Three thousand miles in exile

Contrary to the tranquility in northern Xinjiang, the capital is undercurrents.

Prime Minister Zhou is seriously ill and has not been in court for many days. There is definite news that Prime Minister Zhou will not be able to survive this winter.

This old man, who was in charge of the lifeline of Emperor Xuan, still controlled the court when he was dying. Although the families were ready to move, no one was sure whether Prime Minister Zhou would never wake up again.

At this time, Zhou Chan returned to Beijing.

"Chan'er, come and see your father off." Mrs. Zhou broke down in tears when she saw her son.

All the nephews and nephews of the Zhou family knelt outside Prime Minister Zhou's house and howled.

"Why are you crying!" Zhou Chan yelled violently, the crying stopped suddenly, and there was silence inside and outside the courtyard.

"Tell everyone that the prime minister has recovered, and throw away those unlucky funeral things!" Zhou Chan's words stunned everyone.

On the luxurious big bed in the room, Prime Minister Zhou's face was already full of lifeless anger.

Physician Peng of the Imperial Hospital poked with his feathers a few times, but he could only describe it as a spring in his breath. Based on his decades of medical experience, Prime Minister Zhou definitely wouldn't be able to survive today.

As a result, as soon as Zhou Chan came back, he turned the facts upside down before even seeing his old father. Physician Peng did not dare to refute, but had a bad premonition in his heart.

"Doctor Peng, you come in with the old man." Zhou Chan's face was cold and hard.

After entering the room, Zhou Chan shunned the servant girl who was waiting on her again. For a while, there were only him, the imperial physician Peng, and Prime Minister Zhou who was dying on the bed.

"How long can the prime minister last?" Zhou Chan asked.

Doctor Peng lowered his head and told the truth. "Please forgive me, General, I'm afraid the Prime Minister won't be able to survive tonight."

Too fast, Zhou Chan closed his eyes.

Compared with the pain of losing his father, the fear of Zhou's destruction occupied all Zhou Chan's senses more intensely.

He has just returned to Beijing, everything has not been arranged, and the power in his father's hands has not been handed over. If he goes like this, the Zhou family will come to an end.

It's not that Zhou Chan didn't know that the Zhou clan had made too many enemies, nor did he know that Emperor Xuan hated the Zhou clan.

It is precisely because Zhou Chan is very clear that Zhou Chan is more relentless in winning over power. Only by making the Zhou family stronger can the Zhou family remain invincible.

"I also ask Imperial Physician Peng to declare to the outside world that the Prime Minister is getting better and will recover in a few days." Zhou Chan said coldly.

"This..." Imperial Physician Peng broke out in a cold sweat in an instant. "But, but..."

Prime Minister Zhou could see that he was about to die. Once a person died, how could he hide it?

"The other things will be arranged by the old man. You just need to give the Prime Minister a pulse and medicine every day as usual." Zhou Chan said threateningly. "The old man naturally cannot do without your benefits. If you don't know what to do, don't even think about leaving alive today."

Physician Peng has no choice at all, he can only cooperate with Zhou Chan to perform the trick well.

Soon there were rumors in the streets and alleys of the capital that Prime Minister Zhou saw that his son was half healed from his illness. He also ate a bowl of porridge that day and met with his staff.

The aristocratic families who were about to make a move hesitated again, and they were not sure whether Prime Minister Zhou was really getting better.

The next day Zhou Chan was in the morning class, but seeing that he was in high spirits, there was nothing unusual about him, which made the families even more afraid to act rashly.

Just before the early dynasty, the forces of the Zhou family jointly invited Zhou Chan to be elected as the great Situ, one of the three princes, to assist Prime Minister Zhou in handling government affairs.

For a moment, the officials were in an uproar, and Emperor Xuan was shocked.

Both father and son were among the three princes, and the Zhou family had a good plan. This was to wait for the death of Zhou Xiang, the father would die and the son would replace him, and Zhou Chan would continue to rule the court.

Since Prime Minister Zhou fell ill, Zhou's power has not been so strong for a long time. This scene seems to be a signal for Zhou to announce that Prime Minister Zhou is really on the mend.

"Let's discuss this matter again." Emperor Xuan was not sure, so he could only confuse it vaguely.

However, on that day, the petition memorials for the election of Zhou Chan were piled up on Emperor Xuan's desk like a hill, and Emperor Xuan was so annoyed that he simply swept it aside and ignored it.

In the early morning of the next day, Zhou's forces elected Zhou Chan again. This time, his attitude was even tougher, and he could not even kneel down.

