Chapter 483: One Hundred and Eighty Schemes

The old Emperor died, and late at night no one had the mind to sleep.

Medical Officer Mu, wrapped in a padded jacket, came to the office to have tea.

"You didn't think well of Zhongwangdian before, and now you say Zhongwangdian can seize the great throne. Your back-and-forth changes are way too fast."

Chen Chen Guanlou poured Medical Officer Mu a cup of hot tea, then said: "Times change. The reason I didn't think well of Zhongwang before was simply because Your Majesty was still alive. As long as Your Majesty sat on the throne for one day, Zhongwang could forget about turning things around. If he turned things around, it would be slapping Your Majesty in the face.

Your Majesty was such a face-conscious person—would he allow such a thing to happen? He might harden his heart and pin the altar explosion case directly on Zhongwang, completely cutting off Zhongwang's chance of turning things around. Who could have imagined that, while he was comatose and stable, Your Majesty would suddenly pass away. With Your Majesty gone, the situation reversed in an instant. What was impossible before became possible in the blink of an eye, and the chance was a big one."

Medical Officer Mu snorted. "Your Majesty's condition made an incident very likely to begin with. If the Imperial Physicians couldn't wake Your Majesty at the first moment, the chance of waking him afterward only grew lower, and the chance of death grew higher. That Your Majesty stayed in a coma for so many days without dying was already the result of the Imperial Physicians giving everything they had. Even if it had been me, I couldn't have done better."

"So you're saying your medical skill is on par with those Imperial Physicians, even a notch better than them." Chen Chen Guanlou seized the key point.

Medical Officer Mu waved his hands repeatedly in denial. "I didn't say that—don't frame me. I just want to tell you, Your Majesty's passing wasn't sudden; it was something bound to happen. If not tonight, then tomorrow night, the night after…"

Chen Chen Guanlou nodded, acknowledging Medical Officer Mu's reasoning. Modern-era medicine could keep a vegetative person alive for years, all through instruments. Without modern technology, without modern medical technology, a vegetative person living year after year was pure delusion.

"You don't like Zhongwang?" Medical Officer Mu asked suddenly.

"Who said that? I like Zhongwangdian very much. Don't you go framing me." Chen Chen Guanlou denied outright.

He had met Zhongwangdian only once, back when the man was still Crown Prince, escorting Grand Tutor Zhuang to the great prison. Whether he liked him or not was hardly the point—they weren't even people of the same class.

He did, however, learn a thing or two about Zhongwang's true face from the mouth of the young widow Liu.

As expected, everyone in that circle had two faces—one for insiders, one for outsiders. The court officials only needed the outward face.

Zhongwang did it well. For decades, his outward face had stayed exactly the same—humble, learned, willing to accept counsel, with principles and a conscience. The court officials were satisfied. This was the standard image of a wise ruler.

As for the inward face—how brutal and ugly it truly was—even if the court officials knew, they wouldn't care. Who doesn't have a few quirks, a bit of temper? No need to be harsh!

"You seem none too pleased at the thought of Zhongwang seizing the great throne?" Medical Officer Mu saw through Chen Chen Guanlou's thinking.

Chen Chen Guanlou gave a self-mocking laugh. "Does my preference matter? If I told you I don't like a single one of those princes and imperial princes, and I'd be unhappy no matter which of them became Emperor—what of it?"

"No wonder the Great Ming King tried to incite you to rebel back then. You were born with a rebel's bone, and you refuse to hide it."

"The Great Ming King has been dead a long time. Don't bring him up—bad luck!"

"The Great Ming King died cleanly—that counts as a blessing." Medical Officer Mu sighed. "Not being executed by lingchi was the greatest fortune he'd earned in this life. The explosion came just in time."

"It wasn't that the explosion came in time. It was that once lingchi began, the first cut was the signal for the explosion operation. The second cut, light the fuse. The third cut—boom, explosion! Otherwise, how could the altar have blown up so precisely and so timely? It was all calculated."

"Now that Your Majesty is dead, the court ought to investigate the explosion case. You should be prepared in your heart."

"What do I need to prepare for? I'm Chen Chen Qingqing white—as white as they come. I do my duties by the rules. No matter who gets locked up in here, I treat them all the same. The Heaven Prison cells don't distinguish faction or stance."

Chen Chen Guanlou gave a cold snort, poured a cup of tea down his throat, and felt a fire burning in his chest.

The old Emperor was finally dead.

The sky of Great Ming was finally about to change!

Like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their own divine skill!

On the surface of the palace, everyone seemed to be running about handling the old Emperor's funeral. In truth, undercurrents were churning; the contest had already begun, only still beneath the table.

Several ministers had already closed their doors for a round of talk about the succession. First, eliminate everyone without a claim—minors, for instance, or those of lowly status like children of maidservants, or ordinary imperial princes with undistinguished maternal clans. These people had no right to fight for the throne from the start.

Unless someone present wanted to be a powerful minister and deliberately picked a weak imperial prince to inherit the throne, making it easier to monopolize power.

Yet the current court was clearly one of mutual checks and balances. Even Li Li Liangcheng, the head of the hundred officials, couldn't achieve sole dominance.

Moreover, on the noble side, Chen Chen Guanfu took the lead, vaguely and openly supporting Zhongwang's restoration and direct succession to the throne.

Once those without a claim were weeded out, only a few imperial princes who had already been enfeoffed as kings remained—not only eligible but capable, each with his own band of followers around him. The situation appeared deadlocked.

Chen Chen Guanfu had only chatted privately with Yu Yu Zhaoan; when it came to public statements, he kept his mouth shut. He was playing the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole behind. First he had to get a clear read on everyone's stance before prescribing the right remedy.

Yu Yu Zhaoan even suspected that Chen Chen Guanfu's support for Zhongwang was merely bait the other side had put out to lure him. It probably wasn't a sincere intention to back Zhongwang.

"Zhongwang was deposed last year, which means he lost his qualification to inherit the throne. Is it appropriate for you to bring up Zhongwang now? If Your Majesty were here, wouldn't he have erupted on the spot?"

Yu Yu Zhaoan quietly dropped a hint, and at once someone played the assist—seizing the initiative, denying Zhongwang's right of succession on legal grounds, using it to test everyone's attitude.

"Your Majesty is gone!"

"Your Majesty was old and muddled. Deposing the Crown Prince back then was a wrong move. We're merely setting things right."

"Setting things right still doesn't come with a rule that says a deposed Crown Prince inherits the throne. Doing so might invite criticism from across the land. It would be denying everything Your Majesty did. Your Majesty reigned for fifty years—are we to deny all of it?"

"Stop twisting words. Everyone opposed Your Majesty deposing the Crown Prince back then. All we're doing now is correcting that matter and giving Zhongwangdian a qualification to compete. Is Zhongwang not even qualified to compete? Don't go too far."

"If even Zhongwang, who was deposed, is qualified to compete, shouldn't the other young imperial princes also be qualified to join in? In my view, once rules are set from the start, they should apply equally to all. We can't make an exception for Zhongwang just because he suffered and everyone sympathizes with him."

"If even Zhongwang isn't qualified to compete for the throne, which of the other imperial princes is?"

Yu Yu Zhaoan observed silently. More than half the people present supported Zhongwang; only a handful opposed. Zhongwang had won the hearts of the people and gained the upper hand.