Three days later, the prince set off for Lishan Yuling, thirty miles from the capital, to guard filial piety. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

With the East Palace and a group of people in the palace being banned, all the people who followed the prince on this trip were sent by Emperor Zhou, and the purpose was naturally to supervise and gain insight into his every move at all times, to see if he really had remorse.

The reason why Emperor Zhou finally chose such a seemingly painless punishment method was not because his father was still partial, but because he had some thoughts and considerations.

In his opinion, since the crown prince is still the prince at the moment, compared with the commonplace punishment of closed confinement, letting him stay away from the palace and the court, and go to a clean place to meditate on his own mistakes is equivalent to exempting the prince from all power.

not only made him unable to interfere in government politics for the time being, but also served as a warning and counterbalance to the forces behind him.

In addition, it is now an eventful autumn, and the war in the northwest has been stalemate, which has become the biggest knot in Emperor Zhou's heart these days.

If there is news at this time that there is a change in the position of the national capital, it will not only shake the people's hearts, but also allow the surrounding forces with ill intentions towards the Great Zhou to take the opportunity to cause chaos, which will be tantamount to adding insult to the situation as a whole.

Therefore, according to the posture of the prince who was ordered to go out of Beijing and his personality of liking to show off his might, the pomp and circumstance must be huge.

But this time, it was extremely low-key and silent, and I didn't want to be known by too many people.

Because of the changes in the East Palace, the courtiers remained silent on the surface and watched the changes, but secretly some people who originally supported the prince began to beat drums in their hearts and began to move closer to Gao Heng intentionally or unintentionally.

After all, Emperor Zhou was furious this time, and almost wanted to abolish the prince, if it wasn't for Zhao Xinzhi's request, it was inevitable that the East Palace would change hands.

Therefore, in the eyes of some courtiers, even if the crown prince is still in the storage position, compared with before, he has lost his inherent advantages and status in the heart of Emperor Zhou.

At this time, Gao Heng, who has always been-for-tat with the prince and is as powerful as water and fire, has become the most likely candidate in the eyes of everyone to rise to the top and replace the crown prince.

However, just when everyone's eyes were focused on the matter of the crown prince leaving the palace to keep a vigil......

In the Zhenghe Palace, Queen Zhao, who has been depressed in the eyes of everyone because of the prince, met a person in secret.

And this person is the prince of Southern Chu who helped Gao Heng expose the prince in the study a few days ago, Yuan Peng.

Although Yuan Peng and the crown prince colluded with each other, they had never met Empress Zhao alone.

If this was before, he might still be hesitant about the intentions of this queen of other countries.

But since the jade pot told him about the old incident of King Chu, he had faintly realized in his heart that Empress Zhao suddenly wanted to see him at this time, what was it for.

………………

Today, the prince left the palace, but because of Emperor Zhou's order not to see him off, Empress Zhao was unable to send him off even as a mother.

But she knew very well that even if the crown prince escaped today, Gao Heng would never give up, and would definitely take this opportunity to pursue until the entire East Palace would never turn over.

She was deeply aware that she could not just stay in the palace and wait for death, she had to do something for her son.

Otherwise, once the prince goes this time, I'm afraid he will never come back.

"Chen'er's carriage, it should have left Zhengyangmen at this time. ”

After a pretentious polite remark, Empress Zhao withdrew from all her subordinates and stood alone in front of the carved window lattice and stared.

Compared with the graceful and gorgeous clothes and dresses in the past, it may be because of the prince's uneasiness and sleeplessness, so that his health is not good, and he is not dressed up, but today he is dressed much more elegantly and lightly.

Even his normally bright face became a lot dull and pale.

"I don't know when he will come back, when will he come back?"

Empress Zhao's words were very meaningful and heavy, and every word contained a deep sense of worry.

As the dignified lord of the six palaces, she always gives people the impression of being shrewd and capable, awe-inspiring, and intimidating.

However, at this moment, between the originally arrogant and resolute eyebrows, there was a sudden look of incomparable vulnerability and helplessness.

For a moment, people forgot that she was a queen with an extremely respected status, just an ordinary mother who was full of worries and care for her son, and hoped that he would return as soon as possible.

And at this moment, in the face of Empress Zhao's undisguised sadness, as well as the overtones in these words, Yuan Peng felt even more that what she was going to say next was probably the important thing she was thinking about.

"The deep mother-son relationship between the Queen Mother and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is indeed moving, unlike losing his mother very early, and he has long forgotten what it is like to be cared for and cared for by his mother. ”

Yuan Peng said with emotion, lowered his head and sighed softly, and after a moment of silence, he comforted him: "But don't worry, Lishan is only half a day's journey from the capital, and His Royal Highness is also guarding the tomb and doing his filial piety, so as to show the royal style of filial piety, and in time will set off to return, and when the time comes, Niangniang and the prince's mother and son can be reunited again." ”

"His Royal Highness King Heng, you know what this palace is talking about. ”

Hearing this, Empress Zhao withdrew her gaze from the pear tree outside the window, which was already green, turned around and stared at Yuan Peng with a heavy gaze, and suddenly tightened the muscles in her cheeks.

"Your Majesty is in a big hurry this time, and it is already an extrajudicial favor to send Chen'er to guard the tomb, and his stay in Yuling to guard filial piety can be regarded as meditating on his own mistakes and repenting himself, so as not to be impetuous and do wrong things, and then let those who have a heart seize the handle. What Motogu is afraid of is that someone doesn't want him to come back at all. ”

The person that Empress Zhao said in her mouth, of course Yuan Peng knew that it was Gao Heng.

But even though both parties knew it, he didn't mention Gao Heng's name to his face, but raised his eyebrows in a half-joking way.

"Then the queen mother suddenly summoned Zaixia, did she think that Zai Xia could protect the safety of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and let him return to the palace safely?"

"His Royal Highness King Heng said this, but it is indeed what this palace thinks. ”

Empress Zhao bowed slightly, a shallow smile flashed across the corners of her mouth, and she narrowed the dark and deep autumn water.

"It's just... It's not enough to just return to the palace safely, if the tumors in the palace are not removed, it will always make people sit still, and it is impossible to prevent it. Only when these tumors are cleaned up, there is no possibility of resurgence, and then seeing that Chen'er can successfully ascend to the throne, the palace can be relieved. ”

She paused at this point, and then took two steps closer to Yuan Peng.

After a long silence, he pursed the corners of his lips as if he had finally made up his mind, and took a heavy breath.

"And Hongu, there is a reason why you have to help me. ”