Half in the river wind, half in the clouds

Chapter 185 Story

Li Dan seemed to have returned to those fearful years.

He and his five sons were imprisoned in the Eastern Palace for more than ten years. Before going to bed at night, he was grateful for living one more day. When he woke up the next morning, he felt that the edict of death would be issued today.

Compared to his brothers, who either died or lost their families, he was lucky to have only lost two concubines.

His greatest wish was for his family to live together in harmony, and for this he lived in worry and fear every day.

But since when did this nightmare that has always been with me get replaced?

His mother died, his brother died, and he ascended the throne once again.

He looked around with disdain, as if no one could compete with him, as if his throne had finally been secured.

He finally became like a real emperor, with power, balance, and control over his subordinates.

But was fighting among family members his original intention?

Seeing Li Dan hesitate, Jiang Feng finally seized the opportunity and told him the story she had prepared for a long time.

In another vast territory, there was also a great emperor. He ascended the throne at the age of eight, took power at the age of sixteen, and reigned for sixty-one years. During his reign, he captured treacherous officials, put down three rebellions, recovered lost territory, maintained a clear political system, made the people rich and the country strong, and his achievements were recorded in history.

This emperor had twenty sons, but only the second son was born to his queen. He was made the crown prince before he was even a month old, and was trained as the heir to the throne since he was young, with high hopes placed on him.

But as the prince grew older, he began to lose his influence. After being deposed and appointed twice, the emperor still had high hopes for his son.

The emperor had the patience to educate his sons, but his other sons could not wait.

The most obvious ones are the eldest prince and the eighth prince.

The eldest prince was dissatisfied with the decision to appoint the crown prince based on the legitimate heir, and was the most indignant. However, the emperor favored the second prince, and he was frustrated, so he cursed the crown prince in an attempt to seize the crown prince's position.

Later he was reported by the third prince, stripped of his title and imprisoned.

The eighth prince was a humble man, smart and capable, with good character. He was known as the "Eighth Wise King" in the court, and the ninth, tenth and fourteenth princes all followed him.

After the emperor deposed his son as the crown prince for the first time, the eighth prince tried to become the crown prince several times, but was severely reprimanded and warned by the emperor. However, he continued to scheme and was stripped of his title and demoted to an idle member of the royal family. In view of the open and covert struggles among the princes, the emperor first ordered the princes and ministers to recommend a prince to become the crown prince, intending to take the opportunity to reinstate the second prince as the crown prince. However, he unexpectedly discovered that the eighth prince's camp was too powerful. In order to strike at the eighth prince's camp, he reinstated the second prince.

However, the second son, favored by his father, did not make progress, became more and more perverse, violent, arrogant and licentious, and was deposed again. He was imprisoned until his death.

Seeing hope again, the eighth prince tried again and was reprimanded again. Later, he angered the emperor because of the "eagle killing incident". The emperor claimed to sever the father-son relationship with the eighth prince and detained him the following year.

At this time, among the Eighth Prince's camp, only the Fourteenth Prince was increasingly valued by the Emperor.

It turned out that the Eighth Prince and his cronies began to push the Fourteenth Prince for the position of Crown Prince.

In addition to the eldest prince's party, the crown prince's party and the eighth prince's party, there are also the fourth prince and the thirteenth prince.

The two men kept a low profile and only obeyed the emperor's orders, but they subtly placed their own people in key positions.

As the emperor's death was approaching, he issued an imperial decree to summon his fourteenth son, who was leading troops in the northwest, to return to the capital.

But when the fourteenth prince returned to the capital, the fourth prince was already sitting on the dragon throne.

There is no clear statement in history as to whether the emperor wanted to pass the throne to the fourth son or the fourteenth son when he was dying.

If the throne was not to be passed on to the fourteenth prince, why was he summoned back to the capital in a hurry?

But after the emperor passed away, all the ministers said that His Majesty had passed the throne to the fourth son, and there was an imperial edict to prove it.

The fourth son became the emperor in this way.

After he ascended the throne, he imprisoned the eighth, ninth and tenth princes.

I think he hated the death of his brothers, so he named the eighth son "Aqina", which means pig in their language, and the ninth son "Seshehei", which means dog.

The eighth and ninth brothers were eventually tortured to death.

Lao Shi was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The fourth and fourteenth princes were born of the same mother, but they had different positions. After the fourth prince ascended the throne, although he did not kill his brothers, he ordered the fourteenth prince to guard the imperial mausoleum for life and not leave.

The Thirteenth Prince, who was in the same camp as the Fourth Prince, was extremely favored after the Fourth Prince ascended the throne. However, he suffered physical damage from the earlier struggle for the throne. He became bedridden in his thirties and died of depression before he was forty.

"Before the old emperor passed away, only one of his nine adult sons died of natural causes. It's really pitiful and lamentable." Jiang Feng finally said with regret.

After listening to this, Li Dan fell silent for a long time again.

The eunuch next to Li Dan had a pale face.

After a long while, Li Dan asked hoarsely, "Then do you think my five sons will be like this?"

Jiang Feng replied, "During the Lantern Festival last year, when the late emperor was still in power and Your Majesty was still in the residence of the Prince of Xiang, I was wandering around Chang'an at night and was struck by the flower-calyx lanterns of the five sons of the Prince of Xiang. There were many visitors, all praising the five sons of the Prince of Xiang for their brotherly love and their harmonious family. But now, only a little over a year has passed. Do you still think that the five of them are still as close as they were back then, with no grudges against each other?"

Li Dan asked again: "You mean, the five of them will also..."

He didn't have the courage to finish.

Jiang Feng said earnestly: "Your Majesty, the situation is not irreversible at this point!"

Li Dan suddenly sat up straight, as if he had made a big decision, and said, "I want to depose the crown prince and establish Prince Ning! With the edict from my mother, it's not too late!"

Jiang Feng was not surprised and asked, "Then how will Your Majesty deal with the Crown Prince, Prince Xue, and Prince Qi? Will you strip them of their titles and imprison them for life?"

Li Danfu fell into despair and said, "Can't we keep their wealth and honor?"

Jiang Feng said firmly: "Your Majesty, of course, knows the Crown Prince's intentions better than I do. Now in the court, the Crown Prince and Princess Taiping are already at loggerheads. Even if the Crown Prince wants to retreat, the officials of the Eastern Palace will certainly not agree, and will definitely compete with Prince Ning. Your Majesty, a hundred years from now, no matter which of the two ascends the throne, the other will have a hard time ending well!"

Li Dan said: "Can we avoid this by supporting Sanlang?"

Jiang Feng said, "Of course! Since His Majesty ascended the throne, he has only appointed one crown prince, and that is the Crown Prince. As long as His Majesty does not recognize Prince Ning, he will have no impact on the Crown Prince. He is not dangerous to the Crown Prince. But once Empress Wu's edict is issued, Prince Ning has a legitimate claim to the throne! For now, the only solution is for His Majesty to come forward in person and say that the edict is fake, and all problems will be solved."

Li Dan said, "No. No. There must be another way."

Jiang Feng added: "Your Majesty must have heard something: a few days ago, Princess Taiping lobbied Prince Ning to compete for the throne."

Li Dan nodded helplessly.

Jiang Feng said: "But the next day, news came out that King Kaining refused. Why?"

Without waiting for Li Dan's reply, she said, "Prince Ning is waiting for your Majesty's attitude!"