After wearing a sick and weak cannon fodder as a prince

At nightfall, Qin Xuechuan fainted all the palace people who would guard the emperor's spirit.The female family members of the harem and the princes all took turns guarding in front of the emperor's mourning hall.

Among them, Qin Luochuan was the most sensitive and decisive, so Qin Xuechuan specially chose a time when he was not around to ask Pei Wake up to come to the palace for an autopsy on the emperor.

Pei Xing was wearing the mourning clothes of a palace official, and he hurried into the hall at this moment: "I see Your Highness."

Seeing this, Qin Xuechuan quickly helped him up: "Sir, you don't need to be polite, you should hurry up and see what's wrong with my father's body. The medicine doesn't last long, and the people outside will wake up soon." Come here, you need to move faster."

After Pei Xing heard what he said, he quickly said: "Yes, I will do it now."

Because the coffin hadn't been sealed yet, Qin Xuechuan only needed to open the lid.The coffins in the royal family are all made of jade, and the coffin lid is extremely heavy, so he ordered his cronies to open the coffin a little earlier in the daytime. There is a huge tablet in the center of the main hall, so he kneels in front The situation behind the coffin was not seen.

At this moment, Pei Xing suddenly took out a pack of silver needles from the baggage he was carrying, then he stretched out his hand and grabbed the emperor's hand, he stuck the needle into the emperor's finger, then he pulled it out and pointed it at the light I watched for a while.

Not long after, the silver needle turned blue and black.

Pei Xing's eyes widened at this moment, and he hurriedly knelt down to report: "Your Highness... Your Majesty's death is indeed different!"

After hearing his answer, Qin Xuechuan also had a look of disbelief.

When Qin Yuan was about to die in the end, he still knew how to order the palace servants around him to find him, which shows that he was sane and knew that he was going to die before he died.

Qin Xuechuan was stunned for a while, then asked again: "What is it?"

Pei Xing replied: "This is a slow poison, which cannot be diagnosed by ordinary people, and there are no clues in living people. It was only because His Majesty passed away that I discovered some clues. Poison is deposited in the body only after death."

In this way, those black spots on Qin Yuan's body are not corpse spots, but poison spots that died from poisoning.

"You mean someone poisoned him? How long has he been poisoned?"

Pei Xing immediately answered his question: "It's been a long time since His Majesty had poison in his body, and he probably didn't even notice it, and the only people who can poison the emperor silently are those close to him. gone."

Qin Xuechuan froze for a moment after hearing what Pei Xing said: "Do you know what the name of this poison is? If there is, you can find it."

Pei Xing continued to answer: "I only know that the person who poisoned me was very cautious and dosed it every day. I have a guess... This person probably wants to control the time of His Majesty's death, and then use it to do something? As for the name of this poison, I ask His Royal Highness Yun Zhunchen to go back and look for it carefully."

After Qin Xuechuan heard his words, a person suddenly appeared in his mind—Concubine Xiao Xian.

When Jia Changsheng was dying, he told all the secrets of Concubine Xiao Xian. He was a dying person, how could he tell lies when he was at the end of his life?

She was very close to Qin Yuan, and the only one who poisoned him without being noticed was Concubine Xiao Xian.Concubine Xiao Xian really hated the emperor so much, it was not impossible to do such a thing, but she was already pregnant, if she hated Qin Yuan so much, why did she want to conceive his child?

"You know this matter, I know it, before there is no complete evidence, you are not allowed to add this matter to the public, step down!"

Pei Xing: "Yes! I would like to follow His Highness's will, and I will retire first!"

***

The emperor has passed away, and it is time for Qin Xuechuan, the crown prince, to take the throne of God.In the state of Chu, when the emperor died, he had to attend the state funeral, and all the princes and ministers also returned to the imperial city to report on their duties and observe the funeral.

If the emperor's death was really related to Concubine Xiao Xian, her original intention of doing this at this moment is probably to let the Linchuan king stationed at the border return to the dynasty?

