Chapter 31 Seizing the legitimate son
Li Jiancheng didn't react for a moment, then he remembered that his grandmother must have just found out about the incident, and hurried to comfort her.

The old lady was in poor health, and she got tired after crying for a while. She could only squint her eyes and say, "Although I bullied her when I was a child, I also helped her when she and her husband were in trouble. It's just that you are the emperor and empress, and you treat my children and grandchildren like this."

Li Jiancheng consoled her for a long time, and left with his parents when she was about to fall asleep. He carefully instructed the maid to take good care of her, and let the female doctor live in a side room not far away.

Li Yuan had a reunion dinner with his children. Although he had lost his official position and might be publicly reprimanded by the emperor at the court meeting tomorrow, Li Yuan was still very happy when he looked at his wife and children.

Never mind, I’m just a governor of a lower-ranking state. I might as well wait for an opportunity in Beijing.

While it was still early, the father and son had an archery competition in Queping Hall. One can only say that age is more experienced than experience; in terms of archery skills alone, there are probably few people in the capital who can compare to Li Yuan, he is truly a master of archery.

This can be considered as an inherited skill of the Li family. The riding and archery of Lao Zhuguo and Xian Guogong were also famous in those days.

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At this time, in the Prince of Jin's mansion, Yang Guang said to everyone: "The Lord knows all about the mistakes of the Crown Prince. He has received a secret decree to depose and dethrone Gao Zuo. If you can report and punish them, you will be rich and powerful!"

The people below gladly accepted the order, and many of them took out their pens, ink, paper and inkstones on the spot and began to write down the crimes of the prince and Gao Zuo.

Gao Zuo might not have done anything obviously wrong, but not all of his students and old friends were clean, so they quickly found a target, the Duke of Yiyang, Wang Shiji, the Grand Marquis of Shangzhu.

He had a tall and strong appearance, a waist of ten meters around his waist, a refreshing and upright demeanor, and the appearance of an outstanding man.

He was once the governor of Liangzhou and was a close confidant of Gao Zuo. He was taken with him on several expeditions. When he was young, a fortune teller said that he had a good destiny to be a king. When he was in Liangzhou, he discussed with his friends after drinking that Hexi was the place where the best soldiers in the world were located and he could plan great things there.

On the second day of the court meeting, Wang Shiji was taken down as soon as the impeachment memorial was submitted. Duke Dugu, who had once been the most powerful person in the court, lost the trust of the emperor and empress, and looked extremely embarrassed. Even his followers could not protect him.

Although many officials pleaded for mercy, they did not dare to confront the increasingly irritable emperor directly. As a result, Wang Shiji was imprisoned and after two or three days of torture, he pleaded not guilty.

He admitted that he had resentment towards Your Majesty and had conspired with Duke Gao Zuo of Qi to imprison the Emperor and establish a crown prince.

The emperor was furious and ordered the execution of Wang Shiji. As for Gao Zuo, he was spared from death because of the protection of Shang Zhuguo He Ruobi, Wuzhou Governor Yuwen Bi, Minister of Punishments Xue Zhou, Minister of Civil Affairs Hulu Xiaoqing, Minister of War Liu Shu, Minister of Personnel Niu Hong, and Left Guard General Yuan Min. He was only demoted to a commoner and confined in the palace.

The emperor did not intend to kill Gao Zuo, but the number of people who protected him and their high power still shocked the emperor. This was Gao Zuo who had lost the protection of the empress.

In other words, although Gao Jiong lost his official position, he was still alive and his reputation remained. Even without the power of the Zuo Pushe, he was still able to influence the court.

After a while, Yang Su sent him a man who completely defeated Gao Zuo. Gao Zuo's trusted retainer, Qi State Commander Gao Huan, went to court to confess his crime and said, "Gao Jiong's son, Gao Biaoren, the prince's son-in-law, told Gao Jiong that Sima Zhongda had excused himself for not attending court and eventually gained control of the country. You are in this situation now, so you know it is a blessing!"

