The winter in the second year of Zhaohua was very cold.
That year, thick ice formed on the moat, and some poorer people even froze to death on the streets of Shengjing. Fortunately, Prime Minister Wei Lan opened a charitable hall for heating and helped many people.
The common people were having a hard time, and the nobles were not much better. Many people were suffering from the cold, and the emperor in the palace was even more intermittent, coughing for nearly a month.
A month later, Da Chu had the first snow since winter, that afternoon, Wei Lan suddenly received a message from the palace.
"The empress has locked the gate of the palace and told you to rush over immediately."
Wei Lan was not surprised at all, she immediately ordered the soldiers, and rushed directly to the palace, while Xie Zichen immediately left Shengjing and waited outside Shengjing, in case something happened, the two of them would not be caught together.
When Wei Lan went out, the snow had just fallen. She was wearing a purple embroidered python official uniform and a pure white fox fur cloak, leading troops and horses to rush past the street. The horse's hooves stepped on the snow, leaving marks. When the vendors saw this posture, they immediately knew that something had happened, and closed their stalls early.
Wei Lan was the first batch of foreign ministers to the palace, and the queen immediately had the city gate opened for her. Wei Lan led the people in hastily, and they quickly controlled the situation in the inner palace before heading to the emperor's bedroom.
When they arrived at the bedroom, it was already surrounded by soldiers inside and out. The troops brought by the soldiers from each family gathered here to face each other. The queen's people stood in the innermost and surrounded the bedroom.
Wei Lan stepped forward, stepping on the thick snow, making creaking sounds. Ran Mo held an umbrella behind her, and the oil-paper umbrella painted with gorgeous peach blossoms was stained with snowflakes, while the man put his hands in his sleeves, and walked step by step, with a calm and freehand attitude, to the palace of the emperor.
The weapons turned around and pointed at her, she stood up with a smile on her face, the peach blossoms on the umbrella trembled slightly, blooming recklessly.
"My lords, what are you doing here?" Wei Lan said softly, Wang Huan, the leader of the Imperial Army of the Western Palace, frowned, but asked, "Why is Minister Wei here?"
"Your Majesty has received the imperial edict from the empress, and heard that the inner palace is unstable, so I came here to escort you."
Wei Lan spoke, as if to show the authenticity of her words, the soldiers trotted over and lined up behind Wei Lan.
Wei Lan's government troops are all elites who came down from the battlefield, each of them is a one-to-ten figure, and her two thousand government troops have entered the palace, and the faces of the Imperial Forest Army present are not very good-looking.
The imperial forest army is also divided into three factions, which belong to the Wang family, the Xie family, and the emperor. After the emperor passed away, the imperial forest army in the palace got the news immediately, but the queen locked the palace door immediately, so everyone could only stay in the emperor's bedroom. I want to wait to confirm the authenticity of the news.
And now that Wei Lan led troops into the palace, she admitted this matter in disguise. With the help of Wei Lan and the protection of the loyal Royal Guard Bo, the queen now belongs to the queen's world in the inner palace.
Wanting to understand this point, everyone doesn't want to find out exactly how the emperor died at this moment. Since Wei Lan has entered the palace, the next majesty will naturally have a plan. Wang Huan pursed his lips. The Wang family is going to back down. She didn't care about the battle for the throne, but she never thought that Wei Lan would kill Su Bai directly.
Even if there is no evidence, everyone can tell that Su Bai is in his prime, and he has just been enthroned for only two years, so it is really unimaginable that he just went like this. But at this moment, Wang Huan can't attack here, unless he intends to confront Wei Lan head-on, but once there is a confrontation, Wei Lan and the Queen should cooperate internally and externally, and Xie's army should also be on Wei Lan's side. Being attacked by an enemy is not called conflict, but courting death.
Wei Lan also seemed to see Wang Huan's thoughts, and slowly said: "A few days ago, Axi came to me for a drink and told me that his sister gave birth to a child, and he was very happy. I and Axi are brothers and sisters, he His nephew, just like my nephew, is finally able to see it today, which makes people extremely happy."
Moving Wang Xi out showed Wei Lan's attitude. Wang Huan's expression improved a lot. A eunuch came out, looked at Wei Lan, and hurriedly said: "My lord, you are here, the empress has been waiting for you for a long time."
Wei Lan nodded, turned to look at Wang Huan, Wang Huan is not a ignorant person, the Wang family seems to have such an ability innately, they can always find the most suitable point to stand on, so Wang Huan retreated , making a gesture of please.
When Wang Huan withdrew, everyone withdrew one way, Wei Lan walked into the bedroom, and saw the palace servants shivering and kneeling in the outer room.
Wei Lan didn't say a word, just stepped over them and said coldly, "Go out."
Hearing this sentence, everyone felt amnesty. Wei Lan walked into the inner room with strides, and saw the queen kneeling by the bed, her eyes glazed over.
Su Bai was lying on the bed, his clothes disheveled, the queen sat blankly on the ground with a dazed face, holding Su Bai's hand.
