Chapter 249 - Emperor Xianjia again helped the Crown Prince circuitously

The next day, as expected, Qiu Shuxia denounced the Crown Prince openly, saying that “He is nepotistic, mediocre and incompetent, and can’t even control over his bodyguard. How can we entrust the state to him?” The faction of the Eastern Palace, who were worried about the Crown Prince’s injury, had not yet considered how to rebut him when Emperor Xianjia, who hadn’t shown up for a long time, once again stepped forward to help the Crown Prince circuitously!

He first summoned Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao to the palace and scolded them for a few trivial things. Then he announced that they would be fined their official salary for half a year!

For Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao, it’s nothing to lose their salary for half a year. After all, neither of them was short of money. It didn’t matter if they were fined for half a year or ten years.

However, the attitude of the emperor towards this matter made people who supported their fight for the throne ponder and hesitate!

Emperor Xianjia’s favor of the Eastern Palace was more than that. After punishing Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao, he went out of the palace to visit the Crown Prince and Commandery Prince Zhongling in person!

“I am unfilial to let you worry about this!” The Crown Prince, who was lying on the sickbed, was shocked for a long time when he saw the emperor entered the door. He struggled to go down to the ground to salute. After being stopped by the emperor, he burst into tears, “I’m ashamed that I’ve been unworthy of your teachings over the years.”

Commandery Prince Zhongling, who was brought here hastily, threw himself into the arms of Emperor Xianjia and cried, “It’s all my fault! I should not take only two eunuchs to the garden. Otherwise, Father and two uncles would not have gotten hurt. You and Grandmother would not have gotten worried!”

“Good boy, it’s not your fault. It’s those evil guys!” Emperor Xianjia raised his hand and stroked the head of his grandson. He comforted him lovingly, “My eldest grandson is even all in a twitter when he is in his own home.”

He then taught the Crown Prince, “As the saying goes, it is easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow shot from hiding. This time, of course, you suffered a loss. In fact, it’s not a bad thing. It’s better than that Ji Xin has been flying low around you! Take good care of yourself. I will be in charge of everything in the court.”

The emperor sneered, “Although I am not supposed to be burdened with worry these days, I am not dead yet!”

After visiting the Crown Prince and his grandson, Emperor Xianjia immediately issued two imperial edicts when he returned to the palace.

He first praised and rewarded Jian Xubai and Xu Xishi, which was in line with the moral principle. After all, these two men came forward courageously for the Crown Prince and his grandson with their bare hands. For such loyal men, how could Emperor Xianjia who was partial to the Eastern Palace not express his gratitude?

Not only did Emperor Xianjia express his gratitude, but also he was surprisingly generous. Apart from encouragement and praise, and common rewards like money and silk, the emperor even prompted the official positions of his two nephews without hesitation!

Jian Xubai was transferred to the Council of Censorate from the Ministry of War. He was originally the Director of the Bureau of Military Appointments at the higher level of the fifth-rank, and now he was appointed as the Intermediate Imperial Censor at the lower level of the fourth-rank. That was a promotion of three levels.

And Xu Xishi was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, and was appointed as Vice Minister at the lower level of the fourth-rank, also a promotion of three levels.

Even if they saved the Crown Prince and Commandery Prince Zhongling, and were the emperor’s blood nephews, this kind of promotion was a big sensation for the whole court considering their age and qualifications. However, no one raised any objection at all, because everyone paid their attention to the second imperial edict!

In the second imperial edict, Emperor Xian appointed Gu Shao as the Head of the Secretariat and let him take the place of the Crown Prince temporarily to govern the nation!

Great Rui followed the system of Three Councils and Six Ministries of the previous dynasty. Each ministry performed its own functions and was indispensable for the court.

However, from the perspective of the fight for the throne, among the Six Ministries, the Ministry of Punishments, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rituals are far less important than the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue.

