Wishful Things

People from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry were the first to arrive at the mausoleum, and they had already started preparations around the beginning of Yinshi. When the rest of the officials and concubines arrived, all arrangements had been made.

Shengjia led the officials to the altar, the men stood on the east side, and the women stood on the west side, and they performed the welcome ceremony together.

The sound of beating drums and bells came out of the mausoleum one after another, and the soldiers of the imperial army guarding the foot of Lingshan could also faintly hear the echo.

Ji Xiu personally led people to stand guard at the foot of the mountain. Hearing the ringing of bells, he subconsciously raised his head to look at the sky, trying to judge the time by the sun.

However, the sky was chaotic, and the clouds were densely covered, depressing the sky.

Seeing this turbulent situation, Ji Xiu silently clenched the long knife at his waist.

Just today.

...

In front of the mausoleum, sacrificial matters are proceeding in an orderly manner.

After Jiang Taifu finished reading the sacrificial oration, there was the sound of elegant music. Nearly two hundred dancers wearing cicada crowns and blue sleeve shirts surrounded the altar, moving with the ritual and music. The wide sleeves fluttered in the wind, drawing a solemn and somewhat eerie arc.

Standing on the right side of the altar are the deacons in deep robes with black borders. They are responsible for their duties, such as citing praises, holding bottles, holding silks, holding nobles, and carrying out baptisms.

Welcome to the gods, that is to put in the food, it is for the first offering - this process should have been done by the emperor himself, but because Emperor Qingming was in poor health, he entrusted the prince to do the whole thing.

The prince offered wine before the sacrificial table, and fed each offering of fruit, and pushed each cup forward in turn, in the meaning of cousins ​​offering ancestors.

After eating, you need to kneel and worship. From the upright position, to the coordination position, and then to each subordinate position, you need to kneel and worship nine times.

And this is the first offering.

Halfway through the sacrificial process, Xu Mingyi stood on the porch, glanced at the boy with gray lips who was supporting himself, and couldn't bear it.

His Highness the Crown Prince's body seemed to be getting worse.

She had sent some conditioning prescriptions before, but now it seems that the effect does not seem to be great.

Or they are also tired by the recent events, and even the best prescriptions are useless when they are exhausted.

Although this child is small, he is much stronger than his father.

But this sense of responsibility is a great drag on his body.

After the whole sacrifice, within two full hours, the prince had to kowtow nearly two hundred times in total.

The wind in early spring was chilly, and the boy's too thin body was almost unsteady in the cold wind.

But the boy could always feel that there was a cold gaze that never left his body for a moment.

He was tense all the time, but he was almost unable to maintain the tense feeling.

Emperor Qingming, who was accompanied by an imperial physician, was sitting on a carriage chair wearing a mian suit, with a thin blanket covering his legs. Under the pearl crown, a pair of sickly sunken eyes were cloudy and gloomy.

"Burning sacrificial texts, plain silk—" the voice of the praiser was loud and long.

The prince's heart is slightly relieved, and it is finally about to be completed.

He didn't embarrass the royal family, nor did he cause trouble for Xie Shoufu and other adults.

Before the altar, the tongue of fire in the copper basin devoured the sacrificial text and silk.

This is sending off the gods, and the last gift is performed, and the sacrificial process is considered complete.

However, at this moment, after the boy bowed to the throne, he first turned to the west side and knelt down.

Seeing this, the expressions of the officials around changed slightly.

For a while, no one spoke.

When the boy finished his last salute and the praiser was about to proclaim the "ceremony knot", he suddenly heard a sneer laughing: "The prince kowtowed and messed up the order of things, why didn't you all remind me? Haven’t you seen it before?——When did my Daqing etiquette become so neglected and neglected!”

The prince's complexion turned paler.

He got out of order?

Yes, it seems to be messed up...

Sacrifice rituals are not child's play, he has practiced repeatedly in the East Palace for more than ten days, but it is still...

He is so stupid!

And he once heard the Taifu say that in the previous dynasty, there was a prince who messed up the order of kneeling and worshiping his ancestors. He was first fined to kneel in the imperial mausoleum for a day and a night, and then he was fined ten years of salary and demoted to the county king—— —

He is not afraid of being punished!

But he can't implicate Xie Shoufu and the others!

Thinking of this, and looking at those eyes full of coldness and coercion, the boy panicked for a moment, knelt down, and took the initiative to admit his mistake, please punish him: "It was my minister who made a big mistake in a moment of carelessness. Please punish the emperor."

At this time, under the watchful eyes of everyone, we must stabilize the situation. Even if he is punished, it doesn't matter, but he must not ruin the arrangements of the adults these days.

He couldn't let Xie Shoufu intercede for him, so as to give his father an excuse to blame other people!

