Chapter 61: Ascension to the Throne. The turmoil ends, and Prince Yan ascends the throne.

The Third Prince was deeply resentful.

He had gone to great lengths to expose the affair between the Crown Prince and Princess Zhaoyang. He thought the Crown Prince’s deposition was just around the corner. Yet, for the sake of the imperial family’s dignity, his Imperial Father had covered the matter up. Hadn’t all his efforts been for naught?

Thus, he deliberately leaked the news, ensuring everyone knew of the Crown Prince’s wicked deeds. He wanted to see how his Imperial Father would clean up the mess.

Meanwhile, he himself attended to the Emperor, serving him medicine and putting on the airs of a filial son.

But the Emperor had no desire to see him at this moment and ordered him to withdraw.

The Third Prince had no choice but to temporarily stay away from the Emperor’s side.

The Emperor was gravely ill. He was no longer young, and this great shock had caused him to vomit blood and faint. It was only thanks to the superb skills of the imperial physicians that his condition was barely stabilized.

“Your Majesty, the abortifacient wasn’t taken,” a young eunuch reported, trembling.

Princess Zhaoyang was under house arrest and refused to drink the medicine no matter what. She was, after all, a daughter of noble birth. Which eunuch would dare to force her?

“Then pour it down her throat!” The Emperor, enraged, coughed twice. “Do I have to teach you how to do this?”

“But, but the imperial physician said the princess is too far along in her pregnancy. He fears… fears it might claim both mother and child.”

The world went dark before the Emperor’s eyes, and he nearly coughed up another mouthful of blood. The thought of his once most-beloved children doing such a thing filled him with both fury and hatred. He said in a cold voice, “Then let it be both mother and child!”

Was he supposed to let such a sinful creature be born?

He was furious with the Crown Prince and the Princess, and he was also furious with the Empress for failing to raise her children properly. She couldn’t even see the illicit affair between her own son and daughter. Then, his anger turned to the Third Prince. Knowing full well of his siblings’ scandal, he did not stop it. Instead, he allowed it to develop to an irreparable point so that he could reap the benefits.

The more the Emperor thought about it, the more his hatred grew. It felt as if a multitude of daggers were churning in his chest, causing him immense pain.

He forced down some medicine, which made him feel slightly better. He had just closed his eyes for a moment when someone came to report again, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a palace attendant from the princess’s side has confessed that the Crown Prince… the Crown Prince’s identity is questionable.”

“What do you mean, his identity is questionable?” The Emperor’s mind was hazy, and he didn’t immediately understand.

The person reported cautiously, “They said the Crown Prince… the Crown Prince is not Your Majesty’s biological son. He is… he is a bastard child the Empress brought in from the outside.”

“What?!” The world went dark before the Emperor’s eyes again. He suspected he had misheard.

The person carefully presented the recorded confession.

It turned out that the Emperor, intending to hide the scandal of the Crown Prince and the Princess, had ordered all of Princess Zhaoyang’s attendants to be imprisoned and prepared for execution.

Unexpectedly, at that very moment, a palace attendant, in a desperate bid to live, revealed a shocking secret: strictly speaking, the relationship between the Crown Prince and the Princess was not incest, because the Crown Prince was not the biological son of the Emperor and Empress at all.

“…This servant once accidentally overheard the Crown Prince and the Princess talking. They said that Her Majesty the Empress had originally given birth to a pair of twin girls. The Crown Prince and the Princess are not biological siblings at all.”

——When serving in the palace, the most important things were loyalty and a tight lip. But when faced with death, who could afford to be so scrupulous?

One had to fight for oneself, to buy as much time as possible.

The executioner dared not be careless. He immediately conducted a detailed interrogation and reported the matter to the Emperor.

Upon hearing this, the Emperor felt a splitting headache. His first reaction was: impossible. How could the son he had raised for over twenty years not be his own?

But upon reflection, it was not entirely baseless.

