CH 58

Prince of Jing Manor.

There was a man leaning on the soft ta couch, looking rather carefree. In sharp contrast, the middle-aged man sitting on the chair next to him was fidgeting and his face showed great anxiety.

“Teacher, are you feeling better? When you go home, take some panax ginseng with you, these were from Yan… someone gifted them to me.”

Yuan Wei covered his mouth with a handkerchief as he coughed: “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. Today, the people from the Grand Secretariat went into the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor. I was supposed to go with them, but did not end up going due to my illness and instead came over to see you.”

The Prince of Jing frowned: “Teacher should have gone with them, see an opportunity and take action, in case father2 suddenly has a change of heart and decides to send me off to my fief, there will be no one to stop him.”

Yuan Wei did not reply, he was looking rather gloomy, after a while, he finally gritted his teeth and said: “Your Highness, let’s just stop what we’re doing!”

Yuan Wei sighed: “These days, I have not been eating, nor sleeping. I’ve been pondering over things and still believe that this matter is not appropriate. In case, things come to light, we would…..”

“Teacher!” The Prince of Jing cut him off, “We can’t go back now. In case my father dies, those people will definitely support my useless older brother to succeed to the throne. He’s not even the son of the Empress, it’s just that my brothers who came before him all died, so he was lucky in that he was born earlier. Don’t say that I’m indignant, I think there are many civil officials in the court who are genuinely indignant as well!”

Yuan Wei frowned: “Yan Shifan has been executed, those people have practically been cut down to their roots, even if we still have some control over the internal court, there are hundreds of civil and military officials on the outside. What we’re doing is basically going against the entire imperial court, what are the odds of us succeeding!”

The Prince of Jing sneered: “Oh teacher, you are very wrong. For the others, I don’t know, however, as soon as we have success within our grasp, not only will Xu Jie not use the civil officials to attack us, he will even calm the others down for us.”

Yuan Wei was astonished: “What do you mean, do you mean to say that Your Highness and Xu Jie have an alliance?”

The Prince of Jing shook his head: “What alliance? You just don’t understand him at all. Xu Jie is not that kind of rotten old stubborn Confucian scholar, he supports the son of heaven of our Great Ming. As for who will come to sit upon the throne, this is not the most important thing to him. In the last few decades, father has not really done much to manage the imperial court. If it hadn’t been for the Grand Secretariat, this country3 would have collapsed long ago. He is very clear that if san-ge4 and I fight, in the end, it just causes chaos within the imperial court, as he knows that those officials who support me are also numerous. So as long as the overall picture has been determined and it does not affect his position of authority, Xu Jie will be readily supportive of any new Emperor.”

Yuan Wei listened to his clear-headed and logical analysis, but still had some doubts: “But previously, he clearly showed that he was supporting the Prince of Yu, he even sent his favourite student to work for the Prince of Yu……”

“If I were to use one word to describe Xu Jie, it would be stable. The reason is he was able to wait twenty years to get rid of Yan Song, it is all down to Xu Jie going along steadily and calmly. But this word stable is also his flaw. If he was a modest person, then I would be more worried!”

The Prince of Jing saw him sitting on pins and needles5 and asked him to go home and rest: “No need to worry, teacher. Regarding this matter, there is no need for you to get directly involved, I just need your help in settling those high-ranking officials that are standing with us. As soon as the dust settles, they will be a force that we cannot do without. When the time comes, if we want to pull the majority of the imperial court to our side, we won’t be able to do it without them.

Yuan Wei nodded: “Don’t worry, your Highness.”

Xu Jie led the three of them into the inner hall, thinking that the hall was steeped with a very intense medicinal odour.

The palace was still the palace but it seemed to have grown a lot colder and gloomier than before.

The Emperor was sitting up in his bed, and the person by his bedside serving upon him was no longer Huang Jin but had turned into Teng Xiang.

“This official greets his Majesty.”

Emperor Jiajing looked at the people kneeling before him, there was no change in his mood, but he did not ask them to get up either.

“Please forgive us, your Majesty. We are worried about Your Majesty’s health, therefore, we have requested an audience with you. Seeing that Your Majesty is in good health, this has brought us great relief.”

Jiajing spoke in a very quiet voice, his speech was slow, as if he was exhausted: “My6 loyal Grand Secretaries, I believe that you have not come this time just to check on my health? What is it, is it the Wukou’s invading again or the Tartar knocking at the gates?”

As the senior Grand Secretary, Xu Jie naturally could not remain silent, so he had to be the one to reply: “Please be rest assured Your Majesty, there is peace within and outside of the imperial court. However, we have come today as we have something to ask of Your Majesty.”

“However,” Jiajing frowned and closed his eyes, Teng Xiang immediately went up to massage his temples. “I have not been well these past few days, let him come to serve upon me, he actually can set off in a few months.”

Xu Jie quickly said: “Since Your Majesty has already decided, why not immediately write up an imperial edict and announce it all under heaven to give everyone peace of mind!”

He couldn’t understand, he had never seen the Emperor before him dote upon the Prince of Jing so why was he so reluctant for him to leave the Capital?

Jiajing sneered: “What is it, I have already agreed to your request and agreed to let the Prince of Jing go back to his fief. Must you force my son to leave my side, and not even allow him to stay for a few days longer?”

What Xu Jie and the others did not know was that since Jiajing had fallen ill, his moods had become evermore erratic and fickle. In the beginning, when Huang Jin was worried about his health and suggested that the Emperor name a crown prince, Jiajing flew into a fit of rage and demoted Huang Jin to work in the laundry department. Xu Jie had secretly influenced Huang Jin to do this, otherwise, having served the Emperor for decades with meticulous care, why would he suddenly make this kind of mistake?

He couldn’t believe that he had still not calmed down from that incident and now Xu Jie and the others had come to bring up this matter as well, directly aggravating Jiajing and poking at his sore spot.