This period of time was a torment for King Wu, and it was even more so after he learned that Li Mushu was missing, especially when a group of masters disappeared with him.
The frequent moves of the King of Jin made the people of the King of Wu restless. Sometimes they could clearly see that their opponent was constantly making moves while they themselves did not make any moves, which made them appear extremely passive psychologically.
Although several old ministers urged the King of Wu to remain calm, and the King of Wu knew that he should remain calm, the timing was too delicate.
Upon careful calculation, it turns out that this change happened exactly after the old eunuch Han Baishan was sentenced to death.
Even some of the trusted old ministers of the King of Wu had to admit that the originally quiet King of Jin suddenly took a series of actions, most likely because he learned from some channel that the situation had changed in their favor.
Since the King of Wu can have spies in the palace, there is no reason why the King of Jin cannot as well. It is also not surprising that he has some special news.
And the Prince of Jin actually has a very big potential advantage, that is Concubine Ren. The biological mother of the Prince of Wu, Empress Zhang, has passed away long ago. It is possible that Concubine Ren might be the source of the information for the Prince of Jin.
In this situation, apart from anything else, the timeliness of information became extremely important. The King of Wu deployed a large number of people and spent a lot of energy to find out all kinds of news. Some capable people among his many trusted civil and military officials also sent people to keep a close eye on every move of the Prince of Jin's Mansion, while they only dared to keep an eye on the news from the periphery of the imperial palace.
During this period, one or two masters from the Prince of Jin's Mansion were captured. Under the secret interrogation of the Prince of Wu's men, they refused to reveal any valuable information.
September 23rd was another cloudy day.
The King of Wu was sitting in the hall, wiping the blade of his sword with a white cloth. Beside him were four trusted confidants, two civil and two military. They had just hurried over, and before they could even sit down, there was a private banquet in the palace tonight.
A servant from the palace slowly walked into the hall.
"Your Highness, the man confessed that the King of Jin gave them a sum of money to settle down and asked them to disguise themselves as ordinary people and live in the city for a period of time. If they were not recalled before the end of the year, they would take the money and leave the capital..."
King Wu frowned and looked up and asked.
"Why are you leaving the capital?"
The servant looked at King Wu's expression and said hesitantly.
"Leave the capital, return to my hometown to start a family and career, and no longer be involved in the affairs of the court..."
"Um?"
The King of Wu paused and looked around. The other four men also had frowns on their faces.
"Does he know about Li Mushu?"
"I asked, but Li Mushu disappeared later and the man didn't know."
An old minister nearby thought for a long time and spoke carefully.
"Your Highness, it seems that the King of Jin knows that he has no chance of becoming the emperor, and is dismissing his subordinates?"
As soon as the old minister finished speaking, a military official immediately refuted him.
"No! Didn't you hear that person say that he might be recalled before the New Year? That means King Jin must be preparing for some big move, or he knows something we don't know."
"That's right. Why did you do it after the Double Ninth Festival? If you admit defeat, why didn't you do anything before? Why did you keep talking about recalling him? Why didn't you come to ask His Royal Highness the King of Wu for help?"
This statement made the old minister of the Secretariat unable to refute, and he just frowned and remained silent.
"Your Highness, I have checked the armory of the imperial guards in the city. Apart from some damage, there is no missing weapons."
Upon hearing this, the old official from the Shangshu Province immediately stared at the military official who was speaking.
"Who told you to do this?"
"it's me."
The King of Wu answered first.
"Master Zhang, don't worry too much. Master Zhou's brother is the chief military officer of the Jingji Prefecture Imperial Army. If he wants to find out about the military equipment, he can just take a casual look at it. When he returns home at night, he can have a drink and talk with his family. No one will know."
The old minister opened his mouth but said nothing more.
"Your Highness~~Your Highness~~Li Mushu has appeared!"
Another servant from the palace came running back in a hurry, and the King of Wu stood up immediately.
"where?"
