Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 404 Who is the New King?
Yang Yuan sneaked back to the corridor next to the "Qi Yao Hall", took off the crown of the officer of the Imperial Dragon Army, and took off all his clothes and shoes.

After changing his clothes, he took out a thin special rain cloth and covered his head with it, wrapping his whole body in it, and rushed towards the outer court.

He first made a small detour, and when passing by the "Little West Lake", he wrapped his robe around stones, tied a knot, and threw it into the center of the lake.

Because this lake is an artificial lake in the palace, it does not need to be cleaned once every ten or eight years.

By the time it was time to clean up, even if someone came to salvage the debris, the robe would have already been rotten.

Even if there were still fragments at that time, who could have imagined what role it had played?

The eunuchs in the palace also know that "less trouble is worse than more trouble".

Immediately, Yang Yuan sneaked out of the palace in the same way as before, and took advantage of the heavy rain to sneak back to his signing room.

He is on duty tonight. Commander-in-Chief Mo Long is not here, so he is the supreme commander of the "Dragon Guard" tonight.

Yang Yuan still had two used things on him at the moment, one was a flying claw and the other was a waterproof cloak.

Yang Yuan spread out the cloak, wiped off the water, spread it on his desk, and then put the four treasures of the study and tea sets back on it. It suddenly became a "desk shawl" with intricate patterns on it.

Then, Yang Yuan quickly disassembled the flying claw, and embedded the three claw bones into the pen holder. He took the remaining thin rope made of metal wire and wrapped it around the handle of the sword in circles.

These little tricks were taught to him by the two female ninjas without reservation.

At this point, Yang Yuan no longer had anything on him that he had when he sneaked into the palace.

“Crack, crack…”

There were footsteps, the footsteps of two people.

This time I don't need to sense it, I can hear it clearly.

The "cha cha" sound is from official boots, and the "ka ka" sound is from military boots.

"Knock knock!"

"Enter!"

The door was suddenly opened, and a soldier from the Yulong Division walked quickly into the signing room with a man wearing a straw raincoat.

Yang Yuan sat under the lamp, his feet resting on the desk, holding a volume of "Spring and Autumn Annals" in his hand, and looked at them lazily.

The Dragon Guard soldier clasped his fists and said, "Du Yu Hou, there is news from the palace."

"what?"

Yang Yuan was startled, he pulled his legs together and stood up suddenly.

Yang Yuan asked in astonishment: "What's the news from the palace? It's the dead of night, the inner and outer palaces are locked, how can anyone get out?"

The man in the straw raincoat trembled twice, and with a mournful face, he said in a hoarse voice: "Du Yu Hou, the emperor... has passed away!"

"what!"

Yang Yuan was so frightened that the volume of "Spring and Autumn Annals" in his hand fell onto the table, knocking over the teacup and spilling tea all over the table.

……

"Boom! Boom boom boom..."

The big drum of the Yulongzhi Yamen of the Palace Front Department sounded "boom boom boom" in the rainy night.

Yang Yuan was wearing armor and a helmet, with a sword at his ribs, and his military boots were making "clacking" sounds.

He strode out of the main hall of Yulongzhi and stood solemnly under the eaves.

The eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict followed quickly behind, and when he reached the eaves he hid beside the pillar.

The officers and soldiers on duty in the "Yulongzhi" yamen ran over fully armed, wearing helmets and armor.

They quickly lined up in front of the court and were soaked in a moment.

The patrolling scouts, as well as the visible and covert sentries deployed outside, heard the sound of war drums. Although they could not leave their posts and report back to the government office, they all increased their vigilance.

Yang Yuan stood holding his knife, in front of him was a rain curtain as dense as a bead curtain, pouring down from the eaves.

Yang Yuan looked at all the soldiers who had arrived in time and asked in a deep voice, "Who knows the residence of General Mo Long?"

A soldier stepped out from the front row and shouted, "Return to Du Yuhou, I know you."

