Linzhi

Concubine Li Shu's scream attracted the maid outside the door. The two hurriedly opened the door and came in. When they saw Emperor Jiayou lying on the ground with a pool of blood beside him, they subconsciously wanted to scream, but they were caught by Concubine Li Shu. With a loud drink, it was strangled in the throat.

"Don't call!" Concubine Li Shu's stern words were rare, but the original fear combined with the sternness at this time made her look a bit ferocious.

The two maids were really frightened and looked back at her in bewilderment.

Concubine Li Shu collected herself and said to one of them, "You go to Li Xiang immediately and ask him to come over immediately!"

The maid took the order to leave, and the other maid who stayed behind looked at Emperor Jiayou who was lying on the ground, wanted to take a closer look, but didn't dare, and timidly said: "My lady, what should I do now?"

Concubine Li Shu didn't know what to do, she clenched her fists and leaned against the pillar, feeling as if all the strength in her body had been sucked out, if it wasn't for the support of the pillar behind her, she would have collapsed to the ground long ago.

She didn't dare to approach Emperor Jiayou, for fear that the other party would suddenly open her eyes and say that she was killed by her beauty, and she was also afraid that the other party would never open her eyes again.

When Concubine Li Shu was in the Li family, she was oppressed by her elder sister Li Suian everywhere, and bowed her head. After entering the palace, she had Empress Pei on top of her head, who still bowed her head. Will be obsessed with ghosts for a while, after listening to my father's words...

Although Emperor Jiayou's age did not match her, but the other party treated her sincerely well. Putting aside those external identities and ostentations, sometimes Concubine Li Shu even felt that she and the emperor were a truly loving couple.

She was thinking wildly in her mind, but she didn't come up with any results. In the end, she couldn't help feeling sad and sobbed softly.

There was movement outside the door, Concubine Li Shu jumped up like a frightened rabbit, and she saw Li Kuan push open the door and enter.

"father……"

Just now he was emotionally ups and downs, but now he spoke, his voice was not as mild and gentle as usual.

Li Kuan raised his hand to stop her voice, and called another maid to come in, then closed the door with his backhand, walked towards Emperor Jiayou, knelt down, and checked his pulse and breath.

"Your Majesty is still alive, don't worry, I'll send someone to call the imperial physician." He said calmly.

Concubine Li Shu opened her eyes wide, trying to say it was impossible, she watched Emperor Jiayou fall down with her own eyes, obviously motionless, how could she still...

But at the next moment, Li Kuan suddenly pulled out his long sword, and before everyone could react, he covered the maid's mouth and nose, and passed the long sword into the opponent's body. The maid groaned and fell limply.Before the other maid escaped, he did the same thing again, piercing the heart with a sword from behind, which made people die with regret.

Concubine Li Shu had already been frightened out of her wits, her expression was in a daze, her face was as pale as death.

Li Kuan ignored her, but walked out of the door and gave an order to his soldiers: "Go to the empress and the seventh prince immediately, and control the surroundings, so that no one else can come in or out, and then go find me Imperial Physician Liu!"

The soldiers took the order to leave, and he turned back to the house, seeing that Concubine Li Shu still couldn't return to her godly appearance, he couldn't help but disgusted and said: "Are you afraid that others will not know that you are the murderer who killed His Majesty!"

Concubine Li Shu burst into tears: "I, I did not kill Your Majesty, father, I did not do it..."

Li Kuan remained calm: "If it wasn't for you, why would His Majesty have frequent headaches recently? Only by coming to your place, eating your snacks, and smelling your incense, will you feel better?"

Concubine Li Shu's delicate body shook, showing an unbelievable expression.

"But the dim sum was presented by the cook of Li's mansion. His majesty said it was delicious after eating it once by chance. I asked the cook to come over and make it for your majesty. The incense and incense were also brought by that mansion, saying it was for calming the nerves. Surprised, every time His Majesty turns his head and hurts, he can sleep soundly after coming to my place, could it be...you, you poisoned Your Majesty?!"

