Cui Shaoting’s memorial arrived in the capital earlier than the news of Prince Gong’s rebellion, stirring up tremendous waves at court. Aside from the five members of the Grand Secretariat, no one knew that Prince Gong was still alive, and even fewer could have anticipated that Prince Gong had secretly bribed the Heir Apparent of Marquis Guangping to escape on his own. His reason was merely that he resented His Majesty for exiling him to guard the imperial tombs and harbored grievances.
The upright scholars throughout the realm felt that Prince Gong was utterly unworthy of being anyone’s son! Since ancient times, fathers should act as fathers and sons as sons, rulers as rulers and subjects as subjects. Prince Gong was both a son and a subject—even if Emperor Jianzhang wanted his life, he should not rebel against his own father!
Emperor Jianzhang was obviously even more furious than the upright scholars. He flew into a rage at court, immediately ordering the Grand Secretariat to draft an edict commanding Cui Shaoting to capture Prince Gong with full force. At the same time, he had the Grand Secretariat draft an edict stripping Prince Gong of his title and reducing him to commoner status. He even ordered people to dig up Prince Gong’s cenotaph.
This showed just how angry and enraged he was at Prince Gong’s crime of deceiving the sovereign.
Court officials privately all felt that Prince Gong’s behavior was truly too much of a slap in Emperor Jianzhang’s face. How heartbroken Emperor Jianzhang had been when he first heard that Prince Gong was abducted, how he had ordered the Imperial Guard and the Ministry of Justice to search—everyone had witnessed this with their own eyes.
Now knowing that it was all just a deception, how could they not feel that Prince Gong was an ungrateful wretch of a son on behalf of Emperor Jianzhang?
Even Censor Tao’s wife, Madam Fu, couldn’t help but say to Censor Tao: “Prince Gong’s actions—isn’t this stabbing a knife into his parents’ hearts? Not to mention that His Majesty and Her Majesty are his birth parents, but his own son is still in the palace, yet he could be heartless enough to fake his death and escape. And he’s plotting treasonously in Xibei—it’s truly chilling.”
Tao Dinghu naturally agreed. This was roughly the thinking of scholars throughout the realm. Such a disloyal, unrighteous, unfilial, and unfraternal person was truly unfit to be anyone’s son or subject. No matter how he died, it wouldn’t be excessive.
The next day, censors from the Censorate submitted memorials one after another demanding that the court severely punish Han Zhengqing and Prince Gong. That scoundrel Han Zhengqing actually dared to instigate Prince Gong to raise troops in rebellion—it was truly disgusting.
Though people cursed fiercely with their mouths, in their hearts they weren’t too worried about the war situation in Xibei—after all, Cui Shaoting was there to stabilize things. Although Prince Gong and Han Zhengqing had many troops between them, the two ultimately couldn’t join forces. Moreover, as for Han Zhengqing’s side, he couldn’t necessarily directly control all the troops garrisoning Datong, could he?
Therefore, the festive atmosphere in the capital remained abundant, even more lively than in previous years. Many storytellers at teahouses and entertainment halls told stories about how Prince Gong was ungrateful, how he colluded with Han Zhengqing to plot treasonously. These stories spread throughout the streets and alleys, to the point that the common people of the capital couldn’t help but spit on the ground whenever they heard Prince Gong or Han Zhengqing’s names.
Qing Ying was serving Song Chuyi by helping her remove her cloak and hanging it on the screen when she saw Song Chuyi had already taken a few steps to the window to listen attentively to the clamorous sounds below. She stepped forward to stand before her with a smile: “Now Prince Gong and Han Zhengqing are truly like rats crossing the street in the capital—everyone shouting to strike them down.”
Qing Tao had just come in from outside and, hearing this, chimed in: “That’s right, now there’s no one who doesn’t curse them.”
Since ancient times, no vassal prince had ever dared raise troops while his father was still on the throne, much less when Emperor Jianzhang was clearly without any fault—at least in the eyes of the world, Emperor Jianzhang had no faults whatsoever.
