The Heavens Begin with Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 192 Palace Change
Lin Daiyu is a love-brained person. Once she has an emotional foundation, she agrees to many things reluctantly.

Of course, it is unknown how much role the "precognitive dream" played in this. Anyway, Mr. Zhan arranged for Mrs. Wang to prepare a dowry for her.

Since she didn't have to pay out of her own pocket, Mrs. Wang was of course happy to lend a hand and do a favor. She was of course very thoughtful and gave as generous a gift as she could ask for.

After marrying Lin Daiyu, it is natural to marry Baochai.

Baochai and her daughter made great contributions to Mr. Zhan's successful collection of character cards. Mr. Zhan always rewards those who have made contributions. In addition to promising the position of his legitimate wife to Baochai, he naturally also has to prepare a grand wedding for her.

It is better not to trouble two masters for one matter. Fortunately, the two girls, Chai and Dai, now live in the Grand View Garden of the Jia Mansion. The preparations are naturally handed over to Mrs. Wang. With Aunt Xue's help, the scale of the preparations is naturally not small.

Everything was going well at the Jia family, but some problems arose on Wang Xifeng's side.

Originally, Wang Ren had been thinking about sending Wang Xifeng to the Zhan Mansion as soon as possible, but now something unexpected happened. The current emperor passed away, and the emperor eunuch became regent again.

As the saying goes, a new emperor appoints his own ministers. After the Supreme Lord ascended the throne, the four kings and eight dukes, who had originally fallen into decline, became powerful again and began to expand wantonly, wanting to seize the new nobles supported by the original emperor.

As for Mr. Zhan, who was the most powerful person before, his reputation naturally plummeted. Not only were his visitors deserted, but the number of visitors also decreased.

Wang Ren was originally a fence-sitter, he would lean towards whichever side the wind was stronger. Now that he saw that Master Zhan looked depressed, he immediately became wavering and no longer wanted to give his sister to him.

It’s not that Wang Ren felt sorry for his sister, but he was mainly afraid that when Master Zhan was liquidated, he would be implicated because of his sister.

After Master Zhan urged him several times, he knew what was in this guy's mind and stopped urging him.

Since this guy has narrowed the road, if anything happens in the future, it won't be Master Zhan's fault.

In the beginning, Master Zhan infiltrated the imperial court purely for the purpose of having a legitimate identity so that he could hook up with the ladies and wives of the Jia family. Now that his character cards have been almost all collected, there is no need to cling to this identity.

The world is about to be destroyed. Is the title of earl so great?
At worst, Master Zhan could become a bandit again, rob the palace, and snatch Wang Xifeng out.

After making up his mind, Mr. Zhan began to prepare for taking a concubine and getting married in peace and stability.

In the Zhan Mansion, the concubines also learned from Yuanchun that the world was about to end, and they couldn't help but become anxious, and came to harass Master Zhan.

The sisters are all closely related to each other, and in the past they all had their own ways of competing for favor, but they had never all gathered together for a party.

But this time the matter was so huge that no one cared about their face anymore. They gathered together and had a big party. It was so noisy that Mr. Zhan's large bed of dozens of square meters could not accommodate everyone. They had to temporarily merge the surrounding rooms together and double the size of the bed so that everyone could lie down together.

After a round of unspeakable things, the anxious Xiangyun crossed the crowd, climbed onto Master Zhan, and asked directly:
"Master, is this world really going to be destroyed?"

"Well, of course it's true. There's no reason for that lame Taoist to lie to me about this." Master Zhan was surrounded by women on both sides, enjoying the blessing of having many women. He said vaguely, "And after I opened my third eye, I also saw that the space barrier of this world is constantly breaking and repairing. It doesn't look good."

"What should we do then?" Everyone suddenly burst into an uproar and asked at the same time.

"Master, it's not that I and the others don't trust you, but even if you become an immortal, can you really take us with you?"

"What if the Heavenly Court doesn't allow us to go to heaven together? What should we do then?"

