I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 279 Crazy
"Men, kill!"

"Kill!" Thousands of Southwest Army soldiers charged forward. Fei Longfei was no match for the overwhelming force and was eventually slaughtered.

Tang Shi wiped the blood off his sword, sheathed it, and knelt down, saying, "Welcome back to camp, Father."

Thousands of Southwest Army soldiers knelt down in unison and shouted, "Welcome back to camp, General!"

Tang Zheng felt a surge of joy. "My lads, Emperor Pingyuan is an unjust ruler. Today, I will lead you all to rebel against him and establish yourselves as kings."

"From now on, Dianzhou will belong exclusively to our Southwest Army and will no longer be under the jurisdiction of Dayu!"

Tang Shi was the first to change his tune, "Your Highness is wise!"

Thousands of soldiers from the Southwest Army shouted in a deafening voice, "Your Highness is wise!"

"Let's set off back to Dianzhou!"

At Tang Zheng's command, thousands of Southwest Army soldiers mounted their horses and followed behind Tang Zheng all the way to Dianzhou.

Half a month later, upon receiving news that Tang Zheng had seized control of Yunnan and Guizhou and declared himself King of the Southwest, Emperor Pingyuan smashed his imperial study in a fit of rage. "Good, good Duke of Wei, good King of the Southwest! These traitors and rebels all deserve to die!"

After Emperor Pingyuan had vented his anger, Eunuch Zhou cautiously reported, "Your Majesty, the commoner Tang Ming requests an audience."

After Tang Zheng fled the capital, Emperor Pingyuan vented all his anger on Tang Ming and her son. He not only stripped Tang Ming of her title as Consort and demoted her to a commoner, but also banished Tang Ming and her son to the Cold Palace.

"Didn't I say I wouldn't see that vile woman?"

Zhou Dajian hesitated for a moment, then said, "The commoner Tang said he was requesting an audience with His Majesty regarding the Third Prince."

After all, the Third Prince is His Majesty's own son. If he doesn't inform His Majesty, he can't bear the responsibility if something happens to the Third Prince in the future.

Emperor Pingyuan has only three sons so far. He still has a bit of paternal affection for the third prince, but he really doesn't want to see Tang Ming, so he can only say, "Go and find out."

Zhou Dajian agreed and returned a moment later, saying, "Commoner Tang said that the Third Prince has a persistent high fever and requests Your Majesty to send an imperial physician to treat him."

Emperor Pingyuan frowned. "How did Tang Ming take care of the Third Prince? Immediately send an imperial physician to examine the Third Prince's pulse."

Zhou Dajian immediately gave the order.

Tang Ming was overjoyed and kowtowed repeatedly. He then scrambled to his feet and ran back to the Cold Palace.

When the imperial physician arrived, he was shocked to see the Third Prince, who was burning red with fever and barely breathing, in the swaddling clothes. He immediately began administering acupuncture to reduce the fever and ordered someone to prepare medicine.

However, before the medicine could be prepared, the Third Prince had already fallen silent.

The imperial physician knelt on the ground, "The Third Prince is dead!"

"Nonsense, utter nonsense! My child is perfectly fine, who gave you permission to curse my child? Who gave you permission to curse the prince of Dayu?!"

Holding the still-soft body of the Third Prince, Tang Ming said in a frenzied manner, "I want to tell His Majesty that you actually cursed His Majesty's Third Prince! I want His Majesty to cut off your head and exterminate your entire family!"

As Tang Ming spoke, tears streamed down his face, "My child, my son!"

"Wake up, my child! How could you be so heartless as to leave your mother alone in this world!"

Zhou, the Grand Eunuch, sighed, turned and left the Cold Palace to return to the Imperial Study to report.

Emperor Pingyuan said calmly, "It's better that he's dead."

With such a wretched mother and a rebellious maternal family, his death would save him the trouble of figuring out how to settle the Third Prince.

Zhou Dajian was surprised that Emperor Pingyuan would say such a thing, and for a moment he felt great sympathy for the Third Prince and his mother.

