Chapter 108
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Xue Yao was not immediately faced with the battle for succession that he was prepared for.
During the three-year period of national mourning, the actual mourning lasted for twenty-seven months. However, a country could not be without a ruler for even a day. Great Qi used days instead of months, so generally, a new emperor’s enthronement ceremony would take place twenty-seven days later.
Ascending to the throne and being officially enthroned held distinct meanings. Although the heir might have assumed the throne after the passing of the previous emperor, the grand enthronement ceremony would follow a month later.
The current situation in the court was at a tense stage, with no one daring to cause trouble during the twenty-seven days of national mourning. The Third Prince was also being held back by Consort Tong, refraining from taking any action.
The supporters of the Crown Prince directly addressed him as “Your Majesty,” firmly believing that the Crown Prince would ascend to the throne.
The supporters of the Tong family were all low-key. The imperial edict was now held by the Third Prince. It should be Prince Ning who ascended, however, Prince Ning was currently missing.
Why was Prince Ning missing? Of course, the suspicion fell on the “deposed” Crown Prince who was forcibly replaced.
Half a month had passed, but Seventh Prince had not been brought back. The distressed Crown Prince repeatedly sends people to the border to hasten his return.
Consort Xi was also distressed. All the imperial sons had safely returned to the capital, except for her son.
Xue Yao comforted her, explaining that His Highness insisted on staying at the border and refusing to return to the palace due to the trauma of his Father Emperor’s passing.
Consort Xi still wore a troubled expression. Xue Yao speculated that most of her distress stemmed from her son’s disappearance, partly from losing the emperor’s protection, and concerns about the future for herself and her child. Surprisingly, Consort Xi wasn’t overly saddened by the Emperor’s death.
Across the entire palace, it seemed only the Empress aged ten years in an instant due to the Emperor’s demise.
A month later, an urgent letter arrived from the border, bearing the seal of the Seventh Prince. However, the letter wasn’t written by the Seventh Prince but penned by the Sword Saint himself.
The Sword Saint conveyed that Lu Qian had been successfully retrieved. Somehow, he managed to slip through the enemy lines. Luckily, the Khitan forces were nowhere to be found, and Lu Qian hadn’t encountered the Khitan King. After three days of pursuit with Sect Master Xu, they managed to bring the Seventh Prince back.
The letter mentioned that Lu Qian’s temperament had become somewhat peculiar, difficult to communicate with, and solely focused on avenging his father by slaying the Khitan King.
The Sword Saint and Sect Master Xu, concerned that the boy might develop some ailment, planned to impart some basic martial arts skills to help him seek revenge and release the burden on his heart.
While Xue Yao breathed a sigh of relief, Consort Xi couldn’t comprehend why martial arts experts wanted to take her son as a disciple. She pleaded with the Empress and the Crown Prince to go to the border and retrieve her son.
Without the Emperor’s exclusive favor, who had time to deal with the once-favored consort? Consort Xi’s pleas fell on deaf ears, except for Xue Yao, who patiently offered solace, promising to go to the border and bring back the Seventh Prince when the opportunity arose.
Meanwhile, the inevitable struggle for the throne finally commenced.
As the representative of the Crown Prince faction, Xue Yao addressed the court, confirming that the Third Prince had placed the Seventh Prince under house arrest and later sent troops to pursue him.
The Third Prince cunningly defended himself, claiming that after hearing the imperial edict, he urgently protected his seventh brother, strictly guarding him to prevent any ill-intentioned individuals from harming the new heir.
He further argued that if he intended to send troops after the Seventh Prince, why not act during the house arrest, indicating that the pursuers were manipulated by others!
After absolving himself of guilt, the Third Prince counter-accused, condemning the Crown Prince for disregarding the safety of their father, leaving the camp without permission. He claimed this was tantamount to desertion, disqualifying him from ascending and subjecting him to military law. Failure to comply would result in exposing the Crown Prince’s crimes to the public.
The Second Prince, unable to contain himself, wanted to step forward, stating that he had summoned the Crown Prince back to handle state affairs. However, the Crown Prince prevented him.
Now that the Crown Prince had fallen from grace, it was uncertain if he could rally support outside the court. The Third Prince, holding three military tokens and the imperial edict, already had a slight advantage.
If the Second Prince got involved in this murky situation, he might be seen as complicit, losing his role as the Regent, leaving the Crown Prince with even less ground to stand on.
The two factions locked in a stalemate. Although court affairs seemed to proceed as usual, drafted by the Cabinet and approved by the Directorate of Ceremonial, in reality, they were not under the control of the Second Prince, acting as the Regent.
The Cabinet was mainly composed of supporters of the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince had initially opposed eunuch interference in politics, offending many influential eunuchs. The Director of Ceremonial’s scribes were naturally aligned with the Tong family’s faction.
The eunuchs knew that if the Crown Prince took power, their good days would come to an end. Now, finally grasping evidence against the Crown Prince, these eunuchs, even more desperate than the Third Prince, fervently suppressed the Crown Prince’s influence.
The struggle for the throne showed no signs of gunpowder, but numerous court officials experienced changes in their positions as both factions maneuvered to place their supporters in crucial roles.
The surface calm persisted for over two months until the Regent, the Second Prince, fell victim to poisoning, revealing the true edge of this silent battle.
Fortunately, the poisoning was detected in time. Xue Yao, who was in the Crown Prince’s hall at that moment, rushed to Yangxin Hall and immediately administered gastric lavage. The Second Prince suffered no serious harm.
All palace staff involved in meal preparation and delivery were apprehended and interrogated. However, the blame was shifted onto scapegoats arranged by the Third Prince.