Among the more important three ministries, Jin Suke, Director in the Ministry of Personnel, had sought refuge with the Crown Prince a few months ago; He Wenqiong, Director in the Ministry of War, was simply an official under the Eastern Palace.

At this time, Emperor Xianjia personally transferred his nephew Xu Xishi, who was close to the Crown Prince, to the Ministry of Personnel. Obviously, he was going to hand over this ministry to the Eastern Palace!

Xu Xishi was young and had insufficient talents, so he might not be able to hold the post of Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. However, Gu Shao was the actual person in charge, and under such a cover, even if Xu Xishi couldn’t do anything, he could still hold the money bag of Great Rui tightly for the Crown Prince!

After all, he had reached the highest rank among all officials when he was just in his forties. That was not just a big talk.

In this case, if there was no accident, the Crown Prince could be said to be invincible!

In addition to the Six Ministries, there was also the Council of Censorate. Wei Xi, the Imperial Censor, was the father of the Crown Princess and the father-in-law of the Crown Prince. Wei Xi was the descendant of Feng Zhouwei, one of the Six Warlords in the past, and the direct offspring of the Ruiyu Hall.

Perhaps it was because of the strong literary atmosphere of Wei family’s ancestors, he was mild in disposition. Although he was the Imperial Censor, he seldom impeached other officials.

In several court debates, the man didn’t show much.

Although he was partial to the Crown Prince inwardly, in real life, his help to the Eastern Palace was very limited.

Jian Xubai, the newly appointed Intermediate Imperial Censor, had been arguing with Qiu Shuxia for a year despite his young age. His abilities were obvious to all.

At that time, he was just a Director of the Bureau of Military Appointments in the Ministry of War. Now he was officially appointed as a censor. Later, if the court was in dispute, it could be imagined that Intermediate Censor Jian would never hide his abilities like his superior official Wei Xi. If it was not for the fact that Emperor Xianjia visited his son and grandson in person, the court and the commonalty would doubt that the emperor was near his death and thus made relevant arrangements before he died!

“Mother, what should we do now?” Princess Consort of Wei went into the main hall with a pale face. There were six utensils about half the height of a man, and all of them contained ice, so it was as clear and crisp as in the autumn in the room. However, she was sweating. She was at a loss and asked Daiguo Grand Princess, “His Majesty… His Majesty… He is determined to help the Crown Prince! Now all people in Cuihua Mountain say that the status of the Crown Prince is unshakable. It’s just a joke for us to fiddle around. Many people who have turned to us are regretting it now. We have been against the Crown Prince for so long. How can he let us off in the future?”

“Why are you so panic?” Daiguo Grand Princess glared at her daughter in disappointment. When her eyes flicked around her apparently bulged belly, she held back her rebuke and ordered her to sit down, and then said coldly, “If the emperor is determined to choose the Crown Prince as his only heir, how can Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao be fined official salary for only half a year? They should be expelled directly from the court, and be demoted as idle princes from now on! Now that he does not do so, it can be seen that even though he is partial to the Crown Prince, he is not determined to never change his heir! “

Princess Consort of Wei couldn’t believe it and said, “But His Majesty went to see the Crown Prince and Commandery Prince Zhongling in person immediately after he reprimanded and fined my husband and Prince of Zhao. It took him half a day to show his kindness to the Crown Prince, and when he returned to the palace, he instantly promoted Gu Shao. Now the Crown Prince’s side is overjoyed, while our people are full of fear! As a result, even if my husband and Prince of Zhao remain in the court, what can they do?”

She continued, “Even the Jiang family seems to have shaken their faith. Just now the Jiang family allowed Jiang Muting to go to see Yuan Xuepei! Mother, you know that the Jiang family was very opposed to this pair in the past. Before Jiang Muting moved to the manor, she was not allowed to greet Lady of Yan, not to mention to meet Yuan Xuepei directly! It’s because of the Eastern Palace that her family is willing to give the permission now! “

“The Jiang family?” On hearing this, Daiguo Grand Princess frowned and was grim-faced. The Jiang family did not enjoy absolute power in the court while its strength should not be ignored! The most important thing was that the Jiang family, as the maternal home of Virtuous Consort Jiang, who was the adoptive mother of Prince of Wei, had always remained neutral. If they were inclined to the Crown Prince at the moment, it would be a heavy blow to Prince of Wei in the fight for the throne!

