It was a hot summer, but surprisingly, the Crown Prince caught a cold after returning from an imperial summer house in the western suburb. Maybe because of his congenital weak constitution, this sudden illness of his soon took a drastic turn for the worse. He suffered from fever for several consecutive days, and the symptoms were threatening to exacerbate. Consumed with anger, the emperor ordered that court physicians of the imperial hospital cure the Crown Prince of his cold, whatever the cost might be.
At first officials in and out of the imperial court didn’t pay much attention to this matter, for it was just a cold after all. Given that the Crown Prince had survived the disease that had tortured him for so many years, and that he was still young, everybody believed that he would recover in a week or two, but unexpectedly, after a month, the Crown Prince was still suffering from the illness. He’d relapsed into fever again and again, and it was rumored that for a time he’d even been delirious. It was only then that officials began to feel worried. The emperor had called off the routine court meeting several days in a row, personally watching over his son in the Eastern Palace.
After word got out, people of all sides started making speculations about the possible developments of this situation. The Crown Prince’s followers were like cats on a hot tin roof, the others factions were watching to see what was going to happen.
“You good-for-nothing! What use could I possibly have for you if you can’t even treat a cold?! Guards! Drag him out!”
“Please show me mercy, Your Majesty! Please show me mercy!”
The stone-flagged floor in front of the main hall of the Eastern Palace had been stained by court physicians’ blood, but there was still no sign of the Crown Prince recovering. He was getting feebler by the day and lapsed into stupefaction more and more often. There had been rumors spreading out of the palace, saying that the Crown Prince wouldn’t be able to survive his cold.
In the residential compound of the King Duan.
“It’s been a month now. Zhou Mingtang is still struggling. He’s not going to recover, right?”
“Rest assured, Your Highness, the Crown Prince is close to death. It won’t be long before you get your wish.”
Zhou Mingyuan was thrilled at these words. Once Zhou Mingtang died, he would be the front runner to replace him as the crown prince!
At the same time, the King Yu had secretly invited Yuwen Tong to have another meeting with him. Clearly, now that the Crown Prince was dying, the King Yu was also getting too excited to keep from making his move.Updates by Listnovel.com
“The King Duan’s men have taken action repeatedly lately. He’ll get the initiative if I don’t make my move immediately. Can you lend me a hand, Marshal?”
“There’s no hurry about it, Your Highness. The Crown Prince is still breathing, and His Majesty has his eye on the one who appears to be the most eager to take his place. No matter whether the Crown Prince will survive or not, His Majesty would definitely make things difficult for you if you make any rash decisions in these circumstances.”
“So I just sit and watch Zhou Mingyuan take the opportunity away from me?”
“How do you know what he’s going to take away is an opportunity?”
“What do you mean, Marshal?”
The King Yu didn’t get an answer from Yuwen Tong. After returning home, he summoned his aides to help him figure out what Yuwen Tong had meant by that question.
“Your Highness, Yuwen Tong is just a military officer, and all he has is just command of troops. He’s been away from politics for many years and barely has any dealings with any officials in the capital city. Moreover, he’s been on leave and missing court meetings all the time. It’s safe to say that he is not even as informed about the situation in the imperial court as we are. I don’t think his opinions worth considering. In front of us is a golden opportunity. The King Duan has been making one arrangement after another. We’ll lose the initiative if we don’t act immediately!”Updates by Listnovel.com
The King Yu was still hesitating. It struck him that Yuwen Tong was by no means what he seemed, that there’d been an undertone contained in that question.
“Your Highness, I think it might be worthwhile to wait for some time,” said another aide. “Yuwen Tong’s got a point. His Majesty without doubt has eyes everywhere in this city, and nothing escapes his notice. The King Duan is being too reckless, and everything he’s done has definitely already come to His Majesty’s knowledge. Currently, as the Crown Prince’s life is in danger, His Majesty is in a bad temper and has a bone to pick with anybody in his sight. What the King Duan is doing would undoubtedly antagonize His Majesty even further when the wrath is on him. No matter whether the Crown Prince survives or not, His Majesty would certainly vent his anger on the King Duan, and after the King Duan receives his punishment, it would be the time for you to make your move. As a result, I think you might as well go to the Eastern Palace. No matter whether what lies in store for the Crown Prince is death or survival, His Majesty will hold you in higher regard because of it. When the time is ripe, you could launch a smear campaign against the King Duan, turning his deeds to your advantage.”
