Chapter 979 Suspicion
Countless pairs of eyes in the capital were staring at King Huai. They watched him enter the palace and never came out again.
Tangning's attention temporarily turned away from King Huai because he encountered a difficult matter.
Princess Anyang just told him that Prince Fu probably already knew that he was the head of Xiaowan Kingdom. She didn't pay attention when she was talking to Zhao'er two days ago. She heard something moving outside and opened the window to find Prince Fu standing in the yard. I don’t know how long it’s been.
Tangning had a headache, looked at her and asked, "Are you sure Prince Fu heard what you said?"
Princess Anyang shook her head and said, "I'm not sure either. He doesn't seem to have changed much in the past two days. He hasn't asked me about it, and he hasn't done anything unusual."
Tangning waved her hand and said comfortingly, "Then don't worry. Even if he tells His Majesty about this, it won't change anything. At most, it will just be a little troublesome."
To be honest, he didn't want Emperor Chen to know his identity, but he couldn't show too much trouble at the moment, as this would make Princess Anyang fall into self-blame.
Tang Ning looked at her and changed the subject: "King Huai has been in the palace for so long, why hasn't he come out yet? Why don't you go into the palace to find out?"
Princess Anyang nodded and said, "I'll take a look at Xiao Man again..."
Before Princess Anyang returned, Tangning learned some shocking news.
The people of the Yulin Guards raided Prince Huai's Mansion, and the mansion of General Youyu Linwei was also raided. Even though the Yulin Guards had kept a low profile, it was impossible to cover up such a thing.
Prince Huai's Mansion was raided, and Li's Mansion was raided. This can be concluded without too much speculation.
King Huai rebelled.
If Emperor Chen was just dissatisfied with King Huai for holding on to things that happened twenty years ago, he would never implicate the Li family. The only explanation is that King Huai and the Li family rebelled together...
Not only that, they failed.
Compared with King Huai's rebellion, what Tangning couldn't believe even more was that he failed.
Based on Tang Ning's understanding of King Huai, how could he act rashly before he was completely sure? Although the case of Concubine Yang and the Queen was exposed during this period, King Huai was not the kind of person who would be affected by external objects. .
But thinking about it carefully, he wasn't sure.
The hatred between the biological mother and the adoptive mother is right in front of her. As a normal person, it is normal for her to do some abnormal things because of this.
However, King Huai may have underestimated Emperor Chen's vigilance.
After experiencing the rebellion of his two sons, King Kang and King Duan, Emperor Chen would probably become even more suspicious than before. Successful rebellion on his territory would be even harder than reaching the sky.
Tangning finally recovered from the news and couldn't believe it, "How is this possible? Does he want to die?"
Bai Jin stood in the courtyard and said, "Even if he doesn't die because of the rebellion, he only has half a year to live."
Tangning turned to look at her and asked, "What did you say?"
Bai Jin said: "He was poisoned."
…
Before Tang Ning could finish hearing Bai Jin's story, the eunuch summoned him again, and His Majesty announced that he should be admitted to the palace.
Tangning walked into the palace and could clearly feel that the atmosphere in the palace was many times more tense than before.
The moment he stepped into the imperial study room, he found that there were many people in the hall.
Almost all the important ministers in the court, including the Prime Minister, the Grand Scholar Zhang, the Six Ministers, the Minister, including the Sixteenth General, are here.
Apart from the morning court, His Majesty summoned so many courtiers to discuss matters at the same time. It was obvious that something big had happened.
Tang Ning walked to the front of the crowd and stood side by side with Wang Xiang.
Tang Ning raised her head and glanced at Chen Huang. She felt that he was older than the last time they met, and his face was extremely haggard. He had obviously suffered a serious blow.
Thinking about it, three of his sons rebelled against him. He may not be remembered in history because of his political achievements, but he will definitely leave a mark in history because of this incident.
Chen Huangzuo sat on the dragon chair, looked down, and said coldly: "King Huai has rebelled."
"What?"
"King Huai rebelled?"
"How can this be!"
…
After Chen Huang finished speaking, there was a gasp of air in the palace. The faces of all the officials showed extreme surprise and shock. The originally quiet palace immediately became noisy.
Emperor Chen stood up from the dragon chair, and everyone immediately lowered their heads and remained silent.
Emperor Chen glanced at them and said: "King Huai has conspired to rebel. From now on, he will be deprived of his position as prince, demoted to a commoner, and imprisoned in the palace for life... Do you have any objections to this?"
Including Tangning, everyone bowed and no one raised any objection.
Although King Huai rebelled, he was still the son of Emperor Chen. Tang Ning didn't know what Emperor Chen was like before, but he had become much more merciful in recent years. Although the punishment for the three rebel princes was Not lightly, but they spared their lives.
However, imprisoning them in the palace for a lifetime is not much better than killing them.
