Feng Yibo took one of Prince Zhongshun's legs and walked out of the palace in a swaggering manner.
Behind him, a long trail of blood trailed.
Yuanchun held the child beside him, fearing that the little prince would see the body, and buried the little prince's head in his chest.
Along the way, when the palace servants and chamberlains saw this situation, they were so frightened that they fled in all directions.
When they arrived at the gate of Tai Chi Palace, three people and one corpse were stopped.
The guard looked like he was facing a formidable enemy, pointing his sword at Feng Yibo.
"Brothers, please open the palace door. Your Majesty has something to say to the courtiers outside."
Feng Yibo smiled when he saw this, pointed to Yuan Chun beside him, and said:
"Prince Zhongshun just rose up and wanted to assassinate the empress and the emperor's heir. I killed him to protect him. Now it is time to meet with the officials together with the empress to explain the situation."
When Yuanchun heard this, he also hurriedly said:
"Open the palace door. I want to see all of you."
Several guards looked at each other and whispered a few words, then one of them stepped forward and said:
"Please come over here, please. We want to confirm your safety."
Seeing that Yuanchun actually took a few steps forward, the guards breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, the officials who had been waiting for a long time saw the palace door of Taiji Palace suddenly open.
The officials immediately fell silent, and then hurriedly returned to their respective positions and stood up.
At a glance, they saw Yuan Chun coming out with the little prince in his arms, and some people were about to open their mouths to greet the new prince.
But soon, all the officials couldn't help but take a few steps back.
Without him, I just saw Feng Yibo dragging the body of Prince Zhongshun behind him.
"What a thief! How dare you kill someone in the palace?"
"Where is Captain Long? We haven't taken him down yet!"
"..."
For a moment, all the officials outside the palace gate were in chaos, but no one came forward.
Some people shouted uncontrollably, and some shouted abuses.
These are all pretty good.
Maybe someone had a stress reaction after experiencing the emperor's assassination.
When he saw that Prince Zhongshun was dead, his first reaction was to turn around and run away.
Most of the officials who were originally staying in the capital were buzzing in their minds.
They had never experienced anything like this before, and they couldn't understand it for a while.
The dignified prince died like this?
Feng Yibo dragged the body of Prince Zhongshun outside the palace gate.
When he came out, he used both hands to get out of the palace gate.
The threshold in the palace was really too high, and the body almost got stuck.
After coming out, he threw Prince Zhongshun's body forward.
The remaining civil and military officials immediately took a few steps back.
The people who had just shouted and cursed fell silent when they saw this.
Feng Yibo took the opportunity to announce loudly:
"Prince Zhongshun, the culprit who assassinated the King and killed Emperor Daxing, has been put to death. Please ask the brothers of Long Jinwei to control those who were shouting for Prince Zhongshun just now! Maybe there is some ulterior connection between the two parties!"
As soon as these words came out, the scene suddenly got out of control again.
Long Jinwei, who was guarding the Daxing Emperor's coffin, had already separated his troops to surround the coffin, and was hesitating whether to step forward and capture Feng Yibo.
Now when I heard this, I felt a little confused.
Of the three hundred forbidden dragon captains, more than a hundred came back.
Now that I heard that this matter was related to Prince Zhongshun, those who had experienced the assassination were inevitably a little unbelievable and hesitated for a moment.
The reactions of civil and military officials were still different.
Some people said with disbelief:
"Prince Zhongshun assassinated the king and killed him? How is this possible?"
Others continued to curse:
"Nonsense! I think he is crazy!"
Others yelled at Long Jinwei:
"Why haven't you captured this person? Don't hurt the emperor's heir!"
"..."
Seeing this, Yuanchun knew it was her turn to play.
She took a few steps forward with her child in her arms, stood side by side with Feng Yibo, and said loudly:
"My lords, please listen to what I have to say!"
Having said this, she stretched out her hand and pressed it lightly.
Seeing this, all the civil and military officials in front of Tai Chi Palace immediately fell into silence.
"I can testify that everything General Feng said is true!"
When the ministers heard this, they immediately looked at each other.
If Feng Yibo's words were one-sided, they could still question it.
Now that Concubine Jia, the future Queen Mother, has come forward, they can no longer doubt the authenticity of this matter.
"Just now in Fengzao Palace, the rebel Prince Zhongshun wanted to strangle our orphans and widowed mother to death with a hemp rope."
When he mentioned that he was almost strangled to death, Motoharu looked miserable.
She seemed to be a little scared in retrospect. She tightened the child in her arms before continuing:
"He also said that he had assassinated Emperor Daxing on the way to the funeral. Now he only needs to kill our mother and son to ascend to the throne!"
"Not only that, he also tried to lure General Feng to benefit him. He wanted General Feng to join him, saying that if he killed our mother and son, he would be promoted to the title of king."
When Yuan Chun said this, he looked at Feng Yibo with a grateful face, held the child and leaned forward slightly:
"Fortunately, General Feng understands the righteousness and never agrees,"
Feng Yibo said several times: "Don't dare! This is what I should do."
