A cool autumn breeze blew across my face, carrying with it a faint smell of blood.

thump, thump, thump—

The bell sounds loud and solemn, from near to far.

A sound.

Twice.

Three sounds.

Four tones.

……

Forty-five sounds.

Ye Zelin lifted his sleeves, knelt heavily on his knees, folded his hands, placed them in front of his forehead, slowly bowed, his voice sad and sorrowful.

"Your Majesty, I, Ye Yushi, respectfully send you off."

The commander of the imperial guards led all the imperial guards to kneel down and kowtow, "Farewell, Your Majesty!"

Soon, the King of Qin, the King of Zheng and others also arrived in front of the Zichen Palace.

"Your Majesty, I respectfully bid you farewell."

"Your Majesty, I respectfully bid you farewell."

On August 27, the fourth year of the Kangding reign, Emperor Zhao Zixu passed away.

……

After Zhao Zixu's death, the palace and the government were in chaos.

The palace was in chaos. The empress dowager fainted several times out of grief and refused to eat or drink. Princess Xinyang cried until her eyes were red. The concubines cried and shed tears. Empress Lu also cried for a long time. Finally, after being comforted by eunuch Luo, she managed to cheer up.

In the previous dynasty, all civil and military officials wore plain clothes and gathered in the Purple Palace.

The traitor has been executed, and His Majesty passed away suddenly without leaving a will to appoint a crown prince. The country cannot be without a ruler for a day, so all the officials gathered in the Purple Palace, asking to see the Empress Dowager and the Empress to discuss which clan relative to support as emperor. However, the Empress Dowager and the Empress refused to see anyone.

However, within one day, the former court was in chaos. Civil and military officials knelt in front of the Purple Palace and threatened that they would not get up unless the Empress Dowager saw them.

According to the ancestral rules that the son inherits the throne after the father's death and the younger brother inherits the throne after the elder brother's death, Your Majesty has no prince, so the successors can only be Your Majesty's brothers. However, there are still some restless people who rush to the palace gate with evil intentions.

The next day.

The King of Linjiang, the King of Pingyuan and the King of Xiang rushed to the Qiming Gate with a large group of troops under the banner of protecting the Queen Mother and preventing anyone from causing trouble.

Ye Zelin was dressed in plain clothes. He looked at the three princes under the palace and kindly advised, "My three princes, the palace gate is a restricted area. Please go back."

Prince Linjiang and Prince Pingyuan are both younger brothers of Emperor Xiangfu. Like Prince Qinghe, they are your Majesty's uncles, while Prince Xiang is your Majesty's younger brother.

King Xiang said, "General Ye, His Majesty has passed away. This king and my two uncles are worried about the Queen Mother and the Emperor's sister-in-law. Please let me and my two uncles go into the palace to take a look."

Ye Zelin said expressionlessly: "No."

After that, he flew down from the tower, holding a spear, and made a gesture of invitation, "Please go back, the three of you. If you force your way in, I will kill you without mercy!"

The spear spun in Ye Zelin's hand, and the extremely sharp tip of the spear gently passed in front of the three princes. His sharp eyes slowly swept over the King of Linjiang, the King of Pingyuan, and the King of Xiang, making the three of them inexplicably frightened.

Prince Linjiang was always timid and good at protecting himself. He said immediately, "The Queen Mother is safe and sound. I am relieved as a minister. I will go back now."

Prince Linjiang bowed, turned around, and walked away as quickly and efficiently as if his feet were greased.

King Pingyuan and King Xiang were stunned.

It turned out that it was Prince Linjiang who instigated the two of them to bring people to Qiming Gate, and in the end it was Prince Linjiang who left the fastest.

"Uncle Six."

"Brother Six."

King Linjiang seemed not to have heard the voices of King Pingyuan and King Xiang. His steps suddenly quickened and became more erratic and light.

Seeing that King Pingyuan and King Xiang did not move, Ye Zelin swung his spear and threw it hard. The spear penetrated the soil by nearly five or six inches. He said, "You two, please!"

