I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 136

This year's autumn rain came suddenly and went away abruptly. When the first court meeting after the new emperor's accession to the throne was adjourned, the misty autumn rain stopped, and the dark clouds in the sky were blown away, revealing an extremely high, light, and clear sky. A beam of sunlight fell on the glazed golden tiles of the imperial palace, emitting a faint halo, as if foreshadowing a bright future for the Kingdom of Qing.

Except for the dampness of rain in the streets and blue bricks, everything returned to normal. Kyoto became the bustling city again. People on the streets were talking about it, but the most discussed topic was not the ascension of the Third Prince to the throne, but the two major events in the court today.

One is that Fan Xian and the prince colluded with the Northern Qi and Dongyi to assassinate the previous emperor.

The second is that the new emperor started a national war.

Before this, there was news that Lord Xiao Fan was the murderer behind the assassination at Dadongshan. Some people believed it and some did not. Later, the news was confirmed to be false and Lord Xiao Fan did not assassinate the emperor. The common people and court officials then accepted this fact. However, no one expected that after the third prince ascended the throne, the previous conclusion would be overturned, and not only Lord Xiao Fan but also His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was implicated.

The Fan family's house is now empty, which shows that Master Fan really fled for fear of punishment and went to a distant foreign country.

However, the Crown Prince really caught many people by surprise, so many people in the streets actually believed that the introduction of Crown Prince Li Chengqian was a way for the new monarch to make his ascension to the throne appear legitimate.

Of course, no one dared to say such words directly, they just thought about it in their hearts, so compared to the issue of the real murderer of the assassination, everyone discussed more about the issue of starting a national war.

The people of Qing are not afraid of war, it seems that they have a warlike gene in their bones, but the war broke out on the east, west and south fronts at the same time, which was something the people of Kyoto did not expect, so they couldn't help but feel a little worried.

It's not that they are worried about the war on the east, west and south fronts. After all, the countries on the east, west and south fronts are all small and weak countries. Unless they can be completely united, they can cause certain troubles to the army of Qing Kingdom. But how can countries really unite completely?

To give a simple example, the small countries in the east are headed by Dongyi City, but Dongyi City is only a representative and has never completely united them.

Even the Dongyi City with a grand master couldn't do it, so it was naturally impossible for the Nanzhao Kingdom in the south to do it.

As for the Xihu and Beiman tribes in the west, they were severely defeated by Your Majesty who returned to the capital not long ago, and they no longer pose a threat.

Therefore, what the people of Kyoto were worried about was the State of Qi in the north.

As the second strongest country on this continent, although Northern Qi is not as powerful as Qing in terms of military strength, it can still pose a great threat to Qing.

But our new emperor's actions towards Northern Qi are very confusing.

He actually called back the Ye family's Dingzhou troops stationed at the border, leaving the entire northern border completely defenseless.

Once the Northern Qi took the opportunity to move south, there would be no way to stop it.

The common people were naturally very worried. Not only were they worried, even the Queen Mother was worried.

After the court was dismissed, the ancestral temple was opened to remove Li Chengqian from the clan register, and then Li Chengzong was summoned to the Hanguang Hall.

In addition to Li Chengzong and Eunuch Hou, there were three other princes, as well as Li Chengqian, who had been demoted to a commoner.

"His Majesty."

Seeing Hong Zhu saluting, Li Chengzong nodded and said with a smile: "How is it going? Are you living well in Hanguang Palace?"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am fine."

"After I left Beijing, did Fan Xian look for you?"

"I looked for it twice."

Hong Zhu glanced at Li Chengqian, who was wearing a coarse linen shirt, and finally said, "Last winter, before Fan Xian left Beijing, he asked me to find an opportunity to expose the secrets between the Crown Prince and the Princess. Before His Majesty returned to Beijing, he asked me to find out the Queen Mother's actions once. Apart from that, Fan Xian never used me as a hidden chess piece."

"Fan Xian is quite cautious."

Li Chengzong smiled faintly: "Things are almost done, you can go to the Imperial Study Room to listen to the instructions from now on. If you have nothing to do, ask Eunuch Hou for advice."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Hong Zhu bowed and saluted, then stood up and saluted to Eunuch Hou and said, "Please give me more advice in the future, Eunuch Hou."

"Eunuch Xiaohong is too polite. I don't deserve it."

Eunuch Hou remained calm on the surface, but his heart was trembling with fear.

As the personal eunuch of the late emperor, he could understand much more than other people.

He had always known that Hong Zhu was a person planted in the East Palace by the late emperor, but he didn't expect that Fan Xian was behind Hong Zhu, and he never expected that the real master behind Hong Zhu was actually the third prince Li Chengzong.

At this moment, Eunuch Hou suddenly felt that the prince's defeat was not unfair, and it seemed that it was time for him to retire.

Thinking of this, Eunuch Hou bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am old now..."

Before he could finish his words, Li Chengzong interrupted him and said, "I asked you to teach Hong Zhu, and you want to retire right after that. Eunuch Hou, are you giving me no face?"

