northernbook Chapter 143 General's Mansion 14
Chapter 143 General's Mansion 14
It has been a while since the selection was held. I heard from General Zhou who attended the court that the emperor has been much more diligent in recent times and has appeared in court meetings more and more frequently. It seems that there is hope for the country again.
Zhou Leping held the little rabbit in his arms and stuffed vegetable leaves into its mouth. But he was not optimistic about the old emperor. He had been confused for so many years. At his old age, the last thing he could do was probably to choose a qualified successor. But the old emperor obviously didn't want to give up power now. It seemed that there was a great possibility of riots in the future! However, Zhou Leping only dared to say this in his heart. If he dared to say it out loud, he was afraid that he would be greeted by the whip of love from General Zhou, the loyal minister.
It's true that good things don't work but bad things do. A few days after Zhou Leping finished talking about this, martial law was indeed imposed in the capital.
General Zhou was rubbing his beloved wife's shoulders at home when he heard a commotion outside.
"What happened?"
It was already late at night and it was curfew, but the noise outside could be heard in the yard.
The servant outside came in and reported: "Master, the streets outside are full of royal guards. Who are they chasing?"
"The Imperial Guards are under the Emperor's orders. It seems that our Majesty wants to punish the evildoers. Close the gates and guard all the doors to prevent thieves from entering. No one is allowed to leave the palace."
After thinking for a while, he sent another message: "Bring the young master here, don't let him cause me any more trouble at this critical moment."
General Zhou was really overthinking. At this hour, Zhou Leping had already fallen asleep and didn't hear anything happening on the street. He was called to his parents' room and asked to sleep on the floor while he was half asleep. How miserable he was!
However, there should be many people who are more miserable at this time. The Imperial Guards have been dispatched, and I don’t know whose orders they are following and whose people they are arresting?
The Zhou family's house was in a good location, surrounded by royal relatives and high officials. No one knew which family had committed the crime, but they knew that there was a commotion outside and a faint smell of burning.
The chaos lasted until dawn, when the shouting and killing outside gradually faded away and the entire street returned to peace.
When it was completely light outside and the sound of people talking to each other could be heard, General Zhou ordered the door to be opened.
After some investigation, it was discovered that the three princes' families were in trouble last night. The eldest prince had rebelled and successfully forced the old emperor to death. He also killed his three younger brothers who usually opposed him.
However, the eldest prince was only successful for half a day. In the second half of the night, his younger brother, the Sixth Prince, came with military orders to quell the rebellion. The eldest prince, who had just been excited for a long time, was so fragile in front of the reinforcements that he was executed on the spot by the Sixth Prince before dawn.
The emperor and his four princes were lost overnight. At this time, Zhou Leping had to sigh that fortunately the old emperor was diligent in farming and had many children. Even if four died, there were still several heirs.
When General Zhou heard the news, he was unable to recover for a long time. He slapped himself twice in front of everyone, and then, as if he had been hit hard, he locked himself in the room and refused to come out.
Zhou Leping turned his head and looked at his mother: "What happened to Dad?"
Mother Zhou sighed, "Your father is hating himself for not coming to save the emperor last night. He regrets what happened last night."
"Ah, actually it's not Dad's fault. There were imperial guards outside last night, and we couldn't even leave the mansion. How could Dad go out to rescue the emperor?"
Until noon, General Zhou showed no intention of coming out, so his mother and Zhou Leping could only bring food into the house to comfort him.
Originally, Zhou Leping had prepared several thousand words of comfort, but when he entered the room and saw his father lying on the couch with his legs crossed, he couldn't help but twitch his lips. His father was reading a picture book happily on the bed, and he didn't look sad at all.
Mother Zhou took out the prepared food box and said, "Okay, stop looking and come and eat."
General Zhou ran over happily. When he saw the large plate of meat, his eyes lit up: "Madam understands me and knows that I like this."
After saying that, he picked up the chopsticks and started eating with big mouthfuls, not looking sad at all.
Zhou Leping looked at his father's good appetite and was quite speechless: "It seems that you were just acting outside just now!"
"Hey, my acting is pretty good, right?"
"Yes, it was very good, especially those two slaps, they were so loud, they stunned me."
General Zhou ate meat while teaching Zhou Leping: "There is no other way. So many things happened last night, right in front of our house. I, as a general, didn't show my face, which is not right after all. If I don't do this, I will be impeached by Gu and I will be punished! It's better to hide like this. I will pretend to be sick for a few days, and I think I can get through it peacefully."
Zhou Leping gave his father a thumbs up: "Dad, I have learned a lesson."
"Hey, being an official, everyone has their own thoughts! The most important thing is to do a good job on the surface. Your father usually presents himself as a loyal and patriotic person. The emperor died inexplicably, and as a loyal official, won't I feel bad for a few days?"
General Zhou chewed the meat in big mouthfuls: "As a minister, the most important thing is to be loyal to the emperor. In other words, we should be loyal to whoever the emperor is. Whoever has power is the boss. This is actually the same as leading troops in battle. You will understand everything when you grow up."
After eating the last piece of meat on the plate, General Zhou looked at the food in the lunch box and frowned in dissatisfaction: "Madam, don't bring vegetables next time. Bring chicken. I want to eat roast chicken tonight."
Well, it can be seen that his father is really not sad at all! He even looks very happy.
After that, the emperor of Daliang was replaced by the 30-year-old Sixth Prince. Because the war for power was so tragic, five of his relatives died on the night of the war, so the Sixth Prince expressed grief and did not want to be extravagant. The coronation ceremony was not even grand. The whole of Daliang was in mourning for the old emperor.
The people who were most affected by this incident were the ten noble ladies who had just been accepted into the harem by the old emperor. Just a few days after becoming the old emperor's concubines, things had changed in the blink of an eye. Just a few days after getting married, they became concubines. The new emperor moved them all to a palace in the palace for collective retirement.
It is so sad to think that Princess Anhe has to start her retirement at such a young age. And her father, Prince Ning, supported the wrong person in this power grab and lost most of his strength. I am afraid he is unable to rescue his daughter.
Ugh.
And his sister Song Shuyi was about to get married, but it happened to be a national mourning. Gu Dalang's mother was the old emperor's sister, the current emperor's aunt, and his family had to observe mourning for 27 months, which meant that the wedding was postponed for more than two years.
Zhou Leping was very happy about this matter, but it seemed that he was the only one who was happy.