Chapter 156: The Situation in the Imperial Court

Xuanzheng Hall is the second-largest hall within the Daqian Palace, second only to Chaoyuan Hall.

Aside from the Great Morning Assembly, the civil and military officials all discuss matters here during other morning assemblies.

Compared to the Great Morning Assembly, today's assembly is much smaller in scale; only officials of the fifth rank and above in the Capital are qualified to attend, along with many generals from the Border Army who have also rushed over to participate.

The scale of this assembly is much larger than usual, with nearly three hundred officials of various ranks.

However, compared to the vast Xuanzheng Hall, it still appears somewhat sparse.

The civil and military officials walk into Xuanzheng Hall one after another; the Son of Heaven has passed away, so the Dragon Throne is naturally left vacant.

Empress Xu sits below the Dragon Throne with the Crown Prince to listen to the administration; under normal circumstances, she certainly could not be here, and at most, only the Crown Prince would be allowed to come.

Yet, with the Son of Heaven having passed away and the Crown Prince being young, although she has not yet been titled Empress Dowager, bringing the Crown Prince to listen to the administration is not considered a breach of protocol; at the very least, according to the Great Gan system, it is absolutely not.

Chen Mo, wearing heavy armor and holding a weapon, stands at the side of Empress Xu.

He does not actually need to do this; the reason he does so is merely to signal that he absolutely supports the Crown Prince and the Empress.

The many officials have varied reactions upon seeing his posture: some show smiles and joy, some look slightly astonished, and some feel fear in their hearts, not daring to meet Chen Mo's gaze.

The civil and military officials attend the morning assembly, each standing in their respective places.

The last to walk in are the Prince of Pingxi and the many generals from the Border Army.

The Prince of Pingxi is still as he was in the past, wearing a black python robe, head held high and chest out, his gaze sharp as he steps into the palace.

This time, he keeps his eyes fixed tightly on Chen Mo, making no effort to hide his gaze.

Yet Chen Mo has always felt that something is not quite right; if the Prince of Pingxi he saw some time ago only vaguely revealed a trace of an inhuman aura.

Then this aura is much more obvious now; while nothing unusual can be seen on the surface, there is always something strange within him.

This aura could belong to anything, but it does not belong to a human.

Even just sensing this aura, Chen Mo instinctively feels repulsion toward it, wanting to stay away, wanting to destroy it.

Chen Mo's eyes swirl with Blood Energy as he begins to carefully observe the Prince of Pingxi, yet looking purely at him, no matter how he looks, he seems perfectly normal, without much strangeness.

It is just that the aura revealed from within him is absolutely wrong; there must be a problem with the Prince of Pingxi, and it is possible that he has practiced some evil arts to increase his strength.

The so-called evil arts refer to certain sinister techniques; these types of techniques require some rather harsh things to begin practice, such as human essence, Qi, and heart blood.

Martial Artists who practice such evil arts are naturally unadulterated Demonic Path Martial Artists, and they even belong to the lowest of the low among Demonic Path Martial Artists.

Because these types of techniques often affect the practitioner, making their emotions easily become extreme.

But without a doubt, the benefit of these techniques is that the practice is fast enough to allow a Martial Artist to break through their current realm more quickly.

Aside from practicing evil arts, Chen Mo has another deduction: that the Prince of Pingxi might have been influenced by something within the Mirage Sea or the Ruins Realm.

But as an Innate Expert, it is by no means easy for things in the Mirage Sea to influence the Prince of Pingxi.

Even if they did cause an influence on him, he would certainly be able to perceive it, and much more clearly than Chen Mo himself could.

In the current situation, it is highly likely that he actively accepted those things to merge with himself.

Compared to the Mirage Sea, it is more likely that the Prince of Pingxi has reached a cooperation with the special creatures within the Ruins Realm.

Although the Ruins Realm is strange, it has established rules; as long as one does not violate them, it is considered safe.

Some Ruins Realms with explored rules are, to a certain extent, not inferior to a small Dongtian Fudi, and there are indeed things within them that can provide benefits to Martial Artists.

