Chapter 678

Prince Qing raised his wine cup: "Brother Prince, you are decisive in killing, I am ashamed to be inferior; come, let me toast you."

"Hahaha!" Prince Chen drained the wine in his cup, "Overpraise, overpraise!"

He put down his wine cup, raised his hand and pointed at Heir Apparent Chen Qi: "Look, this son of yours needs to be educated from childhood, only then can he be of one heart and virtue with me."

"That unfilial son Chen Hao, although I sent him to Jingcheng since childhood to be a companion reader, I have never mistreated him!"

"Yet he has learned a bellyful of grand doctrines of loyalty to the sovereign and love for the country."

"In his eyes there is only Xiao Jieyun and that Xiao Ran; when have I ever been there!"

"Such an unfilial son, I wish I could kill him with my own hands!"

"Lock him in the heavenly prison; although we failed to draw out Princess Jiayou, it also solidified his charge of rebellion, and thus we rightly removed him from the family register."

"If this eldest legitimate son were still alive, how could Qi'er become the heir apparent! Hahaha!"

Chen Qi heard it clearly, his body stiffened.

"Father, are you drunk? This is a family disgrace!"

"How could we bring this to light and speak it aloud?"

"How will I face the world from now on?"

The several ministers who were toasting him changed expression.

Not only them, everyone's expression changed.

Prince Chen actually could bring himself to use such vicious means against his own eldest legitimate son?

Everyone glanced at the two Regent Kings in unison.

Strange, even though it's tens of paces away, how could this sound be as if right by the ear?

Only Zhou Jinhua lifted his eyes and scanned the hall; could it be that Princess Jiayou has come?

Only she could accomplish such a strange affair.

He glanced at Prince Chen and Prince Qing, secretly pleased, saying, "Go on, say more!"

"Father!" Chen Qi called softly, "Let me bring you a bowl of sobering soup."

"I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, no need to worry," Prince Chen turned his head to look at him, "Keep drinking."

Chen Qi, helpless, sat down with an ugly expression.

The few who were toasting, seeing this, all slipped back to their seats.

Prince Chen glared at his son, raised his wine cup, and said to the officials sitting properly: "Come! Let me toast you all."

Everyone raised their cups, forcing out a smile: "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Prince Chen drained his cup, set it down: "Look at these people, outwardly obedient, but their inner calculations are all sharp!"

The ministers silently picked at their dishes, yet their ears all pricked up.

Prince Qing leaned in, lowered his voice: "Brother Prince, what do you plan to do?"

"For now we cannot act," Prince Chen smiled, "Once the northwestern rebels are crushed and we obtain the imperial seal, we can then openly and thoroughly purge."

"Good!" Prince Qing took a sip of wine, "First is Sheng Zhan!"

"He has held the Ministry of Works for too long; even when I wanted to build a new residence, he blocked me in the name of exceeding regulations."

Prince Chen snorted: "Sheng Zhan! An old fogey who doesn't know the times!"

"Relying on his status as a senior official of two dynasties, he constantly invokes the ancestral statutes."

"When the time comes, letting him retire to his hometown would be fine; we'll replace him with our own people."

The ministers dared not turn their heads, but all glanced at Sheng Zhan with the corners of their eyes.

Sheng Zhan's face turned livid with anger, he forcibly suppressed his fury and sat motionless.

Prince Qing nodded: "There are also those censors, constantly meddling with rumors and criticisms, a hindrance."

"Censors?" Prince Chen raised his cup, took a sip, "That's not hard; just find any pretext to demote them and replace them with those who will speak as we wish."

Several censors who frequently memorialized to impeach exchanged glances.

"However, someone like Li Jing," he paused, the corner of his mouth curling into a meaningful smile, "as long as he knows the times, we can still grant him a bowl of rice."

Li Jing's chopsticks stalled, his face darkened, "Grant me a bowl of rice to eat?"

"I attained the post of Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture by merit and ability; sending me to the Dali Temple is not enough?"

Prince Chen's offhand remarks sent a chill down the backs of all the ministers.

Prince Qing raised his cup to clink with Prince Chen's: "What you say is right—keep what should be kept, replace what should be replaced."

"As the common folk say, 'With a new emperor comes a new set of ministers'; this court also ought to have a fresh atmosphere long ago."

"Exactly!" Prince Chen laughed loudly, "Change the atmosphere!"

"Father!" Chen Qi, seeing the ministers' faces, could no longer hold back, rose and shouted, "You are really drunk!"

The smile on Prince Chen's face froze, he turned his head to look at him, and his gaze turned cold all of a sudden.

"How so?" His face sank, "You have just become heir apparent today, and already you want to meddle in my affairs?"

Chen Qi's face turned pale, his lips moved, but in the end he dared not speak further, lowered his head, and sat back down.

Prince Chen withdrew his gaze, raised his wine cup, and gestured to Prince Qing: "Come, let's keep drinking."

Prince Qing raised his wine cup, turned to the officials, and asked with a beaming face: "Why aren't you drinking, gentlemen? Come! On this great joyous occasion, we must enjoy ourselves to the fullest!"

The ministers stiffly raised their cups: "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Prince Chen shook his head: "The saying 'With a new emperor comes a new set of ministers' is well said, indeed excellently said!"

"Once Xiao Jieyun dies, his princes and princesses, and yes, that eldest princess as well, can all be sent out of the palace."

"Outside the palace?" Prince Qing frowned, "Prince, when weeding we must pull out the roots!"

Prince Chen laughed: "Naturally we must get rid of them, but if we act ourselves, the reputation would not be good."

"First demote them out of the palace, have them guard the imperial tombs, then later frame them as bandits who committed murder and robbery; only then can we keep ourselves clean."

Wonderful! Prince Qing exclaimed, suddenly realizing, "It's still Elder Brother Wang who thought of everything thoroughly!"

"As for His Majesty now," Prince Chen mused, "he's still young, obedient, and we should keep him until he's ten."

"By then, the pretense of being a deposed emperor's son will allow us to roll him off the Dragon Throne."

"Exactly! By then we will have swallowed Da Xia and West Lu," Prince Qing nodded, "the world will be unified, there will be no more war, and the people won't have time to be grateful enough!"

He jerked his chin toward the Dragon Throne: "Who still cares who sits in that chair!"

"Hahaha!" Prince Chen clinked his wine cup against his, "For those words, I, this prince, toast you!"

The two, drunk and warm-eared, drank with high spirits.