Fan Xian walked out of the East Palace, turned around and closed the two heavy palace doors himself, and glanced at the densely packed crowd surrounding the East Palace. His face was calm, but his heart was filled with unknown emotions. After calming down a bit, he waved to Eunuch Yao at the front of the crowd.
Eunuch Yao accompanied His Majesty through the difficult times on Mount Dadong. After Mr. Hong died for his country, he naturally became the number one person in the Qing court, but Fan Xian still waved casually as usual.
Eunuch Yao bowed his body and respectfully stepped forward to listen to the order. Judging from this performance, no one has any doubt that Fan Xian will have supreme power in the future.
Fan Xian whispered something in Eunuch Yao's ear. Eunuch Yao's expression was suspicious, he didn't dare to question Fan Xian's order, and he couldn't ask His Majesty in the East Palace at this moment, so after thinking about it for a while, he led the group of people outside the East Palace to the outside, keeping a long distance from the East Palace .
Fan Xian also followed them to the side of Xiao Lin in the palace, looked at the quiet East Palace from a distance, and guessed what His Majesty and the Crown Prince were talking about at this time. It was actually for the sake of safety that these people in the palace retreated a little bit. He wondered if the emperor would say something that he never wanted to be known once the emperor became angry.
This is more for his own consideration, because only a few people in the world know the real reason why His Majesty wants to abolish the prince, and this matter was originally woven by him. The emperor knew his cultivation level, if he stayed outside the East Palace and heard the secrets in those palaces, no one would be happy.
Fan Xian pursed his dry lips, and looked at Donggong with worried eyes. I want to inherit Qiang Qian, who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, I am afraid that I will walk the same path as the second child in the end. Thinking about it carefully, in fact, I am a bit complicated. I was the one who drove the prince to a dead end, but... who would have thought that the situation would develop like this. The things he and Chen Pingping did secretly seemed to drive away wolves and shock tigers, but in the end they created a real dragon in the world.
In the past few years, all the people around His Majesty have passively or actively stood on the opposite side of His Majesty. Chen Pingping and Fan Xian finally succeeded in turning His Majesty into a loner. However, if he is lonely, he is lonely, and if he is widowed, he is widowed, but he is still the top one in the world, and once his momentum is exhausted, he wants to swallow the sun and the moon, which makes Fan Xian feel chilling and fearful.
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…
The situation in the East Palace was different from Fan Xian's guess. The emperor, the prince and his son did not get caught up in some kind of hysterical family and local drama quarrel over the first few words before. In the real royal family, there will never be an activist like Ma Jingtao, there will only be indifference, coldness, coolness, and coldness.
The emperor sat on the stone steps very casually, with his legs spread wide apart, looking at the door of the East Palace, thinking that many years ago, he was waiting for the good news of the Queen's birth outside the palace gate. There was a lot of joy in the palace that day, and the queen mother was very happy, but her mood was a little more dignified than joy.
It wasn't until the woman outside the palace who was also pregnant sent a letter that he became happy, knowing that the other party was indeed not an ordinary woman in the world. The child seeks the seemingly alluring throne.
It was this kind of attitude that made the emperor a little unhappy. Twenty years have passed, this kind of unhappiness has already become a forgotten emotion, but occasionally when he looks at the woman in the yellow shirt in the painting in the small building of the harem, he can't help complaining, Anzhi is yours Child, isn't it my child
Twenty years have passed, and the child who was destined to be the successor to the throne of the Qing Kingdom has grown up. He is sitting beside him at this time, with long hair draped softly behind him, and there is only calm and resignation in his eyes .
And the child in the womb of the woman outside the palace was outside the East Palace at this time, standing in a corner, watching the movement of the East Palace.
Subconsciously, the emperor went to the table in front of the steps, took the tea cup that the prince had drunk, brought it to his lips and took a sip, but he didn't know whether it was hot or cold.
"After all, Daqing was founded not long ago." For some reason, the emperor chose to speak from here, and said slowly: "Although the Northern Qi Dynasty is only the second generation, it has inherited the great Wei Dynasty, and the interior is much more stable. The Northern Qi emperor died suddenly more than ten years ago. , the empress is young, the prince is young, if they were placed in my Daqing, I am afraid that the coercion would be successful...even if Ku He came forward, it would not be successful."
Li Chengqian's eyes fell on his father's hand holding the teacup.
"The reason for this is that I, Daqing, was born on the battlefield. The military is powerful, and I am used to reasoning with swords and swords. Such things as etiquette and emperor's prestige are not very convincing." The emperor's eyes were a little bit Indifference, "So to be the monarch of Daqing, I don't just have to be lenient and benevolent. I must have iron-blooded means and tenacity."