"Are you forcing me?" Emperor Xuan was furious.

Zhou Chan hurriedly said that he dared not, but his waist stood up straight.

"Isn't the prime minister getting better? Let the prime minister recover and continue to govern." Emperor Xuan said and left in a huff.

In the early morning, the meeting was adjourned early, and all the officials went out sparsely, all discussing a lot.

Zhou's purpose was clearly put on the table, they just wanted Zhou Chan to inherit the position of prime minister and continue Zhou's authority.

Let me ask how the aristocratic family who fought against the Zhou family would sit and wait for death. After the court, the Chen family and the Lu family took the initiative to ask Emperor Xuan to offer a plan.

In the early morning of the next day, the Chen family, the Lu family, and the Dai family jointly petitioned Emperor Xuan to grant Zhou Xiang an honorary retirement. Emperor Xuan agreed, and the Zhou camp was shocked for a while.

They never expected that Prime Minister Zhou had improved, but Emperor Xuan still attacked the Zhou family, and they didn't know how the Chen family and the Lu family persuaded Xuan Emperor.

But this is not important anymore, this is turning a corner to regain the power in Zhou's hands, how can Zhou not fight back, and fight with each other in court for a while.

Zhao Hengfu's Zhao family, Xu Muyuan's Xu family, Liu Tongxin's Liu family, and several aristocratic families closed their eyes and rested their minds without listening or speaking.

"Okay." Emperor Xuan said in a deep voice, he glanced at Zhou Chan indifferently, and when he looked away, he had already made a decision.

"Zhou Xiang is getting old, and I can't bear Zhou Xiang to drag his sick body to handle government affairs. The Ministry of Rites draws up a charter, chooses a date to enshrine Zhou Xiang as the auxiliary state, and grants it to be hereditary for three generations."

Emperor Xuan didn't say a word about Zhou Chan's appointment as the chief minister, nor did he mention who would succeed the prime minister.

The Chen family, the Lu family and the Dai family were overjoyed, and immediately knelt down to thank Shengen.

Zhou Chan lowered his head, his eyes flickering with mad killing intent.

Prime Minister Zhou often persuaded his son to be patient, but Zhou Chan couldn't bear it. Emperor Xuan's attitude was very clear. Today, he just took the Zhou family's official position. As soon as Prime Minister Zhou dies, Emperor Xuan's butcher knife will fall.

The Zhou family is an extremely human minister, already feared and loathed by Emperor Xuan, the Zhou family has no way out.

Back at the Prime Minister's mansion, Zhou Chan came to Prime Minister Zhou's courtyard, and Imperial Physician Peng sat on the steps with a haggard face.

"General!" Physician Peng looked frightened.

"Thank you for your hard work, you can go home." Zhou Chan said calmly.

Physician Peng was ecstatic, it was terrifying for him to serve a corpse these days and still act decently, and he could hardly bear it anymore.

But just before Doctor Peng stepped out of the courtyard, a long knife pierced his chest the next moment.

"Father, my son is here to see you." Zhou Chan pushed open the door.

The smell of rancidity in the house was overwhelming, the ground was covered with snow outside and it was the depths of winter, and the house was burning with earth dragons and it was as warm as a spring day. Prime Minister Zhou's body began to stink the next day.

But in order to deceive people, Zhou Chan couldn't cut off all the expenses in the house, let alone the earth dragon.

At this time, Prime Minister Zhou's body had rotted and maggots.

However, Zhou Chan still went through the process like a normal person, and stayed for half an hour before leaving.

"Let's go ahead with the notification, and we will start an incident tonight." Zhou Chan ordered indifferently.

The imperial decree conferring Prime Minister Zhou as the Duke of Honor has not yet been sent out. That night Emperor Xuan convulsed after drinking and fell into a coma. The imperial doctor diagnosed it as the result of excessive drinking.

Emperor Xuan was still awake the next day, and his condition suddenly became critical.

In the early dynasty, Emperor Xuan didn't come, until the sun was high, Lu asked the palace people, and the palace people saw that they couldn't hide it, so they told the truth, and the court was shocked by civil and military affairs.

The Chen family, the Lu family, and the Dai family surrounded the second prince and the fourth prince to see Emperor Xuan, how could they be stopped by the imperial army outside the emperor's palace.

"The general ordered that His Majesty rest and rest, and outsiders are not to disturb him." The imperial guard said coldly.

"It's unreasonable, the prince wants to see His Majesty, how can you stop me! The general is planning to rebel!" The head of the Lu family panicked. The guard in charge of the guards at the gate of the palace is the Zhang family. When did the Zhang family turn to the Zhou family?

