Chapter 476

Since the beginning of time, there has been no greater credit than that of championing the emperor.

The benefits of embracing in some cases are even greater than those gained from opening up new territories.

However, for the Fengzhou Wei Clan, a giant clan of this level, this kind of thing, unless it came to the point of lifting the clan to the point of life and death, they would not do it.

Especially not explicitly.

The reason is simple: reputation!

No family that focuses on its origins can afford to be frivolous about its reputation.

And a family with a reputation for “regicide” and “manipulating imperial change” will not go far.

Because as soon as the royal family produces a British lord, the first thing it will surely do is to take out such a family the uprooted kind of take out!

Lest one day, this family would look at themselves in a bad light and get themselves killed to replace someone else in power.

Even if one is lucky enough to catch the royal family in an uncontested phase, it doesn’t mean one can rest on one’s laurels: with the royal family weakened, the world is more than likely not going to be too good either.

This kind of family has given others the opportunity to raise the flag of “clearing the side of the emperor” …

In Wei Xi, the Wei Clan’s family head’s opinion, Empress Wei’s mother and son, were not yet worth cutting off the Wei Clan’s long term future.

So he rejected Wei Pi’s temptation without hesitation, however, he didn’t mean to really stand by and watch Empress Wei’s mother and son.

“Although it’s said that Gu Shao most likely won’t care about the Empress and the Crown Prince, but in order to prevent accidents, you’d better take a trip and tell him something!” Wei Xi sipped his tea and said in a faint voice, “Let’s just say that when King Liang met with the saint alone earlier, he had already revealed to His Majesty the smallpox matter in the beginning…. Fortunately, Duke Yan was still in the palace at that time, and then urgently dissuaded His Majesty, so His Majesty didn’t pursue the matter! However, right now, since His Majesty has begun to rehash the death of Empress Cui’s aunt and nephew, it’s only late for this matter to be noticed by His Majesty again!”

Wei Pi rose to answer, then hesitated, “Will doing so make Gu Shao feel that we are blackmailing him?”

“It’s not like we weren’t involved in this matter!” Wei Xi glared at him with hatred, “The conclusion that Jian Ping Yu and his son are the real culprits is still what I reported to His Majesty! I threatened Gu Shao with this!”

“It’s me who was confused!” Only then did Wei Pi come to his senses, his face reddened and he hurriedly bowed, “I’ll go and do it now!”

After a long time, Gu Shao rubbed the corner of his forehead rather helplessly and said to He Lou Duhan underneath, “Wei Xi, that old fox, his own daughter is grounded in the middle, he does not want to take the lead, but to force me!”

“Wei Shangshu is really cool.” He Lou Duhan frowned, “Even if the Empress is not, in the end, she is his own daughter, and now that she is in a difficult situation, how can Minister Wei not care about it?”

“If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have sent his son to me!” Gu Shao shook his head, the same way Wei Xi taught Wei Pi, he is now teaching He Lou Duhan, “His Majesty is not the previous Emperor, once he ascended to the throne, he had the court under control, so everything is under his control the Empress has only been grounded, and the Wei family pops up with this and that, it will only make His Majesty more suspicious and disgusted by the Wei family and the Empress, which will do more harm than good! The more suspicious and disgusted, a hundred harms but no good! How could that old fox Wei Xi do such a thing?”

He Lou Duhan looked at his maternal grandfather with concern, “But since His Majesty has already created a rift against the Empress Dowager, if you go to speak to the Empress Dowager now, what if it angers His Majesty?”

“It won’t.” Gu Shao was very flattered by his grandson’s concern for himself, smiled and stroked his long beard before continuing, “Do you think that His Majesty has now torn his face off with the Dowager Empress Dowager, grounded the Empress, and imprisoned both the King of Liang and the Marquis of Boling, and that those whom His Majesty has always been close to and trusted, at the moment, apart from me and the Duke of Yan, are there any others?”

In fact, He Wenqiong’s days following Emperor Duanhua weren’t short, it’s just that he wasn’t very lucky as a person:

At first, Emperor Duanhua had Emperor Xianjia as his backer, so he would not be dependent on his ministers, and He Wenqiong was not a relative of Emperor Duanhua like Jian Xubai, so he only maintained a purely monarchical relationship with Emperor Duanhua;

After Emperor Xianjia’s departure, Gu Shao, the prime minister, crushed the entire dynasty on all fronts He Wenqiong knew that he was no match for Gu Shao, and expressed his respect and obedience to Gu Shao early on, and then even more so, he would not lean towards Emperor Duanhua’s side, lest Gu Shao think that he wanted to compete for power.

