sbdcsierra Chapter 416 Shifting Situation
Chapter 416 Shifting Situation
But why? And what about Sheng Tong?
The Crown Prince looked at Sheng Tong, whose face was veiled in black, but his eyes were clearly no different from before. He trusted Sheng Tong and believed that she would never be bought off by his father.
But in reality, Sheng Tong was the one who outwardly complied with his words but inwardly defied him.
Suddenly, Song Yin's words echoed in the Crown Prince's mind: Sheng Tong was not the real Sheng Tong; he had been replaced.
Song Yin urged him to verify the information carefully, but he believed that there was only one last chance and refused to believe Song Yin's words.
just now……
The prince's eyes widened.
The Emperor did not give the Crown Prince a chance. He turned his head and asked, "Where is Xiao Youchuan?"
Prince Ning stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I am here."
"Xiao Youchuan, it's not that I disrespect gods and Buddhas, but I don't believe this person's claims. Since Master Shengtong says that my nightmares are all due to this person's curses, you go and investigate for me. You must get to the bottom of this matter!"
"Yes, I obey your order!"
Prince Ning led his men to search Wuxiang Temple, while General Cao, Kuang Tiansong, and others handled the matters outside. The Emperor returned to his chair, seemingly oblivious to everything around him.
The court officials, who had already knelt down because the crown prince had collapsed to the ground, dared not move at all. They were drenched in sweat and felt as if countless needles were pricking their knees, causing them great pain.
But they brought this suffering upon themselves.
The Emperor summoned Feng Ziheng and spoke to him casually, mainly about the situation in the capital over the past few months, as well as the situation of various departments and aristocratic families.
Feng Ziheng was impartial and told the whole story. He mainly pointed out which families were obviously too close to the Crown Prince, and which families had their officials dismissed without cause or imprisoned for no reason.
Some people were even beheaded for committing crimes, but Feng Ziheng himself didn't know the details of the cases.
Upon hearing this, the Emperor sighed deeply: "It seems that during my absence, I wonder how much the people have suffered, but my beloved ministers have certainly endured a great deal of hardship!"
The court officials kneeling on the ground were even more nervous. Several opportunists, who had sided with the Crown Prince when the Emperor was "seriously ill" and had been singled out by Feng Ziheng, suddenly collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Without the Emperor giving any orders, Eunuch Wu raised his head and made a gesture, and then a eunuch carried the man away.
As for his future and that of his family, everyone knows the answer.
The others became even more uneasy.
Prince Ning acted swiftly, soon returning with a wooden box. He handed it to the Emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, this is a doll we found in the abbot's room. Please take a look."
The Emperor glanced at it and frowned: "This is truly audacious!"
If the doll has the emperor's birth date and time on it, what is it?
The Director of the Imperial Observatory's eyes darted around, and he knelt down and crawled forward, exclaiming in horror, "Your Majesty, this person is using such witchcraft to try to kill Your Majesty. If Your Majesty had not been so discerning, I'm afraid you wouldn't have survived more than a few days."
The Emperor glanced at him indifferently: "Is that so? When Minister Feng of the Cabinet asked you to speak earlier, you didn't say it like this."
The supervisor kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am incompetent. As the supervisor, I failed to monitor the celestial phenomena, causing Your Majesty to suffer injustice. It is my fault, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me."
His hesitation at the time was ultimately due to fear, not to kick someone when they're down.
The emperor then allowed him to resign and return home, without punishing him.
This move was also intended to appease the other fearful court officials, informing them that if they were threatened and did not actively conspire with the Crown Prince to frame him, the Emperor would not necessarily take their lives.
Not long after, General Cao also entered with his men.
"Your Majesty, we have discovered that these people, disguised as martial monks, are actually a private army being secretly trained. Furthermore, these monks received orders today that if anyone gives the signal, they are to storm the main hall..."
The Emperor sneered: "Charge into the palace? Who do you want to kill? Me?"
General Cao naturally dared not say that, but only said that these people's crimes were unforgivable and asked the emperor how they should be dealt with.
"Since the crime is unforgivable, then kill without mercy."
The abbot was the instigator. He panicked and tried to speak, but the imperial guards had already gagged him. It was impossible for him to plead for mercy.
The crown prince was dumbfounded and looked utterly ashamed. Apart from the hatred in his eyes, there was no other emotion to be seen.
However, Sheng Tong stepped forward to the Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, the whole affair is due to the abbot of Wuxiang Temple's insatiable greed. He used sorcery to bewitch His Highness the Crown Prince, making him work for him. Once His Highness ascends to the throne, he can control the government from behind the scenes!"
"His intentions are despicable!" The Emperor laughed, but he didn't even look at the abbot. He only looked at the Crown Prince with contempt. "He dared to seduce my son. He shall be executed."
The abbot's death was not unjust, but the crown prince was exonerated.
The Crown Prince knew why; it was simply because his father now only had him as his son. The Second Prince had murdered his father, and now the news of another prince plotting to do the same was detrimental to his father.
Therefore, the emperor tried every means to cover it up for him.
This time, he failed, but so what? His father didn't succeed either, and his father still had to forgive him.
Even a hundred years later, the throne will still be passed to him.
Thinking this, the crown prince regained some composure. He didn't think it was his audacity to attempt to assassinate his father. He simply felt he had made a mistake, having been out of the running for twenty years longer than his father, and his mind wasn't as meticulous.
The Emperor destroyed the Wuxiang Temple, but the Crown Prince's previous "compassionate" actions were not without effect, as the Wuxiang Temple still had many followers among the common people.
These believers spontaneously organized themselves and developed so-called "Buddha protection actions." In their eyes, it was not that the emperor was almost framed and turned the tide, but that the emperor insisted on going against the will of Heaven.
Their "Buddha protection campaign" was actually protecting the crown prince and was an attempt to set things right.
The Emperor ordered General Cao and Prince Ning to suppress these local organizations. Prince Ning spared no effort and even took the opportunity to promote the idea that it was better to rely on oneself than on Buddha.
A public science education event was held to discuss issues such as how to deal with faith.
Most of the people in Dali Temple do not believe in Buddhism, let alone ghosts and gods. They revere the gods, but they also believe that the existence of ghosts and gods is a matter of belief.
The purpose of this science popularization is not to target deities, but to target those ignorant people who do not seek medical help when they are sick and blindly believe in fortune tellers.
However, most of the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty believed in gods and Buddhas and did not really believe in the propaganda of the Dali Temple. But Prince Ning and his second sister believed that as long as they started, and did so gradually and subtly, they could eventually change the current situation.
After returning to the capital, the emperor took back control of the government and began to settle accounts with his officials, making him even busier than before he fell ill.