The peerless and dark princess

"Royal brother, since the country is stable, neither the Prince of Yan's Mansion nor Zuogang want the court to be in turmoil. Okay, even if you are worried about Zuogang, what about the Prince of Yan's Mansion?"

Chen Yan remained silent, as he knew deep down that Prince Yan's Mansion was even more unreliable than Zuogang, because he had no way of facing what he had done. Besides, Prince Yan's Mansion had too deep a foundation, and he could not tolerate the existence of such a huge family. But up to this point, he still could not get rid of it, and he had accidentally contributed to its growth.

"..."

The important officials in the court remained silent upon seeing this situation, especially those led by the Prime Minister. Of course, the fact that no one from the Chu family showed up for such a major event was also due to Chen Yu's reluctance to face the Prince of Yan's Mansion. Furthermore, could the mere men Meng Yujiao had recruited truly surround the Chu family? It was sheer absurdity.

Worst of all, the emperor's face was as pale as gold paper, and he seemed close to death. The Crown Prince and the other two princes were even more unfit for the task. The Crown Prince was passable, but considering he could poison his own father without a word, wouldn't a minister be sentenced to death or even have his entire clan exterminated if he failed to please him? And what about the Second Prince, Chen Yunfeng? He was a bit weak, and by then the Meng family would have ruled, or perhaps Meng Yujiao would have interfered in the affairs of the previous dynasty. How could these ministers possibly want a woman to rule over them? And the Third Prince, Chen Yunbin, was beyond words. He was a traitor, worse than a beggar.

Then, his eyes lit up. Isn't this perfect? ​​The person the late emperor had favored was now the King of Yue, Chen Yu.

"Because of your suspicion, the emperor and his subjects are at odds; because of your suspicion, your sons only care about fighting and ignore the safety of the country; because of your selfishness..."

Chen Yan was speechless, for what Chen Yu said was true, but wasn't he still the emperor? Suddenly, he remembered his father's words, "I favor Chen Yu because he's intelligent and has the support of the Chu family and Zuo Xiang, but he's destined to be burdened by emotions. I can't allow the Chu family's daughter to enter the palace and upset the balance of power... And you're so selfish, I'm afraid that if you gain power... If you let go of your grudges, you'll be a good emperor."

Finally, it is just as the late emperor said, after ascending to the throne, it is lonely and forgot everything in the past, and he became like this.

"King of Yue, I recalled you only to entrust this kingdom to you. I know your character and I'm taking a gamble, betting that you'll remain the same as before... You're right, I'm narrow-minded. I can't tolerate loyal ministers who are on good terms with you, and I want to hold everything in my own hands, but it will all be in vain." Chen Yan glanced at Chen Yunfeng and the others, "And now, these unfilial descendants..."

"..."

Zuo Ci didn't know what to say at this moment. He had avenged his family, but the throne that was within his reach seemed not what he wanted. Now he just wanted Chen Yan to admit that he had killed his ministers and make it public to the world, so that his parents would not die in obscurity.

"Ahem, ahem, Zuo Ci, you're here to seek the truth, right? This was all planned by me..."

Zuo Ci listened to Chen Yan's words woodenly. He had already figured out everything. If they just wanted to kill him, they could have killed him in many cases, but the difficulty was to make these things public. The difficulty was that some of the people at that time were secret guards who were responsible for saving people, but they were killed by Chen Yan as murderers. How innocent were those people?

Zuo Ci had never imagined that Chen Yan would openly admit his actions. Now that the truth was out, his sister and younger sister could live openly, especially Zuo Yunxin. In fact, Zuo Ci knew in his heart that if everything had not progressed as he had planned, how could Chen Yan, as the emperor, be so straightforward and honest? If he had not stopped Chen Yu from leaving early, the recalled King of Yue would certainly not have been willing to turn against him. Now that these things were laid out in front of him and there was no one to turn to, Chen Yan would only admit it.

The follow-up was simple. Chen Yan directly ordered Chen Yunjie, Chen Yunfeng and others to be imprisoned. Chen Yunbin and Chen Yunjie were directly sentenced to death. One killed his father and the other colluded with the enemy. The ministers present would not allow them to live. Only Chen Yunfeng saved his life and was directly demoted to a commoner. All the men in the Guan and Meng families were executed, and the women were exiled.

No one benefited from this forced abdication. King Chen Yu of Yue, who was supposed to come back to rescue Chen Yan, was forced to become emperor, and was begged by court officials on his knees. After Chen Yan dealt with Chen Yunfeng and others, he passed away. The people present allowed King Chen Yu of Yue to ascend the throne.

The great emperor Chen Yan passed away in such an aggrieved situation. Chen Yu originally wanted to persuade Zuo Ci not to go so far, but thinking of Zuo Gang, he finally did not stop Zuo Ci from forcing Chen Yan to sign with a red pen and admit that he had framed his ministers; and the treatment of the princes was simpler, and the evidence of their crimes was directly made public.

When Queen Meng Yujiao was surrounded by soldiers brought back from southern Xinjiang by Chen Yan and Crown Prince Chen Yunjie, she hanged herself in the palace with a knife. Since the situation was hopeless, she would do nothing more. She also knew that as long as Chen Yunfeng was still alive, it would be enough. But the most pitiful one was Chen Yuejiao. She was obviously a legitimate princess, but now she was labeled as a treasoner. Those palace maids and eunuchs were all flatterers. Moreover, she had been arrogant and domineering in the past and offended many people. Now she was being beaten when she was down, and she was not doing even better than Chen Yueyao.

Mu Wange in the Shangshu Mansion breathed a sigh of relief, and then sighed. Chen Yu was forced to ascend the throne, but were Meng Yan and the others still in Minzhou? Back then, Chen Yu seemed to have taken a boy to the Minzhou fiefdom. Was that his 'son'?

-

Leng Qing's people found out that Muruohan was taken away from the capital by Liu Feng, a close confidant of Chen Yunfeng, and they kindly revealed this news to Zhou Yu in the suburbs of Beijing. When Zhou Yu heard the news, he carefully avoided the crowd and followed Muruohan and others closely.

Muruhan wanted to get rid of the baby, which was a burden, but Liu Feng was not Zhou Yu. He did things in a methodical manner, so she couldn't find a chance to leave or abandon the baby. She was very annoyed in her heart but pretended to be angry.

When Muruohan was taken away from the capital by Liu Feng, Shen Xinyue fainted on the ground as soon as the things in the imperial palace were revealed. She was so glorious in the past, but now she was in such a miserable state. All the people who followed and served her had left. She also learned that the people who had served Muruohan in the past had "accidentally" killed Mu Yucheng, so Shen Xinyue fell ill in bed.