At this moment, there is only one thought in the mind of the boy who is extremely self-blaming.

Emperor Qingming's voice was sinister and mocking: "You must know that it is not I who want to punish you, but the ancestral system of the Xie family who wants to punish you... The reason why you made mistakes is because you have no respect for your ancestors in your heart. !"

Xie Shoufu's face darkened.

If such a serious crime is charged, the punishment will definitely not be light!

The emperor really has the intention to deal with the prince...

Otherwise, how could I be so sick that I could still stare at the prince without blinking!

This is intentional to find faults, even if the prince has not made a wrong order, he will certainly be able to find other deficiencies.

Although the majesty of the etiquette system is unbreakable, one must also consider the actual situation—this time the crown prince worshiped the ancestors on behalf of the emperor was a sudden incident. In previous years, the crown prince had never even been to the ancestral mausoleum due to his frailty, so he was able to do so in a short period of time. , is extremely rare. What's more, the emperor's intention is definitely not to regulate, but to use this to send His Highness down!

Thinking about the possible troublesome consequences of this matter, he was about to stand up immediately, but Jiang Taifu held his arm by his side.

Xie Shoufu turned his head away, only to see the old man shaking his head slightly at him, signaling him to wait and see what happened with his eyes.

Don't be too impatient, young man.

Jiang Taifu's overly calm demeanor even made Xie Shoufu think of the old monk who got up early to knock wooden fish.

"Yes, I know my mistake, please punish my father." The prince's figure was a little lower, and his forehead touched the cold and hard stone brick.

"Of course you should be punished—" Emperor Qingming held the armrest of the car seat tightly, almost gnashing his teeth, and said, "Your crime is not just for disrespecting the ancestors! Today, I will arrest you in front of the ancestors. Let me list all the crimes of disloyalty, disfilial piety, and treason!"

The prince froze, the surroundings were silent but there was an undercurrent surging.

Ji Dong, who was also in the entourage, also felt nervous when he heard this.

Unfaithful and unfilial, rebellious?

Punishment of the crown prince with such a crime, the emperor clearly...has the intention of abolishing the reserve!

And looking at the emperor's appearance, it's clear that he won't have a few days to live, why is he still tossing around like this?

And His Royal Highness the Crown Prince obviously couldn't bear the toss, but in the end, the father and son were so tossed that there was no one left...!

Xie Shoufu couldn't listen anymore, and stood up with a tense face.

But someone stepped forward faster than him——

Ming Xiaozhi came out of the queue and came to Emperor Qingming's side, solemnly begging for orders: "It's better for me to count down all the crimes for your majesty, so that your lords can make judgments."

Emperor Qingming's blood surged, and there was a cough in his throat. It was at a time when his breathing was particularly difficult, so he said: "Okay... then Ming Qing will make his crimes known to the public on my behalf!"

Under everyone's gaze, Ming Xiaozhi straightened his back, walked over the white marble steps, came to the divine case, and stood beside the prince.

Xie Shoufu was stopped by Jiang Taifu again.

"Shu Ming, stay safe and don't be impatient..." Jiang Taifu's voice was extremely low, and his gaze was fixed on Ming Xiaozhi. His intuition from experience told him that things might not be as simple as they seemed on the surface.

It is natural to express an opinion, but it is also necessary to see the whole situation before making a judgment.

Xie Shoufu frowned, and looked at Ming Xiaozhi.

He wants to see how confused this Ming can be——

The emperor was sick and went crazy, did the other party also go crazy?

Under the gaze of all eyes, Ming Xiaozhi opened his mouth, his voice sonorous and frustrating, his face full of coldness and solemnity.

"Poisoning the emperor's father, colluding with powerful officials to usurp the throne, this is the first crime!"

The officials all changed face when they heard the words.

To poison the king's father...

Regicide? !

The people present were not only cabinet officials, but also other ministers. Hearing this, he couldn't help guessing.

Xie Shoufu laughed out of anger.

Previously, he only thought that Ming was a bit rigid and pedantic, and his original intention was not selfish, otherwise he would not have tolerated him until today——

But looking at it now, this is obviously a stupid and bad one!

Looking at the other party again, his eyes were already extremely cold: "You publicly claim that His Highness the Crown Prince poisoned His Majesty, is such a serious crime, do you have any evidence?! If you just speculate on your own, you are framing the Crown Prince, and you have the heart of chaos. According to the law, you should be executed." !"

"I am the evidence!"

Emperor Qingming stretched out his trembling fingers and pointed at the crown prince: "...It was the doctors he found who changed my prescriptions and tampered with my medicines, so that I would not be able to stay ill for a long time! The cabinet officials are under house arrest and want to poison me to death in the Hall of Mental Cultivation!"

