Two silver candles were burning in the hall, the flames flickering, the shadows reflected on the hanging curtains, creating a strong sense of weirdness. A night breeze rushed in from the open window, the curtains fluttered, and the whole hall was filled with a chill. Such a dim palace made it hard to imagine the bright lights and neon lights not long ago. The dancing sleeves were slowly turning, the silk pipes were loud, and the room was filled with sadness now, which was completely different from the world.
Green smoke lingered faintly, and a faint aroma emanated from the bedroom. Moon-white curtains were drawn one after another, hiding the lonely figure.
He entered the hall in a dignified manner, and drunkenly lifted the heavy curtains and walked towards the figure. Before the figure arrived, he was already laughing and joking: "Your Majesty."
Xiao Yan stared at him hatefully, wishing he could cut him into pieces but feeling powerless to do anything: "Hou Jing, what on earth do you want?" He was so angry that he burst into a coughing fit.
Hou Jing was less than seven feet tall, but he was strong and brave. His narrow eyes were shining with brilliance and fierceness, like a wolf looking for food. Seeing Xiao Yan's embarrassed appearance, he couldn't help but laugh again: "Hey, what's wrong with the emperor? It seems that he is not feeling well. Do you want me to find a doctor?"
Xiao Yan lowered his head and coughed violently, still cursing: "You bastard! I was so good to you in the past, but you did such a treasonous thing!"
Hou Jing chuckled when he heard this: "Xiao Yan, you treat me so well. I took refuge with you, but you want to exchange me for a hostage with your Xiao family? Let me tell you, your descendants and royal family all wish you dead. Look, why doesn't anyone come to save you? Haha, are you disappointed?" Hou Jing chuckled softly, feeling very contented.
Xiao Yan kept coughing, his face flushed red. He pushed away Hou Jing's hand that was stretched out to support him: "Don't worry about this! Hou Jing, you will die a miserable death!"
Hou Jing was not annoyed, still smiling: "It's okay, I'll worry about it after I die. However, you are already this old, you should worry about yourself first." After thinking for a moment, he smiled again and said: "I heard that you have been studying Buddhism. You have worshipped Buddha for most of your life. Can you really live forever and have an immortal body?"
Xiao Yan was slightly stunned: "What do you want?"
"Haha, I'm just curious and want to see if this is true." After saying that, a hint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes: "Your Majesty, you should take good care of yourself. I will come to see you in a few days." As he said this, he walked away and said to the palace guards at the door: "You are not allowed to give Your Majesty any food or water, otherwise I will chop you all to pieces."
As the door was closing, Hou Jing seemed to have thought of something and added, "Oh, Your Majesty, I have something else to report. Princess Liyang is almost coming of age, and she is so beautiful that I feel pity for her. I am so old that I have not yet married, so please give Princess Liyang to me."
When Xiao Yan heard this, veins popped on his forehead and he shouted with all his might, "You beast!" But the only response he got was the sound of a door closing.
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In May, the palace pond was filled with blooming lotus flowers. The red lotus was as beautiful as blood, eerie and alluring, revealing a hint of sorrow.
Not long after, bad news came. The old emperor died in Qingju Palace, and the reason was starvation. The 86-year-old Xiao Yan ended his life in such a humiliating way, leaving behind only a precarious country.
Then the crown prince Xiao Gang succeeded to the throne. At that time, due to the turmoil in the country, Hou Jing threatened to hold the power on the side. In fact, Xiao Gang had no real power and was just a puppet emperor. Outside the imperial city, there was also chaos. The princes and nobles were fighting for power and internal wars broke out. The battlefield was full of smoke, but no one knew whether it was to fight against the traitors or internal strife. The essence of things is nothing more than the naked desire for high power.
Hou Jing asked Xiao Gang to issue an edict to release all northerners who were enslaved in the south. Tens of thousands of people were released, and the bravest among them were recruited by Hou Jing. Although Xiao Gang immediately appointed Xiao Daqi, the King of Xuancheng, as the crown prince, and made his sons kings, and appointed Xiao Huili, the King of Nankang, as the Minister of Works and the Minister of Chancellery in order to restrict Hou Jing, most of them were cowardly by nature, and they could do nothing even if they wanted to fight against the enemy.
Hou Jing did not stop there, and sent troops to capture Wujun, Wuxing, Huiji and other places, threatening: "If you capture the city, kill everyone, so that the world will know my reputation."
Xiangdong Palace.
Everyone was discussing matters in the study, with Xiao Yi sitting at the head, followed by Wang Sengbian, Chen Baxian, Du Kan, and Wang Lin, all of whom were his capable assistants.
Wang Sengbian was the most excited. He couldn't help pacing back and forth in the room and said, "Now that Hou Jing has conquered the three counties of Wu, his next target must be Jiangling. Your Majesty is the governor of Jingzhou and the commander-in-chief of the military of Jiuzhou. Your nephews are all under your command in the east, west, south and north. This is a great opportunity. If we don't send troops now, it will be too late! Your Majesty, you have to think it over and put aside your personal grudges. Hou Jing is the public enemy!"
Xiao Yi listened calmly, as if he was playing with a piece of jade nonchalantly, and said slowly: "You seem to have some complaints about me?"
When Xiao Yi asked Xiao Fang and Xiao Fangju to lead 20,000 elite troops to attack not Hou Jing but Xiao Yu, the son of former crown prince Xiao Tong, he became furious and had a tantrum in his own mansion.
Wang Sengbian wanted to say something, but when he saw Xiao Yi's cold gaze, his Adam's apple twitched a few times before he finally gave in and bowed respectfully: "I dare not."
Chen Baxian chimed in: "I think it is urgent to defeat the Hou bandit. The Hou bandit will definitely target Jiangling, so why not take the initiative to attack? If we win this battle, Your Majesty, we will be famous for all eternity."
Xiao Yi stared at him for a moment, then asked, "What's your strategy?"
Chen Baxian smiled and said, "In my opinion, it would be better to send a letter to Yuwen of Western Wei, asking them to help prepare for war. This way, there will be no worries and it will deter others. I think..."
"How can this be?" Before Chen Baxian could finish his words, he was interrupted by Wang Sengbian. He frowned and said sternly, "How can this be? We must not submit to the Western Wei! Where will our Xiao family's face be? After all, this is Daliang's internal affairs. Why involve other unrelated people?"
"Brother Juncai, what you said is wrong." Chen Baxian was slightly annoyed and said coldly: "The situation is different now. Only when you are strong can you sweep away thousands of troops. Besides, looking at the whole scene, who doesn't have this idea? Take the brothers of Shaoling Wang, Wuling Wang or Yueyang Wang." Wang Sengbian stared at him with some contempt. The two of them were always tit-for-tat on weekdays, and neither of them looked down on the other. Most of the time when they were discussing matters was about the two of them quarreling.
Xiao Yi was getting impatient, rubbing his temple and saying helplessly, "There's no rush for this. Let's disperse today. Everyone go back and make arrangements, and wait for my dispatch at any time."
Several people filed out, and Xiao Yi was alone in the room, feeling annoyed, so he wanted to walk around in the yard. Since the incident last year, he seemed to have rarely had such leisure time. For some reason, it seemed that someone told him to walk around the garden.
He followed his heart and walked slowly towards the garden. It was the season when all the flowers were in full bloom, and the flowers in the garden were floating without any timing. Xiao Yi felt a sense of gloom in his heart, and he thought of his father. That... emperor who died alone in the palace. (To be continued)