in2ebook Chapter 124 Accountability
Chapter 124 Accountability
The three of them decided on the idea.
Seeing Yang Zhuoyan's lifeless look, Pei Yi knew that scholars were most likely to act on impulse, and that this matter might not go as he wished in the end. The reason why he let him hear this was to let him know that the situation in the court was not as simple as it seemed.
Then he advised him again, "The emperor will not completely rectify the chaos, and the special examination will not be reopened this year. However, this year happens to be the year of the grand selection once every six years. Candidates like you who passed the provincial examination can also pass the grand selection and serve as the principal of the provincial school or the instructor of the county school. If there is a vacancy in the position of county magistrate in remote counties, you can also be selected as appropriate.
I will write a letter to Lord Cai from the Ministry of Personnel, asking him to pay more attention when he presides over this year's selection.
If you want to stay in Kyoto and take the exam again in three years, I have some property under my name and can arrange your livelihood. You can contact the candidates you know and ask me to arrange it for you. "
After a pause, he continued, "It's just that I can't give you justice openly, so just keep it to yourself. Don't tell other students about the reason, otherwise, it will only bring disaster to them for nothing."
Yang Zhuoyan listened to Pei Yi's earnest words. He was a man of insight, so he nodded and said, "Don't worry, my lord. I will keep this matter to myself after I leave this school." He bowed to Pei Yi and said, "My lord, you have shown me your kindness. Yang Zhuoyan will remember it in his heart."
Xie Zhichan didn't know who Pei Yi sent to handle the matter, but three days later, he heard that after Concubine De sent a bowl of cooling white fungus and lotus seed soup to the Taiji Hall, Emperor Jingde became even more angry.
Just as the Crown Prince and Dou Yunshan were feasting and celebrating in the Crown Prince's residence, an oral order summoned the Crown Prince to the Golden Palace.
Following the young eunuch who delivered the imperial eunuch's order into the Golden Throne Hall, Crown Prince Li Er had a hunch that something was wrong. When his father wanted to summon him, he would usually only meet him in the study in the Taiji Hall and rarely called him to the Golden Throne Hall to be so formal.
He immediately did not dare to act rashly, and tremblingly knelt down to greet the emperor, saying: "Your Highness, your son, greets you, father."
Emperor Jingde sat high on the bright yellow and red gold throne, staring majestically at the prince below.
The prince knelt with his head touching the ground for a long time, but he did not hear his father's call to "stand up" from above his head.
Feeling uneasy, Li Er looked up and asked tentatively, "Father, did I do something wrong to make you angry? If I am wrong, you can teach me, but you must also let me know where I am wrong."
Emperor Jingde stared at the prince for a long time, trying to see how this son looked like his own. Although he looked like him, his heart and mind were nothing like his.
His sons' hearts were not towards the Li family's kingdom, but only towards their mother's clan.
They completely forgot that without the Li family's kingdom, how could their mother clan prosper?
An hour later, when the prince's legs were numb from kneeling and his kneeling posture was crooked, Emperor Jingde did not ask him to stand up. He just threw the book in his hand accurately at the prince.
It hit Prince Li Er's forehead, and blood gushed out immediately. Li Er was frightened and was about to knock his head to the ground to apologize, but he saw the booklet that had hit him lying next to him.
He was now eager to know what had made his father so furious, so he tried to move his eyes to look at the booklet. He saw on the cover of the booklet "Household Registration of New Candidates in the Seventeenth Year of Jingde" and his face turned pale instantly.
It's over! A voice in his heart told him.
Li Er no longer cared about his image as the crown prince. He knelt down in front of the stairs leading to the throne, his face covered with tears and snot, and begged, "Father, I know I was wrong! Please believe me. This was not my idea. It was the idea of the Grand Tutor. He told me. In this way, even if I don't win the support of the Ministry of Personnel, most officials in the court will support me."
Emperor Jingde walked up to the crown prince, looked down at him for a while, bent down and stared at his tearful face and asked, "Tell me, why did you do this? After a hundred years, this country will be yours sooner or later. Why are you so anxious? Hmm?"