After hearing these words, Eunuch Hou was so frightened that he knelt down in a cold sweat.

"I don't dare!"

Li Chengzong helped him up and said with a smile, "Eunuch Hou, you and I are old acquaintances. Don't you know what kind of person I am? I am different from the old man, otherwise I would not have let Fan Xian and Li Chengqian go. Relax, you are an old man in the palace, and I will let you return with honor."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Eunuch Hou said tremblingly.

Li Chengzong was speechless. "No, am I that scary? Just stay in the palace. I know you don't have any descendants outside the palace. You will be alone outside the palace. It's better for you to chat with me in the palace and be buried with me in the imperial mausoleum after you die. As for whether to be buried with me or with the old man, you can decide by yourself at that time. As for Hong Zhu... don't worry. He is the eunuch leader I trained for Jing Xiu. I have explained everything to you. Can you feel at ease now?"

"How could this old servant have deserved this?" Eunuch Hou was not only relieved but also very touched. He had not thought about what would happen after his death, as the Third Prince had already considered it. He had never expected that he would have the honor of being buried with the emperor in the mausoleum.

"I am the emperor now, if I say you have it, you have it."

Li Chengzong smiled and patted Eunuch Hou on the shoulder, then led a group of people into the Hanguang Palace.

I saw a group of old men in their seventies and eighties surrounding a three or four-year-old child, commenting on him, and they couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.

The little guy wasn't shy and would politely greet the old men and call them "uncle, great uncle" and so on.

Seeing Li Chengzong coming in, the little guy dodged away from the group of old guys and shouted, "Father."

A snow-white fox followed behind the little guy, and it also cried twice.

Li Chengzong nodded and asked, "Where's my sister?"

"She is with my mother and grandmother."

Li Chengzong hummed, squatted down and whispered: "Those uncles have a lot of good things on them, do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand." Li Jingxiu smiled, his smile like a little fox.

"Go and play."

After sending his son away, Li Chengzong entered the inner hall.

In addition to the old lady, there were several uncles and the queen with tears on her face in the hall.

After saying hello, several uncles of the clan took the initiative to say goodbye and left. Then Hong Sixiang also left with the palace servants who were serving in the hall.

There were no outsiders in the palace. The Queen Mother glanced at Li Chengqian coldly and said unhappily, "Why did you bring him here too?"

"My grandson thought that he would leave the palace soon, so he came to see you."

In the old lady's mind, Li Chengqian was second only to Li Chengzong. If she didn't know that Li Chengzong was still alive, she would have strongly supported Li Chengqian to take the throne.

But Li Chengqian, who ranked second in her heart, actually planned to kill her son.

It can be said that the deeper the love before, the deeper the hatred now.

The old lady didn't want to see Li Chengqian at all now, and said coldly: "There's nothing to see, let him go!"

"Aunt!" the Queen cried miserably. "Your Majesty is so kind that he didn't kill him. What else do you want?"

The queen was silent.

Treason is a serious crime punishable by execution of nine generations of the clan if committed by anyone. Li Chengqian is a member of the royal family, so although his entire clan should not be executed, he should still be beheaded as a warning to others.

The new emperor was indeed very kind to let her son go, and she really shouldn't ask for too much.

Not to mention that the new emperor not only spared her son's life, but also retained her as queen... No, it should be the empress dowager now. He pioneered the practice of having two empress dowagers, making her and Qin Yu both empress dowagers.

"You two, mother and son, please go down."

The old lady waved her hand, her eyes fell on Li Chengqian, and she sighed: "Give birth to more children in the future, and if possible, adopt one to your mother's family."

Li Chengqian knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times: "Grandson has made note of this, take care, Grandmother!"

The mother and son left.

From then on, the reign of Crown Prince Li Chengqian officially came to an end.

The old lady didn't even look at them again. She looked at Li Chengzong and his brothers and asked, "How do you arrange for them?"

"Big brother wants to guard the border, so I plan to send him to the east to destroy Dongyi City and its surrounding countries. Xiao Si will stay with Hongcheng to run the bookstore. Soon I will turn the bookstore into a newspaper office and publish newspapers."

Because of Ye Qingmei, Qing Kingdom had newspapers very early on, but the circulation of newspapers was very small, and they were only sent to state governments and officials. Ordinary people had no idea about the existence of newspapers.

Therefore, when Li Chengzong founded the bookstore, his purpose was actually to transform it into a newspaper so that the people could know the important national policies made by the court.

The reason why the people of Kyoto were able to quickly know what happened in the court today was because the bookstores in Kyoto City sold newspapers.

"As for my second brother...he told me before that he wanted to be an idler, but I definitely wouldn't agree. So I planned to let him follow my aunt and take control of the national treasury and the inner treasury first."

Li Chengzong said, looking at the second brother and smiled: "As for what to do in the future, I haven't thought about it yet, but don't worry, second brother, as long as you don't do anything illegal and serve the country wholeheartedly, I will ensure that you will live a life of wealth and glory."

