The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Chapter 3 Burn him to death

Li Hu then discovered that the so-called Daming Palace was the palace for the emperor emeritus that Qian Xiaosi had prepared for himself after his abdication in his previous life. It was located in the east road inside and outside the imperial palace and was divided into three parts: the outer court, the inner court and the garden. It was a veritable "Little Forbidden City".

This palace was originally the sleeping palace of the Empress Dowager. After a sudden illness, the Emperor wanted to abdicate the throne to the Crown Prince, so he ordered to transform it into a place for the emperor to receive congratulations after abdication. But after the Emperor recovered from his illness, he regretted it and left it idle until Emperor Yongchang launched a palace coup and forced the Emperor to abdicate.

In addition, the Daming Palace also had its own guards, attendants, and palace maids to ensure the life and safety of the emperor.

Along the way, Li Hu discovered that the Daming Palace was exactly the same as the Qianqing Palace in terms of the style of the palace gates, the shape of the palace, and even the large and small squares. This might be a little thought of the retired emperor.

The imperial guards of the Xiyuan camp, holding torches, stood three steps apart around the Daming Palace, forming a human wall.

The gate of Daming Palace was wide open, and the lights were bright at a glance.

The square was filled with the imperial guards of the Western Garden Camp, wearing helmets and armor. In the light of torches, their swords and spears flashed brightly, and the air was filled with murderous intent, creating an atmosphere of tension and terror.

Emperor Yongchang walked in first, followed by Dai Quan, Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding, General Shenwu Feng Tang, and Li Hu.

Li Hu looked and saw that the door of the Daming Palace was closed. At the foot of the stone steps at the main entrance stood a middle-aged man in a prince's formal attire. He had an elegant temperament and a friendly smile on his face. He did not look like a loser at all.

This made the King Zhongshun on the other side feel provoked, and he glared at him: "King Zhong, bah! You are a disloyal, unfilial, cunning and treacherous old thief."

"My title was conferred upon me by my father himself."

Prince Zhong looked at him and said, "Tell me, what is loyalty and filial piety?"

As soon as Prince Zhongshun opened his mouth, he was defeated by Prince Zhong! For a moment, he was stunned again.

Prince Zhong: "You are a loyal and obedient minister. I wonder if the prince's spirit in heaven would regret taking care of you if he saw this."

"you!"

Prince Zhongshun was so angry that his veins popped out and his hands were shaking. He drew out his guard's sword and was about to chop at Prince Zhong!

"stop!"

"Your Majesty?!" Prince Zhongshun's hand stopped in mid-air, and then he hurriedly threw down his sword.

Dai Quan and several eunuchs in red robes strode over, closely guarding Emperor Yongchang.

Shi Ding, Feng Tang and Li Hu followed closely behind.

Prince Zhong bowed very calmly and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty." He was meticulous in his etiquette.

Emperor Yongchang was delighted: "I am very calm!"

Prince Zhong looked at him for a long time before saying, "I know you are well prepared."

Emperor Yongchang raised his eyebrows: "Then why are you coming?"

Prince Zhong: "I want to give it a try."

There was silence.

Prince Zhong: "Should I take him to Caishikou for execution, or should I drink poisoned wine here?"

Emperor Yongchang looked towards the main hall of the Daming Palace with its doors tightly closed. He knew that the retired emperor was listening inside.

He thought for a moment and raised his voice: "I know that you were bewitched and went astray. Fortunately, you did not make a big mistake. As long as you tell the truth, I will only demote you and will not pursue what happened tonight."

Except for Li Hu, everyone else looked calm, as if they had expected it.

Prince Zhong laughed, and laughed until tears came out.

"What are you laughing at?" Emperor Yongchang looked a little embarrassed.

Prince Zhong: "Your Majesty, I don't want to be a disloyal and unfilial person."

Emperor Yongchang's face darkened: "Are you determined to cut yourself off from me and your ancestors?"

Prince Zhong was silent for a moment, then continued: "Your Majesty, who is it that has cut himself off from our ancestors? One day in the underworld, there will be proof of this!"

When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked and looked at Emperor Yongchang.

There was a sinister light in Emperor Yongchang's eyes, and his hands were clenching in his sleeves.

Prince Zhong: "I lost, but you didn't win. You used your brother to kill your father, and your son to force his father. From you on, the succession of the throne of the Dashun royal family will be full of blood and rain. The Tang Dynasty is..."