"May I ask Your Majesty, how should the funeral arrangements for the Third Prince be made?" "Leave it to the Empress," Emperor Pingyuan said. "The Third Prince died before reaching adulthood, so it is not appropriate for him to be buried in the imperial mausoleum. Let the Empress find an auspicious burial site for him."

When the eunuch was ordered to put the Third Prince's body into the coffin, Tang Ming held on tightly and even bit the eunuch who was trying to take the Third Prince's body.

Upon receiving the report from the eunuch, the Empress scolded, "Useless wretch! Can't all these people control a madwoman?"

The eunuch kneeling in the hall begged for forgiveness, "This servant deserves to die. Please, Your Majesty, give this servant another chance. This servant will definitely do this job well."

With the Empress's permission, the eunuchs rushed into the Cold Palace like wolves and tigers. Several strong eunuchs slowly pried open Tang Ming's arms and carried away the Third Prince's body.

"Give me back my son!"

Tang Ming staggered after him, but tripped over the broken tables and chairs, fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time. He could only watch helplessly as the gates of the Cold Palace slammed shut.

"Ah!" Tang Ming screamed in despair, his heart bleeding with hatred.

The next day, a palace attendant came to report, "Your Majesty, news has come from the Cold Palace that Consort Tang has gone mad."

"Gone mad?" the Empress exclaimed in surprise. "How could he suddenly go mad?"

The eunuch remained silent. In just a few days, Tang Shuren had experienced his father's defection, his own demotion to commoner status, and the tragic deaths of his mother and son. It was hard for him not to go mad.

"Did you go see him? Is he really crazy or just pretending?"

"I've gone to see him, he really has gone mad," the eunuch said, hesitating to finish his sentence.

The Empress frowned, her beautiful eyebrows furrowing. "Speak your mind, don't beat around the bush."

"When I left, I saw Tang Shuren drinking the excrement from the chamber pot."

As the eunuch spoke, he recalled that scene again, desperately suppressing his gagging. "If he wasn't truly insane, it would be difficult for him to do something so disgraceful."

If Tang Shuren was faking madness, then he really went all out.

The Empress was both disgusted and delighted. When Tang Ming first entered the Crown Prince's residence, he was so arrogant that even she had to temporarily avoid his sharp edge. Later, relying on the support of the Duke of Wei, a mere concubine dared to bully her, the Empress.

Originally, it was thought that it would take a lot of effort to bring down Tang Ming, but unexpectedly, the Duke of Wei defected. Not only did Tang Ming lose his support, but he was also implicated by His Majesty, and even his newborn son was not valued by His Majesty.

Also deserve it.

The Empress instructed, "Go and inform His Majesty."

After all, Consort Tang had once been favored by His Majesty, and His Majesty was one to cherish old friendships. If His Majesty were to take pity on her, she would not be able to go against His Majesty's wishes.

Sure enough, after learning that Tang Ming had hysteria, Emperor Pingyuan remembered Tang Ming's good qualities and sighed, "Send an imperial physician to treat Tang Ming."

"Furthermore," Emperor Pingyuan said, "have Tang Shuren moved out of the Cold Palace and find a place where I can't see her. From now on, it will be as if she never existed in the palace."

Zhou, the Grand Eunuch, immediately went down to deliver the imperial decree.

After Emperor Pingyuan finished dealing with matters in the inner palace, the court officials were summoned to the palace to discuss how to deal with Tang Zheng's defection and self-determination.

The Minister of Justice was the first to step forward and declare, "In my opinion, Tang Zheng's actions constitute utter treason. Such a traitor should be beheaded and his head displayed to deter future generations from following suit. Therefore, I implore Your Majesty to immediately dispatch troops to punish this traitor!"

The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review seconded the motion, "Not only should we punish the traitor Tang Zheng, but also the southwestern army that followed Tang Zheng in his rebellion should be executed as well!"

Grand Secretary Li Ming objected, saying, "I believe that the Southwest Army has served the southwestern border for many years, and even if they have not made any great contributions, they have certainly worked hard. Moreover, the plot to rebel was led by the generals and commanders above, and had nothing to do with the lower-ranking soldiers."

"Therefore, I advise that the mastermind of the rebellion should be executed, and the southwestern army should be persuaded to surrender."