The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 77 On the Unpredictable Situation of the Rebels

After all this was said, Tu Chengyu thought it was over and was about to leave.

Unexpectedly, the emperor spoke again: "I heard that you and the third prince had a fight this morning."

Tu Chengyu did not expect his father to suddenly bring up this matter, and even described their argument as a quarrel.

Tu Chengyu didn't know whether someone else had reported this matter to his father or whether the third prince had told his father.

He said cautiously, "I'm not sure yet."
"Father, my third brother and I were just playing around, how could we have quarreled?"

The emperor said, "Since there was no quarrel, why did you refuse when the third prince offered to help you quell the scholars' disturbance?"

Tu Chengyu said, "Father, I only had a few words with Hu Guangjin that day, and it was nothing serious. However, someone secretly stirred things up and made the matter escalate."

“Those people, without asking any questions, wrote letters everywhere accusing me of suppressing scholars. I have been unjustly branded as arrogant and domineering.”

"Today, my third brother asked me to reconcile with them and even asked me to plead for Hu Guangjin. I will not bow down to them; that would be too humiliating."

After listening to Tu Chengyu's long accusation, the emperor said:
"Since you know that someone is stirring things up and plotting behind the scenes, you should have calmed things down as soon as possible. Instead, you're still thinking about whether it's embarrassing or not. How naive you are."

Tu Chengyu said, "It's not that I'm naive or don't understand the consequences. It's just that my third brother..."

In his haste, Tu Chengyu almost blurted out that the third brother's help wasn't for nothing, but rather for something else.

However, saying this would bring up the struggle for the Prince's mansion, which would be tantamount to reporting the matter to the Emperor for the third prince for free.

At that time, not only will he not receive thanks from the third prince, but the empress will also think that he and the third prince are on the same side.

It's best not to do something that's thankless and exhausting.

Seeing that he remained silent for a while, the emperor asked, "But what is it?"

Tu Chengyu came to his senses and said, "But Third Brother came too late. Things had already blown up before he wanted to help."

After hearing this, the emperor scolded, "You're already being shrewd enough by having people help you, yet you're still picking and choosing. Where did you get this bad habit from?"

Having been scolded again, Tu Chengyu stood there timidly, not wanting to say a word.

The emperor didn't mind and continued, "Fortunately, the third prince doesn't hold these things against you and took the initiative to ask me to help you deal with the scholars."

Tu Chengyu pretended to be surprised, saying:
"Did Third Brother really do it? I wonder how it's going now?"

The Emperor said, "At the urging of the Third Prince, the scholars have temporarily quieted down. Hu Guangjin has also submitted a memorial, saying that he wants to withdraw from the palace examination and is waiting for my approval."

Tu Chengyu asked curiously, "What does Father Emperor plan to do? Will he make Hu Guangjin withdraw, or will he issue an edict to allow him to continue in the palace examination?"

The emperor glared at him and said, "This is none of your business."

Tu Chengyu remained silent again, and the emperor continued:
"I will not issue an edict for the time being. Let them wait a few days and see if the people who stirred up trouble behind the scenes will make another move."

Hearing his father say this, Tu Chengyu was about to ask another question, but then he remembered that his father was in a bad mood today, so he swallowed his words.

The emperor saw this and said, "Speak up if you have something to say, why are you cowering like this?"

Tu Chengyu said in a low voice, "I'm afraid I'll be scolded by Father if I say it."

The emperor said, "If you had asked properly, why would I have said anything to you?"

Tu Chengyu said, "Then I will speak."

The emperor nodded, and Tu Chengyu said, "Father, haven't you found the person behind this trouble?"

The emperor said, "We only caught a few petty thieves; they were all hired by others."

Tu Chengyu said, "So, Father Emperor asked Third Brother to temporarily appease the scholars in order to force those who are secretly causing trouble to make another move?"

The emperor said, "This is mainly for the sake of the scholars. Most of them have been incited and have no idea what the truth is."

"I am afraid that if they continue to cause trouble like this, they might do something outrageous and ruin their future."

Tu Chengyu said, "Father is so thoughtful. Of course, I also want to thank Third Brother for taking the initiative to help."

The Emperor could tell whether Tu Chengyu was truly grateful to the Third Prince, but he didn't care and instead asked about other matters:
"The people from the Imperial Horse Stables told me that you were attacked in the middle of the night in your courtyard outside the palace?"

The emperor suddenly changed the subject, catching Tu Chengyu off guard. He paused for a moment before replying:

"Your Majesty, we were indeed attacked, but unfortunately we didn't capture a single survivor. All my plans have failed."

Upon hearing this, the emperor was so amused by Tu Chengyu's words that he said:

"How dare you claim that it was someone else's idea?"

When Tu Chengyu saw his father smile, he chuckled as well and shamelessly said:

“He was invited by me to come up with ideas, so his ideas naturally belong to me.”

