Prince Zhaoyang, Ye Ranyi, quickly stepped forward and knelt in the center of the hall, loudly declining the offer.
"Your Majesty, I beg you to rescind your decree. I cannot bear such a heavy responsibility."
Everyone in the hall was kneeling. The person at the head of the table narrowed his eyes, his gaze cold and impatient. He then spoke in a chilling tone.
"Alright, my mind is made up. Prince Zhaoyang, accept the decree. I have decided to pass the throne to you."
“This,” Prince Zhaoyang looked troubled, but if you looked closely, you could see a glimmer of joy flashing in his narrow eyes, as he tried to decline.
"Your Majesty, I implore you to reconsider. Please, Your Majesty, reconsider!"
"Your Majesty, we urge you to reconsider."
A powerful voice rang out again from the lower part of the hall. At the head of the hall, sitting beside the Emperor, was the current Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager looked heartbroken, but she still spoke.
"Ministers, since His Majesty has made his decision, let us follow his wishes. Otherwise, His Majesty will be restless day and night."
The Empress Dowager spoke, and the people below looked at each other, unsure whether to respond. For a moment, no one spoke, and the entire hall was silent.
Outside the palace, the sound of orderly footsteps rang out. A young eunuch rushed in first, knelt down with a thud, and said fearfully, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty has led people in and broken in."
Everyone looked up and saw a group of people rushing in. The person in the lead was the Empress, followed by a large group of people. At this moment, the group stormed into the main hall of Lanyuan Palace in a fit of rage.
The emperor, seated high above, had a cold glint in his eyes as soon as he saw the figure entering through the door.
However, he remained silent. It was the Empress Dowager beside the Emperor who couldn't help but shout.
"Empress, you are too presumptuous! The Emperor is currently summoning his court officials, and you have barged in without being announced. What do you intend to do?"
Hai Ling led her people in from the palace gate, past the ministers, to the center of the hall, where she slowly bowed to the person with the highest head.
"I heard that His Majesty summoned his ministers, intending to abdicate in favor of Prince Zhaoyang, so I came to see for myself. I wonder if, as Empress, I have the right to do so?"
The Empress Dowager squinted at Hai Ling and slowly said, "The Empress is pregnant, so she should worry less about these things and stay in Liuyue Palace to rest and recuperate."
Hai Ling was puzzled by the Empress Dowager's words. How could the Empress Dowager agree to the Emperor's abdication? Logically speaking, she had finally become the Empress Dowager, and now that the Emperor wanted to abdicate, she actually agreed. According to her thinking, a mother would never agree to someone else taking her son's place. But now the Empress Dowager clearly agreed, which confused Hai Ling.
However, she would absolutely not agree to this at the moment, because this person's words were meaningless; he was just a fake emperor.
"Your Majesty, you are mistaken. If His Majesty abdicates in favor of Prince Zhaoyang, will I still be the Empress? Will I still be able to live in Liuyue Palace? Liuyue Palace is the palace where empresses of all dynasties have lived. Where is there any place for me?"
"So that's what you're worried about. Even if my son is no longer the emperor, he's still a prince. You are a princess consort. Even if you don't live in Liuyue Palace, your royal residence won't be too bad."
The Empress Dowager's words carried a hint of disdain, as if Hailing were a vain person.
Inside the main hall, none of the ministers spoke, all watching the situation unfold before them, unsure of the final outcome. When Prince Zhaoyang saw Hailing, his heart sank, sensing that the matter would not succeed, and he was filled with resentment. Hailing smiled, staring intently at the Empress Dowager, and slowly began to speak.
"I am greedy, but Mother is generous. She doesn't want to be Empress Dowager, but instead wants to be a Consort Dowager. How strange!"
Hai Ling's strange remark caused many ministers in the hall to look up at the Empress Dowager at the head of the table. They also found it strange that the Empress Dowager would agree to the Emperor's abdication. Logically, the Empress Dowager should be the one most opposed to the Emperor's abdication. Everyone stared at the Empress Dowager, who couldn't help but laugh, her face full of melancholy.