Whether it was assassinating Emperor Jingshun or assassinating Concubine Jia and the prince.
Or maybe it's using the title of king to win people's hearts.
What the two people said about Prince Zhongshun's actions made the officials a little unbelievable.
But now, I have to believe it.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will understand that the royal family has very few heirs.
If Prince Zhongshun really does this, he will become the only candidate to inherit the throne.
Even if they kill their brothers and nephews, they can only hold their noses and admit it.
After all, this is an internal conflict within the royal family, and the fight for heir apparent has always been full of blood.
Before, it was only because of the sudden incident that they were unable to turn around.
If you think about it carefully at this time, you will know that this possibility is really not small.
At this time, what came to Yuanchun's mind was Feng Yibo's instructions to her before coming out.
"First, I must explain that Prince Zhongshun had just assassinated you before he was killed by me. When he did it, he also wanted to bribe me and personally admitted that he had killed the Holy Emperor and wanted to usurp the throne."
Seeing that all the officials were deep in thought and did not refute, she breathed a sigh of relief and continued:
"Seeing that the bribe failed, the rebel leader jumped over the wall and wanted to take action himself. General Feng was forced to step forward to stop him, and the two started fighting. Fortunately, General Feng was very skilled and quickly killed him, and then our mother and son were saved. "
Speaking of this, she looked like she was surviving the disaster and said with emotion:
"Now that I think about it, I'm still a little scared. If I die, it won't matter. If something happens to the emperor, then Emperor Daxing will be extinct. I really don't dare to think about it..."
These remarks caused all the officials outside the Taiji Palace to fall into a brief silence.
"Please be at ease, Madam! It's just that General Feng has already killed the rebel leader, and the top priority is to control the rest of the gang members to prevent anyone from escaping after hearing the news."
When it was a matter of life and death, Li Shouzhong stood up and supported his apprentice for the first time.
When the court was leaderless, his attitude as the Minister of Rites was particularly important.
"That's right! We believe in General Feng's character, and we believe even more in what the empress said. It's possible for someone to turn his head and be obsessed with the throne!"
"This is not the first time that General Feng has saved my wife, so why are you making such a fuss?"
"It's good that the empress is safe. Since the traitor has been executed, we should arrest her accomplices as soon as possible!"
Someone started, and people from the founding line also came out to support.
"General Feng has always been devoted to the country. Who doesn't know this in the Wei Dynasty?"
"General Feng persuaded Donghai County to surrender. If he hadn't been forced to do anything, how could he have killed him so lightly?"
"As expected of Feng Jiaxuan, he is truly talented in both civil and military skills!"
"..."
As soon as Li Shouzhong spoke out, many people expressed support.
Except for the founding lineage who supported Yuanchun, most of the others were officials from the south.
Although many of them were Li Shouzhong's disciples, it was still a bit unexpected that so many people came forward at this time.
In fact, there is no one else, but they all know one thing.
As long as the new emperor succeeds to the throne, Li Shouzhong will most likely join the cabinet.
Whether it was Zhang Songyue and Chen Qinzhi who fell ill, or Xia Yubing, an old minister in the late Qing Dynasty, lost his backer.
There is no way to free up a position in the cabinet.
Li Shouzhong was not only the Minister of Rites, but also related to the Jia family.
The matter of joining the cabinet is basically a certainty.
When Feng Yibo saw his mentor taking action, he immediately reversed the situation.
He took this opportunity to bow directly to Yuan Chun and said loudly:
"Now that the rebel leader has been executed, in addition to arresting the party members as soon as possible, I boldly ask the new emperor to ascend to power as soon as possible in order to stabilize the hearts of the people!"
In any case, let’s first determine the status of Yuanchun mother and son.
After the new emperor ascended the throne, Yuanchun became the queen mother.
So what if some people now question their loose rhetoric?
By that time, no one would think twice about questioning the Queen Mother over a dead rebel, right?
Of course, lack of meticulousness is only relative.
If Feng Yibo hadn't known about it, Prince Zhongshun wouldn't have been stupid enough to tell him about his assassination of Emperor Jingshun.
But as long as we go to investigate, we should be able to confirm the fact of this treason very quickly.
At that time, it was logical to say that Prince Zhongshun was carried away and failed in his success.
"I dare to invite the new emperor to ascend the throne!"
"The country cannot live without a king for a day, so I invite the new emperor to ascend to the throne!"
The civil and military officials outside had already prepared for this, but the death of Prince Zhongshun disrupted the rhythm.
Now that Feng Yibo took the lead, everyone immediately followed suit to persuade him to join.
Especially the founding lineage was the most positive.
When Emperor Jingshun died, their hearts were half relieved.
The other half is waiting for the little prince to ascend to the throne, and their old relatives will all benefit from it.
In addition, Prince Zhongshun also died, leaving the new rich without a leader.
With the new emperor as their backer and the new emperor as their opponent, these founding figures felt like they were on their feet again.
Among them, several employed members of the Jia family were very happy at this time.
I just heard that Yuanchun's mother and son were almost assassinated, and the hearts of everyone in the Jia family were in their throats.
