Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

The Prince of Ding'an's use of the word "teacher" made Mr. Hua's body tremble; he understood the meaning behind his words. He promised him the title of Grand Tutor once he ascended the throne.

Just as the Prince of Ding'an raised an army under the banner of "purging the court of corrupt officials and eliminating the traitor Shen", the emperor died in the capital.

After ruling for twenty-one years, Emperor Jingwen passed away, leaving behind his beloved and his young son, with a heavy heart.

"Your Majesty..." A mournful cry rang out from the Emperor's bedchamber, followed by Li Dequan's heart-wrenching wails.

"The Emperor has passed away."

In an instant, everyone standing outside the palace knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly. As the palace bells tolled, the entire capital learned of the Emperor's passing. Cloth shops sold out of white cloth in no time. Within half a day, every household in the capital was draped in white.

The large red lanterns at the gates of wealthy families were also removed and replaced with white lanterns. The most pitiful were those families who were holding wedding banquets. Upon hearing the funeral bells ringing in the palace, they hurriedly finished their prayers to heaven and earth, and immediately removed all the red lanterns and replaced them with plain white ones.

Unexpectedly, just after the palace bells had rung twenty-seven times and paused for only a moment, they rang again. The eighteenth ring was to announce the death of the eldest prince. Before his passing, the Emperor had posthumously conferred upon the eldest prince the title of Prince Rui and buried him with the rites due to a prince. The eighteenth ring was indeed the prince's funeral bell.

The Imperial Concubine was devastated by the sudden loss of her son and refused to allow the palace servants to prepare him for burial, clinging to the eldest prince. Furthermore, to avoid instability at court, news of the eldest prince's death had been kept secret from the outset. Therefore, his funeral arrangements have not yet been made, and no mourning banners have been hung inside or outside the palace. Due to the hot weather, ice has been kept on his body for the past few days to prevent damage.

"Ah? The death knell tolls eighteen times. I wonder which prince has passed away?"

"I don't know, nowadays every household is covered in white so you can't tell."

Almost everyone was discussing which prince of the imperial clan had died, and no one immediately suspected the eldest prince, especially since they had just heard that the emperor had appointed a crown prince. Ordinary people, after all, wouldn't pay attention to which prince ascended the throne.

Because the late emperor had arranged everything clearly and without any dispute before his death, Zhou Luo officially ascended the throne as emperor the day after the emperor's passing, as was customary. He posthumously conferred upon the late emperor the title of Emperor Ming Jingwen. He elevated the Empress to Empress Dowager, and his mother, Consort Jiang, to Empress Dowager Holy Mother. All other concubines were promoted one rank, receiving titles such as Grand Consort or Grand Concubine.

Next came the late emperor's funeral. According to regulations, officials and noblewomen were required to enter the palace to mourn, a period lasting one month. They entered the palace at dawn and left at dusk each day.

The funeral was naturally handled by the Ministry of Rites according to regulations, but as the late emperor's son, Zhou Luo was obliged to personally keep vigil to show his filial piety. Fearing that someone might harm the new emperor, the Shen and Jiang families sent many people to protect Zhou Luo.

Xia Yu stayed by Zhou Luo's side for twelve hours a day. Everyone in the palace knew that the new emperor's most trusted person was Princess Wenfu. Only food served by Princess Wenfu could be eaten by the new emperor. In no time, Xia Yu became the talk of the town among all the high-ranking families in the capital.

The late emperor's farewell ceremony lasted for a full month. Because his mausoleum was not yet completed, his coffin was temporarily placed in the Fengxian Hall. The burial will take place on an auspicious day after the mausoleum is finished.

After a month, everyone in the court had lost a lot of weight from the tedious rituals, and the silver in the national treasury was flowing out like water.

Upon receiving news of the emperor's death and the ascension of the new emperor, the Prince of Ding'an immediately changed his slogan for raising an army.

