But when he thought about the Sage Emperor’s condition as relayed to him by Yang Zhao and the chaos in the Central Plains once the Sage Emperor passed, Wang Chong felt like he needed to do something. Even if he had only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, he still had to try and stop this all from happening.
……
As Wang Chong continued to gather up texts and search for information on the Divine Martial realm, during the court session of the next day, a surprising development took place.
“Acceding to the will of the heavens, the Emperor declares:
“The First Prince, Li Ying, as the eldest son, is polite and modest to the extreme, tolerant and courteous. To serve as an example to the princes, We have decided to temporarily have First Prince Li Ying preside over court, deciding all matters jointly with the Prime Minister and King Song. Thus is the Emperor’s will!”
The massive dragon throne in the upper reaches of the hall was empty, the Sage Emperor nowhere to be seen. However, the Director of the Inner Court, Gao Lishi, had stepped forward, his whisk in one hand and a divine decree in the other, and loudly declared these words to the gathered officials.
Boom! Gao Lishi’s voice was like a heavy weight being thrown into the court, causing a massive earthquake. The Sage Emperor had reigned for so many years, but he had never once failed to attend morning court, much less made anyone a regent. Moreover, according to the customs of the Great Tang, a regent would only appear when the Emperor was preparing to abdicate so as to prepare for the ascendancy of the future heir apparent.
But the Emperor was still in his prime and possessed peerless cultivation. This abrupt order left everyone uneasy.
“Eunuch Gao, just what has happened? Where is His Majesty? Why can we not see His Majesty?”
“Right! What’s wrong with His Majesty? Why is the First Prince temporarily presiding over the court?”
A pile of officials immediately stepped forward, their voices panicked and worried.
“Eunuch Gao, just what has happened to His Majesty?” Wang Chong suddenly said.
While investigating what happened after a failure to reach the Divine Martial realm, he had never expected that the Sage Emperor would so quickly withdraw from the Imperial Court, concealing himself behind the curtain and allowing the First Prince to stand in for him. Wang Chong had an extremely ill foreboding, sensing that the Sage Emperor’s condition was even worse than he had imagined.
Buzz!
The moment Wang Chong spoke, the entire Imperial Court instantly fell silent. Countless officials began to look back and forth between Wang Chong and Gao Lishi. As the Great Tang’s King of Foreign Lands and after that string of incidents, Wang Chong had successfully branded his unyielding and determined attitude into the minds of the court officials.
Wang Chong now possessed unusual weight in the Imperial Court, becoming a leader of the court similar to King Song.
Gao Lishi’s brow creased, and as he waved his horsetail whisk and prepared to speak, another voice resounded through the hall.
“I will answer this question for you!”
This sudden voice immediately caught the attention of all the officials. Even Gao Lishi turned in the direction of this voice. At the entrance to Taihe Palace stood a golden figure, tall, slender, and majestic, wearing a four-clawed-dragon robe. He stepped over the threshold and entered the hall.
The First Prince!
Wang Chong slightly grimaced at the sight of this figure, a thought flitting through his mind.
First Prince Li Ying had a disdainful look in his eyes, and he slowly stalked forward like a tiger or dragon. Upon seeing him, all the officials hurriedly lowered their heads and bowed.
“Your Highness!”
“Your Highness!”
Li Ying said nothing, and he held his head high and lightly waved his hand to indicate that all the officials should rise.
“Milords, there is no need to be so polite. Imperial Father has recently felt unwell. In addition, everyone knows that Imperial Father’s martial prowess is unrivalled in the world. Imperial Father must be sensing another breakthrough and so has decided to seclude himself, making this Li Ying a regent to preside over the court. Imperial Uncle, Lord Prime Minister, in the future, I will have to trouble you for your assistance!” Li Ying said, his gaze turning to the Prime Minister and King Song.
“Your Highness is too polite!” Prime Minister Li Linfu stroked his beard and chuckled.
King Song, on the other hand, felt a chill in his heart and repeatedly said, “I would not dare!”
“Milords, I will have to rely on your instruction in the future!”
Li Ying scanned the rest of the officials in the hall.
“We would not dare!”
“The First Prince is wise and heroic. His Majesty’s decision cannot be wrong! How could you possibly need our instruction!”
The officials hurriedly lowered their heads.
According to the custom of previous dynasties, the moment the First Prince was made regent and allowed to preside over the court, this meant that the First Prince was highly likely to become the heir apparent, the next Sage Emperor of the Great Tang. At this moment, all the officials had nothing but reverence in their hearts.
The First Prince held his hands behind his back and kept his head raised as he slowly walked toward the dragon throne, his demeanor like that of a tiger or dragon. At this moment, the First Prince was bursting with energy, exuding an aura that regarded the whole world with disdain. But as he passed by Wang Chong, the First Prince paused for a moment.
“Heh, King of Foreign Lands, we meet again!”
Bzzzz! This minor action immediately drew the attention of the officials. All eyes in the court gathered on the two of them. One was the Sage Emperor’s eldest son, the future heir apparent, while the other was King of Foreign Lands, fresh off a victory on the battlefield and possessing enormous influence in the court. The mood immediately turned strange.
