kingnovel Chapter 167 The Battle for Succession
Chapter 167 The Battle for Succession
The next day, the court was held.
Some ministers suggested that in order to prevent the incident of the Ninth Prince from happening again, a crown prince should be established as soon as possible.
Emperor Jichang glanced at the faces of his three remaining sons one by one and said:
"Which of my sons do you think can be the crown prince?"
Immediately, many ministers came out, some supporting the second prince, some supporting the fifth prince, and some supporting the sixth prince.
In the fight for succession, those who can stay all have backgrounds.
An old minister from the Second Prince's party said passionately:
"Since ancient times, it has been natural to establish the eldest son as the heir. Now that there is no legitimate prince, the eldest son should be established. The second prince is the only choice for the crown prince!"
A minister from the Fifth Prince's Party was unwilling to be outdone. He pointed at the nose of the minister from the Second Party with a red face and an angry neck and said:
"Since there is no legitimate prince, the other princes should be treated equally. For the sake of the people of the world, a virtuous person should be appointed! The fifth prince is a humble gentleman with a good reputation. If he can become the crown prince, he will surely benefit all the people!"
The Sixth Prince's Party minister's eyes widened with anger, the veins on his neck bulged, and he shouted at the top of his voice:
"Humph, that's simply nonsense! The Sixth Prince has been in the army since he was young and has made great military achievements. Moreover, the Sixth Prince resembles Your Majesty, so he is the most suitable candidate for the Crown Prince!"
Gu Xi took a look and found that the Sixth Prince's squinting eyes were exactly the same as Emperor Jichang's. They were indeed similar and equally ugly.
When the Sixth Prince was swept by Gu Xi's gaze, he felt panic in his heart. Yesterday he received news that the second and fifth princes had gone to the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion, but he was out of the city, so it was already midnight when he received the news and he didn't have time to go. Is the Imperial Preceptor dissatisfied with him?
Is it too late to make up for it today?
……
The ministers were still arguing, the temple had become a vegetable market, the second, fifth, and sixth parties were arguing with each other, the quarrels had turned into a mess.
It is not difficult to see from the voices of these ministers that the three princes have now formed a three-way balance of power and are basically evenly matched.
Old Lord Chu stood in the front row with his eyes half closed, looking calm and composed.
The Chu family never participated in party struggles. They had experienced this kind of struggle for succession countless times, and had never reached a consensus. He was not even interested in watching the show.
Emperor Jichang did not seem to want the ministers to reach a consensus, so every court meeting involving the selection of a crown prince would end in a bad mood.
Gu Xi was a first-rank official and a duke, so naturally he stood in the front row.
She turned her head to the side and watched the show with sharp eyes, completely ignoring the constant poking glances from the Second Prince and the Fifth Prince.
Finally, Emperor Jichang felt a headache from the noise and slammed the memorial in his hand heavily on the dragon table.
"Shut up, everyone!"
The noisy sounds stopped abruptly, and the ministers fell to their knees in fear.
"Imperial Master, what do you think?" Emperor Jichang glanced at Gu Xi.
Those noisy ministers were nothing to worry about. What Emperor Jichang was really afraid of was the collusion between the imperial teacher and the prince.
There is no family affection in the royal family. If a prince holds power, it will not be long before he is forced to abdicate. The incident of the ninth prince is a lesson for us.
When they saw the Imperial Master being named, the Second Prince and the Fifth Prince cast expectant glances over.
These two idiots probably don't know that the more the imperial teacher supports someone, the more the emperor will reject that person.
After being called, Gu Xi had no choice but to step out and said:
"Your Majesty, I believe that the matter of appointing a crown prince is of great importance and there is no need to rush."
Well, the main reason is that the three princes are too ugly. As a complete face control, Gu Xi doesn’t like any of them.
If there was a handsome and elegant young man sitting on the dragon throne, she would be more energetic when attending court.
Emperor Jichang let out a long sigh and nodded slightly to show his agreement.
If a crown prince is appointed, his power will increase, and he will be worried!
But Gu Xi said again:
"Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and the Crown Prince is the future Emperor. Since it is the destiny of Heaven, why don't I choose an auspicious day and ask the gods who is the most suitable candidate?"
Emperor Jichang's face darkened. In this case, wouldn't the selection of the crown prince be decided by the imperial preceptor?
But could he refuse in front of all the civil and military officials? No!
The second prince and the fifth prince cast their gazes towards Gu Xi with a burning light in their eyes, and they were both thinking about how to continue to win over the imperial teacher.
The Sixth Prince was feeling anxious and was calculating his assets in his mind, wondering what gift he should give to the Imperial Master in order to please him.
Chu Zhao's eyes were shining. His A Xi was going to cause trouble again. Just wait, none of the three princes would be able to escape.
Emperor Jichang asked:
"According to the Imperial Master, which day is the most auspicious?"
Gu Xi counted with his fingers, "Three days later, it will be an auspicious day."
Well, three days is enough time for the three princes to raise money, right?
After the court session, Gu Xi asked to see Emperor Jichang. The system had not issued any tasks in the past two days. Perhaps it was because the current tasks could not be completed, so there were no new tasks. But she was still waiting to upgrade her medical skills.
This time, Emperor Jichang summoned Gu Xi to the imperial study.
"What's the matter, Imperial Master?" Emperor Jichang asked calmly.
Gu Xi bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, the issue of establishing a crown prince is a major national event. If there is no explanation, I am afraid that the court will be in chaos all day long. What I said in the court today is just to reassure the ministers. As for the selection of the crown prince, it is still up to your majesty to decide."
Anyway, she had no prince she wanted to support, so she might as well give the emperor some face and ease the relationship between the monarch and his subjects.
When Emperor Jichang saw that the Imperial Master took the initiative to show goodwill, his expression eased a little.
"What do you think my life span is?"
Gu Xi said: "Although we are shouting long live your majesty every day, how can a person live to be ten thousand years old? I see that your majesty is in good health, and with the nourishment of the elixir, it is more than enough for you to live more than a hundred years."
Hearing this, Emperor Jichang felt a little relieved.
"In this case, I can still sit on this throne for another forty years, so there is no need to rush the issue of appointing a crown prince."
Gu Xi understood that the dog emperor still didn't want to appoint a crown prince.
I really don't know what's going on in his head. He lets a group of his sons fight to the death. Now there are only three left, and he wants them to fight again. Could it be that he is raising Gu, and there can only be one Gu King who can win?
He doesn't care about his own son's life, what a pervert!
"I understand what to do." Gu Xi gave Emperor Jichang a reassurance.
He, as his own father, doesn't care about his son's life or death. She just wants to cheat the princes of their money. Isn't that too much?
Emperor Jichang said again:
"My elixir is almost used up. I'd like to trouble the Imperial Master to ask the Supreme Lord for some more."
After saying this, he gave a wink and soon one thousand taels of gold were delivered.
Gu Xi took the gold, pretended to be serious, muttered to himself, and then took out a few bottles of medicine.
She was wearing court clothes and was feeling very hot, so she took out a mini solar-powered cooling fan from the space.
As soon as you press the switch, cool wind blows towards you, just like the wind from an air conditioner, very comfortable.
Emperor Jichang looked at the fan in his hand and said in surprise:
"What is in the hands of the Imperial Master?"
Gu Xi said: "Oh, you are talking about this, this is a treasure of the immortals, the immortals use it to escape the summer heat, Your Majesty, please try it."