Li Mushu is an old fox. With his talent and intelligence, he could have become a high-ranking official. However, in order to help Prince Jin, he has always been willing to be a prince's tutor and accompany him. Li Mushu's actions can almost be understood as those of Prince Jin.
Naturally, the visitor did not dare to hide anything and reported the news immediately.
"It appeared outside the Prince of Jin's mansion about an hour ago. It was an ordinary carriage without anyone accompanying it. It had already entered the mansion. Not long after, the Prince of Jin and Li Mushu entered the palace together in a carriage. It seemed that they were summoned to the palace."
Upon hearing the news, the two military officials at the back stood up.
"Any more news?"
King Wu clenched his fists in his sleeves and asked again in a low voice.
"temporarily unavailable!"
The servant looked at the situation in the hall and answered carefully.
King Wu took a deep breath and waved his hand.
"Go down."
"yes!"
After everyone left, King Wu turned to look at the four people in the hall, said nothing, and returned to his seat at the top.
. . .
In the carriage entering the palace, Prince Jin looked at Li Mushu with a complicated expression.
"Teacher, why are you back again?"
Li Mushu looked relaxed.
"My family has been entrusted to me, so I came back halfway. I, Li Mushu, am old and won't live long anyway. What is there to be afraid of? It's better to accompany His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin and see the result."
Prince Jin just held his teacher's hand tightly and said no more.
The carriage entered the palace and when they arrived at the imperial study to meet the emperor, Li Mushu and Prince Jin went in together. This was the emperor's request.
After the dragon case, the old emperor, who was in rare good spirits, was writing something with his own brush.
After entering, Prince Jin and Li Mushu looked at each other and bowed together.
"Your subject is Li Mushu." "Your subject is Yang Hao."
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" "Greetings, Father!"
The old emperor raised his head and looked at them, expressionless for a long time. When the latter two began to feel hot on their backs, he laughed, "Hehe," and continued writing on the table without saying anything.
After finishing writing, he looked at Eunuch Li beside him. The latter got the signal and took the jade seal and pressed it on the yellow silk.
"Hao'er, you've been really working hard on your sad scenes lately!"
The King of Jin maintained his posture of bowing with his hands clasped in a salute, but upon hearing these words his palms suddenly became sweaty.
"Son, son..."
"Okay, take it."
Emperor Yuande signaled to the old eunuch beside him, who took the yellow silk scroll from the table, then walked to Prince Jin and handed it to him with both hands.
Prince Jin looked at his father and then at the old eunuch, then carefully took the imperial edict.
It is unclear whether the above content made him feel disappointed or happy.
"Why? Unhappy?"
"I dare not... I am very happy..."
"Oh... That's good. Go ahead. Isn't that what you're worried about? Go out and smile more, okay?"
The old emperor smiled and waved his hands.
Prince Jin and Li Mushu looked at each other, took a deep breath, and saluted again.
"I'm leaving now!" "I'm leaving now!"
Seeing Prince Jin and Li Mushu retreat, Emperor Yuande stopped smiling and threw the wolf-hair brush in his hand to the ground to the side.
With a "pa~" sound, the sound of the ivory ring hitting the ground was more like hitting the old eunuch's heart, causing the latter's heart to beat rapidly.
"Li Sizhe."
"The old slave is here!"
The old emperor turned to look at the old eunuch, then looked at the pen he had thrown on the ground.
"Hao'er is really good to Li Mushu, who is also loyal to Hao'er and willing to die for him... You say, Hao'er is trying so hard, am I a little too heartless?"
"Old, I dare not make any comments! Your Majesty has made up his mind!"
"Haha...hahahaha...yes, it's the end of the world. It was this end of the world that ended my fate as an immortal. It seems that my end of the world may not be right..."
The old eunuch was so frightened that he fell to his knees.
"Your Majesty! I have no such intention. I have no such intention!"
The old emperor looked at the old eunuch on the ground and said coldly.
"stand up."
"yes!"
"Spread the news quietly, saying that the imperial edict I just gave to King Jin contains the contents of the succession decree. Oh, and after those people have delivered the message, send them on their way."
"yes!"