Sure enough, as Qin Xuechuan expected at this time, on the seventh day after the emperor's death, King Linchuan hurried back to Fengdu with a team of troops.He came back so quickly, even Qin Xuechuan didn't expect that the Xiao family had long since turned against him, maybe it was Concubine Xiao Xian who told him the news.

At this moment, the Zi palace of the first emperor has not been enshrined in the imperial mausoleum. As the crown prince, Qin Xuechuan led the ministers, princes, princes and princesses to pay their respects to the first emperor.

But at this moment, a palace official came to report in a hurry: "Report—His Royal Highness, Linchuan King has already arrived outside the gate of the imperial city, and he asked to meet His Highness in person to express his condolences to the late emperor!"

Qin Xuechuan frowned at this moment. He didn't know when these people changed their titles. They called the deceased Qin Yuan "Xiandi", but what about the current emperor?

Before Qin Xuechuan ascended the throne, everyone had already acquiesced that he was the emperor. If no one interferes now, then after Qin Yuan's burial, all the officials should prepare for his enthronement ceremony.

"Please enter the palace, King Linchuan!"

The palace man hurriedly said after hearing this: "Your servant obeys!"

Not long after speaking, I saw Xiao Rong walking to the front of the hall with a sword. At this moment, a servant said: "My lord, foreign ministers are not allowed to enter the hall with weapons. Please take off your sword."

Xiao Rong is already in his fifties, he has lived longer than Qin Yuan, and he has a lot of sons.However, according to Qin Xuechuan's knowledge, besides Xiao Yu, the most outstanding son of Xiao Rong is his eldest son. Unfortunately, his eldest son died early, otherwise it would not be Xiao Yu's turn to be the heir.

Xiao Rong's expression was serious at the moment, and he was protecting the saber around his waist: "This sword was given to our Xiao family by our ancestor Gaozu when he was alive. Seeing this sword is like seeing Gaozu, our Xiao family almost never leaves it to show respect. , go and tell the prince that the king came here today to mourn for His Majesty."

And at this moment, Qin Xuechuan who was standing in the hall heard this, at this moment he suddenly said: "Everyone step down, don't obstruct King Linchuan."

After finishing speaking, those palace people just walked away timidly.

Seeing this, Xiao Rong stepped into the main hall. As soon as he arrived in the main hall, he saw Qin Yuan's high coffin and the golden coffin behind him.

He knelt heavily on the ground at once, and then burst into tears: "Your Majesty! Please forgive me for being late and not being able to see Your Majesty for the last time!"

Seeing him, a heroic veteran crying like this, Qin Xuechuan was a little touched in his heart, if it wasn't for his sincerity, his acting skills are really good.If he didn't know that the Xiao family was going to rebel at the beginning, maybe he would have believed what Xiao Rong said at this time.

Qin Xuechuan walked up to him at this moment and said: "Don't be too sad, King Linchuan. You and your soldiers have guarded the border for decades, and your meritorious deeds are seen by the palace and your father. The border is far away from Fengdu City. You don't have to blame yourself, my lord."

After Xiao Rong sent the mourning salute to Qin Yuan, he hurriedly said: "Oh, I was just too sad for a while, and forgot to salute to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Yeah?I was standing next to you just now, did you really forget, or did you pretend to forget?

Qin Xuechuan smiled at the moment: "My lord just came back from the border, so I don't need to be too polite. I don't know when my lord plans to return to the border. I can send someone to take care of my lord."

At this time, Xiao Rong knelt down to ask Qin Xuechuan for orders with the courtesy in the barracks: "Your Highness, please allow me to see His Majesty's Zigong enter the imperial mausoleum, and I also want to see His Highness ascend the great treasure in person."

Qin Xuechuan froze for a moment when he heard what he said... Does he mean to let me ascend the throne quickly?This can't be a trap, can it?

Qin Xuechuan tentatively said at this moment: "My lord, my father just passed away not long ago, and I would like to ask my father how many years he has kept his filial piety."

