Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 885 Illness comes and goes as it pleases.

Chaos erupted again in the Hall of Diligent Governance, and the young emperor was carried back to his sleeping quarters at the back.

This time, Vice Minister Huang couldn't keep it a secret any longer.

Upon hearing the news, the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager rushed to the Emperor's palace.

A group of imperial physicians came and went, some writing prescriptions, some dispensing medicine, some decocting medicine, some administering medicine, and some even using acupuncture.

After a flurry of activity, Zhao Dun finally woke up.

After waking up, Zhao Dun stopped talking nonsense. Empress Dowager Wu and Empress Dowager Xie asked him a few questions, and Zhao Dun replied that everything was normal.

Only then did Madam Wu and Madam Xie feel relieved.

They instructed the imperial physicians to look after Zhao Dun and told the emperor to rest well.

Then the two palaces issued an imperial decree, summoning Huang Xu into the inner palace.

Huang Xu recounted to Wu and Xie how the official fell ill, and the two women looked at each other in bewilderment.

Unexpectedly, the emperor was a passionate lover, and a woman caused him to lose his mind.

However, once they knew the reason, they were relieved.

It seems that once the emperor wakes up, he will gradually recover, as it was merely a momentary mental confusion caused by anger.

Little did they know that Zhao Dun's recent erratic behavior was simply the triggering of his latent mental illness genes.

The Zhao Kuangyin family has a genetic predisposition to mental illness.

The earliest details are unavailable, but historical records indicate that Zhao Kuangyin's father suffered from mental illness.

In Zhao Kuangyin's generation, this was embodied in his third son, Zhao Tingmei.

The eldest son of the second son, Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Yuanzuo, and the sixth son, Zhao Yuanwo, also suffer from mental illness.

If this mental illness is triggered by a strong stimulus, it will be difficult to recover.

Emperor Yingzong of Song, Zhao Shu, his father Zhao Yunrang, his grandson Emperor Zhezong of Song, and later Emperor Ningzong and Emperor Duzong of Song, all suffered from mental illnesses to varying degrees.

The basic manifestations of their family's hereditary disease can be attributed to a type of schizophrenia.

However, no one has noticed it yet.

After leaving the emperor's bedroom, Empress Dowager Xie went to her mother-in-law's bedroom for a short visit.

After the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law sat down, Empress Dowager Xie briefly explained her son's situation, and then couldn't help but complain:
"What a tragedy! The woman the Emperor loves just happens to run into the Prince of Yan."

Wu said calmly, "What's so strange about that? This circle is only so big."

There are only a handful of men who are both high-ranking and of marriageable age.

Those daughters of high-ranking officials who wanted to marry a suitable husband could only choose from a limited number of men.

Madam Xie smiled bitterly and said, "But the Emperor has chosen two women in a row, and both of them were snatched up by the Prince of Yan. Isn't this a misfortune?"

Huang Xu was unaware that the young emperor had first encountered a setback with Li Fengniang.

However, Empress Dowager Xie knew about it and had just told her mother-in-law about it.

Wu's perspective was naturally different from hers. Xie was still upset that her son, as an emperor, couldn't even win a wife from Yang Yuan, a mere subject.

And what about the Wu family?

She has figured out the trick to it.

The Qian family had a deep and extensive network of connections in the Jiangnan region, and their influence was so profound that even the Zhao Song imperial family could not match it.

Li Fengniang was the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards stationed in Jinghu North Road.

This means...

Wu's heart sank. Yang Yuan's strength was too great!

Even knowing that Yang Yuan and Zhao Qu had a close relationship, the thought of the power Yang Yuan now wielded still made her secretly alarmed.

Those who rely on Yang Yuan's power are not necessarily the ones who will steadfastly follow him when he raises the banner of rebellion.

However, people's hearts can change.

If Yang Yuan continues in his position as a powerful minister, what will happen in five, ten, or twenty years?

By then, Yang Yuan's power had grown even stronger.

