〖On October 9, the twenty-five year of Dayong Wuwei, the emperor and the prince conspiracy and unfilial piety, decreed that he should die and be buried with the ceremonies of the king.
- "The History of Yong: Biography of King Rui"〗
On October 5th, when Emperor Yong was on the road, Chang'an had calmed down. Since Zheng Xia and Shi Yu had discussed it, they both decided to continue to conceal the news. Therefore, although people in Chang'an were panicked, they still did not know what happened in the Hunting Palace. Change. On October 6th, Zheng Xia and a few guards came to see the car first. Just as Zheng Xia and Emperor Yong were talking secretly, I had already received the report. Confused people.
Besides, Zheng Xia entered Emperor Yong's sleeping tent, and when he saw Emperor Yong safe and sound, he felt relieved. After the ceremony, Li Yuan hurriedly told the story. He trusted Zheng Xia very much and detailed everything he knew. Tell Zheng Xia carefully. Zheng Xia was stunned after hearing this, but he was always good at making decisions, so he calmly asked, "Your Majesty, what are your plans?"
Li Yuan said in distress: "I also have a very headache. The Crown Prince and King Yong are my sons, so I naturally don't want them to kill each other. But King Yong almost lost his life this time, and I also almost got killed. If we don't pursue it strictly, no matter what I can't say anything about it; but the prince has today, and I have some inappropriate things, and the queen once hanged herself. Although she was rescued by the palace, she was already dying. I have been married for many years. This is his strength as well as his weakness. Now he is implicated in it. No matter how he handles it, he can only say that it is light and serious, but it cannot be said that the handling is wrong. His temper is so stubborn, I am worried that King Yong will be angry Under the circumstances, I demanded that he be imprisoned or abolished as a commoner. Wouldn't this embarrass me? And Wei Xiang, I heard you say that he is safe in Beijing. It seems that he really does not know about treason, but treason is a serious crime. If you don't get involved, it's really not good, Zheng Qing, think about it for me, how should this be?"
Zheng Xia said solemnly: "Your Majesty, in the eyes of this minister, it doesn't matter how you deal with these matters. What matters is how Your Majesty and Prince Yong and his son are at peace."
Li Yuan was shocked. After all, he had been an emperor for many years, and he also vaguely thought about these thoughts, but Zheng Xia said so straightforwardly, he was still a little caught off guard and couldn't help glaring at Zheng Xia.
Zheng Xia said without fear: "Your Majesty treats your ministers with kindness like a mountain. If it weren't for His Majesty and Dayong's Jiangshan Sheji, the minister would not have said these indecent words. It is also a treat.”
Li Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "Zheng Qing, tell me, I know your loyalty."
Zheng Xia said sternly: "Your Majesty, it is now the general trend that King Yong inherits the great lineage. The crown prince rebelled and should be deposed. King Yong is the oldest in the world and is the oldest. No matter what the emperor plans this time, the throne is already in the pocket of King Yong. In the past, in order to protect the crown prince, the emperor suppressed His Highness King Yong a lot, and King Yong inevitably had no resentment in his heart. Now even if King Yong wanted to take the opportunity to seize the throne, few people would firmly oppose it. There is no difference between His Royal Highness Prince Yong and loyalty to His Majesty, but in this way, the status of the emperor is very embarrassing. If His Majesty personally dealt with the Prince and others, there will inevitably be something that will make King Yong dissatisfied. If King Yong holds grudges in his heart, it is Now His Majesty has kept the Prince and King Qi. When His Majesty is long live, who knows what King Yong will do in the future? If this matter is handed over to King Yong, then His Majesty will politely express his opinion, and King Yong will certainly not Regardless of His Majesty's mood, His Majesty will be able to achieve his wish, and also eliminate the gap between His Highness Prince Yong and his son."
Li Yuan lowered his head and thought for a long time, then got up and gave Zheng Xia a salute. Zheng Xia was shocked and quickly avoided: "What is your majesty doing, this minister can't bear it."
