flstandardbreds Chapter 150 History of the Eastern Kingdom 2
Chapter 150 History of the Eastern Kingdom 2
The late emperor treated those who offered advice or impeached him with mild punishments such as beatings and demotions; severe punishments included confiscating their property, exiling them, and even issuing edicts to execute their entire families.
Dongfang Jin...
Traitors are in power, the emperor is incompetent, and he persecutes loyal officials!
It is true that one can escape the calamities of Heaven, but one cannot escape the calamities of one's own making!
As for those princes who did not send beauties, the late emperor, instigated by those people, began to feel dissatisfied with his sons, especially the crown prince Cang Lingyuan.
Later, someone suggested that there were too many beauties in the palace and that each palace could not accommodate them all.
In order to prevent the late emperor from wasting money on building more palaces, he was asked to distribute some of the less favored beauties to his sons.
The late emperor was not angry when he heard this; instead, he rewarded the man handsomely.
In the end, he actually listened to that man's instigation and sent each of his sons a woman he had already had his fill of.
Those people started to interfere, even sending pregnant women among the princes.
The Eastern Palace was allocated the most to Crown Prince Cang Lingyuan.
Dongfang Jin...
This is really bad luck.
Those people are really audacious to mess with the crown prince of a country. Do they think they have too much life to live?
Those princes didn't want to compete for the position, but when they saw those women being sent to their residences so openly, how could they tolerate it?
Because of the late emperor's actions and the rise of treacherous officials, they lost their due dignity and had no choice but to fight for themselves.
Dongfang Jin...
If you don't fight for this, you're a coward!
And so those princes were forced onto the path of mutual slaughter, going further and further astray.
Dongfang Jin: These idiots, why are they killing their own brothers? Isn't this the time when brothers are united and their strength can break through anything?
Why are they playing the "when two birds fight, a third party benefits" game? What a fool who's been humiliated by Wen!
...Later, the border was in dire need of supplies, and the internal and external troubles reached an indescribable point.
At this point, the faction of Duke Wu and the faction of Duke Ying stepped forward and unanimously suggested that Crown Prince Cang Lingyuan take the provisions to the border.
The late emperor agreed without hesitation, because he had never liked the crown prince.
If it weren't for the Grand Tutor, the old Duke of Fuguo, and Master Fakong keeping things in check, he would have replaced the crown prince long ago.
No sooner had Crown Prince Cang Lingyuan left the capital than the entire Helian family, the Zhenguo General's Mansion (now the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion), was imprisoned.
Because of impeachments, the Helian family was accused of colluding with the enemy, and those people wanted to force a confession out of them.
Unfortunately, none of the Helian family members backed down; they would rather die than admit to colluding with the enemy.
In just a few days, those people tortured and killed several generals from the Helian family who were serving in military camps outside Beijing.
Upon seeing this, the Empress Dowager had no choice but to rush into the Imperial Study and beg the late Emperor to spare the Helian family, since the western border was still guarded by the Helian army of the Helian family.
If Helian Jun's morale is broken and the western garrison cannot be defended, then the eastern neighboring country will face annihilation.
Only then did the late emperor learn that he had already issued an edict to imprison the Helian family.
Although he knew he hadn't done it himself, he didn't issue an order to release them from prison.
Because of this, the late emperor issued an urgent dispatch to the western border, ordering that if any member of the Helian family dared to return to the capital, the people in the prison would be convicted of treason that very day.
Therefore, the Helian family members could no longer be killed, and this incident angered those people.
They then joined forces with the people they had sent into the palace to target the Empress and her maternal family, the Rongguo Duke's Mansion.
It can be said that all those who supported the Crown Prince in the court at that time were either assassinated, openly harmed, or falsely accused and exiled by those people.
At that time, undercurrents were swirling in the capital. The princes who were vying for the most power—the eldest prince Cang Lingfeng, the second prince Cang Lingcheng, the third prince Cang Lingzhi, and the fourth prince Cang Lingming—had their secret rivalry gradually turn into open conflict.
Finally, even the maternal clan of the seven-year-old fourteenth prince, Cang Lingche, the Marquis of Anyang, joined in the commotion.
Dongfang Jin...
Are you courting death?
These princes are fighting each other to the death, how could the late emperor's brothers sit idly by?