So these two days down, the Duanhua Emperor unknowingly has reached the point of rebellion.

The cronies of the past are almost gone at the moment.

At a time like this, how could the Emperor lose face with Gu Shao again?

What’s more, Gu Shao didn’t directly mention Empress Wei to the Emperor a long time later, in Xuanming Palace, Gu Shao saluted but brought up the matter of Cui Jianren’s death, “I heard that His Majesty has already ascertained the truth, I wonder what the truth is?”

Duanhua Emperor is indeed as Wei Xi said, because of Cui Jian Ren’s death of Jian Xubai born after the gap, also began to consider the words of the King of Liang, smallpox above Gu Shao intentionally deceived the king not to mention, but also by their own hands to eradicate the old rival at the moment briefly to Gu Shao said the next passages, the corner of the eye has been in the careful observation of the Gu Shao.

Unfortunately, Gu Shao’s gas work is too good, the emperor really can not see his mind, can only disappointment dark sigh, said, “Gu phase now does not come over, I am also about to send people to invite. Now come just right, although this matter has been found out the truth, but to how to dispose of the law, I have some indecision!”

“I dare to ask: since the cause of concubine Cui’s death has been ascertained.” Gu Shao heard this, pondered for a moment, and archly said, “Yet I wonder, does Your Majesty wish to continue to pursue the death of Empress Cui? If so, then it would be premature to mention the disposition now, why don’t we wait for the results of Empress Cui’s death to come out and then make plans?”

Emperor Duanhua frowned, “My birth mother died suddenly, what was the situation in the palace at that time, Minister Gu also knows. So this matter is the first emperor personally check the first emperor is wise and powerful, far better than me! The late emperor himself said that my mother died of an acute illness, how can it be false?”

“The late emperor personally investigated, since there is no falsehood!” Gu Shao nodded thoughtfully and said, “In that case, Song Lu’s statement that Empress Cui’s death was related to the Empress and Mrs. Yan was a false accusation!”

“But the Empress was ultimately involved in the death of concubine Cui!” Hearing that he was going to speak for Empress Wei, Emperor Duanhua snorted coldly and said, “In vain, I have always thought that the Empress was tolerant and generous, treating concubine Cui as if she were a fellow sister!”

Gu Shao, however, did not split hairs on behalf of the Empress, but instead nodded and said, “The Empress’s action is indeed out of character for a mother of a nation!”

When he spoke like this, it made Emperor Duanhua a bit stunned, and after giving him a suspicious look, he said, “Unknown what Minister Gu thinks, what should I do with the Empress?”

“I think that the Empress has violated the Article of Seven Exits.” Gu Shao said without thinking, “How to deal with it should be decided by His Majesty!”

“… “Emperor Duanhua glared at him, half speechless, half annoyed cynical side consort, indeed can be considered a violation of the seven out of the article of jealousy, the problem is, ordinary people’s main mother killed a good concubine may not necessarily go to court, let alone the middle court. The problem is, if the mother of a family beats and kills a good concubine, she may not necessarily go to the court, let alone the middle court.

In particular, the crown prince is still the only male heir of the emperor’s knee, and based on this, it is impossible for Emperor Duanhua to abolish the queen ah!

“The Empress is in the end my married wife.” After waiting for a long time, seeing that Gu Shao had no intention of handing over the ladder, Emperor Duanhua could only round himself off, “Not to mention that the Crown Prince is getting older, so we can’t lose the face of the Crown Prince’s birth mother for the sake of a commoner, Cui.”

But Gu Shao said, “But the seven out of seven is not a small offense, if His Majesty is to lightly forgive the Empress because of the Crown Prince, what if the Empress commits another offense after that? I heard that his majesty has the intention to enrich the harem, after this matter, this harem than concubine Cui’s more beautiful, more than his majesty’s intention, not one or two! At that time, I’m afraid the palace will be in chaos!”

Emperor Duanhua once again looked at him suspiciously for a moment before testing, “If Minister Gu says so, do you have any good proposals?”

“I thought it would be better to let the Empress lie ill for a few days, and after the newcomer enters the palace, choose her to take over the power of the harem.” Gu Shao said, “If the Empress has someone to hold on to, she won’t be able to lay her hands on the concubines again!”