Li Yuan said with relief: "Zheng Qing's bitter words are all for the sake of my Li family. If I and Prince Yong and his son are at peace in the future, the crown prince and King Qi can be saved, all thanks to Qing."
Zheng Xia quickly apologized, Li Yuan smiled and said: "I have been with Zheng Qing for many years, so I don't need to be so conventional. Besides, although I have misunderstood some people, I have not misunderstood Zheng Qing. I know that Qing's blunt remarks are all For my sake. But there are some things that you have to make up for me, what do you think I should do next?"
Zheng Xia said: "Your Majesty, do you want to keep the prince?"
Li Yuan said hesitantly: "Although the prince is unworthy, he is my blood after all, and I am really reluctant to bear it."
Zheng Xia asked again, "Then what about His Royal Highness King Qi?"
Li Yuan said sternly: "Although Xian'er places too much emphasis on love and is not an emperor, I really cherish this son, and I absolutely cannot let Zhi'er hurt him."
Zheng Xia said sternly: "Since this is the case, Your Majesty should not protect the Crown Prince, otherwise it will harm King Qi?"
Li Yuan said in surprise: "How do you say this?"
Zheng Xia said: "Your Majesty, King Qi is not as good as King Yong when it comes to martial arts, and when it comes to the elders of concubines, he is not as good as King Yong, so if there is no prince, then King Qi can be a general or a minister, but if the prince is still Yes, then in any case, the prince is the eldest son after all, and there is a possibility of rebellion between the prince and the prince. Therefore, if the emperor protects the prince, and if His Highness Prince Yong reluctantly agrees, he will eventually become suspicious of the prince of Qi. Because of this, King Qi will die in the hands of King Yong. At that time, His Majesty wants to save two sons, but he cannot save one. If he abandons the prince, then His Royal Highness King Qi will not be able to endanger King Yong's throne. Be at peace."
Li Yuan was silent for a while and said, "What Zheng Qing said is, since that's the case, I don't care about that traitor."
Zheng Xia added: "This is still in terms of personal feelings. If it is in terms of national law, the prince forced the palace to rebel and tempted His Royal Highness to lose his virtue. This is a crime of unfilial piety without a father and a king, and chasing the killer brother, this is wrong. How can you forgive the sin of filial piety and not filial piety? Your Majesty's legacy is to be passed down through the ages, if you don't leave a vigilance for future generations, and everyone follows this behavior, won't the heavenly family kill each other?"
Hearing this, Li Yuan was moved with horror and said: "Zheng Qing's remarks are really the best in the world. Well, I have made up my mind to give the crown prince to death. The queen should have given death. Let her fend for itself. I will leave the matter of King Qi to King Yong."
Zheng Xia said solemnly: "Your Majesty, this way, you can be vigilant to future generations, and you can also convince King Yong, and King Yong can't handle the matter of King Qi too much."
Li Yuan's heart was clear and he continued: "The disposal of the crown prince's family has been decided, and it will be a rule in the future. There is one more thing, after returning to Beijing, I want to promote Zhangsun as the empress. What is Zheng Qing's opinion?"
Zheng Xia was stunned for a moment, then immediately woke up and said, "Your Majesty, Shengming, this is the way it should be."
Zheng Xia knew in his heart that it was indeed a good idea to make Concubine Sun Guifei as his queen. Now it was obvious that Li Yuan would have to sit on the throne for a while, and the harem could not be without a master, and after King Yong ascended the throne in the future, he would also have a mother. Later, filial piety, now that the Dou family has been deposed, the biological mother of King Yong has long since passed away, and Concubine Ji is a rebellious, so only Concubine Changsun and Concubine Yan are eligible to be promoted to empress, but King Qi was also involved in the rebellion, so Concubine Yan was naturally lost. The qualifications of the Empress, and Concubine Changsun has a distinguished status. Princess Changle has made great contributions this time. As the biological mother of Princess Changle, it is logical that Concubine Changsun will be enshrined as Empress. And the most wonderful thing is that the eldest grandson of the imperial concubine does not have a prince to survive, and it will not affect the crown of King Yong, so she can be the mother of the world. Li Yuan can think of this, it seems that he has already paved the way for King Yong's ascension, and he is no longer afraid of King Yong. As a minister, Zheng Xia is naturally pleased, but this kind of thing can only be understood and cannot be described in words. Naturally, the two rulers and ministers can only look at each other and smile.
