When there was still more than an hour before dawn, Deng Weiming, the commander of the Jinwu guard, suddenly ran into the main hall covered in blood and embarrassed, and Emperor Jing'an, who was sitting on the dragon chair, said excitedly: "Your Majesty, there are many thieves and soldiers, and our people are almost unable to hold on.

The thief army will soon come in, and the minister implores the emperor to break through with us. ”

Before the emperor could react, Zhao Yuyu, the eldest prince sitting at the bottom, suddenly changed his face and stood up suddenly.

Just as Deng Weiming was speaking, he could clearly hear the sound of killing outside, and the sound of weapons crashing was heard from time to time, which showed that the fierce battle was getting closer and closer here.

Emperor Jing'an said in a deep voice: "Isn't there any news from the five guards of the government army?" ”

"Nope. All the people we sent out were blocked outside the camp by the people of the Fifth Army Camp and could not enter.

Even if someone rushed in at the risk of death, they were intercepted and killed halfway.

Your Majesty, now, it is no longer possible to count on the government guards to come over for reinforcements, so please ask the emperor to break through with us immediately.

As long as we concentrate all our forces to break through to the south gate, we should be able to escape, please make a decision as soon as possible. ”

"Run? Where can we flee to? Northwest, or Southwest? Emperor Jing'an laughed silently, but the smile was extremely bleak.

Deng Weiming was silent for a moment, and then continued: "The emperor is the lord of Great Wei, as long as he successfully escapes, there are naturally countless loyal ministers and righteous people who are willing to serve the emperor. At that time, the emperor only needs to give an order, and the recovery of the capital is just around the corner. ”

"It's late, it's late. Even if we can break out, the city gate will already be heavily guarded, and we won't be able to get out of the capital at all, which you should know very well. ”

"Your Majesty, as long as there is a glimmer of life, we can't give up. Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood, Your Majesty! ”

Emperor Jing'an turned his head and glanced at the eldest prince, and then said to Deng Weiming: "Since this is the case, then you can break through with His Highness."

Do everything you can, obey the destiny of God, and run as far as you can. If he really can't escape, that's his life. ”

"What about you, Father? Won't you come with us? The eldest prince hurriedly asked.

Emperor Jing'an said calmly: "I am old, and if I go with you, it will only drag you down." And I'm gone, so what about your mother?

There is a saying that I am willing to gamble and lose, and this gamble is indeed a loss, a complete loss. I don't have the face to live anymore. ”

The eldest prince said very firmly: "If my father doesn't leave, the ministers won't leave either."

As a son of man, how can I abandon my father and mother and escape alone, what is the difference between this and an animal? ”

Emperor Jing'an, who had always behaved very calmly, suddenly said sharply: "Then can you bear to be sad and sad to watch me and your queen mother watch you die with us?!"

Those who have achieved great things since ancient times need to make a decision and give up at a critical time.

Originally, I wanted to eradicate all those ill-intentioned people in my lifetime, so that the Great Wei could be handed over to you cleanly.

It's a pity that it backfired, and in the end it was a failure.

You are my eldest son, and the true heir of Great Wei.

If even you die, then who else will avenge me and your mother and restore Great Wei? ”

The eldest prince didn't say anything, and could only look at his gray-haired father with tears in his eyes.

For so many years, he has not been without hatred for his father.

As the only son of his mother, he is the eldest son of the eldest son.

Regardless of whether he is a grandson or a chief, it stands to reason that he should have been established as a prince a long time ago.

But not only did he fail to become the crown prince, but he was suppressed and framed by his half-brother Zhao Yufeng everywhere.

And the father not only ignored this, but also put on a happy look.

In the face of such an eccentric and unfair father, how can the eldest prince have no hatred and resentment in his heart?

However, it wasn't until tonight that he realized that he had been wrong to blame his father.

The father is not only not a faint monarch who is obsessed with women, but also a bright monarch with great ambitions and foresight.

It turned out that everything my father had done over the years was just to paralyze the Xie family, so that he could kill him in one fell swoop while he was unprepared.

It was only now that he truly realized what kind of person his father was.

He was deeply ashamed of his previous misunderstandings and resentments towards him.

It turns out that he doesn't know anything, but he is a frog at the bottom of a well.

At this time, Emperor Jing'an's voice came from the hall again, "Deng Qing's family, Your Highness will ask you to take care of it."

Xiao Hu, from now on, your master is no longer me, but His Royal Highness.

You lead all the guards to protect His Highness from the capital. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Suddenly, a deep voice came from somewhere in the hall.