Emperor Yongchang was furious: "Shut up! Shut up!" Prince Zhong suddenly asked: "Is the prince's illness better?"

Emperor Yongchang was hurt!
All the officials had complicated expressions.

Li Hu was secretly shocked. Is this Prince Zhong so stubborn? Isn't he afraid that the angry Emperor Yongchang will exterminate his entire family? !
The prince was a thorn in the heart of Emperor Yongchang. On the night of the coup, the remnants of the deposed prince's troops launched a frenzied counterattack and broke into the prince's palace when reinforcements arrived. While the prince was commanding the counterattack, he was shot in the heart and lungs by an arrow and almost died.

Although the prince luckily survived, he developed a chronic illness and has difficulty breathing after walking a few steps. I heard that he has been coughing up blood recently and it seems that he will only live a few days.

Perhaps out of guilt, or perhaps because he didn't want his descendants to follow his example, Emperor Yongchang accepted the pressure and decided on the position of crown prince.

Prince Zhong: "Your Majesty, do you still remember Doctor Wang from the Imperial Hospital?"

It was like a thunderclap overhead. Emperor Yongchang was startled and stood there in a daze.

Dai Quan, who was standing by, had a look of discomfort in his eyes and sighed silently. Old Doctor Wang was the attending doctor of the prince. He died last month when his horse was frightened and fell into the water on his way home. Without the acupuncture skills of Old Doctor Wang, the prince's condition deteriorated rapidly and he began to cough up blood.

The prince is in poor health, and even if the emperor favors him more, he cannot maintain his position as crown prince.

Look, the second prince has already begun to make moves.

Prince Zhong's gaze swept behind Emperor Yongchang and then fell on Feng Tang.

Feng Tang lowered his head in a hurry.

Prince Zhong's eyes flashed with contempt, and he turned his gaze to Emperor Yongchang: "In fact, you should thank me. I did what you wanted to do but didn't dare to do, and helped you solve your worries."

Li Hu's heart skipped a beat. This was such explosive gossip. He was not one of the others, so the emperor would not kill him, right? !

Prince Zhong: "The winner is the king and the loser is the thief. You can kill me openly or secretly, but don't try to get anything out of me."

Emperor Yongchang was so angry that his face turned pale: "Good! You have guts!" He habitually reached out to draw the sword from his waist, but found it was empty, and roared: "Kill him for me!"

Everyone was shocked and turned their eyes to Emperor Yongchang.

The entire square was silent.

Emperor Yongchang looked at everyone fiercely like a wounded beast.

Feng Tang lowered his head, but Prince Zhongshun and Marquis Zhongjing looked at Dai Quan.

Dai Quan hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, let's hand it over to the clan office."

Prince Zhong suddenly burst into laughter, shaking heaven and earth.

This loud laughter completely broke through the Emperor Yongchang's psychological defenses. All his anger erupted at this moment. He roared, "Li Hu, find a copper vat. I want to burn him to death!"

Except for Li Hu, everyone was stunned.

This may be a chance to survive, but as for the rest, I can’t care.

Li Hu answered loudly, "Yes!" and ran out like the wind.

After a while, Li Hu called on Wang Daniu, Zhang Cheng and others to carry in the copper vat used for fire prevention outside the palace. Without saying a word, he directly put Prince Zhong into the copper vat, and instructed Wang Daniu and others to dismantle the doors and windows of the forbidden gate to use as firewood.

Soon, a mountain of firewood was piled up, with a bronze vat in the center, and inside the vat was Prince Zhong.

Li Hu walked up to Emperor Yongchang holding a torch.

Everyone in the square held their breath and looked at Emperor Yongchang and Li Hu quietly.

Emperor Yongchang was looking at the main hall of the Daming Palace with its doors tightly closed.

Li Hu was secretly anxious. If he didn't burn it, Prince Zhong would be suffocated to death. He couldn't bear the crime of suffocating the prince!

Emperor Yongchang finally raised his hand, took the torch, and threw it out without hesitation.

The torch fell on the firewood pile, which was all good wood painted with lacquer. A huge fire broke out, accompanied by heart-wrenching screams. Prince Zhong was cruelly burned to death.

The emperor never showed up from beginning to end.

With a "humph", Emperor Yongchang turned and left.

(End of this chapter)