After a while, Emperor Yong said hesitantly, "Zheng Xia, what do you think about Princess Changle's love for Jiang Zhe?"
Zheng Xia asked cautiously, "I don't know what the emperor and King Yong mean?"
Li Yuan said dissatisfiedly: "Zhi Er once came to see me in private, and hoped that I would marry Princess Changle and Jiang Zhe, but I saw that Jiang Zhe was very scheming and frail, and he was really not a good match for Changle, so he had already refused, but Jiang Zhe made this decision. Great work, if I insist on not allowing it, it will be a little cold to his heart."
Zheng Xia thought for a while and said, "It doesn't matter what the minister thinks about this matter. On the one hand, Jiang Zhe was once a minister of Nanchu, and the princess was the queen of Nanchu. His Majesty's refusal to give marriage is also in line with etiquette. , Now Jiang Zhe is a servant of Dayong, and he has made great contributions to suppressing the rebellion, the princess is His Majesty's beloved daughter, and her status is honorable.
Li Yuan thought for a while and said, "If Jiang Zhe's body were better, I would have accomplished Changle, but now I am really worried, so let's put it off for now."
Zheng Xia saw that it was late at night, and Li Yuan also looked a little tired, so she said, "Your Majesty, things have been negotiated properly, why don't your Majesty go to bed first."
Li Yuan smiled and said: "I have already figured it out, and I will leave all military and political affairs to King Yong in the future. I want to live a comfortable life for a few years, please don't leave first, and after I have drawn up the decree for me, I will go to rest. "
On October 7th, Li Yuan returned to Beijing and issued three decrees in a row, one of which was to grant the death of the crown prince, add the posthumous title of King of Ruin, and abolish the queen as a commoner. The second is to make King Yong the crown prince of the supervising country, and all major military and political affairs are decided by King Yong. The third is to establish Changsun Guifei as the queen, and then formally hold the ceremony of the establishment of the queen. In addition, Princess Changle will pass on her merits, rewarding thousands of households in Shiyi, adding the title of Ningguo, and establishing the palace of Princess Changle of Ningguo to give to the princess.
The emperor's swift and resolute actions shocked many people. The government and the opposition either thought that King Yong took the opportunity to hold the emperor hostage, or that Li Yuan was frightened and had no intention of paying attention to the government, but they did not know that the biggest contributor to this matter was the servant Zheng Xia.
After King Yong was in charge of the state affairs, he began to clean up what was later called the "Great Rebellion Case of King Ruins". Tens of thousands of dignitaries were imprisoned for the crime of conspiracy against the prince, and the number of people involved was even more numerous. Frightened and disturbed, only a few conscientious people will find that King Yong's purge is actually well controlled. Most of the courtiers involved are from aristocratic families. Although these families made great contributions to the rise of Dayong, they are now competing for hegemony. The annexation of land, and even the private cultivation of armored soldiers, is a vague fact of separatism. This time, King Yong used the army in his hand to destroy almost all of these noble families. His methods are both tough and soft. For the hardcore members of the aristocratic family, they are often treated as rebellion and annihilated or imprisoned. After all, these aristocratic families are inevitably related to Fengyimen and Wei Guan. But civilians will not be easily punished. Thanks to the former Jinxiu League and Fengyimen, many of these rich and powerful families have already been killed to pieces, and then in the name of the big rebellion, the major families are chilled. , did not dare to come forward, it was more convenient for King Yong to defeat each of them. Within a month, the Dayong Chaotang had been completely renewed, and the Youzhou officials brought by Shi Yu and those middle and low-level officials who were really willing to do things quickly restored Dayong's center. Normal operation, the blood has washed away the dust on the Dayong Hall.