After the explanation, Emperor Jing'an said gently to the eldest prince for the first time: "Let's go, I want to take a good rest." After saying that, he stood up and walked towards the harem, his steps faltering, as if each step weighed a thousand pounds.

"Father's ......"

"The Emperor's ......"

The eldest prince and Deng Weiming knelt on the ground and screamed loudly, tears already covering their eyes.

Emperor Jing'an ignored them, continued to walk forward without looking back, and soon disappeared.

"Your Highness, we must not live up to the emperor's wishes, let's go." After Emperor Jing'an left, Deng Weiming whispered to the eldest prince.

The eldest prince wiped his tears with his sleeve, then gritted his teeth vigorously and followed Deng Weiming out of the hall.

At this moment, dozens of secret guards dressed in eunuch clothes came out of the shadows from all over the hall. Then, under the leadership of the middle-aged eunuch in the lead, he silently followed behind the two to protect.

On the other side, after Emperor Jing'an left the main hall, he walked directly to the Wutong Hall where the queen lived.

Behind him, only the confidant eunuch Zhang Gonggong was alone.

"It's a pity that there is no moon tonight, otherwise it would be an elegant thing to taste tea for the moon." Emperor Jing'an looked up at the sky as he walked.

"Although there is no moon tonight, Niangniang is still waiting for the emperor in the palace, and the emperor may wish to have a few drinks with Niangniang."

The emperor turned his head to look at this confidant eunuch who had been with him for more than 30 years, and couldn't help asking, "Aren't you leaving?" With your skills, you should be able to escape. ”

Gonggong Zhang smiled and said: "The slave was given to the emperor by the emperor, born as the emperor's person, and died as the emperor's ghost."

Once the emperor is gone, where will the servants still have a place to live? Even if you die, you will only become an ownerless and lonely soul. Slaves won't go.。。 ”

The emperor looked at him deeply, and then said in a deep voice: "Your loyalty, I will always remember it in my heart."

Go ahead, do what you have to do, and then come back to me. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." After Gonggong Zhang saluted, he turned around and retreated.

After Gonggong Zhang left, Emperor Jing'an sat on a nearby stone bench with some weakness, as if he had aged by more than ten years all of a sudden.

He's unwilling, really unwilling.

He worked hard for more than 20 years, but in the end it fell short.

It seems that he still underestimated Xie Mingshun and Ning Zhiyuan, the two old foxes, so he will end up now.

He knew that his eldest son, Zhao Yufeng, wanted to ask him a question tonight, but he never dared to ask.

That's why he didn't join forces with Ning Zhiyuan, the prince of Zhenguo, to work together to eradicate the Xie family.

But Yu'er doesn't understand, if Ning Zhiyuan unites to eradicate the Xie family, what will happen to the rest of the Ning family?

The way of the emperor is to pay attention to the word checks and balances.

If one side is too strong, it is necessary to support the other side to confront it so that it can form an evenly matched situation, so that the political situation can remain stable.

Indeed, with the strength and means of Ning Zhiyuan, the prince of Zhenguo, it is not difficult to clear the Xie family.

But if there is no check and balance of the Xie family, the Ning family, which is the only one, will be suppressed by no one, and sooner or later it will become a huge disaster.

If you want to maintain the power of the Zhao family, there are only two ways.

The first is to maintain the status quo, so that the Ning family and the Xie family can contain and fight each other, so as to form a situation of fighting but not breaking.

The second is to destroy all the two big families that hold the military power, and then let the military power that has been lost for many years return to the royal hands.

In contrast, the second option, of course, is the best and most in the interests of the royal family.

But this is easier said than done.

First of all, the Xie family headed by An Guogong was the biggest contributor to the battle to seize the heir, and the Empress Dowager Xie was also a member of the Xie family.

Wanting to get military power from the Xie family is tantamount to seeking skin with the tiger.

Secondly, the Ning family headed by Ning Zhiyuan is a veteran family that has guarded the northwest for more than 100 years, whether it is in the northwest military or the people, the prestige of the Ning family is too deep, and no one can compare with it.

He dared to say that if the Ning family really wanted to raise the banner of rebellion, most of the military and civilians in the northwest would definitely be willing to follow the Ning family to rebel together.

The Ning family's popularity and influence in the northwest are so deep.

In addition, this place in the northwest is more special, because of the long years of fighting with the Hu people, the Northwest Army is a well-known warlike division, and it can be said that it is the strongest army in the Great Wei.

Moreover, the people in the northwest region are fierce, and as long as the local young and strong people have a little training, they will soon become soldiers who can go to the battlefield, so the vast majority of the soldiers of the Northwest Army are recruited from the northwest.

