Chapter 589: Zhao Heng

Latest URL: "Your Majesty, do you see now what kind of thing this Dou Wei is?"

Imperial Palace, Yanxi Palace.

Empress Xie sneered repeatedly.

An old nanny knelt on the ground; she had already told Zhao Heng the truth about the Third Prince's parentage, point by point.

At this moment, Zhao Heng's face was deathly pale, and his body shook violently, beyond his control.

Slowly rising from his chair, he clenched his fists and roared with all his might: "Dou Wei, you old scoundrel who deserves to be hacked into a thousand pieces, I... even if I die, I will drag you down with me!"

Having always kept in mind the Dou Family's merit in helping him ascend to the throne, he had treated the Dou Family with exceptional favor ever since he became Emperor.

He had handed the position of the Great Song's most powerful official to Dou Wei.

These people also gave the Dou Family every benefit, allowing the Dou Family to sit firmly in the seat of the number one power clan.

Even though Dou Wei colluded with other power clans to control the Imperial Guards in the palace, effectively keeping him under house arrest.

His hatred for Dou Wei had only been over the struggle for power.

But he had not expected Dou Wei to be so vicious.

He had raised a son for Dou Wei for a full twenty-five years.

And all the while, the illicit affair with Noble Dou Guifei had been maintained.

Either one of these two things was a crime punishable by the execution of one's entire clan.

He, Zhao Heng, was indeed incompetent, indeed greedy for pleasure, and cowardly.

But no matter what, he was the Emperor of the Great Song, a man.

With Dou Wei humiliating him like this, how could he endure it any longer!

"How can Your Majesty drag Dou Wei down with you now? This matter has already caused a huge uproar; everyone in Jinling City knows of it. I fear Dou Wei will be driven to desperate measures and harm Your Majesty's life," Empress Xie said in a low, intense voice. "After all, Your Majesty knows Dou Wei's character better than I do."

Hearing this, Zhao Heng's gaze turned gloomy.

He had no other path to take, and Dou Wei had no other path to take either.

This matter was now known to the world.

He had to kill the Third Prince and Noble Dou Guifei to uphold the imperial authority.

And judging from the correspondence between Dou Wei and Noble Dou Guifei, Dou Wei and Noble Dou Guifei shared a deep affection.

In their letters, they also regarded their son, the Third Prince, as a precious treasure.

In the past, he had also wondered why Dou Wei and the Third Prince were so close.

At that time, he had only thought it was an uncle's affection for his nephew, so he did not think much of it.

Now, he finally realized the truth.

Therefore, if he wanted to kill the two of them, Dou Wei would certainly not agree; instead, to protect them, he would take a desperate risk and act against him.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

Immediately, he looked toward the calm-looking Empress Xie.

He knew that this matter was not only a humiliation to him but would also cause cracks among the power clans.

The power clans fought among themselves, but all along, it had only been to support their own favored Imperial Prince to ascend the throne.

But Dou Wei doing this was no different from humiliating them as well.

In the future, they were going to send their daughters into the palace to be Imperial Concubines.

If the Third Prince's line occupied the throne, the Third Prince's son would be the future Emperor.

At that time, wouldn't they be letting their own daughters bear heirs for the Dou Family?

Once the Imperial Concubines gave birth to Imperial Princes, they would all be of the Dou Family's bloodline.

They fought back and forth to support this prince or that prince, but wouldn't the ultimate winner be the Dou Family?

With such evil deeds, it was impossible for them not to distance themselves from the Dou Family and remain on guard.

"Right now, only your Xie Family can help me. I know what you want; as long as you block Dou Wei for me, I will name the First Prince as the Crown Prince," Zhao Heng said slowly.

He knew very well that within Jinling City, the only force capable of contending with Dou Wei and Xiao Cheng was Xie Duan.

After all, Ningzhou, where Jinling was located, was the Xie Family's territory.

This was also the reason why he had chosen a woman from the Xie Family to be Empress—it was to balance the Dou Family's power.

If Dou Wei wanted to kill him, he would first have to get past the Xie Family.

"Your Majesty should have named Gang Er as Crown Prince long ago; otherwise, there would not be today's chaos," Empress Xie said with delight.

