The news that the Prince's East Palace was sealed quickly spread throughout Jinling and became a topic of conversation for the common people after dinner.
Xia Jiang, the director of Xuanjing, quickly wrote a letter to impeach the prince for eight deadly crimes. Killing him ten times for each crime was not enough.
When Emperor Liang saw the prince's crime, he almost fainted in the court.
He knew that the prince had done many foolish things over the years, but he did not expect that what the prince did was ten times more serious than he expected.
The Xuanjing Division is definitely the most expert in digging up dirt on people, and the prince and his gang were almost wiped out in one fell swoop.
The reason why I say almost is because Xie Yu, the Marquis of Ning State, a die-hard prince, actually escaped unscathed from this incident.
Xia Jiang not only took action to protect Xie Yu, but also eliminated Xie Yu's existence from the evidence of the prince's crime.
?Later, King Yu also took action and used all his power to protect Xie Yu.
The reason why King Yu helped Xie Yu was not only because he liked the influence of the Marquis of Ning in the military, but also because of Xie Yu's second son, Xie Bi.
Over the years, Xie Bi has been secretly communicating with King Yu and maintaining a good relationship. This was originally a game for Xie Yu to diversify his investment, but he did not expect to save him at the critical moment.
Emperor Liang soon issued an imperial edict, abolishing the position of the crown prince, demoting him to the rank of king, demoting him from the capital, and never returning to the capital.
The royal concubine Yue, the biological mother of King Xian, was found guilty of lax discipline and was deprived of her position as a concubine and demoted to a talented person.
Most of the prince's party were liquidated, and heinous people like Zhi Jing, the Minister of Household Affairs, were imprisoned one after another, waiting to be executed.
The rest were mostly demoted and retained.
When the prince fell, the most proud person was King Yu. He took the opportunity to absorb the prince's influence and placed his own people in the six departments. He already regarded the prince's position as his own.
It is a pity that although Emperor Liang dealt with the prince, he never mentioned the matter of establishing a new crown prince. Instead, he was concerned about Princess Nihuang's marriage.
Because of the assassin incident, Princess Nihuang's contest for marriage could only be interrupted. After Emperor Liang dealt with the prince, he restarted the contest for marriage. He insisted on letting Wang Gang and Mei Changsu compete to win, and even set the venue for the contest in the palace hall in order to delay
The matter of establishing a reserve.
Wang Gang and Mei Changsu performed a monkey show in the main hall in front of the civil and military officials of the court. Wang Gang deliberately lost to Mei Changsu with "one move difference".
Next, Princess Nihuang and Mei Changsu performed another show, and Mei Changsu successfully won the beauty return.
Emperor Liang granted marriage to Princess Nihuang and Mei Changsu on the spot, which was regarded as a confirmed marriage.
Although Princess Nihuang cannot marry "Lin Shu", she is satisfied with marrying Mei Changsu.
The couple is even more grateful to Wang Gang for his adult beauty.
The marriage of the two was tentatively scheduled for the spring of next year. Emperor Liang considered Princess Nihuang's maiden family and forced her to stay in the capital. Instead, he sent Prince Mu back to the south.
Anyone with a discerning eye can understand that Princess Nihuang was placed under house arrest in Jinling by Emperor Liang and became a hostage in Prince Mu's palace.
Little did she know that this move played into the hands of Princess Nihuang. She wished she could spend more time with Mei Changsu.
After the marriage was settled, Princess Nihuang always looked for opportunities to meet Mei Changsu, and enjoyed themselves together.
Mei Changsu's health has improved greatly after being nursed back to health by Wang Gang. Although he is worse than ordinary people, he is not as sick as before.
On Concubine Jing's birthday, Wang Gang took Princess Nihuang and Mei Changsu into the palace to pay her respects.
When Concubine Jing saw Mei Changsu, she burst into tears and almost fainted from crying.
Fortunately, Mei Changsu's health improved greatly, which made Concubine Jing feel much better.
She dismissed all the servants and maids in Zhiluo Palace, and then kept chatting with Mei Changsu, not even caring about her own son.
"Xiao Shu, you will stay in Jinling from now on, and Aunt Jing will help you handle the Lin family's affairs." Concubine Jing took Mei Changsu's arm and said firmly:
"Aunt Jing will definitely restore the Lin family's former glory and restore your parents' innocence."