"I am not being generous. My heart is aching more than anyone else's right now. The Emperor told me three days ago that he would abandon the throne because his appearance is ruined. How can he rule the country? If I do not agree, the Emperor will leave the palace. I can lose the country, but do I want to lose my son too?"
After the Empress Dowager said this, everyone felt that it made sense. Yes, the Emperor's face was ruined. If he insisted on not ruling the country, what could the Empress Dowager do to him? The root of the problem lay with the Emperor.
Since the emperor's face was disfigured, he has become even more sinister and cold than before, and even getting close to him makes people feel terrified.
"Your Majesty, we urge you to reconsider."
In the main hall of Lanyuan Palace, the ministers shouted in unison. The emperor, who had been sitting at the head of the table, spoke in a cold and gloomy tone: "My mind is made up. I will abdicate in favor of Prince Zhaoyang. No ministers are allowed to raise any objections. If anyone raises any objections, it will be considered disobeying the imperial decree."
The emperor disobeyed the imperial decree, and no one dared to say another word.
Hai Ling gave a cold laugh, slowly looking at the veiled emperor at the head of the table, and said, word by word, "Do you have the right to issue an edict to abdicate?"
These words shocked the entire hall, causing an uproar and sparking heated discussions among the crowd.
Before anyone else could speak, Prime Minister Zhongli shouted, "Empress, you are too presumptuous to speak to the Emperor like that!"
Many officials in the hall echoed the Prime Minister's words, nodding repeatedly and then chiming in, "Yes, the Empress is too presumptuous, speaking to the Emperor in such a manner."
"Yeah yeah."
At the head of the main hall, the Empress Dowager looked at Hai Ling with a gloomy expression, seemingly unaware of what Hai Ling meant by those words.
Hai Ling pointed at the man with his face covered on the main hall with her delicate hand, and her cold and sharp words rang out again: "He is not an emperor at all, but a member of the Yunjiang tribe who colluded with Princess Zhaoyang to harm me, A Lang."
As soon as Hai Ling finished speaking, Sese, the Yunjiang person beside Feng Qian, immediately and deftly opened the bag in her hand. Countless spotted insects flew out of the bag, first slowly spinning, then quickly gathering together and flying towards the head of the main hall.
Inside the main hall, everyone was unaware of what was happening and stared at the strange sight before them, where the spotted insects flew straight towards the emperor at the head of the table.
Hai Ling walked to the center of the main hall and spoke in a gloomy and cold tone.
"These insects are still spotted from Yunjiang. Because the people of Yunjiang deal with small poisonous creatures all year round, they have a scent on their bodies that these spotted insects like. Now these spotted insects are flying towards him, which proves that he is still Alang from Yunjiang."
As soon as Hai Ling finished speaking, the faces of everyone below the hall changed. Some retreated, some whispered among themselves, and chaos ensued.
The Empress Dowager, who was sitting closest to the fake emperor at the head of the table, also changed her expression. She quickly moved away from the person in the center. Although she had moved away from the emperor, she still looked incredulous and pointed at the person in the center, speaking in a trembling voice.
"You're not my Feng'er? I don't believe it. If you're not Feng'er, then what about my son? What about my son?"
The Empress Dowager's shrill voice rang out from the head of the hall. The person at the head of the hall slowly stood up, a bloodthirsty sneer playing on his lips. He reached out and grabbed a few spotted birds, then crushed them cruelly. His dark eyes gleamed with a wolf-like light...
Chapter 101 A Clever Plan to Annihilate the Green Ant Clan [Handwritten Text Version VIP]
In the main hall of Lanyuan Palace, the person with the veiled face suddenly stood up. The ministers in the court were all frightened and stepped back, while the military officers stood in front, behind Hailing. Someone pointed at the person at the head of the table.
"You're not our emperor, are you perhaps that Ah Lang? What do you want?"