Beautiful Peasant Girl: The Young Marquis's Beloved

When Emperor Jing ascended the throne, he was nearly forty years old. Although he was on the throne for only twelve years and did not achieve much, he could still be considered a benevolent monarch.

Now that he has passed away, the people of the capital have voluntarily hung white sails in front of their doors. But people are not stupid. Ever since Emperor Jing fell into a coma last time, the atmosphere in the capital has been unusually depressing, and it became even more tense after the funeral bell rang yesterday.

Therefore, the streets are very sparsely populated.

Xiao Yan and his men thought that these people would at least wait until Emperor Jing was buried in the imperial mausoleum before taking action. However, they underestimated these people's urgency for the throne.

On the day after Emperor Jingdi passed away, in the mourning hall, the Empress and the Third Prince argued that the country could not be without a ruler for a day, and that the late Emperor had passed away in a hurry and had not issued an edict of succession, but that the Third Prince Xiao Yu was the Empress's legitimate son, and it was reasonable and logical for him to inherit the throne.

Civil and military officials all talked about it, and the officials headed by Queen Wang’s mother’s family immediately expressed that it was reasonable.

Among the remaining people, some were royalists, such as Mu Jingfeng, Qin Xiang, Xu Mingli, and Ge Lao Taifu, a veteran of three dynasties; some were from the eldest prince's faction; and a small number were just waiting and watching.

The queen also invited several elderly relatives of the royal family, a few of whom had been bribed by her. Among these people, the most important were the uncle of Emperor Jing, the old Prince Gong, Xiao Ruiyuan, and the two brothers who were saved by Emperor Jing when he succeeded to the throne, Prince He Xiao Yunmu and Prince Shun Xiao Yunxi.

Xiao Yunxi said with a look of deep agreement: "Uncle, in my opinion, the ministers are absolutely right. Since my brother has not left a will to pass on the throne, then according to etiquette, the eldest son should be appointed as the heir. This is the orthodox choice!"

Before Mu Jingfeng and the others could speak, the officials headed by the eldest prince spoke eagerly: "Old prince, the two princes, and all the clan members, if we are talking about establishing the eldest son as the heir, why not support His Highness to ascend the throne?"

Another minister agreed: "That's right. Although the Third Prince was born in the Central Palace, his moral character is flawed. Last year, His Majesty suddenly became seriously ill. It coincided with the invasion of Beihan. The Mu family army was fighting bloody battles on the front line, but the Third Prince maliciously blocked the supply of food and grass for his own selfish reasons, disregarding the safety of the country and the lives of thousands of soldiers. How can we support such a person?"

"Yes, old prince, you don't know that the Rongguo Mansion, the mother's family of the Queen, has not only formed cliques and engaged in private interests in the court, but also indulged their descendants to be tyrannical and oppress the people and make money crazily. When the Third Prince found out, he not only did not stop it, but also helped to clean up the mess! How can he be worthy of being the king of a country with such behavior?"

Immediately, the officials below started talking.

Queen Wang was a little anxious. "How dare you, Xiao Ling, for the sake of the throne, you allowed your subordinates to throw dirty water on Yu'er. If you can't tolerate your brothers, how can you inherit the throne?"

Xiao Ling sneered, "Why should you be so angry, mother? Lord Mu is right here. You can ask him whether the Mu family army has received any needle or thread or grain of rice sent by the court since the emperor fell ill for no reason. Also, why did the emperor suddenly become seriously ill? Do you really think we are fools?"

The last sentence was spoken so loudly that it could be heard outside the hall.

Suddenly, almost everyone, including Xiao Yu's supporters, looked at Queen Wang and her son in surprise.

"Your Highness means that His Majesty is seriously ill, which is..."

"Hiss, Your Highness, is that what you mean?"

"It's probably true, this...!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu and his mother's faces changed. Queen Wang immediately retorted in a stern voice: "Xiao Ling, what do you mean by this? I never knew you were such a vicious person. When His Majesty was seriously ill, the two imperial doctors and the court judge jointly diagnosed that it was caused by long-term overwork. Many important officials in the court were present at the time. How could you frame him at will?"

"Oh, sister, do you think that if you control the families of several imperial doctors, no one will know about this? Do you still remember the imperial doctor Jiang who retired and returned to his hometown at the end of last year?" The Defei, who had not appeared before, walked in slowly in plain clothes.

Upon hearing this, all the officials looked at each other in confusion, and some who did not understand hurriedly asked what was going on.