He turned his head to look at his son, and said, "You grew up in the palace since you were a child, but you got a benevolent name when you were eight years old..." At this point, the corner of the emperor's lips showed a hint of sarcasm, "It's just to help a few Only the injured rabbit had its feet covered, and those slaves blindly please the queen mother, saying that you must be a benevolent monarch in the future."
"Benevolence is cowardice, and I, Daqing, will rule the world. For fifty years, the world will be in constant disputes, and the old royal families everywhere will not be convinced. Half a hundred years old, but they will lay the foundation of ten thousand years... I only have time to lay down this country However, it depends on you to guard this country." The emperor looked away and said, "How can a benevolent and cowardly king guard this thousand-mile country?"
Li Chengqian glanced at his father, with a self-deprecating smile on his lips. Only then did he realize that his father had already been thinking about things decades later, as early as ten years ago. He had the confidence to rule the world, but he had to think A hundred years later, how this country will continue.
"That's why I brought Cheng Ze out to fight with you." The emperor closed his eyes, and said slowly: "Thinking about it now, you two were still young at that time, and I seem to be a little too hasty."
Li Chengqian still didn't answer.
"I also wanted to see if this kid Chengze had a future, but... within a year, I realized that his thoughts were too hypocritical. As an emperor, he should have awe-inspiring aura, but he...hasn't." The emperor still closed his eyes. He squinted his eyes, as if he was narrating a distant story, "So I am determined to pass on the idea of passing the country to you. It's just that in those years, your performance really disappointed me. It's out of character."
Li Chengqian laughed at himself, and finally spoke slowly: "Father, I was only fourteen or fifteen years old at that time. I was new to human affairs, and I thought that you were going to destroy me. I was terrified every night, so I had no choice but to find some feelings in the pile of makeup."
Surprisingly, the emperor was not very angry when he heard this, but smiled and said: "Chengze is too restless, but he is smart, and finally sees clearly what I am thinking, but he has already come out. I have no choice but to keep going. From this aspect, your second brother is deeply in my heart."
"The knife may be sharpened, but if it is not sharpened, it will never be sharp." The emperor opened his eyes, looked at his son calmly, and said, "The second brother did not sharpen you, but dulled you. Entered Kyoto…”
Li Chengqian laughed, thinking of the first time he saw Fan Xian outside the courtyard. As the crown prince at that time, how could he have seen the son of the minister in his eyes, but who would have thought that the son of the minister would eventually become his brother and the hardest whetstone for imperial power inheritance.
"You have made great progress in the past two years." The emperor sighed, and said slowly: "I don't know whether it is because you have matured or because Yunrui has taught you many things. Both the government and the opposition have recognized your status as the prince. I am also very satisfied.”
Hearing the word Yunrui, the corners of Li Chengqian's lips could not help twitching, and he immediately let go of his heart, smiled with great courage, and said: "You let me study political affairs with my aunt, and it will naturally have some effect."
The emperor didn't get angry, but just said lightly: "The so-called political affairs, it would be good to have the two great scholars of Shu and Hu teach you. In fact, you also know that what I let you learn from Yun Rui is the art of conspiracy. Look around the world, and find There are less than a few teachers who are better than Yunrui."
"It would be nice to just go on like this." The emperor said softly: "There are still many things you can't learn. When I get old, you should have seen a lot of things, and the last emperor's mind skills should also be proficient. At that time, I Only then can I rest assured that I will pass on this piece of land to you."
Li Chengqian was in a strange mood. Although he was a prince since he was a child, his father had always been more than strict with him and lacked in warmth, so he developed his cowardly temperament. Although my temperament has changed a lot in the past two years, it seems to be the first time that I sit with my father like this and talk to each other....
"Anzhi told me everything about the situation in Kyoto." The emperor said gently, "You performed well, and your performance in the rebellion was very decent. There are only a few problems."
Li Chengqian knelt beside the emperor for the last time as the prince, bowing to ask for advice.
"The struggle for supremacy in the world does not require any tenderness or fear. He Zongwei led the imperial censor to disobey the court, and you should be killed as a court stick."
The emperor's gaze was extremely stern: "An Zhi persuaded the court officials to fight you at the enthronement ceremony, you should kill him."
He looked at his son, as if he was teaching him the last time, and said, "As long as someone stands in the way, just kill them. You might as well be at ease with this."
