QWTBWASIFOC Chapter 41

Chapter 41: The Staunch Military General x The Eccentric Prince 12

At the same time.

The power struggle among the princes in the capital intensified.

The First Prince and Second Prince had already been the first to be eliminated in the winter of the previous year, stripped of their titles and imprisoned by Emperor Liang.

The Third Prince and Fourth Prince began to take the stage.

The remaining four princes followed behind their two elder brothers, cautiously developing, with the clever idea of making a shining appearance after the Third and Fourth Princes finished fighting.

Emperor Liang, plagued by illness, faced his young and ambitious sons who were scheming to seize the throne, his face as foul as a latrine stone.

Watching himself weaken day by day, while his sons were all strong and ambitious, he couldn’t suppress the anger in his heart.

Therefore, he stripped the most active First and Second Princes of their titles, imprisoned them, and removed them from the imperial clan, and also tried his best to suppress the Third and Fourth Princes.

As for the other four sons, it was the same.

The aging Emperor Liang equally hated every young prince who might seize the throne.

He couldn’t tolerate anyone coveting his dragon throne.

Anyone who coveted it would pay a bloody price!

A wave of officials in the court were also dismissed for taking sides with the previous First and Second Princes, and now the courtiers were beginning a new round of emperor investment competition.

Consort Yun and Consort Lan, the mothers of the First and Second Princes, were also demoted by Emperor Liang and confined to their respective palaces.

One round of the struggle for the throne ended, and no one won.

The second round of the struggle for the throne began, and the outcome was still unknown.

Consort Rou, the mother of the Third Prince, and Consort Jing, the mother of the Fourth Prince, were nervous, hoping that their sons could sit on the throne.

Unfortunately, they were both disappointed.

The Third Prince and Fourth Prince both lost, suffering the same fate as the previous two princes.

Stripped of their titles, imprisoned, and removed from the imperial clan!

The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Princes, seeing the miserable fate of their four elder brothers, remained quiet for two months, but ultimately couldn’t resist the ambition deep in their hearts.

They began to secretly form factions.

The court officials, who had been purged once again, incorrigibly made the third round of investments.

The small paper figures hidden in the dark coldly watched them endlessly repeat that process, and then transmitted the situation here to their master.

Meanwhile, the small paper figures left in the palace continued to subject Emperor Liang to various forms of illness and endless nightmares every day.

Emperor Liang had to experience the suffering of the world during the day and encounter nightmares at night, living every day and every night in utmost pain.

This was the punishment he deserved.

Mid-March, within the imperial palace.

The imperial palace at night was somewhat gloomy. The old emperor lying on the dragon bed was covered in sweat, his hands unconsciously clutching the quilt.

In his dream, he seemed to return to 21 years ago.

That was the first year of his reign. After struggling to seize the final victory from the hands of the late emperor’s sons, he sat on the throne with great ambition and forcibly took his beloved woman into the palace as a concubine.

The woman’s familiar face made him tremble.

Just as he was about to reach out to embrace her, that beautiful face transformed into a terrifying, blood-stained ghost, reaching out to claim his life.

“Liang Ye, you will die a horrible death!!”

Emperor Liang quickly retreated and bumped into an even more familiar male ghost blocking his path.

He looked back and saw his wise royal brother.

“Liang Ye, you stole my throne and my princess, and you drove me to ruin. You are unworthy to be human! Today, come with me to hell!!”

Emperor Liang ran frantically as if fleeing for his life, fear piercing his heart like a sharp blade.

He ran for a long time, but still couldn’t escape.

The couple grabbed his feet and dragged him backward, eventually throwing him into a cauldron of oil.

Emperor Liang suddenly woke up, as if a bolt of lightning had struck his brain, leaving him in a daze.

Even though it was March, he felt as if he had fallen into an abyss.

His mood plummeted, and dense beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

“Jiang Zhuyan, royal brother…”

Emperor Liang murmured twice, closing his eyes only to find that the scene in his dream was still before him.

“I was not wrong! I am the emperor, I cannot be wrong!”

He suddenly opened his eyes, panting heavily, his brow revealing a sinister look. “Jiang Zhuyan, you are my Consort Chen, the woman I love most, and you will never think of running away with that man!!”

Hearing Emperor Liang’s roar, Eunuch Jiang, accustomed to it, led the eunuchs into the bedroom, carefully serving the Emperor Liang who could not sleep peacefully every night.

“Your Majesty, would you like to bathe and change?”

Emperor Liang was silent for a moment, and finally waved his hand.

He rolled off the dragon bed, put on his boots with Eunuch Zhou’s help, draped his outer robe over himself, walked to the window, and reached out to open it.

Eunuch Zhou closely followed the elderly emperor.

Emperor Liang stopped by the window, raised his head to look at the dark and dull sky, and was silent for a long time. “Zhou Mao, do you think I made a mistake back then?”

Hearing this, Eunuch Zhou broke out in a cold sweat, sensing something bad was about to happen.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said in a low voice, “How could Your Majesty’s actions be wrong!”

Wrong or not, don’t you know it yourself!

Asking, asking what? Could I say it was wrong!

Emperor Liang’s eyes were dark, as silent and cold as a deep pool without wind or waves. “Yes, how could I be wrong? It is clearly others who are wrong!”

For example, the late emperor who bestowed the marriage between Prince Rui and Jiang Zhuyan, Grand Tutor Jiang who married his eldest daughter to Prince Rui, Prince Rui who deliberately seduced Jiang Zhuyan…

A beauty paired with an emperor is the most reasonable thing.

Jiang Zhuyan was destined to belong to him, and no one could take his beloved concubine from him.

Eunuch Zhou lowered his head, his eyes downcast.

The emperor is never wrong, it is only others who are wrong, but what is wrong with others?

Perhaps the mistake lies in not having enough power!

Emperor Liang coldly looked at the dark sky, the dry black hair mixed with white strands hanging on his shoulders, but his face still carried the arrogance of a superior.

“What about the child that Consort Chen gave birth to?”

Eunuch Zhou thought for a moment and replied, “Last September, you demoted the Ninth Prince, who had committed a crime, to a commoner and drove him out of the palace. His whereabouts are now unknown.”

“Does Your Majesty want this servant to send someone to investigate?”

Emperor Liang turned his head to look at Eunuch Zhou, then looked back at the sky with scattered stars.

“No need, let him go if he’s gone!”

“…I’ll just pretend I don’t have this son!”

Once upon a time, he also expected that child to be born safely, and then pass his throne to him, allowing that child to inherit the great cause.

He even named him Yu, Liang Yu.

The character Yu symbolizes a precious treasure, with the meanings of strength, wealth, fortitude, and rarity, representing his earnest expectations for that child.

But everything disappeared with the death of Consort Chen.

He hated that child because of Consort Chen’s death, and abandoned that child in the cold palace for nineteen years, even naming him Despair.

…Liang Jue.

This name contained his curse and resentment.

He hated that child, believing that if it weren’t for that child, Consort Chen would not have died, and he would not have lost his love and had no joy.