Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 422 The King
In the rear room separated by a screen, the Crown Prince was seated on a soft couch, while the imperial physician treated him, and the Crown Princess accompanied him.

The emperor had returned to his seat, but his tense and distorted face revealed his inner unease.

"The Yan family?" He looked at Lu Jie. "Yan Song?"

"The Yan family has committed numerous crimes and evil deeds. There are hundreds or even thousands of impeachment memorials submitted from below. The Emperor is wise and naturally knows that if the Yan family continues to control the court, it will ultimately be a threat."

"They knew their lives were precarious, so how could they be content with holding onto decades of wealth and honor? Weighing the pros and cons, it's not surprising that they took the risk."

Lu Jie casually placed the impeachment memorials brought by the censors in front of him: "This is only a part of what I obtained before entering the palace, and even this part is true."

"The Yan family's audacity in embarking on the path of rebellion and regicide is not a coincidence, but rather an inevitability!"

The censors then presented some of the evidence they had brought.

The emperor stared at the table covered with filth, his eyes red: "Yan Song has been by my side for many years. He may be corrupt and lawless, but there is nothing I have entrusted to him that he cannot do well, and nothing that he cannot do!"

"He is loyal to me!"

"Even if they are rampant in amassing wealth, they would never dare to rebel!"

As Lu Jie listened to his impassioned speech and looked at his hands gripping the armrest tightly, he used his eyes to stop Cheng Wenhui and the others from speaking, and then turned his gaze to the emperor's white knuckles.

With countless facts laid bare before him, it was less that the emperor was deceived by the Yan family, and more that the ever-arrogant emperor was unwilling to face the betrayal of the Yan family and the defection of someone he was extremely confident in controlling.

He couldn't bear his failure!

The Yan family deserved to die ten times over, but the emperor still believed he was adept at manipulating power. He wanted to show the Yan family that he could elevate them to heaven with a single word, or send them plummeting to hell with the same word.

He also wanted to show the court officials that even Yan Song, who held absolute power in the court and had countless followers, was merely a pawn in his hands. He could either kill Yan Song's son or continue to manipulate him to do his bidding.

No matter which measure he took, the ultimate goal was not to demonstrate benevolence, but to showcase his imperial methods and wisdom!

He killed Yan Shu, so he should have punished the Yan family immediately, but instead he kept them around to work for him; he was worried that Hu Yucheng would support the Yan family, but instead of trying to intimidate Hu Yucheng, he kept undermining the Yan family.

Now that the Yan family has overturned the table and rebelled, they are indeed traitors and rebels. But if it weren't for his confident actions, how would the Yan family have had the opportunity to succeed?
Therefore, he insisted that the Yan family, whom he had indulged, had absolute loyalty!

He dared not admit that the Yan family had rebelled!

Admitting it is tantamount to admitting your mistake!
Admit your failure!

At this point, there's no need to offer another word of advice!

Lu Jie, He Ping, and Li Quan were all people who understood the emperor's mind well; only the upright and principled officials like Cheng Wenhui did not.

Why aren't you saying anything!

The emperor overturned the low table, his eyes already bloodshot. A surge of intense anger triggered a relapse of his old ailment.

But still no one spoke.

Li Quan, who used to wish he had three heads and six arms to protect him at the slightest disturbance, now looked at him sadly and silently.

He Ping, who had risked his life to save him from a sea of ​​fire many years ago and had risked his life for him countless times over the decades, also kept his lips tightly pressed together, showing no sign of response. And Lu Jie, who had initially caught the emperor's eye with a brilliant poem and later offered him advice in countless times of crisis, now displayed the exact same indifference in his eyes as when he witnessed Yan Shu being dragged out and flogged that day!
The emperor had never felt the words "a lonely and isolated man" so clearly before his eyes.

He hunched over, clutching his chest, and once again suppressed the metallic taste rising in his throat: "I understand. In your eyes, I am a tyrant."

“Your Majesty,” Lu Jie bowed respectfully, “His Highness the Crown Prince is Your Majesty’s own flesh and blood. He is twenty-six years old and has been living in the Eastern Palace for eight years. To this day, I do not know what achievements the Crown Prince has made during his tenure.”

The emperor felt another mouthful of blood welling up inside him.

The quick-witted Lu Jie did not directly answer whether he considered him a tyrant, nor did he directly say how many tasks the emperor had assigned to him. Instead, he asked him what achievements he had made.
The crown prince is the heir apparent, the new emperor who will succeed to the throne.

The crown prince's abilities also determine the stability of the next dynasty's regime and the peace of the common people. After becoming the heir apparent, it is the emperor's responsibility to strictly cultivate him.

His achievements, or whether he ever made any achievements, depended on whether the emperor gave him the opportunity.

For eight years, he had lived under the watchful eye of his superiors, yet his annual allowance was ruthlessly withheld by his favored ministers, leaving him barely scraping by. Clearly, it was even less likely that he would be given authority to carry out official duties.

The emperor's face turned ashen.

It seems that only at this moment have I gained a new understanding of myself.

"Even if Yan Song wanted to rebel, he has served as the Grand Secretary for many years. How do you think that a civil official like him can secure the throne?"

He raised his head and looked again at his trusted confidants. "Doesn't Shen Bo hold military power? Would he allow the Yan family to cause trouble?"

“Your Majesty,” Lu Jie said, “more than ten days ago you issued an edict to strip Shen Bo of his military power. Once he sets foot in the capital, he will be unable to lead troops to rescue you.”

The emperor's facial muscles twitched.

It seemed that he only remembered at this moment that, in order to maintain a balance between the Shen and Yan families and allow them to continue fighting each other while he himself benefited from the conflict, he had already issued a transfer order after Shen Bo left the capital.

Shen Bo, who came from a scholarly background, abandoned his wife and children to go to the Northwest as soon as he received his appointment. He was gone for more than ten years. He relied on the stubbornness of a scholar and finally returned in triumph with a body full of wounds. However, he also weakened his own power.

"Where are the Imperial City Guards?"

He stood up unsteadily. "They are my personal guards! They would never dare to rebel! Even if they had such intentions, the imperial family of the realm would not tolerate their rebellion!"

“But Your Majesty,” Lu Jie advised, “in order to curb the power of the imperial clan, the collateral branches of the imperial family have long become a burden to the court. If someone really rebels, they may be willing but unable to do so.”

The emperor immediately thought of the annual allowances for the imperial family that had been withheld by the Yan family over the years. — Yes, if they couldn't even protect their own legitimate allowances, how could they possibly have the energy to think about these things?
Besides, they are from a collateral branch!

We're already far from the palace!

--wrong!
Besides the collateral branch, he also had a prince!
The Prince of Ning, far away in Hubei!
He immediately retorted, "Do you think Prince Ning is dead? With Prince Ning alive, how could the throne possibly fall into the hands of someone else?!"

But the three people in front of him were all watching him quietly, and in the end, Lu Jie sighed softly.

The emperor had a bad feeling!
“Your Majesty,” Lu Jie’s gaze was deeper than the palace itself, “the Yan family and Prince Ning both think this way.”

The emperor finally coughed up the blood that had been stuck in his chest.