0p0 Chapter 219 Failure
Chapter 219 Failure
The young eunuch was sweating profusely and said in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, Prince De, a cup of tea ago, someone dumped the body of Eunuch Zhang at the gate of Prince De's mansion."
Eunuch Zhang was the personal attendant of the Fourth Prince Zhu Jizhan. After the Fourth Prince established contact with the Jinwu Guards, he did not trust anyone else to plan the rebellion, so he entrusted it to Eunuch Zhang to personally deliver the messages and bring back the news.
Now, his trusted father-in-law has died suddenly, which means that his plan has long been known.
Prince De suddenly turned his head and stared at Zhu Yanxiao fiercely, "Zhu Yanxiao, you ruined my plan? Damn it, I should have dealt with you first."
After saying that, he roared and swung his sword at Zhu Yanxiao again.
Zhu Yanxiao did not take action this time. When the Fourth Prince shouted angrily, Xingyun and Liushui had already stood up and jumped up, facing the Fourth Prince who was swinging his sword. With two "puff" sounds, two daggers, one on the left and one on the right, stabbed into the Fourth Prince's body respectively.
"Your Highness." Zhou Yiran saw that the Fourth Prince was injured and hurried over.
"Don't come over." The Fourth Prince, with two daggers stuck in his body, shouted, and Zhou Yiran stood there in a daze.
Zhu Jizhan's eyes were red, and he stared at Zhu Yanxiao fiercely, "I will not lose, Zhu Yanxiao, I can still fight again."
"Zhan'er." Everyone saw a beautiful lady in palace dress running over in a hurry, holding up her son who was about to fall. The two immediately knelt down. She looked up at Emperor Huai Sheng with tears streaming down her face, "Please show mercy, Your Majesty. I will bear the consequences of killing or cutting me."
Seeing that Emperor Huai Sheng had no intention of speaking, the Queen broke the silence, "Concubine Wu, this is not the place for you to be. Why don't you return to the palace?"
Concubine Wu ignored her, let go of the Fourth Prince's body, and kowtowed to Emperor Huai Sheng, "Your Majesty, it is my fault for not teaching my son well. I beg Your Majesty to show some leniency to Zhan Er. It is my fault."
Emperor Huai Sheng looked at them coldly until Concubine Wu's forehead was broken. He slowly said, "Concubine Xian, if Prince De succeeds in killing the king today, will this good prince show me mercy?"
Concubine Wu was stunned for a moment, then she continued to kowtow and kept repeating, "Your Majesty, please have mercy on me. I will bear the consequences of your death or torture."
Emperor Huai Sheng looked at Concubine Wu who kept begging for mercy, and couldn't help feeling a little disgusted.
At this time, Zhu Yanxiao took two steps forward and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, although Prince De has deserved his punishment, he is still a royal bloodline after all. Ziyuan believes that Your Majesty is a wise ruler who can rule the world and tolerate criminals. Ziyuan dares to ask Your Majesty to show some leniency to the Fourth Prince."
At this time, Prince Zhong also stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I am also your closest relative, and I cannot bear to see brothers killing each other. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and spare Prince De's death."
The other ministers immediately realized that this was a way to give Emperor Huai Sheng a way out. Even if he was guilty of treason, he was his own son after all, and His Majesty could not kill him. So they all stepped out and bowed, saying, "Please show mercy, Your Majesty."
Seeing his confidants being so sensible, Emperor Huai Sheng was slightly satisfied. He glanced at Zhou Yiran and the group of men in black standing in the corridor.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, everyone knelt down in silence. However, careful people would notice that although Zhou Yiran knelt down, his back was still straight.
Prince Zhong stepped out and said to the envoys of the three countries, "Emissaries from the three countries, I am truly sorry for what happened today, but the rest is your Majesty's family affairs. Please step aside for a while. The King of Japan will prepare a generous gift to apologize to all the distinguished envoys."
"Your Majesty, you are welcome."
"Your Majesty, there is no need to be so polite."
Everyone bowed together, "Your Majesty, Nanxiang (Xizhu and Beiyan) will take their leave first." Although the envoys of the three countries wanted to continue watching, they also knew the principle of "family disgrace should not be made public", let alone the royal family. Today's incident is enough to talk about for half a year after returning home. Seeing that there was no reason to stay here any longer, they bowed to Emperor Huaisheng and said goodbye. Princess Qianyan of Beiyan kept looking at Zhu Yanxiao and Mu Yejun, and reluctantly left with the delegation.
The important ministers felt that they were not suitable for this occasion and were about to kneel and leave, but Emperor Huai Sheng said, "My dear ministers, please stay and take a look at this good prince of mine."
Who dared to leave when the emperor said so? So all the ministers stayed anxiously, thinking: This must be the Hongmen Banquet! The more they knew, the more their heads shook.
