Lu Xiao immediately asked: "So after Sima Lan confessed his crime, the prince knew the content of the secret order?"
Xiao Shaozong shook his head and said: "After Sima Lan was executed, I did not open the secret order immediately. The Sima family has many party members in the government and the public. My father said that as long as Sima was in court, I could not open the secret order. This did not mean that Sima Lan As soon as I die, I can open the secret order immediately, but I have to wait until the Sima family's power is indeed no longer a disaster in the court."
"When did the prince know the contents of the secret order?" Lu Xiao asked.
Xiao Shaozong pondered for a moment and then said: "It was when our Chu army went north."
"That means that the Crown Prince knew the contents of the secret order a few months ago." Lu Xiao looked serious.
Xiao Shaozong nodded and said: "Yes. Your Majesty is wise and wise. If the remnants of the Sima clan still pose a threat to the imperial court, your Majesty will naturally not be able to easily send troops to the north. Since we, the great Chu, have sent our troops to the north, it proves that the Sima clan has indeed been eradicated. There are no more remnants of the Sima family's conspiracy." He looked around and said, "There are no traitors in the court, so I followed my father's instructions and opened the secret order left by my father to see what the late emperor had given my father. What kind of secret message did you leave behind?"
In fact, after the Sima clan was eradicated, most of the many officials who were originally affiliated with the Sima clan still stayed in the court as officials.
After the death of the late emperor, the two major powers in the court were clearly divided. The King of Huainan and the Sima family were in tit-for-tat. Officials in the court wanted to gain a foothold in the capital. If they wanted to be in the middle like the Yuan family but not targeted by the two factions, they were really rare. You must rely on someone to rely on.
The power of the Sima family at that time far exceeded that of the King of Huainan. Sixty-seven out of ten officials in the court were involved in some way with the Sima family. If these people were really implicated, the Chu State would surely suffer more serious consequences than Sima Lan's rebellion. The little emperor did not pursue the crime of following the party.
At this time, Xiao Shaozong said that there were no more rebellious remnants of the Sima family in the court, which made many officials who had followed the Sima family feel happy.
"When King Huainan handed over the secret order to you, did he reveal to you that it was the late emperor's secret order?" Lu Xiao asked again.
Xiao Shaozong said: "My father knows that it is the late emperor's secret decree, so I will keep it more carefully and properly. Moreover, my father has told me not to open it. I shouldn't be guilty of leaking the late emperor's secret decree in advance, right?"
Lu Xiao pondered for a moment and then said: "Since the Crown Prince knew the contents after our army went north, why didn't he take out the secret edict for so long? It has been more than a few months since our army went north, why did the Crown Prince wait until today?"
"I was very surprised when I saw the secret edict." Xiao Shaozong sighed: "I wanted to present the secret edict to the emperor immediately, but it was the time to use troops. I really didn't want to distract the emperor and make him hesitate because of this matter, so I haven't taken it out yet." At this point, he suddenly raised his hand, and there was a handkerchief in his hand. He covered his mouth, and then he coughed violently. He was like a dwarf, very short. At this time, he coughed and his body bent. When he got up, he looked really sympathetic. The ministers looked at each other, thinking that Xiao Shaozong was terminally ill. Now it seems that the rumors are true. Xiao Shaozong's violent coughing seemed to make him cough out his lungs. In addition, the expression on his face was so expressionless. With a bloody face, I'm afraid he's going to die soon.
After coughing for a while, Xiao Shaozong cupped his hands and said, "I'm being impolite, please forgive me."
The emperor said: "I forgive you for not being guilty!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xiao Shaozong said: "The guilty minister's health is getting worse day by day, and I'm afraid he won't live long. If he dies suddenly one day, but this secret decree is never submitted, the guilty minister is only worried that his father's innocence will never be Unable to recover, that's why I boldly reported this to the emperor. Today, in front of the civil and military officials of the court, I report this secret edict to the emperor. I also hope that everyone can know that my father is not a treasonous minister. Everything he has done, They are all done in accordance with the late emperor’s will.”
There was silence for a while in the hall, and finally Yuan Lao Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites came out and said: "Your Majesty, if you want to tell whether this secret edict is true or false, you only need to go to the imperial archives to search for the record. If there is a backup, this secret edict will naturally It’s true, otherwise…!”
Lu Xiao immediately said: "Exactly, Your Majesty, what the old minister said is absolutely true." He asked Xiao Shaozong: "Your Majesty, when King Huainan entrusted this secret edict to you, did he ever mention it as a document?"
Every decree issued by the emperor is archived in the imperial palace, so there are actually two copies of each decree.
The late emperor personally delivered the secret edict to the King of Huainan. Such secret edicts were of great importance, and it was impossible not to keep them in the imperial archives. Moreover, in order to check in the future, such shocking secret edicts would often be informed of the location of the archives. When the ministers saw that Xiao Shaozong had taken the edicts today, When this incredible secret edict came out, I was naturally suspicious in my heart. I knew that the only way to confirm the authenticity of this secret edict was to see if there were any backup files in the imperial archives.
"The sixth warehouse, inside the thirteenth shelf!" Xiao Shaozong said respectfully.