This incident reminded Xue Yao of the Ming Dynasty when the newly ascended Emperor Chongzhen carried flatbreads brought from home in his clothes, refusing palace food for fear of poisoning. He even hesitated to sleep in the imperial quarters, fearing assassination by Wei Zhongxian’s associates.
In that scenario, even if Wei Zhongxian killed Chongzhen, he couldn’t become emperor himself. He would have to install a young puppet emperor. Now, if anything happened to the Second Prince, the Third Prince wouldn’t need a puppet. He could ascend on his own.
This sent shivers down Xue Yao’s spine.
If the Seventh Prince returned to court now and became the puppet of the Crown Prince, could he resist the temptation to eat palace food? Could he constantly fend off internal traitors and assassins?
The chubby cub’s meager martial arts skills might pass against ordinary practitioners, but facing formidable opponents like Fourth Zhang, he stood no chance.
Hence, Xue Yao secretly didn’t wish for the chubby cub to face the current danger. He even thought the chubby cub’s decision to stay with the Sword Saint at this time was a wise one.
In a manner similar to the novel, if the chubby cub mastered exceptional swordsmanship in two years, ensuring his own safety, he could then strategically oversee the governor-generals through the Sword Saint’s disciples. By gaining control of the military, he might orchestrate the ultimate confrontation and reclaim his position at the court as the rightful heir.
Afterwards, Xue Yao, along with the entourage sent by the Crown Prince, left the capital in search of the Seventh Prince. The goal wasn’t just to bring him back but to personally oversee the chubby cub’s diligent studies and rigorous training.
The Crown Prince’s aides had no knowledge of the Sword Saint’s whereabouts. Xue Yao hadn’t disclosed it to anyone. He embarked on a solo journey to Baixing Mountain, using the map provided by Fourth Zhang. After three days of exploration, he discovered a bamboo grove that closely matched the depicted location on the map.
Upon reaching the spot, Fourth Zhang informed him not to venture deep into the bamboo grove, as one could get lost in there, potentially starving or exhausting oneself to death.
Following Fourth Zhang’s advice, Xue Yao circled the bamboo grove until he found two redwood pillars. Between the pillars hung a signboard inscribed with the words “Morning Leisure Grove.” It seemed like the bamboo grove was named by taking a character from the Sword Saint and Master Xu’s names each. It appeared that the relationship between these two seniors was quite amicable.
After finding the signboard, Xue Yao sat down beside the pillars, patiently waiting for the Sword Saint to appear.
The early autumn temperature in the northwest was still moderate. Xue Yao sat outside the bamboo grove like this for a whole day but didn’t catch a glimpse of the Sword Saint.
Waiting in the mountains at night was risky, as one might end up as prey for wild beasts. He had to descend to the inn for the night and return to the mountain at daybreak.
Seven days passed, and still, the Sword Saint didn’t show up.
Xue Yao needed to return to the team. Otherwise, the entourage sent by the Crown Prince might consider his disappearance as tragic news and bring it back to the capital, reporting to the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince couldn’t withstand more bad news. The number of “loyalists” supporting him was dwindling. Xue Yao could still privately brainstorm with him and alleviate the pressure.
The burden on the Crown Prince’s shoulders weighed heavily with the Empress and the bedridden Crown Princess. If he faltered, both women would be in dire straits.
To this day, the Crown Prince hadn’t mustered the courage to tell his wife the truth—that he lost his position as the Crown Prince because he returned to see her. He feared her self-blame might worsen her condition.
Half a month later, Xue Yao returned empty-handed.
Shortly after returning to the palace, the Second Prince ascended the throne, becoming the puppet emperor in a role intended for the missing Seventh Prince.
The Crown Prince was demoted to Prince Rui, intensifying the struggle against the Third Prince.
Xue Yao frequently had nightmares, dreaming that the chubby cub had perished under the Khitan King’s blade.
He began to worry, fearing that the letter from the Sword Saint was written to console him, and that the Sword Saint deliberately avoided appearing because he couldn’t produce his chubby cub.
Since the system alerted him of the reset, there hadn’t been the slightest fluctuation in the sense of security points. Xue Yao’s last connection with the chubby cub was now completely severed.
In any circle, no one was immune to the rule of bad money driving out good money. The longer the internal strife persisted, the more the Crown Prince’s integrity put him at a disadvantage.
After a year, among the Crown Prince’s allies in the cabinet and the six ministries, half had defected.
Xue Yao’s maternal grandfather, Zhou Chong, served as the Deputy Prime Minister of the cabinet and concurrently held the position of Minister of Works. He was one of the remaining two allies of the Crown Prince in the cabinet.
At the year-end audit of the Great Qi’s household accounts, a whopping two million taels of deficit were recorded in Zhou Chong’s Ministry of Works.
This sum was originally allocated for the construction of gardens by the Ministry of Works. The gardens were planned during the late emperor’s reign, but construction slowed after his demise. The funds were redirected by the Ministry of War to build warships.
The Ministry of Works didn’t dare to object at the time, as the Directorate of Cermemonial had approved it. However, during the year-end audit, the Ministry of War denied the transaction, and the Directorate of Ceremonial refused to acknowledge it. United against him, Zhou Chong found himself in a predicament.
Zhou Chong, with a bumpy official career, was almost dismissed from office for the second time. With the protection of the Emperor and the Crown Prince, he was suspended pending trial.
The Third Prince’s influence had reached the heart of the court. Both factions knew that the day of reckoning, a decisive battle, was fast approaching.
Before Zhou Chong’s arrest, he instructed his daughter to take refuge with her son in the Xue family. Xue Yao, who originally thought stepping down from office would spare him from the conflict, found himself entangled in the vortex due to his grandfather’s charges.
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