Chapter 242: Your Majesty Has Passed Away!!

The drum of the fifth watch sounded punctually on the quiet, snowy morning in Kaifeng.

The heavy drumbeats, thump after thump, roused the sleeping capital.

The palace, the sleeping hall.

Lying on the dragon throne, Zhao Guangyi opened his eyes at the first drumbeat.

He had not slept all night.

The corpse of his imperial elder brother beside him had already become cold and rigid.

He felt no fear at all, only a strange calm.

He knew the moment of decisive victory had arrived.

He sat up carefully, making not a single sound.

Then he donned his outer robe, tidied his attire, ensuring he appeared only as a prince who had stayed up all night and looked slightly weary, not as a regicide.

He walked to the hall doors and took one last glance back.

On the dragon throne, his imperial elder brother still slept "peacefully".

Farewell, elder brother.

From today onward, I will bear the realm of Great Song for you.

He pulled open the hall doors and stepped out.

The daylight was already faintly bright.

Two young eunuchs guarding the doorway, having stayed up all night, were freezing like a child, dozing against the corner.

Hearing the door open, they both startled and quickly straightened up.

"Your… Your Highness."

"Shh—" Zhao Guangyi placed a finger to his lips, gesturing silence, lowered his voice, "Your Majesty is still asleep; don't wake him."

"Yes, yes," the young eunuch quickly nodded.

"I must leave the palace; there are a heap of matters in the residence," Zhao Guangyi massaged his temples, feigning exhaustion, "Attend to your duties, and when Your Majesty awakens, tell him I've already departed."

"I obey."

Zhao Guangyi nodded, said no more, and stepped toward the palace exit.

His silhouette, bathed in the morning's dim light, appeared somewhat desolate, yet his stride was unusually firm.

Watching Prince Jin's silhouette vanish at the end of the palace corridor, the two young eunuchs exchanged glances and both exhaled in relief.

Finally, it's over.

"Your Majesty really is something; after drinking too much, he drags Prince Jin for an all‑night chat—so exhausting," a young eunuch whispered in complaint.

"Enough, say no more," the slightly older eunuch glared, "Let's go in and stoke the coals for Your Majesty, so he doesn't freeze."

The two whispered as they gently pushed open the hall doors.

Inside the hall, darkness lingered, still heavy with the scent of wine.

They approached the dragon throne, and in the faint light from the window saw Your Majesty lying on his side, covered with a blanket, apparently still asleep.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"

The senior eunuch called tentatively twice.

There was no response.

"Your Majesty, it's time to rise and prepare for the morning court," he called again.

The person on the dragon throne remained motionless.

The eunuch's heart lurched, a foreboding feeling arising.

Summoning courage, he reached out and gently nudged the emperor's shoulder.

At the point of contact, there was cold and rigidity.

That sensation was nothing like pushing a living person!

"Ah!"

The eunuch let out a terrified scream, fell backward onto the floor, his face turning instantly ashen.

"What's wrong?" the other young eunuch hurried over.

"Your—Your Majesty..." the senior eunuch pointed at the dragon throne, teeth chattering, unable to finish, "Your Majesty's body... is cold!"

"What?!"

The young eunuch was also terrified; trembling, he reached out toward the emperor's wrist exposed beyond the blanket.

There was no pulse.

He then slipped his finger beneath the emperor's nose.

There was no breath.

Dead silence.

A blanket of dead silence.

The two young eunuchs stared blankly at the oddly serene face on the dragon throne, their minds empty.

It lasted for over a dozen seconds.

A mournful, pitch‑shifted wail suddenly tore through the palace's morning tranquility.

"Help! — It's bad—! Your Majesty has passed away—!!"

The sound, like a massive stone cast into a calm lake, instantly raised towering waves.

For a moment, the entire palace fell into chaos.

The terrified screams of the palace maids.

The stumbling footsteps of the eunuchs.

The clanging of Imperial Guards' armor colliding.

Crying, shouting, yelling, all turned into a jumble.

The news, at a terrifying speed, spread from the inner palace to the outer Court.

Just upon reaching the palace gate, the civil and military officials preparing for court, hearing this bad news, were all stunned.

"What? Your Majesty has passed away?"

"How could that be! Yesterday Your Majesty was vigorous, summoned the ministers of the Privy Council!"

"Is it true or false? Could it be a rumor!"

The ministers debated endlessly, the people's hearts were anxious.

At that moment, Chancellor Zhao Pu, seated in a sedan chair, under the guard of the garrison troops, arrived at the palace gate.

He stepped down from the sedan, his face heavy, and shouted at the chaotic officials:

"Silence!"

The venerable chancellor, whose authority was great, when he spoke, the scene instantly grew much quieter.

"The nation is in great mourning; you, as senior Court officials, such chaos, what decorum is this!" Zhao Pu scolded sternly, "All follow me, enter the palace to see the sovereign!"

Speaking thus, he led the way toward the inner palace.

The officials glanced at each other, and could only suppress their doubts and follow.

Meanwhile, the front hall commander Shi Baiji, having followed Wang Xu's orders, led his five hundred elite troops to swiftly secure Xuan De Gate.

Bright swords and spears formed a wall, blocking any officials or Imperial Guards trying to rush out of or into the palace gate.

"General Shi, what is your intention? Why block our entry into the palace?" a royal prince glared at Shi Baiji.

"Prince, calm yourself." Shi Baiji, expressionless, bowed and said, "During the national mourning, to prevent unrest, I have been ordered to guard the palace gate. Without a written order, no one may enter without permission!"

"Ordered? Whose order do you follow?"

"Naturally, it is to obey... the orders of whoever can give them." Shi Bao Ji said it equivocally.

"... the one who can issue orders." Shi Baiji said ambiguously.

The clerks and auxiliary troops of the Kaifeng Prefecture office have also been fully deployed, sealing off all major street intersections and city gates.

The whole Kaifeng city was tightly controlled by an invisible net.

Everything proceeded methodically according to the script of Wang Xu and Zhao Guangyi.

When Zhao Pu led the officials to the emperor's sleeping hall, they saw Empress Song and several concubines prostrate before the dragon throne, weeping desperately.

Zhao Pu stepped forward, checked Zhao Kuangyin's breath, felt his pulse, and finally rose slowly, using an exceedingly mournful tone, announcing to the officials behind him:

Although there had been a foreboding, when this news was personally confirmed by the prime minister, the entire hall was still in an uproar; immediately, the wailing shook the heavens.

Although it had been anticipated, when the chancellor personally confirmed the news, the entire hall was still in uproar, and then cries filled the sky.

"The nation cannot be without a ruler for a day!" Zhao Pu, suppressing his grief, raised his arm and shouted, "The urgent task is to establish a New Monarch, to secure the realm!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a voice rang out from the crowd.

"It should be Crown Prince Zhao De Zhao who inherits the great authority!"

The speaker was the Crown Prince's father-in-law, the Metropolitan Governor Pan Mei.

His words were immediately echoed by the officials.

However, Zhao Pu shook his head.

He drew from his sleeve a pre‑prepared, slightly yellowed silk scroll.

He raised it high, his voice like a great bell:

"When Empress Dowager Du was on her deathbed, there was the Golden Treasury Covenant! It declared that after the Founding Ancestor, the Prince of Jin would inherit the great authority! This covenant, I and the gentlemen, all bear witness!"