Another person reported: "Recently, Gao Zuo has frequently met with monks and Taoists to seek divination. He got a prophecy that there will be a great funeral in the country next year!"

Combining these two things, Gao Zuo was waiting for the emperor to pass away next year so that he could learn from Sima Yi and seize the world.

Yang Jian did not get angry this time, but said calmly: "How can you strive to be an emperor! Confucius, with his great sage talent, still could not rule the world. Jiong talked to you and compared himself to the Emperor of Jin. What's his intention?"

The civil and military officials dared not speak, Yang Jian said: "I am better to Gao Jiong than to my son. Although I may not see him, he is always in front of me. Since he passed away, I have forgotten him as if Gao Jiong never existed. " "My Lords, a minister should not ask the emperor for his own body and claim to be the best."

"I didn't kill Gao Zuo because I wanted him to see clearly that I am not Cao Mengde, and he is not Sima Zhongda. But from now on, no one is allowed to mention this person again. He should be considered dead!"

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Li Yuan was living a good life these days, and the emperor had no time to care about him, so Duke Tang spent his days entertaining friends, raising hawks, training dogs, riding horses and hunting, living a very carefree life.

When Gao Zuo was completely defeated, he sighed to his son: "In the court back then, Yang Su was careless, Su Wei was cowardly, Yuan Zhou and Yuan Min were like duck ears, and the only one who could be entrusted with the country was Gao Jiong. It is still the same now. Without Gao Zuo, who can Your Majesty rely on? The monks and Taoists he believes in?"

Li Jiancheng also had to sigh that it was very easy for a person to ruin his reputation if he grew old and did not die.

However, the most urgent issue at the moment is the crown prince who has completely lost his protection.

As expected, the emperor soon pointed out several of the prince’s major crimes, such as “Yong once pointed at the queen’s maid and said to others, ‘These are all mine.

When his wife first died, I deeply suspected that she had been poisoned and tried to blame him. Yong immediately retorted that he would kill Yuan Xiaoju and that he was taking his anger out on me in order to harm me.

He was born out of an affair with Yun Dingxing's daughter. If you think about the origin of this, why must it be his biological descendant? In the past, the crown prince of Jin married a butcher's daughter, and her son liked to butcher. If the child is not of the same kind, it will cause chaos to the clan society.

Then he concluded: "Although I am as virtuous as Yao and Shun, I will never entrust my people to an unworthy son! I always fear his harm, as if I were guarding against a great enemy; now I want to abolish him to bring peace to the world!"

Yuan Min, the General of the Left Guard, said: "If the imperial edict is carried out, it will be too late to regret. Slanderous words are endless. Your Majesty should pay attention to it.

Then many officials agreed, believing that the country's foundation should not be shaken or the country damaged because of such a small matter.

Yang Su's men immediately fought back, but the prince had been in the Eastern Palace for many years and was the legitimate heir, so naturally there was a group of officials who wanted to protect him.

This matter did not turn out as the emperor and Yang Guang and Yang Su had expected. Without Gao Zuo, the crown prince could be easily deposed.

After a discussion at the Prince of Jin's Mansion at night, they came to the conclusion that they had to let the prince rebel. Only this unforgivable crime of treason could make the court and the people submit.

It is difficult to actually rebel, but it is easy to frame someone. After coming up with a plan, the matter fell on Li Jiancheng and Yang Jishan.

After the two of them discussed it, they asked Ji Wei, the eunuch who had long been bribed by Yang Guang, to ask the prince for instructions, saying that there were not enough torches for the guards to patrol at night, and they wanted to bring more locust tree sticks and moxa as backup.

The prince was too busy to take care of this and just nodded in agreement. Li Jiancheng and Yang Jishan moved several thousand locust tree sticks and a large amount of moxa in one breath. It was enough to light up the entire palace, let alone patrol at night.

At this time, Yang Su had already come before the emperor and said that the prince had begun secretly preparing for a rebellion.

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(End of this chapter)