Chapter 26 The Petty Old Man!
Early morning, the Golden Palace.
Bells and drums sounded in unison, and all officials stood solemnly.
Yuan Hua led the still sleepy Yu Zhaoning slowly up the high platform and sat down on the dragon throne.
Yu Zhaoning's short legs couldn't reach the ground, so she swayed in the air, curiously looking at the dark mass of ministers below.
She had barely settled down when a eunuch's loud voice announced her arrival from outside the hall.
"Grand Tutor Liu Cheng, come to the palace for an audience!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Hua's lips twitched uncontrollably.
Those two words kept popping into her mind again, uncontrollably.
fart/raise.
He subconsciously glanced at Prime Minister Lin, who stood at the head of all the officials.
Sure enough, Lin Xiangjun's lips twitched even more violently than hers.
The Empress Dowager forced down her smile and nodded to her granddaughter.
Yu Zhaoning blinked and propped her cheeks up with her hands.
"Since the Grand Tutor is willing to return to the court and serve the country, let him in."
Soon, an elderly man with white hair and a vigorous spirit, dressed in a dark blue Grand Tutor's robe, strode in.
Liu Cheng, with an imposing air and without glancing to the side, walked straight to the front of the line of officials.
He didn't even bother with formalities, and directly pointed at Yu Zhaoning on the dragon throne, his voice booming.
"Empress Dowager! You're confused!"
His roar shook the entire hall.
"Since ancient times, the imperial throne has always been passed down from father to son, or from brother to brother! There has never been a precedent of a woman becoming emperor! A hen crowing at dawn is the death of a family! This is a sign of the downfall of a nation!"
He was heartbroken, as if Yuan Hua had committed some heinous crime that defied all reason.
"Moreover, the person sitting on the dragon throne is just a four-year-old child! Can she shoulder the great responsibilities of the country? Can she lead troops into battle and defend the country?"
He then changed the subject, pointing to the Second Prince Yu Jinghong standing to the side.
"The Second Prince is loyal, filial, and kind-hearted! He has been studying with me since childhood and is exceptionally talented. At a young age, he is renowned throughout the capital for his talent! Isn't he a million times better than this little baby who can only drink milk!"
The tenderness in Yuan Hua's eyes had long since vanished, replaced by a cold frost.
"Grand Tutor, if you've come here to interrogate us, then you may return."
Her voice carried an undeniable authority.
"It seems that the Grand Tutor has forgotten the proper etiquette of the court after not attending court for so many years."
"you!"
The old Grand Tutor was so choked that his face turned red, and he was so angry that his beard stood on end.
I wanted to jump up on the spot and start cursing.
"Good! What a convenient excuse for forgetting the rules!"
He laughed in anger, pointing at the steps, his voice trembling.
"Indeed, women bring ruin to the country! Empress Dowager, have you forgotten what promise you made to the late Emperor before his death?"
"You said you would protect the Great Yu empire for the late emperor! Is this how you protect it?!"
He began pacing back and forth in the center of the hall, delivering a passionate speech as he went.
"Think of our Great Yu Emperor Gaozu, how wise and mighty he was! He established an ancestral precept that the empress dowager must not interfere in politics! These are ironclad rules written into the laws of our ancestors!"
"Emperor Taizong also said that if a woman holds great power, it will surely bring chaos!"
He walked around and around, quoting classical texts and reciting all the sayings of past emperors that women should not hold power.
Finally, he abruptly stopped and bowed deeply to Yuan Hua.
"Grand Empress Dowager! For the sake of the Great Yu dynasty, and to prevent the late Emperor and our ancestors from dying with regrets, we beg you to obey the will of Heaven, depose the Empress, and allow the Second Prince to ascend the throne! Only in this way can we uphold the laws of our ancestors!"
His voice was both mournful and impassioned, and full of infectious power.
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of officials standing behind him immediately stepped forward.
They were all Liu Cheng's protégés and old friends, or conservatives with interests related to him.
"We, your subjects, second that proposal!"
They all knelt down on the ground, pleading loudly before the Empress Dowager and the Empress on the high platform.