Master Zhan knew that there were many new wives and concubines among his family, and that they did not have enough confidence in their master, so he comforted them:
"Don't worry, I have the magical power of the Heart-Elephant Cave Heaven. Everything within a few miles is under my control and can be changed at will."

"Just wait and see!"

Master Zhan snapped his fingers, and everyone saw the walls, ceiling, and floor around them instantly change shape and become golden.

When Xiangling and the others saw this, they climbed down from the bed, ran over and fumbled around, then shouted in surprise:
“It really all turned into gold!”

"Master, is this a magic that can turn stone into gold?"

"Yes, it is definitely genuine gold." Master Zhan smiled reservedly, raised his hand and waved it in all directions, "I, your master, can wrap the entire Zhan Mansion in this Heart Image Cave Heaven, and cover it with a golden shell. No matter how strong the wind and thunder are, they will not be able to harm the people inside."

"Although I don't know what kind of disaster will happen when the world is destroyed, whether it is a flood, an earthquake, a thunderstorm, or a strong wind, none of them can break through my mind."

"If there is a great flood, I will turn this outer shell of the cave into a large ship."

"If there is a volcanic earthquake, I will turn this cave into a flying shuttle."

Master Zhan had no way of explaining to this group of illiterate concubines about submarines and spaceships, nor did he need to mention alloys and oxygen. He only needed to tell them that he was omnipotent and that as long as they stayed by his side, they would be safe and sound. That was it!
"Oh..."×N!

The effect was very good. The girls nodded in amazement and felt more at ease.

Mr. Zhan continued:
"What I lack now is the location of the heaven. Otherwise, I can build a shuttle and take you there. There is no need to wait until you become an immortal and ascend to heaven, let alone the approval of the heaven."

"When I achieve enlightenment and ascend to heaven, I will naturally know where the fairyland is, and I will take you there with me then."

"If the Heavenly Court disagrees, then we can just force our way through."

"If we can't afford to offend the Immortal Official Emperor, then can we afford to offend the Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals?"

After hearing this, the girls looked at each other and started to discuss among themselves.

"I think if possible, we should not clash with the soldiers of Heavenly Palace. Otherwise, if we beat the younger ones, the older ones will come. We can't keep fighting and killing each other. What if we fail?"

"Look at our master's ability. He is much more powerful than the gods in those novels. He is probably not a good person after he goes to heaven. I'm afraid we can't do without fighting. But as long as he wins a few times, the Heavenly Court might as well recruit him instead of sending troops to suppress him."

"Yes, that's right, isn't it written in the books? The Heavenly Court also likes to recruit big monsters and so on. Many monsters in Journey to the West came from heaven."

"Haha, in my opinion, our master is so lustful, maybe he was banished to the mortal world because he flirted with Chang'e."

"This is really possible. Marshal Tianpeng was reborn as a pig, but our master is still in human form. He must have been very stubborn, otherwise why would he look down on the Heavenly Court so much?"

"It's best to have connections. After we go up, we don't have to worry about being wanted by the Heavenly Court."

"Do you think our master ate Chang'e? Chang'e is said to be the most beautiful woman in the sky. How can an ordinary person dream of her?"

There is a saying that one woman is equal to five hundred ducks. There were tens of thousands of ducks in this room, chirping and quacking non-stop. Soon the building tilted to an unknown direction. The original worries had long disappeared. One by one, they began to gossip about the similarities between their master and Marshal Tianpeng, as well as some things that must be mentioned between their master and Chang'e.

Mr. Zhan was suddenly overwhelmed and quickly asked them to stop.

"Okay, there is no need to discuss this matter any further. You just need to enjoy your life. I will take care of the rest."

"Come on, the night is long, let's continue playing."

The girls were chatting happily and had no time to pay attention to him, so they all said coquettishly:

"Master, there are too many wolves and too little meat. How can there be enough for so many of us? Why don't you release that clone again?"

