Chapter 56: The Fourth Year of Renshou
However, Yan Rong’s death was not due to his tyranny. The ice is three feet thick and it didn’t freeze overnight. The emperor knew about Yan Rong’s tyranny and cruelty for a long time. In recent years, the emperor favored cruel officials and put jackals in power. It was no longer a new thing to condone and pardon.

The main reason was that Yan Rong disobeyed the emperor's order. The year before last, Yuan Hongsi was sent to serve under Yan Rong, but he refused because of fear. After the emperor asked the reason, he ordered Yan Rong to "report all crimes committed by Hongsi, including ten strokes of the cane and above."

This means that if Yuan Hongsi committed a crime punishable by more than ten strokes of the cane, he must be reported to the emperor for punishment, and private punishment must not be used.

Yuan Hongsi thought he had a golden body to protect him, so he went to take up the post happily. However, he was sent by the angry Yan Rong to supervise the collection and storage of grain. If even a grain or an ear of grain was blown away by the wind, he would be whipped several times.

Each time the number of lashes was less than ten, but I couldn't stand the punishment of three or four times a day, which still amounted to dozens of lashes.

As a result, hatred accumulated, and Yan Rong was afraid that Yuan Hongsi would return to Beijing to complain, so he simply put him in prison and deprived him of food, hoping to starve him to death. His wife went to Beijing to complain, and this led to the current situation.

What made the emperor angry was nothing more than the crime of disobeying his will. People in the court and the public were saying that Your Majesty did not punish the officials who abused the people, but only killed the ministers who disobeyed his orders.

The most interesting thing among these is that Yuan Hongsi replaced Yan Rong's position, but this man was even more cruel than Yan Rong. He liked to destroy the genitals of officials and civilians who had committed crimes, and he also loved to pour vinegar into people's noses.

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In the spring of the fourth year of Renshou, the emperor was unwell. After inviting eminent monks to perform rituals and pray for his blessing, he issued an edict to grant amnesty to the entire country.

But the effect of praying was not very good. The emperor did not have much time left, and all the civil and military officials who were able to attend court could see it.

At the same time, the emperor wanted to go to Renshou Palace, the summer palace that Yang Su built in two years with the lives of tens of thousands of laborers.

The court officials were unwilling to let the emperor leave the capital. Given his current physical condition, the most important thing was for him to stay safely in the palace and pass on the Sui Dynasty's country and people.

But at this time, the emperor had no time to care about the so-called overall situation, but still summoned Zhang Chou Taiyi and Xiao Ji to predict good or bad luck.

Xiao Ji was the fortune teller who chose a blessed land for the queen, and Zhang Chou Taiyi's reputation throughout the world was even greater than Xiao Ji's. He had been a child prodigy gifted with wisdom since childhood.

Xiao Ji had predicted a very auspicious omen, but Zhang Chou Taiyi predicted a very bad omen and advised against it. The emperor was naturally dissatisfied and ordered him to go for another divination. Zhang Chou Taiyi remonstrated, "How dare I, your humble servant, make excuses? I am afraid that the emperor may not be able to return."

The emperor was furious and put him in prison, saying, "I will execute you when I return from my visit to the Renshou Palace. I will make sure you die with a sincere heart."

The emperor led his confidants to Renshou Palace, left the crown prince as regent, and issued an edict to grant rewards and expenses, no matter how big or small, and handed them over to the crown prince.

At the beginning, Yang Guang handled the affairs of state very diligently, and there was no difference from the past.

But in less than half a month, he began to slack off, became increasingly extravagant, and even took in several beautiful concubines.

The officials in the court did not say anything, and the confidants in the Eastern Palace were not surprised at all. How could they not know who the prince was over the years?

In the East Palace, Li Jiancheng met with the Crown Princess. Xiao said to him, "Jiancheng, go and persuade His Highness. How can you be lazy at this last moment?"

Li Jiancheng sighed and bowed, saying, "I will obey your orders, but I feel that neither I nor Zuo Pushe can persuade Your Highness at this time. Only you still have hope."