Within just a few months, the capital city had become a hodgepodge.
Meanwhile, the various feudal lords also joined in the commotion, and the border war reached a fever pitch.
Flying Tiger Pass, Dragon Tiger Pass, and Flying Eagle Pass were frequent battlegrounds, and countless people died every day.
Before Crown Prince Cang Lingyuan even arrived at Longhu Pass, news arrived of his mother's death. He disregarded everything and turned back, declaring that he would defy the imperial decree if necessary.
The supplies were to be delivered to Longhu Pass by Long Er and a bodyguard who was about the same height as the prince, who would impersonate the prince.
He then secretly led Long Yi and his group back to the capital.
Before they even reached the capital, they encountered Princess Anhe, disguised as a man, who was Lu Yunqing's older sister, Lu Yuyan, delivering a message to the Crown Prince.
Dongfang Jin: A heroine among women!
It seems that his relationship with the Empress is a true friendship.
The news that the late emperor had passed away, following the Empress Dowager's death in less than an hour, had not yet spread...
Therefore, Crown Prince Cang Lingyuan also knew that Helian Jingyun had led the Helian family's secret forces to protect the Empress Dowager's palace and her body from being disturbed.
He was in no hurry to show himself, and with the support of the Helian family's secret service, he was able to get back to the public eye.
Following the message sent by the Empress Dowager before her death, the Crown Prince summoned those people and then corresponded with his uncle, Cang Nanxi's, people.
Then, by working together with the people in the prison, they managed to subdue all those people in just three days and send them to the imperial prison.
Then came the interrogation, letting them fight like dogs...
Now, quite a lot of things can be bitten out.
Crown Prince Cang Lingyuan was suppressed by his uncle Cang Nanxi and the Imperial Tutor, and hastily ascended the throne to take charge of the overall situation.
His coronation was arguably the most hasty in history, as he didn't even hold a proper enthronement ceremony.
Upon ascending the throne, he changed the name of the country to Shengde.
Afterwards, Emperor Shengde bestowed the title of Prince Dun upon his uncle and the title of Duke Zhenguo upon General Helian Zhen.
In order to stabilize the court, Emperor Shengde did not go so far as to exterminate them all, nor did he implicate their entire families.
However, all the families involved in this struggle, including their entire clans, were either exiled or killed.
Almost all the noble families in the capital were involved, with some families supporting several princes at the same time.
For example, the Changyuan Hou Mansion, which is Lu Yunqing's family, his grandfather, great-grandfather, eldest uncle, second uncle, and youngest uncle all participated in it.
The massacre lasted for half a month, and the blood at Caishikou could be described as flowing like a river.
The commotion caused widespread panic in Beijing and even across the country.
In the end, to save himself, Duke Wu completely betrayed the entire family of Duke Ying.
Finally, the new emperor executed those who deserved to be killed from the Duke of England's household and exiled the rest.
Only a small portion migrated back to the ancestral home of the British Duke, a remote mountainous area in Yongzhou.
He was stripped of his title of Duke of England, and the men in his family were barred from taking the imperial examinations and serving as officials in the court for generations.
After Cang Lingyuan became emperor, he made Helian Jingyun, who had secretly helped him, his empress.
Because the Duke of Wu was still alive, the emperor had not yet found any evidence of his rebellion against the original crown princess.
They had no choice but to banish the Crown Princess to the Cold Palace for her lack of virtue. Her son with Cang Lingfeng, Cang Jixiao, was imprisoned in Lanling Palace in the inner palace, with only one eunuch to take care of him, left to fend for himself.
The women that the late emperor had given to the crown prince were sent far away after he quelled those troubles.
Two of the concubines were pregnant.
One was Li Rong, the illegitimate daughter of the Marquis of Anyang. Emperor Shengde bestowed upon her the title of Consort Rong. She gave birth to a daughter, Cang Xin'er, who was thirteen years old and lived in the Suiyu Palace in the inner palace.
The other was the third legitimate daughter of the Yongning Marquis's family, Tang Yuzhen, who was granted the title of Consort Zhen. She also gave birth to a daughter, Cang Wan'er, who was thirteen years old and lived in Xiaoyou Palace.
Both families had no relatives left. Emperor Shengde granted them titles because they had both given birth to princesses and were considered to be of good character.