After this man finished speaking, the other aide was unconvinced and contradicted him, and the two of them started arguing with each other. The King Yu kept silent all along. In the final analysis, he cared too much about that question of Yuwen Tong’s, but because of what the King Duan had been doing, he was unable to make a final decision.
“Your Highness, please don’t rush into anything. Think about it – if the Crown Prince doesn’t make it, will His Majesty designate another prince as heir to the throne immediate?”
The King Yu gave an involuntary shudder from head to foot, the look in his eyes slightly changing. “Zhou Mingtang has always been the darling of my father. If he dies, my father would only be heart-broken. On no account would he make another son crown prince immediately.”
“Which is why angering His Majesty is the last thing you want to do in these circumstances. Please allow me to remind you that His Majesty seems to be in pretty good health.”
The King Yu thought for a while and then rose to his feet. “You guys figure out the things I should bring to the Eastern Palace and get them ready, and then I’ll pay the Crown Prince a visit right away.”
The King Yu didn’t keep his visit to the Eastern Palace secret. Soon all those who had been paying attention to him came to know about it.
…
In the Ling Mansion.
“The King Yu has indeed taken your advice,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong said, “The King Duan has lost the opportunity. The only thing he could do next is make a risky move.”
Ling Zhang, however, was rather worried. “Will he really do that?”
Yuwen Tong replied, “He will if we give him a little push. Also, the King Yu and his followers will definitely snatch at every moment they could rub salt into his wounds. When the emperor treats him like dirt, he will naturally choose this path in the knowledge that he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.”
Ling Zhang nodded. “You’ve got a point.”
…
In the King Duan’s residential compound.
“What does the King Yu think he’s doing? Why did he go to the Eastern Palace?”
“To show his brotherly love for the Crown Prince?”
“But the Crown Prince is near to death. What’s the point of a loving brother act?”
“Maybe the act is not meant for the Crown Prince.”
The light suddenly dawned on all the others at this remark. With a deep frown on his face, the King Duan hurriedly had his servants prepare some medicinal herbs and then hastened to the Eastern Palace.
Unfortunately, since the King Yu had anticipated him, the emperor’s response to this latecomer was rather bland. Seeing that the King Yu offered to stay in the Eastern Palace to take care of the Crown Prince and was granted the permission, the King Duan made the same offer but the emperor flatly turned it down.
The King Duan was unreconciled to the situation but had to leave the Eastern Palace in the knowledge that there was nothing else he could do.
In the Eastern Palace, the King Yu was personally tending to the Crown Prince at his bedside, feigning brotherly love for him. The expression on the emperor’s face was very different from the one he’d had in front of the King Duan.
…
“The King Yu is not really going to be back in favor with the emperor because of this, right? If by any chance he directly designates the King Yu as heir to the throne after the Crown Prince dies, wouldn’t our plan fall through?” Ling Zhang was concerned.
Yuwen Tong shook his head. “That’s not possible. Do you still remember what our emperor’s greatest characteristic is?”
Brows furrowed, Ling Zhang thought for a few moments and said, “Being a fatuous and self-indulgent ruler? Having a suspicious mind?”
Looking at him, Yuwen Tong inclined his head. “As a result, no matter how good a job the King Yu does playing the affectionate brother, the emperor will still suspect his true motives in doing that. Besides, even if the King Yu becomes crown prince, the King Duan wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing, and there would still be a life-or-death fight between them in the end.”
Ling Zhang lifted his eyebrows. “So no matter what, this only ends one way.”
