eurekapd Chapter 143: Princes' Gathering
Chapter 143: Princes' Gathering
Even if only half of the princes came to Beijing this time, it would be enough to make him scared.
He had not obtained the throne legitimately in the first place, and if these people wanted to seize his throne, it would not only not be considered as treason, but could even be said to be acting in the name of justice!
It was also because of this that the stationed soldiers did not want to obey his edict at all. Who would be willing to fight with the army of the vassal kings for a person who had no military command and came to power illegitimately?
They are not crazy. No matter who becomes the emperor in the end, they are still generals. If it were these princes, they might even reward them because they did not stop it. They know clearly what is more important.
In less than a month, Mo Ling was besieged by others just as the King of Han had besieged him.
However, this group of princes were more polite than him. They simply placed their troops outside the capital and surrounded the capital without attacking it. Their main strategy was "I will not move unless the enemy moves."
Mo Cang was so angry that he smashed a few of his treasured vases.
"Snapped!"
Everyone in the Xuanshi Hall knelt on the ground in panic, "Your Majesty, calm down!"
The eunuch who had just entered the Xuanshi Hall was also frightened and knelt on the ground with a plop: "Your Majesty! The princes of various places have submitted memorials, saying that they want to come to the capital to congratulate you on your ascension to the throne!"
"Congratulations! If they really wanted to congratulate me, they should have stayed quietly in their fiefdom instead of trapping me!"
The palace servants in Xuanshi Palace were all trembling and dared not speak. In the past, when Mo Ling was the emperor, as long as they did not violate Mo Ling's taboos, Mo Ling would not punish people. But Mo Cang was different. As long as Mo Cang was unhappy, the people in Xuanshi Palace would not even breathe properly.
Less than a month after he ascended the throne, the palace servants in the Xuanshi Hall had changed four times. The Xuanshi Hall, which was once longed for by everyone, has now become the palace servants' hell, and everyone avoids it.
"Come here, drag this mute eunuch out and beat him to death!"
The eunuchs who were holding the memorials were all sifting through the chaff: "Your Majesty, please spare me! Your Majesty, please spare me!"
Several guards quickly dragged the man out, and soon there were sounds of beating and wailing outside the Xuanshi Hall, which scared everyone inside the Xuanshi Hall so much that they almost couldn't breathe!
Mo Cang became even angrier when he saw the palace maid kneeling beside his sworn brother, whose face was pale and trembling violently.
"Am I so scary? Speak!"
The palace maid trembled even more: "Your Majesty, your Majesty is very approachable! He is definitely not scary at all!"
Mo Cang snorted, "You are guilty of deceiving the emperor. Drag him out and chop him off!"
"Your Majesty, spare your life!"
Mo Cang pointed at another person and said, "You say!"
The man was so frightened that his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
"What bad luck! Take him out and torture him to death!"
Mo Cang finally felt the depression in his heart dissipate a little, and sat back on the dragon chair. Just when everyone thought they had escaped, Mo Cang suddenly showed a sneer on his face: "Take all these people out and beat them to death!"
The palace maid was dragged out by the guards crying. In just a quarter of an hour, all the steps in front of the Xuanshi Hall were stained red. Soon, other palace maids washed away the blood with water, as if nothing had happened.
Several lives were lost in front of the Xuanshi Hall without a single splash of water or a drop of blood left behind.
An hour later.
"Your Majesty, those princes said they missed you very much. If Your Majesty does not allow them to enter the city, then they will have to break in on their own."
Mo Cang's anger, which had just subsided, instantly rushed up again: "How dare you!"
But the person who made the announcement this time was not a eunuch, but a general under Mo Cang.
"Your Majesty, calm down!"
"How can I calm down when those people with ill intentions are right under my nose?"
The general's face was expressionless. "Your Majesty! Why not let those princes in? Then we can close the door and beat the dog. As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you must first catch the prince. As long as we catch them, we won't have to worry about the soldiers outside the city."
Mo Cang suppressed his anger and said, "They will definitely bring troops into the city. How easy will it be to catch them?"
The man smiled and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you let them each bring 2,000 men into the city? They have many soldiers and generals, but their morale is not unified. You only need to instigate them a little and they will kill each other. Then you can reap the benefits."
Mo Cang's anger dissipated a little, but he was not very happy.
"It's easier said than done!"
The man came close to Mo Cang and whispered something. Mo Cang laughed instantly and patted the man on the shoulder.
"If this is accomplished, I will make you a general."
The man was not overjoyed, but lowered his eyes and bowed his hands, saying: "It is my duty to share your majesty's worries, and I dare not take credit for it."
The eunuchs who were delivering the imperial edict quickly arrived at each gate of the capital and passed on Mo Cang's order. However, the princes' gates were unwilling to listen to his order, and almost every one of them brought in more people, but it was not too much, and it was barely within Mo Cang's acceptable range.
Each prince brought a large group of people into the palace banquet specially set up for them by Mo Cang. Fortunately, it was held in the imperial garden instead of in the palace, otherwise there would be no room for so many people.
Mo Cang sat on the high seat, even if he was reluctant in his heart, he still had a smile on his face and said: "My uncles and brothers, I haven't seen you for a long time, I miss you so much!"
There were five princes present: Prince of Shun Mo Bin, Prince of Ning Mo Run, and Prince of Liang Mo Kun, all of whom were Mo Cang's brothers. Prince of Cheng Mo Wei and Prince of Chang Mo Huai were Mo Cang's uncles.
Among them, Prince Shun perfunctorily bowed to Mo Cang and said, "It is true that I have not seen Brother Han for a long time. I do miss him."
Mo Cang's face suddenly froze for a moment. He had already ascended the throne, but this man called him King of Han, which made it clear that he did not recognize him as the emperor. How outrageous!
But he did not lose his temper on the spot, he just nodded slightly and said: "I also miss my brother, Prince Shun, very much. Although I am the emperor, everyone present here is my family. Please don't be polite and take a seat at will."
Prince Shun's expression turned much uglier. Mo Cang was using his status as the emperor to demonstrate to him. Ha, let him be proud for a while. It was still unknown whether he could sit on the throne for long.
After several princes took their seats, Mo Cang clapped his hands, and a group of actors began to play music, sing and dance.
Prince Ning smiled slightly, raised his glass to Mo Cang and said, "This glass is to congratulate your majesty on ascending the throne."
This sentence directly changed the expressions of the people present. Mo Cang looked at King Ning unexpectedly, and the smile on his face became a little more sincere; "Thank you, King Ning, brother."
Prince Shun angrily cursed: "Bah, spineless!"
The other princes also looked at Prince Ning with unfriendly eyes. They had clearly agreed to come to seize the throne, but in the end their teammates turned against them. Who could be happy?
But the princes actually understood that Prince Ning's fiefdom was small, and he only had 20,000 soldiers and horses, and he had to leave 5,000 men to garrison the fiefdom. Of course, he could only be a fence-sitter and offend both sides.
Prince Ning didn't want to come in the first place, but was forced to come by Prince Liang. He tried to escape several times on the way, but because these princes had so many soldiers, he followed them all the way to the capital.
He was originally brought in just to make up the numbers, as no one thought highly of his small number of people. However, several vassal kings never expected that he would acknowledge the King of Han as soon as he arrived.
King Cheng snorted and said, "My nephew, King Ning, must have seen it wrong. There is no emperor here. It is just a gathering of our vassal kings."