The old eunuch swallowed his saliva, accepted the order and left.
At this moment, Prince Jin and Li Mushu were walking in the palace, holding the imperial edict in their hands.
Since his father asked him to smile, Prince Jin had a happy smile on his face throughout the return journey, or perhaps he was really smiling in his heart.
Although the content of the imperial edict was to pass the throne to King Wu and save his life, the words of his father that were recalled in the imperial study were somewhat special and could even allow King Jin to save some other arrangements.
. . .
In the Prince of Wu's Palace, although Prince of Wu Yang Qing was extremely concerned about Prince of Jin entering the palace, he did not panic.
In addition to the four ministers who were already in the mansion, there was also a special guest on the way.
In the main hall of the palace, there were various opinions about Li Mushu and Prince Jin's entry into the palace. Prince Wu listened to several people talking and arguing with an uneasy mood.
"Your Highness~~~Your Highness~~~"
A servant came running in from outside with a loud voice, and the sound subconsciously made everyone in the hall's heart jump.
"Your Highness, urgent messages have arrived from several places in the palace!"
Under the current circumstances, the King of Wu has rarely contacted the spies in the palace unless the matter is important enough.
The King of Wu immediately stood up and took a few notes to read them himself.
The more he looked at it, the paler his face became. He did not speak for a long time after reading it. After the note was circulated among everyone, the hall became silent.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, it's only about the succession... But, that may not necessarily be the case..."
"Master Zhang... The third brother came out of the imperial study, smiling all the way out of the palace..."
The King of Wu clenched his fists, his nails piercing his palms, and stared unfocusedly at the garden outside the hall. He happened to see a servant leading in an old man with a long beard and an immortal look.
The old man entered the hall and found that King Wu and his ministers were silent. He felt inexplicably creepy, but he still bowed quickly.
"I am Du Changsheng, and I am honored to meet His Royal Highness Prince Jin."
This one was one of the few Heavenly Masters remaining in the capital, and was also a capable person recognized by many princes and nobles. Now that the emperor was no longer obsessed with the art of immortality and elixirs, the Heavenly Master was neglected.
"Master Du, I heard that you have the ability to see the aura of others and know whether they will be blessed or calamity?"
"Well... I can indeed see some things, but my little bit of Taoism is not worth mentioning to the real immortal masters. Moreover, the aura is ever-changing, and each person's aura will be different at different times..."
The King of Wu, who was originally looking at the garden, turned and looked at him.
"Can you please take a look at my aura?"
Du Changsheng subconsciously looked towards King Wu, and used his subtle magical power to observe, and saw that the purple air was mixed with gray mist, which was dark and unclear, and alternately had the rhythm of thunder.
"Your Highness seems to be in a state of panic at the moment, and even your Ziwei energy is mixed..."
"Ziwei Qi?"
"Yes, Ziwei Qi is the embodiment of the fate of the emperor star. Those who have this Qi have the fate of an emperor!"
King Wu nodded.
"So has Master Du met the King of Jin? What is his aura like?"
"this… "
Du Changsheng looked at King Wu's cold eyes, his heart turned cold, and he opened his mouth and spoke.
"His Royal Highness Prince Jin is also a prince, and he has some luck, but it is not as prosperous as His Royal Highness Prince Wu!"
"Haha, really?"
King Wu smiled, turned around and walked back into the hall, picked up the sword on the table. This action made Du Changsheng, who was at the door of the hall, subconsciously step back.
Fortunately, when Du Changsheng saw King Wu, he just waved his hand, and the servant next to him took him to the banquet hall.
After Du Changsheng left, the old minister next to him said something worriedly.
"Your Highness... You..."
King Wu turned around and looked at the sky outside the hall. He closed his eyes first, then opened them again after two breaths. The chaotic and restless thoughts in his mind also gathered, and he opened his mouth and gritted his teeth.
"Send the assassins from all prefectures to kill the King of Jin on the way!"
"At the same time, notify Zhang Jianying, the Southern Army, and the Northern Xuanying to prepare to raise an army... to force the emperor to abdicate!"