Bai Fuling understood in an instant, the emperor did it without asking! The emperor did this not to fear that the empress would be sad, but to give the Xia family a false hope that they could still compete with the Mao family.
Today, the second prince is no longer useful, so the emperor ordered him to be killed without hesitation, destroying the balance between the Xia family and the Mao family.
"Next, it should be the turn of the Mao family soon... Although the Mao family has done a lot of evil things these years, it is not enough for the emperor to deal with them openly. Therefore, since the emperor took action against the second prince, he must be sure The two families can be wiped out at once... The best and most thorough excuse is treason..." Bai Fuling slowly speculated that the royal family always pays attention to face, even if it is despicable and shameless, it will try to whitewash it and make a serious statement. reason. The Mao family and the Xia family assisted the emperor to ascend the throne back then, they were honest servants of the dragon, and the eldest prince was also the emperor's eldest son. It is impossible to beat them to death for any trivial crime, except treason.
Bai Fuling has seen many of these methods in TV and books before, so he quickly figured out the context. If it is placed in an ordinary family, there will never be such calculations between father and son, but in the royal family, all blood and family factors can be used. Elimination, even the biological father and son, mother and son, can also fight to the death for their own interests.
Mu Peilan didn't expect Bai Fuling to guess this, and she was very surprised. Her daughter spent most of her time in a border town like Beiguan City, so it is frighteningly clever to have such insight. I couldn't help feeling a deep sense of uneasiness in my heart. People who are too smart generally can't live their lives...
Seeing her mother staring at her in a daze, Bai Fuling thought she had guessed wrong, and flattened her lips, "Did I guess wrong?"
Mu Peilan nodded and said: "You guessed right, New Year's Eve will be in three days. According to the tradition of the Qi State, the emperor will lead all the officials to the ancestral temple to worship the ancestors of the Qi State, and the queen will also lead the harem concubines to hold a sacrificial ceremony in the palace. One day is the best time to seek rebellion, but I don't know if the eldest prince, the Mao family, and the Xia family have the courage..."
Bai Fuling frowned upon hearing this: "Huh? Then we can't celebrate the New Year with Dad and the others?!"
"Yes!" Mu Peilan felt very regretful in her heart. They left Bai Fuling, originally they just wanted to celebrate the new year with the family, but they didn't expect that even this wish would come true. If I had known this before, I might as well have sent Bai Fuling away immediately after the ceremony, so as to avoid so many troubles.
The next day, members of Xia Ge's old party proposed at the court to adopt a prince for the queen to comfort the queen's pain of losing a son. The emperor immediately agreed, but he did not confirm the candidate.
The mother and concubine of the fourth prince and the sixth prince have passed away for many years, and the hearts of the officials suddenly became alive, regretting that because of the assassination of the second prince, the prince's mansion is now under strict control, and there is almost no way to get close.
In addition, Xia Ge's elders were passionate and demanded a thorough investigation into the assassination of the second prince. The spearhead was directed at the Mao family, and the words in the court were sharp, only they did not name and say that the first prince sent someone to kill the second prince.
Indeed, those who can commit crimes in the inner palace in broad daylight are naturally cooperating with others. Concubine Mao's position in the inner palace is only a line behind the empress, so it is most convenient to do something.
Mu Peilan knew that the second prince was not the emperor's own son, and Bai Fuling had contact with Xiao Mi, and knew that he didn't care about the princes at all, let alone being used by the first prince, so she used the method of elimination to guess the emperor's matter. In the eyes of other people who don't know the inside story, the eldest prince is the prime suspect, but the murderer didn't leave anything behind, so they couldn't come up with strong evidence.
Not to mention Mr. Xia Ge's side, even in the Mao family, many people felt guilty that it was probably the hands of the First Prince, and only a few "high-level" Mao family dumbs ate Coptis chinensis and couldn't tell.
In the court hall, people from both sides came and went, almost fighting. On the day before New Year's Eve, the Mao family suddenly calmed down. The bosses ignored the Xia family's accusations and scolded Huai with cold faces, and only sent a few small shrimps. Go up and fight.
On the morning of New Year's Eve, the central gate of the imperial palace was wide open, and the emperor, officials of the fourth rank and above, princes, princes and dignitaries marched out of the imperial city under the escort of the Imperial Forest Army, and headed for the Temple of Heaven, the ancestral temple in the south of the city. There was a weird atmosphere in the solemn and solemn team. There was a sneer on Xia Ge's lips. There was nothing unusual about Mao Guifei's father, General Mao, but the more he was like this, the more terrifying he was. When the old general was young, he was known as a cold-faced killer in the army, and the more critical he was, the more calm and composed he was.
When the team arrived at the ancestral temple, they first went to the side hall to rest and wait for the auspicious time to start the ancestor worship ceremony.
Qi State’s ancestor worship ceremony is very special. Firstly, the ancestors’ spiritual seats are invited, and then the emperor rents and admonishes the royal children in front of the ancestors and ancestors to show sincerity and filial piety. In order to show enlightenment and listen to the wise and govern the country, the last is the normal worship agenda.