On the day Li Chengzong returned to Beijing, he asked his brothers to come up with plans for the future. The plans were submitted early, but there was no follow-up. Li Chengzong never talked to them at all, so Li Chengze has been worried in recent days.

Now hearing what Li Chengzong said, he finally put down his worries and bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Second brother, there's no need for us to be so polite. Just do as usual."

Li Chengze shook his head and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, etiquette cannot be abolished!"

"As you wish!"

Since you choose to sit on the throne, you will always lose something.

Li Chengzong did not force the second brother's attitude, but he sighed silently. Tan Hou said to the old lady: "For the arrangements of the eldest brother, the second brother and the youngest brother, this is the case for the time being. As for Li Chengqian... I will have someone arrange a job for him. As long as he works honestly and seriously, I guarantee that he will have enough money to marry a wife, concubines, and have more children."

The old lady nodded with satisfaction, looking at her grandchildren in front of her, and a person suddenly appeared in her mind.

He is also her grandson, Fan Xian - Fan Anzhi.

At the beginning, there was news that Fan Xian assassinated the late emperor. Although it sounded very convincing, the old lady didn't really believe it at that time.

Later, when Fan Xian entered the palace and took out the jade seal and Emperor Qing's will, she became even less convinced.

As a result, at the court today, Li Chengzong announced that Fan Xian and the prince had colluded with the Dongyi people of Northern Qi to assassinate the emperor, which made the old lady change her mind again.

"Your Majesty, did An Zhi really commit treason?"

Li Chengzong didn't expect the old lady to ask about Fan Xian. He was stunned for a moment, then nodded without saying anything.

After a dead silence, the old lady's voice rang out again.

"Is it because of that woman named Ye?"

"should be."

The old lady slowly closed her eyes with a complicated expression. After a long while, she opened her eyes and opened her mouth. She wanted to speak but couldn't, so she simply changed the subject.

"Why did you think of using Li Yunrui?"

"There is no other way. The Ministry of Revenue does not have a suitable candidate. My aunt has been in charge of the inner treasury for many years and is an expert in money matters. In addition, she and Fan Xian are sworn enemies and must know Fan Xian's situation. She is the most suitable person to regain control of the inner treasury's financial power. We can only let my aunt do it first."

As for using Li Yunrui to improve the status of women, Li Chengzong did not mention it. After all, the old lady would never agree to such a thing, even though she was also a woman.

"She and... forget it. Since His Majesty has already made a plan, I will not interfere. But your aunt is very thoughtful, so you should be careful." Thinking that the bad things between Li Yunrui and the prince should not be spoken out, the old lady immediately changed her words.

"My grandson knows."

"By the way, did your mother have any objection?" the old lady asked curiously.

"He opposed it, but I persuaded him." Li Chengzong said with a smile.

Given the relationship between his mother and Li Yunrui, how could she not object to him using Li Yunrui? He appealed to her emotions and reasoned with her, and persuaded her for two or three days, until his mouth was dry, before he finally convinced his mother.

The old lady nodded, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, then turned to look at Li Chengze, revealing the indifference of a queen dowager.

"Keep an eye on your aunt. If you find her doing anything unusual, kill her first and report later!"

"I understand."

Li Chengze also knew that Li Chengzong actually sent himself to Li Yunrui because he was worried about Li Yunrui.

It is true that he assisted Li Yunrui in consolidating financial power, but Rongluo was also for the purpose of monitoring Li Yunrui.

Surveillance, of course it must be monitored.

As for what the Queen Mother said about executing first and reporting later, forget it.

If he really did this, no matter how broad-minded Li Chengzong was, he would probably feel uncomfortable.

The last one is the issue that the old lady is most concerned about and worried about.

"Emperor, I have no objection to you going to war on the three fronts of east, west and south, but as for Northern Qi, have you ever considered what to do if Northern Qi takes advantage of the three fronts of Qing Kingdom to send a large army south?"

"The young emperor of Northern Qi wouldn't dare to do that." Li Chengzong said with certainty.

The old lady shook her head, expressing her disapproval: "As the ruler of a country, the young emperor of Northern Qi would definitely not be timid. If he were timid, he would not have been able to sit on the throne of Northern Qi for so many years."

Li Chengzong agreed with this point, nodded, and said with a smile: "Then according to your opinion, how should we deal with Northern Qi?"

"Emperor, are you testing me?"

The old lady smiled and looked outside the palace gate thoughtfully. After a long while, she looked away and asked uncertainly, "You called the clan elders to Kyoto. Are you planning to have them go to the northern border for defense?"

Li Chengzong shook his head: "They are the trump cards of my Li royal family. How can my grandson use them for such a thing? I have other plans for these elders."

"Then how do you defend against the Northern Qi army's advance southward?"

The old lady asked this, without any intention of probing into how Li Chengzong arranged the clan elders.

"I never thought about guarding against Northern Qi from the beginning to the end, because I sent a letter to the little emperor of Northern Qi..."

(End of this chapter)