Reborn as King again

That night, news came from the Qianlong Palace that Li Mujing was infected with the plague and passed away after a long illness.

In order to keep abreast of Li Mujing's condition, Zhou Ling's confidant imperial doctor Ruan Tao has always been among Li Mujing's attending physicians. All the pathological information about Li Mujing was provided by Ruan Tao.Ruan Tao helped Zhou Ling do a lot of things. The witchcraft that framed Xia Zhiyuan back then would not have been possible without Ruan Tao's help, so Zhou Ling trusted Ruan Tao very much.Zhou Ling decided to suppress the news of Li Mujing's death and keep the funeral a secret. Now that Li Mujing is dead, he can do whatever he wants even more.

On the second day, there was a heavy snowfall in the capital, which was the first snow of this year, which was a good omen, and the auspicious snow heralds a prosperous year.In the early morning, according to the agreement, all the ministers went to the court to second the meeting, and even the Queen Mother came down to the Golden Palace with the support of Li Mubing.

Grand Master Xia saw that everyone had arrived, so without wasting time, he said directly: "Eighth Prince, you said that you have the emperor's edict in your hand, can you read it now?"

"Of course." Li Mubing said, and took out an envelope from his sleeve. The seal of the envelope was sealed with red wax, and there was no trace of it being opened, which was enough to show that he didn't know the contents of the letter.Li Mubing handed the letter to the Empress Dowager, "Queen Mother, you are the most fair, and you can read this edict." Then, Li Mubing glanced at Grand Master Xia, and asked, "I don't know if Mrs. Xia Do you have any objections?"

Grand Master Xia flicked his sleeves and said, "Of course."

In the Golden Luan Hall, all the ministers focused their eyes on the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother nodded, took the envelope in Li Mubing's hand, opened it, took out the letter inside and spread it out, and began to read the contents of the letter. It's not big, but it resounds throughout the Golden Luan Hall.

"Following heaven's fortune, the emperor's edict said, I should be enthroned by heaven, worrying and working hard, and working hard every day. Now I have the principle of nature in all things, and I have mourning and mourning. The crown prince Li Yi, a benevolent friend, the world is at heart, and it is appropriate to ascend to the throne." The position, the internal and external civil and military ministers and bureaucrats work together to assist, and admire this."

In just a few words, it is very clear that Li Mujing intends to let Li Yi inherit the Datong from the beginning to the end.

"This edict is not a fake," said the queen mother, "The Ai family can recognize the handwriting of the emperor, and it is indeed from the hand of the emperor."

But Zhou Ling firmly insisted that the edict was fake, "The handwriting can be imitated, and I don't know about the edict at all. Even if I ask the ministers in the court, they won't know about it."

"Empress, look carefully." The Empress Dowager held up the letter in front of Zhou Ling. "Besides the handwriting, there is also the seal of the State Seal and the emperor's private seal on the letter. This must not be fake."

As soon as the queen mother said this, the ministers all looked at the letter paper. Indeed, as the queen mother said, whether it is the handwriting or the seal pattern, it can prove that the edict is true.

Xia Taishi expected that things would go on like this, he had already thought of a countermeasure, and said: "As the queen mother said, this edict is true, but Eighth Prince, please don't forget that this edict was handed down by the emperor a few years ago. Yours, but just over ten days ago, the emperor changed his mind and wanted to abolish the crown prince, and even wrote an edict to abolish the crown prince, your edict does not count at all."

"The edict to abolish the crown prince?" Li Mubing said: "Since the emperor's wife and Grand Master Xia questioned the edict, the king can also doubt whether the edict to abolish the prince is fake. I wonder if the emperor's wife can take out the edict and let the king Make sure."

"Of course." Zhou Ling cast a wink at the inner prisoner next to him, and the inner prisoner hurriedly came to Li Mubing with the tray in his hand. Li Mubing picked up the scroll on the tray and opened it. On it was also Li Mujing's handwriting. There are also national seals and private seals.

Li Mubing stared at the scroll for a long time, then took the letter paper from the Empress Dowager's hand, put the two edicts together, and made a comparison. Suddenly, Li Mubing turned around and said loudly: "The trash in your hands The Crown Prince’s edict is a fake! How dare you change the edict?! This is a capital offense!”

"Why did the Eighth Prince make such a statement?!" The faces of the ministers changed drastically, and they asked, "How could it be fake?!"