When the Empress gave birth, he was not in the palace, which left room for manipulation. Moreover, the Crown Prince’s features resembled neither the Empress nor him…

What if the child had truly been swapped…

The Emperor’s body trembled. He gritted his teeth. “Investigate. Investigate every last detail for Us.”

Whether it was true or false, he wanted the truth. How could the imperial bloodline be tainted? He was the Emperor; he could not be kept in the dark.

The Emperor had long held a high position and had a group of capable men at his disposal.

He gave the order, and someone immediately carried it out.

Historically, for any imperial birth, every pulse diagnosis and medication from the beginning of the pregnancy was recorded.

Now, investigating this old matter was both difficult and easy. The medical records from over twenty years ago were clear: the Empress had indeed been pregnant with twins.

But the several imperial physicians and midwives who attended the birth had all died suddenly within a month of the Empress giving birth. Furthermore, on the day of the birth, the Empress’s sister-in-law had also entered the palace to visit and stayed for an entire night.

All dead within a month?

How could there be such a coincidence in the world?

Before, he hadn’t thought along these lines, but the moment suspicion arose, he knew something was amiss.

The Emperor’s eyes were bloodshot. He ordered them to investigate further.

The continued investigation yielded new discoveries. One of the midwives had stuffed a very crude drawing into a crack in the wall of her home: the drawing’s content was none other than the swapping of infants.

…

The Empress had always stayed out of political affairs in the rear palace. But overnight, both her son and daughter were placed under house arrest, and she was greatly alarmed. She was the Emperor’s first wife, but in terms of the Emperor’s favor, she was far inferior to the Noble Consort. All these years, she had secured her position as Empress through her son and daughter, but a faint unease had always lingered deep in her heart.

Just as she was about to send someone to contact her maternal family to discuss a countermeasure, she was startled by a commotion outside.

A troop of the Imperial Guard had surrounded Phoenix Palace.

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you still have any respect for this Empress?” the Empress questioned in shock and anger.

The commander of the Imperial Guard cupped his hands. “By His Majesty’s order, we are here to arrest people. I ask that Her Majesty the Empress does not obstruct us.”

The Empress was even more shocked. “Arrest who?”

The commander did not answer, only dragging away several of the Empress’s confidants.

The Empress’s face instantly turned pale, and she collapsed to the ground. A moment later, she belatedly remembered she should try to stop them, but how could she possibly stop them now?

Not only were her confidants taken away, but she herself was also forbidden from leaving.

The Empress understood that she, too, had been placed under house arrest.

…

The Empress’s confidants were exceptionally loyal. They remained tight-lipped under interrogation, and some even preferred to bite their own tongues and commit suicide rather than betray the Empress. Only one eunuch could not withstand the torture and finally confessed to the Empress’s child swapping all those years ago.

More than twenty years had passed, but the eunuch clearly recounted all the participants at the time.

Hearing that the Empress’s maternal family was also involved, the Emperor grew even more furious. He spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot and nearly fainted.

The Crown Prince’s incest was a matter of improper conduct. If the Emperor were determined to protect him and suppress public opinion, he might have been able to save him. But if he was not his own flesh and blood, how could the Emperor spare his life?

It wasn’t just the Crown Prince; the Emperor was unwilling to spare the Empress and her maternal family either.

After being placed under house arrest, the Crown Prince grew more worried by the day.

He could not just sit and wait for death; he had to save himself.

Fortunately, having been the heir apparent for many years, the Crown Prince had painstakingly built up a considerable network. Although he was under house arrest, he could still manage to pass messages to the outside world.

Thus, he soon learned that the Emperor had sent men to Phoenix Palace to arrest people and had also moved against the Empress’s maternal family.

A sense of foreboding immediately arose in the Crown Prince’s heart: the current situation was very unfavorable for him.

Just as he had guessed, upon learning that his son was not his own, the Emperor flew into a rage and ordered the Empress to be brought before him.

The Empress initially denied everything, but with both human and material evidence present, she had no choice but to admit it. However, she still argued that the Crown Prince was the Emperor’s biological son, and Princess Zhaoyang was the one who had been brought in.