Just then, a eunuch hurried into Yanxi Palace and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Empress, Minister Xie has sent word that Xiao Cheng is leading troops toward the Imperial Palace."

Zhao Heng and Empress Xie both changed color upon hearing this.

The Jinling Imperial Guards were divided into the Inner City Imperial Guards and the Outer City Imperial Guards.

The Inner City Imperial Guards were responsible for guarding the Imperial Palace, while the Outer City Imperial Guards were responsible for guarding the defenses of Jinling City.

Xiao Cheng had always commanded the Outer City Imperial Guards, while the Inner City Imperial Guards had always been under the control of Yang Feng.

After Yang Feng was exiled, the general who replaced him was secretly murdered.

Afterward, the Inner City Imperial Guards were controlled by generals from the power clans.

Since then, although Zhao Heng could freely enter and exit the Imperial Palace and it appeared no different from before, he was effectively under house arrest.

However, at that time, due to the infighting among the power clans, the Inner City Imperial Guards were not controlled by Xiao Cheng.

Each family had pushed their own people to serve as generals in the Inner City Imperial Guards to prevent any one family from acting alone.

He had not expected that in just a few months, the initial concerns of the other power clans would come true.

"Without the Emperor's Military Tally, the Imperial Guards cannot be mobilized. Xiao Cheng is leading troops here without an imperial order; there is no doubt he intends to rebel," Empress Xie said, nearly biting through her teeth.

Dou Wei was truly throwing caution to the wind.

He must certainly be aware that once his conspiracy is exposed, he will have nowhere left to turn, with the only path being to forcibly install the Third Prince upon the throne.

Because if any other Imperial Prince ascends the throne, they will remember this act of treason committed by his Dou Family.

Consequently, they would harbor wariness toward his Dou Family, find ways to weaken his Dou Family, and ultimately eliminate them.

In history, it is not as if there have been no powerful clans jointly strangled by the Royal Clan and other influential families.

Regardless of what is said, the Imperial Princes all bear the surname Zhao; they may slaughter one another, but the result is that the Great Song empire will still bear the surname Zhao, and the Great Song Royal Clan will not change its surname.

And he, Dou Wei, has clearly crossed the line.

"I beg the Empress to immediately leave with the Emperor through the West Gate guarded by General Xie An; after exiting the Imperial Palace, take the North Gate, as our people are there too, and at that time, there will be Xie Family soldiers to receive the Emperor and the Empress," the eunuch continued.

Then, remembering something, he whispered a sentence into the ear of Xie Huanghou.

Xie Huanghou nodded slightly and said to Zhao Heng, whose face was somewhat panicked: "The Imperial Uncle says that for the sake of the Great Song empire, I beg the Emperor to first establish a Crown Prince."

"They are all bastards!" Zhao Heng cursed inwardly upon hearing this.

Then he gave a bitter smile; these powerful clans had never cared about his life or death, as they were only after their own interests.

After thinking it over, there was no other way, so he had to have Liang Cheng fetch brush, ink, paper, and inkstone to write the Imperial Edict, establishing the First Prince as the Crown Prince.

Once the Imperial Edict was finished, Xie Huanghou beamed with joy, tucked the Imperial Edict into her sleeve, and said to the young eunuch: "What are you still dazed for? Quickly lead the way."

After walking a few steps toward the outside of the hall with Zhao Heng, she said to a palace maid: "Go immediately to bring out Mi Fei, and escape from Jinling together."

The First Prince is now the Crown Prince, and in the future, he will be the Emperor.

For her, this time, besides needing to stop Dou Wei from supporting the Third Prince's ascension, she also had to think about how to stabilize Yan Wang.

It was precisely because of this that she thought of saving Mi Fei as well.

Otherwise, once Xiao Cheng controlled the Imperial Palace, he would certainly be detrimental to Mi Fei.

If Mi Fei were to die, Yan Wang would truly have no more worries, and at that time, no one would be able to restrain him.

Yet she still wanted to temporarily use Yan Wang to deal with the Dou Family and stabilize the empire for the First Prince; after the First Prince ascends the throne, it would not be too late to consider dealing with Yan Wang.

While Xie Huanghou was instructing the palace maid, Zhao Heng quickly gave a look to Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng nodded secretly.