"Aunt Jing, when we enter the palace this time, in addition to wishing you birthday, we also want to ask you for something." Mei Changsu said with a smile.
"Say, don't say one thing, even if it's ten or a hundred, Aunt Jing will promise you." Concubine Jing said gently: "If your Aunt Jing can't do it, where is Jingyan?"
Mei Changsu felt Concubine Jing's concern for her and couldn't help but smile: "Aunt Jing, I know that His Majesty is worried about the establishment of a secret reserve recently. Can you think of a way to let His Majesty implement a secret reserve system?"
Concubine Jing looked at Wang Gang in confusion.
"The so-called secret establishment system is to ask the father to write the edict of succession, seal it in a box, and place it behind the plaque in the palace hall. Another copy should be sealed in the gate and carried with you, just in case."
Concubine Jing is an extremely smart person and instantly understood the benefits of establishing a secret reserve system.
"This is easy to handle, but what's the benefit of doing this in the fight for the heir apparent? What if your father makes King Yu the crown prince?"
Wang Gang and Mei Changsu looked at each other and smiled, and said, "Xiao Shu and I have discussed it and feel that my father would prefer me to inherit the throne."
Emperor Liang had eight sons. The eldest son, King Qi, had been sentenced to death. The second prince died young, the third prince was disabled, and the fourth prince was King Xian who had just been demoted from the capital. They were destined to lose their qualifications to compete for the throne.
The remaining fifth prince, Prince Yu, sixth prince, Prince Ning, seventh prince, Prince Jing, and eighth prince, Xiao Jinglin, if nothing unexpected happens, one of the four will inherit the throne.
Wang Gang and Mei Changsu analyzed carefully and felt that Emperor Liang should have decided long ago that he should inherit the throne.
First of all, the eighth prince was too young. It was hard to say whether he would live to adulthood. It was impossible for Emperor Liang to choose him.
The sixth son of the emperor is the son of Concubine Hui. He has not shown any talents since he was a child. Whether in the former dynasty or in the harem, he is a transparent person, and his chances of succeeding to the throne are not great.
Only King Yu and King Jing are left.
Prince Yu has always been deeply loved by Emperor Liang, and is known as the prince most like him, and is the most popular candidate.
However, King Yu was half of the Hua people, and Emperor Liang had shown some attitude by killing his mother and leaving a son. In fact, King Yu had no chance of being crowned emperor from the day he was born.
Emperor Liang seemed to favor Prince Yu, but in fact he just wanted to use him to balance the power of the crown prince and other princes.
Judging from the various behaviors of Emperor Liang after the prince's fall, he had no intention of establishing King Yu. Otherwise, he would not have delayed it until now if he had established it earlier.
As for Wang Gang, Prince Jing, on the surface, Emperor Liang would always beat and scold the former Prince Jing. At the least, he would be scolded and scolded on the spot, and at worst, he would be punished to kneel in the palace for three days and three nights, which made the entire palace and people
Everyone in the court and the military knew that Prince Jing had a "bad temper" and was a prince who was not favored by the emperor.
Just because a father beats and scolds his child does not mean he doesn't love the child.
In fact, Emperor Liang's feelings for Prince Jing were very complicated. They included love for his son, appreciation and expectations for his ministers, and helplessness that his son was not smooth enough and inflexible.
Compared with several other princes, Emperor Liang never allowed them to get involved in military and political affairs, but only allowed Wang Gang to be in charge of military power. This actually revealed a lot of problems.
After all, Emperor Liang was a smart king and knew who was more suitable to hand over the country to, so he gave Prince Jing many opportunities to perform meritorious service and establish connections in the military.
Mei Changsu also analyzed that Emperor Liang's usual harsh criticism of Prince Jing was not without the intention of protecting him, to prevent him from being targeted by someone who wanted to grow up.
It can be said that Wang Gang is only one step away from that position. As long as he does not waste his time, the throne is destined to be his.
After listening to Wang Gang and Mei Changsu's analysis, Concubine Jing was still puzzled: "In that case, why do you still want His Majesty to secretly establish the crown prince? Wouldn't it be better to directly become the crown prince?"
Wang Gang smiled and said: "You have to give some people a little hope, otherwise how can they dare to put all their money into it!"