Among them, there is one type of officials who are the first to be purged, that is, officials who have wives and daughters in their families and Fengyi Sect. The lightest punishment for these officials is to degrade and degrade them. It is also possible to go to the court. Many Fengyimen disciples were originally young ladies, and most of them entered Fengyimen to improve their status, so most of them immediately made a clear distinction with Fengyimen. If such a woman could get the blessing of her father, brother and husband's family, it would be better for her. You can live in peace, although there are many things that happen to abandon your wife and daughter, but most of them can finally be a new person. However, if that kind of woman was born into a poor family and was able to marry a woman from a noble family or a son of a wealthy family because she entered the Fengyi Sect, her fate would be much more miserable. She would either be divorced from her husband's family or be thrown into the cold palace. But when the knives were being slaughtered, the sorrows and sorrows of these women were also covered up by the bloody cleansing.
King Yong was not always so ruthless and ruthless. Some officials used to be princes attached to the party or were born under Wei Guan. As long as there is no obvious evidence of rebellion, and they have good talents, they will not be purged. The least likely to be implicated in the process is the military. King Yong issued an edict. The military officers and soldiers have made great contributions to the bloody battle for the country, so they are not allowed to clean up in the army, but they have found that some generals are indeed closely related to Fengyi Sect. As long as they are willing to write a detailed repentance letter, they can be forgiven. Therefore, King Yong’s iron-blood purge not only did not endanger Dayong’s foundation, but instead strengthened the strength of the army, because many children of noble families and people in the arena avoided being implicated in the Great Rebellion by joining the army. After the crisis, Dayong’s The military is more powerful.
On October 9th, Zheng Xia brought poison wine, white silk and a short sword to the Jin'an Palace where the prince was imprisoned. This was the second time that the prince was under house arrest. The last time, Li An was also frightened. With Wei Ying taking care of him secretly, and Fengyimen, Lu Jingzhong and others running outside, he finally had a bottom line, but this time, Li An was no longer able to rely on him, huddled in the hall, did not enter the tea and rice, and had only one breath left. .
Zheng Xia was about to go in, when he suddenly saw a group of people approaching from a distance. Just by looking at their lanterns, he knew that they were from Prince Yong’s Mansion. After approaching, Zheng Xia saw at a glance that the person in the lead was Jiang Zhe, and the person standing behind him was Zheng Xia. It is the evil shadow Li Shun, and the surrounding is surrounded by guards, heavily guarded.
Jiang Zhe stepped forward and gave a deep salute: "Xiaguan has been ordered by His Royal Highness King Yong to come to see the prince off, please allow the servants."
Zheng Xiayi frowned and said, "This is against etiquette, but is it the emperor's will?"
A trace of murderous intent flashed in Jiang Zhe's eyes, and he said in a low voice, "Your Highness, I might as well speak bluntly, I didn't know that when I came to His Royal Highness King Yong this time, I used His Highness's gold medal to deceive the Imperial Army into entering. , this time I definitely want to see the prince, if the servants don't allow it, then Jiang Zhe will have to force his way."
Zheng Xia was stunned when he heard it. He looked carefully and saw that Jiang Zhe's eyebrows were rather jaded. Although Zheng Xia abide by the etiquette, he was not a stubborn person. He thought that this person would help King Yong. Is it because of the enmity between him and the prince that he is pushing the prince step by step? This man has a deep and vicious mind. If I insist on not allowing him, he will hold a grudge, and it will definitely cause a catastrophe. If it hurts me, that's all This person deliberately provoked the father-son relationship between the emperor and King Yong, and that was my sin. Thinking of this, he said: "Since it is the order of His Royal Highness King Yong, this official can also follow the power. Jiang Sima will go in with this official."
