bookrandom Chapter 354 The Prime Minister's Rebellion
Chapter 354 The Prime Minister's Rebellion
Upon hearing the guards' report and seeing the chaos before him, Emperor Changlong seemed to awaken from a deep dream.
"Wang Fu, summon the imperial physician! Order the Imperial Guards to guard the palace gates!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Just as Eunuch Wang was about to leave, a cold, sharp voice rang out from the banquet.
"Stop him!"
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Prime Minister Jiang.
"Lord Jiang, what are you doing?" Eunuch Wang asked.
"Step back!" Emperor Changlong shouted at the Imperial Guards standing in front of Eunuch Wang.
However, the Imperial Guards ignored his orders and stood there motionless.
"Are you trying to rebel? Didn't you hear the Emperor's orders?" Eunuch Wang shouted angrily.
"Eunuch Wang, I advise you to shut your mouth and stop wasting your breath. Haven't you all realized that the Imperial Guards only obey my orders?"
As they were talking, Prime Minister Jiang had already walked up from his seat and stood beside Emperor Changlong.
He had a dignified and imposing presence, as if he were the true emperor.
"Jiang Zhen, are you planning a rebellion?" Emperor Changlong demanded.
"Rebellion? That's impossible. I'm just taking back what rightfully belongs to me. Besides, Your Majesty, the people are full of complaints and are calling you a tyrant. I'm acting on behalf of Heaven!" Prime Minister Jiang said with an air of righteous indignation.
"Those traitors and rebels dare to covet my empire!" Emperor Changlong sarcastically remarked.
Prime Minister Jiang disagreed, "Your Majesty, abdicate! As long as you immediately write the abdication document and pass the throne to me, making me the rightful emperor, I will let everyone live, including you. Otherwise, everyone present here today will die!"
With his arms outstretched, Prime Minister Jiang exuded an imposing aura.
Emperor Changlong glanced around and saw that none of the palace servants or guards had eaten anything from the banquet; they all seemed normal.
Several people at the table also had normal expressions, just like Jiang Xiang.
The rest of them all looked pained, as if they were living a life worse than death.
"It was you! You poisoned everyone?" Emperor Changlong questioned.
Jiang Xiang admitted, "That's right, it's me! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day!"
"Father, please give me the antidote! I'm dying from the pain!" Jiang Yu gasped for breath in agony.
"Shut up!" Jiang Xiang snapped, he had no time to deal with Jiang Yu right now.
Once he obtains the abdication edict and the Imperial Seal, ascending to the throne is the primary task.
"Jiang Zhen, you want the abdication certificate? Dream on! I will never give it to you!" Emperor Changlong said fiercely.
"Don't want to abdicate? Then I'll have the soldiers at the palace gate raze the palace to the ground with a single cannon shot! At that time, you'll die a horrible death, but the Great Zhou's empire will still be mine!" Prime Minister Jiang said with a ruthless expression.
"Did you instigate those rebels?" Emperor Changlong asked incredulously.
"Haha!" Prime Minister Jiang laughed triumphantly. "That's right, I orchestrated everything! Quickly issue an edict to pass the throne to me, or the entire palace will be destroyed because of you!"
"Jiang Zhen, you are already second only to the emperor. I trust you and value you. Your daughter has married into the royal family, making you a member of the imperial family. What more could you possibly want? Why are you plotting rebellion?" Emperor Changlong asked.
"Now that things have come to this, you can't escape anyway, so there's no harm in telling you."
Jiang Xiangdao said, "I, Jiang Zhen, am Xiao Zhen, the great-grandson of the former Qin emperor!"
"This land of the Great Zhou originally belonged to my Xiao family, but it was occupied by your Shen family for three generations. Now, it is only right and proper for me to take back what belongs to my Xiao family!"
"I am not a traitor; the real traitors are your Shen family!"
Emperor Changlong looked at Prime Minister Jiang and said coldly, "So, when you falsely accused the Crown Princess of being a remnant of the previous dynasty, the real remnant of the previous dynasty was yourself!"
Jiang Xiang was smug and revealed his plan to the public: "Framing Song Siyao was just a pretext to lure her out of the capital and into the encirclement set up by my men, where I will kill her!"
“With Song Siyao dead, the Crown Prince will definitely go looking for her. Without the two of them, the capital is just a ruined city. Everything is under my control, and I can do whatever I want.”
"Oh, right, there were also the five high-ranking officials who died tragically that night. They were too loyal to you, so I found a pretext to kill them all."
"Inside the palace, on the occasion of Consort Yue's birthday, when all the officials attended the banquet, I took the opportunity to poison you and control you."
“After my men killed Song Siyao outside the palace, they quietly returned and have now surrounded the palace. With just one order from me, the palace will cease to exist.”
"With our combined efforts from within and without, we will surely seize the throne of the Great Zhou. Emperor Changlong, stop your futile struggles. If you cooperate properly, I may spare your life; otherwise, I will ensure your utter demise!"
"Your Majesty, I knew nothing about this matter, I am innocent," Consort Yue explained, nestled in Emperor Changlong's arms.
"My beloved consort, I believe you." Emperor Changlong comforted Consort Yue, then looked at Prime Minister Jiang, "Jiang Zhen, do you really think your scheme has succeeded?"
Jiang Fan asked, "Without Song Siyao, no one in the Great Zhou can stop me. Emperor, do you think you can still turn the tables?"
Emperor Changlong put down Consort Yue, slowly stood up, displaying his imperial majesty and domineering presence.
Jiang Xiang immediately realized, "You weren't poisoned? I clearly saw you eat the food on the table! Why aren't you poisoned?"
"Of course, I saw through your plan long ago, Jiang Zhen. You think you have everything planned out and have everything under your control, but in my eyes, you are just a clown!"
Emperor Changlong looked down at Prime Minister Jiang with disdain, his aura of authority making Prime Minister Jiang freeze.
However, Prime Minister Jiang was no pushover either.
He quickly calmed down. "So what if you weren't poisoned? You still can't escape my grasp!"
He threatened Emperor Changlong, "If you don't write the abdication document by the time I count to three, I will immediately order the palace to be bombed!"
"one!"
Emperor Changlong stared at him coldly, remaining completely still.
"two!"
Emperor Changlong's lips curled into a mocking smile as he looked at Prime Minister Jiang as if he were watching a joke.
"three!"
Emperor Changlong slowly spoke, "Give the order. I want to see just how powerful your cannons are."
"You've brought this upon yourself!" Prime Minister Jiang's face twisted in a ferocious grimace. "Men, order General Chen to fire the cannons at the palace!"
"Yes, sir." A member of the Imperial Guard ran out.
Jiang Xiang said fiercely, "Listen up, all of you! Today is your death day! It's all this dog emperor's fault. If you want to live, beg him to abdicate immediately!"
Suddenly, Qiwu Palace was even more chaotic than before.
Shouts, cries for help, sobs, complaints, curses...
The various sounds mingled together, like sharp blades piercing the eardrums, causing dizziness and unbearable pain.
"Your Majesty, please issue the decree! I don't want to die!"
"Your Majesty, I have elderly parents and young children to support; I cannot die."
"Father, Mother, I'm in pain. Am I going to die?!"
"It's over! Even someone as strong as the Crown Princess was killed by cannon fire, so we're definitely not going to survive either!"
"Jiang Zhen, you traitorous scoundrel! You usurped the throne, you deserve a terrible death!"
"Kill Jiang Zhen!"
……