Ministers cannot see each other, nor can the prince, but they can make trouble.

"Father! It's a child!" The second and fourth princes yelled outside the bedroom, and the Chen family, the Lu family, and the Dai family also followed suit.

The captain of the forbidden army got annoyed and expelled him from the imperial garden where the palace was located.

The Zhou family and the Zhang family actually controlled the palace!

"The Zhou family is going to rebel, it's over, we're over." The Patriarch of the Chen family fell to the ground.

The Chen family is not like the Lu family and the Dai family who have the prince by his side. If Emperor Xuan dies, the Zhou family will be the first to clean up the Chen family.

Patriarch Lu made up his mind by supporting the second prince whose soul was flying into the sky. "I'm going to the Forbidden Army camp on the outskirts of Beijing to ask Da Sima to lead troops into Beijing to fight against the Zhou family."

Da Sima is in charge of the Forbidden Army in the capital, and he is the upper peak of the Weiwei. He has the right to seize the military power of the Weiwei.

Today's Grand Sima Fang Shouting is the most upright and fair veteran of the three dynasties, he will definitely not be in collusion with the Zhou family, and Grand Sima is their last chance.

Patriarch Lu could have imagined it, but how could Zhou Chan not have imagined that Patriarch Lu would not be able to reach the Forbidden Army camp in the suburbs of Beijing, and his end would only be decapitated.

The head of the Lu family disappeared that day, and the Lu family searched all over the capital and brought back a headless corpse.

What Zhou Chan didn't expect was that the head of the Dai family fled overnight with the fourth prince, but in just two days, news came back that the fourth prince was killed by bandits without a whole body.

The aristocratic family that was still holding on to a glimmer of hope completely died down, Emperor Xuan fell into a coma, Zhou Chan supervised the country on behalf of his father, and no civil or military man in the Manchu Dynasty dared to question it.

On the fourth day of Emperor Xuan's coma, the second prince was imprisoned in the cold palace.

Emperor Xuan was in a coma for the fifth day.

"My lord wants to see Father, why don't you let me in!" Prince Rui was stopped by the guards outside the palace.

The guard had a troubled expression on his face. "Prince Rui please forgive me, this is the General's order."

Prince Rui slapped him across the face. "The general wants you to stop outsiders, is this king an outsider!"

These words immediately frightened all the guards, everyone knew that Prince Rui had Zhou's blood, so he was naturally not an outsider.

"Please forgive me, Prince Rui." All the guards hurriedly knelt down.

Avoiding these servants blocking the way, Prince Rui pushed open the gate and broke into the bedroom.

The sky in Beijing today is shrouded in dark clouds, and it seems that the next snowstorm is brewing.

In the huge sleeping hall, only two lamps were lit on the two coiled dragon pillars. In the gloom and darkness, the bright yellow curtains were blown up by the wind. Prince Rui walked through layers of curtains to arrive in front of the dragon collapse.

Prince Rui shook his hands, he forced himself to be calm. "Go down."

Seeing that it was Prince Rui, the attendants hid outside the curtain and knelt and waited for the summons.

When the dragon collapsed, Emperor Xuan's eye sockets turned blue and deeply sunken, but after a few days he lost his appearance, he looked like he was poisoned rather than sick.

"Father!" Prince Rui couldn't help crying out.

"Father, what's the matter with you, the dragon body returned to Kangtai a few days ago, and he said he wanted to take his ministers to hunt, how come..." Prince Rui was in a state of confusion, he didn't dare to think about it.

"Emperor..." Emperor Xuan opened his eyes with the last bit of strength.

Prince Rui hurriedly held Emperor Xuan's hand. "Father!"

"Zhou's..." Emperor Xuan spoke with difficulty. "Kill me..."

Prince Rui was shocked, the conjectures he had made in the past few days were confirmed.

"Zhou...can't believe it...he can kill me...he can kill you...it's too late...you..." Emperor Xuan still had something to say.

"Prince Rui, why bother His Majesty to recuperate." At this moment Zhou Chan pushed the door open and entered.

Prince Rui was startled, he couldn't stop shaking, but he knew that Zhou Chan couldn't see the clue. "Father can't wake up no matter how you call him, General, please send the imperial doctor to see."

Zhou Chan was not in a hurry, he came over to hold Prince Rui up. "Let's go, don't get sick, the imperial doctor will come later."

