bestfiction Chapter 314 The deposed prince
Chapter 314 The deposed prince
"Grand Tutor!"
"Master Taifu!"
The courtiers present cried out in shock.
The closest person was Zong Qi, the heir apparent of Prince Qing'an. Zong Qi had a low official rank, so he was positioned somewhat off-center, right near the red pillar. He watched helplessly as Grand Tutor Lan crashed into the red pillar. His body moved faster than his brain to try and stop Grand Tutor Lan, but he was a step too slow and only managed to trip Grand Tutor Lan's foot.
"Bang" sound.
Grand Tutor Lan's lean body slumped down in front of the red pillar, causing an uproar throughout the court.
As the tutor of the Crown Prince, Grand Tutor Lan came from a family of scholars for generations, with disciples all over the country. Nearly half of the civil officials knelt down in an instant.
He prostrated himself on the ground and wept bitterly: "Your Majesty, the Grand Tutor has shown us with his death, I beg Your Majesty to reconsider!"
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince should not be deposed so easily!"
"Your Majesty, the position of Crown Prince concerns the very foundation of the nation. Your Majesty, please reconsider!"
The emperor's expression turned cold and somber.
At this moment, a commotion came from outside the main hall. Lu Yangyang, holding a knife, led the Fifth Prince into the main hall and immediately saw Grand Tutor Lan, who had crashed into a red pillar.
"Grandpa!" Lu Yangyang kicked the Fifth Prince away and rushed to Grand Tutor Lan in a few steps. She helped the Grand Tutor up, pinched Grand Tutor Lan's pulse with one hand, and quickly took out a needle pouch from her bosom with the other hand. She opened it, took out a gold needle, and inserted it into Grand Tutor Lan's acupoint.
The Fifth Prince was violently shoved aside by Lu Yangyang, falling flat on his face in the main hall. He scrambled to his feet, not even having time to fully grasp the situation, before crying out, "Father, Father, you must do justice for me! I was passing by the East Palace when I saw my elder brother forcibly leaving the palace, being stopped by Commander He. I was entrusted by Commander He to try and persuade my brother, but the Crown Princess Lu actually took me hostage with a knife, threatening to behead me! Father, the Crown Princess is so arrogant and domineering! Please, Father, do justice for me!"
He had just finished shouting when Commander He nervously entered the Qian Yuan Hall, with His Highness the Crown Prince being pushed in by Cao Cheng beside him.
"Your Majesty, I have failed in my duties. Please punish me." Commander He knelt on one knee, cupped his hands and begged for forgiveness: "I was ordered to guard His Highness the Crown Prince, but His Highness insisted on leaving the palace. The Crown Princess used the Fifth Prince's life as a threat, and I was unable to stop him."
The crown prince, sitting in his wheelchair, slightly raised his eyes and looked at the emperor, who was sitting on the dragon throne, from afar.
The emperor stared coldly at the crown prince.
The court fell silent in an instant.
"On the winter solstice of the twentieth year of Yongxing, I accompanied the emperor on the winter sacrifice and was attacked by assassins. I was hit by a poisoned arrow and my legs were pinned under a boulder. I barely survived. My father summoned the best doctors in the land for me, but the final result was that my legs were crippled and there was no possibility of recovery." The crown prince's voice was calm and clear: "The treatment process was arduous and difficult to describe in detail. I accidentally took forbidden medicine, which violated the laws of the Great Zhao Dynasty. This is a fact that I cannot refute. This is the first point."
"Secondly, the ancestral precepts of the Great Zhao state that a person with a physical disability cannot be the crown prince. As the crown prince, I should be responsible for the people of the world. Now that I am disabled in both legs and unable to walk properly, I dare not occupy the position of crown prince."
"These two faults are entirely my own." The Crown Prince's gaze swept over the ministers in the Qian Yuan Hall, landing on the Emperor: "Do Father and the ministers acknowledge this?"
Inside the Qianyuan Hall, all was still silent.