Xiao Rong continued: "Your Highness, please put the imperial court and society as the most important thing. The country cannot be without a king for a day. Please also ascend the throne quickly, so that the hearts of the courtiers and my people of Great Chu will be reassured!"

"I……"

Just when Qin Xuechuan was about to say something, Xiao Rong jumped ahead of him and continued: "Your Highness probably doesn't know yet, but I received a secret letter half a month ago, and there was someone in the secret letter who wanted to cooperate Other countries came to rebel with my ministers, and I don't know who sent this secret letter. This matter involves the reputation of my Xiao family, and I was confused for a while, so I kept it a secret. Now I want to confess to the late emperor, but I can't. This secret letter is here, Your Highness please read it!"

Are you changing your name to Qin Yuan as the "first emperor" now?Xiao Rong is probably acquiescing to Qin Xuechuan as the emperor.

As soon as he finished speaking, he took out a secret letter from his iron armor and handed it to Qin Xuechuan with both hands.Before Qin Xuechuan received the secret letter, he already knew what it was... That secret letter was written to Xiao Rong in Longhu Mountain more than half a month ago, asking him to join the bandits in the rebellion.But he wrote this letter in Xiao Yu's name, not "I don't know who it is" as Xiao Rong said.

Qin Xuechuan quickly took the secret letter, and then opened it to examine carefully...every word in it was similar to what he wrote, but the angle of view changed from Xiao Yu to a person from the Yan Kingdom.

"Is this letter sent from the country of Yan?"

Xiao Rong continued: "Your Highness, that's right. It's just that the person who sent the letter had already committed suicide by taking poison when he arrived at our barracks, and I only found this letter on his body."

Qin Xuechuan thought about it... He felt that this matter was very suspicious, obviously he was sent to the border in the name of Xiao Yu.But he didn't intercept the letter from the border, and the letter to Fengdu was delayed... because the emperor passed away at this time.

So Xiao Yu's position here has not been shaken in the slightest, and now Xiao Rong has brought troops back to Fengdu to explain this matter to him, the crown prince... Qin Xuechuan really can't figure out the reason at this moment.

"So, Yan Guo already intends to annex my Great Chu?"

Xiao Rong continued: "I'm afraid it is. The emperor of Yan Kingdom has not long been enthroned, and he has a lot of appetite and ambition. Your Highness doesn't know yet. When I returned to Fengdu, I received an urgent letter about [-] miles ahead. It is said that the new emperor of Yan State has annexed Jiang State, and the Jiang State Emperor voluntarily surrendered and sent Jiang State to the Yan State Emperor."

Qin Xuechuan was very surprised when he heard him say this: "The new emperor of the Yan Kingdom is so capable? What's the name of the new emperor of the Yan Kingdom?"

Xiao Rong replied at this moment: "As far as I know, this new emperor of Yan State was once the prince who was framed by the concubine of the former Emperor Yan. The prince disappeared for a long time, until three years ago, the prince suddenly appeared in the territory of the country of Yan, and under the pseudonym Jiang Ying, he infiltrated the court and controlled the incompetent emperor of the country of Yan. Killed his father, ascended to the throne with the support of all the officials, and began to plot the world."

Qin Xuechuan froze for a moment after hearing that person's story: "Then this prince's original name is...?"

Xiao Rongdao: "Because about his life experience, I have found very little information. I only know that his surname is Murong like the royal family of the Yan Kingdom. His real name is no longer available, but later he changed his name to Murong Ying."

After listening to Xiao Rong's story about Murongying, Qin Xuechuan really had to admire this man's legendary journey, from being framed by the prince to finally mixing with his original country, killing his father and ascending to the throne with his own hands, isn't this typical The history of revenge opening and hanging?

It is not difficult for such a ruthless person to annex a country.

There is no doubt that Qin Xuechuan will be the next emperor of Great Chu, and he has no way to escape, and there is no way to escape.If this is really the case, he should indeed have some sense of crisis.

