Chaotang, main hall.
Emperor Zhou was sitting on the dragon chair, his face as gloomy as water, and his whole body exuded a strong aura of violence.
Chu Nanfeng and the ministers stood quietly, no one spoke.
After a long time, Emperor Zhou said in a cold voice: "Now, one of my sons is dead, another is seriously injured, and another is involved in the murder of my brother. You are all eloquent on weekdays, why don't you speak now?"
There is still deathly silence, no one wants to be the one in the spotlight.
Emperor Zhou didn't have many adult sons in the first place, but now that things are happening one after another, who dares to speak?
If you make the slightest mistake, your head will fall to the ground.
But the more silent he was, the more anger in Emperor Zhou's heart could not be vented.
He slapped the armrest with a 'snap' sound, and everyone immediately knelt on the ground.
Emperor Zhou looked at this scene and laughed angrily: "They are all mute now. Okay, let me ask. Li Changqing!"
"I'm here." Li Changqing of Dali Temple walked a few steps to the side on his knees.
"There was a problem with the amount of disaster silver that day, and I asked you to investigate the matter thoroughly. But now, before the matter has been investigated clearly, something happened to the main culprit. What crime do you deserve!"
The last few words were like thunder, causing a roar in Li Changqing's ears.
After Zhou Chengzhang's accident, he knew he was in trouble, and he couldn't stay out of it.
Now that Emperor Zhou asked sternly, he was not as anxious as before.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Qi is in prison at Dali Temple, and all food and beverage expenses have been handled by dedicated personnel."
"Oh, if that's the case, why was he poisoned?"
"this……"
Li Changqing paused for a moment, looked at Zhou Chengze who was kneeling in front of him, and gritted his teeth and said, "The only thing that has not been inspected by the jailer is the food that His Highness Ninth Prince sent to His Highness King Qi."
As a result, the hall became even quieter.
However, Emperor Zhou's eyes fell on Zhou Chengze. He immediately understood and straightened up: "Father, your son and your seventh brother are brothers. How could you do such a disrespectful thing? That day, your son was worried that your seventh brother was in prison. I’m not used to it, so I specially prepared drinks and food. On that day, Erchen and Qi Ge were drinking heavily in prison. They didn’t want to..."
He did not continue what he said, his eyes were red and his head hung down.
Zhou Chengzhang and Zhou Chengze were similar in age. They grew up together in the palace and often spent time with each other.
After leaving the palace and building a mansion, their relationship gradually became estranged.
All in all, the relationship between the two people is not shallow. It is normal for one to visit while one is in prison.
But after reading it, Zhou Chengzhang was poisoned and died, and things were not simple.
Emperor Zhou squinted at his son kneeling on the ground, his cold eyes full of fatherly love: "What don't you want? Could it be that the reason why he died was not planned by you?"
"Father, my son and I have been wronged!"
Zhou Chengze loudly shouted his injustice: "I have eaten everything I brought that day, and there is nothing I have not eaten before."
Emperor Zhou ignored him and looked at Li Changqing.
The other party understood and immediately said: "Reporting to your Majesty, I sent someone to check the leftovers that day, and they are indeed not poisonous."
"Then how did Zhang'er die?"
"His Royal Highness, King Qi, was poisoned by Qin poison. Qin poison does not exist in our country. It is a poison unique to the Western Region where the Ninth Prince's biological mother is."
As soon as Li Changqing said these words, the atmosphere in the hall became extremely depressed.
Emperor Zhou's eyes looked at Zhou Chengze with an extremely cold look, and he almost squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "What else do you have to say?"
"Father, there is no son!" Zhou Chengze's eyes were filled with panic, and he was at a loss to face the situation in front of him.
"You didn't, so how did Zhang'er get poisoned? Apart from you, the only person who came into contact with him was the jailer. There's no reason to put him to death!"
"Neither did Erchen. That was Erchen's seventh brother. How could Erchen do such a thing?"
"Seventh brother? Thank you for knowing that he is your seventh brother!"
Emperor Zhou stood up and walked down the steps, and kicked Zhou Chengze: "You went to prison, Zhang'er is not here. You sent someone to see Han'er, something happened to him too! Zhou Chengze, how could I have such a rebellious son like you? !”
After kicking him hard a few times, he pointed at Zhou Chengze and said: "According to my decree, the rebellious son Zhou Chengze poisoned his brother with the intention of treason and disobedience. From today on, he will be demoted to a commoner and exiled for thousands of miles without the possibility of return!" "
"Father!"
Zhou Chengze's sad voice sounded one after another, but no one interceded on his behalf.
In fact, the entire hall was silent, and all the ministers were in a state of confusion. It was feared that even Zhou Chengze would not react.
Emperor Zhou didn't have many adult princes who could hold important positions. Zhou Chengzhang was already dead, so everyone in the court was silent today because they felt that Zhou Chengze would become the candidate in Emperor Zhou's mind.
Even if Zhou Chengze is suspected, there is no solid evidence, so he will not be touched easily.
As a result, people felt that they wanted to be the pretense of becoming a leader among thousands of people, so they were turned into common people?
Emperor Zhou was so angry that he left after issuing the decree.
After retiring from the court, the courtiers walked together in twos and threes, all talking about what happened in the court.
Several people gathered around Chu Nanfeng.
"General Chu, what do you think your Majesty means?"
"Yes, I heard that His Highness the Prince is in critical condition. Is His Majesty so passionate about his son that he gets carried away?"
"This... I'm afraid it will endanger the entire Great Zhou."
"My lords."
Chu Nanfeng interrupted everyone's chattering: "Your Majesty is wise and powerful, and you have made your own decisions. Your Highness is a good person and will be fine. We should be cautious in our words and actions and wait and see what happens."
That's it?
Everyone was obviously dissatisfied with such an answer, but he had no intention of explaining more. He nodded slightly and left, with no intention of talking to anyone.
As a result, everyone became even more panicked.
"Now that there is no minister in the court, things happen to His Majesty one after another, and Mr. Chu has no intention of advising His Majesty at all, what should we do?"
The court was in chaos, and Chu Nanfeng acted as if it had nothing to do with him.
Even Lin Qingge, who was in the mansion, was aware of the discussions from the outside world.
The courtiers' comments were quite polite, but the common people said that things were about to change.
The successive incidents involving adult princes obviously made the court feel unstable.
Speaking of which, Emperor Zhou is only in his forties now. According to the life span of modern people, waiting for the born prince to reach adulthood is not a problem at all.
But in this era, people who are over fifty are considered to be in their twilight years. Coupled with various accidents, who knows how long Emperor Zhou can live?
And when a generation of emperors passed away without choosing an heir, the chaos behind him was understandable. No wonder people were panicked.
Lin Qingge didn't think that everyone could think of something that Emperor Zhou couldn't think of, so why was he doing this now?
Guessing, Shi Qi walked in: "Young Madam, Old Madam, please come over."
