Chapter 41: Living in the Prince Manor 2/2

The head court eunuch who had been alongside with the previous monarch suddenly appeared with a posthumous edict – stating that the previous emperor ordered it a few days before and urged him to keep it safe; only to release it after his passing.

And to summarise the edict – I had conferred the crown prince but the crown prince temperament is too headstrong and not a popular ruler among the public. I plead for the assistance of the chancellors to impose supervision. If the crown prince had made big mistakes three times and above, then comply with this imperial order to depose him and aid the fourth prince Rong Yu to ascend the throne.

The information from the posthumous edict was overwhelming. Firstly, the previous emperor was not optimistic about the crown prince, but he was willing to give him chances. Secondly, after the crown prince, the previous emperor’s second choice to ascend the throne is not the second prince Rong Shi but the fourth prince Rong Yu.

Officials that supported the second prince immediately debated – they were suspicious if the posthumous edict was authentic and insisted that the sudden death of the crown prince is linked with the fourth prince.

But the fourth prince was no pushover either. His concubine mother’s family is powerful, and his grandfather was the main army marshal. Hence, half of the influence of the political party of the second prince died under military powers. In the end, as wished by the fourth prince, he ascended the throne and officially named the reign Qian Ling.

And this fourth prince is the emperor of the current reign, which is also the same old man Liu Wei met a few months ago when he travelled incognito.

Likely because of how he coincidentally ascended the throne, everyone who had eyes would notice that the monarch suffers an illness – suspicious.

Truthfully, people of high ranking have this illness. Being suspicious is a common illness of all the emperors.

But this emperor’s illness is slightly more serious. Firstly, he had already determined who the crown prince was. Then, he quickly conferred the title of the prince to the rest of the princes and chased them out of the harem.

It is said that the youngest prince was conferred just three days after he was born..

To think being conferred a title is a good thing? No, it is not. Being conferred would represent that the highest you can become is a prince and you no longer have an opportunity to inherit the throne your whole lifetime.

Although it seemed like they stood no chance to inherit the throne on the surface, someone mentioned that when the princes had a consort and would be conferred a land, they could train their own troops and stockpile their grains. And when the time comes, they could attack the capital anytime to snatch the throne.

Hence, to eliminate such a possibility from happening, the Qian Ling emperor is also very quick-witted.

He conferred them but did not grant them an official title – which meant that they are ranked according to their birth sequence but without an official title. What does it mean to not have an official title? It means that they would not be granted lands.
(TN: It’s slightly confusing here about the conferment. Basically, if you have read other period novels, you would notice that princes usually have an official title, e.g. Prince Yan, Prince Qin, Prince Yi, etc…… But the princes here are just named according to their birth sequence. Which is why Rong Leng is called Third Prince, because he doesn’t have an official title.)

In the past, the princes were accompanied with true power. But the Qian Ling emperor obviously does not plan to give his other sons any power.

What he wants, is to let you become a prince but not an opportunity to contest over the throne. And because he did not grant you an official title, even if you are a prince, you do not have a conferred land and would have to stay in the capital under his watchful eyes – which is disguised as a way to strip off your wings, block your escape route, and then shackle you.

Hence, the life of a prince in the capital is not easy. Having no lands means that there is no source of income; No source of income means that they would have to enter the court to earn his keep. However, where in court would there be so many positions prepared for these emperor’s relations?

Which is why some of those princes, whose maternal family are not powerful, are living worse off than a magistrate.

And under such circumstances, Rong Leng who worked under the imperial orders and even commanded the entire Zhen Ge department appeared to be extremely conspicuous.

To say something super disrespectful, other than the crown prince, everyone in the capital knows that the second choice of the emperor is none other than the Third Prince, Rong Leng.

Liu Wei held her son and walked into the Third Prince manor. She observed the insides – richly ornamented and filled with beautiful flowers and thicket. Just a simple walk, she could notice it was extremely extravagant.