But the Emperor was no longer willing to listen to her defense. He had intended to have someone list the Crown Prince’s crimes, then depose and execute him. On second thought, since the matter involved an imperial secret that should not be leaked, it was better to just send him on his way with a cup of poisoned wine.

However, before the secret edict to appoint a new heir could be sent out, a clamor was heard from outside.

It turned out that the Crown Prince, seeing the situation turn against him, was unwilling to stretch out his neck for the slaughter. After being rescued by his trusted followers, he simply joined forces with them, leading troops to storm the Emperor’s bedchamber in an attempt to force his abdication.

That night, rivers of blood flowed within the Imperial Palace.

Xiao Chengzhe, the Crown Prince, leaned on his long saber and knelt on one knee. “I implore Imperial Father to abdicate the throne to me immediately!”

“You, you…” The Emperor was already choking with anger. Seeing this scene, he couldn’t catch his breath and died on the spot.

At this time, the edict to depose the Crown Prince had not yet been issued, so the Crown Prince, in his capacity as the heir apparent, hastily ascended the throne.

Public opinion outside was now extremely unfavorable for Xiao Chengzhe. So, while he carried out mass arrests in the capital to control public opinion, he also ordered the execution of the Third Prince.

The Third Prince had originally thought that with the Crown Prince in trouble and himself being the only son left to the Emperor, the position of heir apparent was a sure thing. How could he have anticipated this sudden turn of events?

He didn’t believe for a second that his Imperial Father was gravely ill and had passed the throne to Xiao Chengzhe on his deathbed. He was certain that Xiao Chengzhe had committed regicide and usurpation.

Unfortunately, that bastard had already ascended the throne before the Emperor’s coffin. The Third Prince had limited power and had lost the initiative. Facing Xiao Chengzhe’s pursuit, he could only flee the capital in a panic amidst the chaos. But he was utterly unreconciled, so he issued a proclamation, publicly declaring that Xiao Chengzhe was not of imperial blood, had committed regicide and usurpation, and that everyone had the right to execute him.

He had planned to rally support from all regions to jointly crusade against the usurper Xiao Chengzhe.

Unexpectedly, the response was sparse.

…

Anle County was far from the capital, and news did not travel very fast.

By the time Su Zhenyue heard about this matter, it had already developed to the point where the Third Prince was leading foreign troops into the court.

“This…” Su Zhenyue was in disbelief. “How could this happen?”

It wasn’t time for that yet, was it? Shouldn’t this have happened three years from now?

She had thought that with the Crown Prince’s downfall, the situation had changed. Moreover, the Third Prince had not yet married that foreign concubine, so the matter of leading foreign troops into the court should not have happened. How could it still…

Su Zhenyue knew that the foreign tribes were not to be trifled with. And it was easier to invite a god than to send one away. In her dream, after the foreign tribe entered the capital, they burned, killed, and plundered the city.

With Xiao Chengzhe and the Third Prince fighting, it was the common people who suffered.

The scene of the great chaos in the capital from her dream was still vivid in her mind, and Su Zhenyue couldn’t help but feel uneasy. “It’s my fault. If I had known, I should have…”

“It has nothing to do with you.” Shen Ji took her hand. “The ones at fault are those vying for power and profit. You did nothing, so how could you be at fault?”

Su Zhenyue pressed her lips together and asked in a small voice, “Then His Highness, Prince Yan…”

She remembered that in her dream, Prince Yan had raised his army under these circumstances.

Sure enough, in the next moment, she heard Shen Ji say slowly, “His Highness is preparing to raise an army.”

Su Zhenyue nodded lightly, thinking to herself: Thank goodness. With Prince Yan dispatching troops, given his capabilities, the turmoil should be resolved quickly.

I hope this all ends soon.

…

In fact, even Prince Yan himself had not expected the situation to develop to this point.