People may not be willing to rebel against him now, but by then their interests will be inextricably intertwined with his, and they may not still hold the same stance.

Can Yang Yuan really be a Huo Guang?
For a moment, Wu was in a state of utter confusion.

However, when it comes to how to deal with Yang Yuan, Madam Wu has no idea.

She could only keep this worry to herself.

The Empress Dowager has the mind and perspective of an ordinary woman, and the young emperor is not up to par these days.

With Prince Yang Yuan of Yan at the height of his power, she could only remain patient and observe the situation.

The news that Zhao Dun had fallen ill was kept strictly confidential.

Of course, this blockade does not include Yang Yuan.

For Yang Yuan, the palace is now like a sieve, full of holes.

When Yang Yuan heard about the cause of Zhao Dun's illness, he couldn't help but marvel at it.

Is this child really that temperamental?

As Yang Yuan sighed, his new bride, Li Fengniang, nestled sweetly in his arms, peeled a grape, held it between her red lips, and fed it to Yang Yuan.

Li Fengniang took the opportunity to playfully flick Yang Yuan's lips with her tongue, then withdrew it before Yang could retaliate, giggling.

"Anyway, they're already yours, so even if Father wanted to go back on his word, he couldn't."

My dear husband, you and your father-in-law should start arranging the marriage as soon as possible.

Otherwise, it would make them seem like they have no official status or position.

Li Fengniang's coquettishness and infatuation were too much for Yang Yuan to handle.

"Very well, after I rest for another half month and resume court, I will have the emperor summon your father back to the capital."

Just as Yang Yuan finished speaking, a secret agent from the same boat strode into the flower hall.

Yang Yuan's expression changed, and he patted Li Fengniang's firm and bouncy buttocks.

Li Fengniang reluctantly turned over, and Yang Yuan sat up straight.

Yang Yuan knew that unless it was an extremely urgent matter, the spies on the same boat wouldn't have barged in without even announcing their arrival.

"Your Majesty, an urgent message has arrived from the Northwest, delivered by a gold-medal express courier." Yang Yuan was startled again. A message sent via the official express courier?
He immediately slipped on his shoes, took the secret letter, walked to the table, used a jade knife to cut open the seal, and pulled out the letter.

After only glancing at a few lines, Yang Yuan's expression changed drastically.

Tuoba Heiyi has rebelled.

Yang Yuan's vision went black for a moment. How did he end up back to square one overnight?
There's been trouble in Liangshan Prefecture, with various tribes of Western Xia rebelling. Haven't I been working for nothing all these years?

Has the government received the message?

"It should arrive a day later than Your Majesty's. It should arrive tomorrow."

Yang Yuan nodded, immediately stood up, and walked out with the secret letter in his hand.

Soon, Duozi, Yuye, and Liu Yanran, who were in charge of the internal secretariat, were summoned to Yang Yuan's study.

"You already know about it?"

When discussing serious matters, the three beauties in charge of the internal secretariat also acted in a businesslike manner, interacting with Yang Yuan in a subordinate relationship.

They didn't really need to act this way.

However, if those above set an example for those below, and no rules are established, how can anything be accomplished?

Fortunately, these three women were all worldly-wise and understood the reasoning behind it, so none of them disagreed.

Yu Ye nodded: "The rebels are mainly concentrated in Xingqing Prefecture, while Hexi is still under the control of the imperial court."

"However, the strength of Western Xia was mainly concentrated in the Hetao region."

Yang Yuan said in a deep voice, "You all need to prepare immediately. Our hidden forces should be ready to re-emerge at any time."

"I must pacify Liangshan Prefecture and Western Xia as soon as possible."

Yang Yuan glanced at Liu Yanran and said, "Have Belle help you. Yanran, you should rest more."

Liu Yanran is pregnant with her second child, and she is only three months pregnant now.

Hearing Yang Yuan's words of concern, Liu Yanran smiled sweetly: "Don't worry, my husband, I will be careful."

