After listening to Lord Jiang's words, the prince and Gao Zhen were speechless for a long time.

Zhao Wei was also a little incredulous, the second prince King Yanling died like this?

He was a mediocre person among several princes, although he was the oldest, but whenever the emperor wanted to consider the candidate for the prince, he did not take him into consideration, so it was initially the king of Guangping who was ranked below him to be canonized as the prince. On weekdays, no one has heard much about the news of King Yanling's limelight, that is, after King Guangping abdicated a few years ago, the emperor summoned all the princes into the palace, and when he was unified for inspection, he once had a little bit of a small table, but he soon made a mistake and was kicked out of the palace. Such a non-threatening figure would be the first victim to die, which was really unexpected by everyone.

But after hearing that, even the fifth prince King Jinyang was about to be succeeded at any time, and only a little doll of the sixth prince was left, who was expected to ascend to the throne, and Zhao Wei felt that King Yanling was plotted, which seemed to be incomprehensible. If Zhu Lifei is determined to let the six princes be the crown princes, then all the elder brothers of the six princes must be removed, otherwise the emperor's health is getting worse and worse year by year, at this time, what the country needs is a new monarch who can take over government affairs at any time, and what the courtiers need is an emperor who can stabilize the overall situation, how can they approve of the six princes ascending to the throne? The lord Shaoguo is suspicious, and this young lord still has the blood of the former Ming royal family, but if there is a second choice, the courtiers will not support the six princes. King Yanling is the eldest brother again, no matter how mediocre he is, he is more reliable than a nine-year-old child.

As for King Jinyang, although he has a bad temperament, his ability is obvious to all, and his mother's family is from a high background. The forces behind him should not be underestimated, otherwise he would not have the confidence to be willful when the emperor is not favored. Get rid of him. The resistance is too great, so I simply change it to a successor, and the effect is the same.

However, Zhu Lifei's approach seems to be too obvious. Even Zhao Wei can guess what she wants to do just by hearing people say it now, is it really a fool in the world? Even Gao Zhen couldn't help but sneer: "It's simply Sima Zhao's heart, everyone knows it!" ”

The crown prince asked Master Jiang with a calm face: "Didn't my father say anything?" "If the emperor doesn't make a mistake. No matter how scheming Zhu Lifei is, she can't do anything, and she doesn't have many supporters in the court. My son is too young, and it is surprising that he can do this far.

Master Jiang replied in a low voice: "There is a letter from Beijing, saying that the emperor's spirit has become worse and worse recently. His Royal Highness has just left Beijing. Every morning when the emperor was in court, he yawned repeatedly, sometimes listening to the courtiers' reports, and would fall asleep while listening. After the news of His Royal Highness's injury came back, the emperor simply abandoned the early dynasty and changed it to a five-day dynasty, and the cabinet and the six ministers discussed and handled government affairs every day, and there were important matters. can see the emperor, but when the emperor appears. It is also not in good spirits, and it is irritable and irritable, a little thing can attack people, King Yanling and King Jinyang are all in trouble because of this, and it is very easy to forget things, the government affairs that have just been agreed, he forgot jì when he turned his head, and the courtiers reminded him that he still had to get angry. Several elders felt that it was not good, and called the imperial doctor to ask, but the imperial doctor hung his schoolbag for a long time, but he refused to tell the truth. In the end, the old adults got angry, and he honestly confessed, saying that the emperor's body has been bad since the autumn, and he is just hanging with medicine, because he is afraid that the news will leak and cause shocks in the government and the opposition, so there is a life in the palace, and the news is not allowed to leak. These days...... It's getting worse. ”

The prince's face turned much paler, and the son heard that his father was not in good health, but he was afraid that his life would not last long, and his mood was always not good.

Gao Zhen was silent for a while, and suddenly asked Lord Jiang: "Grandpa Huang is seriously ill, can you know about it?" If you know, you must always choose a minister among the courtiers, and the prince should also decide the candidate as early as possible, even if he is worried that it will cause turmoil in the government and the opposition, he will not hide such a major event from the important ministers of the court. The imperial grandfather has always respected the courtiers, how could he make such a mistake? The so-called order is not allowed to leak news, and even important ministers are not allowed to know, is this really what the emperor's grandfather meant? Who is in charge of the palace now? ”

