Chapter 340 Election Results

Zhao State.

The capital of the country.

A major piece of news came out from the palace, instantly causing huge waves among the people and the court.

The general election, which was originally one and a half months away, has been moved forward to three days later.

Those who are blessed by national luck will not live long.

His Majesty's health has deteriorated rapidly in the past few years. No medical method can restore it. Only by giving up the throne can he live a few more years.

Therefore, he set the date for the general election a year ago.

But right now, if he is still burdened with the fate of the country, His Majesty may not be able to survive until a month later.

Therefore, the general election can only be held in advance.

The mansions of all the princes received the news immediately.

When King Shun, King An, and King Xiang heard the news, they all behaved quite calmly.

Whether it is one month early or one month late, for them, the result will not change.

Prince Sheng's Mansion.

After the eunuch who had heard the decree finished speaking, King Sheng was stunned for a moment and couldn't help blurting out: "Great!"

The eunuch who delivered the order glanced at him, and King Sheng realized that his father was seriously ill, and it seemed a little bad for him to act so happy.

He immediately suppressed the joy on his face and said solemnly: "I understand."

After the eunuch left, he clenched his fists excitedly.

In three days, he will reach the top!

There was also joy in Prince Sheng's Mansion.

Judging from the current situation, they can already celebrate in advance.

Princess Mansion.

In the small courtyard, the three of them were silent.

Li Nuo was looking forward to it with some excitement. After all, this was the first time he had participated in the battle for the right to inherit the throne. After working hard for so long, it was time to bear fruit after three days.

In addition to being nervous, Zhao Zhiyi felt more at a loss.

After the election, he should be leaving, right?

How should she go next?

Song Yiren pursed her lips, with a trace of reluctance in her eyes.

Are you going back?

What is fake will always be fake. No matter how beautiful the dream is, there will always be a time to wake up...

…

Three days flew by in the blink of an eye.

In the early morning, as soon as it got dark, all the officials from the capital had already gathered at the gate of the palace.

Today, they will be here to witness the birth of the new emperor.

At midnight, the palace door slowly opened, and all the officials filed in, standing neatly and orderly in the square in front of the palace according to their rank.

The four princes stood at the front of the crowd.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple presided over the ceremony before the election.

The general election was one of the most important events in the Zhao court. The process was complicated and elaborate. An hour later, a dull bell rang, and the general election officially began.

Officials of rank five or above walked into the main hall in front of them one by one in order.

In the center of the hall, there is a square table.

There are pens, inks, paper, inkstones, and a red wooden box on the square table.

Officials who vote need to write down the titles of the people they vote for on paper, such as Shun Wang, An Wang, Xiang Wang, Sheng Wang, etc., and then put the paper into the wooden box.

Two teams of guards lined up on both sides of the hall.

Although they cannot see who the officials voted for, they can ensure that they did not take any unnecessary actions and ensure the fairness of the vote.

When an official finishes voting and leaves the hall, the next official can enter.

In front of the crowd, the four princes had different expressions.

King Sheng was so proud that he nodded and smiled at every official who came out of the hall, looking like he was sure of victory.

The other three princes had expressionless faces, as if they had resigned themselves to their fate.

It was not until noon that nearly two hundred officials finally finished voting.

The check-in was completed by eunuchs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and officials from Yushitai supervised the inspection.

As the palace door slowly closed, the hearts of all the officials outside the palace even beat a few minutes faster.

In the main hall, the eunuchs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs took out all the ballots and counted them separately.

Princess Zhaoyang, King An, Princess Zhaoyang, King Shun, King An, Princess Zhaoyang, Princess Zhaoyang...

Only seven votes were counted, and several eunuchs were stunned on the spot.

Among these seven votes, the Sixth Princess occupied four votes.

How could someone vote for the Sixth Princess?

There are many calls among the common people for the Sixth Princess to run for election. Why do these adults take it seriously?

As the votes were counted one by one, the expressions of several eunuchs became more and more horrified.

Princess Zhaoyang, Princess Zhaoyang, Princess Zhaoyang... so many votes were cast for the Sixth Princess.

More than half of the votes have been counted, and the votes of the sixth princess are almost equal to the total votes of the other princes.

The panic-stricken people did not realize that the expressions of the officials at Yushitai were always calm, as if such an outcome had been expected by them.

Soon, all the votes were counted.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has calculated it several times, but the result is the same.

Shun Wang has twenty-eight votes, An Wang has forty-one votes, Xiang Wang has twenty-two votes, and Sheng Wang has nineteen votes.