Prince of Wei called Jiang Muting’s father “Uncle” when he was young!

If a prince cannot even win the support of his uncle, how can he let people believe that he can govern the country?

“We cannot let the Jiang family take refuge with the Crown Prince!” Daiguo Grand Princess thought for a moment, and her eyes became deep, “Otherwise, our people will not be of one mind!”

“What shall we do?” Princess Consort of Wei blurted out, caressed her belly alertly, and said, “Mother, are you thinking of marrying off Jiang Muting to my husband as side concubine? I don’t agree!”

Daiguo Grand Princess looked at her with a sneer, “You are hopeless! Now that the Jiang family want to get close to the Eastern Palace, they won’t marry off Jiang Muting to Prince of Wei as the side concubine. In fact, they may not be willing to do so even if you give up the position of the Princess Consort.”

She smoothed her hair calmly, “Don’t worry, I’m not the empress who is willing to let her daughter feel wronged. You must be more careful since you are five months pregnant. You’re still so impetuous. That’s disgraceful.”

“This is because you are here, Mother. Even if I’m careless, you can consider all these things for me. Don’t you?” Princess Consort Wei was relieved after getting a definite answer from her mother. She held her arm in a pettishly charming manner and asked curiously, “Mother, how will you deal with the Jiang family?”

Daiguo Grand Princess didn’t want to tell her. She just said, “I have my solutions about this. You don’t need to worry about it. Go back and tell Prince of Wei: When his father was young, he was even in a worse situation than him! At that time, most people thought that he could not survive under the great pressure from Noble Consort Shentu and Madame Zhenyuan! Even so, he never lost his spirits! No matter how unfavorable the situation is, at least Prince of Wei doesn’t have to kneel in the yard for several hours in the rainy winter just to ask for a chance for self-justification, does he? “

After sending away her daughter, Daiguo Grand Princess sat alone in the hall, her eyes twinkling for a long time, and called the maid who was sent by her own family when she got married “I remember that the eighth day of next lunar month is my birthday?”

It was true that Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao formed an alliance, yet they were not of one mind after all.

Therefore, when Daiguo Grand Princess was secretly calculating, Prince of Zhao was also discussing the countermeasures.

“It has nothing to do with us that the Crown Prince and others were injured this time. To be fair, it was actually caused by the Crown Prince himself who failed to manage his subordinate!”

Qiu Shuxia stroked his stubble on his chin and said with a sneer, “His Majesty acted as if the Crown Prince had been greatly wronged for fear that people can’t see his favoritism. Obviously, he is making use of this matter as a pretext for his partiality!”

“The most important thing is that the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue will all fall into the hands of the Eastern Palace. Besides, Gu Shao is now governing the nation as the Head of the Secretariat.”

Su Shaoge calmly said, “Although the Crown Prince was set as the heir of the emperor from childhood, his foundation is not solid because of his age. Now His Majesty has made such an arrangement for him. In the future, unless the Crown Prince makes a big mistake himself, we have slim hope to change the heir.”

Speaking of this, he cast a glance at Prince of Zhao. Prince of Zhao was grim-faced, only to find that his eyes looked firm and showed no panic. He nodded inwardly and said, “The situation is very severe now. Her Majesty and His Majesty are both in favor of the Crown Prince. If the affairs of the state are under the control of the Crown Prince, we can only surrender to him! By then our end is also settled!”

“Uncle, Cousin, what’s your suggestion?” After pondering for a while, Prince of Zhao looked up and asked.

Su Shaoge and Qiu Shuxia looked at each other and spoke with one voice, “Gu Shao must be removed!”