In the past, these ceremonies were just ceremonies, and the admonitions to the prince were all the same, and the advice from the officials were all official articles, mainly nonsense and disguised flattery, but today something went wrong.
Elder Xia Ge suddenly came out, and tearfully accused the eldest prince of having no king or father, mutilating siblings, and uniting with Mao's party to plot rebellion. The year and month when the dragon robes were prepared in advance and the preparations for soldiers and horses to force the palace were all listed in detail.
Everyone at the scene changed their colors when they heard the things listed in the memorial, and the emperor was even more furious.
After reading the memorial, Mr. Xia Ge shouted to the First Prince and General Mao in a stern voice: "Everything that I have played is true!"
After the death of the second prince, the emperor intentionally expressed in front of Elder Xia Ge and others that he was worried that the Mao family would become powerful, implying that Elder Xia Ge could properly seek out the Mao family's troubles, and he readily agreed that the queen would adopt the prince one thing.
Over the years, Xia Ge has long seen through the idea that the emperor used the rivalry between the two families to enjoy the benefits of the fisherman. Whichever of the two families is in the limelight, the emperor will help the weaker one to suppress, so that their strengths are equal and mutual Checks and balances, so I think he still has such an idea this time.
How could Elder Xia Ge be reconciled? ! The second prince was killed by the Mao family. If they don't kill them ruthlessly, they will be completely wiped out after being used by the emperor in the future! So he followed the emperor's wishes and specially played the impeachment of the eldest prince today, in order to knock down the Mao family and the eldest prince in one fell swoop.
Just as he was giving the performance, he had already sent someone to search the First Prince's Mansion, and now he might have the evidence in hand. Even if the emperor wanted to maintain it, there was nothing he could do.
Being exposed for treason in public, the First Prince's eyes were fierce but he didn't panic. He raised his head and laughed a few times, and said in a hateful voice, "So what if what you played is true?!"
The emperor was very "frightened" and pointed at him and General Mao and shouted: "Come here! Take down these two traitors! They are reversed! What a pair of rebellious sons and ministers without a king or a father!"
Several imperial forest soldiers rushed out in response, and were about to capture the two of them, but were stopped by other imperial forest soldiers, and the two sides were about to fight. The guards in charge of guarding the palace were also divided into two factions. One side tried to protect the emperor, the other princes and other honorable officials, while the other guarded the First Prince and General Mao.
The eldest prince had limited respect for this incompetent father who was addicted to drinking and sex, and sneered, "Royal father, you forced your son to do this!"
Except for the loyal members of the Mao family, everyone else's face changed when they heard this. At this time, there was a lot of voices outside, and a commander of the Imperial Forest Army rushed in to report that the ancestral temple was besieged by rebels.
Today, the guards are the Imperial Forest Army of the East and West Battalions, led by two deputy commanders, one is Puhuang, and the other is the elder brother of Xia Ge's old disciple. One of the two is loyal to the emperor and the other is from Mr. Xia Ge's side. Mr. Xia Ge has seen this point before he dared to attack suddenly. Unexpectedly, the eldest prince is even more ruthless than him, so he chose today to rebel!
This time, the faces of the people at Mr. Xia Ge’s side turned pale. Most of them are civil servants. It’s easy for them to fight with each other in the hall or do some tricks to harm others. They are not professional!
The eldest prince and the others are actually very depressed. The death of the second prince brought them great suspicion, but at least he lost a strong opponent. His chances of becoming the prince skyrocketed, and he didn't even have to force the palace. Just wait in a low-key manner. , unexpectedly received a secret report, saying that Mr. Xia Ge had collected all kinds of evidence that he planned to plot against him before, and planned to launch an attack when he worshiped his ancestors on New Year's Eve.
Time is running out and they can't allow them to make other contingencies. The preparations for forcing the palace have not been fully prepared, so they have to bite the bullet!
At this time, it was superfluous to say anything, the First Prince and General Mao personally raised their long swords, and led a group of trusted imperial guards to kill in the direction of the emperor.
There was a heavy sound of a giant tree banging on the door outside, the sound was like thunder, and the gate of the ancestral temple was broken, how could the Imperial Forest Army inside stop the First Prince's tens of thousands of rebels? Pu Huang, the commander of the Imperial Forest Army in the hall, ignored other things, and loudly ordered the Imperial Forest Army to guard the emperor, princes and officials and rush out of the encirclement as soon as possible.
The fighting inside and outside the ancestral temple was loud, and soon the rebel army broke in and fought with the imperial forest army. The imperial forest army was far less numerous than the rebel army, barely protecting the emperor and several princes, princes, and important ministers while fighting and retreating.
The First Prince and General Mao were capable of killing each other. Whenever they saw an official of the Xia Clan's party alone, they would command people to rush up and kill them on the spot. In the chaos, many officials of the Xia Clan's Clan party died unexpectedly.
The scene quickly turned into a one-sided massacre. The princes and nobles around the emperor were terrified, only Yang Heng and Lin Pingzi were very calm.
Yang Heng looked indifferently not far away, with a maniacal grinning, he swung a knife and chopped down a big emperor brother who was a Shangshu of the Xia Party, and suddenly a feeling of sadness filled his heart.