The maid's road to success

In September, people from many places suddenly flocked to Kyoto. Gong Qisu sat in the palace with a terribly gloomy face. After just a moment, he suddenly became furious and threw the memorial in his hand to the ground, roaring and asking people to summon several ministers.

Lord Cheng'en also learned the news of the visitor from Kyoto in his own mansion. He sat in a chair, seemingly thinking about something.

"Father, there is chaos in the west and north right now. Those foreign tribes have begun to approach the territory of Chen before winter. Kyoto will definitely send soldiers to support them. That will be our best chance."

Duke Cheng'en did not say anything. Seeing his father's silence, the prince of Cheng'en became even more anxious. He was already over fifty years old and had been the prince for more than forty years. People of his age had already inherited the family title, but he was still a prince.

In the past, he didn't care about other people's ridicule. He knew his father's plan and knew that he would not always be a prince. In the future, those who laughed at him would have to crawl at his feet and call him "Your Highness". Over the years, he had done his best to help his father, and everything was centered on his father.

Except for dealing with his half-brothers a few times behind his father's back, he had never disobeyed his father. But he had waited too long. His father was not yet seventy years old and was still in good health, but people always pursued stability as they aged, so he had been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to raise an army and force the emperor to abdicate.

But so far, my father's power has been greatly weakened by the emperor and the fourth prince, but there is still no intention of forcing the emperor to abdicate.

How many more years does he have to wait? He is already fifty years old. When his father really forces the emperor to abdicate, he still has to wait. Only after his father dies can he inherit everything from him.

Can he wait until then? To be honest, he feels that his health is not very good now, he has many problems, and he is always uneasy.

Now I almost always have to take medicine with me. I have palpitations, dizziness, stiff limbs, and I often forget things. My father is obviously older, but he seems to be healthier than me.

So can he really wait until it is natural for him to inherit everything from his father?

He went to attend the funeral of a good friend yesterday. That friend was younger than himself, but he fell ill and passed away at night. Like himself, he was the eldest son of a lord's family.

But he had been the crown prince for so many years but had not inherited the title. My friend's father was in his sixties and still in good health. He had already chosen a concubine's son whom he liked more and asked him to be crowned the crown prince.

Gao Zhixin, the prince of Cheng'en, couldn't help but think of himself. He had been having a lot of health problems recently, especially after he came back yesterday and had a dream in which all the people in his dream were himself dead. His half brothers took his place. In the dream, his father successfully started an army and became the new emperor of Chen State, but the crown prince was not himself, but those stupid half brothers.

Gao Zhixin woke up in shock at that moment. He could not tolerate such a thing happening. Although those half-brothers were also members of the Gao family, how could they be compared with himself? They were just children born to lowly concubines, and they were also illegitimate children after all. How much effort had he put in to suppress those people?

Now my father has been hesitating whether to proceed according to the original plan. After losing the control and dispatch rights of the Kyoto City Defense Army, my father no longer has the decisiveness he had before and is still thinking about the missing half of the account book.

Gao Zhixin discussed this with his wife and mother. He had to force his father to take that step up. He had been planning this for so many years so that his father would have inexhaustible gold and silver and more people to use.

Both my mother and I had to watch my father take in concubines one after another, and illegitimate children one after another, and endure many years of hardship.

If they give up now, what will their sufferings of all these years mean? His mother couldn't sleep well every night. She felt uncomfortable when she saw those concubines. He was always targeted by his half brothers who wanted to fight for power from him.

If he could not become the supreme ruler of the world, he could only become a duke in the end. He and his mother would not have allowed so many concubines to come in, nor would they have allowed so many children to be born.

So whether or not to force the emperor to abdicate is not up to my father, but he must do so. This world must be his.

Only by approaching the palace early and pulling down Gong Qisu, and waiting for his father to sit firmly on the throne, he will take his place. The throne must belong to himself and his descendants.

Those illegitimate brothers, never ever think of replacing his identity or taking over his things. Never ever think of that.

"Father, the emperor already knows about this. Even if we give up now, he won't let us go. Don't you know what kind of person the emperor is? If he only liked beautiful women before, it would be fine. But now he has come to his senses. If we really retreat, we will lose. Even if we don't die, we will never be able to turn over again, father."

Gao Zhixin thought about it and took a stronger approach.

"Father, have you forgotten what happened to the Huaiyuan Marquisate? If we retreat now, even if my sister and the emperor spare our lives, what about the Fourth and Sixth Princes, and the rest of the royal family? As long as the emperor is gone, we will be the second Huaiyuan Marquisate, with our military power taken away and our family raided. Father, we can't retreat now."

