Crown Prince's Counterattack

The sky is as cool as water at night, the sky is full of stars sprinkled in the dark night, the night wind floats, and the palace lanterns sway with the wind.

Sima Yi was standing at the gate of the Ganlu Hall at the moment, with far-reaching eyes, and received a private summon from Li Zhi in the middle of the night, and the secrets in it were enough to arouse many speculations.

The guards and maids at the entrance of the hall were all removed, so no one would know about this private summons except Mr. Chen who led him here.

"His Royal Highness, Your Majesty invites you to enter"

The figure turned from dark to bright, and the footsteps gradually approached. Sima Yi nodded, showing a little courtesy to this old eunuch who had served Li Zhi for many years.

The Ganlu Hall was unexpectedly bright, illuminating the great hall brilliantly. Sima Yi heard Li Zhi's low cough, and his steps quickened a bit.

"The prince is here..."

After Sima Yi finished his salute, he followed to the bedside, looked at Li Zhi with a weak face, and frowned.

Li Zhi's face was unexpectedly pale. Under the candlelight, the paleness was a little transparent, his eyes lost the expression of ordinary people, and his hands outside the quilt were as thin as wood with sharp knuckles. He just leaned quietly on the edge of the bed like that. , looked at Sima Yi with slightly joyful eyes, and looked in good spirits.

"Father, your holy body..."

"Father is old, these are old problems, don't worry about it"

"The Imperial Physician in the palace has superb medical skills, and will surely make the father's body recover as soon as possible."

Regarding Sima Yi's worries, Li Zhi was unexpectedly open-minded. He has been in poor health since he was a child. Even though he has been taking good care of him these years, he has been suffering from serious and minor illnesses, and he has survived it. What's not to be reconciled to, he made preparations early.But before that, he was always worried about some things...

"I heard you had a dispute with your mother?"

"There are some conflicts in political affairs. It is because the sons and ministers are not filial, and the queen is angry after provoking the mother."

Sima Yi deliberated in his heart, but still concealed some things, and said half-truth.

Li Zhi nodded with a calm face, and Sima Yi didn't know if he believed his explanation.

"It's not easy for your mother, too. I've suffered a lot because of my body for so many years. It's because I wronged her."

"However, you are the future master of this dynasty, so you can't follow others' opinions in the handling of government affairs. There are some things that should be insisted on."

"Your mother's queen is a woman, so you shouldn't meddle too much in the affairs of the court. You will be the one who will carry the whole world in the future."

"Royal father hasn't taught you too much these years, but from the past few years, you, the prince, have done a good job, so I believe that you will not let me down in the future."

Under the candlelight, Sima Yi, who was listening deeply in Li Zhi's tone, was terrified. He raised his head just in time to meet Li Zhi's cold and stern gaze.

"I would like to follow the teachings of my father and emperor, but after so many years, my mother and queen are in the previous dynasty..."

Sima Yi knew that this time was a rare opportunity. As a son of man, he had to stop talking, but Li Zhi would understand in his heart.

"Your mother and queen, I indulged too much"

Li Zhi sighed, with complex emotions intertwined in his eyes.

The memorials criticizing Empress Wu's power and politics have been continuously sent to him. He also knows that his wife has always been ambitious all these years. When he got down, he thought that she would be enough, but since the eldest son passed away, he suddenly realized that he could not continue to let the Wu family dominate, otherwise he would never have the face to see the Li family's ancestors after a hundred years.

But the situation after that was far beyond his expectations, and he finally understood how bad the results of so many years of indulgence had been.It turns out that Wu's dictatorship is not something that the ministers are alarmist at all. Over the years, he has neglected the government and gave Wu the opportunity to suppress veterans, wipe out dissidents, and promote his confidantes. By now, the former court is almost out of his control. .

Even at the beginning, he even thought about not making the son of the Wu family the prince, but due to the relationship between the husband and wife for many years and the situation of the previous dynasty, Li Zhi still canonized the second son as the prince.After the establishment of the prince, he gave the prince the right to establish his own team as soon as possible to balance the forces of the two parties. Unfortunately, in the past few months, he faintly felt that his health was getting worse, which made him feel ominous premonition.

"Someone will help you..."

Sima Yi took Li Zhi's vague words to heart, and then nodded heavily.

In the bright hall, the voices of the two people's intermittent conversations were high and low, and Eunuch Chen couldn't hear very clearly with his left ear attached to the door.

Li Zhi talked to Sima Yi repeatedly, and Sima Yi listened carefully and patiently. In the end, Li Zhi held Sima Yi's arm tightly.

Li Zhi supported his body strongly, his knuckles seemed to be inserted into the flesh of his arm, Li Zhi's white palms showed terrifying veins, and he exerted extreme force, his eyes were fixed on Sima Yi, his eyes were cold, as if See through his heart.

