On the third day of June, when it was still dark, horses galloped out of the capital city, carrying official documents announcing the death of the previous emperor and the succession of the crown prince to local government offices and princes' relatives.
Henan is adjacent to the capital, and within a day, the news spread throughout Henan. Officials and civilians all knew about it, and from then on they changed into plain clothes and began to observe the national mourning.
Among them, Runing Prefecture is located in the southernmost part of Henan Province. King Jing, who was enfeoffed here, only received the official document in the afternoon.
Prince Jing was the half-brother of Emperor Jingshun and the uncle of the Huayang siblings.
King Jing is forty-seven years old this year. Although he is not young, he is good at martial arts and keeps fit. He is tall and strong, and is quite majestic in the local area.
Upon hearing the tragic news of Emperor Jingshun's death, the tall and majestic Prince Jing fainted on the spot. After waking up after being pinched on the Ren Zhong point by his close confidants, Prince Jing wailed incessantly, and even the neighbors could hear his cries.
After crying enough, King Jing was helped to his room to rest.
When night fell, King Jing immediately called several aides in the palace to his study to discuss important matters in secret.
"The new emperor is young, and the people in the capital are unstable. It is a godsend opportunity for Your Majesty to take action now!"
"I'm afraid Chen Tingjian is not that easy to deal with."
"He is an old civil servant. He can use his power to bully others in times of peace and prosperity. As long as our army marches northward and captures the capital, the cabinet will have to hand over the little emperor and submit to the prince!"
"If you start a rebellion, you must have a name. Otherwise, it would be an unjust army. How can you win over local officials and generals?"
The staff were talking about the matter. Some were eager to raise the banner of rebellion immediately, while others were very cautious and thought that more planning was needed.
King Jing lowered his eyes, actually he had something in mind.
From the day he became a vassal, he had harbored the ambition to fight for the throne, but when he first arrived at the palace, he only had 300 personal soldiers and no foundation at all.
Over the past twenty years, King Jing has been accumulating wealth while carefully recruiting soldiers. He has raised an elite force of 50,000 people using the names of escort agencies and farm guards scattered across Henan. He is cautious enough to only control the leaders. The 50,000 elite soldiers have no idea that they are their real master, but once he starts a rebellion, these 50,000 people will definitely support him.
In addition, King Jing also raised a secret guard, ordering them to monitor important officials in Henan and search for evidence of their corruption or other secrets that could not be made public, especially the three local tyrants in charge of Henan: the governor, the provincial judge, and the commander-in-chief. No matter how many times the court was replaced, as long as they were human, there would always be shortcomings.
Like the three officials who were in charge of Henan at that time, the Governor Zhang Tai appeared to be righteous but was actually lustful and had an affair with his wife's young stepmother; the Censor Yang Mingguang kept himself clean but his own father was doing evil things in his hometown.
The most important person was Guo Jixian, the commander-in-chief who commanded more than 90,000 soldiers in 17 garrisons in Henan.
Guo Jixian is a great general, otherwise he would not be valued by Chen Tingjian and transferred here.
Guo Jixian had almost no faults that could be exploited by others, and he was not interested in power, money, or sex.
Coincidentally, when Guo Jixian was still a young boy, he followed his mother and sister to flee to Runing. In order to support her son, his mother sold his sister to the palace as a maid. Later, because of her outstanding beauty, she was favored by King Jing and was made a concubine.
When King Jing favored Guo, three years had passed since Guo and her son Guo Jixian were separated. Even if King Jing wanted to help his concubine find her family, he didn't know where to look.
Guo Jixian always remembered this sister, the one who used her own money to exchange for silver to buy food.
After his mother died, Guo Jixian served in the army in the border areas. As time passed, Guo Jixian grew from a young soldier to a general.
The higher his official rank, the more Guo Jixian understood that he must not let the court know that he, a general, was related to a vassal king by marriage, so Guo Jixian never revealed to anyone that he had a sister who was a concubine in Prince Jing's mansion.
When Guo Jixian took over the post of Commander-in-Chief of Henan, King Jing had long forgotten that Guo's brother, who had been separated from her for many years, also had the same name. It was one time when he accidentally mentioned the new Commander-in-Chief in front of Guo that Guo suddenly became so excited that tears welled up in her eyelashes. She insisted on confirming whether this Commander-in-Chief was her biological brother.
King Jing suddenly saw a great opportunity.
It was not easy for him to leave his fiefdom, so it was feasible for Guo to disguise herself as an ordinary woman. Guo went to see Guo Jixian, and the brother and sister hugged each other and cried, and recognized each other secretly.
