Chapter 342 The Prince Supervises the Country
Recently, the Queen has been constantly going to the Emperor to advise him, wanting His Majesty to quickly appoint the Crown Prince as the heir to the throne. Unfortunately, she is always dismissed by His Majesty.
One day, the old emperor suddenly vomited black blood and fainted during court. All the civil and military officials in the court were shocked. Li Dequan quickly ordered people to carry the emperor back to the bedroom.
The imperial physician came to treat the emperor and found that he had been poisoned.
The Queen Mother asked worriedly, "Is there any way to detoxify?"
The imperial physician replied tremblingly, "Please forgive me, Queen Mother. This poisonous minister is really incompetent. I'm afraid only the person who poisoned him has the antidote."
The Queen Mother was furious and immediately ordered a thorough investigation. It was finally discovered that it was the Queen who had ordered the poison.
The Queen Mother gave an order, "Come here, capture this vicious woman for me."
However, no one in the hall moved. The Queen Mother called out again, but still no one responded.
The queen laughed and said, "Don't waste your energy, mother. Everyone here is my people."
The Queen Mother was so angry, "Queen, are you planning to rebel?"
The queen admitted straightforwardly, "Yes, I am going to rebel."
As soon as the Queen finished speaking, Prince Duan came into the hall.
When the Queen Mother saw Prince Duan, she felt like she had seen a savior. She quickly shouted, "Prince Duan, the Queen is trying to murder the Emperor. Hurry up and capture this vicious woman for me. I will reward you handsomely."
Unexpectedly, Prince Duan ignored the Queen Mother. He walked in, knelt down in front of the Queen and said, "My Queen, I have secretly taken control of the entire palace according to your instructions."
The Queen laughed and said, "Well done. When the Crown Prince ascends the throne, Prince Duan will be the greatest contributor. At that time, I will let the Crown Prince appoint you as the Regent."
Prince Duan said happily, "I thank the Queen."
When the Queen Mother saw that Prince Duan was actually in cahoots with the Queen, she was so angry that her chest heaved, "You are so good, Prince Duan, His Majesty trusted you so much and made you a king of a different surname, but I didn't expect that you would collude with the Queen to usurp the throne. Be careful of the punishment from Heaven."
Prince Duan looked at the Queen Mother with a fearless face and said, "Queen Mother, a man who knows the current situation is a hero. Your Majesty is old and should have abdicated long ago. I support His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to succeed to the throne. It is a just act. How can I be punished by heaven?"
The Queen Mother then looked at the Queen and the Crown Prince and asked with regret, "Queen, you and the Emperor have been married for decades. How could you bear to do such a cruel thing? And Crown Prince, among all the princes, the Emperor has always cultivated you with the most care. How can you be worthy of His Majesty's favor by doing this?"
Facing the empress dowager's questioning, the prince lowered his eyes and said nothing. He originally did not want to poison his father, but his mother said that if they did not do so, when other princes succeeded to the throne, the first to suffer would be him, the current crown prince.
The queen laughed at herself, "Haha, mother, you still have the nerve to talk about decades of husband and wife love? Over the years, I have seen batches of new people entering the palace, and His Majesty favoring new faces one after another. My heart has long been dead. His Majesty's health has long been failing, but he has been reluctant to appoint the prince as the heir. You still have the nerve to say that His Majesty favors me and the prince? When has he ever had any affection for us mother and son?"
"The emperor has his own considerations on the matter of appointing a crown prince. If you act like this, even if you take that position, it will not be legitimate. So I advise you to quickly take out the antidote."
"The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne. There is nothing wrong with that. Your Majesty is old and it is time for him to abdicate. As long as Your Majesty writes an edict to let the Crown Prince take the throne, I will give Your Majesty the antidote so that he can live out his days in peace."
At this time, the emperor had slowly woken up. Although he had been in a coma before, he was conscious, so he could hear the conversation in the hall clearly.
Your Majesty does not want to die now, but he is also unwilling to pass the throne to the Crown Prince. The only way now is to stabilize the Queen and the Crown Prince and delay time.
The emperor said with difficulty, "It's not that I don't want to make the prince the heir, but the prince was ineffective in his previous disaster relief work and has lost the support of the people. If I make him the heir so soon, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the court officials. Managing the entire country is not that easy. The prince is still young and will definitely not be able to control the entire court. I have delayed issuing the edict for his own good."
The queen said coldly, "Your Majesty has punished the crown prince for his poor performance before. Now that Your Majesty is unwell, it is a good opportunity to issue an edict for the crown prince to succeed to the throne."
"I just vomited blood and fainted. If I issue the edict now, the court officials will doubt it. Even if the crown prince succeeds to the throne, it will not be legitimate. How about this, Queen, give me the antidote first. After I have rested for a while, I will write the edict of abdication and let the crown prince succeed to the throne. This way, there will be fewer obstacles for the crown prince to ascend the throne."
The Queen was somewhat skeptical, "Your Majesty really wants the Crown Prince to succeed to the throne?"
"Of course, I have always trained the prince as the heir to the throne. If the queen doesn't believe me, I will first write an imperial decree to let the prince govern the country. During the period when I recuperate, the prince will manage state affairs on my behalf. When the prince is familiar with the court and can handle things on his own, I will write the edict of succession."
The queen was still a little hesitant. The prince couldn't bear to poison his own father, so he persuaded her, "Mother, I think your father's suggestion is a good one. When your father writes down the imperial edict to let your son be regent, you can give the antidote to your father."
The prince pleaded, and the queen finally relented, "Okay, then Your Majesty, please draft the imperial edict first."
The emperor asked Li Dequan to help him stand up, and then wrote the imperial edict.
The queen took the imperial edict and looked at it. She was very satisfied. She took out a black pill from her bosom and handed it to Li Dequan. "This is the antidote. Go and give it to His Majesty."
His Majesty swallowed the antidote and felt relieved to see that his first goal had been achieved.
However, before he could be happy for even a second, the queen's voice rang out again.
The queen seemed to have seen through the emperor's thoughts. She said proudly, "Your Majesty, don't be too happy too soon. You need to take the antidote every seven days. If you don't take it in time, you will bleed to death within three days. So, Your Majesty, you'd better keep your promise and write a will to let the prince succeed to the throne as soon as the situation stabilizes."
The emperor didn't expect the queen to be so cunning. She had hidden herself so well over the past twenty years that he didn't even realize her true face.
His Majesty said hypocritically, "Don't worry, Queen. I am the ruler of a country and my words will definitely count."
The queen said arrogantly, "It's best to do so. Your Majesty should rest well. Someone, send the queen mother back to her own bedroom."
Then someone came up and forcibly took the empress dowager back to the palace.
The queen ordered the guards sternly, "Guard the palace well for me. No one is allowed to come in to visit. This includes the queen mother. Watch over her carefully. If anything goes wrong, you will lose your heads."
The guards quickly responded, "We will definitely guard the palace well, please rest assured, Queen."
Afterwards, the Queen and her entourage took the imperial edict and left contentedly. The Emperor half-lying on the dragon bed, staring at the Queen's back with a sinister look on his face.