The emperor raised his head and looked at Aunt Ah She, "Aunt, you don't have to say anything more. I will see her today no matter what."
"So have you decided to abdicate?" Aunt Ashe asked.
"I will not abdicate." He thought about it. He was now in his prime and would not give the throne to anyone. He could not abdicate, even to become the emperor emeritus.
"Then there will be no good result if you meet her, so you'd better go back." Aunt Ashe's tone also turned cold.
"Why must I abdicate? I just want to ask her, are we doing justice to the ancestors of the Murong family by forcing me to do this?" the emperor suddenly said in a harsh voice.
A white porcelain bowl flew out of the hall, and with a clang, it broke into pieces. Along with the sound of gasps, the Empress Dowager angrily shouted, "Get in!"
The emperor's hands trembled noticeably, and then he knelt down and went in.
In the palace, the Grand Empress Dowager sat on a chair, her face as cold as snow and her eyes blazing with fury. She asked, "Tell me how I forced you to do this? And why can't you explain to the ancestors of the Murong family?"
The emperor said sadly: "Grandfather, you watched me grow up, how could you just watch me die?"
"So what? Hui Zu and your father grew up under my care. Don't they know that I can save them? Have they ever begged me? Who in this world will not die? Why do you have to be special? You don't want to die now, but what about ten years later? What about twenty years later? You will die one day, so who will you ask for help then?"
The emperor said stubbornly: "I only know that even if ordinary people are sick, their families would rather go bankrupt to treat them. Why can you be so cruel?"
"Cruel? Compared to you, how cruel am I? Well, since you want to know why, then I will tell you, from the day you were born, I knew your life span, and I can extend it for you, but the premise is that you cannot be the emperor. After you became sensible, I asked you several times, are you willing to live a dull life? You said no, you want to be the emperor, everyone is responsible for their own choices, since you have chosen to be the emperor, and chose to live in Gaohan, you must accept your own destiny calmly. Even now, I ask you if you are willing to abdicate, which is also giving you a chance. If you abdicate, you will not be the emperor. I saved you, which is not against the will of heaven, but you hold the throne in one hand and want to live a hundred years at the same time. How can it be so easy? Don't make trouble here, if you force me, your end will be even worse."
The emperor shook his head. "Everything is just the old ancestor's excuse to me. I don't believe it. Since the old ancestor can extend my life, why does he have to talk about the throne? I have been on the throne for so many years. This has nothing to do with life span. All of this has nothing to do with life span. I think that as long as the old ancestor is willing to save me, it will be a blessing for the people of Da Zhou. It all depends on whether the old ancestor really loves me."
The Empress Dowager laughed in anger, "You think you are very proud of yourself. It seems that you have not reflected on your mistakes in all these days, but have become more stubborn and stubborn."
The emperor said in a deep voice: "If the old ancestor is unwilling to save me, I cannot force him, but before I die, I will order the execution of the Regent and Prince An for treason."
"Collaborating with the enemy?" The anger on the Empress Dowager's face disappeared and she smiled. However, her white teeth made people feel like they had seen a ghost.
"They colluded with Beimo and intended to invade our Great Zhou." The emperor suppressed the fear in his heart and said resolutely.
Aunt Ah She couldn't help but ask, "Do you have any evidence?"
"No evidence is needed. My words are the imperial decree." He said with a cold smile, "Anyway, I am about to die. How can I be content without taking a few people with me? This country must not fall into the hands of these two people."
"Do you hate your two brothers so much?" The Empress Dowager was very disappointed. How could such a good person become so twisted? She was really blind at the time.
"To be honest, I don't hate them. I still love them. However, I cannot let them become a disaster for the Great Zhou. As long as they are here, the battle for the succession of the Great Zhou will not stop."
"Put away your hypocritical face, I feel sick looking at you." The Empress Dowager sighed heavily, "I know exactly what you are planning, you are just forcing me to save you. As I said before, if Zi'an finds you, she will save you. If she can't find you and dies at the hands of Old Eight, you will die with her."
"So, the ancestor is determined not to care about the life and death of the seventh and second brothers?" the emperor asked.
The Empress Dowager smiled suddenly and looked at him steadily. "Emperor, do you think that I have not been involved in government affairs for a long time, and the people in the court only listen to you and not me? Or do you think that I cannot keep a sick emperor under house arrest?"
"If our ancestor is willing to bear the stigma of misrule and regicide, there is nothing I can do about it," the emperor said with a cold face.
He said it, but he was sure in his heart that she wouldn't.
The most important thing in her life was her promise to Regent King Qingtian.
Moreover, he was the emperor whom she had personally supported. How could she go against her own words? If she wanted to do this, she would have settled everything long ago. Why did she have to stay in the palace for so many days
But this time, he was wrong.
The Empress Dowager slowly said to Aunt Ah She: "Let someone draft an edict. The Emperor of Great Zhou is seriously ill and the imperial doctors are unable to save him. His death is imminent. Officials of the first rank and above are ordered to enter the palace to attend to his illness and listen to his last will."
The emperor's face changed, "You... Ancestor wants me to die?"
The Empress Dowager said coldly, "It is not that I want you to die, but your death date has come. Officials entering the palace will not hear your last wishes. What they hear is my will, which is only passed on through your imperial edict."
The emperor sat dejectedly on the ground, his face as white as snow. Suddenly, he laughed wildly, laughing beyond his control, "Well, well, old ancestor, you have chilled my heart to the bone."
He stood up slowly and walked out tremblingly. Eunuch Lu, who was outside the door, felt uncomfortable listening to him, so he hurried forward to support him, "Your Majesty!"
"Get lost!" The emperor pushed him away, his eyes bloodshot, and said fiercely: "I don't need anyone's support."
Eunuch Lu's injuries had not yet fully healed, and now, with this push from him, he rolled down the stone steps with blood oozing from his forehead.
The emperor strode away.
"Do you really want to convey the order?" Aunt Ashe asked.
The Empress Dowager said coldly, "What do you think?"
Aunt Ashe said nothing and took no action, but looked deeply thoughtful.
After a moment, she raised her head and said, "If you force him into a corner like this, I'm sure that Xiwei Palace will be surrounded within an incense stick of time."
"I just want to know what he can do!" The Empress Dowager was still furious. She had given him chances again and again, but he had never cherished them. If she had not said today that the Seventh Prince would be buried with her, she would not have done so.
Is it so difficult to abdicate
Is the throne really more important than anything else
Just as Aunt Ashe had expected, in less than an incense stick of time, the footsteps of a large number of imperial guards were heard, and the East Pavilion was surrounded tightly in an instant.
(End of this chapter)