The emperor went on to say: "The two great scholars under the door, as well as those civil servants, if you don't kill them but shut them down, what effect will this have? This is the biggest mistake you made in the Kyoto incident... If Yunrui handles the matter personally It's not about you discussing with the queen mother, maybe the capital has already been settled down, and the court has been bloodbathed, so Fan Xian can't delay the time to start it."
Li Chengqian smiled wryly, sighed long, looked at his father and said softly: "Father, do you know why I can't bear to kill those ministers?"
Before the emperor could open his mouth, Li Chengqian said quietly: "Perhaps you forgot that when you intended to abolish the reserve... these old ministers bravely stood up to oppose your will and stood behind me to support me... Maybe not, my boy. A very powerful person, but a person who knows how to repay his kindness, although Hu Shu and the two great scholars support Hai'er for the sake of Guozuo, but I... really can't bear to do anything to them."
The emperor was silent, he didn't know what he was thinking about, and after a long while, he suddenly said: "When I decide to destroy you, there are still people who will restore you."
Li Chengqian was startled, and an image immediately appeared in his mind. On the way to Nanzhao, Fang Qingban, who had been faintly following the mission, said in a little surprise, "Fan Xian?"
He knew that Wang Shisanlang belonged to Fan Xian, but he never knew why Fan Xian did this. Until the emperor pointed it out at this time, he couldn't help feeling infinitely complicated emotions in his heart. He didn't know that the private matter between himself and the eldest princess was exposed by Fan Xian, and he repeatedly smacked in his heart, thinking of the beginning of the failure, Fan Xian was going to let him escape from the palace, and he couldn't help being stunned for a moment.
The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Anzhi is a real person, just like you, with occasional true temperament."
"I'm not as good as him." After a long silence, the prince sighed, then he stood up, kowtowed to the emperor very seriously, and said solemnly: "Father, my child has always had resentment against you in my heart. I feel a lot better after giving admonishment... But before the child left, there was a sentence... Enough family members have died, please father to be more merciful to these living people in the future."
Kuanren naturally meant that the emperor's previous methods were too harsh. The emperor's face suddenly became serious, but when he heard the three words before leaving, for some reason, the emperor did not get angry, but looked at Li Chengqian with extremely complicated eyes, and said slowly: "I promise you. "
A gust of early autumn night wind poured in from the north of the imperial city, whistling along the still water of the corridor garden in the palace, adding a bit of melancholy.
"Survive, Zhen... you can pretend that certain things never happened." The emperor said something that surprised Li Chengqian.
A sad smile appeared on Li Chengqian's face. He knew what kind of person his father was, and the emperor valued his heart first. Since he had betrayed him once, he would never be able to gain the other party's trust again. What's more, the matter between myself and my aunt has already poked the opposite side of the other party, although no one knows why this is a piece of backlash.
Li Chengqian would not accept a lifetime of confinement. As a man of the Li family, he always had the courage to kill himself. His eyes calmed down, he looked at the emperor and said softly: "What's the point of saying such things at this time?"
"I asked earlier how this passage will be recorded in the history books."
"Now we are rebellious ministers and rebellious sons, everyone will be punished, colluding with foreign enemies, messing up the court... You are a glorious generation of kings, you have done nothing wrong, and everything is someone else's fault."
The emperor's face had returned to calm, and he was quietly listening to Li Chengqian's indifferent and deep words.
"But you seem to have forgotten one thing. No matter how it is scribbled in the history books, you must always remember how many people died in the capital during the early autumn of the seventh month of Qingli. The Li family died a grandmother, a queen, and a The eldest princess, a crown prince, a prince died."
Li Chengqian sighed, and for the first time looked at his invincible father with an equal, even superior gaze, and said: "You will be the emperor of all ages in the history books, and the one beside you is like this." It’s so clean, so clean that there’s no one there, wouldn’t it be lonely?”
The emperor looked at him indifferently, without saying anything, with a slight smile on his lips, as if to express that the gods soaring above the nine heavens, how could they care about the loneliness on the top of the clouds and the excitement of the world.
Then he stood up and walked out of the East Palace gate. When he was at the palace gate, his heart moved slightly, and he took out a letter from his sleeve. This letter was the second prince's suicide note, which was given to him by Gong Dian earlier.
The emperor took out the thin letter paper to see what his second son wanted to tell him when he was dying.
There are two lines of incomparably scribbled words on the letter paper, the pen and ink are with withered silk, it is obvious that it was written hastily, but the turning point is powerful, like a sword piercing the back of the paper, full of anger and unwillingness.
The first whetstone that Emperor Qing threw at the court, the second prince, Li Chengze, yelled at his lofty father the meaning similar to that of the prince in his last suicide note, but the words were more piercing and sharp, especially It's the last four words.