Yang Yuan shouted, "Ride your horse fast and tell General Mo to return to the government office immediately. It's urgent!"

"Order!"

The man was a captain. He clasped his fists towards Yang Yuan, then turned around and walked away quickly.

Yang Yuan shouted to the other soldiers, "Pass on the imperial decree from the two palaces. All officers and soldiers of the Imperial Dragon Guard, move out immediately and seal off all the gates of the inner court.

Without the joint decree of the two palaces, no one is allowed to enter or leave. Anyone who disobeys the decree will be killed on the spot, no matter who it is. "

"As ordered!"

There are regulations on which officers and soldiers will guard which gate, so Yang Yuan doesn't need to arrange them one by one.

All the junior officers immediately called out their subordinates and ran out of the Yulongzhi Yamen, splashing water everywhere under their feet.

……

In the Funing Palace, the imperial doctors stood aside, bowing their heads tremblingly.

The palace maids and eunuchs all stood in silence, not daring to breathe heavily.

Empress Dowager Wei lay on the couch, crying bitterly.

Queen Wu stood aside. Although her face was also sad, she was not as sad as Queen Dowager Wei.

Zhang Quwei tied a white silk around his waist, held two more pieces of white silk in his hands, and hurried back to the palace. He bowed and said, "Empress Dowager, Queen, the decree to seal off the palace has been passed down."

Empress Wei just cried bitterly, while Empress Wu stayed beside her, sad and silent.

Liu Wanrong looked very sad, but there were traces of tears on her face and her eyes were a little vague.

Suddenly seeing Zhang Dayong coming in, Liu Wanrong hurried over, took the two pieces of white silk, walked to Empress Wu, and whispered, "Your Majesty."

Queen Wu sighed, took the white silk and tied it around her waist.

Liu Wanrong also tied the remaining white silk around her slender waist.

Empress Wu said, "Liu Wanrong, you have worked hard in serving the emperor these days. You should go back to the palace and rest. The news of His Majesty's death should not be disclosed to others for the time being."

Ever since the Empress Dowager and the Queen came in, Liu Wanrong has been feeling a little guilty.

After hearing what Empress Wu said, Liu Wanrong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, murmured an agreement, and left. Empress Wu said again: "All of you leave, Zhang Dayong will wait outside the palace."

The imperial doctors, palace maids and eunuchs breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed and retreated.

As for the emperor's death and the need to kill the imperial physician...

That's just the imagination of ordinary people.

This situation is extremely rare.

Even when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, his beloved Empress Ma and his closest son Zhu Biao died, he never troubled the imperial physicians, let alone the Song Dynasty.

However, the only emperor who killed his imperial physician was Zhu Yuanzhang.

The reason was not because the group of imperial doctors at that time failed to cure Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew Li Wenzhong.

It was because they were unlucky that they had to deal with Huazhong, the "Director" of the Imperial Medical Service, who had a complicated identity.

Huazhong was not only the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau, but also had a title of "Marquis of Huaian".

He is the son of Hua Yunlong, one of the founding fathers of the Ming Dynasty, and he is a figure in officialdom.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang received a secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, suspecting that Hua Zhong and others had conspired to kill Li Wenzhong.

That was caused by official struggles.

Of course, this problem does not exist for Zhao Gou today.

The imperial doctors have already said that it was because of the previous assassination attempt at Xiangji Temple that the emperor was poisoned and injured, and the repeated injuries led to his death.

At most you can say that these imperial doctors are not very skilled in medicine, but that is not a way to seek death.

After everyone left, Queen Wu said, “Queen Dowager, now is not the time to be sad.

The emperor has passed away, but he has not designated a crown prince. The country cannot be without a ruler for a day, we must quickly settle this matter."

Empress Dowager Wei wiped her tears and thought for a moment before saying, "Then, should we quickly send someone to bring Brother Yu to the palace?"

Empress Wu asked, "What the Queen Mother means is... to make Yu Ge'er the new emperor?"