Initially, he had only revealed to the Third Prince that Xiao Chengzhe was having an affair with Princess Zhaoyang. He never expected things to take such a turn.

It was truly unexpected that the Third Prince, holding such a huge piece of leverage against his political rival, could still end up in this predicament.

Later, when the Third Prince issued his proclamation, Prince Yan temporarily adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Unexpectedly, the Third Prince turned around and borrowed troops from a foreign tribe, an even more terrible move.

Now that the people of the capital were suffering, Prince Yan felt a faint sense of self-reproach, while also clearly realizing that at this moment, he had to step forward.

For him, this was both a responsibility and a heaven-sent opportunity.

Shen Ji made a trip to the Yan Prince Manor and had a secret discussion with Prince Yan for nearly four hours.

Not long after, Prince Yan, under the banner of quelling the rebellion, personally led a large army toward the capital.

…

Learning that Prince Yan had already raised his army, Su Zhenyue quietly breathed a sigh of relief, yet also worried secretly: some circumstances were different from her dream, and she didn’t know if things would still go as smoothly for Prince Yan as they had in the dream.

Shen Ji had been in frequent contact with Prince Yan recently, but when Prince Yan raised his army, he did not accompany him, instead remaining in Anle County.

It wasn’t just him; Li Zhong, one of Prince Yan’s most capable generals, was also there.

——Youzhou was adjacent to the border. Now that Youzhou’s military strength was greatly reduced, they had to be on high alert for an invasion from the Beihu in the north.

Sure enough, what they feared came to pass.

The Beihu in the north had always been watching covetously, but because Prince Yan’s army was stationed in Youzhou, they dared not act rashly. Now, learning that Prince Yan had led his troops to the capital to quell the rebellion, they sensed an opportunity. The Beihu general, Xuri Gan, led a hundred-thousand-strong army south, crossed the border, and attacked Youzhou.

Fortunately, Prince Yan was no reckless man. Although he had gone to the capital to quell the rebellion, he had still left a certain number of troops in Youzhou, though they were far from a match for Xuri Gan’s hundred-thousand-strong army.

General Li Zhong, who was in charge of defending Youzhou, had followed Prince Yan for many years and was most skilled in defense. He had a cautious nature and held his ground, refusing to go on the offensive.

After a stalemate of several days, Xuri Gan’s patience ran out, and he launched a fierce assault.

He had thought it was a sure victory, but unexpectedly, he was unable to break through after a long siege and was even caught in a pincer attack by another force. The Beihu army was cut off, its head and tail unable to support each other. With their supply lines cut, Xuri Gan’s army was severely weakened and suffered heavy losses. The few remaining troops had no choice but to retreat in disarray.

This incident not only lifted the siege of Youzhou but also greatly dampened the Beihu’s morale.

After this event, Yan Wangfei trusted Li Zhong even more and grew closer to Shen Ji and his wife.

——Because the force that had launched the pincer attack on Xuri Gan was the army Shen Ji had brought in. Earlier, during his secret talk with Prince Yan, he had mentioned his concern that the Beihu might take the opportunity to cause trouble, and together with Prince Yan, they had devised a strategy to repel the enemy.

At the same time, the situation in the capital was also unstable.

In order to deal with Xiao Chengzhe, the Third Prince had led foreign troops into the capital. After a period of fierce fighting, he finally captured the Imperial Palace.

Xiao Chengzhe, who had forced his way onto the throne less than two months prior, was killed in the chaos of battle before he could even warm the Emperor’s seat.

As for the officials in his faction, they were either executed, imprisoned, or switched their allegiance to the Third Prince.

The Third Prince was complacent and prepared to choose an auspicious day to ascend the throne. But he had forgotten that it is easier to invite a god than to send one away. The foreign army that had entered the capital with him refused to leave as agreed and instead went on a rampage of looting throughout the city.

The people of the capital lived in constant fear.

And the Third Prince, having incurred public wrath by bringing foreign troops into the capital, became a public enemy and was ultimately killed by Xiao Chengzhe’s former subordinates.

