With Xia Chuli's order, Gong Tan gave the command, and the imperial guards immediately started arresting people. Qi Shuhuan was startled and quickly stepped forward to stop them, but was silenced by Xia Chuli's words, "Those who support rebellion shall be punished the same as the rebels." He stood there, glaring at Xia Chuli. If looks could kill, he might have already torn Xia Chuli to pieces.
The area in front of King Xiajie's palace was immediately in chaos. To be honest, Li Yanqing was really unlucky. He came confidently in the middle of the night without sleep, only to be arrested in a daze and accused of attempting rebellion. He was full of anger. If it weren't for Qi Shuhuan constantly giving him hints, Li Yanqing might really have rushed into King Xiajie's palace to seek an explanation.
Finally, Li Yanqing and dozens of his subordinates were captured by the imperial guards and escorted to the prison. The noise in front of King Xiajie's palace gradually subsided. Qi Shuhuan stood there for a long time. Finally, he gave Shen Qingfeng and Xia Chuli a fierce look and turned away.
Xia Yonglin was still full of anger and was about to argue with Xia Chuli again, but was roared at by Qi Shuhuan. He reluctantly stopped, but still looked back and mumbled a few words resentfully. Of course, the other two didn't bother to pay attention to him.
This time, Shen Qingfeng and Xia Chuli sent Li Yanqing to the prison on the pretext of the imperial edict. The lineage of the Prince of Cheng lost its most important military power, as if losing an arm. Now, the only people from the Prince of Cheng's lineage who could pose a threat to Xia Chuli were Qi Yan, Chen Qi, and most importantly, the imperial edict in King Xiajie's hand.
So, if they wanted to successfully force the king to abdicate without leaving any room for criticism or evidence, they still had one last move to make.
But before that, Shen Qingfeng had to do something first.
The next day, Shen Qingfeng came to the Eastern Palace.
The commotion last night was a fierce confrontation between Xia Chuli and Xia Yonglin, the two candidates for succession, and it ended with Xia Chuli having a slight edge.
King Xiajie woke up early this morning after drinking the decoction made from the powder of mermaid tears by Xia Chuli. His condition had also improved a lot. Perhaps it was because Xia Chuli had done a great service in protecting the king, or perhaps the things Qi Shuhuan and Xia Yonglin did last night had chilled King Xiajie's heart. King Xiajie gave Xia Chuli the power to handle state affairs again. For a while, the usually deserted Eastern Palace became busy. When Shen Qingfeng came, he saw Xia Chuli writing vigorously among the mountains of memorials. For a moment, he felt melancholy and stood silently on one side.
Although he didn't make any noise, Xia Chuli still noticed him immediately. He put down his pen with a snap, stretched, and said, "Qingfeng, look at these memorials. During the time I've been in the Eastern Palace, when have there ever been so many?"
Shen Qingfeng nodded and said, "People in the court don't know how long King Xiajie can hold on. After last night's incident, many people can no longer afford to sit on the fence. They have to choose between you and Xia Yonglin."
Xia Chuli looked at Shen Qingfeng and said, "But Father hasn't given up on Xia Yonglin, has he?"
Shen Qingfeng pulled a stool and sat in front of the table. He poured himself a cup of tea and sipped it in silence, which was a silent admission.
"So, Father's imperial edict is the biggest hidden danger." Xia Chuli looked at Shen Qingfeng and took a slice of orange from the fruit plate on the table and handed it to him.
Shen Qingfeng took it and ate it, saying, "There's not much time left. The spring this year is relatively warm. Currently, the troops of the Donghu tribe have started to act up. If we want to take action, we should do it as soon as possible."
Xia Chuli thought for a while and said, "And Qi Shuhuan won't let it go easily."
Shen Qingfeng said, "It doesn't matter. He doesn't dare to directly rescue Li Yanqing from the prison openly, because if he does, Li Yanqing's defection will confirm the crime of rebellion. Now, the only chips in the Qi family's hands are Qi Yan and Chen Qi, who can play a significant role. After yesterday's incident, the many advisors under his command have also started to lose their unity."
Xia Chuli asked, "When are we going to force the king to abdicate?"
Shen Qingfeng didn't expect Xia Chuli to directly ask about this. He paused and said, "At the latest, ten days later."
Xia Chuli nodded after hearing this.
Shen Qingfeng observed him for a long time when Xia Chuli couldn't see, and then said, "Although Qi Shuhuan and Xia Yonglin are not reconciled, without Li Yanqing, they probably won't dare to take any major actions. I think we can promote Fei Ziyu to replace Li Yanqing in charge of the military flag."
When Shen Qingfeng said this, his eyes were always on Xia Chuli's face. He didn't want to miss any of Xia Chuli's expressions.
Because with these words, he had set a trap.
Fei Ziyu, originally named Fei Yu, although he didn't come from a famous martial general family, he had practiced martial arts since childhood and had been in the army for many years. His leadership and combat strategies were first - class. Although he couldn't compare with Lu Yan, among the many martial generals in Lixia, he was already a rare good general.
In the previous life at this time, Fei Ziyu was still using his previous name, Fei Yu. Speaking of why he changed his name, it had something to do with Shen Qingfeng.
In the previous life, after Xia Chuli killed all the opponents in the Bian Palace, he quickly started preparing for his coronation. At that time, many positions in the court were vacant, so Xia Chuli asked Shen Qingfeng to help him find talented scholars and martial generals to fill the new court of Lixia.
After many selections by Shen Qingfeng, Fei Yu became Shen Qingfeng's choice as Li Yanqing's successor. But at that time, Xia Chuli had just ascended the throne, and after Shen Yu's divination, it was said that Xia Chuli was afraid of fire in his fate. Therefore, no one with an extremely fiery nature could hold an important position in the new court. Fei Yu's horoscope and five - element attributes happened to conflict with the fire element. After considering many aspects and discussing with him, Shen Qingfeng added the character "zi" in the middle of his name.
In this way, the extremely fiery fate was cut off, and his destiny was changed.
Xia Chuli didn't know about Fei Yu changing his name to Fei Ziyu at first. He only found out later by chance. After that, Xia Chuli didn't really take it to heart and usually called him Fei Yu or Fei Ziyu interchangeably.
But now, Fei Yu hadn't had any contact with the two of them yet. Xia Chuli shouldn't know who Fei Ziyu was. To be precise, at this time, Fei Yu was still doing odd jobs in the imperial guards. Even if Xia Chuli knew about him, he wouldn't know the name Fei Ziyu.
Shen Qingfeng stared at him, only to see Xia Chuli's expression was very natural. Almost the next second after hearing Shen Qingfeng say this name, he showed confusion and asked, "Who is Fei Ziyu?"
Xia Chuli showed no signs of abnormality.
His expression was so natural that there wasn't even a hint of disguise.
Shen Qingfeng was stunned. His body became a bit stiff. This suspicion that was within his expectations made him even more uneasy. There was an indescribable feeling in Shen Qingfeng's heart.
"Qingfeng?" Xia Chuli called out.