Master Jiang glanced at him and admired the nephew's grandson's keenness: "The imperial doctor is vague and refuses to reveal who gave the order, but now the palace is Zhu Lifei's director, and she has moved to the Qianqing Palace to serve the sick, and she accompanies the emperor day and night." In the clan, King Ying is in the lead, and the bosses are pressing on the top, so it is still peaceful at the moment. According to the elders, although the emperor is not in good spirits and has become irritable and irritable, he has not yet offended the courtiers, and it seems that he still mentions that he will do something in a few years, which does not seem to be clear about his condition......" He paused, and added: "As early as when the news of His Royal Highness the Prince's accident first came back to Beijing, the lady fainted due to sadness, and the news came out of the harem. Our family once wanted to enter the palace to visit Concubine Shuniang, but we were also refused, saying that Niangniang was sick and had no intention of seeing outsiders. Now that the harem is Zhu Lifei in charge, the family really can't reach out, and the news of the mother is still brought out by the little father-in-law who passed the message, but the details are not clear, and the old lady at home is very worried, but there is nothing to be done. Fortunately, Concubine Shu is fine for the time being, and Zhu Lifei has not overstepped it. ”

Gao Zhen understood and smiled coldly. No matter how stupid Zhu Lifei is, she also knows that the most important thing at the moment is to fight for her son to become the prince first. Although grandmother Jiang Shufei has a high position, she has not been favored for many years, and she has been in the palace for a low schedule, and her two sons, his father King Guangping is blind, and the crown prince and uncle are about to "die", so there is no threat to Zhu Lifei's mother and son. If Zhu Lifei wants to deal with her grandmother, she can wait until her own son ascends the throne and becomes the emperor in the future. Now she has no hands to do anything, at most she will not allow her grandmother to have contact with the outside world. As for what happened to the emperor's grandfather's condition, only God knows.

Seeing that the faces of the crown prince and Gao Zhen were ugly, Lord Jiang couldn't help but persuade them: "Your Royal Highness and the prince are at peace, although the emperor is not safe now, he can still summon courtiers and deal with political affairs, which shows that things are not bad to the end." At present, it is still in the first month, before the opening of the six ministries, all political affairs can be suppressed and not mentioned, and the matter of establishing the prince will be discussed again, at least after the Lantern Festival, and His Royal Highness will have enough time to return to Beijing. Moreover, although only six princes were left among the princes who could be the princes, the elders of the court insisted that Emperor Taizu had a will. The son of the daughter of the Zhu family cannot be a king. Now that the crown prince is still alive, life and death are unknown, it is too early to discuss a new prince. Even if there is no suitable prince to succeed to the throne. There are many people among the emperors and grandchildren, the prince has a son-in-law, and the king of Guangping also has a son-in-law, all of whom are young and intelligent, and they are older than the six princes, and they can also be princes. ”

When the prince heard this, he not only did not settle down. His face turned even paler. If the courtiers firmly supported the emperor and grandson as the crown prince, then his two sons were in danger. In order to support her son on the throne, Zhu Lifei did not even let go of King Yanling, who was not a threat. How could he spare his son? His wife and children all live in the East Palace, and it is much easier for Zhu Lifei to start than outside the palace. He can't drag it out any longer, he must go back to Beijing as much as possible!

Master Jiang immediately returned to the prefect's yamen. His family was ready. He prepared a bag for the eldest son, and equipped a guard team of nearly fifty people, carriages, horses, coils, and dry food, all of which were prepared very carefully, and he personally instructed the eldest son to say a lot of words, so that the eldest son carefully covered the prince all the way.

The departure time is early the next morning. The prince and Gao Zhen did not enter the city, and went directly to the intersection of the official road to meet the Jiang family and his party. This is to prevent the many eyes and ears in Tianjin, for fear of leaking the news. Of course, the prince's uncle and nephew did not continue to nest in the cabin. They spent the night in the small courtyard rented by Master Jiang, which was much more comfortable than on a boat.

Zhao Wei wants to enter Beijing with the prince and others. Zhao Xiu didn't plan to go, the brother and sister will be separated early tomorrow morning, Zhao Xiu was very uneasy, repeatedly reminded his brother to be more careful, and packed his luggage for him, with a lot of medicines. Zhao Wei listened helplessly, although he felt that his sister was becoming more and more verbose, but he could also feel his sister's concern and worry. He said, "I followed His Highness, what can happen?" If His Royal Highness wants to enter the palace, it is inconvenient for me to follow, so I will follow the prince instead. Even if I am alone, I am not a weak scholar who is helpless. Besides, who would be a little person like me against me? ”

