Chapter 297: Hidden Edict
The warm pavilion of Zichen Hall.
The underfloor heating burned scorching hot, yet it couldn’t dispel the silent smoke of gunpowder.
Emperor Chong Zhao leaned against the couch, suppressed coughs rumbling from his chest, his ashen face etched with illness.
“Your son greets Imperial Father.”
Li Zhao entered the hall and paid his respects according to protocol.
Emperor Chong Zhao did not permit him to rise, merely staring intently at him with bloodshot eyes.
After a long pause, he waved Wang Chengxi away and gestured.
“Rise.”
Li Zhao slightly raised his gaze and met a pair of sharp eyes.
Only father and son remained in the hall.
Emperor Chong Zhao did not avert his gaze, clutching his chest and gasping violently, his voice hoarse.
“Crown Prince… you are truly my good son… such skillful means.”
“Your son is dull-witted and does not know what Imperial Father refers to.”
Li Zhao’s voice was steady, his gaze meeting the Emperor’s eyes filled with anger and suspicion, his face betraying no emotion.
“Has someone been slandering me before Imperial Father again?”
“Are you still playing dumb?”
Emperor Chong Zhao pointed to the memorial spread open on the side table by the couch, his finger trembling slightly.
“Those people from the Censorate are pointing at my nose, calling me a fool for raising a tiger that will devour me… accusing you of using the complaint box to frame ministers, weaving webs of crime, and acting with extreme cruelty, leading to celestial omens—”
“The Purple Star falls, Venus appears, signifying the Crown Prince’s lack of virtue, harming the sovereign, and shaking the foundation of the state… rumors are rampant outside, each word a stab to the heart…”
Li Zhao frowned slightly.
“Does Imperial Father truly believe these groundless accusations?”
Emperor Chong Zhao suddenly grabbed the memorial from the side table and threw it forcefully at Li Zhao’s feet.
“Read it carefully. If this isn’t enough, I have a whole pile of them in my Imperial Study…”
Emperor Chong Zhao pointed at his face, “You used the military supplies case to insinuate, almost directly pointing out that the mess at the Old Mausoleum Swamp was something I covered up! Whose face are you trying to slap? Hmm?? No wonder there are celestial omens. No wonder Venus encroaches upon the palace… With such a filial son and loyal minister, what face does this empire have to continue?”
Angry roars…
Triggering another violent coughing fit.
Emperor Chong Zhao coughed, bending over, his body hunched like a candle in the wind.
Li Zhao quietly watched the papers scattered on the floor, observing his heart-wrenching cough, and slowly walked forward. Instead of picking up the memorials, he took a hot towel from a nearby warmed copper basin, wrung it out, and respectfully offered it to the Emperor with both hands.
“Your son is unfilial and deserves death. Please punish me, Imperial Father!”
Emperor Chong Zhao did not take it.
Li Zhao did not move either, maintaining his bowed posture.
Only when the coughing subsided did he raise his hands and slowly speak.
“Imperial Father, please discern. Those traitors are devoid of humanity, worse than beasts. But what do the sins committed by these scourges have to do with the Daliang empire? And what do they have to do with Imperial Father?”
He paused slightly, his tone solemn.
“The tragedy of the Old Mausoleum Swamp was caused by the deception of traitors and the erosion of scourges, not a crime of war, and certainly not Imperial Father’s fault. The urgent matter is to clear out the evil and rectify the imperial court system, to appease the heroic spirits of the two hundred thousand at the Old Mausoleum Swamp, rather than to blindly conceal the truth and live in shame…”
Each word, sonorous and powerful, struck Emperor Chong Zhao’s chaotic and agitated heart like a heavy hammer, laying bare the people and events he had most wished to avoid throughout his life.
Emperor Chong Zhao gasped, raising his eyes and staring at him with a cold smile.
The warm pavilion fell into silence once more.
Father and son, one slumped, the other standing still.
A silent confrontation.
After a long while, Emperor Chong Zhao leaned back against the soft pillow, his voice so weary it was almost ethereal.
“Clear out the evil… rectify the imperial court system… Many years ago, I thought the same…”
He closed his eyes slightly.
As if unwilling to see his past self in the young Li Zhao.
A moment later, he opened his eyes again, with the scrutiny of an emperor.
“Crown Prince, you tell me, where should the clearing out begin? And from whom should these traitors be killed? Should we kill Xiao Song, Xie Tingzhan, Guo Pi? Or… uproot the entire Daliang dynasty to quell the tragedy of the Old Mausoleum Swamp?”