Jiang Zhe showed a hint of ecstasy, waved his hand to let the guards stay outside, and only brought Xiao Shunzi in with Zheng Xia. Zheng Xia originally had two brave and powerful eunuchs beside him, originally to prevent the prince from refusing to commit suicide, let them do it Help, looking at the situation now, in order to prevent these two eunuchs from seeing things they shouldn't see, Zheng Xia waved them to stay outside.
The three entered the Jin'an Hall, and seeing Li An huddled on the bed, Zheng Xia couldn't help sighing softly, but Jiang Zhe's face was as cold as ice.
After Zheng Xia proclaimed the decree, Xiao Shunzi walked over with the tray he had just taken over, and stepped forward with the poison wine, white silk and daggers. Li An just stepped back while screaming, but he really refused to commit suicide.
Walking closer, I whispered, "His Royal Highness, do you remember Liu Piaoxiang from Nanchu?"
Li An's eyes were confused, and after a long time he said: "Remember, Gu once was lucky to her, didn't you let Liang Wan send it back? Mr. Jiang, please beg your second brother for mercy, as long as you spare Gu's life, I only wish to be imprisoned for life, or to become a monk."
Blood surged in my chest. I didn't expect Liang Wan to lie to me that day. It turned out that the real murderer who killed Piaoxiang was herself, and although this Li An was the culprit, he was not the murderer, but I still hated it the more I thought about it. If it wasn't for him being promiscuous, if it wasn't for Liang Wan to protect his identity secret, how could Piaoxiang be killed. Thinking of this, I turned my head to look at Xiao Shunzi and said, "His Royal Highness doesn't want to go on the road, so please help him."
Xiao Shunzi glanced at Zheng Xia, picked up the poison wine, stepped forward to hold on to Li An, and poured him the poison easily. Li An quickly died, his face was blue, with unwillingness and remorse, but he didn't know what he was regretting.
I just felt that my heart was empty, and the great revenge would be avenged, but I was a little at a loss. At this time, Zheng Shizhong said meaningfully: "Master Jiang, the past is over, those who come can be chased, and you must hold on to it."
I glanced at Zheng Xia, stepped forward and said: "Don't worry, Master Zheng, although Zhe is a bit selfish, he has never instigated His Royal Highness King Yong to disregard his brother's love, but now the prince is full of evil, if Zhe can't come and watch the enemy go on his way. , I really can't be reconciled."
Although Zheng Xia only heard a few words, he was able to guess the truth, but he knew that now that the boat was done, he didn't need to do much, he just warned the young man not to harm the overall situation for personal vendettas.
The three of them were about to leave when suddenly there was a loud noise from outside. When they walked outside the hall, they saw King Yong coming in a hurry. After seeing Zheng Xia and Jiang Zhe, King Yong looked wide and said, "Master Zheng, This king sent Jiang Sima to come to see the prince off, just to show his brotherhood, and please don't take offense, Master Zheng."
Zheng Xia couldn't help but laugh a little, but he didn't expose it. He just said, "This is also a favor. How can I blame this minister? His Majesty is waiting for the minister's return.
After Zheng Xia left, King Yong came over and gave Jiang Zhe a stern look, and said, "You are so bold, how dare you to fake my order, go back and settle the account with you." Then he whispered: "Suiyun , you have such a mind, why don't you tell this king clearly, you are really, alas."
My heart was warm, and I turned my head to the side so that no one could see the tears that were about to overflow, and I whispered, "I dare not use my selfishness to harm justice, I am so grateful for Your Highness's love for me, I will never dare to hide it from now on. Your Highness."
King Yong sighed and said, "Let's go, if it wasn't for Xiahou who saw you entering the palace late at night, this king would not have known that you acted so recklessly. Fortunately, Lord Zheng didn't blame you."
I bowed again to express my apology, and then followed His Royal Highness Prince Yong out of the palace. Along the way, my heart is full of gratitude. After all, I will never be able to repay the great kindness of His Royal Highness King Yong.