And before this, there had already been a rumor that the First Prince had tried to recruit Wang Chong but had apparently been refused.
“First Prince is too polite!” Wang Chong indifferently said.
At this time, he was the only person able to maintain a calm and confident composure. Wang Chong held his hands behind his back, fearless even in front of the First Prince.
“It is truly a pity. On that day in front of the palace gate, you should not have refused me!” said a soft whisper in his ear. Shocked, Wang Chong noticed that the First Prince was smirking at him, his lips softly moving but making no noise. It seemed like he was using a secret messaging skill. At the same time, the distant King Qi shifted as if he heard something, and then a smug smile appeared on his face.
Before Wang Chong could reply, the First Prince grinned and continued onward.
Meanwhile, King Qi gave a sinister smile and used a secret messaging skill so that his voice could resound in Wang Chong’s mind. “Foul brat! In the end, it was still your Wang Clan that lost!”
He had suffered several setbacks at the hands of Wang Chong and the Wang Clan, and this time, the Sage Emperor had even appointed King Song to assist the regent First Prince, but not him, leaving King Qi infuriated.
But in the end, Wang Chong and the Wang Clan had still lost. He had always been close to the First Prince, and so once the First Prince ascended the throne, the Wang Clan would undoubtedly fall out of favor. Despite all the effort Wang Chong had put in, he would still lose.
Wang Chong condensed his energy and replied with a faint smile on his lips, “Heh! Your Highness is laughing too early!”
“You!”
King Qi was enraged, but by this time, the First Prince had reached the raised platform and seated himself on the Sage Emperor’s dragon throne. He did not dare to speak any more at this time.
Wang Chong grinned and ceased quarreling with King Qi.
The First Prince would not be able to sit on the Emperor’s throne. Of this, Wang Chong was absolu
tely confident. The First Prince and King Qi were counting their chickens before they had hatched.
Once the court session was over, Zhangchou Jianqiong, King Song, Wang Chong, and Wang Gen squeezed themselves into a large carriage. Zhangchou Jianqiong was the first to speak, his brow furrowed in worry and his head slightly lowered.
“Wang Chong, the situation is bad. His Majesty has retired to the palace, and we can’t get close unless he summons us for an audience. And with the First Prince presiding over the country, all power is in the hands of the First Prince, Li Linfu, and King Song, and King Song is the only person on our side with any decision-making power. Moreover, the First Prince has never been very close to us. Now that His Majesty has placed him in charge of the country, there’s a fifty percent chance that he will be made the future sovereign. This is extremely ill news for us.”
When Zhangchou Jianqiong had still been Annan Protector-General, the First Prince had tried to recruit him, but Zhangchou Jianqiong had refused him. As for Wang Chong and King Song, they had also had their differences with the First Prince, so none of the three had much of a relationship with him. The news that the First Prince was presiding over the empire could definitely not be considered good news. Once the First Prince assumed the throne, the three would be put in an even worse situation. Zhangchou Jianqiong’s worries were completely understandable.
Chapter 1263 - The Confucian School's Announcement!
Chapter 1263: The Confucian School’s Announcement!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Public is public and private is private. Whether it’s the First Prince or any other prince who assumes the throne, as long as we carry out and remain loyal to our duties, not even the First Prince can mess around too much. At this stage in the empire’s development, the system of laws has been passed down for centuries. This is not something that the First Prince alone can break. If the Son of Heaven commits a crime, he will be punished the same as a commoner. Not even the sovereign of a country can do whatever he wishes,” King Song soothed.
Although the Sage Emperor’s making the First Prince the regent caught him by surprise, King Song had always been an honorable and open person. As long as he hadn’t done anything wrong, he feared nothing.
A voice rang out through the carriage. “Milords, there is no need to worry. The one to inherit the throne of the Sage Emperor in the future will never be the First Prince!”
Bzzz! At these words, King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, and Wang Gen all turned in surprise to Wang Chong.
In this large carriage, two Kings, the Minister of War, and a lower rank one official were seated, all of them of illustrious and influential status. If Wang Chong’s words were to get out, it would set off a tempest in the Imperial Court.
The First Prince would also begin to regard this group as a thorn in his side that he would spare no effort to exterminate.
“Chong-er! What nonsense are you saying! This matter is not something that you can casually mouth off about!”
Wang Gen could not restrain himself, straightening his back as he harshly rebuked Wang Chong.
But Wang Chong waved his hand and nonchalantly said, “Big Uncle, be at ease! I know what I am saying.”
His words just now had almost caused the hearts of the other three to leap out of their throats. But Wang Chong knew the course of history and was absolutely certain that the First Prince would never be able to sit upon the Emperor’s throne.
“Wang Chong, how can you be so sure?”
King Song and Zhangchou Jianqiong glanced at each other in dismay. Wang Chong had never done anything without purpose. If he dared to say such a thing, he had definitely done so because he had something to back his words up with. But the two of them couldn’t understand where Wang Chong’s confidence had come from. This did not seem like speculation, but complete confidence that the First Prince would never make it.