The Crown Prince has been the heir apparent since then, and apart from these two incidents, he has committed no wrongdoing.
Even the Crown Prince's political enemies, who usually try to find fault with him and attack him relentlessly, can only find these two faults to be unfit to be the heir apparent.
The matter of banned drugs can be considered a major or minor issue, and the physical disability, in fact, is not the Crown Prince's fault.
Just now, Grand Tutor Lan recounted the Crown Prince's achievements, saying that his actions were already comparable to those of a wise ruler. If these words were to spread, the Crown Prince's reputation would surely resound throughout the world once again. Even if his merits and demerits were balanced, the Crown Prince's merits would still outweigh his demerits.
Therefore, when the Crown Prince asked the question, no one dared to answer.
Seeing that no one spoke, the Crown Prince cupped his hands and said, “Since Father and the ministers all agree with what I have said, I confess my guilt and agree with the decision to depose the Crown Prince. I only beg Father not to implicate anyone other than myself. Grand Tutor Lan is my mentor. He risked his life to remonstrate and protect my reputation. He was honest and upright throughout his life, dedicated to his studies, and has not failed the Emperor’s kindness. I beg Father to grant him permission to retire with his family and live out his old age in peace.”
The emperor was seething with anger, wishing he could tear Grand Tutor Lan to pieces.
Grand Tutor Lan has many disciples, and his deathbed remonstrance today will surely cause a great uproar in the entire Great Zhao. If he insists on deposing the crown prince, there will likely be many obstacles.
However, since the crown prince questioned the matter in public and confessed his guilt, the matter of deposing the crown prince became a matter of course.
The Crown Prince is forcing him to make a statement. If he wants to successfully depose the Crown Prince, he must let go of Grand Tutor Lan, the biggest member of the Crown Prince's faction, and even other people close to the Crown Prince must not be implicated.
Otherwise, if this continues, the matter of deposing the crown prince could drag on for who knows how long, unless he wants to be a clearly incompetent ruler who doesn't care about the opinions of the people and insists on deposing the crown prince.
The emperor endured it all, but as his gaze swept over the majority of the kneeling officials in the court, he felt an even stronger urge to retaliate.
Finally, he had no choice but to give in.
"allow."
With the word "approved," the matter of deposing the crown prince was finally settled.
The court officials were speechless for a moment, their expressions varied. Since ancient times, deposing a crown prince has always been a major event, but this was probably the first time that the crown prince had been deposed in this manner.
If the Crown Prince had not been crippled in both legs, thus losing his natural qualifications as heir apparent, the charge of taking banned drugs alone would hardly have been convincing.
Ignoring the undercurrents among the court officials, the Crown Prince turned his head to look at Lu Yangyang.
Lu Yangyang received the Crown Prince's gaze and gave him a barely perceptible nod.
The prince's tense fingers finally relaxed slightly.
He understood the Grand Tutor's thoughts. The Grand Tutor was an upright and honest man, and of course he knew that the one who really wanted to depose the Crown Prince was the Emperor. However, the Grand Tutor still felt that these so-called crimes were not enough to warrant deposing the Crown Prince. Therefore, even if it meant death, he would seek justice for him.
He had already told the Grand Tutor that this was unavoidable and asked the Grand Tutor to take good care of himself.
But he still felt uneasy.
Fortunately, although he was a step too late, he made it in time. As long as he could save the Grand Tutor's life, he was at ease.
The emperor coldly observed everything below. Just as the crown prince understood his thoughts, so too did he understand the crown prince's thoughts.
What the Crown Prince did today was simply to protect that old scoundrel, Lan Zigu.
The emperor felt a lump in his throat; this was truly a fine son he had raised!
"By imperial decree, Crown Prince Zong Que is morally deficient and unfit to be the heir apparent. He is hereby deposed as crown prince and exiled to Yuzhou. He shall never return to the capital without an imperial edict."
"Considering that he is disabled in both legs and unable to walk, he is granted special permission to travel south by water, with the deposed Crown Princess Lu accompanying him alone. They shall depart immediately without delay."