noveltune Chapter 5531 The Dragon Rises to Heaven
Chapter 5531 The Dragon Rises to Heaven
Chapter 5531 The Dragon Rises to Heaven
The Tang Dynasty maintained extremely strict control over firearms. Every musket was numbered, allowing for tracing its origin step by step. Even if a single musket was lost at a scene, its provenance could be traced. Li Jingye dared to assassinate the Crown Prince, but he absolutely dared not bear the consequences.
So where did this gunshot come from?
It could only be the Imperial Guards of Wanchun Palace.
However, the Imperial Guards, ostensibly for defense but actually for monitoring the Wanchun Palace, were personally dispatched by him and did not carry firearms...
Wang De remained silent.
Li Chengqian knelt on the mat by the window, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and sighed again.
"Since Li Jingye was able to hide weapons and assassins in the palace, then others could naturally hide a 'Divine Machine Battalion' as well, right?"
Wang De bowed and said, "Your Majesty's wisdom is boundless."
Li Chengqian raised his eyelids and asked in confusion, "Why did you do this? Both Emperor Taizong and I have trusted you completely and treated you like a servant. We have never had the slightest doubt about you."
Wang De seemed to have foreseen this, and remained calm. He knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty is the Emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty and the ruler of the four seas. The Crown Prince is also the heir apparent and the foundation of the state. This old servant dares not betray Your Majesty, but he also dares not witness the Crown Prince being slaughtered by the rebel army. This old servant is nothing but a eunuch. He does not understand those reforms and changes, but he knows that the foundation of the state must not be shaken."
His words were sincere and his true feelings were revealed.
Li Chengqian was increasingly surprised, not expecting Wang De to offer no excuses or readily admit it: "Are you seeking death?"
With tears streaming down his face, Wang De kowtowed deeply, saying, "The crime of deceiving the emperor is unforgivable. I only wish to die to repay the emperor's grace."
Although he tried his best to save the Crown Prince from dire straits, he had betrayed His Majesty after all, which violated his moral principles. Only death could set him free.
He is not afraid of death. When the Crown Prince ascends the throne, he will surely keep his promise and move his remains to the imperial mausoleum, so that the dynasty may continue and the incense offerings may never cease...
Li Chengqian's anger surged, and he retorted angrily, "You are a servant of the royal family! Shouldn't you help me maintain the supreme authority of the imperial power?"
Wang De said, "But in this old servant's mind, the inheritance is the most important thing."
He was just a eunuch who hadn't read many books and didn't understand profound meanings. In his view, imperial power rose and fell like dynasties, and what was the essential difference between imperial pronouncements and the decline of imperial power? As long as the throne passed between the Li Tang imperial family and was inherited by the descendants of Emperor Taizong, that was enough.
However, what His Majesty is doing now may seem like just eliminating the Crown Prince and installing another son, but in reality, it poses a danger of overturning the succession.
Once tradition is broken, the succession to the throne will be accompanied by constant bloodshed, and the throne may fall into the wrong hands in any generation.
The reason why so many civil and military officials, led by Fang Jun, opposed Emperor Taizong's change of heir was precisely this: yet Your Majesty, as a victim of Emperor Taizong's change of heir, is following in Emperor Taizong's footsteps.
What made him finally decide to protect the Crown Prince was His Majesty's ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness.
The reason Li Jingye was able to hide weapons and assassins in the palace and launch a surprise attack on Wanchun Hall without anyone noticing was precisely because of His Majesty's indulgence.
By allowing Li Jingye to lead assassins to kill the crown prince, it would be natural to change the heir apparent.
Whether the assassination succeeded or failed, Li Jingye would bear the blame, while His Majesty would remain uninvolved, still the "forgiving" and "benevolent" ruler of his time...
This was something that the eunuchs left behind by Emperor Taizong could not accept.
Li Chengqian was still furious. He pointed at Wang De, but suddenly his vision went black, his head spun, and he swayed and fell onto the mat on the ground.
Wang De was startled and was about to get up and go forward to check when several figures swiftly emerged from the shadows of the imperial study and surrounded Li Chengqian. Some looked at Wang De warily, while others bent down to check on the emperor's condition.
Wang De was not surprised. If there were no experts secretly protecting him, how could His Majesty have summoned him, who already harbored deep suspicions?
However, His Majesty's current condition terrified him.
An elderly eunuch with white hair and beard first checked the emperor's breathing, then examined his complexion and pupils, and finally took his pulse. After a few breaths, he said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty has been poisoned!"
Even through the dim candlelight, Wang De could see black blood oozing from His Majesty's mouth and nose, even through the presence of several eunuchs. Upon hearing the old eunuch's words, he felt his scalp tingle, his whole body tremble, and he was completely stunned, as if his soul had left his body.
how so?!
Suddenly realizing what was happening, he pointed to the teapot on the table: "His Majesty just drank from that pot of tea!"
The two ignored him, and the eunuchs walked up to him and looked down at him.
The two men had pale, bluish faces from years of being deprived of sunlight; their features were gaunt, and their eyes were fierce as venomous snakes.
The old eunuch who had determined that His Majesty was poisoned got up, picked up the teapot, and poured the tea out the window. The tea flowed and mixed with the rainwater. Then, he slowly pinched a pinch of tea leaves and put them into the teapot, filling it with boiling water.
Wang De's eyes widened in fury: "How dare you?"
The old eunuch glanced in his direction; his eyes were cloudy with too much white in them, devoid of any life. He then waved his hand dismissively.
Two eunuchs rushed forward. One of them, with his withered, large hand like an eagle's claw, pinned Wang De to the ground, rendering him unable to move. The other eunuch took out a silk ribbon from his robes and wrapped it tightly around Wang De's neck.
