Chapter 84

East Palace.

Even though the prince drank the calming soup prepared by the Imperial Hospital before bed, he still slept poorly that night.

While half asleep and half awake, he heard the news that his father was seriously ill.

Li Sheng brought people to the East Palace and invited him to the Xuanzheng Hall, saying that the emperor still had something to say to the clan relatives and ministers.

The prince hurriedly put on his clothes, tied his hair, and followed Li Sheng to his father’s bedroom.

His father was indeed seriously ill. He lay lifeless on the bed, and his hands became increasingly thin and weak.

He waved his hand, signaling several princes and clan ministers to come over, as if he had something to say.

King Huan was the most impatient and was the first to ask his father to whom the throne would be passed.

His father gave the answer without even thinking, so let’s give it to the King of Chu.

The prince was horrified and called Li Xueshi from the Hanlin Academy to question him, asking why he passed the throne to someone else when he was clearly the prince.

Scholar Li also gave an official answer that for such an important matter, everything should be based on the imperial edict of His Majesty.

Soon, the King of Chu rushed in with his cronies and took control of the palace.

Huo Zhanshi, whom he had always trusted, looked at his father with hatred and said what he had never dared to say: “It would be better if the emperor didn’t die suddenly.”

As long as the emperor died suddenly, without a will or an imperial edict, the prince could succeed to the throne naturally without arousing any suspicion.

He was too late, after all.

The prince woke up suddenly.

It is said that dreams can convey spiritual thoughts. The fact that he had such a dream at this time was probably God telling him that it was time to take action.

The prince summoned several generals and made a pre-war mobilization: “Since we already have a reason to go out, let’s start tonight. The King of Chu now has only four or five thousand soldiers and horses, so he has not dared to force his way into the city. This is not a matter of concern. If there is resistance at that time… we will destroy it on the spot.”

In the prince’s imagination, the 10,000 people he sent out were all elite soldiers. They would have an overwhelming advantage against the guards of the King of Chu who escorted the emperor when he went out, and the battle would be over soon.

The prince simply gave up sleep and sat at his desk waiting for news. However, he waited for a whole day but received no news.

He sent out more than 10,000 people this time, and the King of Chu had at most 5,000 troops. Even if he transferred troops from Zhili it would be impossible to encircle and annihilate 10,000 troops quietly.

Everyone thought that he had only 30,000 people at most, but in fact, all the money he had collected in previous years was used as military expenses to secretly support an army, which has now expanded to about 13,000 people. After the emperor went to Chengde to escape the summer heat, he opened the back door to let these people enter the capital in small groups.

Therefore, even if the emperor mobilized the garrison in Zhili, the King of Chu had less than 40,000 soldiers and horses, while they still had 30,000 soldiers and occupied the capital, which gave them an innate advantage. No matter how you looked at it, they would not lose.

There was no news from our own people, but there was news from people outside.

The guards of the King of Chu appeared at the city gate, saying that His Royal Highness the King of Chu was seriously ill and was not getting better, so they wanted to enter the city to arrange funeral ceremonies.

The prince had just spread the news that the King of Chu was planning a rebellion, but the other party was ruthless enough to directly say that the King of Chu was dead.

In this way, the Donggong’s reasons are no longer tenable.

The first vanguard army sent out never came back, and the prince inevitably lost confidence. After discussing and arguing with his subordinates, he decided not to open the city gates for the time being.

The Chu King’s guards who were waiting outside the city gate to enter the capital were furious, thinking that it was too unbecoming of the prince to treat his own eldest brother in this way.

The prince had originally planned to use the King of Chu to rebel and build momentum, but the other party now directly said that the King of Chu was dead, and by not allowing them to enter the city, he seemed cold-hearted and disregarded brotherhood.

The prince couldn’t understand why it was so easy for others to start a rebellion by raising the banner of so-and-so’s rebellion and purging the court officials and reducing the number of nobles, but why was he so unlucky?

He climbed up the city wall and saw the soldiers below, all wearing plain clothes and holding white banners, asking to enter the city to hold a funeral for the King of Chu.

The prince suddenly felt empty in the head and weak all over.

He calmed himself down and insisted to the generals around him: “The King of Chu is cunning and treacherous, so he is bound to cheat. We should be cautious about opening the city gates.”

After hearing what the prince said, the people in the city started talking more about it.

These people used to say that His Royal Highness the King of Chu was plotting a rebellion, so it would have been fine not to let them enter the city. But now the King of Chu is dead, and the dead are the greatest. He hasn’t done anything substantial like treason or rebellion, so why aren’t they allowed to enter the city to mourn?

In this way, the Crown Prince and the King of Chu confronted each other for two days without success. Then news came from outside that the Emperor was worried about his son and had returned from Chengde to see the King of Chu off for the last time, and asked the Crown Prince to open the door.

Although it was against morality for the Crown Prince to stop the King of Chu from entering the city, he was the Crown Prince after all, and the King of Chu was just an ordinary prince, so it was not impossible to excuse it according to the rules.

But now, if you try to stop the emperor from entering the city, it would be a great disrespect and you will be punished.

The emperor also revealed his identity and said that he was back, which meant that the other party was ready to play their cards openly.