At this moment, Emperor Chen looked at them again and said: "I thought about it carefully. King Kang, King Duan, and King Huai rebelled one after another. The biggest mistake is my fault... A country cannot be without a king for a day, nor can it be without a king for a day. There will be no crown prince in the future. I should learn from the Chu State and establish a prince as early as possible to put an end to future disputes over princes..."
As Emperor Chen spoke, the expressions of the officials in the palace also changed.
The confirmation of the crown prince is related to the situation in the court. Because of what happened in the past few years and your majesty's vigilance, no one dared to interrupt this matter. This time, after King Huai rebelled, is your majesty finally determined?
Emperor Chen glanced at everyone and said, "Prince Run Zhao Yuan is talented and intelligent, virtuous and honest, and deeply loved by me. I want to make him the crown prince. What do you think?"
The officials in the palace lowered their heads, neither agreeing nor opposing.
The matter of establishing a crown prince is of great importance, and no one dared to speak carelessly.
Moreover, in the current capital, all the princes have rebelled, leaving only Prince Run without a stain on his body. Your majesty's appointment of him as the crown prince is also within everyone's expectations. Who would object, who dares to object?
Not to mention that there is only Prince Run left among the princes, just talking about the forces behind Prince Run, the Fang brothers are his uncles, Tang Xiang is his teacher, and Zhang Daxueshi is also his teacher. Counting the families and officials who are on good terms with these families, Prince Run's ascension is almost a foregone conclusion.
After a moment of silence in the hall, an official finally stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise..."
"Your Majesty is wise..."
"Your Majesty is wise..."
...
Prince Run has already grown up, which is something everyone knows. His Majesty's decision this time is nothing more than confirming their guesses in advance. Therefore, no one in the hall objects to making Prince Run the crown prince.
Emperor Chen's eyes swept across everyone's faces, and he waved his hand and said, "Since all the ministers have no objection, let's disperse..."
The expressions on the faces of the courtiers were different, some were shocked, and some were happy.
Only Wang Xiang and Zhang Daxueshi frowned, while Fang Zhe, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who had a stake in the matter, had a blank expression on his face, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Tang Ning looked at Emperor Chen, and suddenly he had a bad feeling in his heart. At this time, Emperor Chen also looked at him and said, "I will leave the matter of Prince Huai's rebellion to you. You must catch all the rebels in one fell swoop and not let any fish escape the net..."
Tang Ning cupped his hands and said, "I obey your order."
...
Deep in the palace, the Hall of Self-Reflection.
Tang Ning stood in front of the palace door and said, "Open the door."
Two Yulin guards opened the palace door and Tang Ning walked in. King Huai stood in the palace, slowly turned around, looked at him, and smiled, "You are here..."
Tang Ning asked, "Did you know I would come?"
King Huai shook his head and said, "You will not feel at ease if you don't come to see me."
Tang Ning did not deny it, looked at him and asked, "What did you say to His Majesty?"
King Huai smiled and said, "Nothing, I just told him that the emperor's brother, Prince Run, would be a better emperor than him."
Tang Ning's body was shocked. At this moment, he finally understood why Emperor Chen had such an expression when he announced that he would make Prince Run the crown prince.
He didn't really want to make Prince Run the crown prince, he was testing!
He was testing how many people supported Prince Run, or how many court officials the Fang family had won over...
Emperor Chen might really want to make Prince Run the crown prince, but he definitely didn't want to see that Prince Run had already taken control of the court and had the ability to overthrow him before he passed on the throne...
He might even change his decision to make the crown prince because of this incident - for an emperor with a strong desire for control and suspicion, he couldn't accept such a fact.
Although the choice of this matter was up to Emperor Chen, it was obvious that Prince Huai knew his father very well... and Tang Ning knew him too.
In other words, Prince Huai's words made the Fang family, the prime minister, Zhang Daxueshi, and even Tang Ning all stand on the opposite side of Emperor Chen.
He finally understood why Prince Huai's rebellion today did not succeed.
Because he didn't want to succeed at all, he didn't want to let Emperor Chen go so easily. He wanted Emperor Chen to be betrayed by his fourth son, by the ministers he valued, and by the entire court...
And Tang Ning was just a tool that he pulled into this quagmire to realize his plan.
The most frustrating thing is that this is a dead end, a dead end that they can no longer control after they enter the game.
King Huai is still the same King Huai, planning and strategizing as before. In this matter, even the Fang family, Wang Xiang, Zhang family, countless ministers in the court, including Tang Ning himself, are his pawns.
He used himself as bait to get all of them into the game...
Tang Ning looked at King Huai and asked helplessly: "Tell me, is this something a human would do?"
[ps: The audiobook of "Ruyi Xiaolangjun" is now online on Lazy Listening. This time it is a dubbing version with multiple male and female voices. The quality is very high. Readers who like listening to books can pay attention to it. 】