Three days later, Luoyang, the eastern capital.
The prince died suddenly, King Yong was imprisoned, and the emperor was seriously ill and fell into a coma.
Darkness spread from all directions, gradually engulfing the treacherous city of Luoyang.
Shan Chao held the food plate in one hand, pushed open the door with the other, lit a candle after entering the room, and a spark of light burned faintly in the empty front hall.
"Your Highness, dinner is here."
Li Xian, who was curled up behind the table, raised his head, revealing his red-eyed and disheveled face, his numb gaze fell on the dazzling array of trays in front of him.
"..." Li Xian showed a sneer: "It used to be cold water pancakes, why are they so rich today? Is Tianhou finally planning to send me on the road with my eldest brother?"
"I see that His Highness hasn't eaten for two days, so he bought it with his own money," Shan Chao said flatly.
By candlelight, Dan Chao's face is cold and resolute, he is wearing a thin armor, and his waist is engraved with a golden dragon Shangfang sword, his figure is solid and steady.
The corners of Li Xian's eyes twitched, and a look of suspicion appeared: "I don't believe it, take it away!"
Shan Chao breathed out silently, pulled out his waist knife and cut off a piece of stewed beef, dipped it in the vegetable juice and soup, put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it.
Li Xian: "..."
Shan Chao raised his eyebrows, meaning now you believe it? Then he put the dinner plate on the table, turned around and walked out the door.
"General Shan!"
Shan Chao paused slightly.
Li Xian's voice was mixed with gasping, which sounded like he was sobbing: "Now outside... there must be many people outside who want to kill me. The emperor ordered the Habayashi Army to seal this place, it must be to save my life... so please be sure to ,must… "
Shan Chao was silent for a moment.
"Even if it is not the order of the emperor, the last general will definitely keep His Royal Highness King Yong." He said slowly, "Don't worry."
Shan Chao stepped over the threshold and closed the door.
·
In the spring season, the night breeze is blowing, and there is a vague sound of beating shifts from a distant street corner. A confidant lieutenant had been waiting there for a long time under the corridor. Seeing him coming out, he hurriedly bowed and saluted, and said in a low voice: "General, the news from the palace is back."
Shan Chaowei nodded.
"Your Majesty doesn't believe in the imperial doctor, so he ordered Yin Kaiyang to go out of the mountain to treat Ming Chongyan together. Last night, he was finally able to speak complete sentences. It is said that he can barely sit up from the couch today, but he still can't walk on the ground."
"This morning, His Majesty ordered the Imperial Guards of the Beiya to withdraw from the Luoyang Palace, and hastily ordered Yu Wenhu, the general of Xiaoqi on the southeast front line, to lead his troops to Beijing and take away the military power of the palace from Commander Xie..."
"Tianhou stayed behind closed doors for three whole days, and couldn't hear any news." The lieutenant paused, and said softly, "Commander Xie, too."
The emperor finally felt wary of Empress Wu and suppressed Beiya.
Although there were rumors that the one who wins the green dragon wins the world, the emperor has never had much trust in Xie Yun. In addition, this incident allowed the emperor to see Xie Yun's ruthlessness and decisiveness with his own eyes, so he would naturally feel jealous.
Whether he wanted to keep King Yong or attack Empress Wu, Xie Yun was the emperor's first target.
Shan Chao was silent for a long time, his cheeks could be seen protruding from clenched teeth.
At this moment, the sound of soldiers letting go came from a distance, and an eunuch in navy blue shorts hurried over, bowed close, and held up the bright yellow paper scroll in his hand: "General! Your Majesty ordered Vice Admiral Habayashi to seal this place tightly, and declare General Shan enters the palace for questioning!"
Then with the faint candlelight shining through the crack of the door, Shan Chao recognized the person in front of him, who was the emperor's confidant eunuch chief.
·
Shouchang Palace.
"Can the emperor sit up?"
Gorgeous skirts hang down from the top of the first seat, and the gold hairpin tassels on Empress Wu's head sway slightly with the candlelight, making the shadows on the palace wall sway. Ming Chongyan knelt on the thick carpet, fixed his eyes on the exquisite embroidered anemone pattern in front of him, and replied: "Yes."
