Halfway through, Shen Jue abandoned the carriage and got on the horse again, and rushed back to Beijing. Xia Houlin saw that his complexion was much better, so he did not insist on letting him stay on the carriage. When they returned to the capital, they threw Xiahou Lin and Zhu Shunzi down and did not know where they went. Of course, it is not clear whether they secretly sent people to monitor. Before leaving, Situ Jin said to Xiahou Rin that he was optimistic about the door these days and would not leave the door behind closed doors.
Xia Houlin knew that something was going to happen to the capital, but before he could smack Situ Jin's words carefully, he fell ill when he returned to Yunxian Tower. The wound on his back was treated too late and rough, and it was inflamed and pus. Ah Chu cut off the clothes stuck to his back and saw the scars on his back, so frightened that the scissors fell off and almost poked into her thigh. He hurriedly sent Zhu Shunzi to help him get a doctor and prescribe the medicine. After tossing for seven or eight years, he slowly improved.
Ah Chu's little girl went out to buy medicine and came back smacking her lips, saying that there were many more Jinyi guards and soldiers outside, and they were so vicious that they scared everyone to death. A few days later, Beijing issued a ban on iron and a curfew began. The business of Yunxian Tower has been sluggish a lot, and there are no benefactors coming to the door, and there are no bills standing at the door.
Xia Houlin has been recovering from his injuries, and he can only rely on Ah Chu and the little girl to tell him the news from outside. Speaking of which, Dongchang Fanzi, Jinyiwei and Wucheng soldiers and horses were all running around on the street. Otherwise, the inspection of the city gates was a lot stricter, and they had to search not only the way, but also the body. Shen Jue didn't listen to the news at all, and the living people on the 30th and 40th seemed as if the world had evaporated. Xia Houlin comforted himself, no news is the best news.
On the first day after the autumn equinox, the night just fell, and there was a series of shouts of men outside, as well as the sound of iron boots stepping on the ground, and the sound of gold and iron colliding with arms and armors. There was fire everywhere in the capital, black smoke Spread to the sky. The girls huddled under the porch, tiptoeing in horror at the sky reddened by the firelight. The bustard ordered the servants and thugs to keep an eye on the door. Someone dared to look out through the crack of the door. When they came back, the soldiers arrested several men and women, and there were bloodstains on the street.
"There must be something wrong in the palace," the bustard pointed while shaking the beauty fan, "this is going to change, and those who are on the wrong team will be finished!"
"It's all those who were caught in the wrong team? Is it the people of the First Highness or the Second Highness?" A girl asked while stroking her heart, "I don't know what happened to my damn concubine. He was drunk last month. Talk to me a few times, and say that His Royal Highness Fu Wang is the most promising, and he will definitely be able to take the throne."
When the bustard spoke, there was a sense of heroic among women, "What about him! Even if the emperor's father changed his family name, he wouldn't be able to stop the old lady from opening the door to do business. It's just a few days left and right, and then I'll see if your concubine will return. If you can't come to the upper bunk, don't you know?"
Xia Houlin avoided the chattering girls and sat under the grape shelf, rubbing Shen Jue's seven-leaf bodhi in his hand.
God bless, I hope Shen Jue is safe and sound and gets what she wants.
————
Forbidden City.
The darkness was pressing down heavily, and the kraft paper lanterns on the red wall were strewn with fist-sized lights scattered on the ground, like 10,000 points of gold shattered on blue and black bricks. Today's night seems to be extraordinarily thick, and the palace lanterns can only illuminate the larger places, and more places are still immersed in darkness. The little eunuch guarding the gate of the palace stood with his head bowed, shadows covering half of his body, and he couldn't see it if he didn't look carefully.
There was only the chirping of Zero Insects in the silent palace. Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps sounded, and the sound of iron armor was getting closer and closer. The little eunuch looked up at the imperial road, as if awakened by surprise. A short black arrow roared, instantly piercing his fragile head. The little eunuch fell to the ground, blood splattered on the blue bricks, and in the godless dark eyes, the silhouettes of Weide, King Fu, and the Royal Forest Army were galloping away.