It turned out that Doctor Jiang was one of the people who had diagnosed His Majesty before. At the end of the year, he resigned from His Majesty on the grounds that he was old and wanted to return to his hometown. Later, it was heard that he encountered bandits on the way back to his hometown and his whole family was killed.

Queen Wang frowned when she heard this, and her heart skipped a beat. Then she thought of something and sneered, "Sister, you're really willing to do anything for the eldest prince, even those who have passed away!"

"Haha, when it comes to using every possible means, who can compare to the Queen?" Concubine De sneered, then turned around and saluted the three princes:

"Uncle, two princes, my nephew rescued a man on his way home from a trip a few years ago. The man just woke up a few days ago. When he learned that I am your nephew, he immediately claimed to be the grandson of Imperial Physician Jiang, Jiang Yan, and repeatedly begged to see me and the eldest prince."

Having said that, Concubine De glanced at the Queen quietly.

Queen Wang's pupils constricted and she couldn't help but feel panicked. Before she could figure out how to solve the problem, the Third Prince had already made a decision for her.

Xiao Yu just made a gesture, and the royal guards outside the palace surrounded the entire palace where the mourning hall was set up.

Mu Jingfeng and his son were the first to notice something was wrong. They blocked Xiao Yan, Xu Mingli and others behind them and moved to the corner.

Xiao Yu just sneered, "After all, don't you just want your elder brother to succeed you? Why are you playing so many tricks? Otherwise, why didn't you just file a complaint with the emperor when father woke up earlier?"

"Hmph, Xiao Ling? What right does he have? He is neither good at literature nor martial arts, a fool! My father did not leave a will, and I am the legitimate son. I have also been the regent for several months. In every way, I am many times better than Xiao Ling. Dongsheng will only become more prosperous when it is in my hands, hahahaha!"

His laughter was a little crazy, and he looked at Xiao Ling with contempt, as if saying that he was trash in his eyes.

The eldest prince was instantly furious. "Xiao Yu, you are a beast who killed his father and his king. I will never let the Xiao family's kingdom fall into the hands of someone like you."

As he said that, he drew out the soft sword from his waist and stabbed towards Xiao Yu.

The fourth prince followed closely behind. The sixth and seventh princes stood beside Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yan whispered to Mu Jingfeng to pull the myna Xiao Kai over.

My goodness, this idiot was standing in the middle of the circle with a confused look on his face, and almost got cut like a melon.

The scene became chaotic in the blink of an eye.

The three princes were protected by their respective followers. Old Prince Gong's face turned red with anger, and he kept shouting, "Stop! Stop it! These bastards!"

The other two followed their followers and retreated, fearing that they would be hurt by mistake.

Others also dodged everywhere.

Concubine De didn't expect Xiao Yu to be so bold and not care about his reputation at all. Queen Wang was stunned for a moment, then she came to her senses and immediately stepped back, letting the palace maids block in front.

Xiao Ling was no match for Xiao Yu and soon fell into a disadvantage, but he had a good younger brother who was good at martial arts. Xiao Teng pulled his brother away and went straight up to fight with Xiao Yu.

Seeing this, Xiao Ling immediately prepared to retreat and planned to send a signal to gather his men.

At this time, the Sixth Prince and the Seventh Prince looked at each other, drew their swords and rushed towards him.

If Liu Xu were here, she would definitely complain, saying that the palace was strictly guarded and that weapons were not allowed. All of them had swords hidden on their waists, and none of them were easy to deal with.

The hall was surrounded, sword shadows were rustling inside, screams were heard one after another, and it was in chaos.

Xiao Ling's eldest son was already fourteen years old. Seeing his father being surrounded by his two uncles, he rushed forward and kicked the Seventh Prince, who was the same age as him.

When Defei found out, it was already too late, and she could only clench her hands and stare at her eldest grandson.

But he had no weapon and was soon injured and bleeding.

When Xiao Ling saw this, he became so angry that his eyes turned red. He drew his sword twice as fast as before and soon stabbed the Sixth Prince to the ground.

He turned and attacked the seventh brother who had injured his son.

When Xiao Kai saw this, he wanted to stop them, but Xiao Yan grabbed his arm.

Xiao Yan shook his head at him and said, "Brother Ba, don't go. They are already furious and we don't have any weapons..."

Xiao Ling finally found an opportunity to send out the signal. Soon, another group of people who had been waiting for a long time started fighting with the imperial guards who had surrounded the palace.

The two sides fought back and forth in the palace, the sound of killing shook the sky, the blood dyed the palace floor red, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.