Yuwen Tong bobbed his head. “Currently, there’s only an eighty-percent chance that it’ll end that way, but we’ll make it a hundred with our efforts.”
It was not that this could only end one way, but that he must make sure that it would end that way!
…
Six days later, the Crown Prince failed to survive his ever-aggravating cold and died in the Eastern Palace.
The emperor burst into wail, and white strips could be seen hanging in all streets and alleys of the capital city. The scale of the Crown Prince’s funeral was enlarged again and again, which rendered the faces of officials of the Ministry of Revenue green. Previously, there had been the ambitious project of the building of an imperial mausoleum, followed by the dispatch of a large army to suppress the rebellion in Cangzhou, which required huge amounts of provisions and funds, and now they had to hold a funeral for the Crown Prince. Money had been going out of the national treasury like flood through a breached dam.
After the Crown Prince died, the atmosphere in the whole city changed. There were considerably fewer pedestrians on the streets, because everybody knew that the political landscape would be reshaped radically with the Crown Prince’s death.
Of all people in the city, the King Duan’s faction, the King Yu’s faction and the Jiang family were probably the only ones who were happy.
The sole reason why the Gu family were so cocky was because they had the Crown Prince at their back. With the Crown Prince going down, the Gu family had lost their most powerful backer. Given how hard the Gu family had pushed the Jiang family in the imperial court previously, the latter would probably set off firecrackers to celebrate if it weren’t for the fact that the deed would be considered disrespectful for the deceased crown prince.
“Jiang Shennian wouldn’t be reinstated in his post, right? If that’s the case, the force at the King Duan’s back might be too powerful to be kept under control,” said Ling Zhang.
“It won’t be that easy. People of the Gu family know very well the Jiang family’s comeback would bring suffering on them, so they would do everything they could to prevent that from happening. As for the King Duan… The Crown Prince is dead, and people of the Gu family have made an enemy of the King Duan owing to what they did to the Jiang family, so the King Yu is their only choice. In order to defend his own interests, the King Yu would go to even greater lengths to make sure people of the Jiang family never make it back to the imperial court,” remarked Yuwen Tong.
As Yuwen Tong predicted, before the Crown Prince’s coffin was transferred to the imperial mausoleum, the Gu family secretly sent someone to contact the King Yu.
Yuwen Tong had been having the King Yu under constant watch, so naturally the Gu family’s sending out a messenger immediately came to his knowledge.
Ling Zhang frowned, feeling quite disgusted. Although he’d also loathed the Crown Prince, the Gu family’s switching sides so soon still struck him as terribly repulsive.
He had always been ill-disposed towards the Gu family, and now he detested them further and even added that Professor Gu of the Imperial College to his list of people whom he didn’t want to have dealings with.
In the King Yu’s residential compound.
Naturally, the King Yu delightedly took the olive branch held out by the Gu family. With the support of the Gu family which was a juggernaut, he would be able to turn the tables on the King Duan!
“Congratulations, Your Highness! With the Gu family at your back, becoming the heir to the throne would be like shooting fish in a barrel for you!”
“Yeah. Now our victory is really in the bag!”
“This time the King Duan is definitely going to be pissed.”
The King Duan was indeed consumed with rage. Naturally, the Crown Prince’s death had been his doing, but whatever he’d expected, it wasn’t that eventually the King Yu would become the biggest winner. At the thought that all his efforts had virtually served to benefit his rival, he was nearly reduced to vomiting blood with fury.
“Your Highness, right now our first priority is to help Jiang Shennian be reinstated in his position, because the odds are stacked against us.”
The King Duan said through gritted teeth, “In the past few days, my father has made it very clear that he doesn’t want to see me, but both of Zhou Mingyi’s requests for an audience with him were granted. From the vantage point of the present, there’s no way we can quickly get the Jiang family back in the game, no matter how anxious we are to do it.”
…
Ominous dark clouds were gathering in the sky above the capital city, reducing citizens to silence, chilling their blood. It was one of the dog days, and people were feeling that a tempest was coming.