He first issued a proclamation, the gist of which was that as a member of the imperial clan, he did not acknowledge the current emperor's royal bloodline, and in order to rectify the court, he demanded that the traitor Shen produce proof that the new emperor was of the emperor's bloodline. The traitor Shen in this context was naturally Shen Jingheng, because he was the one who had brought back the late emperor, and he believed that this was a means for Shen Jingheng to usurp the throne of the Great Huai Dynasty.

Although they had long anticipated his rebellion, the late emperor's passing and Zhou Luo's sudden ascension to the throne left many unsure of the situation, leading to instability within the army. Consequently, during the brief month of mourning for the late emperor, the Prince of Ding'an managed to capture three cities.

"Urgent report from the front..." In the imperial court, civil and military officials were discussing the matter of the Prince of Ding'an's uprising. The ministers were arguing so fiercely that they were red in the face and neck. If someone hadn't stopped them, they probably would have broken their heads.

At this moment, the military report from the front lines made them pause their argument.

"Your Majesty, the army of Prince Ding'an has reached Jialing Pass. General Zhao is currently leading his soldiers in a fierce resistance, but the city is running out of food. They can only hold out for another ten days at most before the city runs out of supplies." The soldier who delivered the military report was covered in dust and looked very disheveled, clearly having rushed back day and night.

“Your Majesty, the Prince of Ding’an has always been ambitious and restless. In just one month, he has already occupied three cities. If the Jialing Pass is also occupied by the rebels, then he will be able to advance unimpeded and occupy half of our Great Huai. At that time, I am afraid he will split the court and declare himself king!” Jiang Pingda was the first to speak to the Emperor.

"General Jiang, the traitor you speak of is a descendant of Emperor Taizu, just like His Majesty. His current actions are merely due to being misled by treacherous officials and being unaware of the situation in the capital. I believe a policy of appeasement is best. We should send someone to explain the current situation to Prince Ding'an, and he will surely withdraw his troops then." A minister in his thirties stood up to oppose Jiang Pingda.

"I second Minister Ding's opinion. Prince Ding'an did not indiscriminately kill innocent people during the army's advance. This shows that war was not what he desired; he merely had doubts about the Emperor's lineage. Now, all it takes is for Minister Shen to prove the Emperor's lineage, which can resolve the conflict between the two armies. Why go through the trouble of sending soldiers to their deaths in vain?" A minister who had always disagreed with Shen Jingheng on political matters spoke up in agreement, thus directing the conflict towards Shen Jingheng.

As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen ministers stood up in court to second his opinion. Clearly, many people believed that the main cause of this war was Shen Jingheng.

"Hmph, what a fool's view. The reason why the Prince of Ding'an did not indiscriminately kill in the cities he occupied is because he considered those places as his own. My lord, if you seized someone else's house and took it for yourself, would you burn it down?"

Shen Jingxun questioned the official who had pointed the finger at Shen Jingheng.

"General, please be careful with your words. I am a second-rank Left Censor-in-Chief. It is the right granted to us by the court to supervise the emperor and the ministers. What I just said is true. Shouldn't Lord Shen present evidence to prove it to the world? With evidence, the Prince of Ding'an will have no excuse and will naturally withdraw his troops."

"Evidence? What more evidence do we need? The late emperor's edict establishing the heir is the best evidence," Shen Jingxun said.

“We weren’t present when the edict was issued, so how can we know if it was the late emperor’s original intention?” Another official who had seconded Lord Ding suddenly spoke up.

"What do you mean by this, sir? You weren't there, but Lord Murong, Lord Ding, Lord Ge, Princess Wenfu, Grand Tutor Li, several princesses of the late emperor, the two empress dowagers, and all the imperial concubines were present. What? Are you questioning everyone who was there?" Murong Fu was so angry at the man's words that he laughed. Didn't this mean that they had colluded with outsiders and kidnapped the emperor?

The man realized he had misspoke and quickly tried to defend himself.

"I misspoke and failed to express myself clearly, please forgive me, sir."

Murong Fu merely snorted coldly and stopped arguing with him.