Wang De struggled desperately but could not escape. Suffocation caused his eyes to bulge and his mouth to open wide. Soon after, he collapsed limply to the ground and died of suffocation.
Just then, a group of imperial guards rushed into the imperial study, led by Li Jingye.
Although his armor was torn and he looked disheveled, he walked steadily. He first went forward to check on His Majesty and saw that His Majesty was bleeding from his mouth and nose and had no breath left. He was lying on the mat next to the tea table in front of the window. He couldn't help but have redden his eyes and clench his fists.
He knelt on one knee and said in a pained voice, "To preserve the dignity of the imperial power and fulfill Your Majesty's long-cherished wish, this humble general has no choice but to take this desperate measure. Please, Your Majesty, go first. I will come to follow you after the situation is stabilized!"
Several eunuchs stood solemnly to one side.
Li Jingye composed himself, wiped away his tears, stood up, and looked at the old eunuch, saying, "For some reason, the 'Divine Machine Battalion' suddenly appeared in Wanchun Palace. My elite guards were almost completely wiped out, and the plan failed."
The old eunuch nodded: "I have already received the news, so I have taken the initiative to implement the pre-emptive measures."
The so-called contingency plan was naturally a second strategy to prevent the assassination attempt from failing—poisoning His Majesty.
He then pointed to Wang De's corpse: "It was this old servant who secretly colluded with the Crown Prince and Fang Jun to secretly transfer the 'Shenji Battalion' into the palace and hide them in the Wanchun Hall."
Li Jingye was furious. Only then did he realize why the "Divine Machine Battalion" had suddenly appeared and ruined his plans, even almost causing his death in Wanchun Palace. He stepped forward and kicked Wang De's corpse, sending it flying into the corner of the wall.
He nodded slightly, then glanced back at the Emperor's corpse once more: "It's all over now, it's irrelevant. Is the imperial edict prepared? Has it been sealed?"
The old eunuch took out a yellow silk scroll from his bosom and handed it to Li Jingye with both hands: "Everything is ready."
Li Jingye unfolded it and examined it carefully before putting it into his pocket: "I will immediately lead troops to besiege Wanchun Palace, capture the Crown Prince, and bring him to justice. Then I will go to Shenlong Palace to deliver an imperial edict, requesting the new Crown Prince to go to Taiji Palace to summon civil and military officials and enthrone him!"
Either assassinate the Crown Prince, and His Majesty can smoothly change the heir apparent.
They could either poison His Majesty, frame the Crown Prince, forge an imperial edict to appoint the young prince as Crown Prince, and then enthrone him as Emperor in front of the court officials.
He was unwilling to take the second step, but things had come to this point, so what could he do?
He is loyal to His Majesty and the imperial power; he is His Majesty's henchman, and therefore he will spare no effort to fulfill His Majesty's long-cherished wish.
Even at the cost of His Majesty's life!
Your Majesty values the supreme imperial power above all else. I suppose you would be willing to sacrifice your own life to achieve this long-cherished wish?
He stared at the old eunuch: "Tell your master to immediately contact the armies inside and outside Chang'an to resist the possible mutiny launched by the Left and Right Imperial Guards. As long as the new emperor's enthronement ceremony is completed in the Taiji Hall, the situation will be stable! Otherwise, you and I will be traitors who poisoned His Majesty and assassinated the Crown Prince, and our whole families will suffer and die without a complete corpse!"
After saying that, he strode outside.
In the drizzle, a dense array of officers, soldiers, and imperial guards stood outside the gate.
Li Jingye stopped in front of the crowd, looked around, and said loudly, "His Majesty has been poisoned by the traitor and has passed away!"
boom!
There was an uproar.
The Tang Dynasty has been established for decades, and the three emperors have all been known for their love of the people, diligence in governance, and wisdom. In particular, His Majesty's reputation for benevolence has spread throughout the land. The government is clean and efficient, the people are prosperous and the country is stable.
Even if there were occasional fluctuations in policies or public discontent, everyone believed that "the emperor was a good emperor," and that the bad things were done by the ministers...
Now, upon suddenly hearing that Your Majesty has been harmed by treacherous villains, I am naturally filled with grief and indignation.
Some people seized the opportunity to stir up trouble: "His Majesty had long seen that the Crown Prince was not virtuous and intended to change the heir, but unexpectedly, in order to keep the position of Crown Prince, he actually poisoned His Majesty!"
"Does poisoning His Majesty mean the Crown Prince can inherit the throne? We will not allow it!"
"There are treacherous ministers around the Crown Prince!"
People tend to follow the crowd, and how many truly understand how to think independently? In noisy and clamorous environments, it is easy to be influenced and misled, thinking oneself to be awakened, blindly following the crowd, and being manipulated, unaware that one has already become a puppet for others' scheming and dark purposes.
Seeing that the people's hearts were at stake, Li Jingye raised his sword and shouted, "Follow me into Wanchun Palace and confront the Crown Prince!"
While Your Majesty is known for your benevolence and is widely respected, the Crown Prince is also the foundation of the nation and has a far-reaching reputation for virtue. If we were to rashly call for the execution of the Crown Prince, many people would have reservations, leading to a loss of morale. Instead, placing the Crown Prince in a superior position and tacitly accepting that he is controlled by treacherous officials and thus commits rebellious acts would be more acceptable to the people.
Sure enough, more and more people braved the heavy rain and followed Li Jingye, marching in a mighty force toward Wanchun Palace. Along the way, eunuchs, palace maids, and others who came to help were either swept up in one place or avoided to a secluded place to hide, for fear of getting into trouble.
The world has changed!