Mr. Zhan shook his head and refused:

"You don't know, but last time I used the magical power of One Qi Transforming into Three Pure Ones, I was probably not using it correctly and angered Taishang Laojun. Now it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. I can't use it anymore."

"But don't worry, with my current strength and recovery speed, I will have no problem feeding you."

"What's more..." Master Zhan smiled and waved his hand, and countless magic weapons appeared, scattered around everyone, "Master still has countless magic weapons here, enough for everyone to be happy, and no one will be left out."

After saying this, Master Zhan leaped forward, remotely controlled many magic weapons, surrounded a group of concubines, and began his journey of conquest.

The girls had long been accustomed to their masters' excessive debauchery, so they did not take it seriously at the moment. They each found a close sister, picked up the magic weapons, and started to help each other.

The party lasted the entire night until dawn, when it finally stopped. Everyone lay in all directions on the big bed and slept together in a mess.

In the following days, as his house was deserted, Master Zhan did not have much to do, so he spent the whole day hanging out with his concubines, waiting for Sister Lin to marry him.

On the contrary, there were constant happy events in the Jia family.

Jia Zheng and Jia Lian were quite successful in suppressing the rioters, and good news came in frequently. In addition, the Supreme Lord wanted to show goodwill to the Jia family, so he signaled the officials in the Ministry of War to relax a little. As a result, the two of them were promoted faster and faster. It is likely that it will not be long before they can regain their titles and restore the glory of their ancestors.

But this matter has nothing to do with Master Zhan. He has even slept with the Imperial Concubine, so he would not be interested in any royal lady.

If he had that much time, he might as well think about how to wash off the veil, so that the group of demons could appear in front of everyone, encourage humans and demons to practice together, and put more sisters on that big bed of nearly 100 square meters.

Who knows, the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop.

Mr. Zhan didn't want to go out and cause trouble, but someone came to his door.

One day, after Mr. Zhan had finished his breakfast, he was chatting and laughing with the Sichun sisters when he suddenly saw the housekeeper Yang Yougong coming over to report.

"Master, Prince Zhongshun is here to visit."

"Hey, why is he here?" Master Zhan was stunned.

Although Master Zhan and Prince Zhongshun have always had a good relationship, Prince Zhongshun has always valued his status. Whenever there is something, he always asks someone to summon Master Zhan and has never come to the Zhan Mansion in person.

At this time, the Zhan family was already deserted and no one was optimistic about them, but he took the initiative to visit them at this time, which was interesting.

Master Zhan quickly reviewed the recent events in his mind, and came up with a plan in his mind. He immediately smiled and waved his hand, saying:
"Then why not open the front door to welcome us?"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Yang Yougong whispered a reminder:
"Master, Prince Zhongshun came here in plain clothes, without making any big fanfare."

"Oh..." Master Zhan understood more clearly and probably guessed the purpose of this guy's visit. He stood up with a sneer and went out to greet him.

Sure enough, as soon as I went out, I saw a man standing there with his head down and wearing a bamboo hat. There were several big men around him, surrounding him tightly, so outsiders could not see who was inside.

"Haha... I didn't expect a distinguished guest to come to visit. Please come in."

Mr. Zhan smiled and walked over, bowed, and invited the person into the house.

After arriving at the living room, both parties sat down, tea was served, and Master Zhan drove all the servants out.

Prince Zhongshun took off his bamboo hat, put it on the table, and said with a smile:
"Zhan Qing seems to be free, I heard that you are going to take a concubine again?"

Master Zhan laughed and said:
"This is my only hobby. Please forgive me for making fun of you, Your Majesty."

It is said that a person without any hobbies is not worth making friends with. The superiors like the people below them to have various moral defects, and they fear moral gentlemen the most. Seeing the lustful face of Master Zhan, Prince Zhongshun felt more at ease, and smiled at Master Zhan, not taking it as an offense at all.

"It's just lustful, it's not a big deal. Which man isn't lustful?"

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Prince Zhongshun said pointedly:
"Recently, the Zhan Mansion has been deserted and has few visitors. It is not as prosperous as before."