Empress Dowager Wei opened her eyes wide and asked, "What else? Does the Queen want to make Prince Pu'an the emperor?"

Empress Wu shook her head and said, "Empress Dowager, the emperor did not leave a will to designate a crown prince..."

Speaking of this, Queen Wu couldn't help but feel resentful.

She was angrily scolded and sent away by the emperor in the afternoon because she proposed to establish a crown prince.

As a result, the official was very successful that night.

If the crown prince had been appointed according to her suggestion, there wouldn't be the troubles we have now.

Empress Wu sighed and said, "Queen Mother, as the ruler of a country, you can't just let us two make the decision. You must also listen to the opinions of the left and right prime ministers, the Privy Councilor, and the ministers of the six ministries."

"That's true..."

Empress Dowager Wei thought for a while with red eyes and asked, "What do you think we should do?"

Empress Wu said, "Let's send someone to bring Prince Pu'an and Prince Enping into the palace immediately. Place them in the Huangyi Hall and Jiying Hall respectively.

In this way, they would be able to avoid any trouble if the news of His Majesty's death got out while they were outside the palace.

At the same time, we will immediately summon the Right Prime Minister, the Left Prime Minister, the Privy Councilor, and the six ministers to the Chuigong Hall to discuss and decide on the new monarch with my mother and me.

Once the new emperor was confirmed, the two princes who were waiting in the palace immediately brought the confirmed person in to be greeted by the ministers.

In this way, the two brothers' status as king and subject is determined, and accidents can be avoided."

Empress Dowager Wei nodded repeatedly and said, "The Queen has thought it through carefully. Let's do it this way."

At that moment, the two palaces immediately issued decrees, eleven in a row, summoning two princes, two prime ministers, a privy councilor and six ministers to the palace.

The imperial edict came out of the Hening Gate. The loyal Yulong Zhidu Yuhou Yang Yuan wore a straw raincoat, carried a precious sword, and personally guarded the Hening Gate.

After carefully checking the seals of the two palaces, Yang Yuan let out the eunuchs who were supposed to deliver the imperial edict one by one.

Inside the harem, Liu Wanrong returned to her bedroom in a daze. She ignored the palace maid who had just woken up and got up to serve her, and sat on the couch in a daze.

The maid saw that her queen looked a little strange and did not dare to disturb her, so she waited outside the bedroom door.

That night, Liu Wanrong suffered too much stimulation.

That's the emperor! In her heart, he has always been the supreme being.

However, this supreme being was killed by Erlang just like that, it was easier than killing a chicken.

Erlang...

When she thought of him, Liu Wanrong couldn't help but feel hot all over.

That scene made her so embarrassed that even though there was no one else in the room at the time, she was so embarrassed that she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

She is a well-behaved lady from a noble family. This... this is such an absurd thing.

But...but if Erlang didn't want to kill me at that time, this would have been the only way he could think of, right?

Thinking of this, Liu Wanrong felt moved without even realizing it.

Killing her is so easy.

It's not harder than killing an official. You can kill him with just one hand.

But he..., should we say he is a person who pities flowers, or a person who destroys flowers?

The thought of destroying a flower made Liu Wanrong feel uneasy.

I had just dealt with it briefly before, but now I couldn't help but feel a strange feeling.

That scene was so explosive and impactful that she still felt as if she was in the clouds.

Poor her, now that she is 25 years old, this is the first time she has experienced the joy of it. Before that, she lived in vain.

Liu Wanrong bit her lip and said, "Someone, prepare some hot water. I want to take a bath."

Previously, because there was news that the emperor's condition had stabilized, the ministers of various departments went home to rest.

Now that the imperial edict had been announced, carriages drove out of the ministers' homes and hurried to the palace.

In the twenty-fifth year of Shaoxing, before the end of the first month of the lunar calendar, a new emperor was about to be born in the center of the Song Dynasty!
(End of this chapter)