Li Kuan's expression remained unchanged, and he said lightly with his hands behind his back: "Don't you want to be suppressed? Your Majesty is dead, and the country cannot live without a king for a day, not to mention that the country's affairs are difficult now, and someone should come out to take charge of the overall situation. Since the death of the prince , His Majesty has always wanted to appoint the Ninth Prince as the heir, and even the edict has been drawn up. It was only because Empress Pei was pregnant that the announcement was not made. However, after hearing the news of His Majesty's death, the Empress was overwhelmed with grief, accidentally had a miscarriage, and became seriously ill. I’m sorry, I’m unable to come forward to preside over the overall situation, and you will die soon. As the birth mother of the new emperor, you will naturally become the empress dowager. From then on, no one in the dynasty can suppress you, and no one can suppress you. more noble than you."

Concubine Li Shu stared blankly at her father, her red lips parted slightly, unable to utter a word, as if she had known him for the first time.

Not great.Seeing this, Li Kuan smiled slightly.

Imperial Physician Liu came soon. He saw the motionless Emperor Jiayou who had been carried to the bed. His expression changed a little, but he quickly calmed down. He didn't panic like Concubine Li Shu. Instead, he asked Yaotong to wait outside. Then, he came in with the medicine box on his back, and sat by the bed to feel the pulse of the emperor.

The tentacles were cold, and Imperial Physician Liu's hand trembled slightly again. He took a deep breath, pretending not to know, and still bit the bullet to feel his pulse. After a while, he got up and cupped his hands at Li Kuan, and said sadly, "Mr. Li, Your Majesty is already in heaven!"

Li Kuan looked at him: "Why is Your Majesty Bintian? What is the cause?"

Imperial Physician Liu lowered his head: "Your Majesty originally suffered from an old ailment of headache, hyperactivity of liver yang, accumulation of accumulation, lack of skills to return to heaven, coupled with the fact that he had been restless about the southward relocation, and had a sudden attack... , His Majesty is out of breath."

Li Kuan said inscrutably: "You should know how to say it after meeting Zhang Pingfeng?"

Imperial Physician Liu hurriedly said: "Yes, what I said is the truth! To be honest, when His Majesty was in Chang'an, he was often unrestrained in sexual affairs, and the minister refused to listen to repeated persuasion. These are all the causes of the disease."

Li Kuan hummed, and asked people to go out to invite Zhang Song and others, but there was no need to invite them, and they would probably get news of the movement of the soldiers surrounding the Governor's Mansion soon.

A soldier hurried over, looking flustered.

"Master Xiang, the queen and His Royal Highness can't find anyone there!"

Li Kuan asked coldly, "What do you mean you can't find anyone?"

He usually speaks softly and has a warm face, which makes people feel like a spring breeze, but now his face is dark and expressionless, which makes the soldiers shiver involuntarily.

"...The two court ladies who were serving Empress Pei are gone. The people in the yard said that the Empress said she wanted to go for a walk and relax, but she never came back after she left. They were just trying to find her."

Li Kuan sneered, and said slowly: "A pregnant woman, a young prince who has never traveled far, how far can a few court ladies run? Search for me. If you dig three feet, you have to search for me." come out!"

He turned to Doctor Liu.

"What do you say?"

Imperial Physician Liu's heart trembled, and the words came out unknowingly: "Just after His Majesty passed away, the Queen and His Royal Highness fled in fear of crime. There must be something strange in it. It is very likely that they murdered His Majesty!"

Li Kuan patted Imperial Physician Liu on the shoulder: "I won't bother Imperial Physician Liu to help me think about these arguments. What I want to ask you is, are you sure about the cause of His Majesty's death? Are you sure to convince Zhang Xiang and them that His Majesty was accused by others?" murdered?"

Imperial Physician Liu hurriedly said: "Yes, yes! But as for whether Zhang Xiang and the others believe it, it is not up to the lower senses."

Li Kuan smiled slightly and said, "You just have to say what you want, the rest is up to me."

……

"It's a bottle of poison."

Xiao Zhong looked at the porcelain bottle handed over by the soldier, and heard He Rong say so.

"The pills here are made of highly poisonous substances such as arsenic and aconitum. After you eat them, you will be unconscious and bleed from seven orifices in your sleep. There is no pain. You and I will meet each other on the battlefield. , I have to do my best, the loser is not shameful, I wanted to persuade you to abandon the dark and turn to the bright, but since you want to be loyal and filial to Xiao Yu, I don't want to say more, I can only help you. As for Xiao Yu's surrender, They were originally my soldiers, but because of Xiao Yu's rebellion, they had no choice but to follow Yi Zhi, but now that they are right, I will naturally treat them equally, you can go at ease."