Master Zhan glanced at him, too lazy to continue beating around the bush with him, and asked directly:
"I heard that all the princes have been showing their filial piety to the emperor recently. Why didn't you go? Don't you want to be the emperor?"

"No, no..." Prince Zhongshun subconsciously waved his hands to refuse, but as soon as he said this, his expression changed several times and he stopped. His eyes flickered several times, and finally he gritted his teeth and asked directly:
"Zhan Qing, if I want to be the emperor, are you willing to support me?"

Master Zhan glanced at him and said coldly:
"From what I know, the prince was too close to His Majesty before, which made His Majesty quite unhappy."

"If the Supreme Lord decides who will be the new ruler, it will never be Your Highness' turn."

"Or is it that the prince is ready to ascend the throne by force?"

Prince Zhongshun was so frightened by Master Zhan's blunt words that his heart beat wildly and he didn't know how to respond for a moment.

He had also gone to various families to sound out some opinions before. Although those civil and military officials were supported by the emperor in the past, they had many choices and it was not unacceptable for them to switch to the new emperor.

The Supreme Emperor is old and the late Emperor has no children. Sooner or later he will find a candidate among the many princes to ascend the throne.

But now the incident happened suddenly, and each family was unprepared. No one knows who the Supreme has his heart set on, and who will become the new king in the future.

But there is no doubt that Prince Zhongshun, a staunch supporter of the previous emperor, is certainly not liked by the Supreme Emperor and has the lowest probability of becoming the new emperor.

So although each family is looking for targets for speculation, few will choose Prince Zhongshun.

In response to Prince Zhongshun's tentative words, most people were ambiguous, neither agreeing nor rejecting, and were vague and never made a clear statement.

Only Master Zhan was so straightforward that he even said something like "ascending the throne by force."

If this news gets out, I'm afraid Tai Shang will be the first one who won't let them go.

Prince Zhongshun looked around anxiously, and felt relieved when he saw that they were the only two people in the room. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to clear himself, but when the words came to his lips, he couldn't say them.

For no reason, his intuition told him that if he said something that was not in line with his heart, then Master Zhan would definitely not tell him the truth, and the result of this visit would definitely be similar to those of the previous ones, which would be meaningless.

Prince Zhongshun's expression changed rapidly. Thinking of his unwillingness and considering Master Zhan's unique attitude, he finally gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and whispered:
"The army in the capital is now under the control of His Majesty. Even if I want to mutiny, I don't have the conditions to do so!"

"Haha..." Master Zhan sneered, "At this point, Your Majesty is still unwilling to open up to me, so what else can I say?"

"Since Your Highness cannot stage a coup, then you should go back and be a filial son to His Majesty, and then see if His Majesty will become old and dim-sighted and grant you the throne."

Being ridiculed by Master Zhan, Prince Zhongshun's face turned green and red, but he had to ask Master Zhan for help, so he had to tell the truth:

"Forget it, now that things have come to this, I will not hide it from you anymore."

"I have indeed contacted several generals in private, and we can gather an army and try to break into the palace and do something that will change the world."

"I have some connections with some palace people because of my good relationship with my former brother. Now that they have lost their power, I can help open the door from the inside."

"But the palace is heavily guarded, and there are many skilled fighters inside. It is still unknown how much of a role those fallen palace servants can play."

"I have heard that Zhan Qing has extraordinary skills and swordsmanship. In order to be on the safe side, I would like to ask Zhan Qing to take action and follow the army into the palace. If you encounter a fierce general, kill him and provide convenience for the army."

After hearing this, Mr. Zhan couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. It turned out to be just such a trivial matter.

Seeing Master Zhan shaking his head, Prince Zhongshun became anxious and hurriedly continued to persuade him:
"I see that Zhan Qing hasn't contacted the princes of the various families these days. I think he already knows in his heart that your machine is too hateful. I don't know how much money it has ruined for the various families over the years. No one wants you anymore."