But King Jing did not contact Guo Jixian immediately. Relying on their marriage relationship and the three children born to Guo, King Jing believed that as long as he went to find Guo Jixian, Guo Jixian would submit to him. Otherwise, Guo Jixian would face the dilemma of his sister and nephew suffering and the court being suspicious of him.
Now he has all the soldiers and generals he wants, all he lacks is the ability to supply the army with food and wages, and a target to face the imperial court head-on!
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Three days later, King Jing came to Luoyang secretly and asked to see his good nephew, King Yu, the eldest son of Emperor Jingshun and the elder brother of the new emperor!
Prince Yu was very sad these days. Although his father refused to make him the eldest son the crown prince, he had always been resentful in his heart. But now that his father was gone, he would be without a father. If Empress Dowager Qi wanted to deal with him, he would have no father to protect him.
Although he was sad, Prince Yu still summoned a wealthy businessman with great expectations when he heard that the businessman wanted to present him with treasures.
The rich businessman looked handsome, and Prince Yu was even more convinced that he had a great treasure.
Prince Jing was also looking at Prince Yu. Seeing that the 25-year-old Prince Yu already had the big belly of a 52-year-old, with a fat head and big ears, Prince Jing first thought of Concubine Lin.
He had met Concubine Lin, a beautiful but stupid woman. He had heard that Prince Yu was not very smart, but he did not expect that he could not even inherit Concubine Lin's beauty.
After Prince Yu sent his servants away, Prince Jing directly took out his royal seal.
Prince Yu: …
He didn't understand why Uncle Wang would risk being punished by the court to come to him.
King Jing looked very sad: "My brother is only fifty-three years old. He was fine normally and there was no news of any hidden illness. Don't you suspect there is any hidden reason behind my brother's death?"
Prince Yu really had no doubts.
King Jing said angrily, "During the Dragon Boat Festival this year, my brother sent me a secret letter saying that Empress Qi and Chen Ge Lao were working together to control the government and were trying to force the emperor to abdicate. My brother was very worried. No one in the palace could be trusted, so he could only tell me about his worries. My brother also said that he wanted to make my nephew the crown prince, but he was afraid that the cabinet would oppose it, so he couldn't make up his mind."
After saying this, King Jing took out the forged secret letter from Emperor Jingshun.
After reading it, Prince Yu believed it immediately!
Chen Tingjian looks like a decent man. My mother has suspected more than once whether Empress Qi is having an affair with Chen Tingjian. My father was deceived by the two of them in the past, but this year he finally noticed something!
"So, when they found out that Father wanted to establish me as the emperor, they took the initiative to attack Father?"
"That's right. Because they were guilty, they fabricated the emperor's last words before his death, asking the crown prince to succeed him!"
"How ridiculous!" Prince Yu slammed the table and his eyes widened!
Although he was angry, Prince Yu had no idea what to do. The crown prince had already ascended the throne, what else could he do
King Jing naturally had to give him some advice.
Prince Yu hesitated and said, "If I start a rebellion, I don't have any soldiers."
Prince Yu: "What if he refuses and instead reports us to the court?"
King Jing: "Don't worry, nephew. I am 100% sure that I can convince him. Otherwise, I would not dare to meet him in person."
Prince Yu was still worried.
King Jing: "Think about it, my dear nephew. Chen Tingjian and his men dared to frame the emperor. Once the government stabilizes in a while, they will definitely attack you again. My dear nephew, starting a rebellion can give you a chance to survive. If you do nothing, won't you just sit there and wait for death?"
Prince Yu was finally completely persuaded!
King Jing asked him to keep it secret, and then went to see the commander-in-chief Guo Jixian as a wealthy businessman.
As King Jing expected, if Guo Jixian did not support King Jing, he would be implicated by this marriage relationship sooner or later. If he assisted King Jing to succeed, the Guo family would instead become the new nobles of the capital!
Now that the most important soldiers were in place and the target of Prince Yu was secured, Prince Jing immediately mobilized all his secret guards to attack.
All the local officials in Henan who were held hostage by King Jing defected to the King, and the total number of government guards reached tens of thousands.
King Jing then took the seals of King Yu, Guo Jixian and others to lobby six vassal kings including King Zheng and King Zhou to support King Yu.
Rebellion is a serious matter, so how could these princes dare to take sides easily? But King Jing made a harsh statement that if they did not obey, King Yu's army would first raze these palaces to the ground.