The emperor immediately said: "Guihe, go to the inner stalls and look for them yourself. If there are any spare stalls, get them immediately."
The eunuch in charge of the ceremony said hurriedly: "I obey the order." He quickly retreated.
All civil and military officials in the dynasty had different thoughts, but no one said anything. However, the emperor did not continue to wait in the palace. He got up and went to the side hall. Soon a eunuch came out and said: "Prince Huainan, Your Majesty knows that you are not in good health." , I call you to go to the side hall to rest first, while other ministers will wait for now."
The ministers thought that the prince was indeed very weak. Guihe, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, would take a long time to retrieve the archives. If Xiao Shaozong was allowed to stand in the palace all the time, it would be difficult to support him.
Many ministers already know that when the prince was young, apart from being bored in the palace day and night, he would occasionally enter the palace and actually served as the companion of the current emperor. The relationship between the two was actually pretty good. At that time, the emperor cared about his son's health, which was only human nature.
Xiao Shaozong followed the eunuch to the side hall, passed by Yuan Lao Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, stopped, cupped his hands, and said to the eunuch beside him: "Go and bring some chairs, old ministers like Yuan Lao Shangshu can't stand and wait all the time. When I see the emperor, I will report it to the emperor."
The eunuch did not receive the order and hesitated for a moment. Xiao Shaozong sighed: "I will go and ask for the order from the emperor." They went straight to the side hall. The ministers thought that the prince was very careful. He was already so ill and needed others all the time. Although he took care of them, he still remembered these veterans in the court.
When Xiao Shaozong arrived at the door of the side hall, someone opened the door. After Xiao Shaozong entered, the door of the side hall was immediately closed.
Xiao Shaozong was walking very slowly at first. When he entered the side hall, he looked around and his steps suddenly became faster. He walked around a large screen and saw the emperor standing in front of a table. There were fruits and snacks on the table. He was chewing snacks in the snack box, but one hand was still picking at the snack box. Hearing Xiao Shaozong's footsteps, he turned his head and looked over. His face changed slightly, and his pupils actually showed fear. He immediately retracted his hand, and couldn't find anyone to wipe his hands for a while. He put his hand behind his back and wiped it twice on the dragon robe.
Xiao Shaozong was six or seven steps away from the emperor, with his hands behind his back, but did not come close to salute, and just stared at the emperor coldly.
On the contrary, the emperor hurried over to meet Xiao Shaozong and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I just did what you wanted, and I didn't say a single word wrong."
Xiao Shaozong just stared at the emperor's eyes coldly. The fingertips behind his back moved slightly. The emperor did not dare to look at him and lowered his head. After a moment, Xiao Shaozong sighed softly: "You should say 'Pingshen'" "
The emperor was stunned and seemed to want to defend himself, but although Xiao Shaozong's voice was calm and his eyes were indeed extremely cold, the emperor did not dare to say anything for a while and could only say: "Yes!"
Xiao Shaozong didn't say much. He walked over and sat down on a chair. The emperor followed him. There was a chair next to him, but the emperor didn't dare to sit down.
Xiao Shaozong winked, and the emperor sat down with some uneasiness.
Xiao Shaozong closed his eyes slightly, as if he was resting his mind, but the emperor looked unusually restrained, with a look of uneasiness in his eyes. Suddenly he heard the sound of slight footsteps. The emperor looked up and saw an eunuch walking slowly over. The eunuch stood straight, completely unlike the other eunuchs in the palace who groveled when they saw the emperor. Looking at it, he looked like he was walking around in his own house.
Xiao Shaozong still had his eyes closed, and the eunuch walked to Xiao Shaozong and stopped.
The eunuch looked to be in his forties, with a thin body. Even his face looked very thin, with protruding cheekbones. His appearance could be said to be quite ugly, but his eyes were extremely bright and sharp.
"Should I congratulate you?" The eunuch suddenly said: "The prince, who has never appeared in front of others, shocked the court when he appeared for the first time today. With a little trick, King Huainan's charges can be cleared away. No one in the civil and military dynasties can say anything at that time. If your former emperor of Chu knew that he would be used by you after his death, I wonder how he would feel under Jiuquan?"
Xiao Shaozong then opened his eyes, raised his eyes slightly to look at the eunuch, and said calmly: "You shouldn't appear around me so often."
"It's not a bad thing that I appear by your side sometimes." The eunuch smiled: "At least it can make you understand that there is always a friend by your side. There are not many real friends in this world who can do as much for you as I do. Your friends who work hard are even rarer."
Xiao Shaozong shook his head: "We are not friends, never have been."
"Oh?" The eunuch sighed: "I always thought we were friends, but I didn't expect that in your eyes, we are not even friends."
"I don't do business with friends." Xiao Shaozong said calmly, "Since I have a gentleman's agreement with you, I am destined not to be friends."
The eunuch also shook his head: "You are also wrong. We are not friends, and what we have reached is not a gentleman's agreement, but a blood alliance. Gentleman's agreement and blood alliance have two different meanings. In other words, what I promise you will be broken into pieces. I have to do it for you. Likewise, if you promise me something, even if you lose your soul, you must fulfill it." He smiled faintly and said: "Otherwise, we will all die ugly!"