“That’s a solution.” Emperor Duanhua looked at him doubtfully, “It’s just … that Minister Gu hadn’t always spoken up for the Empress before? How is it that this time, he actually advised me to deal with the Empress?”

Gu Shao sniffed and said with a straight face, ”Your Majesty has misunderstood me! The reason why I spoke up for the Empress in the past was because I didn’t know what the Empress had done to concubine Cui, and harmony between Emperor and Empress is supposed to be an auspicious sign for the country! I naturally hope that Your Majesty and the Empress are in love and harmony! Now that I know that the Empress has fallen short of His Majesty’s expectations, how could I possibly harbor the Empress? After all, I was entrusted by the late Emperor, and my loyalty has always been to His Majesty, not the Empress!”

Emperor Duanhua was quite saddened by his words, “I can now trust, about only Gu Xiang!”

Just me?

Gu Shao heart secretly said: it seems that Yan Guo Gong in the end also suffered his wife dragged ah!

… These words soon reached the Wei family, and Wei Pi was furious and rushed to the study to see Wei Xi, “Father! Gu Shao is simply too deceitful!”

“Get out!” Wei Xi turned around and looked at his son’s redfaced and anxious appearance, raised an eyebrow but pointed at the door, “Retreat outside the courtyard and reenter how many times have I told you? My Rui Yu Tang’s children should have the demeanor and temperament of a full branch of the Wei Clan! The way you panic when you meet something, what’s the difference between you and those regular people outside?”

Wei Pi wanted to spit out blood, but being glared at by his father’s stern gaze, he could only say in disgust, “Yes!”

Turning out the door, he walked to the moonhole gate, straightened his clothes, stepped into the courtyard at an unhurried pace, passed through the court, walked slowly through the corridor, and went to the door of the study to ask for instructions, “Father?”

“Come in!” Wei Xi then hummed, signaling the boy who served the brush and ink to move an embroidered stool to the side of his book case.

Wei Pi pressed down his frantic mood, after saluting, he followed his father’s instructions to take a seat, and secretly reminded himself that he could not speak fast, before saying, “Father, I just received news that Gu Shao went to the palace to see the saint, mentioning the Empress, and even said that the Empress had committed the seven out of seven, and wanted His Majesty to make a decision!”

“His Majesty refused to abolish the Empress because of the Crown Prince originally the matter could have been minimized here, but Gu Shao said that if the Empress was not punished, he feared that she would not repent and would commit the crime again in the future!”

“To go so far as to suggest that His Majesty take away the power of the Empress’s six palaces and divide it with the newcomers who will soon enter the palace!”

Wei Pi said indignantly, “This is not bullying, what is it?!”

What kind of a queen is a queen without the power of the court?

New concubines must therefore defy the Middle Palace, and the Middle Palace has lost its majesty, and how to deter those who intend to Mingren Palace of ambition?

This is tantamount to pushing the Prince into the limelight!

“This old man!” Wei Xi sniffed and also frowned and cursed, but there wasn’t really much annoyance in his tone, saying, “He’s taking revenge on our family for forcing him to come out but you don’t have to worry about the Empress and the Crown Prince very much, the Empress, even if she doesn’t have the power of the palace, living alone in the palace, she definitely has the ability to protect herself. As for the Crown Prince, how could Gu Shao not look after his own students? What he did, however, was to make the Empress and her son inseparable from his support from now on!”

Originally, although Empress Wei also valued Gu Shao, but the emperor and queen love, the crown prince both first and long, Gu Shao for the crown prince to ascend the throne, although there is a certain help, but not to the extent of a decisive role.

But now, while the Empress is about to lose her palace power, Emperor Duanhua is looking for a wide range of concubines.

After these newcomers enter the palace and give birth to a son, how can everyone be peaceful and not think about progress? Empress mother and son do not want to be cannon fodder, can be tightly embraced Gu Shao this thigh!

Such a change in status, Gu Shao is certainly a good thing, to the Empress mother and son, to the Wei family, can be a tragedy!

Wei Pi therefore hurriedly said, “Father, I know all of this! I just want to ask you, Gu Shao is counting on the Empress and her son like this, are we still watching and not caring?!”

Can’t help it, and continued, “Before you said that the Empress is grounded this, we are inconvenient to take the lead, so we have to let Gu Shao to do it! As a result, Gu Shao took the opportunity to pit the Empress mother and son, as well as our Wei family a visible this outsider in the end is unreliable! The Empress and her son are in trouble, in the end, we still have to do it ourselves, right?”