After saying this, Li Jiancheng walked up to meet Yang Guang, showing with his actions that he had no intention of shirking Xiao's orders.

In the end, Xiao stopped Li Jiancheng and decided to persuade Yang Guang herself. Li Jiancheng was relieved. Yang Guang had never been a person who liked to listen to advice. He might not hold a grudge against Xiao, but he would definitely keep a grudge against the others and might settle accounts with them at any time.

He didn't know how Xiao persuaded him, but Yang Guang did restrain himself a lot, but it was not difficult to see that he couldn't bear it for too long. Not long after, the emperor urgently summoned the prince and other ministers to the Renshou Palace, saying that the emperor was in poor health.

On the way, Li Jiancheng said to Yang Guang: "Uncle, don't forget Liu Shu and others."

Yang Guang seemed to want to pretend to be sad, but his eyes and eyebrows revealed his joy.

He was somewhat unimpressed by Li Jiancheng's reminder. In his opinion, Liu Shu and others were just waiting to die. It all depended on whether he was willing to show his imperial grace at that time.

Seeing this, Li Jiancheng didn't say much. A group of people rushed to the palace. The emperor was indeed weak, but Chen and Cai were very charming.

Apparently His Majesty did not waste his last moments.

Everyone cried and wailed as they paid their respects. Yang Jian also cheered up and spoke to them one by one. This time, even Li Jiancheng was not left out. For some unknown reason, he specially rewarded Li Jiancheng with a golden plate presented by a foreign vassal state. The plate was inlaid with various gems and was a real heirloom.

This is a treasure that even Yang Sushe couldn't get even when he asked for it from Your Majesty.

The emperor lay down and said goodbye to his officials, shaking hands and sobbing. This scene was very moving, and everyone could not help but recall the great emperor of the Kaihuang period.

Finally, he took Yang Guang's hand and said, "It seems that Zhangchou Taiyi is right. Please pardon him when you return, my son."

Yang Guang agreed with tears in his eyes. After he gave all the instructions, the emperor became exhausted and fell asleep. Everyone thought that his majesty had passed away, but it turned out that he was still breathing. So they could only call the imperial physician to attend to him.

Then, under the leadership of Yang Su, everyone saluted solemnly to the prince and asked about the arrangements.

The prince is about to become the master of the country and cannot be neglected.

Yang Guang ordered the Duke of Bao, Yuwen Shu, who had rushed back, to take charge of the camp outside the capital, the Minister of the Supreme Court, Yang Yue, to take over the palace defense, the Duke of Tang, Li Yuan, to take over the city defense, and the General of the Left Guard, Xiao…

More than ten people took the order and left. Yang Guang looked at Li Jiancheng and said, "Li Jiancheng, the prince's stablemaster, was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry, and he will lead the garrison at Renshou Palace. Li Jing, the assistant general, and Yu Wenhua, the prince's groom, will assist him."

"Left servant Yang Su will be with me to take care of me when I am ill, and Right servant Su Wei will return to the capital to preside over the government. If there are any important military or national affairs, please report them to the Renshou Palace by express horseback."

Yang Guang obviously had a plan in place, with his trusted aides in the Eastern Palace occupying key positions and restraining each other.

The rest of the court officials were relatively well behaved, except for the Minister of Personnel and the Prince Consort Liu Shu, who looked a little unhappy. The Crown Prince did not rush to do anything to them, after all, it was his Majesty who had just ordered them to serve the sick together.

After receiving the order, Li Jiancheng took Li Jingyu and Wenhuaji to take over the garrison and the guards. Although the latter did not receive clear instructions, the prince must have hoped that they could take over smoothly.

If we can take it down at this time, it will be a great achievement.

As expected, the commander of the garrison easily handed over the military power and followed Li Jiancheng obediently, while the commander of the imperial guard refused to hand over the military power on the grounds that the prince had not given any orders and they were directly following the orders of His Majesty.

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(End of this chapter)