“Imperial Father.” Li Zhao slowly raised his head, solemnly lifted the hem of his brocade robe, and knelt properly three steps before the couch.
“What your son seeks is not the power of one family or one surname, nor is it a bloodbath of retribution. What your son seeks is simply justice.”
His forehead touched the ground, making a faint sound.
Emperor Chong Zhao sneered, “Justice?”
He stared intently at Li Zhao, his gaze suddenly sharp.
“If you want the Daliang empire to act according to your justice, then you must completely dismantle the court system that I have painstakingly maintained. Round up everyone who stands in the way of your path as Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace—regardless of loyalty, treachery, wisdom, or foolishness! Only then can you achieve your wish!”
The last sentence was a heart-piercing accusation…
An accusation that could condemn the young Crown Prince to eternal damnation…
A chill spread, almost freezing the air.
Li Zhao looked directly at the Emperor on the couch, his eyes like torches, his expression solemn and stern.
“Imperial Father! Your son dares to speak frankly: the two hundred thousand souls of the Old Mausoleum Swamp need justice. The soldiers who fought bathed in blood at the border and had their provisions embezzled need justice. The common people who were exploited by the noble scourges and suffered immensely need justice. The bright world of Daliang, its magnificent laws, need justice even more. This justice is not in your son’s hands, but in Imperial Father’s! In the court’s laws! In the magnificent history books!”
His voice was not impassioned, but like a great bell…
It slowly echoed in the silent warm pavilion.
“As for my son’s heart, heaven and earth, sun and moon, can bear witness! How can there be talk of someone blocking my path?”
The corners of Li Zhao’s lips curved upwards slightly, with a look of disdainful pride.
Each word was like a declaration.
“The path beneath my son’s feet was bestowed by Imperial Father. It has long been laid out in the court and country. Why would your son need to deliberately clear it? Imperial Father should understand that only those who cannot obtain something will have wicked intentions and covet imperial power. Your son walks upright and sits properly, why should he fear gossip?”
Emperor Chong Zhao’s body trembled violently.
His cloudy eyes stared at his kneeling son.
This spirit…
This magnanimity and confidence…
So much like his former self.
A great weariness swept over him…
Emperor Chong Zhao seemed to have been drained of all strength, and slowly closed his eyes…
After a long while, he coughed and waved him away.
“You… may withdraw. Allow me… to think.”
“Yes, your son takes his leave. Imperial Father, please take care of your Imperial Body.”
Li Zhao bowed again, turned, and left with clean, decisive movements.
The hall door closed heavily.
Only the flickering candlelight remained in the warm pavilion, silent.
Wang Chengxi entered silently and carefully offered a cup of warm ginseng tea.
“The Crown Prince has already left Zichen Hall…”
“His Majesty is coughing severely today, please drink some ginseng tea to moisten your throat…”
Emperor Chong Zhao did not speak, merely closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling unevenly.
After the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, he slowly opened his eyes and, with trembling hands, fumbled in a hidden compartment of the couch for a bright yellow scroll.
The heavy scroll was placed on the couch.
The jade scroll ends were cold, tied with a bright yellow silk ribbon.
Under the candlelight, it emitted a restrained yet dazzling light.
Seeing this, Wang Chengxi’s pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
Even from a distance, he could feel the aura emanating from the scroll…
Deathly cold.
Emperor Chong Zhao’s voice was hoarse, as if he had exhausted all his strength, each word light as a feather, yet heavy as a thousand pounds:
“This decree to abolish the Crown Prince, I have kept secret for ten years. Now, I do not know whether to open it.”
The bright yellow scroll rustled in his palm.
His dark eye sockets were as deep as ancient wells.
“Wang Chengxi, you tell me, is the Crown Prince the foundation of the Daliang state, or a harbinger of disaster that shakes the national foundation?”
Wang Chengxi’s face turned ashen with fright, and he knelt with a thud.
“Your Majesty, this old servant dares not speak rashly…”
The warm pavilion was silent.
Even the charcoal fire seemed to have stopped burning.
The cold wind outside howled and swept through the solemn Palace City, emitting mournful cries like ten thousand vengeful spirits, twisting and elongating, penetrating through the heavy hall doors, as if playing a desolate elegy for a silent and tragic imperial family struggle…
See you tomorrow~~ Sisters, link hands, go to sleep early…