Although there were bursts of stinging pain in his arm, Sima Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, and met Li Zhi's gaze, calm and fearless.

"Xian'er, remember—"

In memory, Sima Yi rarely heard Li Zhi call him that.

"This world belongs to the Li family, not to the Wu family. You are my direct descendant of the Li family, not the direct descendant of the Wu family."

"Remember, this world must not fall into the hands of foreigners!"

There was determination in Li Zhi's eyes. He seemed to have poured all his hopes on Sima Yi. He was worried that if the prince could not control the court and the world changed hands, what kind of face would he have when he entered the mausoleum and ancestral temple? He was even more worried about the nature of mother and child. It's not that he is cruel enough to wipe out Wu's power in the court in one fell swoop, but he has no time to wait for this result. Li Zhi's determination may not be out of fear and worry.

"My son will follow the holy will, and will live up to my father's expectations"

Sima Yi stood up suddenly, walked up to Li Zhi and saluted with a solemn expression.

"Okay, okay...cough cough cough"

Li Zhi's eyes were gratified, and he hurriedly said hello. The excitement immediately caused a series of coughing sounds, and his pale face suddenly flushed strangely. Sima Yi hurriedly stood up to help him, and Li Zhi calmed down, but The light in his eyes dimmed a little, and he seemed to be a little tired. Obviously, the conversation with Sima Yi had exhausted him a lot of energy, which also confirmed that Li Zhi's health had deteriorated to a certain extent.

"In this way, the emperor will be able to rest assured that this position will be handed over to you."

Li Zhi slowly closed his eyes, as if letting go of an important matter in his heart, Sima Yi was startled, and walked in quickly, only heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the gentle rise and fall of Li Zhi's chest.If something happened to Li Zhi's body at this time, all the layouts would be disrupted.

Sima Yi walked out of the inner hall, saw Eunuch Chen dutifully guarding the door, and smiled rarely. At this moment, there was finally something comforting.

"Your Highness, come with this old slave"

When Eunuch Chen saw Sima Yi walking out, his whole spirit was shocked. Sima Yi followed him and did not walk a few steps, when he heard Li Zhi shouting in the hall, his voice was like weeping, full of disbelief. pathos.

"Li Xing of the Wu Dynasty, Li Xing of the Wu Dynasty...Father, I understand, I am wrong! Li Xing of the Wu Dynasty, hahaha..."

"Your Highness—"

Sima Yi looked at Eunuch Chen who stood in front of him unexpectedly, he originally wanted to rush in to have a look.

"Your Highness, let's go..."

There was also an unspeakable melancholy in his tone, and Eunuch Chen's eyes seemed to be pleading, Sima Yi lowered his head and remained silent for a while, and finally chose to turn around and leave.

Since the secret meeting that day, Sima Yi has never been able to see Li Zhi again, and he doesn't know Li Zhi's current physical condition, so he can only be secretly anxious.Moreover, he has been very busy with government affairs recently, and the transition of imperial power seems to be going on unconsciously.

Recently, Li Zhi used various reasons to suppress the arrogance of Wu's party and dismissed some people from their positions in the previous dynasty. Empress Wu, who was in the harem, did not seem to have any overreaction. All forms seem to be developing in the best direction.

"Miss Wan'er?"

After dealing with the political affairs, Sima Yi was about to return to the palace, but he didn't expect to meet an unexpected acquaintance on the way.

Shangguan Wan'er stared closely at the court ladies and eunuchs who were following Sima Yi, all of them seemed restless under Shangguan Wan'er's gaze.

"You all back down"

After Sima Yi gave the order, everyone was overjoyed and hurried to avoid it.

"What’s wrong with you?!"

Sima Yi felt that Shangguan Wan'er's behavior was a bit weird today, as if she was a bit out of her wits, but under normal circumstances, this smart girl would not come to him.

Shangguan Wan'er stood in front of Sima Yi with blank eyes, her face was pale, she looked as if she was in shock, her hair was a little messed up, and her makeup was also scattered. Shangguan Wan'er, who always pays attention to appearance and etiquette, stood in front of him with such a face , with his hands intertwined, he looked at Sima Yi in a daze for a long time, but didn't say a word.

"What happened?!"

Sima Yi had never seen her in such a distressed state before, and seeing her silent, his expression suddenly sank.He knew that something big must have happened, otherwise she wouldn't panic to such an extent with her temperament, but under such circumstances, her first reaction was to come to him. Thinking of the reason behind this, Sima Yi sighed inwardly. The resistance and avoidance that had just arisen gradually faded away.Even though he knew it was not the choice of a smart person, he had reasons to help.

"Your Highness, I, I killed someone"