Wei Lan walked in, looked at the queen respectfully, and said slowly: "Your Majesty, Wei Lan is here."
"You're here..." The queen raised her head and looked at Wei Lan. Wei Lan stopped at the side, looked at the woman in front of her who had obviously cried, and said calmly: "My condolences will change."
"I thought I wasn't sad..." the queen said hoarsely: "I married him at the age of fifteen, thinking that I would spend my whole life with him. Later, more and more women surrounded him. I am the princess, what can I do? ? I can only pretend to be magnanimous, endure, and lie, so that I almost really think that I have no extra feelings for him."
"I never thought that I would get to this point..." the queen murmured, "I never thought that one day, it would be me..."
"Your Majesty!" Wei Lan raised her voice, "Speak carefully."
The queen turned her head and looked at Wei Lan quietly.
The young man's face was flat, and there was no slight emotional ups and downs on the beautiful expression, as if the person who died in front of her was a stranger.
"You used to be classmates, right?" The queen said hoarsely, Wei Lan nodded, and the queen laughed lowly: "Students are nothing more than that. In this world, how can people be trusted?"
"Wei Lan," the queen supported herself to stand up: "You killed Su Cheng, you killed His Majesty, next, who do you plan to kill again? Wang Xi?"
"Your Majesty," Wei Lan obviously felt that the queen was in a bad mood, but she couldn't see any emotion on her face: "You have the right to say such things to me?"
She was the one who did it, and she was the one who had evil thoughts, and Wei Lan was just adding to the flames.
The queen didn't seem to want to think about more problems at all, she was too eager to bear everything alone, so she laughed out loud: "I was forced! Wei Lan, you forced me!"
If it wasn't for her deliberate guidance, Su Bai wouldn't hate her so much. If he didn't hate her too much, the position of the crown prince would not have progressed so quickly.
It was Wei Lan who forced her to move forward, she had no choice but to come to this point!
"If it wasn't for you..." The queen covered her face, collapsed on the ground, and cried softly: "Why did I do this?!"
Hearing this, Wei Lan looked at her quietly and smiled slowly.
"Yes, everything was planned by me and forced by me, empress, there is nothing wrong with you, I forced you to do everything."
With that said, Wei Lan came in front of the queen, bent down, and said gently: "If you think about it this way, will you feel more comfortable?"
"Your Majesty doesn't like you. The concubine Wang Guifei's child will be the crown prince. Everyone knows that. Now you and Your Majesty are just bringing forward an event that will happen sooner or later. Sooner or later, it's me , or others, empress, you and Your Majesty have long been immortal."
The queen didn't speak, but after she finished speaking, she obviously calmed down a lot.
"Has the outside been cleaned up?" the queen asked coldly, and Wei Lan nodded: "It's all under control."
"Okay." The queen wiped her eyes and said slowly: "Then bring all the ministers in and announce the dictation of the Holy One."
Wei Lan didn't move, the queen frowned: "What do you mean?"
"Your Majesty," Wei Lan reminded calmly, "You probably forgot one thing."
"Do you still remember how Your Majesty died?"
Upon hearing this, the queen turned cold: "You promised me..."
"The eldest prince will ascend the throne," Wei Lan said calmly, "I have never thought of lying to you about this."
While talking, there was a commotion outside, and a woman's voice rang out: "I heard that Minister Wei is coming, dare to ask whether Minister Wei is inside?"
Wei Lan and the queen looked at each other, and she smiled gently: "Your Majesty, there is never the best of both worlds in this world."
"You were buried for His Majesty by yourself, or you were buried with the First Prince. Can you give me a decision?"
"Wei Lan..." The queen trembled: "Aren't you afraid that I will reveal everything?!"
"What are you shaking?" Wei Lan raised the corners of her mouth, her expression was cold: "Did you do anything to make your mother shake it?"
Hearing this, the queen froze.
I have been working with Wei Lan for a long time, she is too worry-free, everything can be counted ahead of you, and she can finish it ahead of time without even writing a letter. So after going back and forth, there was really no token among them.
There are witnesses, but in the face of Wei Lan, who can do anything
Wei Lan needs her only when Su Bai is alive. She is the lord of the first palace, Wei Lan has nothing to do with her. Wei Lan will not bear the crime of killing the king herself.
But now that Wei Lan walked into the palace with the Queen's order, she had a reasonable reason to enter the palace, and she couldn't do anything to her anymore.
How could she believe that Wei Lan had put in so much effort just to help her child ascend the throne? Her Jiang family and Wei Lan are not related, Wei Lan will not let her live.
The anger and resentment in her heart are too obvious. She once thought that one day she would take revenge on Wei Lan, the person who pushed her, but Wei Lan was already ready to deal with it.
Concubine Xie's voice was getting closer and closer, and Wei Lan's eyes were getting darker.
"Will you do it yourself, or should I do it, empress, it's time to make a decision."