Xiao Chong sighed, without any expression of fear, but with regret.

"Thank you, His Royal Highness An. To be honest, I respect your character and admire your courage. If my surname is not Xiao, I am afraid that I would have been convinced by you by now and would be willing to worship under your command. I am not ignorant. The people are suffering. Now that the Turks are marching southward, we don’t want to drive out the Tartars. Instead, we kill each other and fight for power. It’s ridiculous, but as you said, loyalty and filial piety have been a dilemma since ancient times. My righteous father raised me and reused me, which is a great kindness to me. , I can only repay with this life.”

He Rong nodded: "I understand, you are a man, do you have any relatives in Liangzhou? If Liangzhou can be recovered in the future, I will make people treat them kindly."

Xiao Zhong shook his head: "My biological parents have long since passed away. To avoid burdening my family, I have not yet married a wife and had children."

He wasn't afraid of being burdened by his family, but he was afraid that after marrying a wife and having children, if he were to encounter today's situation, or if Xiao Yu became suspicious, he would end up in a miserable end, and instead would implicate his wife and children.In He Rong's view, Xiao Zhongxin is like a bright mirror, but he just doesn't want to admit it, so he can only go to the dark one way.

After Xiao Zhong finished speaking, he got up and saluted He Rong, then took the medicine bottle, poured out three or five pills, and directly swallowed them with his head raised.

There was no pain in the body, but the eyelids gradually became heavy. Xiao Zhong was sitting cross-legged on the ground, but finally couldn't resist, his body tilted and passed out.

After an unknown amount of time, he slowly opened his eyes again, only to feel that there was no weakness anywhere in his body, as if he was tied to an iron block to carry a weight for hundreds of miles, and he was limp and unable to exert strength.

Xiao Chong thought, is he dead?But if he is dead, why does he look around like he is in the world?

He thought again, could it be that the medicine given by An Wang was not effective enough?Should he have eaten the whole bottle then?Or just stab yourself in the neck?

Thinking wildly in his mind, seeing no one around, Xiao Zhong was about to get up and go out when he heard voices coming from the next room.

He turned his head and looked, and finally found a hole in the wall. The sound came from the hole, and the ear was close, and it was even more audible.

Xiao Zhong squinted his eyes and looked at the other end of the hole, and he could still see a few people walking there.

"You can't kill me, I am His Majesty... Ah no, I am Xiao Yu's important minister, I know many things, if you kill me, you will know nothing!"

It was Xu Shilang's voice.

Xiao Zhong sneered silently. He had long seen the essence of the other party's strong outsiders, relying on the sword of Shangfang, he was unscrupulous in front of him, obstructing him in every possible way, once he faced An Wang and others, he immediately gave up.

"What do you know!" Lin Miao snorted contemptuously, "What we want to know, including the current strength of the Xiao family and how many defenses they have deployed, Xiao Zhong told us a long time ago, you are the only one!"

Xu Shilang panicked: "Xiao Zhong is talking nonsense, how could he know His Majesty's plan, His Majesty said that he was rebellious, and he had already planned to get rid of him!"

Lin Miao sneered: "You really started to talk nonsense as soon as you touched your lips! In your current court, besides Xiao Chong who can fight, who else is worthy of reuse? Xiao Yu wants to kill Xiao Chong because of his brain? !"

Xu Shilang murmured: "It's true, Your Majesty has given me a verbal order. Once you find any evidence of Xiao Zhongguo's secret collusion with you, you can immediately deal with it on the spot. You don't need to ask for instructions. Among the people I brought, there is Your Majesty." The guards in front of me, they can testify!"

Xiao Chong had no intention of eavesdropping any longer.

He left the hole, turned around and sat back on the ground, staring blankly at the door, expressionless, wondering what he was thinking.

The movement next door gradually diminished, and after a while, everything returned to calm.

When He Rong opened the door and came in, what he saw was Xiao Chong's appearance.

"Zhiyuan came back from the dead, how does it feel?" he asked.

Xiao Zhong said lightly: "It's better to die."

He Rong actually laughed.

"It's easy to ask for death, but the hard part is how to survive the hardships."