Li Mubing asked the little eunuch to hold the tray, put the two edicts together, and said, "There is nothing wrong with reading the two edicts individually, but comparing them together, you can definitely see the difference! "

After Zhou Ling, Grand Master Xia, and all the ministers heard this, they all walked towards the little eunuch and looked at the two edicts.

The two imperial edicts have the same handwriting and can be imitated by others. They are also stamped with the national seal, and the ministers in the court and central government know that the national seal is placed in the imperial study, and they can indeed be borrowed from others.But only the emperor's private seal, the pattern of the emperor's private seal on the imperial edict is slightly different.

The same artist can't draw two paintings that are exactly the same, let alone the seals. The slight difference in the patterns of the seals can only show that one of the edicts is a fake!

Zhou Ling holds Li Mujing's private seal in his hand, so he can definitely conclude that the edict in Li Mubing's hand is a forgery. Zhou Ling thinks that the Xia family wants to support Li Wei as the new emperor, but Li Mubing, who hates the Xia family, naturally does not agree. Happy, that's why I forged the edict to confront the Xia family. Zhou Ling accused: "Eighth Prince, your edict is fake?! How dare the villain sue first?!"

"Joke!" Li Mubing retorted: "Forging a will is a serious crime of beheading, and it's not that this king wants to inherit the throne. Does this king need Fan's risk?!"

Ever since, at the Golden Luan Hall, Zhou Ling and Li Mubing each insisted that their own edict was true, but the other party's edict was false, and they argued endlessly for a while.

In fact, there are many ways to identify the authenticity of the imperial edict. Among the ministers present, someone must have done private affairs for Li Mujing. For example, Su Zhongyi was one of them. Maybe they still have the original copy of Li Mujing's secret letter, but They are not stupid, who dares to use it for comparison, isn't this the same as exposing the emperor's secret? !So everyone was silent.

At this time, the queen mother said, "Stop arguing," she said, "If you want to know whose edict is false, Aijia has a way."

Immediately everyone looked at the queen mother in unison, and the queen mother also carefully read the two edicts. She couldn't tell the difference, but it didn't mean that others couldn't. The queen mother said by name: "Master Du, you are Datong. The number one scholar, who is well-informed, must be able to see the reason."

Grand Master Nadu is in his eighties this year. He is an old man with white hair and wrinkled face. He is highly respected and has disciples all over the Central Plains. It is said that he knows everything and knows everything. It is indeed reasonable for the Empress Dowager to name him. If even Grand Master Du can't tell the difference, then there is really nothing to do.

Du Dashi is a civil servant and an old man who has gone through four dynasties. He staggered forward step by step, and the ministers all made way for him.Du Dashi is old, and the emperor's private seal is so small, how could he see it clearly, so he cupped his hands and said, "The Empress Dowager, I wonder if you can give the old minister a concave-convex mirror, the old minister is dim-sighted..."

The Empress Dowager nodded, and immediately promised to send the young eunuch to find a concave-convex mirror. Senior scholar Du carefully read the two edicts with the concave-convex mirror, and got the answer in his heart.

I saw Grand Master Du picked up the edict to abolish the crown prince and said, "This edict is fake."

Grand Master Xia didn't believe his words, "Impossible! Scholar Du, are you trying to avenge yourself?" As we all know, Du Wen, the eldest grandson of Scholar Du, was the former emperor's concubine, but later the princess died suddenly. The queen's position was taken away by the daughter of the Xia family. Later, the Xia family kept oppressing the Du family in the court, which made the Du family depressed for nearly 20 years.

"How can the old minister be such a narrow-minded person?!" Grand Master Du didn't care about Taishi Xia's provocation at all, he was very sure and said to the queen mother: "The old minister guarantees that what he said is absolutely true!"

Du Dashi is an upright person with great righteousness, otherwise he would not be full of disciples, so what he said must be true.

"In that case, let's show evidence!" Zhou Ling is not so easy to fool, an old guy who might kick his legs tomorrow says it's true, so it's true?How can it be? !

