novelaction Chapter 609: Mutiny (Part 1)
Chapter 609: Mutiny (Part 1)
After the ceremony, it’s time to thank the guests!
It was not until around 3 p.m. that the guests gradually dispersed.
After Zhou Ziming and his men finished their meal and left some gifts, he was ready to ride away. He was also rushing back to the front line.
Before leaving, he just patted Zhang Ping'an on the shoulder and said nothing.
Although today is an auspicious day, the weather is not good. By the afternoon, it was already dark, depressing and hot, and it felt like it was suffocating.
After everyone left, Zhang Pingan took out the gift left by Zhou Ziming and looked at it for a long time before opening it.
It is a very beautiful jade pendant, carved from the finest mutton-fat white jade, with dragons and curling grass patterns, as well as the word "Jing" engraved on it.
Zhang Ping'an picked it up and rubbed it for a while before he discovered that there was a small mechanism inside the jade pendant.
The interior is hollowed out and divided into two halves, which can be closed by spiral patterns.
There are soybean-sized jade beads placed inside, and it seems that there are also heavenly stems and earthly branches and eight trigrams symbols engraved on them.
Zhang Ping'an was a little unsure of what this meant. After thinking it over, he decided not to care about it and just treated it as an ordinary jade pendant.
Sometimes, the more you know, the more troubled you are.
It’s better to let nature take its course!
At least he could be sure that Lord Zhou had no ill will towards him at the moment.
In a flash, more than ten days passed, and it was time for autumn harvest in Runan Prefecture.
Due to insufficient rainfall this year, the autumn harvest was postponed.
Although the per-acre rice yield in Annan is not as high as that in Ze County, it is still much better than the ordinary local rice varieties.
In addition, there are people in the prisoner camp who eat less and work more, and there is a lot of reclaimed land this year, so the granary is still relatively full and there is no need to transfer grain from the south.
Everything was going in order when Zhang Ping'an suddenly received a letter from Lin'an, which was from his brother-in-law Qian Ying.
The letter said that the emperor was critically ill and might not live long!
At present, there are very few direct royal family members in the Great Xia Dynasty, and even fewer who are closely related to the emperor by blood.
Despite Emperor Taizong's deliberate training, most of them were still useless.
If we really want to talk about the person who is qualified to be a candidate for emperor, the only one is probably the one in Shu.
Qian Ying wrote this letter mainly to remind Zhang Pingan not to make any big moves in the near future, to stay low-key as much as possible, and to just keep things in mind.
This matter cannot be concealed. In half a month at the least and a month at the most, everyone in the court will know about it.
Any change of imperial power is always bloody.
Now the Qian family is also wavering. The hundreds of people in the family are even afraid of breathing heavily, and the atmosphere is very depressing!
Zhang Pingan was shocked after watching it, but also felt a little expected.
It seems that changing the reign title and granting amnesty could not save the fate of the young emperor!
A few days later, Lin Junhui also wrote a letter to tell him about this.
He knew the news even earlier than Zhang Ping'an.
Seeing that the situation was beyond redemption, he finally informed Zhang Pingan.
Now that they are far away from the center of the court, they should stick together and share what they have.
Zhang Ping'an was not worried about anything else but that his family far away in Lin'an would be implicated.
It takes more than one or two days for the letter to arrive back, which is very worrying.
In this tense atmosphere, the young emperor's uncle from Shuzhong was finally invited out of retirement by the four regent ministers.
Needless to say, the journey back to Lin'an was very dangerous.
With great difficulty, he arrived in Lin'an under the watchful eyes of everyone in the court.
Before the four regent ministers could meet the emperor and discuss the remaining regulations, the emperor's uncle died in the villa.
It happened just after breakfast. It was clearly a poisoning, or perhaps just to intimidate the court.
Extremely arrogant!
The court was in chaos, with people saying all sorts of things.
The remaining royal relatives with the surname Xia in Lin'an quickly split into two factions. One faction, instigated by the staff behind the scenes, was ready to covet that position.
The other part wants to protect itself.
The matter came to a standstill for a while. Under the strict investigation of the Dali Temple, the murderer was soon pointed out to those who were ready to act.
Now the Dali Temple didn't know what to do and could only report to the young emperor and the empress dowager.
The Queen Mother saw that her son was no longer reliable. If her son really died, what hope could she, a lonely widow, have? His final outcome would definitely not be good.
Finally, there is a relatively kind uncle who can come and take over the throne.
When he suddenly heard that it was those people from the side branches who were coveting the throne and that was why they committed such a cruel act, he immediately lost control of his temper.
Orders were issued to follow the laws of Daxia. Members of the royal family who broke the law would be punished the same as common people, and there would be no leniency.
Several regent ministers were cunning and much smarter than the empress dowager. They tried to stop her several times but failed in the end.
In the face of overwhelming evidence, it was useless for them to plead for mercy. The little emperor was still alive, and there was also Wei Xingzhou who was interfering.
As a subject, sometimes I feel helpless.
In less than a month, half of the already pitifully small number of collateral royal family members died.
Seeing this situation, the remaining group of people were even more unwilling to become emperors, for fear that they would not have this blessing and would lose their lives in vain.
The little emperor relied on medicine to keep alive every day, and the most anxious ones were the regent ministers.
Seeing that everyone with the surname Xia is about to die out, who will sit on the throne?
Things were delayed until September. During this period, Zhou Ziming led his troops and advanced rapidly. With Fangcheng as the center, the battle line extended hundreds of miles westward and reached Wudang County, Junzhou.
He then moved south and gradually recovered Ezhou and other places.
The Huaihe River and the Cangwu River have completely formed a trend of mutual assistance.
There are many smart people in Lin'an, and the four regent ministers are the best among them.
Regardless of the Empress Dowager's wishes, he secretly sent three imperial edicts to the front line at an express speed of 800 miles, stating that the emperor was critically ill and summoned Zhou Ziming back to Lin'an for an audience.
Unfortunately, it was too late now.
When Zhou Ziming saw the imperial edict in Jingzhou, his face was extremely calm. He then curled up the corners of his mouth and chuckled twice, then placed the imperial edict on the candle and burned it ashes.
He sighed and said, "It's about time. I wanted to wait for two more years, but it seems I can't wait any longer!"
A confidant beside him asked with great discernment, "Master, would you like me to inform the other generals tomorrow?"
"Well, you can get started on it. Also, send a pigeon to Lin'an to tell the palace to act faster!" Zhou Ziming stood up and flicked the candlelight, responding lightly.
"Understood!" The subordinate bowed and quickly went out.
At this time, Zhang Ping'an was still focusing on harvesting sweet potatoes.
Although there was little rain, the sweet potato harvest was not greatly affected.
A few days later, he suddenly received a conscription notice from the official gazette.
The recruitment is not too severe. Runan Prefecture wants to recruit 3,000 soldiers. As for the specific method of recruitment, it depends on the arrangements of each place.
It's still barely acceptable.
Zhang Ping'an saw something from this official report.