Emperor Huai Sheng swept his eyes over the crowd with dignity, retracted his gaze, looked at the fourth son who was kneeling in front of him and looked a little demented, and said majestically, "Prince De, do you have anything else to say to me?"
The fourth prince Zhu Jizhan looked at his mother, whose forehead was bleeding but who kept bowing without getting up. Her face was now in tears. He slowly said, "Father, I know I am wrong and am willing to be punished. Please listen to me, there are some things I have to say."
"Speak." Emperor Huaisheng had no expression on his face and spoke in a faint voice.
The fourth prince kowtowed again, and when he looked up again, his eyes were full of determination, and his voice was firmer: "This time, I am the mastermind of the abdication and I will never shirk my responsibility. But father, how much love do you have for me? Yes, you are the emperor and have so many children, but you only have eyes for my third brother. Just because he is the legitimate child and I am a concubine's child, you don't care about the concubine's child? No matter how hard I work and how excellent I am, you will never see it."
"Zhan'er, shut up." Concubine Wu Xian remembered that she had disregarded etiquette and started scolding.
"Xianfei, let Prince De speak."
Concubine Wu suddenly felt hopeless.
Although the Fourth Prince was kneeling at this time, he also straightened his spine, "Because the emperor favored the third brother, he suppressed his sons and ministers everywhere and made things difficult for them. Father, do you know this? Hahaha, you don't know. What did your good sons do to your illegitimate brothers?"
Queen Mu didn't dare to say anything, but Shen Shenshen noticed with his sharp eyes that she was tightly grasping the hem of her gorgeous palace dress with both hands, as if she wanted to crush the skirt.
"If my third brother inherits the throne in the future, wouldn't this minister be living a life worse than death? I have no choice but to resort to this last resort." The fourth prince raised his head and looked directly into the eyes of Emperor Huai Sheng. "Now that things have come to this, I know I am wrong and am willing to accept any punishment."
Emperor Huai Sheng was silent for a moment, with a complex emotion flashing in his eyes. He said, "Prince De, why don't you tell me what Prince Yun did?"
"If I tell you directly, will you believe me? I... don't believe you. I am responsible for my own actions. I only ask you to let my mother go. She is innocent." After saying this, the fourth prince kowtowed to express his gratitude, as if he was saying goodbye to his father and the world. Concubine Wu had already burst into tears.
This palace turmoil finally came to an end at this moment.
Emperor Huaisheng narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Zhu Jizhan, as if thinking about the truth of his words. There was silence in the hall, and everyone held their breath and waited.
Emperor Huai Sheng closed his eyes and spoke with difficulty: "Prince De, it is difficult to forgive you for assassinating me. However, considering that Prince De is my heir, I will spare his life. From now on, Prince De will be demoted to a commoner and exiled to the northern border. He will never be allowed to enter the capital again."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." The fourth prince kowtowed to express his gratitude. Concubine Wu could no longer hold back, and went forward to hug her son, crying bitterly.
"Xianfei, you are not good at educating your children. I will demote you to a concubine and grant you the right to live in Xinghua Palace."
"I thank your majesty for your great grace." Concubine Wu kowtowed to express her gratitude. Xinghua Palace is next to the cold palace, and Concubine Wu is no different from being in the cold palace. From today on, it is impossible for her to see Zhu Jizhan or Emperor Huaisheng again.
"Take him away." Emperor Huai Sheng waved his hand tiredly.
The guards responded and took the injured Fourth Prince away. Concubine Wu stood up mechanically, with a blank look in her eyes, and followed the commoner Zhu Jizhan out of the place.
Seeing the miserable end of Concubine Xian and her son, everyone felt sorry for the fate of the Fourth Prince. The Queen watched all this silently, and she was anxious, not knowing how His Majesty would deal with the Third Prince, Prince Yun.
Emperor Huaisheng glanced at Zhou Yiran and the Feidaowei people who were kneeling in the hall.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I knew nothing about the rebellion committed by my fourth son today. Please forgive my family. I will take all the punishment on my own." Duke Jing'an immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Emperor Huaisheng.
"Humph." Zhou Yiran sneered, "Master Zhou, stop pretending here. The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. This young master will never beg for mercy."
Lord Zhou immediately shouted, "Rebellious son, rebellious son, if you don't consider your father, you should also think about the entire Zhou family. Are they all going to be buried with you?"
Zhou Yiran showed a harmless smile to Lord Zhou on his handsome face, "Yes. I want the entire Zhou Mansion to be buried with me."
"You...how has the Zhou family wronged you? Zhou Yiran, you ungrateful bastard, your father has really raised you in vain."
"Ever since mother died, I've wished that you all would die every day." Zhou Yiran's eyes suddenly turned red as he glared at Zhou Ning. Lord Zhou Jue was frightened for a moment as if he had seen a ghost from the underworld.
Zhou Yiran no longer paid attention to his father, and suddenly turned his head to look at Shen Shenshen who was walking towards the family of Marquis Anbo with a smile on his face.