Fierce Consort (Part 2)

Chapter 171

No one expected things to end this way.

This included Emperor Xi.

When he received the news, he spat a mouthful of blood and fainted. When he next awoke, he was faced with the violent death of his two sons and the palace in chaos from the deaths and injuries.

As if that wasn't enough, the next day before the palace was even cleaned up, he received some more news.

The Qi Prince had errant thoughts and led troops towards the capital. The crown prince had found out and ordered people to go stop them. In the chaos of battle, the Qi Prince lost an arm.

This was another heavy blow.

No one knew what Emperor Xi was feeling. He braced himself and cleaned things up before becoming bedridden.

This time he was truly bedridden. Zheng Hai Quan served as witness.

On the other side, Empress Xiao and Senior Concubine Xu had gone insane. One had lost her only son and the other lost one son while her other one was crippled. Empress Xiao threw her dignity out the window and went directly to Senior Concubine Xu's Chunluan Palace. The two of them came to blows without exchanging a single word.

The majestic empress and senior concubine actually fought like a couple of commoner shrews: hair pulling, face scratching, and kicking each other's stomachs. Nothing was off limits. Only after the utmost efforts of both their personal palace maids where they separated.

However, Emperor Xi no longer had time to care about these things. The court affairs were left to the two senior ministers to manage.

Empress Xiao was still in charge of the rear palace, but Emperor Xi had already proclaimed that the Jin Prince's rebellion was unrelated to Senior Concubine Xu. She was still the senior concubine.

As for the officials who assisted in his rebellion, their possessions were seized and their entire families were imprisoned, awaiting Emperor Xi's sentencing. The Chengen Marquis didn't suffer this fate due to his relationship with Senior Concubine Xu, and was merely confined within his estate. As for the lesser families who participated, they became the mortals who suffered while the gods battled. Some forfeited their properties, some forfeited their lives.

This proved the accuracy of the saying that it wasn't easy for those without backing to earn a first class merit. A single mistake would end up harming their entire families.

The real culprits hadn't been dealt with yet, but the little fish and shrimp were already taken care of. It wasn't that the culprits couldn't be dealt with, but rather that Emperor Xi hadn't said anything yet. Even the two ministers could only do their jobs on the surface, stabilizing everything before deciding anything else.

The most important thing now was the successor to the throne since Emperor Xi looked like he wasn't going to last much longer.

He was currently extremely ill as though this event had completely used up his remaining energy. He wasn't even able to get up anymore, and if he spoke too much he would grow tired and groggy.

There weren't a lot of candidates left to choose from. Emperor Xi only had five sons who were of age. The crown prince and the Jin Prince were dead, the Qi Prince had participated in the rebellion and was also crippled. Only the Yun Prince and the Jing Prince were left.

But the Yun Prince was a coward and was also afraid of his wife. His reputation in the capital had never been good. As for the Jing Prince, he had been mute since he was young. The crown prince did have three sons, but unfortunately none were from his first wife, and were all from concubines.