CHAPTER 2014: CHAPTER 2016: SECURE INTERNAL STABILITY BEFORE REPELLING EXTERNAL THREATS

The one responsible for the funeral arrangements of Prince Le is an heir of an old prince, who belongs to the same generation as the Grand Emperor, and currently holds a position in the Ministry of Revenue, while also serving as the Imperial Clan’s director.

Even though Prince Le has died, the court has not stripped him of his title. Over there, Prince Zhuang also claims to bury him with princely rites. He’s almost prepared everything, yet the Ministry of Rites cannot select a day, what’s going on?

Since Prince Zhuang stated to bury him with princely rites, even if it isn’t an extravagant funeral, it shouldn’t lack in quality. It’s necessary to have people from the imperial temple to chant scriptures and conduct ceremonies. Prior to this, the Ministry of Rites needs to find a suitable day to invite masters to the temple, and then have those masters calculate whether it would be best to keep the body for five days, seven days, or forty-nine days.

But now, things have turned absurd. These people from the Ministry of Rites and those old men from the Imperial Censor all follow whatever the Grand Emperor says, completely ignoring him. He sent people to ask several times, and the Ministry of Rites keeps saying they don’t know.

"If your people from the Ministry of Rites can’t select a date, then you’d better get lost early, don’t waste imperial resources and delay matters." This old prince, titled Qing, Heir Qing, is several years younger than the Grand Emperor. He’s a hot-tempered person who dares to act and speak boldly. Otherwise, Prince Zhuang would not have appointed him to oversee this matter.

"Heir Qing, your words aren’t correct." The Minister of the Ministry of Rites replied, "We also follow orders from the Grand Emperor. How can someone like Prince Le, who is unkind, unrighteous, unvirtuous, and uncharitable, deserve a princely funeral?"

"Exactly, Prince Le first relied on the Fancy Red Pavilion to harm several innocent women from good families, then poisoned in Shandong leading to countless civilian deaths. He later poisoned the Grand Emperor, hurt Prince Ning, Prince Fu, and other siblings, burned grain supplies, spread deceiving words, causing internal and external chaos in Great Zhou. How can such a person deserve princely rites?"

"Tsk!" Heir Qing looked at them disdainfully, "If Prince Le had so many issues, when he rebelled and Prince Zhuang and others were captured, why didn’t any of you jump out then? Why jump out now? I see you are just a bunch of fence-sitters, swaying to whichever side benefits you. Previously when Prince Le was strong, you could not resist, you all acted like cowards. Now you’re afraid of Prince Zhuang settling accounts with you, so you lean towards the Grand Emperor. Truly a bunch of shameless people."

"You! Don’t speak so nicely, aren’t you all just Prince Zhuang’s lackeys? The Emperor is still here, yet you talk about selecting a new king, this is utter treason." The Ministry of Rites members are not easy to deal with either.

"Screw you! Who do you think you are, daring to talk to me this way?"

Outside the Golden Throne Hall, Prince Zhuang and Ye Zi’an watched the quarrel inside clearly, hearing almost everything said.

"What do you think?"

"Cousin, ascend the throne first." Ye Zi’an replied, "Xiaxia once said, ’To repel external threats, internal stability must be ensured first.’ Right now, Great Zhou faces internal and external troubles, it can’t withstand the chaos caused by these people. You wish to wait until Great Zhou stabilizes before ascending the throne, but doing so would give you more confidence. Yet currently, the court’s situation doesn’t allow you to do that. Without ascending, many things will be difficult to handle properly. You’re not like Prince Le, he never considered ascending that position."

Precisely because Prince Le never intended to ascend to that position, Prince Zhuang wishes to treat him with respect, not everyone can remain indifferent to the throne.

"Moreover, I now believe, ascending the throne first to quell the unrest, though losing confidence initially, will make the position more stable."