Xie Shoufu did not back down: "Even if it is His Majesty, you must pay attention to evidence!"

"Of course I have evidence!" Emperor Qingming looked straight at Xie Shoufu, as if he had regarded him as someone who was about to die: "Mr. Before today, my words could never be heard in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, you are controlling the government and plotting wrongdoing... Today I will clean up all of you disorderly officials and thieves!"

Hearing that poison was detected in the medicine, Xie Shoufu and others all looked at Imperial Physician Zheng with scrutiny.

"..." Imperial Physician Zheng was in a panic.

Well, like everyone else, he himself just found out about this!

He was tested for drugs!

The other two imperial physicians also felt that they were completely unprepared—at least the emperor would play against them in advance?

However, after thinking about it, the emperor insisted that he had been poisoned, so he had to be accused of this crime, and he had to be charged if he didn't. How dare they say the second thing in public at this time?

If the only thing that can be done, it seems to be silence.

At this moment, none of the imperial physicians dared to look at the boy kneeling under the divine case.

Because they knew very well in their hearts that this was not the son killing the father, but the father wanting to kill the son.

The king wants his ministers to die, the father wants his sons to die...

Everyone in the surroundings also understood the intention behind this crime. Since ancient times, killing the king has been the number one crime, and no other crime can surpass it.

Once confirmed, not to mention the position of the crown prince, life is also hard to protect...

"I have never had the intention of murdering my father!" The crown prince raised his head, his eyes were full of tears, and his voice was choked with firmness that was rarely seen before.

But at this time, almost no one noticed the Ming Yushi standing there, his face didn't change a bit, as if he didn't hear these words in his ears.

He continued—

"Murdering his brother's wife, who was pregnant, while his brother was fighting abroad, causing his dead body and two lives, this is the second crime!"

All around suddenly became silent.

Puzzled and perplexed, many strange and inquisitive eyes fell on Ming Yushi's face.

Prince He Lai's younger brother...

Where did the brother and wife come from?

What kind of crazy talk is this!

"..." Emperor Qingming was the first to change his face. His body became stiff almost instantly, and his heart beat violently as he was struggling to breathe.

He looked at Ming Xiaozhi who was standing there in disbelief, and couldn't understand what happened at all for a while, why such a sentence suddenly came out of the other party's mouth!

He didn't have time to think about it!

Immediately ordered: "Ming Qing may be a little delirious today, come here, take him down to rest!"

Among the officials, there were those who showed astonishment.

There are no fools here.

Especially the older ones, those who still have an impression of what happened in Yan Wang's mansion nineteen years ago, have already reacted to it by now.

Xie Shoufu's complexion changed a few times.

Ming Xiaozhi's words continued, his neck tensed, and his voice became higher and higher.

"I have killed King Yan many times, and even used the Purple Star Sect as a cover to openly assassinate King Yan when he left the capital. This is the third crime!"

"Placing eyeliner in Princess Jingrong's mansion in an attempt to kill Princess Jingrong failed, this is the fourth crime!"

"Killing the father and mutilating brothers and sisters, how should this charge be settled!"

Ming Yushi's gaze was like a knife, and he raised his finger in the direction of Emperor Qingming.

Shaking all around, like shaking mountains and rivers.

"...It's ridiculous! It's ridiculous! I know, you...even you were bribed by the crown prince! You are the same as those cabinet ministers! Working hand in hand!"

Emperor Ming put his hands on both sides of the car seat, his face was extremely excited, he tried to stand up, and said in a trembling voice: "Are you all deaf! Hurry up and take this lunatic down! Wang Tong, where is Wang Tong?! Here you go!" Take this man down!"

Also watching a play... No, Wang Tong was also shocked by this sudden reversal, managed to recover, bowed in response to "Yes", and immediately rushed forward with a group of police guards.

"Wait!"

On the west side of the altar, among the concubines and family members, a very clear and powerful voice suddenly sounded.

"My palace can testify that the words of Ming Yushi are true——"

Emperor Qingming turned his head abruptly, looking at where the voice came from.

Respect...

It's respect!

Wearing a crimson sacrificial attire, Princess Jingrong walked out from the crowd, with the hem of her overcoat trailing behind her, with a straight figure and a dignified expression.

All around were surprised.

Such a respectful eldest princess, how can she still have half of her innocent and silly appearance in the past!

Looking at the person walking towards him, Ming Yushi's eyes became inexplicably hot.

He hadn't seen such a Highness for too long.

"Give me all of them!" Emperor Qingming's face was livid, his lips were trembling.

He can't, he can't let these people ruin everything about him!

Wang Tong stepped forward bravely, but saw the prince who was kneeling there slowly got up with his palms on his hands, and then stood in front of Ming Yushi with a snow-white face.