Eighty-three votes for Six Princesses.

This result exceeded everyone's expectations.

No one dared to announce the results directly.

The chambermaid winked to the side, and a young eunuch immediately stood up and hurriedly ran out of the back door of the hall.

After passing through a square and several long corridors, he came to a palace and said respectfully: "The Ministry of Internal Affairs has something important to report to Your Majesty."

At the entrance of the palace, an old eunuch glanced at him, turned around and walked into the palace. After a while, he walked out again and said, "Go in."

The eunuch walked into the palace carefully, passed through a small courtyard full of flowers, and walked into a quiet room. He looked up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I have seen the Imperial Master!"

An old man lying on the couch, with a withered body and sunken eyes, was like a bag of bones. He did not open his eyes and asked in a weak voice, "Are there any results?"

The young eunuch said, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has counted all the votes."

The old man asked, "Who is it?"

The young eunuch moved his lips and said, "Yes, it is Princess Zhaoyang..."

The old man lying on the bed slowly opened his eyes.

He glanced at the young eunuch and said, "Wait outside."

The eunuch bowed and left the room, crossed the small courtyard, and retreated to the outside of the palace.

At this moment, in the room, the Emperor of Zhao said, "Is this also a choice of fate?"

The four regent princes were calculated by the Imperial Master at the cost of his life.

But today's result is beyond the fate he calculated.

The skinny old man sitting in front of the bed said calmly: "National destiny contains too many secrets. I can only calculate that the future of Zhao is related to one of the four of them. Perhaps, King Sheng's mission is to let the Sixth Princess enter. If it weren't for King Sheng's regent, how could the Sixth Princess come into the sight of the court officials?"

The Emperor of Zhao nodded gently and said, "I understand."

Then, he was silent for a long time, and finally spoke again: "National Master, is there really no way to live forever in this world?"

The skinny old man was silent for a long time before he said: "Life span is determined by heaven. Some people are born, and some people die. Some people live long, and some people die young. Even the Yin-Yang family who understands fate the most cannot get the way to live forever..."

The Emperor of Zhao said: "Then why is that person from Daxia..."

The skinny old man disagreed and said calmly: "It's just that his fate has not come yet."

The Emperor of Zhao stopped talking. After a long sigh, the hall fell into a long silence.

The young eunuch waited outside the palace for an unknown period of time. The old eunuch finally came out and whispered something in his ear. The young eunuch nodded heavily and ran quickly in the direction he came from.

…

Outside the palace, the ministers of Zhao State were already impatient.

Some even began to discuss in a low voice.

“It’s just a vote count. Does it take so long?”

“It’s been less than an hour. Even if it’s ten votes, it should be enough?”

“I don’t know. What happened inside?”

In front of the crowd, King Sheng was also a little impatient.

Could it be that something happened inside?

Just as he couldn’t bear it anymore and was about to ask, the palace door that had been closed for a long time finally opened.

Officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Imperial Censorate walked out of the palace.

King Sheng took the step forward and immediately took it back. He stood up straight, held his chest high, and looked straight ahead.

The eunuch held a piece of red paper, glanced at the ministers below, and said, "The counting of votes has ended, and now the results will be announced."

As he finished speaking, the scene fell silent.

The eunuch cleared his throat and said, "Prince Shun, 28 votes."

Prince Shun had some hope in his eyes, but when he heard this, the fire of hope in his eyes was completely extinguished.

There were only 28 votes, which meant that apart from his own small team, there were very few court officials who chose him.

At this time, the eunuch's voice came again: "Prince An, 41 votes."

Prince An lowered his head slightly when he heard this.

Forty-one votes, although many neutral court officials also voted for him, it was far from enough.

"Prince Xiang, 22 votes."

The eunuch spoke again, undoubtedly announcing the result in advance.

There were a total of 193 ballots, and the three princes had a total of 91 votes. Wouldn't it be that Prince Sheng alone had more than 100 votes, more than the votes of the three princes combined?

At this moment, the smile on the corner of Prince Sheng's mouth could no longer be suppressed.

The eunuch continued to speak: "Prince Sheng, nineteen votes."

"Hahaha!" Prince Sheng laughed a few times, walked to the front, and said to several eunuchs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and officials of the Imperial Censorate: "You have worked hard..."

The officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs looked at him with a look of astonishment.

Prince Sheng finally realized something, and his expression was stunned: "How much did the prince have?"