"Of course the old minister has the evidence." Grand Master Du put the concave-convex mirror on the tray, and said slowly: "The old minister has never seen what the emperor's private seal looks like, what style, but one thing is certain, it is the imperial seal. If there is a dragon pattern on it, then the dragon's claws must be five fingers. In the folk, such as opera costumes, or clay figurines, if the dragon pattern is made, the dragon claws must be five fingers or less, otherwise it will be regarded as For rebellion. Empress, take a good look with the concave-convex mirror, how many fingers are the dragon claws in the flying dragon ascending to the sky on the seal on the abolished prince's edict."

The analysis of Du University is reasonable, the private copy is small, and it is the emperor's personal belongings, how could there be a fake? !The ministers working for the emperor would only accept the secret letter with trembling hands. Who would dare to count the indices of the dragon claws on the pattern with a concave-convex mirror? !

Under the eyes of everyone, Zhou Ling picked up the concave-convex mirror and magnified the emperor's private seal in the abolished prince's edict, counting the number of dragon claws on the pattern, one, two, three, four... only four!Zhou Ling didn't believe it, so he hurriedly enlarged the edict. The index of the dragon's claws on the edict was no more, no less, exactly five!

"Sister-in-law, what else do you have to say?!" Li Mubing asked sinfully.

The edict to abolish the crown prince was produced by Zhou Ling and supported by the Xia family, but now it is actually said to be false!Wasn't the former prince Li Yi wronged? !

Li Mubing said loudly: "Everyone has seen it clearly! This empress, this grand master Xia actually took advantage of the critical illness of the emperor's brother to collude to forge an imperial edict to abolish the prince! They kidnapped the fourteenth prince and tried to force the emperor to order the princes! They This is simply rebellion! Now that their tricks have been seen through, how can they be manipulated by them again?! This king proposes to abolish Queen Zhou and re-establish Li Yi as the prince!"

Even if Zhou Ling and Xia Taishi forced the palace before, but his name was justified, coupled with the strength of the Xia family and the support of the Imperial Forest Army, the ministers could not question anything.Now that Li Mubing has returned to Beijing, he has brought the real edict, and there are 30 He Wenwu soldiers stationed outside the capital. He has justified and well-founded accusations of Zhou Ling and Xia Taishi's various affairs. It is not obvious that two soldiers meet you!

"How dare you?!" Zhou Ling panicked.

"Why don't you dare?" Li Mubing said: "Could it be that you still insist on going your own way?! When Brother Huang recovers from his illness and knows that you have done so many things, he will definitely depose you and cut you into pieces!"

The fundamental reason why Zhou Ling forced the palace was that Li Mujing wanted to abolish him!He managed to keep his position, and the Eighth Prince actually wanted to co-operate with ministers to abolish him!At this moment, Zhou Ling is also tearing his face, saying: "Abolish this palace?! Divide this palace into five horses? Let's see if he is so capable!" Zhou Ling knew that Li Mujing was dead, and he had nothing to be afraid of. of? !

"Queen! You are too presumptuous!" The queen mother couldn't bear it anymore, she said sharply: "The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics. Before you said that you have the emperor's edict, the Ai family has nothing to say, but your edict is forged, and you are still so arrogant?"

"Mother, you have no right to say anything about me." Zhou Ling sneered, "The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics? You have interfered a lot before. Why, do you think you will have a backer when the Eighth Prince comes back? It's just a dream!"

"Queen!"

Zhou Ling didn't have the heart to listen to the Queen Mother's lesson, he said: "Mother, no matter how you say it, you are part of the Xia family. The Xia family supports Wei'er, and you are also the beneficiary. Why bother to stumbling your own family here." As Zhou Ling said, he glanced at Li Mubing who was standing beside the Queen Mother and said, "Eighth Prince, you are so clamorous because you have the backing of General He, but have you ever thought about why General He protects you? Just because The emperor's will?! Think about the He family, do you think there is no inside story about why Wenyan resigned from office and retired? The six princes supported by the He family were demoted and killed, and the concubine Wen was thrown into the cold palace by the emperor. No complaints at all? Do you think He Wenwu will still be loyal to the emperor at this moment?!"

Li Mubing's face changed drastically when he heard the words, what Zhou Ling said was right, his brother was too ruthless, he didn't leave any room for the He family, but he couldn't back down just like that!Li Mubing asked word by word: "Sister-in-law Huang, do you really want to rebel?!"

"Anyway?! Hehehe..." Zhou Ling sneered for a while, "It's all about this, Eighth Prince, do you still have the mind to ask?!"