"We urge the Empress Dowager to depose the Empress and establish a second prince instead!"
The momentum was immense, almost like a coup d'état.
Just when things were tense, a childish, muttered complaint rang in everyone's minds again.
[Hmph, just a washed-up old man, daring to openly bully my imperial grandmother in court, and even trying to depose me? Who gave him the audacity? Who gave him the audacity? His mother?]
[Hmph, I'm not saying anything more. Today's gossip starts with this washed-up old man!]
[System, system, show me his juicy gossip! I need to dig up his entire family history, from ancestors to ancestors, I'm going to expose him completely, make him walk out this door naked, leaving him with nothing but his underwear!]
Empress Dowager Yuanhua: "..."
Lin Xiang: "..."
[System: Ding! Here comes the gossip! This Grand Tutor Liu, who loudly proclaims that women bring ruin to the country and constantly spouts ancestral laws, was quite the romantic in his youth.]
The system's voice carried a hint of barely suppressed laughter.
Yu Zhaoning was instantly drawn in. She deliberately tapped her finger to zoom in on the system panel, and then couldn't help but widen her round eyes.
[Wow, this washed-up old man actually wrote ninety-nine love poems to a powerful and renowned female general at the time, all to curry favor with her! The content was so cheesy that even this four-year-old got goosebumps!]
[Let me see, let me see! One of the most widely circulated lines goes like this: "The general conquers the world on horseback, I wish to sleep beside him in my bed!" Wow, how unrestrained!]
Lin Xiang could no longer hold back.
He couldn't catch his breath and started coughing violently, his handsome face contorted in pain.
The general will decide the fate of the world on horseback...
I wish to sleep beside you in my bed...
This line of poetry is playing on repeat in his head right now!
Then look at the old Grand Tutor in the hall, who speaks righteously and sternly, as if the woman were a raging flood or a ferocious beast.
Lin Xiang felt that his worldview had been shaken like never before!
Yuan Hua also froze.
In her generation, she had seen all sorts of unrestrained behavior.
But for an old-fashioned person who always talks about women bringing ruin to the country to write such ravenous words was still quite an eye-opener for her!
This isn't just being old-fashioned; it's clearly double standards!
Yu Zhaoning was still happily enjoying the melon in her little head.
[Oh dear, what a pity! That female general didn't even consider a pretty boy like him. The day after receiving the love poems, she burned all ninety-nine of them in front of the entire army, saying that Liu Cheng, a spineless coward who couldn't lift a finger, wasn't even worthy of leading her horse!]
[It is said that from then on, Grand Tutor Liu's love turned to hatred, and he could no longer tolerate any capable woman!]
[Hilarious! So he got angry because his advances were rejected! What a petty, washed-up old man!]
"Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough!"
A group of ministers around him coughed violently, tears streaming down their faces.
I felt like I was about to choke to death on my own saliva!
So that's where the root of the problem lies!
Yuan Hua took a deep breath, then another.
She looked at Liu Cheng, who was kneeling below, heartbroken and indignant, and her eyes gleamed with gossip.
So there's more gossip than yesterday's fart.
He even wrote ninety-nine love letters, pursuing the outstanding female general while simultaneously slandering her. It seems the old Grand Tutor has it all.
Fortunately, we didn't invite this old grand tutor to be Zhao Ning's teacher before.
Otherwise, I'm afraid it will corrupt Zhaoning!
In the Golden Palace, a group of civil and military officials were exchanging glances, but the Grand Tutor couldn't hear them at all and only felt that the atmosphere was very strange.
He glanced around instinctively, his face turning bright red.
"What's wrong with you all? Why are you all laughing? Do you think what I'm saying is that funny?"
Little did they know that most officials who could hear their true feelings were actually having ninety-nine love letters circulating in their minds.
When General Weiyuan saw the old Grand Tutor's thin, monkey-like face with its pointed mouth and monkey cheeks, he laughed even louder.
Seeing the old Grand Tutor's furious expression, he waved his hands repeatedly.
"Grand Tutor, I'm sorry..."
"This general doesn't usually laugh, unless it's really funny..."
The old Grand Tutor was so angry he almost fell over.