In such a wild land, as long as the Ning family is willing and has sufficient food and grass, it is completely possible to train an army of hundreds of thousands or even millions of tigers and wolves in just a few years.

Even if there is not enough food and grass, it can be strengthened by plundering the surrounding area.

Such a northwest, such a Ning family, how can it not make the royal family jealous.

It can be said that compared with the Xie family, which has only risen for a few decades, the Ning family, which has been in the northwest for more than 100 years, is a piece of the heart of the successive Wei emperors.

In fact, since Emperor Wu of Wei, who had made great achievements in war, at least two Wei emperors wanted to transfer the Ning family out of the northwest, and then replace it with their own henchmen and generals to govern the northwest.

But the Hu people in the north are too fierce, and every time they knock on the pass and attack, none of the generals sent by the royal family can resist the attack of the Hu people.

At that time, Emperor Wei had no choice but to let the experienced Ning family lead the troops to fight against Hu again.

And the Ning family also lived up to expectations, successfully repelling the Hu people again and again.

This back and forth naturally deepened the impression that only the Ning family could defend the northwest and resist the Hu people, and even more caused the prestige of the Ning family to become more and more important among the military and civilians in the northwest, forming a dilemma that could not be lost.

Especially by the time of Emperor Jing'an's generation, the prestige of the Ning family in the northwest was unparalleled, and even overshadowed the majesty of the royal family.

No matter how loyal and low-key the Ning family is, their own existence has already threatened the rule of the Zhao family, which is an indisputable fact.

Therefore, in the eyes of Emperor Jing'an, the Xie family, who is a relative but holds military power, is certainly the target that should be eradicated, but the Ning family, which has high merit and shocks, is also a big problem and must not be allowed to develop again.

Otherwise, when the eldest son takes over the throne, the Ning family will be even more difficult to deal with at that time.

Therefore, he has to find a way to solve the Ning family and the Xie family, two henchmen who are enough to threaten the Zhao family, while he is still alive, and then hand over the world to his eldest son, so that he can be regarded as dead.

For this reason, he deliberately tried his best to design this killing game with two birds with one stone: while attacking the Xie family, he put the crime of assassinating Ning Zhiyuan on the head of the Xie family.

As long as the Xie family is successfully eradicated, and the Ning family is convinced that Ning Zhiyuan did die in the hands of the Xie family, then the northwest will not rebel, and he will have time to slowly take over the military power in the northwest.

Once he successfully took over the military power in the northwest, even if the remnants of the Xie clan took all the southwest army to take revenge, it would only be a death.

But it's a pity that people are not as good as heaven, not only Ning Zhiyuan was not stabbed to death, but even Xie Lao Thief successfully escaped and fought back with the five military camps, resulting in a complete failure of his plan, and there was no possibility of turning over.

But no matter what, if the Zhao family wants to really take back the royal power and majesty, the Ning family and the Xie family must be eradicated, and there is no choice.

If he could do it all over again, he would do it anyway, but with a more careful plan.

However, defeat is defeat, everything is empty, even if you are unwilling, what can you do?

Thinking of this, Emperor Jing'an smiled bitterly, then stood up again and walked towards the harem with heavy steps.

After coming to the door of the Wutong Palace, the emperor soon saw that his queen was waiting for him to come.

As soon as she saw him, her eyes lit up, and she walked over quickly to salute him.

Looking at his old wife, who had gray hair and wrinkles on her face like herself, Emperor Jing An couldn't help but hold her hand hard and whispered, "I ...... I am defeated, Xie Thief and the others have already surrounded the palace, and they will come in soon.

I've already asked Deng Weiming and them to escort Yu'er away, he should be fine.

I am sorry for you to endure humiliation for so many years, but in the end it was a failure. ”

Empress Xiao smiled with tears in her eyes: "What countless women in the world want in their lives is just a confidant who treats themselves sincerely.

can marry the emperor, and the concubine dies without regrets.

The concubine has just made a table of wine and food, does the emperor want to taste it? See if the concubine's craftsmanship has regressed. ”

"Okay, then let me have a good taste of your craft, let's go." The emperor took her hand and walked to the palace.

Empress Xiao held back her tears and held her husband's hand tightly.

At this time, the sound of killing inside and outside the palace shook the sky, and people could be heard screaming and screaming everywhere.

However, Emperor Jing'an and Empress Xiao didn't seem to hear of it, and the two sat together, enjoying a sumptuous dinner quietly and peacefully, like an ordinary but loving old couple.