The Qianqing Palace was brightly lit. The emperor liked to be bright, and he even had to light a lantern to sleep. The old emperor was leaning on the dragon and phoenix bedpost. The bed tent was made of yellow silk satin, and the quilt was also made of apricot-yellow brocade. There were bright colors everywhere, but it was hopelessly dark, and his face was gray. The air, like the flame of a candle in a bleak wind, jumped and jumped, and was about to go out.
Empress Zhang sat on the throne with a string of Canaan beads hanging on her wrist. She was counting them one by one. She watched Concubine Li serving the soup with cold eyes. Her ten-year-old Second Highness sat on her feet, reciting poetry aloud. His voice reverberated one after another, and it was the only thing alive in the palace full of soup and dead spirit.
Empress Zhang breathed a sigh of relief, the three of them were happy, like a family, but she was like an outsider, out of tune.
It is not a matter of one or two days for the emperor and the empress to lose peace. The emperor must have not set foot in the queen's bedroom for more than ten years. The queen fell out of favor, her own imperial concubine was favored, the previous noble concubine died, and the later noble concubine took over. That's all, the queen helped the bun and phoenix hairpin piled on top of her head and stood up. Life is alive, how can we just point to love? She is not uncommon for illusory things.
After the doctor had finished taking the pulse, he walked back with his knees, kowtowed on the ground, weighed the words and said, "Long live, the fur on the tongue is red, the hands and feet are cold, and the pulse is weak. The condition seems to be worse than yesterday." He was beating around the bush, and everyone understood that there was no cure for this, and they had to wait for death.
Yizheng waited for the emperor to speak, but the emperor just waved his hand and said, "Go down. My age is coming, my life is a matter of heaven, and we mortals can't control this much. God wants to take me to see my ancestors, I am Just go and see."
"Your Majesty!" Concubine Li cried with tears in her eyes.
The Second Highness stopped reading poetry, raised his head and looked at the emperor ignorantly.
"Mu Heng," the emperor put the little prince's hand in his palm, "you have to listen to your mother's concubine's words, listen to your teacher's words, and in the future, it will all depend on you."
The old emperor has not yet made a will, and listening to this sound, it seems that he wants to pass the throne to this young child. Empress Zhang froze for a moment, raised her head, forced a smile and said, "What is the emperor's words? The Second Highness is still young, just study hard, take care of your body, and be strong, smart and smart. With our adults picking it up, how much effort does it take for him?"
The old emperor glanced at her, and the cold wind in her eyes made Empress Zhang fight a cold war, and unconsciously let the palace maid stand a little further away. The old emperor's drooping face trembled, and he said hoarsely, "Then according to your opinion, who should carry this burden?"
Empress Zhang slightly puffed out her chest and said in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, it's obvious that you can't see it. Your Second Highness is only ten years old, what can a ten-year-old child do? You can't even recognize the big characters! My son Mu Chen, Duan Minjunxiu, has never made any mistakes since the vassal, the vassal land is peaceful, the people live and work in peace and contentment. But you, just because of his lameness, have abandoned him like a shoe!"
Not to mention, the emperor's face changed as soon as he said it. He gritted his teeth and said angrily: "What about ten years old? Four years later, he will be fourteen years old, and I will ascend to the throne at the age of fourteen! Mu Chen, you say Mu Chen! I gave him a chance, he was lame, I am also sad! But this child, eating, drinking and having fun, he has never been to any of the Bada Hutongs! Yunxian Tower, those daring things! The debts are collected by my palace gate! The face of the Tian family has been disgraced by your son. !"
Empress Zhang sneered and said, "It's as if you haven't been there before. Jinyi guarded, Dongchang hid it, secretly pretended to be an ordinary son, hooked up with a bunch of skinless concubines, and when she came back to the palace, she smelled of powder. I still keep it, don’t you know the concubine! I don’t even know who Mu Chen is!”
When she said this, everyone in the Qianqing Palace lowered their heads even more, pretending to be wooden people, unable to see or hear.