"But I am different. We have done so much business together. I don't know how much money this machine has helped me earn. My followers will not hate Zhan Qing."

"I hereby promise to Zhan Qing that as long as I ascend the throne, I will certainly make use of Zhan Qing."

Master Zhan smiled and said:
"Your Highness has misunderstood. I shook my head not because I rejected you, but because I felt your plan was too frivolous and the chances of success were low."

"I don't know who the generals the prince contacted are, but if you think about it, you will know that at this time, those who have not been deprived of their military power by the Supreme have generally only three possibilities."

"The first possibility is that what they have is insignificant, so there is no need to replace them."

"The second possibility is that the family background is strong and there is no need to take the dangerous action of choosing sides."

"And the third possibility is that they have always been Tai Shang's people, or they were not originally, but are now Tai Shang's people."

"But no matter which one it is, His Majesty will not be able to succeed if he uses these generals to carry out a coup."

"I am very worried that as soon as you mention this plan to them, they will sell it out and use it to ask for credit from the Supreme Lord."

When Prince Zhongshun heard this, his face turned pale instantly. He jumped up from his chair in panic and shouted:

"What should I do?"

"I've already told them the plan!"

Master Zhan waved his hand, motioning him to sit down, and said soothingly:

"Your Highness, don't worry. Even if they want to sell you out to gain merit, they have to wait until you start a rebellion before they turn against you and catch you in the act. That way they can gain the most merit."

"Otherwise, if we act early, and you refuse to admit it, they will say that other princes framed you and wanted to eliminate their competitors. Even if the Supreme Lord believes that you are truly rebelling, they will not be able to take all the credit."

"If outsiders knew about this, they would suspect that they were secretly framing you and alienating the blood relationship between the royal family members."

After Mr. Zhan's analysis, Prince Zhongshun calmed down a little, but then became dejected again.

"If that's the case, there's no one available in the military, and the coup won't happen."

"That may not be the case." Master Zhan smiled and pointed out a clear path for Prince Zhongshun. "I have used the convenience of horse farm security to organize a large alliance of escort agencies over the years. Does Your Majesty still remember?"

Prince Zhongshun was stunned, then asked hesitantly:
"Zhan Qing means to use the people in this escort agency to stage a palace coup?"

"But the escort agency is just a bunch of rough guys. Can they be compared with the palace guards?"

Mr. Zhan smiled and explained:
"Your Highness, you may not know that in recent years, trade routes have been unstable in various places, and the escort agencies have always fought and killed their way through."

"Although the escort agency is full of rough men, they are all real warriors who have seen blood and fought hard."

"Although the palace guards are well-armored and well-trained, they are just flowers in a greenhouse and have no real combat experience."

"If it really comes down to a life-and-death fight, the people in the escort agency will definitely have higher martial arts skills."

In recent years, the Zhan Family Escort Agency has grown bigger and bigger, and the alliance of escort agencies from various places organized by it has also attracted the attention of more and more powerful people. Everyone wants to get involved, and related affairs are becoming more and more cumbersome.

Now that the world is about to be destroyed, Master Zhan no longer needs this escort company, so he might as well just give it away and let Prince Zhongshun take over, so that he can have some peace and quiet.

Prince Zhongshun still had some doubts in his eyes after hearing this, so Master Zhan smiled and said:
"As the saying goes, what you hear is not as good as what you see. I'll let Yang Yougong take you to the escort agency to see the situation, and then you'll know whether what I said is true or not."

"These people are just gangsters, they are easy to deal with. After the matter is done, you can reward the leader with a few military officer titles, and give the rest some official titles or silver."

"Also, a coup like this must not be planned slowly. Otherwise, the more people know about it, the easier it will be for the news to leak out."

"A palace coup must be carried out quickly, the faster the better. It would be best to pick a random night so that both the enemy and us are caught off guard. Then it will be time to test our hard power."

After saying this, Master Zhan asked Yang Yougong to take Prince Zhongshun to inspect the escort agency.