Upon seeing this, King Pingyuan hesitated for a moment, then, thinking that saving his own life was more important, turned around and ran away.

"Your Highness, please."

Ye Zelin looked at King Xiang and said.

King Xiang hesitated to act.

The people behind him looked at King Xiang and then at General Ye Zelin. They knew that if their master forced his way into the palace, it would be defined as treason. They all had families, children and parents, and they didn't want to risk their lives because of their master's stupidity.

People are in a state of panic and their morale is low.

"Your Highness, my mother is still sick. I will go back to take care of her first." A soldier found a very poor excuse and left.

As soon as one soldier left, the others followed suit. Soon, a team of forty or fifty people was reduced to less than ten.

Ye Zelin didn't have the patience to wait for this idiot King Xiang to leave on his own. He had no strength but was still thinking about things that didn't belong to him. He was also so brainless. He was simply a complete idiot.

No power, no influence, no brains.

"Someone, please invite Prince Xiang to sit down in the Tingwei Office." Ye Zelin held his forehead and ordered two soldiers of the imperial guards.

Several imperial guards tied up Prince Xiang's hands and feet and carried him away.

It took Prince Xiang a long time to react.

"General Ye! I don't have it! Let me go!"

"Let me go!"

In the Zichen Palace.

Luo, the eunuch, shouted, "The Queen is here! The Queen is here!"

All the civil and military officials turned around to look, and saw that Empress Lu was wearing a plain white silk skirt, a wide-sleeved robe that reached the ground, her bun was tied up high with a few silver hairpins with flowers and birds on them, and a few small white flowers were pressed in her bun. Her face was swept with rouge and powder, concealing a bit of her haggardness.

The corners of her eyes were a little red, and even though she used makeup, you could see that they were signs of crying.

Queen Lu walked calmly towards the hall, followed by seven or eight palace maids and eunuchs. She stood straight, walked past the civil and military officials, and stood in front of the supreme dragon throne.

"Your Highness, we bow to the Queen!" All the civil and military officials knelt down and kowtowed.

Empress Lu said in a clear voice: "All the nobles, please stand up."

Civil and military officials stood up and lined up in an orderly manner.

One of the officials said, "Empress, your Majesty passed away suddenly, but the country cannot be without a ruler for a day. I, your humble servant, dare to ask you to appoint a new ruler as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the country."

"Yes, yes, we should support a new king as soon as possible to avoid chaos in the court."

"Your Majesty has no son. I wonder if Your Majesty could leave a will to appoint a crown prince."

Civil and military officials were whispering to each other, talking in a lively manner.

"Your Majesty, there is a will."

Queen Lu's words made all the civil and military officials stop whispering to each other.

Empress Lu stared at the civil and military officials, "His Majesty left his will to me, and told me to read it out in front of all the officials after his death."

As soon as he finished saying this, Eunuch Luo presented a scroll to Queen Lu with both hands.

Queen Lu took the scroll and turned to face the officials, "Here is your Majesty's will."

All the civil and military officials looked at the scroll in Queen Lu's hand.

"Not long after your majesty ascended the throne, you were shocked to find that you were poisoned. In order to find out the truth, your majesty secretly ordered the imperial physician Su to investigate. Unexpectedly, before he could find out what poisoned your majesty, he died tragically at the hands of the King of Qinghe. Later, your majesty secretly visited the hermit doctor and learned the truth of the poisoning. However, by then, the poison had already penetrated into your majesty's bones, and no medicine could help. He only had three years left to live."

"Prince Qinghe is plotting to usurp the throne. His power is all over the court and the country, and he has an army of 100,000. Your Majesty has just ascended the throne and his foundation is unstable. He knows that it is not appropriate to confront Prince Qinghe right away. He can only wait for the right opportunity, take every step carefully, stabilize the court, and gradually eliminate Prince Qinghe's power in the court. After more than three years, Your Majesty finally brought Prince Qinghe to justice."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like