After hearing this, Qin Xuechuan helped Xiao Rong up: "I already know about this matter. Your Xiao family has been loyal to my great Chu for generations. I know which is more important. Naturally, I also believe in the prince. The horses and carriages are exhausting, and the palace will arrange a residence for the prince in the palace."

The Linchuan Prince's Mansion is in the Linjiang area, and there is no temporary Palace in Fengdu City for him to live in. Qin Xuechuan had no choice but to arrange it this way in desperation.

After hearing what he said, Xiao Rong hurriedly said: "You don't need to worry about it, Your Highness... I want to meet Xiao Yu, I know that he has a mansion in Fengdu City, so I just want to live in his mansion Yes. Your Highness, please allow me!"

Qin Xuechuan froze for a moment after hearing his request... What does he want to discuss with Xiao Yu?

"Okay... It just so happens that you father and son haven't seen each other for a long time. Whenever the eldest son mentioned the prince to me, he would always say that he would miss him, but because the distance between Fengdu city and the border is long, and he also has official business on weekdays. I was alive, so I never had time to see the prince. Now that the prince has finally returned to Fengdu, you father and son should have a good time together."

After hearing Qin Xuechuan's promise, Xiao Rong quickly thanked him: "Thank you, Your Highness!"

After speaking, he withdrew.

***

As a courtier of Great Chu, Xiao Yu also had to go to the imperial city to pay his respects, but as ministers, they were treated differently from the prince. Princes and princesses needed to pay their respects in the hall, while those people The courtiers could only stand outside the palace.

At this time, it is the time when autumn and winter are handing over, and the wind outside is also very strong. Once people stand outside for a long time, they will be shivering with cold.

Although the condolences came in turn, some people still fell ill due to the wind and cold.

Qin Xuechuan is also very tolerant of this, people are not iron-clad, if they suffer from the cold and fall ill, it's nothing, he is like those foolish kings in other countries, he will kill people casually because of some trivial things.

As for those who are absent, Qin Xuechuan can at most fine them with a little salary after ascending the throne.

And Xiao Yu, who was wearing a long robe outside, thought he was in a dream when he saw Xiao Rong coming back... The father and son hadn't seen each other for at least five years.He could vaguely see that his father had more gray hair on his sideburns, but at that time he was still paying mourning, and it was inconvenient to go up to talk to him, and when the next wave of courtiers exchanged with him, he hurried back own mansion.

He knew that Xiao Rong would definitely live in his mansion when he returned to Fengdu.

At this moment, Xiao Yu couldn't wait for the carriage to arrive, so he directly rode a horse and hurried home. When he reached the door, he ran in in a panic without even having time to tie the horse's rein.

Although Xiao Yu's face was flushed with cold, he was as happy as a child at the moment: "Father! Father!"

He yelled twice, and then he saw Xiao Rong, who had already taken off his iron armor, sitting in the main hall.

After seeing Xiao Rong, Xiao Yu couldn't hide his inner joy: "Father..."

After Xiao Rong saw him, his attitude seemed very indifferent, he put down his tea and said nothing, then waved his hand to dismiss all the people around.

When the servant left, he also closed the door of the main hall.

As soon as the door closed, Xiao Rong got up and walked to Xiao Yu's side, and then patted his shoulder: "You brat, I haven't seen you for five years and six months, you are so tall and so tall. It's firm."

Xiao Yu quickly smiled and said: "Father, my son has been listening to you all these years, hiding his edge in Fengdu, and living the life of a playboy."

After hearing what he said, Xiao Rong nodded his head and said relievedly: "You are indeed a lot more sensible, unlike five years ago who only contradicted you as a father, and I sent you to Fengdu to let you Waiting for the news in Fengdu City, the second is to let you pay attention to the emperor's attitude towards our Xiao family. The first emperor was suspicious and had long been dissatisfied with our Xiao family. If we did not pay attention and made some mistakes, wouldn't we be in trouble? The Xiao family is full? There are so many people in the Xiao family, as a father, naturally, we will not sit idly by, when the time comes, the only way we can go is to rebel."

