For a time, the news spread throughout the entire palace.
The Emperor had been poisoned by General Hu, who had put poison in his wine, and was now unconscious. The Imperial Medical Academy had exhausted every effort, yet could not determine what kind of poison the Emperor had ingested.
It was as though he had suddenly contracted some strange illness. The situation was exceedingly bizarre.
But whether it was poisoning or some peculiar disease, the many witnesses present could all attest that the problem had originated with the jar of wine General Hu had brought.
Consequently, General Hu had been arrested on the spot and thrown into prison.
However, since they could not identify the poison and General Hu refused to admit his guilt, the interrogation could not proceed. They had no choice but to keep him locked up under guard.
Even so, General Hu was not the focus of everyone’s attention.
By the third watch of the night, physicians were coming and going from the rear hall of Yongle Palace. The front hall was filled with the assembled civil and military officials, while the side hall, separated from them by a curtain, was crowded with the consorts of the various palaces.
Everyone remained silent, yet each person was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, utterly at a loss. All they could do was pace around restlessly.
The physicians hurried back and forth, repeatedly delivering the same report: His Majesty’s pulse was abnormal, a condition they had never encountered before. They simply could not diagnose what illness he had contracted.
The more they heard this, the heavier the atmosphere became. Gradually, alarm appeared on everyone’s faces.
Empress Jiang sat at the head of the side hall, raising a hand to support her forehead.
The more everyone else panicked, the more she had to remain composed. There was no Empress Dowager in the palace, and at present, she was the only person throughout the entire palace who could take charge.
Yet, like everyone else, she had no idea what had happened to the Emperor, nor how serious the situation might become. The Emperor was still in his prime and had always enjoyed good health. With the affairs of the imperial court and the palace proceeding in an orderly manner, no one had yet considered establishing a Crown Prince.
Now, however, the Emperor had suddenly suffered a calamity, and nobody knew what should happen next.
Suppressing her worry and panic, Empress Jiang maintained a composed expression and sat quietly in her seat.
In her heart, however, she prayed unceasingly for Emperor Qingping.
Although her relationship with Emperor Qingping had always been rather distant, they had nevertheless been husband and wife, as well as sovereign and subject, for many years. For the sake of the state, only if Emperor Qingping regained consciousness could the imperial court and the inner palace avoid descending into chaos. On a personal level, she was genuinely worried about him and did not want anything terrible to happen to him.
By the time the physicians delivered their third report, stating that Emperor Qingping’s condition had not improved and the cause of the poisoning remained unknown, the consorts in the hall had begun whispering anxiously among themselves.
“What kind of poison did that man use? How can they still be unable to identify it after all this time?”
“Wasn’t he just rewarded by His Majesty? He was supposed to depart tomorrow. Why would he do something so foolish at such a critical moment…?”
“You can never truly know what’s in a person’s heart. His Majesty absolutely must not let anything happen to him…”
Empress Jiang cleared her throat, and everyone immediately fell silent.
Although Her Majesty the Empress was usually gentle and mild-tempered, she was currently the only person in the entire palace with the authority to speak and act on everyone’s behalf. With the Emperor’s fate still uncertain, no one dared risk offending her at such a critical juncture.
Empress Jiang swept her gaze across the consorts before finally letting it settle on Noble Consort Shu.
By now, fatigue was clearly visible on the woman’s face, yet she continued keeping vigil with everyone else without uttering a word.
Empress Jiang knew that Noble Consort Shu was rather childish by nature. If one spoke of love and affection, hers was not necessarily a profound attachment. Nevertheless, the Emperor had favored her for so many years and had always treated her well. Naturally, she must be suffering terribly now that something had happened to him.
“Noble Consort Shu,” Empress Jiang said. “If you feel unwell, you need not force yourself to endure this. The imperial child you carry is what matters most.”
Noble Consort Shu looked at her.
“There’s no need, Your Majesty,” she replied. “This concubine can hold on.”
Empress Jiang knew she was stubborn and did not press her further.
“Go and have the Imperial Kitchen prepare a bowl of calming soup for Noble Consort Shu,” she instructed the female official beside her, turning her head slightly.
The official acknowledged the order and withdrew.
The side hall once again sank into a heavy silence.
Empress Jiang’s gaze drifted toward the covered corridor between the side hall and the main hall.
Beyond the gilded corridor and the curtain stood the assembled civil and military officials, waiting in silence.
Beneath the curtain, the robes and embroidered boots of those pacing back and forth could be vaguely seen.
Just then, the curtain was lifted.
A young eunuch, bent forward, hurried into the side hall at a trot.