Prince Zhongshun was indeed reckless enough, and he understood very well that hesitation would lead to defeat. After his inspection, he made a prompt decision to raise an army. Without even returning home, he led the people from the escort agency and stormed into the palace.

Yang Yougong was also a cunning man. He did not tell them where to attack at all. He just asked them to eat and drink their fill, pick up their weapons and follow him. In the dark, no one knew where to go. They quietly came to the side door of the palace. The door was opened by a thief. After entering the imperial city, Yang Yougong told the truth.

In other words, the members of this escort agency are all private soldiers raised by Master Zhan, and they have been given sufficient wages and benefits over the years. Otherwise, ordinary people would not have the courage to attack the imperial palace.

At this point, it was too late to retreat. Many of these bodyguards were disaster victims who could not survive, and they did not have much fear for the emperor. Since there was no way to retreat, they had to just keep killing.

Murder and arson were common, and wherever the people went, there was endless shouting and killing, and flames and thick smoke were everywhere, making the entire imperial city lively.

What's more, there were traitors in the palace who took advantage of the situation and sought revenge. They took revenge on those who had grievances and those who had grudges. They killed and burned people everywhere, causing the scale of the palace coup to expand even more rapidly.

It can only be said that the inner court of the imperial palace has been peaceful for too long, and no one really expected that there would be a coup. Everything went more smoothly than expected.

Those palace guards obviously had no practice for emergency assembly. They were attacked in the dark and were at a loss as to how to deal with the situation. After several people died, they fled in panic, abandoning their weapons and armor and disappearing without a trace.

When Prince Zhongshun led his men to the Qianqing Palace, the emperor had not even put on his clothes!
Master Zhan was riding on a cloud, hanging high in the sky, watching Prince Zhongshun, who came to the bottom of the steps with a big belly and murderous look on his face, and bowed to the shocked and angry Emperor on the steps.

"Father, please issue an order to pass the throne to your son."

"You...you are so brave!" The emperor could not see anything with his eyes, but after Dai Quan's explanation, he already knew who the mastermind of tonight was. He was so angry that he was shaking all over.

"Well, you are indeed my good sons. All of you have grown wings and no one cares about me anymore!"

But Prince Zhongshun was confident of victory at this time and did not care about his rebuke at all. He just bowed again.

"Please, Father, issue an order to pass the throne to your son."

When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Even if the emperor was so angry that his teeth were itching, he could not change the objective facts. He could only flick his sleeves angrily and turn into the bedroom.

Soon, Dai Quan came out of the bedroom again and handed over the order to pacify the people inside and outside the palace to Prince Zhongshun.

Prince Zhongshun opened it and took a look. It said that there was a rebellion among the guards and that Prince Zhongshun was transferred to the palace to defend the king. He immediately laughed and waved his hand, arranging a team of bodyguards to surround the bedroom.

"Protect father to rest well and don't let anyone disturb him. I will accompany him to the palace during the morning court tomorrow."

Prince Zhongshun may look reckless, but he is of royal birth after all. He knows that the retired emperor is old and will not live long, so there is no need for him to dirty his hands.

As for how long the emperor can live in the future, that is another matter.

He is old and has suffered such a shock. Even if he dies tomorrow, it is not unacceptable.

But no matter what, he had to appear in front of all the ministers alive, and die only after the decree of succession was issued.

"Tsk, so boring!" Master Zhan cursed in disappointment and turned back home.

He came here this time, on the one hand, to escort Yang Yougong and others to prevent failure from causing trouble to himself, and on the other hand, he wanted to see the famous scene of Xiaogan Tiandi. In the end, he didn't see anything. So why stay here? He might as well go home and have a good sleep!

As for how Prince Zhongshun would appease the people inside and outside the palace, treat the wounded, put out fires and provide disaster relief, he didn't bother to care. If it came to this, and he could still be overthrown by someone, then he deserved to die as the emperor, and it couldn't be blamed on Master Zhan.

(End of this chapter)