Xiao Yu's smile suddenly disappeared when he heard his words, he lowered his head and pondered for a while: "The purpose of my father's sending me to Fengdu, my child already understands everything, but now that the late emperor is dead, our Xiao family doesn't have to do it anymore. Are you taking the road of treason?"

After Xiao Rong heard what Xiao Yu said, he sighed and shook his head helplessly: "Oh... Yu'er, that's not necessarily the case. Just now I had a conversation with His Royal Highness, and he seems to be different from before. I can't say what's wrong, I always feel that his temperament is different from before, and he has become suspicious. What if he had already thought about getting rid of us before the late emperor? So we still have to be careful. "

After hearing what he said, Xiao Yu suddenly said anxiously: "No, he won't!"

Xiao Rong saw his son suddenly so excited, so he questioned him: "No? How dare you guarantee that he won't, one day he will be the emperor when he ascends the throne, as for what you have done in Fengdu these years , I already know everything. Yu'er, what did I tell you when you left?"

Xiao Yu suddenly fell silent after hearing his question...

"My father told you back then that no matter how ridiculous things you do in Fengdu, you will be fine with our Xiao family here. You can have friendship with anyone in Fengdu, but you are not allowed to People who don’t want to have any feelings, let alone have any interaction with them, otherwise you will get into trouble.”

Xiao Yu heard Xiao Rong repeating the same words to him, and quickly raised his head and said: "I haven't forgotten!"

"Then let me ask you, what's the matter between you and the prince?" Xiao Rong said while sitting on the sandalwood chair in the main hall.

Xiao Yu said: "I saved him, and the emperor rewarded me for it. In this Fengdu city, I rely on his power, so I can live well until now. The relationship between us is just a relationship of mutual use."

"But what I heard for my father is different from what you said."

Xiao Yu maintained his calm appearance at the moment, and he suddenly smiled: "It's not that my father doesn't know who I am, let alone he is a member of the royal family. Those things are nothing more than children using him. The whole process of getting along with the prince A few years ago, I knew that the crown prince was not a scheming person. He would definitely not do anything to our Xiao family. Our Xiao family can support him with confidence, and he will be the new emperor soon. At that time, his foundation was not stable. He needs our Xiao family to stabilize Dachu's country for him, so he will naturally not do anything to our Xiao family. Maybe he will continue to hand over the military power to our Xiao family."

When he was talking about military power, Xiao Rong suddenly had a flash of light in his mind, and he remembered something: "By the way, when the first emperor passed away, did he say that he entrusted the military talisman to the prince?"

Xiao Yu was stunned for a moment when he heard this question, and then he lowered his head and thought for a while: "According to the eyeliner in our palace and the news from my aunt, in fact... the first emperor died long before the crown prince returned to Fengdu City. So he didn’t entrust the soldier talisman to anyone. I also carefully questioned those who worked in the late emperor’s palace, and they all said that when the late emperor passed away, the late emperor never summoned anyone.”

Xiao Rong frowned at this moment: "Then this is not normal. The military talisman is the only reliance of the Qin royal family. Now half of it is with the father, and the other half is impossible for the late emperor to entrust to the prince. This military talisman is good. Even if it is placed in the imperial city, it cannot disappear out of thin air, you should pay attention to the people around you and let them continue to investigate."

Xiao Yu hurriedly said: "Yes!"

As soon as the words fell, the outside door suddenly rang, and Xiao Yu quickly opened the door after hearing the sound: "Who is it?"

Just when he opened the door, a child half shorter than him immediately hugged him: "Uncle Wu, I miss you so much!"

Xiao Yu was suddenly startled by the person in front of him, and then he turned to look at Xiao Rong: "Father, why did you bring him?"

Xiao Rong smiled lightly: "Xun'er said that I haven't seen you for so many years, you miss you, and my father also wanted to bring him out to see the world, so I also brought him along."