But the Mirage Sea is too dangerous; everything is chaotic and disordered, and one cannot grasp even half a pattern.

"Your humble servant pays respects to the Empress, pays respects to the Crown Prince!"

The current Chancellor, Zuoqiu Bei, leads the civil and military officials in bowing.

The Prince of Pingxi and the many Border Army generals also bow.

Even if he intends to usurp the throne, he has not torn off the mask yet, so he still has to observe many rituals and rules.

When all is said and done, it is because of Chen Mo's appearance that he can no longer act recklessly and do as he pleases.

Otherwise, if Chen Mo had not shown himself, I fear the entire Great Gan would not be in a state of total chaos, but it would at least have fallen into small-scale turmoil.

"Please rise, my lords!" Empress Xu says softly with a smile on her face.

Immediately after, a Palace Attendant in the palace loudly conveys the order.

"This servant has a memorial to present," the Minister of Rites says, stepping forward.

"A country cannot go a day without someone in power. Now that His Majesty has passed away, according to ancestral rules, the Crown Prince should temporarily manage the Imperial Court. After the state funeral, the Ministry of Rites will arrange the enthronement ceremony, grant a general amnesty, and welcome the New Emperor to the throne."

The Minister of Rites speaks; as one of the Six Ministers, although he comes from a great family, he is not from the main branch, but merely a concubine-born son of a side branch.

He was promoted by the current Son of Heaven to achieve such success, so among the Six Ministers, his loyalty to the Son of Heaven is the greatest.

"The Crown Prince is young and cannot yet make decisions; I think this matter need not be so urgent," a Vice Minister of Works stands out to express his stance.

The Minister of Works seems to have anticipated this situation long ago; he glances at that Vice Minister but does not say much.

Aside from a small number of officials who were lured by the Prince of Pingxi with great benefits, and a portion who are loyal to the Imperial Court and the Son of Heaven.

The vast majority of officials are fence-sitters; as long as their interests are not touched, they will not care about the struggles between the imperial clan.

Whether it is the New Emperor ascending the throne to control the power of the Imperial Court, or the Prince of Pingxi truly usurping the throne to support the Third Prince to the throne.

No matter what, they will still be needed to govern the world; they represent the interests of the many families of Great Gan.

The so-called imperial clan is actually just a stronger family; to govern the world, they must, to a certain extent, cede power to the families.

The situation in Great Gan can be called quite good; the Great Li imperial clan is even worse, as the Son of Heaven sometimes has to look at the faces of the families when appointing local officials.

This is also why the Great Li imperial clan is willing to negotiate peace with Great Gan, because if they do not negotiate, and continue to let the families control military power and grow, I fear it will not be long before the Son of Heaven's decrees cannot even leave the Capital.

"The Imperial Court is vacant, with no one to manage state affairs; should this not be urgent? Even if the Crown Prince is young, we can first ask the Empress to listen to the administration and hold power," the Minister of Rites refutes loudly.

"The Crown Prince acts recklessly and does not know when to advance or retreat; it is rumored that he is even cruel by nature. In my view, he is unfit for the great responsibility. Even the current Son of Heaven did not leave an edict to pass the throne to him; from this, it can be seen that he was not favored by the Son of Heaven.

And although the Third Prince is young, he is both virtuous and talented, and his conduct is gentle, modest, and frugal, possessing the style of an ancient king. We should support the Third Prince to ascend the throne as Emperor!"

A Censor-in-Chief takes the initiative to stand out and propose this.

His words are pure slander; if they really wanted to depose the Crown Prince, they could easily fabricate a pile of charges against him.

As soon as his voice falls, many people respond, and naturally, many people oppose, and the Imperial Court immediately falls into a mess.

Chen Mo had not spoken the entire time, merely observing the situation in the imperial court in silence.

The Prince of Western Peace was the same; he even smiled at Chen Mo.

"What is the point of supporting the Third Prince? Are all you gathered officials truly unaware?

The intentions of the Prince of Western Peace, Zhao Huaifeng, are clear even to the commoners of the Capital; are you gathered officials still going to play the fool here!"