The palace people put down the curtain on the dragon again, and as soon as Zhou Chan left, Emperor Xuan's chest rose and fell with anger. He wanted to call someone, but he couldn't breathe. He wanted to issue an imperial decree to appoint another second prince, but he couldn't move his hands.

At night, when the time came, the palace servants would feed the poisoned medicine, and when they lifted the curtain to take a look, they saw that Emperor Xuan's eyes were wide open and he was completely out of breath.

The death knell sounded in the palace, waking up the sleeping capital.

A guard galloped out of the palace on horseback, choking with grief. "Superior Collapse—!"

In the mid-winter of the 12th year of Hongzhi Emperor Xuandi of Chu, Emperor Xuandi died of illness in Panlong Temple five days later after drinking convulsions.

Zhou Chan, the son of the Zhou family, oversees the country on behalf of his father, and leads a group of officials to support King Rui as the new emperor.

On the first day of the first lunar month, the new emperor ascended the throne, named Emperor Wen of Chu, and his reign name was changed to Yuan Xuanhua.

When the new emperor ascended the throne, the first imperial decree was not to amnesty the world, but to enshrine his uncle Zhou Chan as the prime minister, with the title of assistant Duke, and the title of title would be hereditary.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the prime minister's mansion held a funeral ceremony and announced to the public that the old prime minister had died of illness.

Minister of Rites Zhao Hengfu and his son Zhao Jizhang went to the prime minister's mansion to express their condolences. The huge and heavy coffin stood in the middle of the mourning hall. Even though the surroundings were lit with incense, they could still smell the rancid smell.

Zhao Hengfu didn't move in any direction, but he already guessed it in his heart, thinking that Zhou Chan is so cruel.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the coffin of Emperor Xuan of Chu was rushed out of the funeral, without even waiting for officials from other places to come to Beijing to express condolences, and without asking the gods for divination and auspicious days, Zhou Chan directly counted the dates.

On the day of the funeral of the late emperor's coffin, there was heavy snow in the sky.

The funeral procession cheered from front to back, and all the relatives and relatives of the officials in the capital lined up among them.

No one thought that the great Sima Fang Shouting, who had never gone to Beijing to express his condolences, was waiting on the road with his generals and [-] soldiers.

Da Sima, who was 67 years old this year, was dressed in a military uniform. He ignored the officials standing at the forefront of the funeral procession, and went to the coffin and bumped three heads.

Da Sima Fang Shouting looked up to the sky and choked in grief. "The escort is late!"

All the people and military officials in the capital knew that Emperor Xuan's death was inseparably related to Zhou Chan, but no one dared to say it out loud. Only Da Sima, who was in charge of the [-] forbidden troops in the capital, had the confidence to do so!

"The veteran can only plead guilty to His Majesty after a hundred years in the Underworld!" Fang Shouting kowtowed heavily.

The generals of the Forbidden Army seemed to have received a certain signal, and immediately swarmed the general Wei Wei Zhang Shizi and pressed him in front of Emperor Xuan's coffin.

The Imperial Army can't enter the capital without an edict, and Zhou Chan can't do anything to Fangshouting if he doesn't leave the capital.

But Zhou Chan needs a scapegoat to appease Fang Shouting's anger, and at the same time stop Youyou's mouth so that the story will not continue to ferment. Weiwei Zhang's son is the scapegoat.

All of this was in Zhou Chan's calculations. From the very beginning, he never thought of controlling the Imperial Palace Imperial Army for a long time. You Fang Shouting couldn't reach the Imperial Army under Zhou Chan's hand. If you want to blame Zhang Shizi for being too stupid.

The funeral procession continued to leave, but Zhang Shizi's body was left on the side of the road, and it was covered with snow after a while.

The next day, Fang Shouting personally entered the palace to preside over the imperial guards on the grounds that the position of Wei Wei was vacant. He washed away the people left by Zhang's son and replaced them with his own people.

Ever since he ascended the throne, Emperor Wen had dreamed of the terrifying appearance of the late emperor every day, and woke up every night.

He hated Zhou Chan to the extreme and was also afraid to the extreme. He was afraid that he would end up like the late emperor, so he became even more cowardly.

Fang Shouting entered the palace and washed away the people that the Zhou family had placed in the imperial army, and Emperor Wen finally cried out.

Zhou Chan's goal had been achieved, and it was enough for Emperor Wen to ascend the throne. He didn't really care who was in the hands of the imperial palace guards, because the Zhou family took a step back and the incident did not continue to ferment.

The imperial power of the imperial capital alternated, and due to the balance and compromise of all parties, it finally returned to calm.

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