Duo Zi pondered for a moment and said, "Master, if you return to power now, the forces in the court that oppose you will not have enough reason to expel them all at once."

Leaving these people behind to continue hindering their master will likely lead to endless troubles in the future.

Yang Yuan glanced at Liu Yanran and Fei Yuye: "You think so too?"

Fei Yuye hesitated for a moment and said, "Since things have come to this, why don't you endure for a few more days and wait until the court is in a mess and the emperor takes the initiative to ask you to come out of seclusion?"
At that time, those court officials who viewed their husbands as adversaries will be held responsible for the chaos in Liangshan Prefecture and the devastation of Western Xia.

The best approach is to either force them to resign voluntarily or dismiss them outright.

Liu Yanran nodded slowly and said softly, "Otherwise, no matter how popular you are, Erlang, you will not dare to leave the capital for even a moment. In the end, you will be controlled by them and have your hands tied."

Yang Yuan nodded, then shook her head.

“I understand the advantages and disadvantages you are talking about.”

However, the price to pay for doing so is too high.

The rebellion in Liangshan Prefecture was met with optimism from many officials in the imperial court, who were inclined to suppress it by force.

In fact, even among my subordinates, many hold this view.

If I insist on my own opinion, it may not be the best choice.

But things are different now. If the rebellion in Western Xia is not quelled as soon as possible, who knows what kind of trouble it will cause.

Since we can't eliminate all our rivals in the Central Plains, we can't afford to worry about that now.

I cannot use the land of Western Xia and its millions of people as bargaining chips to force my rivals in the court to step down!

Duo Zi pondered for a moment, then glanced reproachfully at Yang Yuan and chuckled softly:
"Master, you can be really ruthless when you're being ruthless. But when you're being soft-hearted, you're even softer than us women."

"Fine, since that's the master's decision, I'll follow it."

Yang Yuan nodded: "Alright, I will return to court tomorrow after I recover from my illness!"

……

These past few days, Zhao Dun has been completely transformed, like a different person.

Sometimes, he is timid, introverted, and indecisive.

But sometimes, he becomes unusually excited, quite bold, and decisive in his actions.

In fact, he already had some degree of schizophrenia, but the symptoms were still relatively mild.

So even though those around him vaguely noticed that he was not quite the same as usual, they did not associate it with mental illness.

This is something that ordinary people can distinguish, unless they are extremely insane.

People with mild symptoms might only notice a change in their personality or that they are acting strangely, but they wouldn't associate it with this.

In fact, at this time, when Zhao Dun's emotions fluctuated slightly, he would fall into a state of confusion between the real world and the fantasy world.

Occasionally, he would hear or see things that didn't exist at all.

However, his symptoms were still very mild, and when this happened, he mostly muttered to himself, so his personal attendant only thought he had become a little strange.

Zhao Dun was a timid and mediocre man.

In the original history, he was also a complete mess when it came to governing the country.

In the imperial court, he was influenced by treacherous officials and dismissed capable ministers such as Xin Qiji.

In the harem, no one could do anything about Empress Li Fengniang, and he was tormented to the point of ecstasy.

But he has gone "crazy" prematurely, and his madness is somewhat different from the symptoms he originally had.

He developed paranoia, constantly thinking, "Yang Yuan is trying to harm me!"

Madness gave him courage.

His good teammate was Huang Xu, the Vice Minister of Revenue.

Huang Xu spent the first half of his life writing and painting, and the second half paying taxes and grain; he had almost no experience in political struggle.

He believed that the powerful minister was Yang Yuan, so as long as Yang Yuan was killed, the situation could be reversed.

At that time, the situation where the emperor's power was usurped and the scholar-official class was suppressed could be changed immediately.

The crazy one met the simpleton; Ah-Dai and Ah-Gua were a perfect match.

Unfortunately, Yang Yuan was not Ao Bai.

Zhao Dun and Huang Xu were not Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Xiaobao.

(End of this chapter)