Chapter 172 The Ancient Emperor's Last Wish 3
Nan Bowan, who came later, read out the emperor's edict on the spot, and Qin Xiuyi rolled her eyes and fainted.
After reading the imperial edict, Nanbo Wan returned to Chengxuan Palace to wait for orders. As for the eldest princess and Tan Shuren, someone would take care of them.
The eldest princess who was stripped of her title was equivalent to being demoted. Without her food and shelter, she only had the title of princess. However, the princess's mansion was just a small house, which was not even as good as the house of a fourth-rank official.
Everyone in the former dynasty and the harem knew that the eldest princess had lost power and there was no point in making friends with her.
Along with the eldest princess's maternal family, Fu Fei, the fourth-rank minister of the Honglu Temple, was also implicated, and the ministers who had always been on good terms with him began to distance themselves from him.
The one who is in the limelight now is the little princess. The fact that Concubine Shu was driven out of Chengxuan Palace by the emperor last night was known not only to the harem but also to the previous dynasty early this morning.
Shufei was scolded by her old father, who told her not to do stupid things again and that her son's future depended entirely on her attitude towards the little princess.
Marquis Xuanping was a smart man who knew how to judge the situation. He was exhausted with his own stupid daughter.
If I ignore her, he will worry again. If I care about her, she won't listen.
Madam Hou had given up long ago and said bluntly that Concubine Shu was not her daughter and she could not possibly give birth to such a stupid daughter.
Shufei's brothers and sisters had no feelings for her, so they would not ask about her affairs. They just hoped that she would not commit suicide.
Gu Laoliu didn't bother to care who had planted the spies in the harem, he just cleaned up Chengxuan Palace.
Most of the memorials on the Dragon Case were asking him to enthrone a crown prince. Most people requested that the eldest prince be made the crown prince, followed by the second prince, and only a handful supported the third prince.
Chang'an sat cross-legged on the table, eating snacks while supervising her father at work.
Lao Liu gradually became irritable. Why was he the only one doing the work? He glanced at Chang'an. It was not easy to exploit his own daughter.
"Come here, announce the third prince."
"Yes"
The third prince is named Gu Mo. He is ten years old this year, the same age as the second prince, only one month younger.
In ancient times, children were considered adult when they were ten years old. The heirs of aristocratic families were already involved in family management, not to mention the princes. The three princes were more or less involved in political affairs.
Half an hour later, the third prince, with a confused look on his face, was led into the imperial study by Nan Bowan.
Without waiting for him to salute, Gu Laoliu pointed to the small table next to him and said, "You can leave only after you review those memorials."
Third Prince:...
Can he say no?
"Until you finish the review, you have to stay here and are not allowed to go anywhere," Gu Laoliu said grimly.
The third prince shuddered, with a flash of grievance in his eyes. Why was he the only one being called? Aren’t there also eldest and second brothers?
When his eldest and second brothers, who were both on his mind, learned that the third prince had been summoned to the imperial study by Gu Laoliu, they became a little restless, and both of them secretly sent people to inquire.
Things that were easy to find out in the past, today I couldn't find out anything, and then I went to ask my mother for help.
Concubine Shu still remembered what Gu Laoliu said and rejected the Second Prince. She planned to keep quiet for a few days and wait until the Emperor calmed down.
Although she rejected him, she still gave him some advice, "Your sister is in the imperial study, you can go find her."
The second prince's eyes showed displeasure and he felt extremely unbalanced. He was obviously the prince, so why did his father only favor that damn girl?
No matter how much he disliked her, he still had to rely on Chang'an to make his presence felt in front of the emperor. He let out a breath of anger, thinking that when he inherited the throne, he would send that dead girl away to marry.
When he arrived at the imperial study, the Queen had arrived a little earlier than him. He respectfully saluted the Queen and said, "Your son pays his respects to the Queen Mother."
"No need for formalities," the queen replied indifferently.
Nanbowan came out from the imperial edict with an unchanged smile on his face and the same humble attitude, "Empress, His Majesty has ordered that from today onwards, no one from the harem is allowed to enter the front court. Those who disobey the order will be stripped of their titles, demoted to commoners, and expelled from the palace. You, Empress, are no exception."
He conveyed Gu Laoliu's words word for word without any change, because he felt that His Majesty was right. The concubines in the harem were just bored and should be allowed to farm a few acres of land to see if they would have time to cause trouble.
The queen's face turned pale and blue, she angrily threw her wide sleeves, and turned away arrogantly.
At this time, Chang'an and Nanbowan's thoughts were synchronized. "Dad, let's get all the women in the harem to farm, so they don't have to be idle and think about palace fighting every day. It's crazy."
"Okay, let Nanbowan arrange it. It's a waste to plant all flowers and plants in such a large palace. There's a war going on at the front line and a lot of food is needed. Pull out the flowers and plants in the imperial garden and plant crops instead. This will also save some money for the national treasury."
The third prince: There seems to be something wrong with his ears. His great father wants him to let his own concubine farm?
Outside, Nanbowan also conveyed the same message to the second prince word for word, "Second Prince, pass on His Majesty's order. Don't covet things that don't belong to you. If you feel that being a prince is unfair to you, you can also become a commoner."
Nan Bowan felt that the Second Prince now felt like his life was about to break. He really didn't expect that the Emperor would directly block his path to the top.
Nanbowan sent the second prince and the queen away and returned to the imperial study.
As soon as he entered, Gu Laoliu asked him to arrange the farming. "Use all the land in the palace and remove all the flowers and plants. If anyone does not allow it, let the imperial guards throw them out of the palace."
Now the palace is his, it is his business how he wants to do with it, and no one can say anything about it.
The Third Prince thought of his mother's platycodon flowers, and immediately walked out from behind the desk and knelt in the center of the hall, "Please be gracious, father, and allow me to plant flowers in my mother's palace. It doesn't need to be too big, just a corner will do."
The third prince will be the emperor in the future, and his mother will be the empress dowager, so Gu Laoliu gave him some face, "Nanbowan, pass on my decree. Jin Wei Zhaorong is the imperial concubine and is granted the right to live in Mingde Palace. The garden in the palace does not need to be requisitioned, and she can plant whatever she likes."
Since the third prince is to be made the crown prince, his mother's status must not be too low. Now that the queen has not been deposed, she might as well be a royal concubine for fun.
The third prince was confused and a little dazed. No, what did his great father want to do? If his mother became the imperial concubine, wouldn't she become a target?
He wanted to ask the emperor to revoke his decision, but when he opened his mouth he didn't know in what position he should refuse on behalf of his mother.
Gu Laoliu didn't care what he thought. If the mother and son couldn't even deal with the schemes of the harem, then he would have to discuss the throne with the original owner to see if they should find a capable person from the royal family to inherit it?
Seeing that he still had time to think about random things, Gu Laoliu threw another pile of memorials to him and said, "Hurry up and read them, don't be lazy."
The mountain of memorials made the Third Prince a little scared. Could it be that his great father wanted to push him to the throne?
"Father, how about asking my elder and second brothers to review it together?"
I swear to God, he meant what he said. He didn't want to be a crown prince, let alone an emperor. He just wanted to be a free and easy prince, and then ask for a favor to take his mother out of the palace to live.
Gu Laoliu sneered, "Those two idiots will only slow you down."
Third Prince:...