…

Su Zhenyue had a dream again.

Perhaps it was because she was worried about the situation in the capital. She actually dreamed of the “Chaos in the Capital” again. The dream was different from the present; it was autumn. At that time, she had already left the Jing An Marquis Estate and was living in an inconspicuous small courtyard in the capital.

It was chaotic outside, and worried that something might happen, she had simply locked her doors and windows, staying at home every day. She thought this would be much safer, but she was captured anyway.

The ones who captured her were not the rebel army, nor the foreign troops, but a young man who called himself Liu Yan and his accomplices.

Locked up with Su Zhenyue was another person: Princess Changle Wen Shan.

Only then did Su Zhenyue learn that Liu Yan was Gu Yuanchen’s sworn enemy. At that time, Gu Yuanchen had already risen to the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Liu Yan’s sister, with whom he had been inseparable, was sentenced to death by slow slicing for killing her husband, and the presiding official was none other than Gu Yuanchen.

Liu Yan resented Gu Yuanchen for his lack of mercy. He took advantage of the chaos to kidnap Princess Changle Wen Shan, who was returning to her maternal home to pay respects to her mother, wanting to make him taste the same heart-wrenching pain.

However, after being kidnapped, Wen Shan’s words—”You’ve kidnapped the wrong person. He doesn’t care about me at all. The one he truly cares about is someone else”—piqued Liu Yan’s interest.

Half-believing, half-doubting, Liu Yan took advantage of the chaos to kidnap Su Zhenyue and then excitedly made a bet with Wen Shan.

“We’ll know who Gu Yuanchen cares about more with a simple test.”

In the dream, Su Zhenyue was both furious and desperate when she learned the reason for her capture. For over twenty years, she had lived cautiously and had never done anything wrong. The only time she had stepped out of line was in the Shu Region, when she killed Yuan Ye to avenge Nanxing. Why did she have to run into such unlucky things?

She begged and pleaded, but it was useless.

After the “Chaos in the Capital” ended, she and Princess Changle were tied to a large tree on the edge of a cliff in the capital’s suburbs, forcing Gu Yuanchen to choose which one of them to save.

Her hands were bound, her feet dangled in the air, and below her was a bottomless abyss.

In the dream, Su Zhenyue was terrified.

In reality, the dreaming woman’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, and she kept murmuring in her sleep, “Save me, save me…”

Shen Ji, beside her, sensed something was wrong and called out softly, “Mian Mian, wake up.”

Su Zhenyue was startled awake. She dazedly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Shen Ji’s worried face.

“Cousin…” Su Zhenyue was disoriented for a moment before coming to her senses. She sat up and wrapped her arms around Shen Ji.

Shen Ji gently patted her on the shoulder. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Mhm,” Su Zhenyue nodded, her voice muffled. She continued to hug Shen Ji, feeling his warmth, and her heart gradually calmed down.

“It’s just a dream, don’t take it seriously,” Shen Ji soothed her softly.

“I know.”

There’s no need to worry anymore, Su Zhenyue thought. Even the “Chaos in the Capital” had happened ahead of schedule; many things were different from the dream. Shen Ji was highly regarded by Prince Yan, and his future was limitless. She no longer needed to be afraid of those people in the capital.

She had already changed her destiny.

Several days later, news came from the capital.

Prince Yan’s army had resolved the chaos in the capital.

The late Emperor had no more sons. Prince Yan was the late Emperor’s paternal cousin, had meritorious service in quelling the rebellion, and held significant military power.

Some of the more astute officials in the court took the opportunity to invite Prince Yan to succeed the throne.

Although Prince Yan had this intention, he still did his utmost to decline.

Only after being asked three times and declining three times did Prince Yan “reluctantly” agree amidst everyone’s insistence.

However, Prince Yan did not enter the Imperial Palace first. Instead, he went to the imperial mausoleum to pay respects to the founding emperor and several other ancestors.

Only after all the proper procedures were followed would the enthronement ceremony be held.