Lord Cheng'en finally reacted, as if he had thought of something. A fierce fighting spirit flashed in his eyes, and he took out a black jade token from his purse.

"You go to Linjing to guard it. I will make arrangements in Kyoto to have the generals who are at odds with us go to the west and north to provide support. Once the matter of the Fourth Prince is almost settled, we will take action."

Gao Zhixin nodded, walked out of the door with a slight smile on his face, and looked at his half-brother coming towards him from a distance, feeling even more proud.

Relying on his youth and sweet talk, he fawned on his father. Did he really think he could replace his eldest brother? What a joke. Since ancient times, legitimate children have been more noble than illegitimate children. Illegitimate children are only slightly better than slaves. He really thought he could transcend class. Replace himself?

In October, many reports were sent from the west and the north, saying that the barbarians had begun to attack and hoped for some support.

Although Gong Qisu knew that this was not the best time to send people to attack, as Duke Cheng'en's private soldiers withdrew in time and he did not catch them in the act, he could not rashly point it out publicly to prevent Duke Cheng'en from directly rebelling. However, the two northwest parties had sent many memorials so far, and if he did nothing about it.

The barbarians invaded the State of Chen, and he became the sinner of the State of Chen. However, there were jackals in the capital and hyenas in the northwest. How should he deal with them?

Prince Li looked at Gong Qisu's appearance and naturally understood why he was still hesitating. He was simply afraid that if he sent out the military generals in Kyoto, only the city defense forces and the imperial guards would be left, and his safety as the emperor would be in danger.

If Prince Li didn't know that all this was an illusion, he would have wanted to take out the late emperor's tablet and smash it in Gong Qisu's face.

"Your Majesty, the barbarian attack cannot be ignored. I would like to ask for permission to go out and shock the enemy. Several other generals can go to the north to provide support."

Gong Qisu listened to the names that Prince Li was muttering, and suddenly he realized. Yes, not all the generals were his people. The petition from Duke Cheng'en was asking him, the Fourth Prince, and the Sixth Prince to send people out, and his attitude was very tough.

But Prince Li's suggestion was more to his liking, so why not let Duke Cheng'en's people go?

Gong Qisu had thought about this before, what if those people disobeyed orders, allowed the barbarians in the north to invade, and secretly helped Duke Cheng'en? However, among the candidates for Prince Li, there are also candidates for the Fourth Prince and the Sixth Prince, so they can protect and restrain each other, so there is no need to worry too much.

As for the fact that Duke Cheng'en was so tough this time, there was nothing to be afraid of. Prince Li volunteered to lead his troops to the battlefield for the sake of the country. Prince Li's status and reputation in the army were much higher than Duke Cheng'en's.

He set an example himself, so why couldn't he recommend a few military generals to go to the north to provide support?

"Your Majesty, those generals are still young. How can they play a game against the barbarians? The candidates I recommend are better."

Gong Qisu looked at Duke Cheng'en's face and said sarcastically.

"In Chen State, the only generals who can be considered experienced in combat are Prince Li, Marquis Wu'an, and you, Duke Cheng'en. Marquis Wu'an is in charge of the city defense army and cannot just give up. Prince Li asked to go to the west, and he is the best candidate to go there. In fact, if you want to stabilize the north, your uncle is the best candidate, but is your uncle's health up to it?"

Duke Cheng'en looked at Gong Qisu's face and gritted his teeth in anger. He really had grown up and even dared to threaten him by sending him out of Kyoto.

Prince Li was really an eyesore, ruining his plan at the critical moment. He took the initiative to go to the battlefield, giving Gong Qisu a good excuse. If he had used the excuse that those generals were young, he could have done the same as Prince Li and went to the north to suppress the rebellion himself. However, he knew that he could not leave Kyoto at this time.

I really underestimated this nephew. He already has such ability that he dares to threaten me.

"I will obey your Majesty's orders."

Duke Cheng'en had thought about continuing to block the emperor's order to send out his generals, but Prince Li was old and could still take the initiative to go to the battlefield, so he gave up many of his reasons. If he refused and his attitude was too firm, he was afraid that the emperor would just break off with him and not care about the affairs in the northwest.

Wouldn't it be even worse if he concentrated all his efforts on searching for his own private soldiers first?

Fortunately, Prince Li also left. Without his rival, who among the other generals could be his opponent? Although the city defense army was now under the command of Marquis Wu'an, he also had many of his own people in it. Without Prince Li, he could have a little more confidence, which was not too bad.

Prince Li was kept by the Emperor for a detailed talk. Looking at Duke Cheng'en who was mixed in the crowd, he felt gloating in his heart.

Lord Cheng'en is old now, and he doesn't even realize that he is walking into a trap step by step.