"This palace said that His Majesty is too tired, it is best to lie in bed and rest for a while, you know that?"
"Know."
"Then why is Your Majesty already able to get up, and can still order all the Imperial Guards of the Beiya to withdraw from the Luoyang Palace, and even ordered Yu Wenhu to come and take over the military power after thousands of miles?"
The last few words had faintly brought out anger, but Ming Chongyan remained calm: "Forgive me. These days, the head of Yin has been accompanying the holy car, and his cultivation is extremely superb, and he has personally done all the medicine and acupuncture, so your majesty has recovered. The speed is astonishing."
Yin Kaiyang was someone Empress Wu would never be able to win over, so she fell silent immediately.
After a while, Empress Wu sighed, raised her hand and said, "Mr. Ming, get up, don't answer on your knees."
Only then did Ming Chongyan plead guilty and got up, sitting on the left hand side.
The moment he sat down, he glanced at the opposite side, Xie Yun was sitting quietly under the candlelight, propping his smooth forehead, his hair hanging down from the side of his shoulder and neck.
"I have already sent people to leave Luoyang City overnight to intercept Yu Wenhu on the road. If he understands the truth, he should know who he should be loyal to at this time; if he doesn't understand, it's okay, I have my own way to deal with him .”
Empress Wu thought for a moment, then turned to Xie Yun and asked, "How is King Yong doing now?"
If it were someone else, she would never understand what this nonsensical question meant, but at this moment she was asking Xie Yun, who had followed her for more than twenty years.
"Alive," Xie Yun said simply.
Empress Wu's next words were: "When will you die?"
"soon."
Empress Wu nodded, and suddenly asked Ming Chongyan as if remembering something:
"Mr. Ming is well versed in ghosts and gods, and is good at reading faces; among my remaining sons, who has the appearance of a wise king?"
This is a very good question.
Now there are only Zhou Wang Li Xian and Ji Wang Li Dan under the name of Empress Wu. Just say that the two sons are, where did the "several" come from
Furthermore, why did she ask about the appearance of the "Mingjun", did Empress Wu suddenly change her temper and wanted to train the next wise monarch
Countless thoughts flashed through Ming Chongyan's mind, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Xie Yun on the opposite side—Xie Yun's hand supporting his forehead suddenly turned, and at an angle that Empress Wu could not see, he made a slight "one" to him gesture.
In the blink of an eye, Ming Chongyan remembered something.
It was a few months ago in Lingluan Palace, Xie Yun pushed him to the ground, his murderous face was condescending, and the veins on the back of his neck were bulging—
"I'll take you to Guanshan in Liangzhou right now, and the Qinglong survivors will naturally send you down to make amends to Yang Miaorong who is under the Nine Springs..."
"I owe you once, Commander Xie." At that time, he grabbed Xie Yun's hand in a state of embarrassment, almost exhausting all his strength, and said intermittently: "I really didn't know that she finally used the dragon-binding grass to deal with Miss Yang. Commander Xie, I owe you once, and I will definitely repay you in the future... "
Xie Yun clasped his fingers together and looked away.
Ming Chongyan shook his head with a wry smile in his heart, got up and knelt down on the ground with a plop, and bowed deeply to the chief.
Empress Wu wondered: "Why do you do this great gift, sir? Hurry up!"
"A humble minister who speaks arbitrarily about the prince is a crime of death." Ming Chongyan paused, and said, "Among the remaining sons of the Empress Dowager, Li Xian, the king of Zhou, looks like the former emperor Taizong, and Li Dan, the king of Ji, is the most dignified; if you ask who can be a generation In the words of Shengjun, both are excellent faces."
Empress Wu's complexion immediately sank.
"But if you talk about being filial to your mother, obeying what you say, and honoring your mother with your son..."
Ming Chongyan swallowed his saliva with difficulty, feeling that Xie Yun's extremely stressful eyes behind him were fixed on his back.