“Heh, the Sage Emperor’s throne has always been occupied by the virtuous. Besides seniority, one must also consider a person’s character and personality. The First Prince’s patience and skill are quite decent, but his personality is lacking. Moreover, the throne of the Emperor is tied to the lives of all the people in the empire. The Sage Emperor has always been wise and would never decide on a successor merely through age. In addition, if the Sage Emperor wanted the First Prince to inherit the throne, he would have made him heir apparent long ago and not waited until now!” Wang Chong confidently said.
The three others in the carriage exchanged speechless looks. Wang Chong’s argument was simple and easy to understand, and it was something that all three of them already knew.
The Imperial Palace appeared calm on the surface, but underneath, it was rife with conflict. The reason was very simple: the Sage Emperor had yet to decide on the heir apparent. Although the First Prince was the eldest son, making him the logical successor, another day in which the Sage Emperor did not make his decision was another day of this matter being kept in suspense.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore. Your Highness, I have an important matter to ask you about.”
Wang Chong quickly changed the topic.
“Your Highness, the Imperial Court granted me the minor title of Advisor-in-Waiting, but it’s precisely because this is not an important position that I have the freedom to choose. Moreover, as a King of the Great Tang but also not one of the core government officials, upon consideration by the court, I can be exempted from attending the morning court sessions. With the Sage Emperor not present, you are the only person in the court who can restrain the First Prince and Prime Minister Li Linfu. I do not intend to attend court sessions for some time.”
“Mm, although I can’t compare to the First Prince and Lord Prime Minister when it comes to decision-making power, and we won’t be able to get anything on our side passed with the two of them here, I can still think of ways to stop them if they try to weaken the Bureau of Military Personnel’s authority or pass proposals that disadvantage the military.”
King Song nodded, not prying any further into Wang Chong’s affairs. The greatest advantage of the Sage Emperor’s bestowing such authority on King Song was that he could restrain the Confucians and prevent them from further weakening the militarists.
“Wang Chong, do you have some sort of plan?” Zhangchou Jianqiong said.
Wang Chong always did things with a goal in mind, and though this did not seem apparent at first, reality always proved him to be correct. No one had cared about Lion City or Wang Chong’s fief in Wushang, but in the end, these places had both ended up playing extremely influential roles, Lion City even saving the one hundred thousand soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army.
“I do have some ideas, but now is not the time to talk about them,” Wang Chong calmly said, the thought of Li Junxian and the mysterious Confucian Sect flitting through his mind.
Whoooah!
As the four conversed, a clamor of yelling and cheering came from outside. The four of them immediately moved to the curtains and saw that their carriage had come to the illustrious Blue Dragon Street of the capital.
Crowds had gathered at the most thriving spot of Blue Dragon Street and were apparently discussing something. One could see that this crowd was gathered around several notices posted on the wall.
King Song tapped the walls of the carriage and ordered, “Someone, tell me what’s going on outside!”
“Yes, Your Highness!” A respectful voice came from outside, and a few moments later, a figure returned after going to see what was happening.
“Your Highness, the people of the Confucian school have posted an announcement on Blue Dragon Street. The announcement says that with the world at peace, now is the time to exchange weapons for jade and silk, the era of the Harmonious World. The Confucians’ efforts to propagate their teachings have also experienced great progress. In the lands of the Eastern and Western Turks, they have established eight hundred schools, which have taken m
ore than twenty-seven thousand students to learn the Confucian culture and the language of the Great Tang. Four hundred schools have been established in Ü-Tsang with eight to nine thousand students, and even some adult shepherds have accepted the teachings of the Great Tang. Two hundred schools have been established in Mengshe Zhao with six to seven thousand students, three hundred in Goguryeo with seven-thousand-some students, and Arabia has the most, with one thousand schools teaching more than seventy thousand students. All the foreigners and foes in the entire universe have put down their preconceived notions and have been attracted to the culture of the Great Tang. If things continue this way, as long as everyone upholds benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust, all wars in the world will cease and the people will be free from the turmoil of battle.”
Buzz!
As King Song and Zhangchou Jianqiong digested these words, Wang Chong’s pupils constricted, his face paling. Swish! Before the others had time to react, Wang Chong had flown out of the carriage.
“King Song, Lord Zhangchou, Big Uncle, I have some matters to attend to. Let us talk more next time!”
His voice resounded through the carriage. Wang Chong paused in front of the Confucian school’s announcement for a few moments, and then he vanished.
……
In the Wang Family Residence, Wang Chong waited with his hands held behind his back, his robes flapping in the wind. A few moments later, Old Eagle, Zhang Que, Xu Keyi, and Cheng Sanyuan had gathered at Wang Chong’s side.
“Milord, we’ve investigated and found these announcements posted on Blue Dragon Street, Vermillion Bird Street, White Tiger Street, and almost every other major thoroughfare of the capital!”
Cheng Sanyuan gasped for air. He was the first to arrive, and after receiving Wang Chong’s order, he had rushed off to gather information.
“Hidden Dragon Street, Ghost Dragon Street, Spring Radiance Street, and Autumn Rain Street, the places often frequented by the scions of the great clans, also have these notices,” Xu Keyi added.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 795