She wanted to say, "Could it be that you want to abolish the Empress and establish a new one?" But the Empress was still here, so it wasn't easy to say this. She could only swallow her words.
At this time, everyone had already bowed to Emperor Tianwu under the Empress's lead. Consort Yuanshu sat there and naturally enjoyed this kind of greeting with Emperor Tianwu. Her head was slightly raised, and she couldn't hide her arrogance and insolence.
Consort Yuanshu was quite good at pretending in the beginning. She pretended to be sensible, kind, and virtuous. But today, her heart that was getting more and more inflated could no longer be hidden, especially after what that person did in the bathroom last night. Today, the Emperor returned to being tightly controlled, this allowed her confidence to increase once more. In her opinion, Emperor Tianwu was already firmly under her control. No matter what the others did, the old Emperor wouldn't be able to escape her control.
Moreover, today was the first day of the New Year. Although she had attended this kind of palace banquet every year, she had always been mixed in with the crowd of concubines. In addition, concubines like her were just decorations to Emperor Tianwu. Thus, although she came every year, it was just a formality. She didn't have any presence at all.
But this year was different. Emperor Tianwu took the initiative to pull her to sit next to him. This was the seat that used to belong only to the Empress. In the end, she was a woman and vain. Under the temptation of this kind of power, she couldn't resist. She almost didn't refuse and sat down. Even now, the Empress was bowing, but she didn't get up. Instead, she looked down at the people below. She thought that one day, these people would all submit to her.
Other than Consort Yuanshu's special position, the Eighth Prince's position had also changed. In the past, the princes all sat in a row, from the Great Prince to the Ninth Prince. Because Dashun did not appoint a crown prince, the position that belonged to the crown prince had been empty for many years.
But this year, the Eighth Prince, Xuantian Mo, walked out from the crowd of princes under Emperor Tianwu's signal and sat on the Crown Prince's throne. The seat that had been empty for many years was finally filled. Although Emperor Tianwu did not explicitly say that he wanted to make the Eighth Prince the Crown Prince, this action was too obvious. The courtiers were not stupid. Who would not understand these things? As a result, the Eighth Prince's party swelled up again. Every one of them was beaming with joy and couldn't stop laughing. On the other hand, Xuan Tianming's people were all frowning. They were wondering why Emperor Tianwu had changed so much. But no one thought of betraying him because of this, and no one doubted whether the Ninth Prince had done something that Emperor Tianwu disliked. In their hearts, Xuan Tianming was the only one they believed in. They had always believed that only Xuan Tianming was suitable to succeed Emperor Tianwu. This time, it was all because of Xuan Tianming's ability and the miraculous Feng Yu Heng behind him. It had nothing to do with Consort Yun or Consort Yun.
It could be said that the loyalty of the Ninth Prince's party was very high. This left the Eighth Prince's party in the dust. So at this time, the Ninth Prince's party was not as scattered as when the Eighth Prince was in trouble. Instead, they were more united, thinking of ways to find out the reason for Emperor Tianwu's change.
The Empress brought along a small number of female members of the family to congratulate, but it did not cause the Emperor to reveal the slightest hint of a smile, he only made an "un" sound, then nodded, waving his hand and saying: "You all came late, forget it, take your seats!"
Following his words, the women all found their seats and sat down. Feng Yu Heng also walked over to the table where the princes' wives were seated. Xuan Tiange looked around and simply pulled Xiangrong and Fung Tianyu to follow Feng Yu Heng to sit at that table. Only Fendai was left. Looking left and right, there was no place suitable for her. It was very awkward.
Feng Yu Heng quietly said to Xiangrong: "Go and call her over to this table!"
But before Xiangrong could call her over, Fendai had already found a remote corner and sat down. At her side were the madams and young misses that had come over from Jingtsu Temple. They could be considered on the same side.
As for Feng Zhaolian, that person did not seem to be an outsider. Walking over to the table where the princes were seated, he reached out and kicked the Sixth Prince, Xuan Tianfeng's chair, saying: "Your Highness the Sixth Prince, can you move to the side? Give me a seat. "
Xuan Tianfeng helplessly looked at Xuan Tianhua. He had heard about the matter of Feng Zhaolian liking Xuan Tianhua; however, he did not think that Feng Zhaolian would be so generous, openly wanting to sit there during the palace banquet. Should he give up this seat or not? In the end, Feng Zhaolian should be considered a man, and he was a former prince of Qian Zhou's imperial family. Sitting with them was not a big deal. But the strange thing was that Feng Zhaolian was dressed as a woman as usual. Sitting there like this, it was truly a little awkward.
He looked at Xuan Tianhua, hoping that Xuan Tianhua would give him an opinion, but Xuan Tianhua remained silent. With his head lowered, who knew what he was thinking about. There was nothing that Xuan Tianfeng could do. In addition to Feng Zhaolian's urging, he could only move to the side and give him a seat. Feng Zhaolian sat down as he wished, but he was not in a rush to speak with Xuan Tianhua. Instead, he said to Xuan Tianfeng: "I heard that Your Highness the Sixth Prince only returned to the capital yesterday. Did you hear that the 30 thousand soldiers of the Northeast have already fallen into the hands of Eighth Brother?"
Xuan Tianfeng nodded. Even if he knew, what could he do? The Emperor had made the decision to give it, could he still go and get it back? It was a pity about the 30 thousand brothers that had gone through life and death with him. Although the military tally was still in his hands, Father Emperor would definitely take it back today and hand it to Eighth Brother. Once Emperor Tianwu gave the word, even if he did not want to give it, it would be impossible.