"...I think that Taizong's youngest son had the most...fate."
Shouchang Palace fell into dead silence.
Ming Chongyan gambled his wealth and life, only to hear the surrounding quiet so that even the heartbeat could be heard clearly, Empress Wu's graceful and glamorous face was hazy after the candlelight.
After a long time, Ming Chongyan felt that his legs were kneeling unconscious, and then he heard a cold and majestic female voice from the first seat: "Xie Yun."
Xie Yun got up and knelt on one knee.
Empress Wu asked, "You think so too?"
"If the Empress Dowager wants to be a regent, the Ninth Five-Year Supreme should naturally not be too confident." Xie Yun said in a calm and calm voice, "I only want to defend the Empress Dowager to get what she wants, and I don't want to comment on others, please forgive me."
Empress Wu Shi Shiran stood up, walked around the table and walked down to the ground, her long gold-woven skirt shone brightly on the red brocade.
She stood in front of Xie Yun's eyes, then bent down, holding Xie Yun's side cheeks so that he could look up at her: "You have also started calling me Tianhou now. You have been calling me for more than 20 years." Where's Xie Yun, your empress, where is he?"
Empress Wu's makeup was exquisite and her gaze was gentle. Xie Yun looked at her at close range for a while, and suddenly the corners of his reddish lips curled up: "I was in a trance, and I made a mistake at the moment. Your empress forgive me."
Ming Chongyan watched this scene helplessly, not daring to vent his anger.
Every minute and every second seemed as long as several years. Finally, Empress Wu stood up straight and laughed loudly: "It's just a small matter, how can you forgive me?"
"My palace is also a little tired today, you all should leave."
Ming Chongyan couldn't help squinting sideways, but Xie Yun looked as usual, got up and retreated obediently.
Ming Chongyan walked out of the palace gate, only to see Xie Yun's figure flashing not far away, and turned around the corridor.
"—Thank you Commander!"
Ming Chongyan stepped forward quickly, and saw Xie Yun's figure stopped under the stone pillar, but he didn't look back: "What's the matter?"
"..." After a moment of hesitation, Ming Chongyan still coughed and said, "The debt I owe you last time..."
"You still owe a lot."
Xie Yun left this sentence and wanted to leave, but Ming Chongyan couldn't help but dodged in front of him, looking straight at the indescribably handsome face under the moonlight: "Do you really want to send him to that position? Jin Long The day when Qinglong passed away when he ascended to the Ninth Five-Year Plan, Commander Xie has completely forgotten the prophecy when you and I first met, right?"
Xie Yun suddenly laughed in his sight.
His smile was like countless flowers blooming on a moonlit night. The last gleam of spring in Luoyang City in the second year of Shangyuan suddenly faded away in the corners of his eyebrows and eyes.
"I died?" he asked with a smile.
"Do you know what Conglong's merit is, and you are an extremely human minister? In the future, countless wealth and power are waiting for me to enjoy the honor in peace. Why did I die?"
"Ming Fangshi, I have never believed a single word of your pretentious prophecies!"
Ming Chongyan choked up, but Xie Yun left him with an undisguised mocking smile, like a prodigal son with a light coat on the Qinhuai River for ten miles, leisurely heading towards Shangyang Palace.
·
At the same time, Shangyang Palace.
"General," the confidant eunuch bowed and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty just woke up and summoned you in."
Shan Chao remained silent, and the eunuch gently opened the door in front of him.
The emperor leaned on the golden bed, heard the sound of the palace door opening, barely opened his dim eyes, nodded to a tall figure sitting in the armchair beside the bed, and said hoarsely: "Yin Aiqing... go out first. "
Shanchao crossed the threshold, his back muscles tightened.
He only saw the back of the purple robe and gold belt standing up not far away, turned around and walked towards him, his eyes were full of meaningful banter, and when he passed by, he dropped four words with great interest: "... General Shan. "
The sound dissipated in an instant, so soft that only the two of them could hear it.
Shan Chao's sharp thick eyebrows were furrowed, and he said word by word: "Yin Kaiyang."