Fortunately, Feng Yibo, an old relative, also followed in, otherwise the Jia family's wealth would have ended here.
If Prince Zhongshun really comes to power, the Jia family will be the first to be unlucky.
Now the son of the eldest daughter of the Jia family is about to sit on the throne, and the wealth of the Jia family can continue for several generations.
I even feel that the Jia family will soon regain its glory!
They couldn't speak out on their own, so they encouraged their relatives to persuade them to come in.
The officials were already leaderless, and now the new rich have no leader either.
The New Party and other upstarts who were not under Li Shouzhong watched the development of the situation in silence.
In fact, they also know that the general trend is inevitable.
The new rich know better that they are likely to follow Prince Zhongshun and eat melon.
Fortunately, although they were close to Prince Zhongshun, most of them did not participate in the rebellion.
Therefore, many people were lucky at this time.
Here, Yuanchun represented the young prince. After three requests and three concessions, he decided to ascend to the throne.
At Feng Yibo's reminder, Long Jinwei sent people to contact the Beijing camp to first control the Zhongshun Palace.
Here again, Emperor Jingshun was buried in Taiji Palace, and all the officials were crying, so I won’t go into details.
It is only said that after arrangements are made, Hao Zhenlin, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, will preside over it, followed by hundreds of civil and military officials.
Yuanchun took the little prince to the outskirts of the city and hurriedly held a ceremony to worship heaven and earth.
On the way, the Ministry of Rites discussed the posthumous title of Emperor Jingshun and the reign name of the young emperor.
There was no difference in the posthumous title of Emperor Jingshun, and "Xiaojing" was quickly settled on.
Tiantai and Jingshun, father and son, also formed a pair of "Wenjing".
It's a pity that it has never been "cured".
When it came to the new emperor's reign, it caused a lot of discussion.
Hao Zhenlin’s suggestion is to use the word “orthodox”.
All the officials from the Ministry of Rites nodded, understanding what he meant.
This is a subtle indication that this is the only bloodline left in the royal family.
If he is not orthodox, who is?
But as soon as this era name came out, it aroused fierce opposition from Feng Yibo.
He has never been very involved in this matter, but this time he didn't even use tact and said directly:
"The prince is orthodox. If he insists on emphasizing it, it will make people think too much. I think there is something wrong with this title."
Obviously, he is the one who thinks too much.
One, of course, is because the little prince is most likely his son.
If he called it "orthodox", he would inevitably feel guilty.
Secondly, this is an unlucky year.
After all, this was the reign name used by the Baozong in the previous life.
Although some people don't understand why the apprentice is uncharacteristically opposing so fiercely.
But Li Shouzhong thought about it and said:
"How about using 'Xuan Zhi'?"
Feng Yibo nodded immediately without thinking and praised:
"My teacher said this is excellent!"
He didn't even think about the meaning of the year name, so he praised it dryly.
Anyway, as long as it is not "orthodox", let alone "Xuanzhi", it can be "Xuande"!
In fact, the "xuanzhi" proposed by Li Shouzhong has two meanings.
One is to declare and govern as the way, which means to govern without doing anything.
In other words, it is implied that the new emperor is not yet able to rule personally, so it is regarded as "ruling by inaction."
The second is to continue the "literary scene" of his father and ancestors, in anticipation of the coming of "ruling" the world.
Hao Zhenlin understood the meaning after pondering for a while, and also praised a few words.
"Proclaim it and govern it, Your Majesty the Ministry of Justice has expressed your opinion!"
After all, when the immediate boss who was about to join the cabinet spoke, he naturally followed suit.
Seeing that the three elders reached a consensus, other officials of the Ministry of Rites naturally had no objections.
The year name was discussed, and the newly minted "Emperor Xuanzhi" also arrived at the altar.
The etiquette of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth will not be listed in detail for now.
It is only said that after offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, the civil and military mountains of the whole dynasty shouted long live, and the new emperor officially ascended to power.
Afterwards, the officials sent the new emperor back to the Tai Chi Hall and arranged them on both sides.
Yuanchun held the newly appointed Emperor Xuanzhi in his arms and ascended to Danbi step by step.
She put the little prince on the dragon throne, and the civil and military officials in the court shouted long live again.
After the ceremony, Yuanchun followed the advice given by the Ministry of Rites and announced the posthumous title of Emperor Daxing as "Xiaojing".
"General Feng killed the rebel leader and saved our mother and son from death. This great contribution must be rewarded!"
Seeing that the matter between the new emperor and the late emperor was settled, Yuanchun sighed.
All the officials were mentally prepared for this.
Feng Yibo now has a lot of merits, including avenging the late emperor, rescuing the emperor, and persuading people to advance.
Therefore, it is appropriate to give him an official title.
But what they said next shocked them!
"General Feng is already a second-class noble, and he is trying to win over the generals of the Wei Dynasty. I think that I should be promoted to the Duke of the country, so why not..."
Yuanchun pretended to ponder for a moment, then smiled and said:
"General Feng started in the south of the Yangtze River, why not be the Duke of Chu! What do you think, sirs?"