The emperor said, "Only you are so foolish and bold as to call this man, a confidant of a rebel, to give you advice. Aren't you afraid that he might turn against you someday?"

Tu Chengyu said, "If this person had any problems, Father would have stopped him when I asked him to release him." "Since Father didn't stop him, it means he is capable."

The emperor said, "You've learned how to use me, haven't you?"

Tu Chengyu said, "This is all because of Father Emperor's love and care for his son."

The emperor was pleased with the flattery, but pretended not to care and said:
"Stop talking to me like that. I'm asking you, are the people you captured the same group who attacked you in Xishan?"

Tu Chengyu said, "It is indeed the same group of people. Their attack this time was aimed at Quan Wenwei."

The emperor said, "Tell me again about the details of the attack."

Tu Chengyu then recounted to his father what Wenwei had told him that morning.

After listening, the emperor thought for a moment and said, "Since they were able to resist the trap earlier, why did they suddenly send someone to launch a sneak attack? Doing so is pointless except to send them to their deaths."

Tu Chengyu said, "That's what I think too."

The emperor said, "Judging from the series of actions of the person behind the scenes, he is not a fool who would let his subordinates die at will."

"Now that he can abandon so many assassins at once, he must be planning something else with this."

"Moreover, this plan must be quite large, and it may be aimed at you. We need to be even more careful lately."

Tu Chengyu said, "Father, rest assured, I have made my own decision. After celebrating my brother Yixiao's birthday, I will stay in the palace and not go anywhere until Father has investigated this matter thoroughly."

The emperor said, "It's good that you have such thoughts, but you don't need to be afraid of them."

“In Xishan, the mastermind lost so many men, and you took the opportunity to wipe out their stronghold. In my opinion, he doesn’t have many men left to use.”

"Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to endure it for so long after you released the information."

"Next, it's probably their last desperate gamble."

Listening to his father's analysis, Tu Chengyu suddenly asked, "Father, will the person behind this cause trouble on Prince Yixiao's birthday?"

"After all, Prince Yixiao's residence is outside the palace and is not well protected. In addition, there will be many people there, making it a good time to make a move."

The emperor said, "You don't need to worry about this. I will naturally send people to protect you when the time comes."

Now that the emperor had thought of it, Tu Chengyu was no longer worried.

After everything was said, the emperor sent Tu Chengyu away.

Not long after Tu Chengyu left, Xia Shouzhong arrived at the Imperial Study with a tall eunuch.

This man was the newly appointed head of the Imperial Horse Stables. As soon as he entered, he knelt down and kowtowed: "This servant, Hong Li, head of the Imperial Horse Stables, pays his respects to Your Majesty."

The emperor waved for him to rise and said, "Is there any progress on the matter I asked you to investigate?"

Hong Li said, "Your Majesty, this servant has found some clues."

The emperor said, "Tell me what you have found."

Hong Li said, "Your Majesty, I have investigated the rebels captured by Prince Su. From their identities, I have discovered that some of them are desperate criminals recruited by the rebels from surrounding prefectures."

"Most of these people were after money, so they were all eventually captured by His Highness Prince Su. As for the assassins, not many were captured alive."

The emperor asked, "Have the identities of the assassins been confirmed?"

Hong Li replied, "Your Majesty, some of those suicide assassins could not be traced back to their origins. This servant suspects that the person behind them captured children and trained them from a young age."

"The remaining group of assassins came from the Beijing Garrison. Like the bandit leader Gao Chonghe, they were all secretly replaced by someone from the Beijing Garrison."

The emperor asked, "Has any investigation been conducted to find out which guard of the Beijing Garrison they were transferred from?"

Hong Li said, "Your Majesty, most of these people are former junior officers of the Xuan Tie Guard. According to my investigation, this matter is inextricably linked to the former Duke of Shan."

Upon hearing this, the emperor remained silent. If it was related to the Duke of Shan, then it was related to the former crown prince.

The former crown prince secretly cultivated his own faction and trained assassins. This was not unexpected by the emperor, after all, his position as crown prince had indeed been unstable for the past two years, so it was understandable that he secretly kept some people around.

But now that both of them are dead, who is controlling these remaining assassins?
Is it a hidden henchman of the former crown prince, or Zong Ge'er, the former crown prince's son, or is he being secretly manipulated by someone else?

Whoever it is, the person behind the assassins shouldn't cause trouble for Xiao Wu, since the former crown prince's death has nothing to do with Xiao Wu.

But they specifically targeted Xiao Wu, and it seems like it's a fight to the death.

The emperor couldn't understand how Xiao Wu could have offended such a person.

Thinking of this, the emperor asked, "These past few days, I had you investigate the other princes. Have you found anything?"

Hong Li said, "This servant followed His Majesty's instructions and dispatched special personnel, but found no evidence of any plot against other princes."

The emperor said, "It seems that these recent events are indeed only aimed at Xiao Wu."

(End of this chapter)