Moreover, from the perspective of the words of the sages, even if Emperor Jianzhang had enormous faults, Prince Gong harboring grievances as a son made him a menace.
However, neither Prince Gong nor Han Zhengqing were fools. They naturally understood this point as well, yet they still resolutely embarked on this path. The public opinion in the capital naturally leaned toward Emperor Jianzhang and the Eastern Palace, but what about in Xibei?
Xibei had its own information channels. Prince Gong had long since heard about the charges the court had pinned on him. He himself scoffed at them, but he also knew how important public opinion was for winning popular support, so he was still anxiously fuming.
This was because Han Yang only spoke in half-sentences, only saying that they needed to pin these charges on the Song and Cui families and Song Chuyi to be done with everything, but hadn’t actually said how to pin them on those people. He was quite frustrated and summoned Han Yang, Chief Registrar Ling, and Zou Yanzheng to his room. Frowning, he threw the news from the capital before their eyes and asked them bluntly: “Now people throughout the realm all mistakenly believe this Prince to be a disloyal and unfilial person. Previously you all advised me that the time wasn’t right, the time wasn’t right. Now that Marquis Jinxiang says the time has come, why isn’t he saying exactly how to pin the blame for this Prince’s rebellion on the Song and Cui families and the Grand Prince Consort?”
He actually wanted to directly put the blame on the Eastern Palace. In fact, he had originally been driven to a dead end by his elder brother who was the Crown Prince, which forced him down this dark path to the bitter end.
Speaking of which, his summoning of Chief Registrar Ling was because, although Chief Registrar Ling was somewhat stubborn, he truly possessed real learning—after all, Chief Registrar Ling had once been a second-rank jinshi graduate who taught at the Imperial Academy before being selected by him to go to his fief as an official.
Moreover, during their escape, Chief Registrar Ling had been truly loyal to him, even losing his left arm to protect him. Prince Gong still remembered this debt of gratitude, so although he was angry that Chief Registrar Ling hadn’t known how to speak tactfully back then and said unpleasant things, looking at this bond of loyalty, he magnanimously summoned Chief Registrar Ling back.
However, Chief Registrar Ling did not take this as an honor. Following at Prince Gong’s side, he had witnessed with his own eyes how Prince Gong lived in constant fear, establishing a foothold in Jin region through various assassination attempts and difficulties. Therefore, he also knew that the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace was indeed not a merciful master. Once he ascended the throne in the future, he would certainly move against Prince Gong. Therefore, he was willing to support Prince Gong in trying to replace him.
Every scholar had beautiful dreams of commanding and directing great affairs. He had originally thought he could achieve this through Prince Gong. But likewise, no scholar could accept his master becoming someone who would leave an eternal stench in history. Prince Gong’s earlier escape from the imperial tombs was unavoidable. At that time, if he wanted to realize his ambitions, defying his imperial father was both helpless and a necessary measure. Chief Registrar Ling could only persuade himself that this was the only way out and continued following Prince Gong with unwavering loyalty.
But Prince Gong actually condoned and tacitly permitted Han Zhengqing to bring the Tartars across the border to oppose Three Borders Supreme Commander Cui Shaoting and the court—this was truly unbearable for him.
If he did this, even if he truly followed Prince Gong in the future to receive noble titles and ranks, to look down upon this realm alongside Prince Gong, what would be the use? What was there to boast about in a realm secured by relying on outsiders to attack one’s own father and elder brother, to harm one’s own people?!
His ancestors would probably be so angry they’d jump out of their coffins to beat this unfilial son. He questioned his own unwavering loyalty to Prince Gong, but if Prince Gong wanted to seize the realm using such contemptible methods, he really could not agree.
This person, this person who had previously claimed repeatedly that he only wanted to preserve his life, to prevent the realm from falling into his greedy elder brother’s hands—he had already changed.