"You! You! You shut up!" The emperor was so angry that he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Concubine Li was startled, hurriedly caressed the emperor's chest, and cried: "Empress Empress, please stop talking! Your Majesty can't stand it!"
Who has not been absurd in life? The absurdity of the emperor to later generations is a romantic affair, an unofficial history, but it is absolutely impossible to put it on the table now. Empress Zhang has already been reluctant to say anything, and she doesn't care if she speaks out the shameless words.
"I, Chen'er, are what civil and military officials want, and what the people of Daqi want. If you don't stand up, you have to stand up!" Empress Zhang proudly said, "Chen'er, come out!"
King Fu turned out from behind the hood of the dragon and phoenix, bowed to the emperor, and said with a smile, "Father, Emperor Ankang." Still a slender and unparalleled body, as soon as he walked out, the Qianqing Palace suddenly became much smaller, a huge figure. The candlelight reflected on the walls and the roof, and it was heavily pressed down. The doctor and the palace maids and eunuchs all felt that the hall was suddenly darkened, and they couldn't breathe.
Weide walked up with a tray in his hand, put a pen and paper on it, and respectfully put it in front of the old emperor, saying: "Your Majesty, you should appoint His Royal Highness King Fu as your heir. Several elders in the cabinet, six ministers, all Kneeling in front of the hall, weeping and begging. The establishment of an heir is fundamental to the Holy Dynasty, the country’s well-being, and slaves and servants are bold, please kneel and ask Your Majesty to make an early decision!”
King Fu with his hands behind his back said: "Yes, Royal Father. While you can still move, hurry up! All the servants are waiting, why are you so stubborn? Are you worried about the mother and son of the second brother? Well, Erchen will naturally take good care of him."
There was silence in the Qianqing Palace, everyone was silent, a few doctors were bowing their heads, silently stepping back, hiding themselves under the curtain, the less conspicuous the better. The old emperor looked at the tray in Weide's hand, and the old eunuch lowered his eyebrows and bowed his head, drawing a shadow over his face with a golden black gauze hat.
The emperor looked straight at Weide, sighed, and said, "My dear friend, I was beaten on the palm of the hand by my teacher when I was a child. When you held my hand and cried and bragged, I never imagined today!"
A smile appeared on Weide's face. It was the usual happy appearance that he couldn't pick the wrong one. The old emperor watched it for decades, and only today did he realize that this smile had never reached Weide's eyes.
"Your Majesty, people can change. The old slave is like a duckweed, and he is not as noble as you. You are a luxuriant tree in the sky, and the old slave is just a vine climbing on you. You want to wither. Now, the old slave has to live. I have to find a tree, and the old slave can't help it."
The two old friends sat and knelt, and the air seemed to be stagnant among them. The old emperor's old face seemed to be a lot older in an instant, and there was a gloomy death inside and outside.
King Fu was impatient, and said, "Father, if you don't write anymore, no wonder Erchen can't save the lives of the second disciple, mother and son!"
The emperor glanced coldly at King Fu, grabbed the pillow and threw it on his face, shouting: "Beast, you shut up! I'm not dead! You can't get my edict, you will always be the unrighteous prince. Usurper villain!"
King Fu was not angry, he put down the pillow calmly, sat down on the throne of the floor-to-ceiling screen, and said, "Yes, whatever you want. Anyway, the entire palace is already in the pockets of the servants, you stretch your head and look out. Check it out!"
After he finished speaking, the old emperor and Concubine Li realized that the dark night outside had unknowingly brightened a lot. It was not the light of the sky, but the torches in the hands of the soldiers. The Qianqing Palace has long been surrounded by groups, with no way out.
The old emperor's face was ashen as he slumped on the bed, his fingers trembling.
Suddenly, a scream broke through the silent night and resounded through the Forbidden City. There was a sudden chaos outside, and Weide hurriedly turned around and asked, "What's going on!"
"Report! Report!" The commander of the Imperial Forest Army rushed in and shouted, "Shen Jue has entered the palace with the soldiers and horses of the three major battalions outside the city! It has already entered the Xuanwu Gate!"