best to treat him, he failed to make him live to the full moon.
Now, only Feng Kuan, Feng Shi and Feng Liao are left as the sixth brother's sons, each of which is extremely precious, and he absolutely does not want any loss!
"Come here! Xuanzong's mansion's patriarchal order, left and right Zongzheng, the scholars of the Xuanzong cabinet, the six ministers, the five temple ministers, the capital censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the academicians of the Hanlin Academy come to the palace to have an audience!"