The consorts turned to look. The eunuch kept his eyes straight ahead, passing by the gathered women without so much as a glance, before kneeling before the Empress.
“What is it?” Empress Jiang asked, lowering her eyes to look at him.
The eunuch merely replied, “This servant has come to deliver a message to Your Majesty.”
Empress Jiang gestured for him to rise.
At these words, the consorts in the hall held their breath, hoping to catch something from the whispered exchange between them.
But the eunuch leaned close to Empress Jiang’s ear and murmured a single sentence before withdrawing again.
Of everyone in the hall, only Empress Jiang had heard what he said.
Yet everyone saw that her face had turned somewhat pale.
She remained silent for a long time before nodding to the eunuch.
“Go back and report that I understand,” she said.
The eunuch withdrew.
The consorts watched the Empress’s expression closely. Her face was cold and rigid as she looked around the hall.
The eunuch’s words continued echoing in her ears.
“Your Majesty, Chancellor Jiang says that you must prepare yourself for the possibility that His Majesty may never wake up.”
Everyone continued keeping vigil.
It was not until the second half of the night, when the eastern sky began to turn pale and the stars gradually faded, that a commotion erupted from the rear hall. It sounded as though something had been knocked over, or perhaps a crowd of physicians had rushed forward all at once.
Empress Jiang frowned.
“Help me over there to take a look.” She raised her hand, and the female official beside her immediately supported her.
The surrounding consorts craned their necks to watch in the direction she was heading. Once the curtain was lifted, they saw that the officials in the main hall outside had also fallen into disarray, all of them rushing toward the rear hall.
“What happened?” Empress Jiang asked urgently.
A eunuch came stumbling out of the crowd, practically crawling as he rushed forward before dropping to his knees in front of her.
“Your Majesty!” he cried, his face stricken with grief as he repeatedly knocked his forehead against the floor.
Empress Jiang’s face turned deathly pale with fright. Her body swayed, and she hastily grabbed the female official beside her for support.
“What happened to His Majesty?” she asked, her voice trembling.
The young eunuch kept kowtowing as he spoke.
“The physicians say that His Majesty’s meridians suddenly became obstructed. His entire body has now grown rigid, and no medicine can cure him. Although his life has been preserved for the time being, even if His Majesty wakes up again, he may be unable to move his body or speak. He will only be able to cling to life with the help of medicine!”
Empress Jiang’s knees weakened, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.
The two female officials beside her hurriedly caught her.
Empress Jiang stared blankly at the eunuch.
“Then… when will His Majesty recover?” she asked, trembling.
The young eunuch continued kowtowing frantically but gave no answer.
Empress Jiang understood.
Emperor Qingping… was probably never going to recover.
Dawn was approaching.
A country could not go even a single day without a sovereign. The major affairs of the imperial court could not be put on hold simply because something had happened to Emperor Qingping. The documents on the imperial desk still needed someone to handle them.
What was more… there was now little hope that Emperor Qingping would recover.
As long as he remained alive, they naturally could not enthrone another emperor. However, they still needed a prince to temporarily take over the administration of state affairs on his behalf.
In that case, the prince would effectively wield the same authority as an emperor, lacking only the official title. Given Emperor Qingping’s current condition, he probably would not last much longer. When that time came, the prince overseeing the government would naturally become the next sovereign.
After the physicians delivered their conclusion, the assembled officials gathered in the main hall. None of them left, yet no one was willing to speak first.
They knew they had to remain here and await a decision.
After a long while, Empress Jiang emerged from the rear hall, supported by a female official.
The officials rose one after another to pay their respects, then waited for her to take her seat upon the phoenix throne at the head of the hall.
“Your Majesty the Empress,” Chancellor Xu said, stepping out of the ranks as soon as the officials had finished their greetings. He bowed toward her. “We are all heartbroken by the calamity that has befallen His Majesty. Yet even amid our grief, we cannot neglect the affairs of state. If Great Yong were to descend into chaos because of this, His Majesty would surely be distressed upon regaining consciousness.”
Empress Jiang’s eyes were somewhat swollen.
“Chancellor Xu is absolutely right,” she replied after a pause, her voice weak and subdued.
“Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to make a decision and select an appropriately aged prince to be provisionally appointed Crown Prince, so that he may administer state affairs on the Emperor’s behalf.” Chancellor Xu bowed as he spoke.
Empress Jiang looked at him.
The rabbit dies, and the hound is cooked. Such had always been the way of the world.
“I have the same intention,” she said. “However, I wonder whether any of the esteemed ministers have a suitable proposal.”
She knew she absolutely could not ask Chancellor Xu for his opinion alone.