Therefore, facing such intimidation, the six princes, who only had 300 personal soldiers, had no choice but to offer silver and food as a token of their loyalty to Prince Yu.
Everything was ready. On the morning of the 9th day of the seventh month, Prince Yu suddenly appeared on the city wall of Kaifeng Prefecture. He loudly listed several crimes of Empress Dowager Qi and Chen Tingjian for poisoning the late emperor to the 200,000 troops gathered outside the city and the people inside the city. He pointed his sword at the capital and vowed to avenge the late emperor and eliminate Empress Dowager Qi, Chen Tingjian and other treacherous people for the court! .
Capital city.
At this time, Emperor Jingshun's coffin had been buried in the imperial mausoleum, and the new emperor had also held a coronation ceremony. Because the reign title would be changed next year, the people temporarily called him the Shao Emperor.
Huayang was conferred the title of Princess Eldest, and as early as during the period of vigil for the late emperor, Huayang officially moved out of the Chen Mansion.
After all, as a married daughter, she has to observe mourning for her father for a year. If she continues to live in the Chen family, will the Chen family still host a banquet for her
In addition, her younger brother ascended the throne at a young age, and her father-in-law was assisting in the administration, so he already held great power. Unlike when their father was still alive, Huayang, the imperial sister, should have kept an appropriate distance from the Chen family and tried to downplay her identity as a relative of the Chen family.
While keeping vigil in the palace, Huayang and Chen Jingzong seldom met, and when they did, they had no chance to say anything.
It was not until Huayang left the palace and moved into the Princess's Residence for the first time since his father's death that the couple were finally able to be alone together.
At that time, half a month had passed since Emperor Jingshun's death.
In Chen Jingzong's eyes, Huayang had become thinner, but not as thin and haggard as when she pretended to be sick in March. Her eyes were also relatively calm, so he didn't know how to start comforting her.
He stood in front of Huayang and looked at her silently.
Because of the earth-shattering event that had happened and because they had been separated for half a month, the two seemed to have become estranged again.
Huayang didn't feel anything. Her father's death would not affect her relationship with Chen Jingzong, but she could understand Chen Jingzong's silence. He was afraid that she was still feeling distressed and that he might accidentally say something wrong and upset her.
Including Wu Run, Chao Yun and others, everyone has been very cautious with her recently, as if she had really turned into a peony flower that could not withstand any wind and frost.
So, Huayang smiled at Chen Jingzong opposite him and patted the bed beside him: "Come here, what are you standing there for? You were not so reserved before."
She can laugh, but Chen Jingzong is not funny and can't laugh.
The year his second brother died, he was in Lingzhou. When he received a letter from his mother, he ran to the mountains alone and stayed there for three days and three nights.
The father-daughter relationship of more than 20 years is definitely deeper than the brotherhood of more than ten years.
He sat stiffly beside her.
Huayang looked at him and slowly leaned into his arms.
Chen Jingzong's body suddenly relaxed and he raised his hands to hug her.
Huayang whispered, "I'm fine, you don't have to be so nervous. Father is weak to begin with, and I'm prepared. I never expected him to live a hundred years."
Chen Jingzong touched her soft hair and thought of the flood she had predicted, his second aunt's account book, and also of her sudden trip to appreciate the flowers and her chance encounter with Prince of Xiang.
She thought she was flawless, but in fact there were always flaws.
First, he didn't believe in ghosts and gods, no matter how coincidental it was. Second, if she didn't want to give the King of Xiang a chance to get close to her, how could Zhou Ji and others let her be surrounded by the King of Xiang's people, and how could they let the King of Xiang speak wildly to her.
Even though he didn't know the old man's hidden illness, she actually brought Doctor Li back and cured the old man's illness.
Others couldn't see it because they were far away, but he was right next to her and knew her temperament very well.
When she deliberately jumped into the ice hole, Chen Jingzong speculated that she might have known something in advance.
He was angry, not because of her concealment, but because she would rather ruin herself than believe that he might be able to help her.
Afterwards, she said that it was to prevent Emperor Jingshun from selecting a talent show, and Chen Jingzong believed her.
But when he saw Emperor Jingshun fall under the dragon throne with his own eyes, Chen Jingzong truly understood that she had foreseen this scene and was willing to take the risk.
Chen Jingzong had thought about asking her before what secret she was hiding.
But when she cried in his arms over the pain of losing her father, Chen Jingzong suddenly let go.
No secrets matter, as long as she is happy.
(End of this chapter)