Zhao Xiu said: "There is no big mistake in being careful. Although there are tall people on top of the sky falling, if there is really a bloody disaster, you may not be in danger as a follower, don't take it lightly. After thinking about it again and again, I still felt uneasy: "After you enter the capital, it's better not to sneak back to the palace, although you tell the people with great fanfare, the prince has come back safe and sound." He is the rightful crown prince, and Zhu Lifei's power is not so great that she can cover the sky with one hand, can they still send someone to assassinate him on the street? But if you go back to the palace quietly, and she knows that she has sent someone to kill you, you will be killed, and no one will know, and you will die in vain. ”

Zhao Wei glared at her: "What is dead or alive?" Carefully let the prince hear. We're going to leave tomorrow, can't you say something auspicious? ”

Zhao Xiu pouted: "I know, I wish my brother success immediately." ”

Zhao Wei stretched out his finger and scratched her nose: "It's really perfunctory, okay, I'll tell you about it." Ming'er, let's go, Lord Jiang and Mrs. Jiang will send someone to pick you up into the house, you honestly wait for our news there, Mrs. Wells's side, Lord Jiang will send someone to help contact the buyer, take over the goods, and bring water every day. Remember to write a letter to Mrs. Wells and tell them to stay at the docks, not to make trouble, and not to go ashore lightly. There are few foreigners here, and it can't be compared with Nanhui. If something happens, it will cause trouble for Lord Jiang. After the beginning of spring, if the matter in Beijing is not over, let them go back. I will remind the prince of the things that will follow, and I will not make them suffer. ”

Zhao Xiu wrote them down one by one.

There was a knock on the door of the wing room, Zhao Wei went over to open the door, and when he saw that it was Gao Zhen, he was very surprised: "Why is the prince here?" ”

Gao Zhen said expressionlessly: "Someone from the Jiang family came to deliver the letter, and Uncle Huang asked you to come over." ”

After making an appointment to meet tomorrow, how could the Jiang family send a letter at this time? Zhao Wei hurriedly went to the main house, and Zhao Xiu looked at Gao Zhen: "Is there something wrong?" ”

Gao Zhen said in a deep voice: "The news that the capital has just arrived, the emperor has decreed that the king of Jinyang will be sent out of the Lu'an palace of the Yuanzhi clan. ”

"Lu'an Palace?" Zhao Xiu recalled what his grandmother Zhang said about the clan situation, "Doesn't his family have a son?" There are several, and two are descendants, why do you want to succeed the prince? ”

Gao Zhen sneered, did not answer, and said: "On the second day of the succession of the five emperor uncles, King Ying led a group of clans to the capital, accusing Zhu Lifei of secretly poisoning the emperor, trying to set up his own six princes as the prince, plotting to usurp the throne, and rebelling. He caught the imperial doctor, found evidence that Zhu Lifei had bought the imperial doctor, and found poison in the Qianqing Palace in front of the important ministers of the court. Zhu Lifei quibbled in every possible way and was killed by King Ying with a sword. ”

Zhao Xiu was stunned when he heard it, King Ying killed Zhu Lifei? She looked at Gao Zhen and was a little incredulous: "Aren't they a gang?" ”

Gao Zhen sneered: "Where is the gang?" King Ying is using Zhu Lifei as a pawn, and when the thing is almost done, he bites back and uses her as a stepping stone. Now that no one among the princes can be the prince, the six princes are afraid that they will not even be able to save their lives, and the king of Jinyang will succeed the Yuanzhi clan, except for him, who else can be the prince? really has a good calculation, only that stupid woman will believe that King Ying will give up the big position, hold a small doll as the mainstay, and be the Duke of Zhou with peace of mind! ”

Zhao Xiu gasped, things have come to this point, I'm afraid that Jingzhong is more serious than they originally expected, Zhu Lifei has no foundation in the court, and it all depends on fooling the emperor to make things happen, but King Ying has more supporters, both military and political. If you can't get this palace coup, it will develop in the direction of a military coup. At this time, the prince's entry into Beijing is tantamount to destroying King Ying's plan, and King Ying will never sit back and watch his plan fail!

She bit her lip, and suddenly took out the dagger that Gao Zhen gave her from her sleeve and handed it to him: "Take it, remember to protect yourself and my brother." If King Ying is really allowed to usurp the throne successfully, all of us will have only a dead end, so we must defeat him! ”

Gao Zhen looked at her deeply, took the dagger, and solemnly nodded and promised: "Don't worry." (To be continued......)