Zhou Ling turned around, faced all the civil and military officials, and said, "How do you choose? Do you choose the eighth prince who has made no achievements, or choose me?! I am not afraid to tell you that the emperor passed away last night!"

As soon as Zhou Ling said this, the Queen Mother was the first one who couldn't accept it. She clutched her chest and fell over on the spot. If it wasn't for Li Mubing's support, she might have fallen to the ground long ago.

Seeing this, Zhou Ling didn't care, instead he laughed and said: "This Palace has long said that instead of messing around in the Golden Luan Hall, it's better for the Empress to stay obediently in the Palace of Compassion and Ning to enjoy the rest of her life."

"You...you..." The Queen Mother panted heavily, pointing at Zhou Ling and wanting to curse.

But before the Queen Mother could speak, Grand Master Xia took the first step and said to the ministers: "As the saying goes, those who know the current affairs are heroes, the emperor died, and all the soldiers and horses inside and outside the capital, including the Imperial Forest Army, supported the Fourteenth Prince. Make a choice!"

"Don't listen to his nonsense!" Li Mubing said while helping the Empress Dowager, "Taking refuge in them is tantamount to rebellion, and you will be stigmatized forever! Since the emperor said he was sick, he has been invisible. Have you seen the body of the emperor? General He’s soldiers are just outside the city, if the king of Japan cannot leave the capital today, he will definitely bring his troops in!”

"No matter how powerful General He's military power is, it's not as powerful as the tiger talisman in General Xia's hand." Zhou Ling sneered, and said, "As long as the master of the capital closes the gate tightly, General He will not be able to attack at all for a while. General Xia will use the tiger talisman to mobilize In terms of military strength, General He is afraid that he will not be able to protect himself."

Zhou Ling put down harsh words on this, and he said to the ministers: "You have only this chance, if you choose wrongly, you will not be able to get out of this golden palace!"

In the current situation, it is impossible to remain neutral. You can only choose where you stand, whether to follow the emperor's will and seek refuge with the Eighth Prince, or follow the queen to force the palace and establish a new emperor.

At this time, the first person spoke, that is, the scholar Du who had just identified the authenticity of the imperial edict for everyone. He walked slowly towards Li Mubing and the Queen Mother, without saying a word, and his actions showed everything.

Several of the officials present were students of Du Dashi. Since the master made such a choice, they should follow him, so another five or six people chose Li Mubing, and after that, everyone made their own choices. It was decided that in less than a stick of incense, the entire Golden Luan Hall was divided into two columns, almost half of each. There were not a few people who chose to join Zhou Ling, some of them were members of the Jia family, and some were former neutrals.

Zhou Ling stared at the ministers who had taken refuge with the Queen Mother and Li Mubing, and asked, "Have you really made a decision? My palace will give you another chance!"

After a while, none of the officials took a step forward, and Zhou Ling didn't want to wait, he said: "Then don't blame me for being cruel!" Then, he said to Su Zhongyi who was sitting by his side: "Su Dutong, let's do something."

"Yes." Su Zhongyi received the order, and then shouted outside the Jinluan Hall: "Come in, everyone!"

As soon as Su Zhongyi gave an order, he saw batches of Imperial Forest troops rushing in from outside, all of them were vicious.

"Do it!" Su Zhongyi gave another order.It stands to reason that the Imperial Forest Army should have surrounded Li Mubing and his group, but who would have expected them to pick up a knife and put it on the necks of Taishi Xia and his group.

Grand Master Xia's face suddenly turned purple, and he asked in horror: "Su Dutong, what are you doing?!"

"What the queen said just now is right," the voice came from outside the Jinluan Hall, and it was very familiar. Everyone looked along, and saw a bright yellow figure walking in. He said blankly: "'Choose the wrong one. If you do, you won’t be able to get out of the Golden Temple.”

Besides Li Mujing, who else could come in? !

All the ministers present widened their eyes in astonishment, especially Zhou Ling, who trembled all over and looked at Li Mujing with fear. His eyes made one think that the one standing in the Golden Luan Hall was not a human being, but a ghost!

Zhou Ling couldn't think anymore, why? !Why is the emperor still alive? !He has obviously been infected with the plague, his whole body is festered, and his face is haggard, but there is no injury on his face? !Is it possible that I have seen a ghost this month? !