The Minister of Rites suddenly slammed the Hu Tablet in his hand onto the ground and shouted angrily!

The jade Hu Tablet shattered into pieces, and the entire great hall instantly fell silent.

The Minister of Rites stopped speaking, instead glaring furiously at the Prince of Western Peace.

Having said this, he had no intention of living; he was even thinking that it would be best if the Prince of Western Peace killed him directly.

In this way, he would leave behind a great reputation in the history books, and the monarchs of every dynasty would desire a loyal subject like him.

"Gentlemen, do not argue any further. How about we discuss today's matters another day?" Chen Mo said in a deep voice.

He had seen the situation in the imperial court clearly; he had not acted before because he wanted to see exactly how many officials would stand on the side of the Prince of Western Peace.

Once he finished acting and purged the imperial court later, he could deal with these people all at once and make room for other loyal subjects and good generals.

The pie is limited in quantity; if he wants to eat two more pieces, he can only snatch them from the hands of others.

Now that he has seen clearly, he can consider taking action.

Although, judging by the current situation, waiting slowly would be most advantageous for him.

But the Prince of Western Peace will never sit and wait for death; the closer it gets to the end, the more extreme his actions might become.

Chen Mo has always regarded the saying "strike first to gain the advantage" as a golden rule.

Rather than being on the defensive within the Palace City, it is better to find an opportunity to act and solve all problems.

Even if he is not the opponent of the Prince of Western Peace, it does not matter; he will first find a way to probe his strength.

Moreover, according to information found by the Patrol Heaven Guard, the Prince of Western Peace is only at the Xiantian Third Layer, a one-realm gap from himself, but not that large.

Added to the fact that he has not practiced external martial arts, his physical Qi and Blood strength is definitely not strong; when they truly fight later, it is hard to say who will have the advantage.

Hearing Chen Mo speak, the many officials immediately stopped arguing; some glanced at the Prince of Western Peace, and seeing that he also had no objections, they all shut their mouths.

"If you have a memorial, present it; if not, the court is dismissed!" the Palace Attendant in the palace stood out and shouted again.

Following this, some court officials did indeed discuss matters normally; Empress Xu was born into a great family and had some skill, so she could generally handle these affairs.

After discussing state affairs, the officials dispersed one after another, and Empress Xu prepared to take the Crown Prince back to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

"Empress, the old saying goes that one should strike first to gain the advantage. In this subject's view, we should take action now.

This subject's combat power is not weaker than that Prince of Western Peace; if I can behead him, then all problems will be solved."

On the way back to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Chen Mo leaned in beside Empress Xu and said in a low voice.

"Ah!" Empress Xu was startled, her expression showing slight hesitation and worry.

She naturally understood the principle of striking first to gain the advantage, but Chen Mo is the only Protective Talisman she and her son have now; she really does not want Chen Mo to leave her side.

Sometimes, while keeping vigil for the Emperor in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, as she neared the point of falling asleep, she had to find a way to confirm that Chen Mo was nearby before she could sleep in peace.

"Empress, do not worry. Within the Capital, there are still Innate Experts loyal to the imperial court. It is just that that senior is currently helping other Innate Experts heal their wounds and is now at the Wanfa Tower; they cannot move easily, but they can take action.

You and the Crown Prince can first go to rest inside the Wanfa Tower, and wait until this subject has solved all problems."

Chen Mo continued to speak, dispelling her worries.

"My wife will also go with you; you can also find some female officials to accompany you, but it is still best not to make too much of a scene."

Chen Mo continued to speak; if he were to truly fight the Prince of Western Peace, Zhao Huaifeng, later, the safest place in the entire Capital would undoubtedly be the Wanfa Tower.

Letting Zhao Yu stay there in advance would put his own mind at ease.

Hearing Chen Mo say this, Empress Xu felt much more at ease; since Chen Mo was letting his own wife go there, it meant that it was definitely safe.

"Good, everything will be as Chen arranges," she nodded with a smile.

Everything moved quickly, and soon Zhao Yu, Empress Xu, and the Crown Prince, along with two female officials, stepped into the Wanfa Tower together.

(End of chapter)