Feng Zhaolian knew what he was thinking, but he quietly said: "Actually, handing over the military tally is not necessarily a bad thing. A military tally does not represent much. As long as those 30 thousand people have you as the commander in chief in their hearts, you will always be their commander. Nobody can take that away. If you can turn those 30 thousand people into 30 thousand pairs of eyes, then Eighth Brother will not be able to eat or sleep in peace. "
Feng Zhaolian's words had exposed the mystery, which allowed Xuan Tianfeng to have new thoughts about the matter of military authority. That's right, a military tally did not represent much. Even if he handed over the military tally, what of it? What those 30 thousand brothers handed over to him was 30 thousand hearts. The Eighth Brother happily thought that he had gained 30 thousand new helpers, but he could turn this helper into resistance and make a beautiful comeback.
Everyone had taken their seats, and only the Empress remained in the hall. She had only taken a few steps forward before standing still once more. She stared at Emperor Tianwu and Consort Yuanshu.
Everyone was very curious and stopped chatting with each other. They all turned their gazes towards the hall, guessing in their hearts who exactly would win between the Empress and Consort Yuanshu.
As for the instigator of this matter, Emperor Tianwu, at this time, he scolded the Empress: "Everyone has already taken their seats. What are you still standing there for?"
The Empress looked up coldly and asked: "May I ask your Majesty, where will This Concubine sit?"
"In such a large Fei Cui Hall, does the Empress mean that there is no place for you to sit?" Emperor Tianwu's expression was gloomy, which did not match the atmosphere of the first day of the new year.
Below, the Eighth Prince's faction immediately shouted in unison: "Your Majesty, please calm down. Take care of yourself!" At the same time, someone said to the Empress: "Your Majesty, today is the new year. You can't make the Emperor angry."
At this time, Consort Yuanshu, who was sitting next to Emperor Tianwu, stood up and said to Emperor Tianwu: "Your Majesty, it's all This Concubine's fault. It was This Concubine who took the Empress' seat. The Empress is blaming This Concubine! This Concubine will retreat to the side and sit. Only the Empress can sit in this seat. This Concubine does not dare to try. "
As she spoke, Consort Yuanshu was about to retreat, but she was pulled back by Emperor Tianwu, "Beloved concubine, sit here and don't move. This seat was given to you by this Emperor. Other than this Emperor, no one can drive you away from here. Empress, this Emperor wants to ask you. Are you dissatisfied with this Emperor's arrangement, or do you feel that this large Fei Cui Hall can't accommodate you? "
Every reprimand was merciless. Every reprimand was directed at the Empress. Not to mention the Empress herself, even the other people who heard it felt their cheeks burn. They felt ashamed and unable to show their faces. The dignified Empress was humiliated like this by the Emperor in front of so many people. What face did she have left to talk about?
However, the Empress had seen all kinds of big scenes. This little setback was nothing to her. She only nodded indifferently and then said to Consort Yuanshu: "Consort Yuanshu, sit. Since the Emperor told you to sit, you should sit properly and steadily. His Majesty is right. This consort can casually find anywhere in this large Jade Hall. Then, this consort will do as she pleases. "After she finished speaking, she walked towards where the concubines were sitting and found an empty seat to sit down.
As for the members of the imperial harem that were focused on currying favor with Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu, when they saw that the Empress had arrived, they quickly moved their chairs further away. Nobody wanted to get too close to the Empress at a time like this. After all, the Emperor's attitude was clear for all to see. The Empress still had a few days left. It was best to stay away.
In the past, the banquet would officially begin with the arrival of the Empress, but today was different. Long before the Empress' group arrived, the banquet had already begun. Emperor Tianwu had even brought Consort Yuanshu to receive the greetings of the officials. The womenfolk who had come with Consort Yuanshu had also performed their greetings. At this time, they were all focused on watching the singing and dancing. It was as if the arrival of the Empress was just a small interlude. After sitting down, it disappeared, and no one paid attention to it.
Some third and fourth-ranked officials were discussing: "His Highness the eighth prince has yet to take in a consort. He doesn't even have an official consort or a secondary consort. This is a good opportunity for us!"
"That's right, that's right! Although it is wishful thinking for us to send our daughters into the Sheng Palace to be the official consort, there is still hope for her to be a secondary consort. Just based on the Emperor's attitude, when His Highness the eighth prince inherits the throne in the future, a secondary consort would be a concubine in the palace, a proper mistress! "
"Look at the position His Highness the eighth prince is sitting in today. That is the position of the Crown Prince in the Eastern Palace, and it was the Emperor who allowed him to sit there. This means that the Emperor already has a candidate for the position of Crown Prince in mind, and it would only be His Highness the eighth prince."
"But why do you think the Emperor suddenly abandoned His Ninth Highness and chose His Highness the eighth prince?"
"Do you still not understand?" Someone very confidently pointed at Consort Yuanshu, "The Emperor has guarded Consort Yun for eight years, but he did not get anything in the end. I heard that Consort Yun has allowed the Emperor to enter Winter Moon Palace, but she has never stayed overnight. The Emperor is also a man. Consort Yun has been tormented time and time again, who could endure it? And Consort Yuanshu is different. She is gentle and charming. At this time, she has entered the Emperor's heart. Naturally, she can get whatever she wants! "
As these words entered everyone's ears, everyone began to have their own analysis of this matter …
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