After a pause, he continued, "Are you complaining in your heart that your father has lived too long? Maybe you're even cursing me behind my back for being old and stubborn! Huh?!"
Li Er's body stiffened. He knew that his father was extremely angry.
His head was shaking like a rattle, and he explained in panic, "No! Father! You are my king, my biological father, and the one who holds up the sky for me. I only hope that you live a hundred years! I have never been disrespectful to you in my heart! I dare to swear to heaven!"
Emperor Jingde snorted coldly and said with a sneer: "You even dare to touch the throne of the emperor, are you afraid to swear to the heaven?"
Li Er cried and shook his head, saying, "I swear on my life that I have never been disrespectful to my father."
Seeing the prince like this, Emperor Jingde knew that he could not come up with this plan and was probably instigated by others. He also heard him swear on his own life that he was his own son after all, and he had no intention of changing the crown prince, so he calmed down a little and continued to ask: "Then tell me, why are you so anxious to control my court?"
The prince was stunned for a while before he realized that his father was giving him a chance. He cried, "Father, I am just afraid! The He family is now in its heyday, and the King of Qin is arrogant. His eyes are fixed on my position. I am not ignorant of the ancient teachings of brotherly love and respect, but I was born in the royal family, and I am really afraid that those old things of brothers fighting against each other will happen to me."
These words are undoubtedly the prince's true feelings.
Emperor Jingde couldn't help but think of his youth. He was not the first prince appointed by the previous emperor, but the previous one was too impatient. He was eager to take the throne, eager to get more power, and eager to rebel. He personally created the tragedy of the fight for the throne during the Ruilong period. Several brothers died tragically one after another, and even he himself died at the Suzaku Gate after launching a palace coup, shot through the heart by an arrow from the Imperial Guards.
He came to the throne later. Because of the power of the Cao family, the previous emperor could not help but be wary of the Cao family. His mother had always had a low status after entering the palace.
As the late emperor had no choice, the position of the crown prince came to him, and his mother was promoted to one of the four concubines because of her son's status.
After that, it was with the protection of his mother that he got to where he is today, although there were some overt and covert attacks along the way.
He closed his eyes. This was the fate of being born into a royal family. He and his son could not escape it either.
But his son cannot die under the Suzaku sect!
He must not repeat the mistakes his father made or the old path he walked.
He opened his eyes and said to the prince: "Remember, you are the prince. This position is yours if I say it is yours. No one else can make this decision!"
Li Er immediately knew that he had escaped a disaster, and he kowtowed and said, "Thank you, father, for your grace."
Emperor Jingde said again: "I can't pretend that this matter never happened. Since you said that this matter was the idea of Grand Tutor Dou, Grand Tutor Dou can't escape. As for you, you should be confined to the East Palace for a month, and don't attend the court meetings for the time being."
The prince was heartbroken over the loss of Master Dou, but he knew he had no choice at this moment, so he kowtowed and said, "Thank you, father, for your insight."
At the court meeting the next day, Emperor Jingde issued four consecutive edicts: the Crown Prince was confined to the Eastern Palace, Grand Tutor Dou Kangnong was stripped of his official position and honors, and Dou Yushan was demoted three levels and fined one year's salary.
The list used was of those who failed the examination in the Golden Palace of the Crown Prince, and the Grand Tutor was to blame. Dou Yushan's son took the blame for his father's crime and spared Grand Tutor Dou from imprisonment.
This year, the official positions of the new candidates have been readjusted, and almost all of them have been transferred to the family's hostile or neutral camp.
This matter was brought up in the court, and people who knew about it, such as Liu Chen and Zhang Junze, just stood there silently without saying a word.
But he still couldn't help feeling disappointed. What was the point of the emperor keeping such a prince on his throne?
But if it is not protected, the tragedy of the fight for the throne during the Ruilong period might happen again.
Like Pei Yi and Hua Manxi, they all had a worry: who would be able to sit on the throne of the Jin Dynasty?