allonlinenovel Chapter 447 Prince Chen's Rebellious Intentions
Chapter 447 Prince Chen's Rebellious Intentions
midnight.
The palace of Consort Chen is on fire.
The fire was burning very brightly.
The sky was bathed in a deep red light.
Fortunately, they ran fast and were rescued in time, thus escaping disaster.
Although no one was injured or killed, some people were quite frightened.
The emperor was so frightened that he was also choked by the thick smoke and fainted.
That's just how people are; when illness strikes, it's like a landslide.
Once you fall ill, all sorts of diseases start to appear.
In modern terms, these would be hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and other age-related diseases.
The most fatal thing was that the emperor had been taking elixirs for many years.
He thought it was a miraculous medicine to prolong life, but little did he know it was a slow-acting poison that would take his life.
The elixir, ironically, became his death warrant.
Once you fall, you can't get up again; the illness comes on suddenly and violently.
The fire broke out suddenly, and the illness came on suddenly too.
The emperor didn't even have time to give any instructions, but according to usual practice, the important affairs of state naturally fell to the right prime minister, Cui Yan.
Throughout the court, everyone knew of the Emperor's trust in Chancellor Cui.
No matter who becomes emperor in the future, he will be the regent appointed by the emperor.
Since the emperor stopped attending morning court sessions, all the memorials, including those concerning the deposition of the empress, ended up in his possession.
Cui Xiang could handle ordinary memorials, but deposing the empress was a major matter concerning the country and the nation, and also a matter for the royal family.
Cui Xiangke does not have that right.
Let's just wait and see, until the Emperor wakes up and recovers.
Left Chancellor Yan Fu was consumed by jealousy and wanted to get rid of Cui Yan as soon as possible.
They had been determined to impeach the Empress, but then the Emperor fell ill and was still in a coma.
So who are they impeaching them to, and who makes the decision?
The Empress Dowager never concerned herself with court affairs, only with matters of the inner palace.
This great fire destroyed Consort Chen's power over the harem, and Consort Zhen showed no intention of taking it over.
Only the Empress Dowager could manage the inner palace.
The fire started in Consort Chen's palace and even frightened the Emperor. This was her crime, and she was suspected of plotting to murder the Emperor.
Consort Chen had no way to defend herself.
The fire terrified her; her legs were still weak.
They almost perished in the fire.
I have lingering fears.
As for the cause of the fire, she was extremely guilty.
She learned it from someone in the palace.
Recently, a lot of candles have been used up in Consort Zhen's palace, supposedly because the Emperor enjoys watching Consort Zhen dance gracefully in the candlelight.
The Consort Zhen's palace was filled with revelry every night.
Although Consort Chen's dancing was not as good as Consort Zhen's, nor was she as young and beautiful, she was a skilled pipa player.
Since the emperor rarely visited her palace, she tried her best to please him and make him happy.
So she had many candles lit in the palace and invited many young and beautiful concubines, but from ordinary families, to entertain the guests.
Such concubines are easy to manipulate.
The Emperor was initially quite pleased with this arrangement.
Unexpectedly, the scenery caught fire, burning the curtains and the house.
I wonder which damned little brat knocked over the candlestick, causing such an undeserved disaster.
But what worries her most now is that when the fire started, she forgot about the Emperor and ran away.
But you can't blame her; when faced with a life-or-death situation, who wouldn't be thinking of themselves first?
She had no intention of dying with the emperor.
But then again.
The Emperor doesn't have long to live, but he can't die now, he can't die in her palace, and he certainly can't die for such an absurd reason.
If she dies in her palace, all of her son's plans will be in vain.
The empress would seize the opportunity to accuse her of treason.
She was both afraid that the emperor would wake up and afraid that he wouldn't.
If the Emperor were to wake up, he would surely resent her for escaping alone and would come to despise her and her son from then on.
If he dies, a bloody storm is inevitable.
At this moment, the palace gates were tightly closed, and news was blocked.
Her biggest worry was that her son would lose his composure upon hearing the news of his father's illness.
He harbored rebellious intentions.
There is the precedent of Prince Su.
She didn't want her son to embark on a path of rebellion until the very last step.
When Prince Chen received the news, it was already the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).
Moreover, she is now under house arrest by the Empress Dowager.
Not only did she lose control of the harem, but she also couldn't get close to the emperor, and it was difficult to discern the truth about the emperor's situation.
When Prince Chen received the news.
I had just arrived at the palace gate, preparing to go to court.
He was stunned for a long time when his informant reported it.
What a coincidence! What a coincidence!
He was plotting to depose the empress when, by sheer coincidence, this fire broke out.
It disrupted all his plans.
Now, his first thought was whether his father was dead or not, and whether he should gather troops.
If there were other possibilities, he wouldn't want to rebel, because even if he won, it wouldn't be legitimate.
Prince Chen sat in the carriage for a while, calming down.
The first thing he did was to go to the palace to attend to the sick.
Look at my father, and try to ascertain the truth.
If there is still time for him to maneuver, winning over the Shen family is a necessary step.
If the Emperor is powerless to reverse the situation, then we have no choice but to take a desperate gamble.
The Emperor's bedroom.
All the princes and princesses, young and old, went and waited outside the palace for news.
The young princes and princesses were brought out of bed by their mother while they were still asleep. With their innocent eyes wide open, they stared blankly at the closed palace doors.
Many of them did not remember what their father looked like, had never even seen him, and did not understand what their father was.
They didn't understand why they had to come here before dawn to wait.
In reality, this is a formality they have to go through.
This is a critical moment.
Prince Chen, Prince Jing, and the Crown Prince all arrived, but they could only stand guard outside the palace.
King Jing lowered his head, making it impossible to discern his emotions.
Prince Chen began to panic.
Who is the Empress Dowager? Even though she has no biological children, she can still make the Emperor, whom she adopted halfway through his life, treat her with utmost respect.
The key point is that the Empress Dowager's surname was Mu.
Her own niece is the princess of the fifth brother beside her.
If she doesn't help King Jing, who else can she help?