After saying this, his smile faded away, as cold as ice.

"When I was young, I fell off my horse and became crippled since then. I also indirectly killed my younger brother, which was not liked by my father. The next year, my biological mother was also charged with collusion and conspiracy and forced to commit suicide. Our whole family was thus deposed. As a commoner, I was exiled to Fangzhou. I also wanted to die, but later, I figured it out, I was not wrong, why should I die, shouldn’t the person who killed me be the one who brought me here?”

"Later, there was a pang of anger in my heart, or ambition. I wanted to go up and keep going up. Because I knew that only by changing my identity and status and holding power in my hands can I change my situation. , From being determined by others to decide the life and death of others, only then can you protect yourself and the people around you.”

He Rong looked pale, almost talking about a trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.

Xiao Chong seemed calm and composed, but he couldn't help listening secretly.

"Later, I met a person in Western Turkic. Her name was Ah Qing, a Han woman who was taken captive to Turkic. It was she who changed my mind that I was only focused on revenge and full of utilitarianism."

"Sweetheart?" Xiao Chong couldn't help asking, he had already filled his mind with a touching story about falling in love but being unable to combine due to disparity in status.

But He Rong shook his head: "We met by chance, and we didn't even speak more than three sentences. She came to receive us at the order of Princess Zhending. At that time, the nephew of the former Khan broke in and wanted to do something to my companion. She was clearly able to stay out of the wrongdoing, but she stepped forward and wanted to replace her with her body, but she was kicked away by the Turkic man, and her head hit a wooden pillar. She was hopeless at that time. Ah Qing's dying wish was to I hope we can find her relatives in the Central Plains and get news that they are still safe. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find them so far. Maybe they have moved away from their original place, or maybe they died in the war long ago like Ah Qing."

Xiao Zhong fell silent.

He Rong said: "Since Emperor Gaozu established the country, the world has been peaceful for a while, but in fact, war has never been far away. Times make heroes, I know, like Xiao Yu, who took advantage of the chaos and rose up to become a vassal, even There are not a few people who want to compete in the Central Plains. If they can succeed, it means that they have won the hearts of the people and obeyed the destiny. I have nothing to say. But you can see for yourself that Xiao Yu is such a person What! Does he have this kind of destiny! He has been operating in Liangzhou for more than ten years, and now his great career has not been accomplished, but he can't even tolerate you, and after you, who else is there in the Xiao family?!"

Xiao Zhong stared at him, and said slowly: "But today, the Turks are powerful and they are approaching Chang'an. Seeing that the imperial capital is about to fall, can you still turn the tide?"

He Rong said: "The Turkic people are ambitious, but ambition alone is useless. They can neither farm nor govern the people. They can only stop killing by killing and support war by fighting. The battle line is too long. There is not enough supplies in the rear, so it is destined not to stay in the Central Plains for too long. Only after I regain Liangzhou, I will send my troops south to join my family Wulang from the north and the south, and jointly attack the Turks. Then we can drive the Turks out of the Central Plains."

Xiao Zhong said again: "Today, there are many clans and nobles, and they can almost control the general trend of the world. The reason why my adoptive father was able to raise the banner of rebellion back then was also because of the meritorious service and influence he made following the emperor Gaozu. If the noble clan does not Weakened, if the noble family does not get rid of, what happened today will happen again in the future."

He Rong said: "I know."

Xiao Zhongdao: "Natural disasters and man-made disasters, people's livelihood is so difficult, the common people only want a house to shelter from the rain, but often they don't even have a place to stand, and in the end they can only be displaced.

He Rong said: "I am willing to practice it all my life. If Zhiyuan is not at ease, you might as well witness it with your own eyes and remonstrate my mistakes."

A smile appeared in Xiao Chong's eyes.

"I'm afraid that His Royal Highness King An will not be able to listen to it then."

The corner of He Rong's mouth also raised slightly: "It's not yet that time, how do you know I won't listen to you? If you have the ability, just show me."

I can't say enough.

Originally wanted to ask for death, but unexpectedly, the desire to live and the desire to win were aroused.

Xiao Zhong shook his head, knowing that he was completely screwed.

He stood up and bowed solemnly to He Rong.

"Chen Xiaozhong, I have met His Royal Highness King An."