The eunuch repeated and said: "Nineteen votes."

Prince Sheng looked at him in a daze.

What's wrong with these people? I can't count them. The other three people have ninety-one votes. How could he only have nineteen votes? Even if someone randomly voted for other princes, he should have more than ninety votes...

He looked at the eunuch and said: "Did you make a mistake? How could the prince only have nineteen votes? Ninety-one votes are about right..."

The eunuch said patiently: "Don't worry, Your Highness, there is still one person whose votes have not been announced."

Prince Sheng's expression became even more puzzled.

Who else will vote today besides the four of them?

The eunuch said, "Princess Zhaoyang, eighty-three votes."

As he finished speaking, not only King Sheng was stunned, but the other three princes and most of the court officials were also stunned.

"What, what?"

"Eighty-three votes for the Sixth Princess?"

"Who else can vote for the Sixth Princess?"

"Damn it, if I had known so many people would vote for the Sixth Princess, I would have voted for the Sixth Princess too!"

"No one ever told me that I could still vote for the Sixth Princess!"

...

After the other three princes came to their senses, they looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

None of them were willing to lose to King Sheng.

But they were convinced to lose to the Sixth Sister.

Prince An smiled comfortably and said to himself: "I suddenly feel that being an idle prince is not bad..."

Prince Shun also laughed and said: "You are right, I can finally be idle in the future."

Prince Xiang put his arms around their shoulders and said: "Let's go, let's have a banquet in my house today, and the three of us brothers will drink..."

"Why..."

Prince Sheng's body swayed, took a few steps back, and almost fell.

Why did those people choose the Sixth Sister? Shouldn't they choose him?

What went wrong?

The election results have been announced, and all officials left the palace in an orderly manner.

After experiencing ups and downs, King Sheng's mind was blank, and he walked out of the palace in a daze.

Outside the palace, people were already surrounded by people waiting for news.

Hearing that the Sixth Princess won, the crowd was jubilant.

"I knew that the Sixth Princess would be able to do it!"

"We will have a good life in the future!"

"Those adults really heard the voices of the people..."

King Sheng turned around and looked at the joyous people, and his heart became even more confused.

The people supported the Sixth Sister so much, why didn't he know?

There were so many counselors in the palace, but no one told him.

If he had known this earlier, he would not have sat back and watched this happen.

He returned to Prince Sheng's Palace.

The counselors in the palace were all waiting for his return.

"Congratulations, Your Highness, congratulations, Your Highness!"

"Congratulations, Your Highness, on ascending the throne!"

As soon as King Sheng stepped into the palace, he heard a cheering voice.

A moment later, a figure knelt at King Sheng's feet and said in a trembling voice: "Your Highness, spare me, all this is Mr. Lin. It was Mr. Lin who asked us to hide it from Your Highness. He said that this was all a conspiracy of the three princes to alienate Your Highness and the Sixth Princess, and not let us tell Your Highness..."

King Sheng's expression was dull. It turned out that these people had known it for a long time!

From the beginning, he was the only one who was kept in the dark!

When King Sheng brought a group of people to the courtyard where Mr. Lin lived, he found that it was empty.

"They are... in the same group!"

King Sheng's face flushed, and after squeezing out these words from his teeth, his eyes turned black and he fell straight to the ground.

At this time, the princess's mansion.

Several eunuchs walked into the courtyard. An old eunuch squeezed out a flattering smile on his face and said to Zhao Zhiyi: "Your Highness, His Majesty summoned..."

Zhao Zhiyi's eyes subconsciously looked at Li Nuo.

Li Nuo said helplessly: "Why are you looking at me, go..."

They are all going to be emperors, how can they not even have this little opinion...

After Zhao Zhiyi left, Yiren came over, feeling a little depressed, looking at Li Nuo and asked: "Are we going back?"

Li Nuo said: "Not so soon, at least half a month."

If you want to go back, at least you have to wait until the Sixth Princess officially sits on the throne and his cultivation is up, then this trip to Zhao State can be considered a success.

Generally speaking, the succession ceremony will be held within half a month after the election.

And considering the physical condition of the Zhao emperor, this time may be shortened.

Li Nuo suddenly realized that if the Sixth Princess became the emperor, her life span would also be affected.

She is only 20 years old this year, and it is very likely that she will be affected by the backlash of the country's destiny when she is 50 years old.

Unless she abdicates long in advance.

But once she sits on this position, it will be difficult to step down.

For the sake of the past, if by then, my life span is too much to use up, I can give her some...