She understood his intentions better than anyone. Moreover, the Xu family was no longer the only powerful faction in the court. Having suffered heavy losses, the Xu family had been severely weakened. The person who truly had a say in the matter was still her own father.
She also knew that her father would never harbor selfish motives over a matter of such importance. Huan’er was not suited to be an emperor, and her father would not push him onto that throne.
Sure enough, Chancellor Jiang stepped forward.
“I request that Your Majesty urgently summon His Highness the Prince of Guangling back to the capital,” he said.
None of the officials present was surprised.
Over the past year or so, they had all witnessed how decisive and formidable the Prince of Guangling had been, as well as how highly Emperor Qingping regarded him. If Emperor Qingping were still conscious, he would undoubtedly have entrusted the governance of the empire to the Prince of Guangling.
For a moment, no one raised any objections.
This was precisely what Empress Jiang had hoped for.
“In that case…” she began.
“Your Majesty, please hear me out,” Chancellor Xu interrupted. “His Highness the Prince of Guangling is currently in Jiangnan. His Majesty issued an imperial decree ordering him to take full charge of the Jiangnan waterworks. Now the Prince of Yunnan has rebelled, and His Majesty has also ordered the Prince of Guangling to head south and suppress the rebellion. Although His Majesty is now unconscious, we cannot use this as an excuse to disobey his imperial decrees!”
As he spoke, he dropped to his knees with a thud.
Empress Jiang knew he was simply being unreasonable.
The decrees ordering Xue Yan to oversee the waterworks in Jiangnan and suppress the rebellion had indeed been issued by the Emperor. But now that the Emperor could not even regain consciousness, he naturally could not revoke his own orders.
Chancellor Xu was attempting to use these irrevocable imperial decrees to confine Xue Yan to the south.
Both the flood-control works in Jiangnan and the campaign against the Prince of Yunnan would take a year or even a year and a half. The court could not possibly wait that long. Xue Yan would supposedly be fulfilling Emperor Qingping’s decrees, but in reality, he would be completely excluded from consideration and eliminated from the succession.
Empress Jiang was so furious that she could barely speak.
Chancellor Jiang retorted, “Then whom does Chancellor Xu consider more suitable? Surely you don’t mean the Fourth Prince, who happens to be related to you by blood?”
He spoke bluntly, intending to expose Chancellor Xu’s evasive tactics and prevent him from maneuvering the throne into the hands of his own nephew.
Unexpectedly, Chancellor Xu let out a cold laugh.
“Related by blood? Lady Yi, the Fourth Prince’s birth mother, has passed away. Before her death, she severed her father-daughter relationship with me. The Fourth Prince has no mother now, and His Majesty is his only close relative. What blood relationship do I still have with him?”
Having said this, he turned to face the assembled officials.
“The First Prince is not in Chang’an. The Second Prince has already reached adulthood but has never entered the imperial court. The remaining princes are all still young. At present, the only one capable of shouldering this great responsibility is the Fourth Prince.”
The officials were astonished.
Then several quick-witted officials, who already belonged to the Xu faction, knelt down and declared, “I second this proposal!”
After that, more officials from the Xu faction, along with a number of opportunists who were adept at reading the political winds, also knelt in support. In an instant, nearly half the officials in the hall were on their knees.
A trace of smugness lurked in Chancellor Xu’s eyes as he looked up at Empress Jiang.
“You…” Empress Jiang knew she had been forced to the edge of a precipice.
At her side, an official belonging to Chancellor Jiang’s faction immediately stepped forward.
“Neither the Prince of Guangling nor the First Prince is in Chang’an. None of us can make this decision on our own!” he declared. “This matter is of the utmost importance. I request that Your Majesty urgently summon all the princes back to the capital so that they may deliberate on this together!”
Just then, a figure appeared at the entrance.
Everyone turned to look, only to see that the person standing there was none other than Xu Zonglun.
Behind him followed the military commanders who had entered the palace the previous day. They had only just returned from the Office of Prudential Punishments.
In an instant, the military commanders blocked the broad entrance to the hall, filling it completely.
No one dared say another word.
“Esteemed sir, have you made up your mind to disobey an imperial decree that His Majesty has already issued?” Xu Zonglun asked slowly.
“I was clearly—”
“Regardless of who it is, I will not permit anyone to commit the offense of disobeying an imperial decree,” Xu Zonglun interrupted.
“Since His Highness the Prince of Guangling has already accepted his orders, he cannot go against the imperial decree. The hundred thousand soldiers stationed at Qinmen Pass are united with me in safeguarding His Majesty’s edict,” he said. “Our troops have now surrounded Chang’an. We will absolutely not allow anyone to entertain the thought of defying the imperial decree.”