"Widow! Widow! Lonely! Alone!"
To be old without a wife is to be a widow, to be a widow without a single person in the world, to be a widow, to live alone without a mother is to be an orphan, to be old without a child... is to be alone!
In the battle of Dadongshan stretching across the capital, Emperor Qing defeated the two great masters of the world, lured and eliminated the restless factors in the royal family and the army, and singled out the evil thieves in the court, laying the foundation for the great achievement of unifying the world in one fell swoop. Once this big situation that has been constructed for decades becomes a reality, it will undoubtedly be the most glorious time in Emperor Qing's life.
However, the empress is dead, the woman from that year has long since died, the empress dowager is dead, and the eldest princess who accompanied the emperor for twenty years and devoted her youthful years to him is also dead, the prince is dead, the second prince is dead, all Everyone died.
Only one of the emperor was left alone, a widow from his family.
Emperor Qing looked at the letter indifferently, his fingers trembling slightly. The letter paper turned into a pile of white powder, slipped from his fingers, and was blown by the autumn wind at the gate of the East Palace, and scattered in all directions, like a desolate snow.
A hint of pain flashed in his eyes, and his brows were furrowed tightly. The words of the two sons before their death pierced deeply into the king's heart. The gray hair on the temples of the middle-aged man became darker, his eyes gradually dimmed, and the corners of his eyes seemed to be wet. However, his body was still so tall and straight, firmly motionless.
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The door of the East Palace was tightly closed again, and no one knew what happened inside. But everyone knows that the last time of the deposed prince Li Chengqian will definitely be spent in this deserted palace, but at some point, the bell of the palace rings again, or it rings in disdain, just watching his death indifferently .
The emperor dispersed all the servants, leaving only Fan Xian to accompany him, silently walking towards the depths of the harem late at night. All the way through the Chenlang, through the Lenggong, through the overgrown weeds, and again to the front of the small building where no one has come for a long time.
The father and son did not go up the building, nor did they go to see the portrait in that building. The emperor just looked at the small building silently for a few times, then turned around resolutely and walked away along the path of autumn grass to a place where there was no one else.
Fan Xian silently followed three steps behind him, deep in his heart was heavy, no need to pretend, it was real heavy. Vaguely, he could guess His Majesty's mood at this time, so many relatives died one after another, although these relatives were the enemies he had to get rid of... But no one can get rid of the love of flesh and blood.
His Majesty is like a god, but he is still alone in the world. If he is too high, he can forget his feelings, but if he is really too high, why bother to struggle in this world
Successive deaths depressed Fan Xian's mood, let alone the emperor. After all, this middle-aged man with a tired face was after all a father, a brother, a husband, and a son. .
The two stood in the knee-deep grass, maintaining a tacit silence. Looking at the quiet palace at night, the emperor didn't speak, so Fan Xian naturally didn't dare to speak, but carefully watched his expression on the side.
The emperor was silent for a long time, and he never opened his mouth. He had a lot of things in his heart that he wanted to say to others, but Fan Xian was only his son.
"Go back to the palace."
"yes."
Fan Xian responded with a serious expression. The emperor happened to see this expression when he turned his head, and his heart was slightly darkened, and his feeling towards this son became better and better. Coupled with what the prince said earlier, the emperor couldn't help but fell into deep thought again.
After contemplating for a moment, the emperor waved his hand weakly and said, "If you still feel unwell, come to the palace and ask me."
Fan Xian was startled, he knew what this sentence meant, and when he was about to say something, he found that the emperor had turned and left.
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…
After returning to the Imperial Study Room and having some supper, the emperor felt a little tired. Fan Xian wanted to leave the palace, but was stopped by the emperor. It seemed that he desperately needed personal company at this time.
After a while, eunuch Yao came in and said something softly, the emperor nodded, and let Fan Xian go back to the mansion to rest on his own, and then enter the palace to discuss matters tomorrow. Fan Xian led the way out, but on the corridor outside the Imperial Study, he heard an extremely familiar sound, that was the sound of a wheelchair rolling on the ground.
He knew that His Majesty was watching him from behind, and in the dim light of the imperial study, he showed a gentle face, bowed deeply to the old man in the wheelchair, and said, "You are here."
Chen Pingping finally returned to the capital, returned to the palace, and returned to the side of His Majesty the Emperor, just when His Majesty was loneliest and needed people the most.
There was silence in the imperial study room. The emperor looked at his most loyal courtier, most intimate friend, and most reliable comrade-in-arms. He closed his eyes and said, "Zhen... pushed these sons too hard."