"Duan Ye, what happened? Why is the whole city in mourning? Who died? Can you tell me?"
Li Rushan took two steps to Duan Ye and asked anxiously.
Duan Ye was stunned for a moment when he heard this. Then he remembered that Li Rushan and his men had just returned from a diplomatic mission and naturally did not know the domestic situation. He quickly said, "Your Highness, the Emperor suddenly passed away more than a month ago. According to custom, we need to observe mourning for three months."
Hearing Duan Ye's answer, Li Rushan's face showed an expression of disbelief. Even Ye Li next to him was shocked and didn't understand how Li Tianyuan could have died.
"What did you say? Father passed away. Why did he die? Tell me how did he die?"
Li Tianyuan asked Duan Ye.
Duan Ye seemed to be a little hesitant, and after a pause he replied: "Your Highness, we don't know how His Majesty died. According to the news from the palace, he died of a sudden serious illness, but no one dares to believe this. After all, His Majesty has achieved great cultivation, how could he be ill!?"
Li Tianyuan nodded and said, "Yes, judging from my father's cultivation, it is absolutely impossible for him to be infected with the disease. There must be something hidden in this matter. I want to go back to the palace to see what happened!!!
By the way, according to convention, a new emperor must ascend the throne one month after the emperor's death. Could it be that my eldest brother is the heir to the throne now?"
Li Tianyuan asked.
Duan Ye shook his head and said, "It is said that the situation this time is a bit special. After the death of His Majesty, the ministers split into two groups. One group supports His Majesty the Crown Prince to succeed to the throne, while the other group insists on waiting for Your Majesty to come back, believing that you also have the right to inherit the throne.
Because a large number of people, including the Prime Minister, insisted on waiting for your return, the palace made a temporary decision this time to change the original succession time from one month to one and a half months.
If Your Highness goes back to the palace right now, you should be able to catch up."
After hearing Duan Ye's words, Li Rushan's expression relaxed a little. After all, if Li Ruhai succeeded to the throne, he would have to reconsider whether to return to the palace or not.
After all, given Li Ruhai's temper, he would most likely kill Li Rushan after he succeeded to the throne. If Li Rushan returned to the palace, he would be walking into a trap.
"We must return to the palace and leave quickly. The envoys are moving too slowly. Let them slow down and we will ride back to the palace first!"
After Li Rushan made the decision, he said something to the brothers Ye Li and Liu Zhanqing.
Ye Li naturally had no objection to this. He followed Li Rushan, found four fast horses, and prepared to rush to Tangjing City.
After Li Rushan entrusted the delegation to the master of Fu Shen, he led the two brothers Ye Li and Liu Zhanqing and rode fast horses towards the direction of Tangjing City.
… … … … …
Tang capital, inner courtyard of the imperial palace.
Li Ruhai was sitting opposite an old man with a curly beard at this time, with impatience written all over his face.
"Chen Qian, do I really have to wait for a month and a half? Li Rushan should be coming back to the palace soon!!!"
Li Ruhai looked a little ugly. After he killed Li Tianyuan as planned, he thought everything was peaceful and he could succeed to the throne directly. However, a group of old ministers in the court united to ask him to postpone his ascension to the throne. They had to wait until Li Rushan returned before deciding who would take the throne.
Li Ruhai had never thought that Li Rushan would have so many supporters in the court who helped Li Rushan to abruptly block his plan to ascend the throne.
“Your Highness, we just received news that Li Rushan had entered the border a day ago and learned about the situation here in West Wind City. He should be rushing to the palace at full speed now.
If you let him rush back to the palace, your succession to the throne will become complicated.
The cause of the late emperor's death has already made many people suspicious of you. If you wait for Li Rushan to come back now, there will definitely be more people supporting him to ascend the throne."
As the chief steward of the harem's internal affairs, Chen Qian has always been Li Ruhai's confidant, which even Li Tianyuan did not expect.
It was also thanks to Chen Qian's relationship that Li Ruhai was able to arrange for his men to poison Li Tianyuan to death.
Although due to the special nature of the poison, people in the palace could not be sure that Li Tianyuan died of poisoning, but they did suspect poisoning to some extent. After all, Li Tianyuan's death was too sudden and too strange.
When Li Ruhai heard Chen Qian's report, his expression changed and he said, "We can't let Li Rushan come back, we must kill him!
Chen Qian, you must contact the palace's Hidden Killing Team immediately. I have secretly taken away my father's seal for controlling the Hidden Killing Team. With my current authority, it should not be a problem for me to mobilize the assassins below Fu Zun.
You must quickly find out Li Rushan's whereabouts, and then send the Hidden Killing Team to kill him on the way, and never allow him to return to the palace."
After hearing Li Ruhai's words, Chen Qian quickly took the order and left.
… … … … …
Li Rushan, Ye Li and others had already traveled half the distance. They rode at full speed without any rest. Every time they arrived at a city, they would buy a good horse, change horses and continue on their journey.
That night, Li Rushan had planned to continue on his journey, but a sudden rainstorm forced them to stop temporarily to take shelter from the rain.
After all, it is too dark outside on a rainy night, the ground is very muddy, it is almost impossible to tell the direction, and it is easy to get lost.
If they took the wrong road, they would waste more than one night, so it would be better for the four of them to rest for a night before continuing on their journey.
Just after Li Rushan gave the order to rest, Ye Li found a cave halfway up the mountain. Then everyone climbed up the mountain on horseback and hid in the cave.
Ye Li took out some firewood that he had picked up in advance from his bracelet, lit a bonfire in the cave, and everyone sat around the bonfire to rest.
"Your Highness, I think there must be something fishy about His Majesty's death. It is absolutely impossible that he died of illness!"
Liu Zhanqing said to Li Rushan.
Li Rushan was stunned and shook his head, saying: "I don't know the situation. It's useless to say anything now. I can only go back to the palace first to find out the situation.
But according to my speculation, it is impossible for my father to die of illness. If someone really poisoned him, then the murderer can only be my eldest brother's people."
Hearing Li Rushan's words, Ye Li was stunned for a moment and said, "He can't really do something to his own father. This is too shocking. Someone can actually do something to his own biological father."
Li Rushan was silent for a while after hearing this, and then said, "I'm not sure if he did it, but I know that given his character, he would definitely dare to do it.
For him, the throne is definitely more important than family ties. He and his father are actually the most similar people. "